The Little First Grand Secretary in My House

This article has a subscription ratio of ≥50% and can be read normally, otherwise it needs to be delayed for three days, and the supplement can be read immediately. The morning light is slightly bright, the sky is dawn, and most of the villagers in Yuqing Village get up very early.

Smoke is rising from the chimneys of many houses, and villagers in twos and threes are walking along the village paths, either carrying hoes or pulling cattle, and they are going to the fields at first glance.

It is the time of spring plowing, and the whole year's plan is spring. If you are lazy at this time, you will cry when harvesting grain in autumn.

Zhao'er woke up at exactly this hour and opened his eyes to find that the little man was still asleep.

Not long after she fell asleep last night, the little man got fever again and was busy for most of the night. Fortunately, the fever subsided by the middle of the night.

She sat up and raised her hand to touch the little man's forehead to make sure it was no longer hot, then she put on her clothes and got off the kang.

The first thing he did was to open the door. Heizi, who had been restless for a long time, slipped out in a snap. Zhao'er followed him out of the room and saw Heizi hurriedly running out of the hospital to pee, so he shook his head with a smile.

At this time, there were already people in the courtyard, including the third-bedroom Zhou family and their eldest daughter Xue Taoer.

Today it is the third room's turn to cook. The Xue family's rule is that in addition to the housework of each room, the work of the father-in-law is shared equally. One day per room, changing in rotation.

The room responsible for cooking is not only responsible for eating and drinking for the whole family, but also for serving the family's livestock. The Xue family raised two big fat pigs, and just serving these two ancestors every day was not an easy job. Not to mention feeding chickens, fetching water, and chopping firewood, so the female family members who do housework on this day do not have to work in the fields.

It seems fair and just, but in fact everyone inside knows.

The eldest aunt Yang claimed that her man was a child, and she was extraordinarily superior to others at home. After Xue Qingshan passed the exam, she never did housework again. The key is that Zhao is also facing her, so others can't question her too much.

At first, it was Xue Gouzi's mother Qiu who did it, but finally the third-bedroom wife Zhou came in, and the two sisters-in-law finally shared the responsibility. After that, Mrs. Qiu followed her deceased husband, leaving Mrs. Zhou alone. It wasn't until Mrs. Sun from the fourth room came in that she could take a breath again.

It's a pity that Mrs. Sun is a lazy and cunning person. In fact, Mrs. Zhou does most of the work.

In the past, when Mrs. Qiu was still alive, Zhao'er also helped Mrs. Qiu. Later, after Mrs. Qiu passed away, Zhao'er was busy with the housework of the second house, and had to work as a middle schooler. In addition, Zhao'er was still young at that time, so Mr. Xue told her to take good care of Xue Gouzi and not have to worry about Gongzhong's work.

Zhao'er now has some free time to mess around and get some money. However, she is a conscientious person and will help out as much as she can in her spare time. As for those who tried to bully her like Mrs. Sun, her sharp tongue was not forgiving.

Seeing Xue Tao'er struggling to fetch water from the well, Zhao'er rubbed his face and walked up to help her.

Thirteen-year-old Xue Taoer is like a little flower in bud. Although she is not very beautiful, she is still very delicate. Seeing Zhao'er coming to help her, she couldn't help but smile and talk to her: Sister Zhao'er, is the second brother feeling better? .

I had a fever again last night and got better in the second half of the night. Zhao'er looked around curiously and asked, Why isn't Third Uncle here?

Although Xue Qingbai was an honest and taciturn person, he always loved his wife and daughter. Jufan would get up early and fill up the water jar when cooking for the third room.

The Xue family has their own well, but the well is too deep, and there is no windlass installed on the well. It would be very tiring just relying on the strength of the daughter's family to draw water up. That is to say, Zhao'er was born as strong as an ox, and his strength was no worse than that of an ordinary strong man, so he could pull the bucket out of the deep well very easily.

My father went to the fields. He said he would work for a while and then return after breakfast.

Xue Qingbai is an honest farmer. Unlike other brothers in the family who have other skills, he only knows how to farm, so he concentrates on the ground. The Xue family has a total of more than 30 acres of land, and now they are planted by him, Mr. Xue, and the fourth son, Xue Qinghuai.

Although the women of the Xue family also go to the fields, that is during busy farming times. Besides, women only have so little strength, so what can they do to help? Fortunately, the three men of the Xue family are all good hands in the fields. They were really busy, so they paid to hire day laborers to help them for a few days, so they didn't have to worry about running out of work in the fields.

Just as he was talking, the door of the fourth room opened and Xue Qinghuai walked out.

The men in the Xue family are all tall, so Xue Qinghuai also inherited a tall body.

He has thick eyebrows, tiger eyes, and a high nose. He is dressed in dark blue coarse cloth and short brown clothes, and he looks very heroic. In fact, the men of the Xue family are not bad looking, but the women of the Xue family are a bit mediocre. However, all the grandchildren are well-born, and they are all top-notch in the village.

Zhao'er Tao'er, you got up so early. Xue Qinghuai strode over, took the bucket from Zhao'er's hand, walked to the water tank, and poured the water into the tank.

How can you two little girls do this kind of rough work? You go do other things, and your fourth uncle will come to fetch water.

Zhao'er and Tao'er didn't refuse either. One went to the kitchen to help their mother cook, while the other took a basin and scooped out water for washing.

As time passed, other members of the Xue family got up one after another, and there were more and more people in the yard. Over there in the kitchen, Mrs. Zhou called for dinner. Generally speaking, country people don't have to pay much attention to setting up a table when eating breakfast. They just put a bowl in a bowl and eat it wherever they want.

Breakfast is two-meter porridge. The so-called two-meter porridge is porridge made from two kinds of rice. Yuqing Village does not produce rice, but only crops such as wheat, sorghum, millet, and corn. Although farmers all grow wheat, they rarely use it for daily cooking. They always sell it and exchange it for other grains.

Even a wealthy family like the Xue family, who had a surplus of grain, did not eat refined grains every meal, but a mix of coarse grains and fine grains. For example, the two-meter porridge for breakfast today is porridge cooked with millet, that is, yellow rice, and sorghum rice.

Because it was a busy time of farming, it was cooked quite thickly. Although it was not able to hold up with chopsticks, it was still much better than the usual watery soup.

There is no way, the Xue family seems to have a good family background in the village, but the family supports three scholars. Not to mention Xue Gouzi, Guangdafang and his son spend a lot of money every month. It's no wonder that Zhao can usually pick out fleas and draw some blood.

Zhao'er filled two bowls of porridge, put a few corn tortillas on a coarse porcelain plate, put some pickles on the side, and carried them back to the second room.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Xue Gouzi sitting up from the kang.

She quickly put the wooden tray on the square table and came up to see him: But are you feeling better? Are you hungry? I'll bring you some porridge.

Xue Gouzi looked at her with complicated eyes.

After experiencing such a dream, he now didn't know how to face Zhao'er. Whenever he saw her, he couldn't help but think of him in the dream and the words he was scolded before he died. He also tried to find the cause of Zhao'er's death in his memory, but it seemed that that memory was Xue Tingyan's most unbearable past event, and he had no memory at all.

In fact, Xue Gouzi was in a daze after being burned last night. He thought about it for a long time. He couldn't figure out whether he was Xue Gouzi or Xue Tingyan now. Whether the dream was true or false, and whether he was thinking about something during the day and dreaming about it at night. , to have such a ridiculous dream.

But he also had an idea in mind. If everything in the dream was true, several things should happen in succession. If these things happened, it means that his dreams were true.

Thinking about something in his mind, he reached out to take the bowl, only to realize that he didn't even have the strength to hold it. Fortunately, Zhao'er had good eyesight and caught the bowl quickly, so it didn't spill all over him.

Xue Gouzi felt a little embarrassed and anxious. It was strange. He would not have reacted like this in front of Zhao'er before, but he didn't know if it was a dream or not, but his mentality had a strange change.

Zhao'er laughed at him: Why are you so polite to me? I forgot that when you were a child, you used to pee on the bed, and it was my sister who washed you.

Zhao'er came to Xue's house when he was seven years old, and Gouzi was only five years old at that time. It is very strange for a child to urinate on the bed. He has obviously not peed for a long time, and I don’t know if it is because he drank too much water before going to bed or something, but he peed on the bed.

Since Qiu gave birth to the dog, her health has been poor, and it was winter. In order to repay the kindness of her second wife, Zhao'er volunteered to wash the dog's urine-stained clothes, and started her career as a child bride.

What Xue Gouzi hates the most is Zhao'er. He always likes to say nonsense in front of him. You have to know that as you get older, boys are all worried about face, so how can you still be willing to listen to people mention such things, especially dogs who are overthinking and sensitive by nature. But today, for some reason, he didn't feel annoyed, only a little embarrassed.

He was surprised by his reaction, but Zhao'er had already scooped out porridge with a wooden spoon to feed him. He opened his mouth subconsciously, and when the porridge warmed by her blowing came into his mouth, he saw the smiling eyes of the other party.

Those eyes were big and bright, as if there were stars hidden in them, and he couldn't help but blush.

Zhao'er immediately smiled even more happily and stuffed him with a corn tortilla: Eat quickly, sister will stew eggs for you at noon.

She was treating him like a child, and Gouzi suddenly had this understanding.

He was eating the porridge Zhao'er had fed him, and was thinking wildly in his mind.

Just then, someone came to the door.

It's Xue Qingshan.

Exactly the same as in the dream.

Xue Qingshan's fair face was full of sighs and worries. He sighed and said a lot of words. The general idea was to let the dog recover well and don't think too much. There are grandparents and uncles at home, so he can't be blamed.

Seriously speaking, Xue Qingshan also followed the appearance and height of the men of the Xue family. In his early years, he was also a village weed in Yuqing Village. Unfortunately, as he got older, he gained some weight.

Uncle has to go to private school. Gouzi, you should take good care of your health. You are such a busy kid. Xue Qingshan sighed and patted his nephew on the shoulder before lifting the door curtain and leaving.

What is he doing?

Zhao'er thought doubtfully. After thinking for a while, she couldn't figure out why, so she stopped thinking about it and concentrated on feeding Gouzi porridge. Xue Gouzi looked thoughtful.

*

In the main room, Ms. Zhao was chatting with Mr. Xue about yesterday's events.

Mrs. Zhao was sewing an old piece of clothing in her hands, and said: Let me tell you, you just like to spoil that little thing. You feel sorry for him, but he doesn't feel sorry for you. Our money doesn't come from the river. Because he was unwilling to tell the whole family about his illness, he made trouble one after another, and he wanted to bring trouble to the family.

Mr. Xue is in his fifties, tall and has the dark-red skin of country people who have been exposed to the sun for a long time. He was wearing dark blue coarse trousers, sitting cross-legged on the kang, smoking a dry cigarette.

Every time after dinner or before work, Mr. Xue would always smoke for a while, otherwise he would feel weak.

Okay, Gou Wazi is sick. Who doesn't have three illnesses and four pains? After a while, he said in a hoarse voice.

The crackling sound sounded again, and the lingering green smoke swirled in the air, and then dispersed in all directions. Mr. Xue's old face with crisscrossed grooves was hidden behind it, looming.

But look how long he's been quarreling for? Yesterday, he lost more than a hundred coins. How long will it take you to work hard in the fields to earn more than a hundred coins! The boss Qian'er has to leave another two hundred coins. It was said that someone in my classmate's family had a birthday, and there was a disaster last year. The tax was not exempted at all, but increased. Now the boss said that he wanted to send Juncai to study in the town, and it cost a lot of money. How much wealth do you have? It can withstand such a torment!

Seeing that his mother-in-law was so distressed, Mr. Xue sat up straight, knocked the cigarette pot on the kang table, and glanced at her sideways: You feel sorry for the dog when you spend a hundred cents. If the boss asks you for money, just give it to me? Not me. Speaking of you, you are a father, mother and grandmother, so don’t go too far and don’t cause conflicts among the following few.”

As soon as she heard this, Ms. Zhao was unwilling. She slapped him across the kang table and said, Am I biased? Don't you be biased?

He is also biased, but the eldest son is the most promising in the family, and the most talented among the grandchildren. It's different to have a scholar in the family. No one can go out and say that Xue Lianxing's family is decent people. If the big family can produce a scholar, the Xue family will be proud of its ancestors.

Just thinking of Xue Gouzi, Mr. Xue couldn't help but frown.

Of course he knew that his mother-in-law was very upset. This child Gou'er was really ignorant. The eldest son owed his life to the second son. But with the Xue family's family background, it was natural that they had to pay close attention to their future prospects.

It's not that Mr. Xue looks down on his grandson, it's that Gou'er is really incomparable and incomparable to Juncai. It's good to be strong, but you still have to look at the situation.

The eldest daughter-in-law has said several times that the school in the town cannot be delayed. This delay will only last half a year. The eldest brother is still thinking of letting Juncai give it a try next year. Ms. Zhao added.

I promised you back then! Mr. Xue sighed deeply, took two puffs of dry cigarette, and coughed twice.

Anyway, it's up to you! Mrs. Zhao was so angry that she threw her clothes aside, turned her head and leaned back on the kang, giving the man a backbone.

Mr. Xue smacked his mouth several times, and the groove on his face became deeper: You old woman, too, don't you think about how we can still have face in the village if outsiders find out about this?

Then what do you think we should do? Just don't do it? Mrs. Zhao sat up again and stared at Mr. Xue.

Of course it has to be done, it depends on how to do it. Let's do this, you ask Cuiping to come back tomorrow, she has to do this.

She looked in her fifties, with her gray hair neatly pulled back in a bun. He has a long face, his eyelids are a little droopy, and his face becomes triangular-shaped when pulled, which makes him look particularly unforgiving.

Without Zhao's need to speak, Sun said: Zhao'er, it's not because the fourth aunt said something about you, but you are a girl who likes to make a fuss. Could it be that you are deliberately torturing us all, even if you don't like it...

Before she could finish her words, she was pulled by the man Xue Qinghuai.

Okay, just say a few words. Zhao'er is not ignorant. Besides, the dog is already sick. It would be good to find a doctor to see him, so that the family can rest assured.

I said less, less said, and I didn't say anything...

You also said...

The couple went out talking and tugging. Auntie Yang smiled at Zhao'er and then said to her mother-in-law: Mom, let's go too and let the dog have a good rest.

Mrs. Zhao glanced at the dog on the kang, snorted coldly, turned around and left. Just from her posture, it was obvious that she was very angry.

In fact, this is indeed the case. The Xue family cannot be called a very wealthy family. To hire a doctor from the town costs at least one or two hundred bucks. How many times can the Xue family have to deal with this with their current wealth? ! In particular, the doctor's pulse diagnosis just now confirmed Zhao's guess that Xue Gouzi was deliberately pretending to be ill, and it was strange that she was happy.

Let Mrs. Zhao see that these two brats from the second house are deliberately torturing the family, but since the eldest daughter-in-law has come forward to persuade them, Ms. Zhao will naturally not say more.

Generally speaking, among the three daughters-in-law of the Xue family, Yang is the most popular with Zhao. The eldest has an unusual status, and Zhao is willing to give some face to the eldest daughter-in-law.

After Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Yang left, only the third uncle Xue Qingbai and the third aunt Zhou were left in the house. The two of them didn't usually talk much, and they didn't stay too long. Zhao'er thought that it was hard work for his third uncle to be busy in and out just now, so he sent the two of them out with a smile.

When he turned around and came back, he saw Xue Gouzi lying on the kang with his eyes open, as if he had lost his mind.

She didn't think much about it. She came to the kang and touched his head: Dog, don't think too much. They don't believe you are sick but have a headache. I believe you. Take good care of yourself and don't think too much.

Xue Gouzi glanced at her, his mouth was dry and his throat was tight: Zhao'er...

What's wrong? Are you still feeling uncomfortable somewhere?

Feeling these not delicate but very warm hands touching his head and face, Xue Gouzi felt a sense of reality and happiness that he had never experienced before.

She is not dead, and neither is he.

Although he didn't like some of her daily actions, and even hated her status as his child bride, he never thought about letting her die, so how could he be the one who killed his wife and son.

But Xue Gouzi was still very flustered, because that dream was too real. After experiencing that dream for more than seventy years, it was as if he had also experienced that life. But when I woke up from the dream, I didn't dare to look back after all the vicissitudes of life.

Zhao'er...

Why!

Zhao'er...

Um.

Zhao'er...

A stream of heat suddenly flowed out unconsciously from the dry eyes.

This frightened Zhao'er so much that she didn't even think about the fact that the little man would never call her that, let alone let her get close to him. She took his head into her arms and asked him anxiously what was going on. .

Seeing that he didn't speak and was just crying in his arms, Zhao'er couldn't help but misunderstand whether those people just made him think too much. From Zhao'er's perspective, the little man just had a lot of things on his mind and never said it out loud, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten this serious illness.

She patted his back again and again, holding him in her arms like she had held him when he was a child, and comforted him: Don't be afraid, dog. Even if they don't send you to study, I will send you there, and I will give it to you even if I sell iron. go.

*

After all, Xue Gouzi was recovering from a serious illness, and after experiencing such an incident, he drank some gruel for dinner and went to bed.

Zhao'er covered him with a quilt and then went to pack the backpack he had just brought back.

The backpack was filled with needlework and other items. These were rags that Zhao'er bought from the embroidery shop in the town. The reason why I got into this business was because I used to recruit children to carry bags made for women in the village and sell them in embroidery workshops.

There are no adults in the second room. Although the family is in charge of the food, money is needed for the pens, inks, paper and inkstones that Xue Gouzi uses to study, as well as the clothes, bedding and some odds and ends for the two of them.

It would be extremely difficult to get money from the Zhao family. Although his uncle Xue Qingshan promised to treat his nephew as his own son, Zhao'er only saw the eldest son's child with a shiny mouth on weekdays, and Xue Juncai never cared about it. Lack of pens, ink, paper and inkstones. In comparison, the little man was as thin as a bamboo pole, with a bald pen that Xue Qingshan didn't use back then.

Zhao'er has always been a strong person. She couldn't bear to wrong the little man, so she had to rack her brains and look for money everywhere. There were no opportunities to make money in the countryside, so she went to the town and looked around. As long as it was within her ability and did not require capital, she would try to do it.

In the past few years, she has collected vegetables from the village and sold them in the town. She has taken jobs from the embroidery workshop and assigned them to the women in the village who are skilled in craftsmanship. She often goes to the mountains to find wild products to sell.

Now that she has done this business several times, Zhao'er is sweet-tongued and has a thick face. The owner of the embroidery shop cannot rely on her to grind, so he sells unwanted rags to her in packages. She took it back, trimmed it and cut it, then asked the women in the village to help make purses and other items. She could make a lot of money by reselling them in the embroidery workshop. It’s much better than before just collecting the wallets made by others and earning a penny from several wallets.

If it weren't for the money he made from this business, it's not known when Xue Gouzi would recover from his serious illness. Zhao would have given up the money to get medicine. The latter medicines were all bought by Zhao'er himself. She had to hide it, for fear that other people in the Xue family would find out.

When he thought of this, the corners of Zhao'er's mouth tightened.

She had always been nimble with her hands and feet, so she stopped fussing when she picked out some useful pieces of cloth. I chose clean ones and spread them out on the square table. I used scissors to cut these strange-shaped pieces of cloth into a uniform shape.

Zhao'er calculated this by herself based on how much fabric was needed to make a purse. It would not be more or less. She would not take out these rags for others to see.

It is not easy for country people to make a penny. If someone finds out about it, they will be robbed of the way to get the money within a few days.

Zhao'er also wants to use this to make money for her young man to go to the town to study. Only when she comes to see Xue Jun can he go, and her young man can also go. Zhao'er always prepared things with both hands. She knew that the big house would never let such good things happen to the little man.

It is better to ask for help from others than to ask for help from oneself, and it is better to rely on oneself than to rely on mountains and rivers for support.

Zhao'er has understood this since he was seven years old and had to be exchanged for money by his grandmother and father.

Zhao'er finished what he was doing and saw that the little man was sleeping soundly. He looked at the sky outside and saw that it was already dark, so he wrapped the arranged cloth in something and hurriedly took it out.