Winter has arrived, Haizi is sweeping snow in the courtyard, and Monroe invites Haizi to come over and meet. But the two of them didn't speak. They looked at each other's faces, as if they had a thousand words to say.
"Is it cold?" Monroe said as she took out a pair of shoes from her arms: "I learned to make these. They are like the Sixiko shoes my third aunt asked for. I wonder if they are suitable for you to wear?"
"Don't be like this, Miss Fifth, I can't have them. My mother has already made cotton shoes for me, look." Haizi said while stamping his feet to show Monroe the cotton shoes made by his mother.
"I'm not good at sewing, and Sixizi doesn't want to wear it. Just take it, or else the fabric will be wasted." Monroe forced the shoe into Haizi's hand.
As you pushed me, their hands came together again. They felt cool, warm, slippery, and itchy. Haizi didn't know what it felt like.
"You must want it. I made this with my own hands. Please keep it in mind."
Haizi reluctantly took the cotton shoes from Monroe's hand, and stared at Monroe for a long time. He didn't know what to say, but he just kept stroking the cotton shoes in his hand.
"I have accepted these shoes. Thank you for your kindness. I will keep them for the New Year. Miss Fifth, you have to think about it. Look at how thin you have become and your complexion is not good. You should pay attention to your body!
Don't always make yourself worse and make people think about you. This is the flower thread I bought when I went to Harbin. I planned to give it to you, but I never had the chance. "
Monroe held up the flower thread with Haizi's body temperature and put it on her face, with tears in her eyes and a sour and choked voice as she spoke.
"Oh, thank you for still thinking of me, I accept it. But you don't understand, you are still young. It would be nice if you could always think of me. Go and do your work, we can't always see each other!"
After Monroe finished speaking, she turned back to the backyard with tears in her eyes. Haizi watched her enter the hospital, stood blankly for a while, shook her head melancholy, and then lowered her head to sweep away the snow.
After clearing the snow, Haizi went to ask for leave from Mr. Yun, saying that he wanted to go home for a visit. It had been a month since he had been home, and Haizi missed home.
"Go back, but you have to come back after lunch. You can't go back for a few days. I asked your master to go to the city to do some errands. Krishna will need you to feed the horses."
Haizi didn't dare not listen to Master Yun's words, so Haizi put down his work and rushed home. He wanted to go back quickly.
When Haizi took the cotton shoes given by Monroe, he happily walked home. When he passed by the door of Mr. Wang's house, he saw many people rushing in and out.
After asking around, I found out that Mr. Wang was seriously ill and was about to die, so he sent a message to his bearded son.
Haizi felt a little regretful in his heart. Mr. Wang had never done anything bad, and because of his reputation as the son of a bandit, the village had always been peaceful.
When he was almost home, Haizi saw a few half-year-old children playing kickballs under the wall. Sanyang was also there, but his face looked a little gloomy.
"Brother, I originally won the kick, but Huzi not only didn't count, he also robbed us of a lot of money, and his brother even beat me."
Sanyang pointed at the boy who was slightly older than him and shed tears of grievance as he spoke. Haizi stroked his brother's head, comforting him while expressing his dissatisfaction with Brother Huzi who was squatting at the base of the wall.
"How can you bully a child? Return the big money to my brother quickly."
"Don't listen to your brother's nonsense. It was my brother who won. What else can I get in return!"
Brother Huzi stood up from the base of the wall. He was two years older than Haizi and stronger than Haizi. He had always had the upper hand in fights with others when he was a child.
"I just robbed it. What can you do? If you don't accept it, come and snatch it back!"
Huzi, who stole the big money from Sanyang, was even more arrogant, showing off the big money in his hand and deliberately irritating the Haizi brothers.
The big money they refer to is ancient coins such as 'Kaiyuan Tongbao', which were very common in the villages at that time and could not be spent as money, so the children used them to play with in different ways.
"If you don't return the big money to us and are still being unreasonable, I'll go find your adults to reason with you."
Haizi took his younger brother to leave and went to see the adults of Huzi's family for comment. Even though the Huzi brothers were very arrogant in front of the Haizi brothers, they were still afraid of their father, because his father was more aggressive than the two of them, but he didn't tolerate them.
"How dare you!" Brother Huzi blocked the way, preventing Brother Haizi from leaving. They knew that there would be no good consequences if the parents found out, so they stopped Haizi abruptly.
"You guys are too much of a bully. I'll go to your father for comment unless you return the big money to Sanyang."
Haizi still insisted on moving forward. This irritated the two Huzi brothers, especially Xiao Huzi, who relied on their physical strength to act like a fox and a tiger.
"Beat him!" Huzi picked up a brick and hit Haizi first. Haizi dodged and pushed Huzi into a somersault. Huzi fell to the ground and cried loudly. Sanyang said that his brother was at a disadvantage and pulled him back.
"You have the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard. How dare you hit my brother when there is no one left!"
Brother Huzi allowed Brother Haizi to escape, and rushed up to fight with his fists waving. Haizi hurriedly pushed his younger brother aside and dodged the fists from Brother Huzi.
But he still didn't dodge a few punches and was hit, especially the one on the neck, which caused burning pain.
Seeing that his brother had suffered a loss, Sanyang picked up a wooden stick and rushed forward, but before it hit Brother Huzi, Brother Huzi snatched it away, kicked Sanyang down, and raised the wooden stick to Haizi again. Come over.
When Haizi saw this, he was really anxious. He gritted his teeth and rushed towards Brother Huzi. After Haizi received two sticks on him, Haizi had already taken the stick away. With only three punches and two kicks, Brother Huzi lay on the ground and did not dare to move.
Huzi saw his brother lying on the ground and knew that his brother was no longer Haizi's opponent. He hurriedly took out the big money for robbing Sanyang, threw it to the ground, picked up his brother who was lying on the ground and ran away in despair.
"Does it hurt?" Haizi asked with concern while patting the dirt on his younger brother's body.
"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt at all. What about you?" Sanyang looked at his brother with admiration: "Brother, you are so powerful. Even Brother Huzi is afraid of you."
"It's okay, let's go home. Don't play with them anymore, let alone fight with them. Don't tell mom when you get home."
Haizi led his arrogant younger brother to walk quickly home, which was not far to begin with, but Sanyang was walking very quickly ahead with the joy of returning from victory.
Before entering the house, Sanyang shouted: "Mom, my eldest brother is back!"
When Haizi's mother saw that her son was back, she quickly put down her work and said to Erya: "Light the fire quickly and let your elder brother finish eating before leaving."
"Mom, don't you have two meals? Stop it. I'll leave in a moment. The boss's side is quite busy. I have to feed the master's horse. The master asked Mr. Yun to send him to the city."
Haizi told his mother why he couldn't stay at home for too long, but her mother insisted that Haizi finish eating before leaving. After all, her son rarely came back.
Of course Haizi wants to stay at home for more time. Winter is here, and most of the long-term workers have gone home for the holidays. They can't start work until after the Chinese New Year, but Haizi still has to work in the Yun family compound. Of course, he also wants to go home to be with his mother.
