this growth

Granny Zhu, who had already left with Du Yuhan, abducted her back secretly, and stood at the door without approaching. She said to the girl in the yard who was looking at Xinglang—"There is something I need to tell you. .”

"No one else knows about this, so I will tell you alone."

Trying to keep her loud voice down, Grandma Zhu said as softly as possible: "Your apricot tree is different from ordinary apricot trees. Hey, what should I say?"

"When my daughter-in-law asked me to find Xinglang for you, I first searched for Xinglang on our apricot tree. You little dolls probably don't know how to hire Xinglang. It is the hair of the little doll who is about to hire Xinglang. Burn it into ashes, mix it with water and pour it on the roots of your own apricot tree. After seven days, the first new branch that sprouts will be the Xinglang sent by the apricot tree. This is the so-called selection of branches. The ancient method Everyone was reluctant to use the baby's blood, but later improved it and became the current method. But now this method is also easy to use, Zixuan and Du Nan's Xinglang are all found in this way."

"But..." At this point, Grandma Zhu scratched her head: "You didn't find your Xinglang tree from our tree in the end."

"Use this method to invite two times on our tree, but there are no new branches sprouting. Let me tell you first! It's not that you have no relationship with our apricot tree! It's probably because our apricot tree doesn't have enough mana to give it to a little baby like Du Nan. It’s okay to grow a small branch, but it’s impossible to grow a big branch for a big baby like you. Originally, we didn’t have an example of asking Xinglang for such a big baby…”

That's right, the nearby ten miles and eight townships are all farming families. Who would take a child from outside to raise their own?Still this big?

Dang Gui thought of the question that Grandma Zhu hadn't even thought about, turned his head, and listened quietly to Grandma Zhu's continuation.

"The two times lasted for fourteen days, and I didn't invite Xinglang for half a month. I was afraid of delaying your use, so I was so anxious to think of a way that my mouth was bubbling when I thought about it. Then, I remembered that tree."

"That tree?" The girl looked at her with big black eyes.

For some reason, Granny Zhu suddenly remembered the time when she went to invite Xinglang under that tree.

Obviously one is a person and the other is a tree, but they give her the feeling that they are very similar...

Maybe this is a natural fate?

Thinking of this, Grandma Zhu suddenly felt that there was no hesitation in her heart anymore. She was originally a refreshing person, but now once she figured it out, she became refreshing again—"That tree is quite old, it's on the hillside of our Tutou Village. Inside, there are no other trees there, only his tree, which is very strong, and we liked to play there very much when we were young!"

"Zixuan also went there to play when he was a child." She added.

"The trees that can invite Xinglang are basically in the yards of people in the village, only he grows outside."

"Actually, he also grew up in someone else's house."

"That was a long, long time ago. I heard what my dad said, and my dad listened to his dad."

"They said that the tree was originally an apricot man, and the place where he grows was originally a family. It was a hunter in our village. Because he wanted to hunt in the mountains, he lived far away from other people's homes."

"But even so, their family members are very good, and their relationship with the villagers is also very good."

"My dad's dad said it was a good family."

"Then they gave birth to a child, and they had Xinglang. The child was taken care of by Xinglang, and the family lived well."

"Until one day, their doll was lost. I don't know how it was lost. They and Xinglang searched for it for a long time but couldn't find it."

"I've been looking for it for a long time..." Grandma Zhu shook her head.

"Then, because they were too sad, their husband fell ill. It didn't take long for them to die. Only the mistress was left in the house. Not long after that, when they went hunting on the mountain, they fell down the mountain and died."

"It's a good family, and it's just like this."

"The Xinglang of their family also disappeared later. No one knew where he went. At first, people guessed that he probably went to the mountains. There was no concern in the world, and he became a tree again."

"Who knows—" "Suddenly one day, he came back."

"It grew in the yard before their house. He didn't come back alone."

"When they found him, people were scared to death. His trunk was full of blood! There were several dead people hanging from the treetops. They were real dead people! They were strangled to death by branches wrapped around their necks. All of them looked miserable. There are men and women, not from the village, but from outside!"

"Later, people from the government came to check and said that these people were all traffickers."

"People suddenly figured it out: it turned out that Xinglang didn't go to the mountains before he disappeared, but went outside. He must have seen something. Maybe the doll he raised was taken away by these traffickers. I went outside to look for them, found them one by one, killed them all, and came home after killing them all."

When Grandma Zhu said this, she stopped, her expression was a little downcast, but she soon cheered up again.

"People from the government said the tree was weird and asked people from our village to cut it down, but what's wrong with Xinglang?"

"He just lost the baby."

"Anyway, no one chopped it down, so it has been growing there. People at that time were all dead, but he is still growing there."

Grandma Zhu finished telling the story, and then looked at the girl.

"Danggui, when I tell you this story, I just want to tell you that this apricot tree was invited from that tree. At that time, I didn't invite Xinglang after half a month. Other people's apricot tree It's similar to the apricot tree in my house, I think it's useless to ask for it..."

"It's strange to say that at that time, I somehow remembered that Xinglang tree came and ran over in the middle of the night carrying the water that burned your hair. You didn't know it. When my old man thought it was strange and chased me, he said that he was about to be killed. I'm scared to death."

"But at that time, I felt that other apricot trees were not good, but this apricot tree must be good."

"And then, sure enough—" "Seven days later, he sprouted."

Grandma Zhu pointed to Xinglang standing in front of Dang Gui: "That's him."

"It's thick and strong. It looks like it was born for you. That's the only tree that can grow such a big Xinglang. Compared with him, other trees in our village are too thin and don't grow at all. No such thick branches!"

"I think you are destined."

"But even though I feel so in my heart, I still feel that I should tell you. After all, Xinglang's background is a bit different. I always feel that I should tell you. If you feel scared, you dare not ask him..." Grandma Zhu was talking, was interrupted.

"I want him." The girl with a pair of dark eyes suddenly said, and then she saw her smile: "Grandma, thank you."

"I like him, and I like this Xinglang tree." Hugging Xinglang who was taller than her in front of her, the girl turned her face and smiled at her happily.

It seems... It was the first time she called her grandma, what did she call her before?Grandma Zhu is a rough person, she thought about it for a while, and she quickly stopped thinking about it.

With a grinning "hey", she left again.

So, only Angelica and his Xinglang were left in the yard.

He carefully looked at Xinglang in front of him.

Different from Du Nan's little Xinglang, the Xinglang in front of him is taller than any Xinglang he has ever seen in the village, with a slender tree body, lush branches on top of his head covered with green leaves, and under his "feet" The roots are also densely packed and extremely well developed.

The white hands gently stroked Xinglang's slightly rough branches, and he gently pressed his head against him.

Then he started to work diligently, dug a deep hole next to the big tree in the yard, and planted his own apricot, right next to Du Nan's little apricot who was resting.

"You two should get along well." He said in his mouth, and touched the small bare crown of Xiao Xinglang with the long branches of his own Xinglang.

Then, he smiled and ran towards the East Wing where Zhu Zixuan and Du Nan were, with light steps.

***

"Father, I like my Xinglang very much!" he said loudly.

Zhu Zixuan was taken aback by him - this child had never spoken with such a loud voice before, and then he laughed again at the word "father" in his mouth.

"As long as you like it." He replied very loudly.

It seemed something was different——Du Nan, who was sitting alone on the kang playing with cloth hair, thought, when he saw Danggui finished speaking, he walked over, took off his shoes and got on the kang, hugging himself from behind familiarly.

In the past, when there were adults around, he would definitely not be able to do such a thing, but now he did it, and he did it very naturally.

Agong Zhu next to him covered his mouth and smiled.

The two of them are now sitting on the kang in the inner room of the west wing, with several sets of clothes spread out beside them, all of which are crane skirts. It seems that they belong to the grandparents of the Zhu family and the younger sister Zhu.

They were briefly interrupted, seeing that Dang Gui sat down, the two of them continued the previous topic: "...It is said that the master of Miaoling Palace wore them all, and that's how I got the reward from the master of the house. For those rewards, I... ...My mother-in-law let me keep it myself!" Zhu Zixuan flaunted.

"You said it's fine if you make clothes for us, how can you return the Lingshi? It is said that the thing is very valuable. I will ask your sister to bring it back to you in a while, and let her learn a lot. Don't..." Zhu Grandpa said angrily.

"If you don't want our wooden kite, you still want it. Yuhan said that the bad flying of our wooden kite may not be due to aging, but because there are no spirit stones."

"No spirit stones?" Zhu Agong asked curiously, "This wooden kite still needs spirit stones?"

"That's not it, I only knew it from Yuhan, and Yuhan happened to hear a colleague talk about it when she went to work in Zhenshou Pavilion, and then I knew that the wooden kite could fly by relying on spirit stones." Zhu Zixuan Said: "Speaking of which, it was Yuhan's idea to ask me to prepare some spirit stones for the family. If you want it, go and talk to her."

Hearing his son showing affection in front of him again, the smile on Grandpa Zhu's face became even wider: "You, although you are not very capable, but your ability to find a wife is second to none."

"That's right." Instead of being annoyed, Zhu Zixuan became elated.

Zhu Xiaomei rushed in at this time. She was so excited that she rushed in directly, and said to her brother and father while running: "Daddy! Brother! Our wooden kite is flying again! Go and see ! It's flying again!"

Agong Zhu and Zhu Zixuan put down the cloth and went out of the house.

In the far sky, Grandma Zhu was flying on a wooden kite. The joy on her face was obvious. She flew up on the wooden kite for a while, and then flew down again. It took a long time before she landed because she landed outside. She walked for a while before returning to Du's house.

"Happy! I'm so happy. Our old wooden kite has been used for a long time, and it's getting worse and worse. I'm not worried that it will be inconvenient to travel in the future, but I just can't bear it! I really can't bear it..."

"It's great, it's flying well again, it's great!" After saying "great" three times in a row, Grandma Zhu laughed, and took the hand of Grandpa Zhu who was standing aside: "Let's go! Let's go!" Go out and have a drink!"

Grandpa Zhu immediately left behind his daughter and son, and followed his wife away with a smile.

Instead, Zhu Zixuan shrugged, holding his little sister with one hand and Angelica who was hugging Du Nan with the other: "Come on, let's go out and eat something delicious. Today's chef is Da Niu's." My cousin, the chef of the biggest restaurant in town!"

In short, the Du family's banquet is both ostentatious and affordable, and the guests and hosts enjoy themselves.During the banquet, there was another happy event: Daniel's cousin gave birth!

After holding the spoon, just after eating and drinking, she, she, she started!Because she ate too much fat during pregnancy, she was originally born with difficulties, but she couldn't bear it. There were five stable women at the banquet!

↑

Wen Po from the five nearby villages also came to congratulate the Du family!

If it doesn't work, the doctors from the five villages are also there.

Bah, bah, bah——No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no matter how difficult the doll was, the five stable women brought out the doll, and the cries were so loud that it turned out to be a pair of rare twins!

Old Du's family is blessed!Look, it's because of the mobilization in Lao Du's house that the daughter-in-law of the village head's family actually gave birth to twins!The only pair of twins in the village for decades!

Immediately, the village chief carried the two little dolls to go over again under the big characters in the main room of the Du family, and named the two dolls "Feng" and "Ya" by the way.

Du Xiaofeng, Du Xiaoya——replaced Du Nan and became the youngest little doll in the village.

The laughing voices of the adults, the happy screaming voices of the children, and the childish cries of the smaller dolls... mixed together and vibrated from the small courtyard of the Du family.

The branches of the apricot trees and apricot trees in the trembling courtyard trembled, trembling, as if they were whispering.