There is a white bone spirit in the village

Chapter 3

Nengwu stretched out his hand, touched the fish skewer in front of him, and smiled with his front teeth: "Sister-in-law, is it a peach blossom fish? This fish is very ghostly and hard to catch. No wonder my sister-in-law took so long to come back. I wanted to go there just now." I'm looking for you."

"Sister-in-law, you don't know water skills, don't catch fish for me in the future, I'm really well."

He added one last sentence.

Lin Jiao put down the fish with a guilty conscience. She wanted to inquire about the man's background by the way. Neng Wu should know him. After thinking about it, she still didn't ask. She just reached out and touched his forehead, and it really cooled down.

After traveling here, the first thing she saw when she woke up was this child.At that time, he was lying on his side, crying heartbroken.To be honest, at first she didn't have much feeling for this child, her mind was still stuck in her own emotions.After staying with him for a few days, I learned the reason for his blindness, and felt that although the child was taciturn, he was very attached to himself, or to his sister-in-law, Chunjiao.In the first few days, it seemed that she was afraid that she would commit suicide again, and she would follow her by pulling her sleeves every step of the way.Although he can't see, he can do ordinary housework, such as cooking and lighting a fire, as long as Lin Jiao doesn't mess with the used utensils, he can do them well, which is a bit better than Lin Jiao.Lin Jiao herself had a younger brother in the past. After accepting the status quo, she felt pity for the boy's cuteness, so she treated him as her younger brother.

Neng Wu suddenly had a high fever in the middle of the night, Lin Jiao rubbed him with cold water but the temperature didn't cool down, so she had to knock on Widow Shi's door for help.There is not even a native doctor in the village, and the baby has a headache. The villagers go to the mountains to pick up a handful of rabbit ear grass and fry it. Over the years, they have never seen anyone die from eating it.The stone widow stored herbal medicines at home because her son was weak since childhood.Now that Shi Qingshan is getting bigger, naturally he doesn't need it, but this habit has not changed for many years.Hearing what Lin Jiao said, she grabbed a handful and handed it over.Lin Jiao came back and fried it for Nengwu to drink, and drank it again in the morning.Now I checked it out and saw that his fever had really subsided, so I felt relieved.I went to the stove and lifted the lid of the pot. In a burst of hot mist, I saw that there was half a pot of porridge mixed with sweet potatoes. There were a few yellow cornmeal steamed buns on the steamer. There was a black fingerprint on one of the skins. When Wu took the tongs to light the fire, his hands were stained with ashes, and he couldn't see what had been smeared on the steamed buns.

Lin Jiao smiled, peeled off the dusty layer, and put the lid on the pot.

The Yang family has three acres of paddy fields next to the Longshun River, which is considered a good location. When Lao Yang was still there, he was considered a middle-class household in Taohua Village.It's just that the two pillars of the family have disappeared one after another, and the Ding family has been ill for the past two years.The fields hadn't been plowed this spring, so Lin Jiao had already gone through all the food stored at home: three bags of wheat, half a bag of cornmeal, half a basket of sweet potatoes, plus two hundred copper coins.According to the current price of [-] Wen for a bucket of rice, even if she and Nengwu tighten their stomachs, they don't know if they can survive the harvest in a few months, and there can be no headaches in the middle. We must rely on God's good weather.

Think on the bright side of everything.Lin Jiao is an optimistic person, she comforted herself a few words, and seeing that the fish were dying, she hurriedly picked up the fish soup and cooked it.Probably the fish meat itself is really delicious, and with her skill, the soup tastes pretty good.

The water in the water tank was down to the bottom, Lin Jiao took two wooden buckets with a shoulder pole to fetch water after eating.The place where the water is drawn is just upstream of Taohuaxi where she washed clothes before, and the villagers who did not dig a well at home all go there to draw water.

Lin Jiao staggered to the place, bent down and pressed the bucket into the water.The wooden barrel already has some weight, and with the addition of full water, it is not an easy task to carry it all the way home from here, although the road is not long.I don't know what happened to Chunjiao in the past. Anyway, when Linjiao was carrying water for the first time, because she was lazy and didn't want to go back and forth a few times, she filled up the water, but halfway down the road, when she got home, the water in the two buckets There is only the bottom of the water.So this time she behaved well, and only drew less than half a bucket of water.Even so, when he raised the burden, his legs were still a little wobbly.

"A-Jiao, let me help you!"

A young man's voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Lin Jiao turned her head and saw a young man in a blue short shirt standing behind her, with a bag slung across his shoulders.He was a little thin, but with fair skin and handsome eyes, he was a little different from the country men Lin Jiao was used to in the past half month.At this moment, he was looking at himself, and his eyes were full of unconcealable joy.

Lin Jiao had never met this person before, but she must have known Chun Jiao before.Just as he was hesitating, the young man involuntarily snatched the pole from her shoulders, went to the stream to fetch two full buckets of water, stabilized himself, and stood up straight.

It could be seen that he didn't usually do this kind of work, and he shook a few times at the beginning, but soon, he picked up water and strode forward steadily.

Lin Jiao was stunned for a moment, and had no choice but to walk back slowly, which was separated by dozens of steps from the young man.On the way, two women with empty buckets came across, they must also be fetching water.The two Lin Jiao knew each other. When she woke up from Chunjiao's diving that day, many people from the village came to watch, including the two of them.One is Li from Yang's second family, and the other is Chun Xing who lives next to her house. She is a few years older than Chun Jiao. She is also a widow whose husband went to war and never came back. She has no son, so she adopted from her uncle's house One is kept.

The second member of Yang's family saw the young man in front of him, and greeted him with a smile: "Hey, Qingshan, you're back from school? Your mother is usually reluctant to let you do heavy work. Who are you helping to carry water? In the future, the champion of high school will Riding a tall horse back home, don't deny your aunt..."

Lin Jiao recalled that he was Shi Qingshan, the son of Widow Shi.

Widow Stone is shrewd and capable, she loves her son wholeheartedly, and firmly believes that all things are inferior and only studies are high. Therefore, even though the school fees and books are a big expense in the eyes of ordinary farmers, when her son is eight years old, he sends them to him. Go to school in a private school.Later, the man in the family died in an accident, and the widow stone heard from the private school teacher that her baby was good for studying.

Shi Qingshan is talented and intelligent, he knows that widowhood is not easy, and he has high expectations of himself, so he studies very hard. At the age of 14, after Yang Nengwen set off on his behalf, he passed the examination of the county school's scholar, the youngest one, and became famous for a while. The most famous Dongshan Academy in the county made an exception to exempt Shu Xiu from recruiting him. The villagers in the township also know that there is a son of Wenquxing descended from the family of Widow Shi in Taohua Village.It's just that he was unlucky. The next year's autumn exam was canceled due to the imperial court's war. Three years later, the queen mother had a national funeral. The current emperor Xianzong is a filial son.It was only this year that the imperial court issued the imperial list for re-opening subjects to obtain scholars.Shi Qingshan is now in his early twenties, after waiting for so many years, finally waiting for this subject, like all the scholars in the world, he is very happy, and Widow Shi is even more nervous.Although there is still more than half a year before the autumn examination, he urged his son to return to the academy to study quietly and prepare for the rural examination in August.

Seeing that it was a woman from the same village who accosted him, Shi Qingshan smiled, and called Aunt Li, but he didn't stop walking, and passed quickly with a load on his shoulders.

The second member of Yang's family watched Shi Qingshan, turned his head, and bumped into Lin Jiao who was walking in front of him. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, and turned his head a few times, looking suspiciously back and forth between her and Shi Qingshan's back. After a few laps, she pursed her lips and passed Lin Jiao squinting. Lin Jiao heard her yell: "The old fat pig is going to be slaughtered, you are the one who is under the knife! Fairy!"

Lin Jiao pretended not to hear, but seeing that Chun Xing stopped in her tracks, she looked at her with sympathy, she hesitated to speak, she smiled at her, went on to her house, entered the yard, Seeing that Shi Qingshan had already picked up an empty bucket and came out of the house, the two ran into each other, subconsciously said: "Thank you."

Shi Qingshan seemed a little taken aback.Only then did Lin Jiao come to her senses, and hurriedly changed her words: "A few days ago, I heard your mother keep talking about you coming back from the academy. She is looking forward to it, you should go home quickly."

Shi Qingshan groaned, and said: "The water in your tank is empty, I'll fill it up before leaving." Then he walked away quickly.

Regardless of Lin Jiao's obstruction, Shi Qingshan went back and forth three or four times, and finally filled the big water tank. When he put down the shoulder pole, Lin Jiao saw that his forehead was sweating, and he was slightly out of breath. He handed over a freshly washed cloth towel and said with a smile, "Wipe off your sweat. If you don't mind, take two steamed buns back home and try his skills."

Shi Qingshan didn't take the cloth towel, just raised his sleeve and wiped his forehead, then took the bag that was put on the table just now, and untied it.In addition to books, pens and ink, there is also a paper bag.He took it and handed it to Neng Wudao: "A Wu, it's for you, crispy."

Lin Jiao glanced at it, and saw that there were indeed a few things that looked like powdered sugar in the paper bag.This kind of snack, you don't need to think about it, you know it is a luxury.Nengwu looked very happy, just stretched out his hand, but quickly retracted it.Although he couldn't see Lin Jiao, he still turned his head in the direction where she was standing.

Lin Jiao wanted to evade, but Shi Qingshan had already opened his mouth and said: "I also brought a bag for my mother. This is specially for Ah Wu." He said and stuffed it into Neng Wu's hand.

Lin Jiao saw that he said this, and it would be boring to evade.Neng Wu happily thanked Shi Qingshan.Only then did Shi Qingshan pack his bags and go out, Lin Jiao followed him a few steps.The two arrived in front of the gate of the yard one after the other, Shi Qingshan stopped suddenly, turned around, and as if by magic, there was an extra piece of neatly folded pink-blue muslin in his hand, his face slightly Some flushed, whispered: "I know you like this color, this is for you."

Lin Jiao was taken aback by surprise.Before he could recover, he had already put the cloth on the stone millstone beside him and left quickly, this time he really went.

(End of this chapter)