Rebirth of the poor elder sister-in-law

Chapter 44 The Hospitable Old Man Li ([-])

Chatting with the old man along the way, I learned that the old man's surname is Li, and this village is called Laoshan'ao. Liu Man'er looked at it and found that this village is located between two mountains.

However, after getting a general understanding of the situation in this village, Liu Man'er felt that she was lucky. At least the traffic in Dawan Village was quite convenient. It was only three miles to the town, and only twenty miles to the county town.

However, the residents in this big mountain need more than half a day's work just to climb these two mountains. Every time they go to the market, they get up before dawn, and it is almost noon when they go to the market.

Most of the time, they don't go out in the village, and everyone exchanges some necessities of life with each other.

There are no fields in this mountain, but a few fields have been reclaimed on the mountain, and some crops such as sorghum and corn are planted. In addition, every household will plant some fruit trees.

If one ignores the lack of food and clothing, it can be regarded as a paradise. Most people in this village live in harmony, and the self-sufficient life is quite enviable.

However, the sadness in this is not enough for outsiders to understand. Presumably only those who have really experienced it will understand the difficulties.

The Xanadu that Liu Man'er wanted was not like this. After all, she didn't want to wrong herself. She had to have enough food and clothing, and be happy every day, not bitter.

But one day, she will create her own paradise. It would be nice to just buy a nice hill, tidy it up, and occupy the hill as king.

While thinking about this, he followed Uncle Li into the village. When he saw it from the mountain, the village didn't seem very big, but when he walked in, he realized that it was quite big, with about dozens of families.

Old Uncle Li is a hospitable person, he had already chatted with Ye Yuan well along the way, seeing that it was dusk, he warmly invited Ye Yuan to stay at his house.

Ye Yuan thought for a while, it was indeed getting late, if he lived in the mountains, wolves, tigers, leopards, snakes, rats, rats and ants, etc. were indeed unsafe, so he gladly accepted Old Uncle Li's invitation, and today he will be with Liu Man'er The two stayed at Uncle Li's house.

As soon as he arrived at the door, Old Man Li called out, "Old lady, there are guests."

"Who's here?" As the voice came to mind, a somewhat old woman came out from the door. She opened the door to the yard, and saw Ye Yuan and the two, with a bit of surprise on her face, and then said enthusiastically: "What a handsome young man, come in quickly."

Seeing that Ye Yuan was carrying firewood, she led Ye Yuan to the house.

As soon as Liu Man'er entered the village, she found that the courtyards in this village are different from other places. The bottom is all made of stones, and the house is the same. The top is made of mud, but the bottom is all stones.

Liu Man'er didn't know the reason, and when the woman told them to sit down, she asked curiously, "Auntie, I see that the houses on your side are all made of stones, so it must have taken a lot of effort." .”

"It can't be helped." The woman said with a sigh, "There are wild animals in the deep mountains and old forests. When the spring begins, some animals will come to the village to look for food. If the house is not strong, then in case It will be troublesome if these beasts break in."

"Oh, so that's the case." Liu Man'er nodded, thinking that this was true.

However, she did feel sympathy for the family who lived in the mountains. She couldn't even sleep well every day. Moreover, she somehow thought of Mrs. Xianglin written by the great writer Lu Xun in her previous life. The wolf was eaten. In the past, she thought it was a bit exaggerated, but now it seems that this mountain is really dangerous.

In contrast, my dilapidated house is not bad, at least it is safe, and there are no large beasts on the mountain behind it, let alone rushing down the mountain.

Suddenly, Liu Man'er remembered another thing, why didn't she see the son and daughter-in-law of this woman's family?Judging by the woman's age, she is about 70 to [-] years old, and she should have children and grandchildren.

Liu Man'er thought of a scary possibility, so she didn't ask any more questions.

But Ye Yuan asked with some blindness, "Why don't you see your son and grandson?"

"Oh, my son and daughter-in-law and their family have all moved out, and we are the only two old bones left, unwilling to move the land." The woman replied with a smile, and when she talked about her son, her face was a little proud.

When Liu Man'er heard what she said, she felt relieved. God knows, just now she wondered if their child was taken away by wild beasts on the mountain. Fortunately, she didn't say it, otherwise she would be cursing her. It's really a sin sin.

"Yeah, we're both old. We don't know when we'll let go. If we die outside, there's no place to bury them." This old man Li is very frank when it comes to life and death. Well, people here generally pay attention to returning a fallen leaf to its roots. It is indeed unlucky to die outside.

"Okay, let's not talk about this, I just heard that this girl likes to eat loquats, let's go, I will take you to pick them." Uncle Li stood up after speaking.

"What's the hurry, let him drink a bowl of water before leaving."

The old woman stood up quickly and walked to the stove.

The kitchen and the living room of Old Uncle Li’s house are together, they are located in the main room, and they are not separated. It may be that the house must be strong in the mountains, and it is really troublesome to build another kitchen.

Before Liu Man'er's natal family also had the kitchen and the living room together, so did this old lady, but although they were set up together, they were clearly separated. This small house was well organized by the old lady.

Liu Man'er saw the woman open the cupboard and took out two more eggs, she quickly refused, "Don't bother, let's go pick the loquats."

She knows that in this country, eggs are a precious thing, and it is a great thing to be able to cook a bowl of egg soup for you with eggs.

"It's okay, it's okay." The old woman took the eggs, walked to the stove with a smile, and said, "It's just two eggs, both of which were laid by my own chickens."

"We've already bothered you." Liu Man'er said hastily.

"It's okay, girl, don't be polite to me." The woman said with a smile on her face, "In our mountain, it is rare to have guests. It is my honor that you two are willing to live in my house. , the old woman will be fine if she doesn't take good care of her."

"How could it be?" Liu Man'er said hastily.

To be honest, she is really not used to the enthusiasm of this countryman. You said that if it was in later generations, it would be difficult for you to knock on a family to beg for saliva, but here, these people dared to take the roadside The strangers brought them home and treated them warmly.

"Yes, please don't be polite to us." Uncle Li also said aside, "We two old people are usually at home and no one comes, and our son and grandson are not around. We are happy that you are here, don't you think? ?”

"Yes, yes." The old woman nodded again and again, then lit a fire aside, making sugar water eggs for Liu Man'er and the others.

Well, the folk customs here are really simple and honest. Although it is poor, it can still make people feel stable and happy.

Ye Yuan was also a little embarrassed, so he took out two rabbits from the basket: "I just hunted this rabbit on the mountain, it happened to be fresh, so I gave it to the two old people for a tooth-beating sacrifice."

"How embarrassing is this, this rabbit is a very ghostly thing, it's not easy to kill one, just give us one, it happens to be used as a side dish tonight!" Uncle Li didn't want Ye Yuan's things. .

Seeing this, Liu Man'er said, "Old man Li, please don't refuse, our family Ye Yuan's arrow skills are very good. Look, we also caught a litter of little rabbits, but we will keep them at home and wait for them to give birth. Rabbit, we can often eat rabbit meat."

Uncle Li expressed some disbelief, "Where are the three caves of the cunning rabbit, can you find their lair?"

"It's just luck." Liu Man'er said, and asked to remove a few grass leaves on the back basket, and showed the rabbit inside to Old Man Li and the old woman.

"Hey, it's really a little rabbit, and this young man is really good." The old woman was a little surprised when she saw it, and she saw the dead rabbits under the basket again, looking like a lot of them, and asked: "You should be very good at archery, young man, right?"

"So-so." Ye Yuan said modestly.

"That's not so bad. Anyway, some old hunters I've seen can't match you." The woman said, "No wonder you two dare to cross the mountain and come here. It seems that you are indeed quite capable."

"No, it's all luck, but my wife has good ears, so I was able to catch these rabbits." Ye Yuan did not forget Liu Man'er's credit.

"So that's how it is." The old woman said, the eggs in sugar water were cooked, she took them out, and then put a spoonful of sugar in a bowl, and brought it up tremblingly, "Drink while it's hot."

"Uh..." Liu Man'er glanced at Ye Yuan.

Her face was quite thick in the past, but now it suddenly became a little thinner. Let her and Ye Yuan eat eggs in sugar water at someone's house, and let the two old people watch from the side. She really can't do it. .

"Elders, you can eat too." Liu Man'er pushed her bowl over, "I'm not hungry, just save my stomach for loquat later."

"How about that, this is specially made for you, girl." The old woman pushed back again.

Liu Man'er really didn't like to push this kind of thing here and there with others, so she looked at Ye Yuan, and Ye Yuan pushed Liu Man'er's bowl in front of the old woman, and then pushed his own bowl in front of Liu Man'er :
"Uncle Li, Auntie, you can share the food. I'll just eat a bowl with my wife. Don't refuse us any more, or we won't be ashamed to live here tonight."

Seeing Ye Yuan's firm words, the two old men looked at each other and did not speak again.

Seeing them like this, Liu Man'er let out a sigh of relief, picked up the spoon in front of her bluntly and started to drink the soup.

(End of this chapter)