There are flowers and wine, hoeing and farming

Chapter 23

Qiaoqiao and Cheng Zhiyuan went back to the house to eat, and seeing his younger sister standing up to grab the fish with chopsticks, he quickly picked a big piece of fish and put it in front of her.

Qiaoqiao looked at him, and Cheng Zhiyuan immediately said fiercely: "Pick the fishbone yourself, I won't pick it for you."

"En." Qiaoqiao nodded vigorously with a smile.

After eating, Cheng Zhiyuan habitually threw down his chopsticks and went out, but when he saw Qiaoqiao push away the high stool, he struggled to lift the basket containing the cakes into his hands and walked towards the kitchen, he stopped and picked up the basket containing the fish. Dawan followed suit.

Qiaoqiao put down the basket and walked back, Cheng Zhiyuan said, "I'll get it."

It's been a long time since he picked up these plates and the like, and Qiao Qiao didn't show any courtesy to him, standing in the kitchen waiting for him to come over.

"Brother, can you help me fill that wooden basin with water?"

"What are you going to do?"

"do the washing up."

Cheng Zhiyuan hesitated for a while, then snorted, went to fill the big tank with water, rolled up his sleeves and squatted down: "Let me wash it."

After washing, Cheng Zhiyuan learned to be smarter this time, and asked directly: "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

"Wipe the table, there are drops of vegetable juice and fishbone on it."

Under Qiaoqiao's command, Cheng Zhiyuan wiped the table, wrung out two buckets of water, washed the rag, and finally picked up some more firewood in the kitchen.

"Is there any more?" Cheng Zhiyuan asked.

"It's gone." Qiaoqiao shook her head, took out the purse she made that day from her bosom and handed it over, looking at the guarded eyes of the little brother, she smiled brightly: "It's so kind of little brother, he helped me so much, I'll give you a The purse, I made it myself."

Cheng Zhiyuan glanced at the big and ugly purse with contempt: "Keep it for yourself!"

"Brother, you are welcome." Qiaoqiao persuaded him.

"Who is being polite to you, I don't want it."

"Here, little brother, it can hold snacks, and it can also hold small things you carved."

Cheng Zhiyuan finally got angry: "Send it to me in five years. It's so ugly now that no one wants it."

Qiaoqiao pursed her mouth and looked at him pitifully with big eyes, but Cheng Zhiyuan was unmoved. After seeing that there was really no work to do, he turned around and started to continue his manual work.

"Qiaoqiao, Xiaoyuan." Ning's voice came.

"Mother, you are back." Qiaoqiao ran over and saw that Ning was carrying a pack of medicine in her hand, she asked, "Mother, did you prepare the medicine for brother?"

Cheng Zhigao and Cheng Daman also came over, and the family of five walked into the room and began to discuss about the eldest brother's face again.

"This is a three-day dose, once a day, but the doctor said that your brother is not a disease and needs to be recuperated for a long time, and if you keep taking medicine, it will be bad for your health, and you can't afford the money, so the doctor asked Let's go to the field and pull some wormwood to burn for your brother."

Qiaoqiao knew that acne was not a problem of dirty face, but caused by endocrine disorders at puberty, she asked curiously: "Can wormwood take care of this?"

"The doctor said yes, wormwood can be used for many purposes."

Now this season, wormwood is growing vigorously, and the fields are full of it. Except for some specific days, wormwood will be hung on weekdays to drive away evil spirits. It is useless for the rest of the day. Qiaoqiao grabbed it The little brother hurriedly went outside to grab a lot of fresh mugwort leaves and came back.

Fresh mugwort leaves are unusable, she is more anxious than her elder brother, it’s not worth it if she dries the mugwort during the day, she clamors to steam it at night, it’s quick to dry, fortunately, Ning Shi persuaded her that maybe The medicine would lose its effect, so she gave up.

After three or four days in the sun, the wormwood faded from its fresh green color and turned yellow and shrunk. Put it on the tip of your nose and smell it, and the fragrance increased instead of diminishing.

After Ning smashed the wormwood with a stone mortar, he wrapped the wormwood velvet with the cheap straw paper he bought, so that it became a wormwood strip. After lighting it, he slowly smoked it on the abdomen and back. She was very curious about the treatment method, and she watched carefully from the beginning to the end. Ning Shi put the wormwood strips on it, and she couldn't bear it after staying for a while. It was too thick, and after coughing for a long time, Ning drove her out.

After being smoked like this for several days, and after drinking the medicine prescribed by the doctor, the red pimples on Cheng Zhigao's face have subsided. Although they haven't completely disappeared, they don't look so scary anymore.

Although he didn't care much about it before, when he occasionally touched the acne that caused him some pain and it had gone down a lot, his mood obviously improved a lot. Qiaoqiao obediently stayed with his elder brother every day, giving him Talk, accompany him to relieve his boredom, relieve his depression because the doctor told him not to go out to see the wind.

On this day, after smoking the wormwood, Qiaoqiao chatted with her elder brother. She kept complaining to him that his younger brother liked to bully her, and she refused to even take the purse she gave him. Smiling, he stroked his younger sister's braid, asking her to take it out and see for herself.

Qiaoqiao puts this treasure in her chest pocket at any time, and when she is about to take it out like offering a treasure, she hears Ning's voice outside: "Qiaoqiao, come out."

Qiaoqiao ran out to see that it was Zheng Cang who was standing at the door of her house.

"Brother Zheng Cang, you are here, come in." Qiaoqiao stepped forward and pulled his hand to let him enter the room.

Ning Shi poured water for him, he looked like he was worried, his hair was combed a little messy, and there were many wrinkles on his clothes that were not smooth, just now I asked a few words, but the child didn't want to say anything, so Ning Shi didn't She continued to ask, and she walked out after pouring the water.Maybe facing his little daughter who is not very sensible, he is willing to talk about it.

"Brother Zheng Cang, what's the matter with you?" Qiaoqiao is not stupid, she can naturally see that Brother Zheng Cang looks a little tired, and feels a little embarrassed in her heart, feeling that she hasn't gone to play with him these days.

"I'm fine." Zheng Cang shook his head, lowered his head and drank water.

"Shall I take you out to play for a while?" Zheng Cang asked.

"Okay." Qiaoqiao immediately ran to say hello to Ning Shi, and walked out holding Zheng Cang's hand.

"Brother Zheng Cang, my eldest brother has a lot of sores on his face, and he is currently treating his illness at home." Qiaoqiao began to find a topic to chat.

"kindness."

"Have you been at home recently? You can go hunting now. Have you caught any valuable animals? I can sell fur for you. I'm very good!"

"kindness."

Qiaoqiao sighed helplessly, Zheng Cang finally lowered his head to look at her, "What's wrong?"

"I should ask you this question." Qiaoqiao rubbed Zheng Cang's thigh with her index finger, and said dissatisfied.

"I'm fine, come on, I'll take you to play on it, do you want to go?" Zheng Cang said, pointing to one of the tall straight trees.

"it is good."

Zheng Cang bent down to pick her up, using his hands and legs together, he quickly climbed up and sat on a thick branch.

"You, you support me and help me." Qiaoqiao looked down, closed her eyes in fright, and tightly grasped Zheng Cang's arm.

"I was quite happy to see you down there, but now you're scared when you come up?"

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's just..." Qiaoqiao said nothing for a few times, Zheng Cang picked a leaf from the side and handed it to her mouth: "Will you blow it?"

Qiaoqiao shook her head blankly, Zheng Cang put it to her mouth, and heard a melodious sound without seeing much force.

"Okay, let's play a song." Qiaoqiao said with bright eyes.

Zheng Cang smiled: "I only know how to play a tune, and blow a tune with leaves, but it's not easy."

"Oh." Qiaoqiao judged based on her previous life experience, thinking that as long as the leaves were put to her mouth, a tune would definitely be blown out, but she made a mistake in her judgment.

"Come on, let me try this, you can probably blow it out." Zheng Cang broke off a thin branch, and carefully pulled out the white rod in the middle, leaving a complete bark.

Qiaoqiao put it to her mouth, puffed up her cheeks and blew hard.

All the anger leaked out, and she made a sound like farting, her face flushed red all of a sudden, she quickly threw away the bark in her hand, and stared at Zheng Cang with wide eyes: "You did it on purpose..."

Zheng Cang leaned forward and back with a smile, if he hadn't been sitting on the tree at the moment, protecting Qiaoqiao from falling, he might not be able to get up with his stomach in his arms.

"You are better than everyone else, at most others can't blow it well, but you have blown a..."

Qiaoqiao pinched Zheng Cang's arm all of a sudden, not allowing him to say the following, but seeing Zheng Cang, who has never been expressionless, smiling so brightly and innocently, she also felt that it was okay to be a clown.Anyway, I was still a child, so I just pretended to forget it the next day.

"Brother Zheng Cang, why are you unhappy?" Qiaoqiao asked again.

Zheng Cang didn't speak, just took out something from his sleeve and handed it to Qiaoqiao: "Look."

This is a copper coin, the most common one penny. Qiaoqiao took it and looked at it for a while, but she didn't find anything special. She even put it in her mouth and bit it lightly with her teeth, and then solemnly asked: "Brother Zheng Cang, is this your family heirloom?"

Zheng Cang laughed again: "No."

"Then..." What's so strange about this copper coin?

"Look again."

Qiaoqiao frowned and looked at it carefully, she believed that she had read the copper coins thoroughly, but she didn't find anything wrong.

"Very old? Dirty? Wrong spelling?"

After asking questions one after another, without waiting for Zheng Cang's answer, she directly rejected it. Finally, she gave up and said, "Brother Zheng Cang, I really don't see any difference."

Zheng Cang nodded: "Actually, it is just an ordinary copper coin, there is no difference."

Qiaoqiao opened her mouth wide and looked at Zheng Cang. Seeing him smiling again, she sighed and said, "Brother Zheng Cang has become bad, and he has learned to bully people."

"Here I give you, this copper coin." Zheng Cang took out another braided red string from his sleeve pocket, put the copper coin on, put it on Qiaoqiao's neck on his own initiative, and tied a strong one behind. Knot.

"Brother Zheng Cang??" Qiaoqiao was puzzled, what is the meaning of this copper coin?

"Put it on. It's been stained with tiger blood. It is said that it can bless you and make you rich."

"Okay." Qiaoqiao immediately covered her chest and nodded desperately. Now, there is no doubt at all.

"Brother Zheng Cang, by the way, I'll give you something too." Qiaoqiao reached into her bosom and took out the big purse and handed it over.

Zheng Cang has seen many purses, but he has never seen such a purse. First, it is very big, and second, it is very simple.To put it bluntly, it is rather rough and unsightly. Obviously, such a purse is not suitable for hanging on the waist at all, because it is so big that it can hold a big sweet potato weighing one catty.

However, Zheng Cang didn't even frown, took a look at it, and said firmly, "You did this."

"Well, yes, for the first time."

Zheng Cangen let out a cry, and immediately put it in his arms.

"You don't think it's ugly?" Qiaoqiao asked.

"It's not ugly, the first time I did it, it's already very good."

"That is, let me tell you, brother Zheng Cang, with this huge purse, you will get rich soon, and then fill it full." Qiaoqiao moved to Zheng Cang mysteriously and said.

Zheng Cang didn't speak, his eyes were full of smiles.

Until Zheng Cang proposed to send Qiaoqiao home, Qiaoqiao didn't ask what happened to Zheng Cang, and she didn't want to press too much, after all, it would be bad to ask too much about things people don't want to talk about.

"Brother Zheng Cang, I will visit you to play in a few days. When my brother is well, let him send me there."

Zheng Cang stood there in a daze and looked at Qiaoqiao who was waving violently at her. It took him a long time to squeeze out the word "um" from his throat, but Qiaoqiao had been pulled into the room by Ning's long ago, so he didn't hear it.

(End of this chapter)