An adult-high semi-hollow courtyard wall surrounds three white-walled and black-tiled houses in the center.
The front of the house is poured with cement and is clean and used to dry clothes and enjoy the coolness in summer evenings; behind the house is a private plot where several seasonal vegetables and fruits are grown.
The courtyard walls are covered with lentil vines, eggplants, and several morning glory plants.
"Aunt Ma is definitely the most elegant person in our town." Wu Meili muttered while hiding her smile, and then shouted into the room at the top of her voice, "Auntie, are you at home? I am Meimei."
"Here you are! Come in, the door is unlocked." Aunt Ma opened the door and came out. She put two pairs of cane-soled cloth slippers she knitted at the door and waved to them.
Wu Meili bumped Xu Suizhu with her elbow, pursed her lips and smiled: "Am I right?"
"What are you arranging for me again? Why don't I just ask you to change into a pair of slippers? You talk so much!" Aunt Ma couldn't help but laughed and cursed when she saw her little move.
"How dare I make up my aunt? I'm just praising you for being clean."
"Come on! I still don't know you!" Aunt Ma smiled and rolled her eyes at her, then turned to greet Xu Suizhu, "We haven't seen you for a few years, Suisui is getting more and more beautiful!"
"Auntie, do you know me?" Xu Suizhu followed Aunt Ma into the house and asked curiously.
"Your father is a Tiejun, right? That's right! I hugged you when you were a child. Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, you have graduated from college. It has been six years since your father left..."
It's hard to avoid feeling sentimental when mentioning this topic.
Aunt Ma wiped the corners of her eyes, then picked up the melon seeds, peanuts, and wild jujube cake prepared on the table to entertain Xu Suizhu, "Come, there is nothing delicious at Auntie's house. These melon seeds and peanuts were left over from the Chinese New Year. The wild jujube cake is from my unfilial son.
I bought it, it tastes good, try it quickly."
Wu Meili grabbed a handful of melon seeds and said while eating them: "Auntie, just be satisfied! If Brother Quan Zhu is an unfilial son, then I don't think any family in our town has a filial son. I usually buy you food and clothing.
, and now I want to take you to the city to enjoy the blessings. I will take a dozen of you for such an unfilial son."
Aunt Ma was so amused that she laughed.
Then talk about this house.
"Girl, I didn't plan to rent it out originally. I like to be clean. Your sister-in-law understands my temper. She doesn't want to see the house dirty and messy. She is also afraid that people will not cherish it and damage the house that I have carefully maintained. But listen to your sister-in-law.
He said, you have to stay in the town to work, and not having a place to live is a problem. Your father helped our family in the early years, but now that you are in trouble, I don’t know about it. If I know about it, I won’t help. If I go underground a hundred years later, I’m afraid I won’t have the face to see your father.
.So you can stay here with peace of mind. You pay for the electricity and water you use on a daily basis, and you don’t have to pay the rent.”
"How can that be done?" Xu Suizhu felt that this was taking advantage of Aunt Ma. "I am very grateful that Aunt Ma is willing to rent such a good house to me. As for the rent, it is whatever you have to pay."
Aunt Ma insisted not to do so: "I told you I'm not renting a house. If you pay me rent, I won't let you live there. I'll save other people from pestering me to make irresponsible remarks when they find out."
Wu Meili pulled Xu Suizhu: "You don't know, some houses in the town are too crowded, with more than a dozen people living in one room. When I learned that my aunt was moving to the county town, I came to ask early in the morning. If my aunt hadn't insisted on saying no,
If you rent, the threshold will be stepped down."
Xu Suizhu was not that pretentious. When he heard what was going on, he immediately responded: "Okay, then I will stay with my aunt shamelessly."
Aunt Ma smiled: "In terms of shamelessness, I have to count you as my sister-in-law."
"Oh, Auntie! I shamelessly came here to ask you, and it's not because of my sister. It's better for you two. We meet like family members, but I am an outsider."
"Hahaha--"
After joking around for a while, Aunt Ma led Xu Suizhu to visit the house:
"The east bedroom has four panes of glass in the south window. It is very bright. It is warm in winter and cool in summer...Your uncle Quan Zhu poured cement the year before last and built a bathroom for me in the second half. It is very convenient to take a bath.
...If the winter quilts are not enough, you can just take out the quilts from the quilt cabinet and use them. These boxes contain my clothes, and the floral cloth can be placed on the cover for mirrors and combs. I will clear the closet for you.
use……"
Then we came to the west room: "The west room has been unoccupied, so we just piled up some sundries and household items. You can put any miscellaneous things you have here. I built a sundry rack on three walls and connected it to the ceiling. It can hold a lot of things."
"
"The stove is a bit small, with a one-eye stove, but your uncle Quan Zhu gave me a gas stove, a big pot for stewing rice, and a gas stove for cooking. It's very convenient. I won't take it away, I'll leave it for you to use.
Remember to scrub frequently, especially after cooking, be sure to wipe off the oil beads. You should always pay attention when the gas is running out. Every once in a while, a car from the county will come to pull the gas tank. If you miss it, you will have to wait until next month..."
Aunt Ma led Xu Suizhu around. Xu Suizhu was extremely satisfied with the house.
Not to mention the wooden floor in the room, the gas stove in the kitchen, and the clean walls painted with green paint, the bathroom with white ceramic tiles and running water is very satisfying. In this day and age, there are
A house with such conditions is really good.
Knowing that Aunt Ma's son would come to pick her up tomorrow, Xu Suizhu decided to move in next Monday. Aunt Ma gave Xu Suizhu a copy of the house key, and everything that needed to be explained was explained.
After finishing two important things in the morning, both with satisfactory results, Xu Suizhu rode back to the fishing village with a smile on his face.
"Gu! I'm back!"
"It's good to be back! Is your work going well?"
"Smooth, smooth! It couldn't be smoother. The principal asked me to go to work on Monday." Xu Suizhu hugged her girl with a smile and said, "Where is Doudou? You must be hungry, right?"
"Not long after you left, the little guy fell asleep and hasn't woken up yet." Xu Xiuyuan was standing at the door of the room mending a torn fishing net. When the little guy woke up, he could hear him groaning.
"This sleep lasted so long?" Xu Suizhu asked in surprise, calculating the time, "It must have been four or five hours, right? He is truly a caring and warm man to Mama. He knows that Mama is out and won't cause trouble for my aunt!"
With that said, he went into the house to look at the little buns.
Unexpectedly, the little bun was already awake, with his fingers in his mouth and eyes rolling around.
Xu Suizhu looked at him with surprise, picked him up and kissed him: "What a good baby, he doesn't cry when he wakes up. Mom, I'll feed you now."
During the feeding, I saw that the little one was very hungry, and she swallowed in large gulps. In a short time, she ate all the food she had saved up all morning.
After feeding the little buns, Xu Suizhu was also hungry, so she and her aunt simply cooked a bowl of seafood noodles, spooned on a spoonful of snail sauce, and talked about the interview and renting situation while eating.
Knowing that the two things were successfully implemented, Xu Xiuyuan breathed a sigh of relief and happily said that she would make some delicious dishes to celebrate in the evening.