Reborn under the White Mountain

Chapter 9 Reunion
"Mother, do I want to take my younger brothers to release the sledge?" Da Lang ran to Fang's side and asked.

Fang looked at her eldest son's face flushed with joy. The sons have been very lively these days, probably because they are not restrained when they come to grandma's house.Looking at her well-behaved son's nervous expression, Fang nodded, "Let's go play. Watch out for my brother, don't bump into him. You can't go to the river, the ice is not yet solid." Playing is a child's thing. Rights, but in Tong's family, such rights are pitifully few, and the Fang family is also helpless, so naturally they will not deny the children's right to play even after being connected to their mother's family.

Da Lang happily called out to his brothers, and took the two sledges that Xue Ping had just helped to make and left.Putting the sledge slope is a great fun for children in the north in winter. A large group of people roared, pulling the sledge to find a slope, and then they all got on the sledge. When the sledge was pushed hard, it slid down by itself. Usually, two or three people can sit on a sledge .There is no need to control the direction of the sledge when it slides down, let it run on its own, sometimes several sledges collide, and some people will be knocked into the ditch, everyone laughs, no one will be annoyed, climb out of the snow, Keep sliding down.After sliding to the bottom, pull the sledge to go up the slope, go to the top and put the sledge down, and repeat back and forth like this.Simple games are children's favorite games in winter.

The sledge made by Xue Ping in a hurry was not exquisite. Two wooden squares with a width of more than two inches and a thickness of one inch were used as slides. The two wooden squares were separated by a distance of more than one and a half feet. Form a rectangular sledge board surface, and grind the two ends of the wooden square to make it slightly curved to facilitate walking on the snow.Then tie a rope, and the simple sledge is ready.In fact, sledges are a good choice for northerners to travel in winter. In the north, there is heavy snow in winter and it is difficult for horse-drawn carriages to travel, but sledges can walk freely on snow.There are many kinds of sledges. There are large ones that pull people and loads in front, and there are smaller ones that are tied with ropes in front. For children to play on the ice, in front of the sledge is a rudder that can be held with both hands to control the direction.Da Lang and the others are undoubtedly the easiest to play, but this is enough to make them excited.After a while, other children in the village joined together, and everyone was pulling the sledge.There are many mountain roads in the village, and there are many places to go up and down. They found the one with the steepest and longest slope, and saw many sledges lined up in a long queue, and then whizzed down. , The one behind knocked the one in front, and rushed into the snowdrift on the side of the road.Several people struggled to get out of the snow. Their heads and bodies were covered in snow. Regardless of the cold, they pulled out the sledge and continued to slide down.

Fang, his mother, Wu, and Bilian were doing needlework on the kang in the east room. Wu found a lot of fabric.Bilian also knew that if she gave the materials directly to her sister, she might be picked up by the Qin family, so the mothers cut all the clothes, and the few that could be made were made first, and the rest were cut. No one will want it, right? "Mother, you don't need to take out so much, that's what you need." Fang insisted on persuading Wu.

"These are brought by Bilian. I think the color is too tender, so it's just right for you. There are also some for Xin'er. The child likes some light ones, so I keep these few dark ones for Yunsong. It’s not bad, it’s fine for children to wear, children’s mischievous color is darker and they can resist dirt.” Wu wished to give everything to her eldest daughter. "Bilian is married to Jinyu, and the shop is already open at home. I don't need to worry about it, but you worry me the most. When did you make the clothes on your body? While this winter is idle, we girls are also here." Together, we just talked and laughed and got the job done without feeling tired. Isn’t it great?”

"Yes, big sister, let's make a few more clothes for the children, and don't let Erlang Saburo and the others always pick up the old ones worn by the old ones. Just make more, and Xue Ping and the others will go back to pick up if there is not enough." Bilian said indifferently.

"Mother, listen, a little girl like this is still the mistress of the house. It would be nice not to ruin Jinyu's family fortune." Fang laughed and teased Bilian.

"No way, this is for my sister. If someone else would take half of the silk from me." The mothers talked without stopping, and they finished a baby in a while. clothes. "I'll let Erlang try it out later. It should be fine to keep this one for the opening of the village next year."

The days of living in her natal family passed too quickly. In a blink of an eye, it had already been five days, and Fang couldn't stay still anymore.The longer she lives in her natal family, the angrier Qin will be, and she will run on Tong Yunsong.Fang thought of her husband and wanted to tell her mother and sister that she wanted to go back.Bi Lian said nothing, "Sister, it's rare for me to come back, you can stay with me for a few more days, how can there be anything to do in winter? Don't you just stay there when you go back, good sister, stay for two more days, just two days." Fang Seeing her younger sister's appearance, Shi couldn't bear to part with it, "Okay, it's up to you, I'll stay for another two days, anyway, there's nothing to do." So she settled down with peace of mind. Unexpectedly, the next morning, the mother and the others were doing needlework in the house. Xuan pushed the door open and came in, "Old lady, Mr. Tong is here."

As soon as she heard that the uncle had come, Mrs. Wu hurriedly got off the kang, led her daughter out of the house. "Yun Song, why are you here? It's very cold."

"Mother, I'm going to see Yuxian, I miss her." Tong Yunsong was naturally embarrassed to say that he missed his wife, so he had to talk about his daughter.

"You don't miss Yuxian, do you miss my sister?" Bilian didn't care about that, and said it directly, making Tong Yunsong's face flushed.

"Okay, don't talk outside, go inside." Mrs. Wu glared at Bilian, and quickly let Yun Song into the room.

After entering the house, Mrs. Wu sat on the top of the kang and asked Yun Song to go on the kang too. Yun Song couldn't refuse, so she took off her shoes and got on the kang and sat on the top of the kang. talk to father.Yun Song looked at her daughter's small appearance, and she liked to smile.Bilian and Fang sat on the wooden couch, chatting affectionately as a family.Dalang and the others were playing outside, and when they saw their father, they all ran into the house and climbed onto the kang, surrounding him.Yun Song pushed Yu Xian to the top of the kang, "I don't want to warm up before going on the kang, so I won't be afraid that the cold wind will blow my sister?" As he spoke, he grabbed Xiao Si Xiao Wu's cold little hands, and gave them a hand with his own. warm up. "Going out to play crazy again, right?" The boys all laughed.

Bi Lian was about to get up and tell Zi Ling to prepare lunch, but she heard a horse neighing outside, and then heard Xue An say: "Master, why are you here?" She hurried out to see that her husband Xue Jinyu had arrived The two haven't seen each other for more than a month. Bi Lian stood motionless at the door of the room, no matter how aggressive she was on weekdays, tears were still rolling in her eye sockets.The two of them were young couples, and they loved to stick together on weekdays. After being separated for so long, they didn't know what to say when they met.Xue Jinyu took a step forward, and hugged Bilian regardless of whether anyone was watching. "Why are you here? Didn't you say it took more than two months?" Bilian asked in his arms. "I miss you, and I rushed back as soon as things were done. Xue Ning and Xue Yuan followed the brigade. I didn't know you were here until I got home, so I hurried over again." Xue Jinyu said in a low voice. Miss, hold Bilian even tighter.

"Cough cough" Someone coughed on the side, and the two hurriedly separated with flushed faces.

"Just now you said about your eldest sister, it's your turn this time, don't come into the house yet." Wu looked at the two of them with a smile, "You two sisters-in-law seem to have discussed it, and both of you came to pick me up. The daughter-in-law is gone, let's all go into the house, stay here tonight, and go home tomorrow."

Mrs. Wu dragged Jinyu and Yun Song to sit on the kang together, looking at the two uncles, she was very satisfied.Needless to say, Xue Jinyu was handsome, upright, and gentle.The eldest son-in-law is also very good-looking, and he is well-known in these ten miles and eight villages, and he is strong and strong.Although life is a little tighter now, it is also the reason why the big family is together. Wu believes that if the family is separated, the eldest son-in-law is willing to work hard and is smart, and the life will not be poor.

Both Bi Lian and Fang Shi went into the kitchen to help prepare the meals. Farmers in the north eat two meals a day in winter, breakfast at Chen Shimo in the morning and dinner at Shen Shimo in the afternoon.Bilian was afraid that Jinyu would miss breakfast on the way, so she brought some snacks into the room and put them in front of her two brothers-in-law, and made another pot of tea. "Brother-in-law, eat some snacks first, my sister and I will cook, and Jinyu will accompany you to have a good drink tonight."

There are not many vegetables in winter in the north, but cabbage, radish, potatoes and the like.Fortunately, the meat was ready-made. When Bilian returned to her mother's house, she brought back half-skimmed pork, which was cut into strips and frozen outside.The winter meat in the north freezes very hard outside, so it won't go bad at all.The two sisters led Zixuan and Ziling's two maids to work in the kitchen together, and it took more than half an hour to prepare the dishes, and it was already late and early.

"Let's have dinner when the dishes are ready. The days are getting short and it will be dark in a while. Eat early and let Jinyu rest well after eating." Mrs. Wu said, "Let's set up two tables, one on the kang and one on the ground. Let Zixuan, Ziling, Xueping and Xuean lead the children to eat at the table on the ground. Today, the family is reunited, and we will have a lively reunion dinner together regardless of the formalities." Beidi is open to the people, Wu Shi is also a very open-minded person, so naturally there is no rule of different tables for men and women. "Pour the good wine that Bilian brought over to Yun Song and Jin Yu, let them drink it up, and let's drink rice wine." The whole family eats affectionately without mentioning it.

The next morning, after breakfast, each packed up his things.Fang held Yuxian and led his sons in the carriage, while Tong Yunsong and Xue An sat outside and drove the carriage.The carriage first sent Fang and the others back to Tong's house, and then met Bilian and the others at the bridge, and they had to lead a way back to Fucheng.The car was much fuller than when we arrived, and Wu and Bilian brought a lot of things.Xiao Yuxian was under the quilt, holding a piece of jade pendant in her small hand, which was a gift from Xue Jinyu.It's not beautiful in my heart, but it is a high-quality suet jade pendant, which can be exchanged for a lot of silver. If this is in modern times, wouldn't it be auctioned for 80 yuan?Before leaving, Bilian gave Fang 50 taels of silver, but Fang didn't want it, and the two of them gave way, but Wu also took out ten taels to Fang: "Take what I gave you, and keep it, don't let it go." Your mother-in-law knows that you have to have some money in your own hands to live. In the car, there are thirty eggs in a basket, two pieces of meat, one chicken is for your mother-in-law, and the rest is for you. In the future, you should also Be tougher, your younger brother is already a juror, if he didn't worry about next year's spring, he could be a petty official."

Fang wiped away tears and nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)