"Daughter, look at you, dad is uneducated, why don't you be as knowledgeable as dad?"
Dad caught up and said, "This way, if you help Dad, Dad will promise to buy you copybooks and incense..."
"real?"
Hmm~ I'm excited again.
I have some little hobbies that are incompatible with my peers in the village.
The two most special ones are scripture copying and incense.
This fall I entered the third grade of junior high school. Aunt Feng was afraid that my indulgence in hobbies would affect my studies, so she stopped letting me buy copybooks.
She didn’t want me to light incense because in her opinion, it was only necessary to burn incense when visiting graves and worshiping gods.
My behavior of putting incense sticks before going to bed to help me sleep was weird in her eyes.
It seems like I am sending myself away.
And she thinks smoke is bad for your health.
I had no choice but to invite Grandpa Cai and tell her that incense can calm the nerves.
I only ordered half a stick, simply because I like the scent.
After hearing this, Aunt Feng gave in. She could light incense, but she had to put aside her other hobbies until she was admitted to university.
I wasn't stubborn with her either, it wasn't that I didn't dare, it was just that I couldn't do it.
Aunt Feng's temper was famous in the village, and she would wear a four-piece suit if she got angry.
Start scolding and then challenge her. If you can't beat her, then continue to make trouble. That's really a poisonous pesticide in one hand and a small rope in the other hand to hang yourself.
What's more, she is still pregnant and anxious, and it is already difficult for her to make concessions.
I just thought about buying it secretly, but I have a lot of pocket money. When my father mentioned this...
This opportunity is not to be missed!
"Dad, then I want ten, no, twenty copybooks, three, no, five bottles of ink, and natural agarwood for incense..."
"Buy, buy them all!"
Dad got up happily and said, "Let's go to your Grandpa Li's house. You are kind to the old Li family. I'm sure you can invite me..."
Are you kind?
I was stunned for a few seconds before I remembered.
Dad was referring to the fact that I once told Li Qingshan’s wife that she had a little brother in her belly.
That was four years ago. Aunt Yuzhen was not young either. Her son Li Qiang and my eldest sister were still high school classmates.
Aunt Yuzhen thought I was being childish and even told the aunt next to me that she was having her menstruation.
I strongly emphasized that she had a younger brother and told her not to take medicine randomly, as his younger brother would cry.
Aunt Yuzhen went to the health center to check with some doubts, and found out it was true.
Menstruation is not a sign of miscarriage, she just has that kind of constitution.
Finally, she gave birth to a baby son successfully.
People in the village were curious about how I could tell that Aunt Yuzhen was pregnant.
I can't describe what that feels like.
Through the clothes on my belly, I felt that I was face to face with someone, it was my brother. If I could vaguely see someone behind me, it was my sister.
It happened that Grandpa Cai and I got close, and everyone said that I was going to take over the Cai family hall, and that I was a little fairy boy who had opened his eyes.
Pregnant women came to me in large numbers to look at their bellies. I felt that they were my sisters, but they would still say they were my brothers.
Because when I want to tell the truth, I hear crying and my heart becomes clogged, so I don’t mean what I say.
When I revealed the secret, everyone saw that I was not sure about it, so they dismissed Aunt Yuzhen’s story as a coincidence.
After I turned twelve, I lost this skill.
On the face of it, it was a farce, but in my father's eyes, it was like I was kind to the Li family.
I was a little helpless, "Dad, didn't you just say that I was acting recklessly?"
"Just one time will be enough!"
Dad felt a little emotional, "San'er, Dad knows that you respect Grandpa Cai, and Dad respects Grandpa Cai as well. Do you think Dad ever went to Lao Cai's house without success? Including the people who have taken care of you in this village, Dad's etiquette is in place. Sometimes
, Dad really thinks you are smart. Old Cai's things are something that adults can't learn, but you are so eloquent. No wonder Uncle Cai said, you are the new comer, old girl, you are good at everything, you are just not a son."
Coming again?
Thinking of my childhood.
I like to play with praying mantises, but my mother won't let me touch them.
She said that the female praying mantis had parasites in her belly and was very disgusting.
When I was little, I would put the praying mantis in the water basin. After a while, a bug as long as an iron wire would come out of the female praying mantis' butt.
"Mom, look, this is the method my eldest sister taught me. Mommy's stomach won't hurt anymore."
My mother asked me to go over, touched my head and said, "Ying Ying, your Grandpa Cai's calculations are accurate. He said you are the reincarnation of Bodhisattva and have a kind heart."
"Mom, dad said Grandpa Cai's calculations were inaccurate and I was born wrong."
Mom shook her head and smiled, weakly, with tears in her eyes, "Ying Ying, your dad will understand sooner or later that it is his family's blessing that you can come to Lao Wan's family."
I wiped her tears in confusion. Why is my mother crying when I am a blessing?
Soon after, my mother passed away in her sleep.
Life has to go on, and dad continues to be busy with his work.
When farming was busy, he farmed, and when farming was slack, he would go to surrounding villages and towns to help people build houses, yards, walls, and pig pens.
My eldest sister was admitted to high school at that time and was studying and living in the town and didn't go home very often.
I became an unsupervised child, playing around outside during the day, and when my father came home late at night, I would sit at the door and wait.
The aunt in the village saw me pitifully and would ask me to go home to eat. If I was too hungry, I would go and eat. After I finished, she would help pick up the bowls and clear the table.
During the busy farming season, every family member was short of hands. In those days, some babies were bitten on the nose by mice when they were left at home. They had to rely on the elderly and older children to take care of them at home. If no one could find anyone, they would put the babies in bamboo baskets and take them to the wind.
A place where the sun is blowing.
I happen to be watching over the child's needs. Don't look at me as a child. If anyone wants to entrust their baby to me, I will take care of it carefully.
He won't dig things into fire, nor will he sneak out to play. Just buy me a ten-cent picture book.
When the baby fell asleep, I would lie down next to me and write and draw until the adults came back.
As time went by, everyone praised me for being sensible.
Even though I like to go into the mountains, I am not wild by nature, but I am well-behaved.
During the three years after my mother passed away and my father did not marry Aunt Feng, I grew up under the care of the villagers.
Among them, the ones who treat me best are definitely Grandpa Cai’s family.
He taught me a lot of preschool knowledge.
At that time, my father saw that it was not a problem for me to run around the village all the time, so he sent me to first grade at the age of six.
Thanks to Grandpa Cai, I skipped a grade in elementary school.
If I hadn't jumped again and found that I couldn't keep up, my father would have thought that I was the reincarnation of a child prodigy.
For a long time, I have been a frequent visitor to Grandpa Cai’s house.
When he was doing business for others, I would stand by the door and peek.
When encountering a child who is crying and sick, Grandpa Cai will ask the visitor to take a few dollars first.
He pressed it under the incense bowl and said it was the money given to the court.
Some victims will take out big bills without saying anything, using money to show their sincerity first.
Some people may wonder why some fairies don’t charge money for their work, but keep some agricultural and sideline products until they die. You want money before you even wait?
Grandpa Cai explained that each place has its own order, and the rules are different when it comes to subdividing the horse. Even though his hall has gold, it is just a lecturer, and he will not accept any extra money. Three or five yuan is enough for what you want. The implication is that
Don't go short.
After offering incense, Grandpa Cai will chat with the children’s families.
Just swipe a child's fingers and you'll be able to spot them nine times out of ten, which is amazing.