After walking through the bumpy dirt road, stone courtyard walls built against the mountains came into view.
Although Zhang Jiaqiang had not been here for many years, he easily walked to the stone wall with a log door embedded in it based on the impression in his memory.
Through the sparse cracks in the stone wall, you can clearly hear the crowing of chickens and dogs in the courtyard. This is my grandma’s house!
Wang Xuemin stepped forward and opened the courtyard door, "Mom, Jia Qiang is here to see you!"
"Jia Qiang! My precious egg is trying to kill me!"
Grandma still looks the same as before, wearing an ancient homespun double-breasted jacket, Burmese crotch trousers, and leggings on her legs. Under the colorless cloth shoes are the small feet that mark a special era.
Although it was difficult to walk, she still ran over with trembling feet.
Zhang Jiaqiang couldn't help feeling sad, and hurriedly stepped forward to the threshold to support her, "Grandma, grandma, are you okay?"
"Okay, I can eat and sleep, but my vision is blurred!"
Wang Xuemin whispered, "Your grandma has cataracts and has been unable to see clearly in the past two years!"
Zhang Jiaqiang bent down so that the old lady could reach her face.
Those wrinkled and chapped old hands rubbed Zhang Jiaqiang's face for a moment.
"Baby egg, you have grown so tall in the blink of an eye. You are now an adult!"
Zhang Jiaqiang choked up and said, "Not only are you older, but you are also married to a wife, Xiumei, this is our grandma!"
"Grandma, I am Ye Xiumei, your grandson's wife!" Ye Xiumei supported the old lady and said sweetly.
"Okay, okay, my grandson has a wife. I'm going to hug my great-grandson!"
Zhang Jiaqiang said with a smile, "I don't have a great-grandson yet, but I have a great-granddaughter!"
As he spoke, he pushed the little girl closer and said, "Quick, call me grandma!"
"Hello, grandma, my name is Mengmeng!"
This can be regarded as four generations living under one roof. The old lady was so happy that she wiped her tears and hugged the little girl and refused to let go.
"Go up to the house, Jianhua, you go buy some meat, and we'll steam steamed buns with stuffing for lunch!"
Mountain villages are relatively poor, and there is not much good food for entertaining guests. Big steamed buns stuffed with meat are considered a delicacy.
As the old lady spoke, she took out a few crumpled bills and stuffed them into Zhang Jianhua's hand.
I don't know how long I kept this little money on me, but the old lady didn't even bother to take it out when my grandson would buy sweets.
Zhang Jianhua hurriedly pushed back, "Jia Qiang brought a lot of things, enough to eat, you can keep the money!"
The old lady was so anxious that she stamped her feet, "How can that be done? Jia Qiang is also a grandson and a guest. How can we let the guest spend his own money and make people laugh when he tells it?"
"What are you yelling about? Why don't you tell people to go to sleep!"
Following a sharp female voice, a woman in her forties with fleshless cheeks and thin lips walked out of the east room.
Seeing the people in the yard, she was stunned for a few seconds with sleepy eyes, curled her lips and smiled contemptuously.
"Who do I think I am? It seems that my aunt and her whole family are here. Usually it's not enough to eat and drink here with my uncle, but it's good today. The whole family is here. I wonder if there was a flood in Luonan?"
Zhang Jiaqiang vaguely remembered that this was Er Jinzi. In the past, he just thought that she was unkind to others and did not think that she was so mean. What he said obviously meant that Wang Xuemin took his whole family to escape and come here to eat and drink.
Er Jinzi continued, "Let's agree, I don't have enough food in the house to last until the autumn harvest. I won't cook at noon. Whoever wants to eat can figure it out. Old lady, don't you still have a few baskets of sweet potatoes in the house? Lend me a basket and I'll return it to you when the autumn harvest comes, so that no one can eat it and then starve to death!"
The old lady was so angry that she coughed, "Go away, go away, who cares about your little food? Go back and sleep!"
"Good intentions are worth nothing. You deserve to starve..." Er Jinzi yawned and turned around and walked back into the house.
At this time, two young men, a man and a woman, ran into the courtyard.
The man, who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, stood near the door and shouted loudly as if there was no one around.
"Mom, someone was delivering watches at the entrance of the village just now. They all blamed you for asking me and my sister to go to the back mountain, otherwise we would have caught up!"
"Bah, I'm dreaming. Someone is giving me a watch. Why don't I see a pie falling from the sky? You two should go away. It's time to study and work. Don't be like other people who suffer from hysteria during the day!"
The girl is at most eighteen or nineteen, looks very delicate, and speaks softly.
"Mom, it's true. People said that the person who gave me the watch was my cousin. Hehe, do I really have such a rich cousin?"
Er Jinzi turned around and glanced at Zhang Jiaqiang, and sneered, "Your cousin does have it, but he's just going to escape. It's not clear whether he will be able to eat at noon today!"
The old lady was so angry that she couldn't speak.
Wang Xuemin said softly, "Second sister-in-law, Jia Qiang didn't come here empty-handed. Everything is in the car. At noon, our family will make dumplings. You ask your children to help make the noodles, and we will eat together when the eldest brother and the second brother come back!"
Er Jinzi curled her lips and said, "Returning the dumplings, the sticks can't be used to make the dumplings, and the dumplings turn into pieces of soup when put in the pot!"
Before he finished speaking, Tiezhu Xiaowu entered the yard carrying large and small bags.
There are all kinds of snacks, snacks, candies, drinks, cigarettes, clothes, as well as two bags of flour and vacuum-packed chilled beef brisket, placed in a pile on the floor!
Zhang Jiaqiang knew that there was a shortage of real things in the mountains, so he didn't prepare any luxury goods, only practical ones.
Er Jinzi stared at something for a long time and blinked, then suddenly laughed.
"Oh, what do you mean? Come on, come on. Why are you taking so many things? There is no shortage at home. Really, it's so troublesome to move them into the house. Xiaoliang, Erya, this is your cousin. Brother, why don’t you call someone quickly and move things into the house quickly!”
Erya shyly called her cousin, but did not move anything. She walked to the old lady and took her arm, teasing Zhou Xiaomeng with a smile.
Cousin Xiaoliang just grinned at Zhang Jiaqiang, dug out a box of chocolates from the pile, tore open the package and ate it without ceremony.
The boy turned his head and caught a glimpse of the new travel shoes on Zhang Jiaqiang's feet, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Cousin, the shoes are not bad, lend them to me for two days!"
Er Jinzi immediately said, "Yes, yes, I have introduced someone to Xiaoliang. When we meet in the past few days, the cousin must be supportive. The shoes and pants are all for Xiaoliang to wear!"
The old lady finally regained her breath and cursed loudly, "God is blind and let you marry into our family. How can you call it shameless? The city walls are not as thick as yours, why don't you strip the family away!"
"Hey, old lady, what did you say? I'm looking for a wife for your grandson. You see, your family is poor. If you don't dress up nicely, will others take notice of you? Besides, I'm not letting my family shine. Keep your feet on!"
As she spoke, she picked up a pair of unidentifiable cloth shoes from the window sill next to her and threw them at Zhang Jiaqiang's feet.
"Jia Qiang, put on your clothes first. Forget about your pants. Whatever watch you have, just give one to your cousin!"
Zhang Jiaqiang was so angry that he almost laughed out loud. He waved his hand and said, "We'll talk about the shoes later. Mom and Dad, let's move the things to grandma's house first. She will have the final say who will give it to me then!"
He turned to Tiezhu and Xiao Wu and said, "Don't wait for lunch, call Shang Zhigang into the city now, hurry up and buy something, and we can make a meal from the city for lunch!"
Er Jinzi was surprised and said, "Jia Qiang, why are you going to the city?"
Erya whispered from the side, "I heard from the villagers that my cousin donated ten water pumps to the village. Go buy them!"
"Ten, ten water pumps?" Er Jinzi was surprised that a fist could fit into her mouth!
