Deep in the bamboo forest is my home

On the day of the Beginning of Autumn, Mu Sheng rode his horse to the small courtyard of the He family alone, and pushed open the concealed courtyard door. In the courtyard, the rooster led the hens to patrol the territory in circles, and saw strangers clucking twice in demonstration, flapping their wings, and swaggering go away.

The front yard is not big, and there are flowers and plants planted on the yard wall. It looks simple, but it adds a lot of vitality to the small yard. Next to the three big houses, there is a small round arch leading to the backyard.The little brother of the He family was sitting at the entrance of the main room, threading a needle with one hand and holding a piece of clothing with the other.

The warm sunshine shone on the side of the little brother's face, and the long eyelashes cast a faint shadow.I saw the little brother frowned, picked up the clothes and looked around, gritted his teeth, picked up the scissors, scissors down, put aside the lumps of needlework, took out a few pieces of cloth from the basket by his feet, and compared the colors one by one , I chose a similar piece, put the cloth piece inside the clothes, re-threaded the needle, and sewed it thinly.

Leaning against the door, Mu Sheng watched as the little brother of the He family dug a small hole the size of a finger into a big hole the size of two fingers by sewing, mending, cutting, and tearing it apart. .

The corners of the mouth were curved, even Mu Sheng himself didn't realize that the curved arc was so gentle, and there was nothing else in his dark eyes except for the little brother of the He family.

"This is the only way to do it here." Bending over, putting one hand on the back of Brother He's hand, and guiding the wire through the clothes with the other hand.

He Xiaohua bit her lip, and followed Mu Sheng's guidance, one stitch at a time. In just a moment, holes were sewn on the thin cloth, and the stitches were tight and sparse at times, which made her feel uncomfortable.He Xiaohua was dissatisfied looking at the two obviously different colors, "How is this different from what I made myself?"

"It looks good." Mu Sheng withdrew his right hand and hid it behind his back. His thumb and forefinger rubbed against each other. He was pricked a few times with a thin needle just now, and he felt a faint pain.

"I thought you could at least embroider a flower, or a piece of grass." He Xiaohua turned her head and glared at Mu Sheng, "Why are there still two pieces of cloth put together?"

Mu Sheng was at a loss for words, how did he put his hand up just now, maybe he didn't want to see Brother He frowning, maybe he was attracted by those white, tender and slender fingers for a moment, and he was so fascinated that he actually...

Coughing in a low voice, half covering his face with his sleeves, avoiding Brother He's eyes, "I, I'm not a brother, how can I do such embroidery work."

"If you don't know how to do it, don't put too much hands on it." He Xiaohua held the clothes in her hands, wondering whether to cut them up and do it again, or just forget about it. Anyway, if you don't go out, it doesn't matter what you wear.

"You don't have any other clothes? Why are you wearing these... old clothes?" Mu Sheng glanced down, at the upturned part, his eyes froze, and he quickly looked elsewhere, but his nose was itchy.

He Xiaohua bit her lip, "Why are you here?" You can't say that your grandma hides all the new clothes, let alone that the coats she sewed are all one color connected to another. "Father and elder brother are off to the fields, second elder brother is at Mr. Wen's, and grandma is at the pond."

"Yeah." Mu Sheng had nothing to say, his eyes looked straight at the corner of the wall, as if he could see a flower. "Brother He's family," you haven't come here with your father to deliver chickens for a long time, it's hard to say, Mu Sheng thought about it, "What do you grow in your pond?"

"My name is He Xiaohua." When He Xiaohua announced her name, He Xiaohua felt a little strange, it seemed to be a kind of recognition, but it also seemed to be a kind of compromise. "In the pond..." Mentioning this, He Xiaohua revived, pointing to the small bench by the wall and beckoning Mu Sheng to move over and sit down.

Mu Sheng looked at the wooden board and the two-legged bench by the wall, hesitated for a while, and then looked at the ground, although it was cleaned very cleanly, but...

"Sit down."

Mu Sheng had no choice but to slowly pick up the bench and sit down.The small bench is just right for He Xiaohua's height to sit on, but Mu Sheng has to bend his long legs, which is unsightly, and it's uncomfortable to bend to one side. The ground was stained with a layer of light gray.She wanted to stand up and talk, but standing by herself, He Xiaohua had to raise her head to speak.Mu Sheng simply lifted up the hem of his clothes and sat directly on the ground, just looking at He Xiaohua's level.

"That pond raises fish and grows lotus roots." He Xiaohua paused intentionally, looked at Mu Sheng, and was disappointed to see that his face remained unchanged. "Lotus root is a kind of rhizome..." Barabara gave a long introduction.

"Sounds good, but no one has eaten lotus root, and there are many risks for restaurants to introduce new dishes."

"How come no one has eaten it. Everyone in the village ate it on the day of Xiao Sibai, lotus heart tea, lotus seed porridge..." Counting, He Xiaohua suddenly felt that she had overlooked something, yes.small four.

Yang Yan'er coaxed Xiao Si to sleep before going out. The little guy slept for a long time, why didn't he hear the sound of him getting up.He Xiaohua quickly ran out of the main room.

In Yang Yan'er's room, He Xiaosi opened his big round eyes, danced with his hands and feet, turned himself over, and back again, moving towards the bed like a little turtle.

"Why didn't you yell when you woke up?" He Xiaohua patted Xiaosi's buttocks guiltily, touched the piece of cloth covering his buttocks, it was done.Put on the coat and trousers for Xiao Si, and carry him out of the main room.Spread an old mat on the floor of the main room, and put Xiao Si on it.

Xiao Si babbled and yelled, her saliva stuck to Xiao Hua's clothes, her hands and feet were entwined with Xiao Hua, but she refused to lie down on the mat, buried her head in Xiao Hua's arms, secretly glanced at Mu Sheng, and immediately hid back, taking advantage of Xiao Hua's fiddling with her. When he was on his hands and feet, he poked his head out again, saw Mu Sheng looking at him, and immediately shrank back into Xiaohua's arms.

"Xiao Hua, let me hug Xiao Si." He stretched out his hand to hug Xiao Si in Xiao Hua's arms, Xiao Si shrank his head, babbling and tugging on Xiao Hua's clothes, not letting go.He Xiaohua coaxed a few words, patted her little butt, and stuffed Xiaosi's hands and feet into Mu Sheng's arms.

Holding Xiao Si in his arms, listening to Xiao Hua coaxing Xiao Si to be obedient, Mu Sheng felt that such a family of three seemed pretty good.However, Mu Sheng looked at Xiao Hua who stood up only at his waist, his eyes became dark.The younger brother promised to marry at the age of ten and consummated the house at the age of 14.I have to wait for many years.

"Xiaohua, are you seven years old?"

"That's right." He Xiaohua was puzzled when Mu Sheng suddenly asked her age.

There are three more years, at least three years.Mu Sheng hugged Xiao Si and sat on the ground again.Mu Sheng has seen a lot of things about the kid and the little brother in Mu's house.The younger brother who is next to the young master of the rich family is often the person in the house in the future.The elders acquiesce, and the youngsters are playful.In the past, Mu Sheng, who was the grandson of Mu's parents, had many younger brothers like him. Even now, the Ziyun beside him was specially found for him by Ah Mo.

However, no matter the younger brother served by a big family, or the brothers and young masters from those big families, Mu Sheng always feels that getting along with them is like being separated by a layer of veil, and he can't see his true face and true temperament clearly.Others like the smoky green lake, but he, Mu Sheng, only loves the crystal clear stream, even if it is longer than the countryside.

"Hey, I'm talking." Five white and tender fingers waved in front of his eyes, Mu Sheng stretched out his hand to grab it, but retracted his fingers suddenly, Mu Sheng secretly cried out what a pity.

He Xiaohua puffed her face, "Whether it's going to happen or not, you can give me an accurate answer. The harvest period of lotus root is at the end of autumn and early winter. If you feel worried, then we can find another buyer."

"can."

He Xiaohua had prepared a stomach full of words, but was drowned out.Rubbing his ears in disbelief, "You agreed."

Mu Sheng thought about what he promised, but unfortunately, he really didn't hear what He Xiaohua said just now. "Well, I agreed. The He family will provide a batch of lotus roots, lotus seeds and dishes for free first. The restaurant will hold a three-day tasting. According to the results, the purchase price of the lotus roots will be negotiated."

He Xiaohua secretly scolded a profiteer, but could only nod her head in agreement. "The lotus roots are harvested, I'll ask Dad to send ten to the restaurant first, as for the dishes..."

"I'll send a carriage to pick you up." Seeing He Xiaohua looking down at her clothes, Mu Sheng immediately took the words.Sure enough, He Xiaohua nodded immediately.

After the matter was finished, Mu Sheng still didn't want to leave, "Have you ever been to school?"

He Xiaohua patted Xiao Si's buttocks, signaling him not to do too much, Xiao Si was bored in Mu Sheng's arms, and began to break the embroidery thread on Mu Sheng's clothes with his small hands.He Xiaohua heard Mu Sheng's question, hesitated for a moment, shook her head, "Second brother taught me."

Mu Sheng wrote a rare character on the ground with his fingers, and looked up at He Xiaohua.

"birth"

"Yeah." That's right, birth is the last new word in "Mengtong Preschool".

Mu Sheng picked a sentence from "Husband Learning" and asked He Xiaohua what it meant.He Xiaohua thought for a while, then shook her head.

Mu Sheng chose a sentence from "Knowledge" instead, this time He Xiaohua knew it, and recited what He Xiaohu had taught him.

"Husband Learning" is a book for the big family to teach unmarried brothers, and "Knowledge" is the basis for the boy to take the children's entrance examination.With three questions, Mu Sheng had a general understanding of He Xiaohua's knowledge structure.

Mu Sheng asked about composing poems, couplets, etc. He Xiaohua shook his head.

Mu Sheng wrote a few more new characters on the ground for He Xiaohua to recognize each one and explain the meaning.One asked, the other answered, the two of them were talking, and even when the sun was setting in the west, they still felt unfinished.

Seeing that it was getting late, Mu Sheng handed Xiao Si, who was yawning in his arms, to Xiao Hua, "Next time I will bring you some scripture books. When I was in school, my husband asked me to read them. There are some short stories in it, which are very funny and interesting." , and can remember rare words.”

He Xiaohua nodded repeatedly.Dong Mu's family is better than the second brother's. He teaches to recognize characters and even explains the meaning clearly, which is much better than the half-baked second brother.

Saying goodbye to He Xiaohua, Mu Sheng rode his horse along the mountain road and ran to the top of Zhushan Mountain. Not far away was his own bamboo forest. Looking down from the top of Zhushan Mountain, Mu Sheng recognized He's small courtyard among the gray tile houses in Nanhe Village.

Where the heart is, where the home is.

"Young master, young master. It's windy here, young master, Ziyun will make you a cloak."

Mu Sheng pulled the horse rope, turned the horse's head, and looked at Ziyun who was running over.Panting, Ziyun ran forward, with a long cloak on her arm, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Ziyun, you are not young, and you have served me for many years. You have a boy you like. If not, I will go and tell Ah Mo, please find a good family for you, and marry me."

Ziyun opened his mouth wide with disbelief on his face. Seeing that Mu Sheng was about to ride away, he rushed forward in a panic and grabbed the horse's reins, "Master, master, if Ziyun doesn't marry, Ziyun will stay with you."

Mu Sheng opened Ziyun's fingers, "Since there is no one, I'll ask Ah Mo to find a good one for you."