Picking mulberries

"...If you really need any excuses, 1 is not enough. If I knew you took this relationship too seriously, I would never let you go. If you really need any excuses, 1 is not enough , I knew that I couldn’t let go of this feeling, and I didn’t say anything to let myself go...” Zhuang Huaying rode an electric car in high spirits, humming all the way from Longgong Street.

Seeing that he was about to enter the village, Zhuang Huaying slowed down the speed of the car.Just after turning around a house, I ran into Zhuang Haixia head-on.

"I heard you singing from afar, did you find a treasure on the way?" Zhuang Haixia raised her hand to stop Zhuang Huaying.

"I didn't find the treasure on the way, so I went to the post office on the street to pick up the treasure." Zhuang Huaying grinned.

"I'm going to collect the manuscript fee from the scholar brother again. Seeing how excited you are, it must be tens of thousands." Zhuang Haixia teased.

"How can there be so much?" Zhuang Huaying still couldn't contain her excitement, "150 yuan is a lot, and the remuneration of "Qingyuan Daily" has increased significantly compared to last year. The prose page published by my husband was only [-] yuan last year. The remuneration..."

"It's gone up quite a bit," Zhuang Haixia interrupted Zhuang Huaying, and pointed to the front, "A guest came to your house, and I don't know the way. I just asked me where your house is. It's right in front. It shouldn't be there yet." Come on, hurry over and have a look."

"Really, who is it?" Zhuang Huaying started the car while talking.

"It should be Song Jiping from the Little Hulu Song family," Zhuang Haixia chased after him, "and a young and beautiful girl with her."

Although the village was not planned and the houses were built in a mess without order, the roads in the village were relatively wide, and there was no danger for Zhuang Huaying's car to speed up.After turning around two or three alleys, Zhuang Huaying caught up with Song Jiping and his daughter.

"Brother Jiping, you are coming to my house." Zhuang Huaying honked the horn twice from behind, and rushed to stop in front of Song Jiping and his daughter.

"Oh ho," Song Jiping stopped, "It's such a coincidence, I met you here, and I'm going to visit your house. The changes are too big, the house has changed, and I don't know the way." The daughter next to her said, "Nianping, quickly call Auntie, this is your brother Qiu Yang's mother."

"Hello, Auntie." Song Nianping greeted her generously.

"Ai yo ai yo, well, well," Zhuang Huaying looked up and down, "It's really beautiful, like a fairy, Brother Kiping is so lucky to have such a beautiful daughter."

"Blessing is a blessing, but when a girl grows up, she also has the heart of not doing enough," Song Jiping said with a smile, "Is Jingping at home?"

"Here we are," Zhuang Huaying, who was pushing the electric scooter, saw that their father and daughter were carrying a lot of big bags and small bags, so she said shyly, "The folks in the village, and the brotherhood of Jingping and my family since childhood, come to the door It’s better to be casual when you walk around, and it’s more common to carry so many things. How can we be ashamed to spend so much money.” But I was thinking in my heart, if you father and daughter come to the door like this, you are not afraid of others laughing at you for degrading your own daughter. Proposals are all about the man running away from the woman's house and breaking his hamstring. It's good for you, but instead of talking about it, you even brought your daughter to the door. Are you going to pay back.But then again, this girl is very eye-catching, she looks good and has a good temperament, Song Yujiao is right, she matches my boy, they are a perfect match, they are really a beautiful couple.

"It's nothing expensive, it's just something Jing Ping and Qiu Yang like to eat, so it doesn't cost much."

"It's such a big bag and a small bag, I dare not say that I usually move around more." Zhuang Huaying looked at the things carried by their father and daughter, and became suspicious. A Yang has been to your house many times in the city. It’s not surprising to know what he usually likes to eat. My husband and I haven’t been in touch for many years. How could I know that my husband likes to eat ham.

"My brother and sister said that, but I remembered it. It's been several years since we met in the city last time," Song Jiping sighed, "Look, we haven't seen each other for a few years, and our children are already this old."

"Who's to say no," Zhuang Huaying nodded, "You said my kid was used to carrying his ears since he was a child, and he didn't realize it, but now he can't reach it if he wants to, and soon..." Seeing Song Nianping look at him with a smile on his eyes Looking at herself, Zhuang Huaying realized that she had slipped her mouth and stopped quickly.

"Auntie, did Brother Ayang often have his ears picked by you when he was a child?" Song Nianping asked curiously.

"Heh..., the country kids are very wild, who hasn't been raised since childhood." Zhuang Huaying said with a smile.

"Brother Ayang gives people the image of an obedient kid. I didn't expect that he was beaten when he was a child." Song Nianping couldn't help laughing.

"You child, how do you talk? You think you were never beaten when you were young." Song Jiping scolded with a smile.

"Don't look at my boy who looks harmless to humans and animals. It's all an illusion. He was mischievous when he was a child. If he doesn't get beaten for a day, his skin will itch." Anyway, my son won't call you, and he won't be afraid to tell you the truth. What do you think, it is better to give up early.

"Boys are all naughty," Song Jiping said, "Look at Qiu Yang, how sunny and healthy he is now, and he has a good tutor. You and Jingping have a good education."

"Brother Ji Ping loves him too much," Zhuang Huaying suddenly thought of something, "Ji Ping...Jing Ping...Nian Ping, what a coincidence, why do you all share the same name?"

"It's true that Jingping and I have the same word, but the screen that reads the screen just happens to have the same pronunciation." Song Jiping smiled awkwardly.

"Auntie, my name is the screen of the phone screen." Song Nianping explained.

"Oh, let me just say, it's impossible for father and daughter to have heavy characters in their names." Zhuang Huaying laughed.

While talking, the three of them arrived at the gate of the courtyard.

Zhuang Huaying pushed the cart into the yard in front, and shouted to the study upstairs: "Husband, your best buddy is here, come down quickly."

"Which iron buddy?" Qiu Jingping looked out from the window on the second floor, "Oh, Brother Song is here, rare visitor."

"It wasn't a rare visitor before," Zhou Guimei came out from the kitchen in the west wing. "When I was studying, I came here very often, just like my Jingping and my brothers." Song Jiping hurried forward to call Zhou Guimei. looking at aunt.While conversing with Zhou Guimei, Song Jiping looked around Qiu Jingping's house.

It can be seen from the newness and oldness of the house that the Qiu family's house has just been remodeled, and the exterior wall paint of the east wing and west wing are newly painted.The whole courtyard is a bit like a courtyard house. The three-story main building faces north-south. The roof is covered with gray-black glazed tiles. With tile eaves floating, it looks a bit quaint on the whole, with a retro style.A large stainless steel water tank is welded to several steel columns on the glazed tiles on the north side of the top floor, which is visually abrupt.The wing rooms on the east and west sides are nearly 20 meters long from north to south, and they are all one-story flat-roofed rooms. For heat insulation, the roofs are also covered with gray-black glazed tiles.The floor of the wing room was protruded out by more than one meter, so that there was a corridor in front of the wing room.

The east wing was divided into two rooms, the doors were closed tightly, and a few discarded mushroom seed sticks were scattered on the corridor in the front. Song Jiping guessed that the east wing must be a mushroom room.In the room at the back near the main building, there are several clusters of lattices leaning against the door, which can be seen at a glance as the silkworm room.The structure of the West Wing is the same as that of the East Wing, but there are three doors, all of which are open.The one next to the main building is the kitchen. Song Jiping is close enough to see the stove inside. There is a back door on the west wall of the kitchen. Song Jiping took a glance and saw rows of green vegetables in the vegetable garden behind.From the middle room came the sound of pigs arching a wooden trough, and there were a few chickens coming in and out looking for food. Song Jiping knew that it was a pigsty and a chicken coop.The one near the outermost part of the yard has the smallest area, and there are bamboo baskets and several bamboo baskets scattered outside the door, which should be a utility room for farm tools.

The east and west wing rooms are nearly 20 meters long, the main building is more than ten meters wide, and there is still a gap of more than two meters between the main building and the wing rooms, resulting in a very large courtyard of the Qiu family.The ground of the courtyard is paved with bluestone slabs, the dark green is shining with wax, which looks very simple.An orange and a pomelo plant were planted in the corridor between the east wing and the main building, and two pomegranate trees were planted in the corridor between the west wing and the main building. On the long stone bench, there are rows of potted orchids.There is a marble round table and four stone drum benches in the northwest corner of the yard. In the northeast corner, there is a well near the kitchen, and a manual water pump is installed on the well cover.On the north side of the well is a stone chopping board with a width of more than one meter and a length of three to four meters, on which there are several kitchen utensils such as bamboo baskets and grates.On the south side of the well, there are laundry pools and clean water pools for washing rice and vegetables.

The slate floor paved in the whole courtyard is generally slightly higher in the southeast and slightly lower in the northwest. If it rains, the rainwater will flow to the sewer on the side of the well, pass through the dark ditch under the corridor between the west wing and the main building, and flow to the back of the west wing. vegetable garden.Song Jiping was also from the countryside, and he had never seen such a design in Qiu Jingping's house. It was practical, simple and elegant, whether it was the ratio of the main building to the side rooms or the layout of the courtyard, they were all ingenious and unique, and he couldn't help admiring them.

"Master Song came to the humble house. I am sorry to welcome you. Forgive me." Qiu Jingping who came down from upstairs joked and extended his hand.

"Stop pouring vinegar and chewing hawthorn with me. We grew up wearing a pair of pants. Who doesn't know who? I'm making fun of you Song Ge." Song Jiping didn't shake hands, but a very intimate gesture. Slapping Qiu Jingping's hand away, and looking around the entire courtyard, Song Jiping sighed, "Brother Ping, if your house is considered a humble house, then the place where I live is not even a pigeon tube."

"Oh, it's bigger than your city dwellers. My mother and I are busy going around every day, and it's still messy and dirty. Hygiene is so difficult." Zhuang Huaying laughed.

"What about Jingdong, is the house built next to it?" Song Jiping asked.

"No, I moved to the front of the village a long time ago," Qiu Jingping pointed to the front yard, "I expanded on the site of the old ancestral house. Since the flood in [-], the villagers have rebuilt the house to the village. Go, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get such a big place when I expand the house."

"No wonder, not to mention the area occupied by the main building and wing rooms, there is still a large vegetable garden behind you," Song Jiping shook his head repeatedly, "If you put it in the past, you are considered a wealthy landlord."

"There is a fruit forest behind the east wing," Zhou Guimei saw a hen licking shit not far in front of Song Nianping, pointed to the aisle between the main building and the east wing and said with a smile, "Go in from there, it's very open. Usually released early in the morning, these flat-haired beasts go to the woods, and this guy came back to lay eggs." After speaking, he yelled, and the hen was scared and clucked and ran towards the aisle of the east wing.

"It's unbelievable. There is an orchard next to the house. It seems that our country has to fight the local tyrants to divide the land again."

"It's an orchard, but I didn't plant a few kinds of fruit trees. It's not big. It's just a place for chickens to plan and eat. The front of the village has a wide view, and it's close to the street. The people in the village who haven't moved forward are either lonely old people or working outside all year round. Those who don’t come back, the abandoned foundation next to me is also deserted, and when I bought it, they were half sold and half given away.” Qiu Jingping gestured with his hand, “Don’t stand outside, it’s cool inside, come in quickly sit."

As soon as you enter the living room of the main building, you will be greeted by a large central hall. On the wall is a picture of Songhe Yannian in a mahogany frame with a glass surface. On the table in the central hall, there are vases, clocks, and hang-embroidered mirrors from east to west.There are two thick chairs on both sides of the Eight Immortals Table under the table. There are doors on the left and right sides of the middle hall. Behind the door is a room to the east and stairs to the west.To the east of the living room is a tea table, to the west is a TV counter, and a small TV is hung on the wall.The floor of the living room is still paved with bluestone slabs, but it is much smoother than that in the yard.

Song Jiping carefully looked at the layout of the living room, marveled at the same time, and kept praising Qiu Jingping for being educated and able to live.Song Nianping, on the other hand, was not too impressed with these arrangements, and looked around without interest.Seeing that his father and others were intoxicated in talking about the past and the present, he said to Zhuang Huaying who had been standing behind Qiu Jingping stupidly: "Auntie, which floor is Brother Ayang's room on? Can I go in and have a look?"

"Ah?" Zhuang Huaying was startled, but before she could react, she turned her eyes to her husband.

"Xiao Song is going to visit A ​​Yang's room, you can take her up there." Qiu Jingping said to his wife.

"That's right, Ayang's room has Internet access and a lot of books. Go up there," Zhuang Huaying said to Song Nianping, "The room is unlocked, it's the west room on the second floor. It's more convenient for you to go up by yourself, okay? Help out in the kitchen."

"Okay, thank you, auntie." Qiu Nianping hurried upstairs cheerfully.

"You live like this, no wonder you are still the same. Although I live in the city and don't have to do farm work, I am still much older than you." Song Jiping sighed.

"It doesn't look the same, it's old." Qiu Jingping said with a smile.

"Who said that, look at you, none of your hair is white, and your face is still as delicate as before." Song Jiping couldn't help touching Qiu Jingping's head as he spoke.Zhuang Huaying felt a little surprised by this abrupt move, but she was relieved when she thought that they were close friends before.

"You're scolding me. I'm 42 this year. I'm afraid I'll laugh when I hear that you're delicate." Qiu Jingping tilted his head unnaturally and avoided it.

Song Ji was tied, a little embarrassed: "Yes, yes, time flies, you are already past forty."