Zhiyan declined the old lady's invitation, and stood under the eaves of the tea room at the back door, and Chaolu swept her shoes, socks and trousers, and turned into some dust and mud, looking a little wolf.

The sun rose from her back, reflecting her slender and pliable shadow like a willow branch, long and pointy, which seemed to make her whole body thinner.

The cheeks, which had been slightly blackened by the sun, still revealed a kind of blush peculiar to a young woman, and under the crooked, slender eyebrows, a pair of affectionate, almond-shaped, watery eyes flashed.

Zhiyan's appearance is above the standard, coupled with her background, the men who work are all pointing fingers, they use all kinds of greedy eyes to surround the once high-ranking young woman, and some deliberately stop the work in their hands and whisper.

"Why did she come back alone? What about her husband, what about the luggage? ”

"Eighty percent of it is bad. Yo! She has a black veil on her head, could it be that she has become a widow? ”

Zhiyan tried not to pay attention to the gossip, since she was not treated by Xu Hao, she was always faced with the short flow, and after a long time, she became numb.

Then a carriage came, and the men at the back door stood up and drove the cart to the center of the court, where the coachman shouted at the cattle.

The car door was pushed open, and a little girl of eleven or twelve years old jumped down first, put the door stool away, and supported a woman down.

Zhiyan saw that it was Sixi and was about to greet him, but Sixi said first: "Ah! When is Miss Zhiyan here? Why not go in? ”

"I'm an outsider now, so it's hard to go inside, so it's okay to wait." Zhiyan explained why.

"You are the third grandmother's dowry girl, why do you think of yourself as an outsider? True. Sixi stepped forward and took her hand, with a smile on her face, no matter what time it is, who dares to snub the sisters who grew up with her grandmother since childhood? There are only those who have no eyesight to see, and they will only follow the red top and the white and will not send charcoal in the snow.

At first glance, Zhiyan looked very haggard. Knowing that she was not doing well, the four liked to talk kindly, never asked about the other party's current situation, and said with a smile: "Let's go to your sister's house first to meet the old sisters, have dinner, and ask them to send you into the garden." ”

So the two of them walked hand in hand to the courtyard close to the weeping flower gate, and Sixi said, "Zhiyun, hello sister is here." ”

"Who? Come in, I'll take my hand. There was a voice in the room.

The little girl ran out and opened a soft curtain to invite the guests in. Zhiyan sighed in her heart, and saw that there was a five-color enamel Baoyunding in the middle of the living room, a glass oil painting on the left and a large multicolored emerald bottle on the right, offering five-colored peonies.

The kang is covered with a big red Su embroidered pillow cushion, the first eight chairs with interesting shapes, the chairs are covered with a color of Yuan blue satin cushions, and the other exquisite furnishings are needless to mention, obviously Zhiyun has also done the house.

Zhiyan remembered when she got married. is the first person among the maids, let alone Zhiyun and them, even if the housekeeper doesn't want to listen to my command? Now they are like this, I can't get into it. Can't retreat, alas!

When reminiscing, Zhiyan asked softly, "Is the third master at home?" ”

Zhiyun, who was wearing a pink satin three-blue embroidered full moon dress, shook her head and said, "It's unfortunate to say that the third master went out last night. No one knows where they went. ”

It was raining, and it was gloomy and gloomy, without a sign of sunshine.

Second Uncle Cao was sitting at the gate of the Cao family ancestral hall, still wearing the shabby cotton robe in winter. His body trembled slightly, as if he couldn't bear the cold air.

From time to time, he looked up at the sky, and he didn't know what to say, and lowered it again. Strands of water hung upside down from his beard, fluttering in the wind, and he had just wiped the rain with his hands, and then a few more lines flowed down.

"Is it the same as last year? Oh my God. ”

The weather is really anxious, and the rain has not stopped for more than ten days after the beginning of autumn, and people feel the deep horror, which is too rare.

Aunt Cao, who was holding the child, said: "Haven't you been so cold all these years? The solar terms have been disrupted, please God don't accept people, have mercy on us. ”

"It's getting colder and colder every year, and Emperor Guan's grandfather's spirit sign has made it clear that this year's people must be six or seven percent dead!"

Many painful memories imprinted in Uncle Cao's mind poured out little by little, he remembered that when he was a child, he ate wild vegetables mixed with potatoes every day, and he could only eat one meal a day, which was still the best famine year. During the war, they ate tree roots, and at the worst time, there were eight people in a family, and four of them ate Guanyin powder and ate life and death.

The tragedy of his childhood made Uncle Cao never forget it for the rest of his life, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he worked hard to farm the land, not only cultivating his own, but also planting ten acres of paddy fields in the village He Qiye, a variety of one acre of land, the benefits of one more acre of land, pay He Qiye's grain rent, and the rest can feed the two children.

Second Uncle Cao doesn't expect to get rich, he just wants to be able to feed the family. Last year, it took a lot of effort with my son, and at first the seedlings grew very well, and the rain was very harmonious, as long as I waited for the autumn harvest to take care of it, nothing would be a problem.

Who knew that God suddenly turned his face, and the heavy raindrops rushed straight to the fields from the southwest, and in just half a day's effort, the water level in the pond rose sharply. Second Uncle Cao immediately felt uneasy, I was afraid that this good rice flower would be knocked down by the rain.

In the afternoon, the heavy rain gradually stopped, and at that time, in Uncle Cao's heart, it was as light as letting go of a thousand catties of heavy burden.

At night, when the sky was dark, I couldn't see my fist, the gongs and drums on all sides were roaring like thunder, the human voices were overwhelmingly howling, and the strong wind was whistling.

Second Uncle Cao knew that there had been another accident outside, so he hurriedly woke up his son and ran from the darkness towards the place where the gong sounded.

On the way, he met the neighbor's boy and learned that the water level in the west and south had risen at the same time, which made the embankment around the entire Caojiazhuang dangerous, and the gong sounded that the lieutenant had ordered everyone to go to the berm.

Second Uncle Cao was taken aback, and a few streams of water swelled in vain in the dark night, which was a rare strange thing in recent years. He panicked, the gong became louder and louder, and his steps became more and more chaotic. The road was slippery in the dark, he fell and got up again, thanks to his son helping him to run, before he could run a few steps, he heard a sound of the sky cracking and the earth cracking, and Uncle Cao's legs and feet trembled like cotton wool.

In the blink of an eye, the waves like thousands of horses rushing towards them, the son Cao Qiu hurriedly picked up his father and turned around and ran, standing on the stone steps of his house, the flood overflowed more than a foot high, and fortunately escaped.

The embankment of the new ferry burst a corner more than 30 zhang wide, and all the rice in Caojiazhuang turned into water.

So Second Uncle Cao almost went crazy, half a year's hard hope, the source of the family's life, were all washed away by the flood at that moment.

Now, Second Uncle Cao has seen the signs of the disaster year again, how can he not be anxious? From May last year to today, he has not eaten a dry meal, his grandson is waiting to be fed, and his mother has no milk.

At the beginning of June, when the water finally receded, the hungry people of the whole village wanted to go out to beg for rice, but as soon as they went out, they were driven back by the officers and soldiers, and they were not even allowed to go out of the village entrance in the future.

It is said that the county received 30,000 stone from the imperial court, but the countryside did not see a grain of grain. He Qiye bought seventy loads of soybeans from other provinces and returned to the village for emergency relief, and Second Uncle Cao only borrowed five buckets, the price was two coins of silver, and the monthly interest was two cents.

The Cao family of nine people even ate all the grass, and they really couldn't stand it anymore, so they knelt in front of He Qiye and borrowed three more buckets of beans.

In August, someone in the village dug out the Guanyin soil, and the villagers who were so hungry that they couldn't stand it all rushed to dig and eat, no matter how the second uncle Cao persuaded the opposition, the fourth grandfather in order to save a bite of food for his children and grandchildren, ate for less than two days, and ascended to heaven.

Since then, people have died every day, and the hungry people are struggling on the death line, and suddenly a Xu Sanye fell from the sky, angrily beheaded the county prince and other officials eighteen people, and the blood stained the county government red, and ordered to open the warehouse to release grain, and the people of the whole house were all boiling.

However, there is no free lunch in the world, Caojiazhuang people are required to make some hats and wait for life, one person can make ten hats a day, you can exchange for two meals of porridge, so the whole village people are in a hurry day and night to make up, make up, try to make it! What's the way to do it? At least it will last until the autumn harvest.

Second Aunt Cao looked up at the sky, shook the child in her arms, and said, "Everyone says that Xu Sanye is the reincarnation of the gods, as long as he can come to our village for a walk, this rainy day may be able to stop." ”

"Nonsense." Second Uncle Cao didn't believe it at all, "It's true that Third Master Xu is the master of Qingtian, but he is a human being, not a god, and only the current saint is a god." Don't spread nonsense, be careful to kill Xu Sanye, the emperor is most afraid of this. ”

"Oh." Aunt Cao sighed: "The hat can't be sold, how can I live this year." Xu Sanye is a good person, but not a good person, so he has always asked people to eat his meal for nothing. ”

"That's unaffordable." Second Uncle Cao, who has worked hard all his life, resonates with this, "Give porridge for nothing, can you farm like now, the big guy is trying to farm?" The relief of the imperial court can only be helped for a while, but not for a lifetime. But then again, what about this year! ”

The hat can't be sold, the porridge in front of him is about to come to naught, the fifty-year-old second uncle Cao is anxious, he knows that his life is hard, he was born without a comfortable life, he has eaten too much, but the good days have not been seen, the gentleman who counts the eight characters said that his evening is very good, and he can't believe it very much, the two sons are not sensible, in such a catastrophic year, to independently support such a big family, you can imagine how difficult it should be.

"I've got to figure out a way!"

Second Uncle Cao didn't expect anyone, and he was never discouraged, every time he came to such a difficult time, he thought all day long, no matter what, he had to feed the whole family.

Suddenly, bursts of cheers erupted in the village, and someone shouted: "Xu Sanye is here, Xu Sanye is here!" God, the rain has stopped! The rain has stopped! (To be continued......)