The children of the Qiao family

Chapter 5

4
Qiao Zuwang suffered from gastric bleeding a few years ago. At that time, the doctor suspected that he had gastric cancer, which really shocked him. Later, he was diagnosed with gastric ulcer and cut a quarter of his stomach.Since then, he has taken extra care of his body.Drinking kombucha to nourish the stomach has become popular recently, so he managed to get it and kept it in a large glass bottle with a wide mouth, which Yicheng's mother used to pickle side dishes in winter.

The bottle was placed on the chest of drawers in Qiao Zuwang's bedroom. In the dark red liquid, there was a flocculent mass floating, like a jellyfish with countless soft tentacles. If you look at it for a long time, you will feel that it is swimming slightly.Qiao Zuwang would pour a glass of this dark red liquid and drink it 10 minutes after eating every night.

Qiao Erqiang always thought that the color of that thing was very similar to that of sour plum soup, and the taste must be as good, otherwise, Dad would not keep it like a treasure, and would not share it with them.He has been wanting to taste the taste of that thing all the time, and the little mouth in his stomach is smacking and smacking, which disturbs him.However, the big brother's eyes seem to grow on him all day long, so he has no chance to strike.

This time, he finally had a chance.

But Qiao Erqiang really didn't expect that the taste was neither salty nor sweet, neither bitter nor astringent, but salty, sweet, sour, astringent, and bitter, so rich that it was almost chaotic.

Qiao Erqiang is strangely thin, he is a so-called "three tendons picking his head" child, but he has an extremely strong stomach. Qiao Zuwang said: "Eat a stone and you can digest it."But Xiaoxiao couldn't stand the kombucha fungus, so he was so upset that he even vomited out the overnight meal.Qiao Yicheng was afraid that he had taken rat poison, so he was relieved now, and kept saying bitterly: "You deserve it!"deserve it!
From then on, Qiao Erqiang seldom searched for things to eat. He was afraid that he would vomit his stomach if he ate something with a strange taste, which saved Qiao Yicheng a lot of worry.

Gradually, Qiao Yicheng became more and more familiar with housework. He knew what kind of vegetables were delicious, and he also learned to be nice to the sister-in-law who sells vegetables in the vegetable market in order to get an extra green onion; When the rice was about to be cooked, he poured out some thick rice soup to share with his younger brothers and sisters; he also learned to put a small bowl of steamed vegetables in the rice cooker, which saved time and coal.He even begged some chrysanthemum brain seeds from the neighbor's aunt, found a big wicker basket, took a small shovel, and took Erqiang together to steal soil from the flower garden in the middle of the street.

The fat man watching the flower garden yelled at him, but Qiao Yicheng ignored him and buried himself in digging. He knew that the fat man was his neighbor in the same yard, and he would not really do anything to their two children.Qiao Erqiang jumped up and down like a monkey and made faces at the fat man.After a while, Qiao Yicheng dug a basket full of soil, and dragged and pushed the second one back home.

Sanli and Simei heard that her brother wanted to grow vegetables, so they came over curiously.Simei said: Brother, let's grow some meat, let's grow some meat.

Sanli is two years older than Simei, and she is much more sensible, saying: That cannot be grown.Brother, let's raise a pig.

Qiao Yicheng lowered his head and buried the rapeseed in the soil, saying: The city doesn't even raise chickens, and wants to raise pigs.You look after the chicken!Let it run out, and if the neighborhood committee sees it, they will ask us to kill the chicken.

Er Qiang held the reed chicken in his arms and said with a high air: Whoever dares to kill my chicken, I will fight him!
He raised that chicken when he was young. When he bought it, it was a fluffy chick. Er Qiang dug earthworms in the wet mud at the base of the wall and mixed them with vegetable leaves to feed them. From the vegetable market, I picked up the leaves thrown away by others to feed it.The reed chicken has smooth feathers and is very competitive. It will lay an egg the next day, clucking behind the second strong as if to please the good news.

Not long after the rapeseed was buried, a few clusters of green chrysanthemum brains really came out. This kind of wild vegetable is very easy to grow. It only needs a little water to grow into a large piece. It will grow until autumn. It is too old to eat. But it will produce seeds one by one, which can be planted in the coming year.

So Qiao Yicheng and his younger siblings drank chrysanthemum brain soup and ate fried chrysanthemum brain many times, and it didn't cost money. Qiao Yicheng became more confident in growing vegetables, and planned to grow another basket of leeks next year.

When the autumn wind blew, the dry fallen leaves rolled and rolled forward. When winter came, Qiao Yicheng asked Qiao Zuwang for money and bought a hundred catties of big-leaf vegetables. After several days in the sun, he The two strong men were pulled by life and death, and they were washed one by one by the well.

The well water is warm in winter and cool in summer, but after washing for a long time, the hands are still so cold that the skin on the fingertips is all wrinkled. Cai Po pulled aside, Qiao Yicheng saw him, and kicked him on the ass.

The leaves of each vegetable must be peeled off and washed clean!Show me there is still mud, and you lick it clean!Qiao Yicheng already has the full momentum of being in charge.

With the help of his second aunt, Qiao Yicheng marinated all the vegetables in a large water tank, so that he would not have to worry about running out of vegetables throughout the winter.

The second aunt packed the vegetables in the jar, sprinkled coarse salt layer by layer, and suddenly said: Your mother's craftsmanship is better than mine. Her pickled vegetables will still be tender and white in spring.She always helped me pickle vegetables before, do you remember?
Qiao Yicheng is very reluctant to be mentioned about his mother now. It is a wound that has just scabbed over. The scab lies quietly on his heart, covering the surging pain below, and he is infinitely afraid of any attempt to uncover it. And disgusted.

The second aunt also said: Pickling vegetables is very labor-intensive. This year, I only pickled [-] catties for you to pickle. When I don’t have enough to eat later, you will come to your house to get two. You will not give it, right?

Qiao Yicheng snorted and agreed, thinking, this is what you said!

Among all the household chores, the most difficult for Qiao Yicheng to accept was emptying the toilet.Qiao Yicheng almost thought that it would be impossible for him to be familiar with this job in his whole life.

Whenever the horse-drawn dung truck came to the alley, stopped, and the man who collected the dung rattled the big bell, Qiao Yicheng always had to make great determination to get the family's dung The toilet is carried out.

Qiao Yicheng was only medium-sized among his peers, and couldn't reach the dung truck. The manure collector was a middle-aged man, thick and strong, with a soft heart. He always took the toilet from Qiao Yicheng's hand and poured it for him. Drop it and hand it back to him.

The horse pulling the dung cart is said to be an old horse that was eliminated from the army. It has a pair of big eyes that are docile and sad, and snorts tiredly. Qiao Yicheng always feels that the eyes it looks at him are very compassionate, which makes him cry for no reason. impulse.He always strokes the horse's hairless belly with his hands, and sometimes takes out a piece of precious sugar cube for cooking from his pocket and brings it to its mouth, watching it lick the sugar cube down bit by bit, Hands felt hot and numb.

Qiao Yicheng carried the toilet and went to the gutter to scrub it with a bamboo brush. After the first brushing, he couldn't eat for two meals. Even though his stomach was growling in protest, he still couldn't swallow a mouthful.

However, the potential of people is always beyond one's imagination. Slowly, Qiao Yicheng also accepted such a thing. He even put the cleaned toilet under the wall to expose it to the sun, and freely After doing this, I swallowed the big bowl of food.

Qiao Yicheng felt that he was like soft mud, which shape he would take if he was put into a container of any shape.

The first Spring Festival came after mother left, Qiao Zuwang bought some vegetables, and the New Year's Eve dinner was quite sumptuous, and the second uncle also brought a salted fish, and gave Qiao Yicheng and the others a little lucky money for each of them.

Years ago, many people fried popcorn, and the air was full of sweet aroma. Because Er Qiang snatched some popcorn from other people's fried popcorn, Qiao Yicheng had a big fight with his neighbors.

The neighbor's woman's family was not very good, and she jumped up and down and scolded. Qiao Yicheng just looked at her, his thin lips moved, one sentence after another, coldly exposing the shortcomings of her and her family, and scolding until she blushed. Crude.

Qiao Yicheng is like a little hedgehog who knows how to open his thorns to sting others and protect himself and his siblings.

It was very cold in winter, and Qiao Yicheng and his younger siblings couldn't wear new clothes. When the second aunt brought Qi Weimin over, Qiao Yicheng saw Qi Weimin wearing a new navy blue cotton jacket and a pair of new navy blue cotton shoes. The upper of the shoe, the white edge of the shoe.

Qiao Yicheng thought, all of these were bought with Qiao's cloth tickets.

The second aunt brought some scraps of cloth, and wanted to lengthen the short sleeves of the old cotton coats for Qiao Yicheng and his brothers and sisters.

The children obediently took off their cotton clothes and sat on the bed wrapped in quilts, waiting for the second aunt to connect their sleeves. Only Qiao Yicheng firmly rejected the second aunt's kindness.

The sleeves of his padded jacket were the shortest, exposing a thin wrist, but he still didn't want his second aunt to connect the sleeves for him, as stubborn as a donkey.

He also didn't want to look at Qiao Qiqi who was being held by Qi Weimin.

The little guy is more than seven months old, and he is more beautiful than before, with black crystal eyes, red lips pouting, and soft and thick hair.

Qi Weimin hugged him affectionately, chewed up the steamed cake and fed it to him.

The little guy swallowed hastily, licked his cousin's mouth, clicked his tongue, then opened his toothless mouth and smiled like a flower.But Qiao Yicheng still didn't want to look at him. He ran out of the house to look at the stick-long icicles under the eaves, reached out and broke off one, sucking it like eating a popsicle.

Qi Weimin followed Qiao Qiqi in his arms and said, "Wouldn't it be cold to eat this?"He lifted Qiao Qiqi up again: Don't you want to hug your little brother?He's the prettiest baby, so well behaved!

The little guy seemed unable to bear Qiao Yicheng's cold gaze, and he went straight to Qi Weimin's arms, pouted his buttocks, like a little digger.

Qi Weimin patted him: If he eats more nutrition, he will grow teeth soon.Then he will walk, I really want him to learn to walk soon.

Qiao Yicheng sneered and said: That's right, ask your mother to feed him more good food, don't be reluctant, put all the good food in your own mouths.My dad gives your family money every month.Said and went back to the house.

Qi Weimin was left behind, a little dazed by his cold words and cold expression.

After the new year, Qiao Yicheng started school.

Before school started, the teacher from the kindergarten in the street came. Qiao Yicheng told Qiao Zuwang that the teacher told him that it would be best to ask Simei to go to preschool. She is a little late for preschool, Simei is five years old, and it will be too late for kindergarten.

The brothers and sisters of Qiao Yicheng had never been to kindergarten, and their mother took them at home. Qiao Zuwang said: "What kind of preschool kindergarten?"It's good that there are so many little babies in these four weeks.

Qiao Yicheng said: The teacher said that it is different now than before. Children who have attended preschool are different from those who have not attended primary school.

Qiao Zuwang said: What's the difference? There are many tails that have been put on but one piece of meat is missing?

Joe became silent. He knew he couldn't talk to Dad.

When Er Qiang was supposed to go to elementary school at the age of seven, Qiao Zuwang originally planned to delay his enrollment by a year, but his mother said that other children go to school at the age of seven, so she insisted on sending Er Qiang to school.After studying for a month, the top two can still only count from one to ten. After ten, I wish I could take off my shoes and count on my toes. redevelopment".

Qiao Zuwang thought, one year later, one year late to pay tuition, anyway, that kid doesn't look like a man who can read, he looks like a pig, and he drank too much in the year he was born, so he couldn't buy it at that time. If you can't afford decent wine, you can only drink homemade ones, I'm afraid it will hurt the child's brain.

So Qiao Erqiang went home again, and did not enter the first grade until the second year when he was eight years old.Now it is even more impossible to expect Qiao Zuwang to let Sanli Simei go to preschool.

Qiao Yicheng could only sigh for his sisters.

Sanli and Simei continued to stay at home, running wildly all over the yard, growing up day by day.

In the summer, Sanli finally went to primary school.Qiao Zuwang was very annoyed because the tuition fees of the three children cost more than eight yuan a semester.

Within two days of going to school, something happened to Erqiang and Sanli.

That day, Er Qiang and Sanli came home from school together, it was only three o'clock, maybe because they were hungry, Er Qiang suddenly came up with an idea, and told Sanli: Now someone behind the vegetable market is secretly doing business and selling vegetables. Do business!

Sanli asked her second brother: What business do you do?
Er Qiang said: We sell eggs, and we buy snacks for the money.Peach crisp, and oil Sanzi.

Sanli is happy.

The brothers and sisters took the eggs laid by the chickens at home and went out. There were four eggs in total, and each of them put two in his pocket.

(End of this chapter)