There was also a table in Xu Ling's old house, but the table was a wooden pile that had been exposed to wind and sun for a long time in the old house. His mother wanted to move it to a new house but couldn't find a use for it, so she stayed in the old house.
Just in time for Chen Ze to wipe it off, he placed the food brought from the Xu family, one dish, one soup, and a dozen golden shortbreads, which were enough to make the three mothers shed tears.
Chen Sheng helped his mother sit up and brought a bowl of mutton soup to his mother's mouth. "Mom, this is mutton soup. There is meat in it. It's delicious. Drink some to warm yourself up first!"
Widow Chen wanted them to drink first, but when she opened her mouth and the hot soup reached her tongue, she couldn't say any words of rejection and swallowed it in her stomach.
The mutton soup is boiled to a milky white color, and pepper is added. You can't smell it. As soon as you drink it, you can tell how refreshing it is. Your body, which was originally cold, seems to suddenly become warm.
Widow Chen drank most of the bowl of mutton soup, and she felt as if she had come to life.
"Mom, does it taste good? Eat another piece of cake!"
Widow Chen looked at the two children and was speechless, "Okay, mom, eat the cake, and you two will eat too."
Chen Sheng and Chen Ze placed wooden stakes beside his mother's bed, and they squatted on the ground, drinking soup and eating cakes, like a pilgrimage.
After drinking the hot soup, Chen Sheng thought of Xu Ling's words just now and told his brother Chen Ze the details.
The two brothers are only two years apart and look very similar. Chen Ze is also a quiet man.
After Chen Sheng finished speaking, he asked his younger brother for his opinion: "What do you think? Do you want to do it or not?"
Chen Ze took a bite of the pancake, gulped down the soup and said, "Do it! We won't survive the winter if we don't do it. If we save money by working for him for a few years, maybe we can buy land."
"What about the rent? Isn't it a little high?" Chen Sheng spoke in a low voice. Not to mention how knowledgeable he and his younger brother were, they were able to serve as customers and knew more or less the details of other tenants' rent payments.
The rent paid by tenants is not low, usually 30% to 70%. There are also a few well-meaning landlords who only charge 60% of the rent.
They farmed for Xu Ling and paid 80% of the rent. Xu Ling also had to pay grain taxes, and the rest was Xu Ling's.
On the other hand, although Chen Sheng and Chen Ze did not have to pay grain taxes again, they still had to do corvee labor and their lives were not easy.
"It's not high!" Chen Ze told his brother directly, "You have to settle the accounts separately. Although we have to pay 80% of the rent next year, we don't have to spend money to build the house. There will be no drought or flood in half a year, and the three of us will always have something to eat. "
"What's more, didn't Xu Ling say that? The deed says, rice, the rent will be 28 yuan next year, and it will be determined according to the harvest in the future. But it will not exceed 28 yuan, it will only be lower. If he charges more, It means a good harvest, and if the harvest is good, we will get more.”
Chen Sheng looked at his younger brother and scratched his head, "Is that so?"
"Brother, just listen to me and let's work for Xu Ling. I think he is a rich man and has no lack of friendship. As long as we work hard for him, the benefits will definitely be indispensable!" Chen Ze affirmed.
"How did you see that?"
"He used to be a bastard and sneaky. People in the village beat him and scolded him a lot. Now that he is rich, do you see who he is taking revenge on? If I become rich in the future, I will definitely..."
"Okay Aze!" Chen Sheng quickly called his brother, blocking his words, and then glanced at his mother on the bed, "Okay, don't mention these, let's get over it."
"Oh, I can't get through it!" Chen Ze took a bite of the shortbread bitterly, as if he was eating someone's flesh.
"Alas..." Widow Chen on the bed sighed, "Boss, just listen to your brother, he is smarter than you."
"Second brother, no matter what you think in your heart, if you don't have money now, you have to listen to your elder brother and regard it as a thing of the past. Don't make trouble with them anymore. You can't make trouble."
"Besides mother, you two brothers are the closest to each other in the world, so don't have any second thoughts, otherwise our life will be really difficult... cough... cough..."
"mother!"
"Mom! Stop talking!" The two brothers put down their jobs. One gave his mother a favor, and the other took the bowl from his mother's hand.
"My sons know, you must be good and don't let your son lose his mother..."
As Chen Ze spoke, tears welled up in his eyes. Widow Chen touched her second son's face and started to cry, "My mother is useless and will only hold you back. But my mother knows that no matter how hard her life is, she will never die." , we can’t let our two sons lose their biological mother again. You will live a better life in the future, but you must find a way to find Dou’er and Xiaohua. Mother can’t see them before she dies, and she will die unwillingly!”
The two brothers Chen Ze agreed repeatedly. Chen Sheng drank the warm water of Qiuli ointment brought by Xu Ling and gave it to his mother to drink. Widow Chen drank less than half of the bowl, spit out a few mouthfuls of thick phlegm, and finally felt better.
"What kind of medicine is this? Is it so powerful?" Chen Ze had a strange light in his eyes.
"I don't know. My boss gave it to us, saying it would make my mother's cough better."
"It must be very expensive..." Chen Ze touched the jar of Qiuli ointment. He went to the town to buy medicine for his mother. Five sets of medicine cost one or two silver. He took many silver's worth of medicine, but his mother didn't feel well. .
"My boss treats you well because you can work for him," Widow Chen said earnestly to her two sons, "You can't cheat and let others take advantage of you."
"Okay, mother, we get it."
It was night, and snowflakes as big as goose feathers were falling. The cold wind was howling outside, like a howling night ghost. The trees were blown by the wind and made a terrifying sound. Xu Ling didn't sleep well all night, for fear of the strong wind. Rip off the roof of the old house next door.
In the middle of the night, I got dressed, picked up a night light, and ran to the next door to see that the brothers Chen Sheng and Chen Ze had moved the bed into the same room as their mother. The mother and son huddled together around the stove to keep warm, and fell asleep.
Xu Ling hurriedly asked Chen Sheng to follow him back to the house. He hurriedly took the freshly tanned sheepskin and covered them on the bed to keep them warm.
Fortunately, the roof of the old house had been reinforced years ago and it was unlikely to be blown over by the wind. Xu Ling could then go home and lock the door to sleep.
Early the next morning, Xu Ling woke up from his sleep holding Gu You, only to feel that it was bright outside.
After getting dressed and opening the window, I saw that it was covered in snow outside, and the snow was so thick that the fence in the yard was almost submerged.
Scratch...salad...salad...
The sound of a bamboo broom sweeping away snow came from outside the gate. Xu Ling looked over and saw that the two brothers Chen Sheng and Chen Ze, one shoveling the snow and the other sweeping the snow, had almost cleared the snow outside Xu Ling's gate.
"My mother is up already?"
"No, it's the Chen Sheng brothers who came to clear the snow for us so early." Xu Ling got dressed, "I'll heat up yesterday's leftovers. Can you get some sleep?"
"I'll go, but I can't sleep anymore. It snowed so much last year, I don't know if I'll have a good time this year."
Gu Tao sighed and got dressed, mentally taking stock of the food stored at home. Fortunately, Xu Ling would buy a lot every time he came back. Calculating carefully, even if the road was blocked by heavy snow, he would still be able to eat when the snow melted.
