Siheyuan: Fighting against the beasts under the pressure of the system

Feeling that Doudou's clothes were already cold, it seemed that he had to wait for quite a while. Zhang Minghui picked up Doudou with heartache and turned into the house.

I unbuttoned my cotton coat and held her tightly in my arms. I couldn't help feeling a little emotional. It feels so good to have someone care about you.

And Xiao Doudou felt unusually secure lying in her brother's arms. She leaned on her brother's chest and closed her eyes comfortably.

At this time, the tactless Xu Damao started shouting outside.

"Minghui, hurry up and unload the car quickly. I have to return the tricycle later!"

Xu Damao's screaming outside interrupted the tender moment between the brother and sister. Zhang Minghui had no choice but to put Xiao Doudou in the bed first.

"Sleep a little longer. I still have work to do. Can you help me with the work when you wake up?"

The little head popped out from under the quilt and laughed happily.

"Well, okay, I'll help my brother with the work in a moment."

It took me a long time to unload the cabbages.

There is a cellar in the courtyard, just south of the middle courtyard, not far from Sha Zhu's house, belonging to He Yuzhu's family. This cellar is several dozen square meters and is used by several families in the middle courtyard.

What if there is no cellar in the backyard? It doesn’t matter, you can find a place yourself.

For example, the side of Zhang Minghui's house close to the courtyard wall is occupied by Zhang Minghui's family. Cabbages and honeycomb coal for winter are neatly stacked here.

In the next few days, Zhang Minghui was so busy that he had no free time. He started to pickle sauerkraut and store cabbage in a cellar.

It doesn't matter if you don't know how to do it. The aunties in the courtyard are all experts. If you don't understand something, just ask. Xiao Doudou followed by the side, moving things around like a little adult.

From time to time, he would receive praise from the aunts and sisters, and Doudou would raise his little head high with praise.

After picking the cabbages, I started buying honeycomb coal, which is an important item for winter. Whether the house can be warm depends on it.

When the honeycomb coal was neatly stacked at the bottom of the wall, the brother and sister's hands and faces were all black. Doudou washed his hands and played with them, splashing water on his brother's face from time to time.

Doudou has been getting happier and happier recently.

In order to prepare for the cold winter, people living in courtyards and farmhouses would remove the gauze paper on their windows in advance and paste new window paper on them.

Cotton curtains were hung on the door and the kang used for heating was renovated.

By the time all this is done, winter is about to come.

Zhang Minghui has no free time when he is busy. It seems that there is endless work to do every day.

I also made a full set of cotton-padded clothes, cotton shoes, gloves, and scarves for Doudou, but I didn't dare make more because children are in the growing stage and their clothes change every year. I was afraid if I made too many, they wouldn't be able to wear them.

Doudou gently touched the new flowery cotton-padded jacket with her little hands, but refused to wear it, with a hint of reluctance in her eyes.

When Zhang Minghui held Xiao Doudou and wondered why she was not wearing any clothes, Doudou's childish voice rang out.

"Brother, this flowery cotton jacket is so new. I want to keep it for the New Year. I can't bear to wear it. All my old clothes were given to me by the grandma next door."

Children in the 50s, especially those from ordinary families, rarely had new clothes. They all wore old clothes that were altered by adults.

If there are many children in the family, the clothes will be patched up for another three years. The patches on the clothes will be patched left and right.

Every household is like this, so no one laughs at anyone else.

Zhang Minghui held Doudou and whispered in her ear.

"Doudou, listen to me and put on your flowery cotton jacket. I'll make new clothes for you every year, okay?"

Unexpectedly, Xiao Doudou shook her head and disagreed without telling the reason. Zhang Minghui saw Doudou like this and could only scare her.

"Then my brother will give the flowery cotton jacket to someone else."

When Doudou heard this, she immediately hugged the flowery cotton jacket excitedly and refused to let go, with tears welling up in her eyes.

Zhang Minghui knew that Doudou was distressed, so he quickly comforted her and asked her why she didn't wear new clothes.

Doudou lowered his head and spoke embarrassedly.

"Brother, I overheard Aunt Sun and the others talking and saying, 'Brother, you are too good to me and don't know how to save money. I'm afraid you won't be able to find a wife in the future.'"

"Brother, I don't need to wear new clothes. You should save more money and marry a good wife. Okay?"

After saying that, he looked up at Zhang Minghui innocently.

Zhang Minghui felt a little amused and a little touched. These gossipers were always talking nonsense every day, either gossiping about the Dong family or the Li family. They never stopped.

However, it is not a good thing for a little kid to have so many worries. Only when he grows up happily can he have a happy and fulfilling childhood.

The two have been together for so long, Zhang Minghui knows that Doudou is sensitive, delicate, and seriously lacks a sense of security.

So he held Doudou in his arms, gently stroked Doudou's hair, and spoke softly.

"Doudou, you are my sister, and I will take care of you for the rest of your life. Don't worry too much, I will take good care of you. The girls in the courtyard are all jealous of you, and they are all jealous of others doing well."

Doudou leaned comfortably in Zhang Minghui's arms.

asked curiously.

"Brother, what is jealousy!"

Zhang Minghui was afraid that Doudou didn’t understand, so he used new clothes as an example.

"Doudou, you have new clothes, but their children don't. Do you think their children will envy you?"

Doudou smiled and spoke happily.

"Brother, they always stare at my new clothes. Aren't they just jealous?"

"Right, so they all envy you and say bad things about you."

"So don't worry about what they say. Write down what they say and come back to teach them to me. I will then tell you what's going on.

"OK."

Doudou said happily.

"Okay, brother."

The brother and sister were chatting happily when Xu Damao suddenly opened the door curtain and came in from outside.

He sat on the kang, without saying a word, but with a smile on his face and his eyes rolling around, waiting for Zhang Minghui to ask questions.

Zhang Minghui would not indulge him. After getting familiar with Xu Damao, he discovered that Xu Damao's dog stomach could not hide two taels of sesame oil.

The more you ask, the more he will complain. If you don't ask, you will have the upper hand over him and he will not be able to help but tell the truth.

Especially now that the neighbors in the courtyard don't pay much attention to him, Xu Damao can only come to Zhang Minghui's house to chat with him when he has nothing to do.

Seeing Zhang Minghui only chatting with Doudou, Xu Damao couldn't hold it in any longer and started talking helplessly.

"Minghui, I saw Qin Huairu going to Shazhu's house every day to help clean the house and do laundry these days."

"I heard that it was the uncle who told them to help each other. Since Sha Zhu's family doesn't have a woman, Qin Huairu was asked to help tidy up."