Same age, similar height, even the same love of fish tails.
The most important thing is that he and Brother Lin both like to raise grasshoppers.
Thinking of those classmates who had made a fuss about not wanting to live in the same room with him, Zhou Zixu said he couldn't understand that there were people who didn't like Grasshoppers in the world. This was really abnormal.
Lin Yuanqiu didn't know what Zhou Zixu was thinking at this time. At this moment, he was worrying about how to sleep tonight. After all, five or six grasshoppers were chirping together, and the sound was not ordinary.
As for the name of his Grasshopper, Lin Yuanqiu thought about it and seemed to have heard his fourth brother call it "General" before.
What? General!
When he heard that Brother Lin's Grasshopper was also called the General, Zhou Zixu was a little unconvinced. He thought that this name could not be called casually. His iron belly was the real General.
"show me."
This time Zhou Zixu ignored the dust on the ground. After lying down, he stretched out his arms and took out the grasshopper cage from under Lin Yuanqiu's bed.
The Grasshopper, who was chirping excitedly at first, immediately stopped chirping after seeing the light. His two long beards swung back and forth, showing a state of constant alert.
And Zhou Zixu's words, "Let's see who is more like a general," stuck in his throat after he saw the grasshopper in the grass cage.
Because Zhou Zixu suddenly discovered that his "iron belly" in front of Brother Lin's "general" was like a chicken meeting a big rooster.
After thinking about it, Zhou Zixu compared his "Nan Batian" with "Golden Horn King" and "Black Wind King", and sadly found that none of them could compare.
So, where did such good grasshoppers come from?
Zhou Zixu's face was full of hospitality, "Brother Lin, where did you catch your general? Take me to catch one next time too!"
Before the word "Bai" could even be heard, the oil lamp went out.
Lin Yuanqiu's face was full of dark lines. It seemed that they were going to be in the dark tonight.
The few grasshoppers in the room, without the interference of bright light, began to chirp and sing songs again.
Lin Yuanqiu discovered that people are really adaptable. Take himself as an example. At first, the chirping of several grasshoppers made him feel like he was sleeping in the grass.
But gradually, I didn't feel anything at all. Later, no matter how noisy the grasshopper was, I could still sleep.
In fact, this is normal. He is only an eight-year-old child, and he is not a man of seventy or eighty years old who has difficulty sleeping. There is no reason why he cannot sleep.
However, even if it did not affect his sleep and rest, Lin Yuanqiu was still planning to take the "general" back during the ten-day holiday.
Not to mention that his family worked hard to earn money for him to study, but he couldn't be distracted by these things. Even if Zhou Zixu was so obsessed with "the general", he shouldn't let him stay here any longer. people.
No, after seeing the "Great General" that night, Zhou Zixu devoted himself to it. Not only did he often help him let it out, he would also go out of his way to catch small bugs for it to eat. In Zhou Zixu's words, That means eating meat will make you stronger.
Lin Yuanqiu had a headache when he saw the other party enjoying himself so much. He was very worried that this guy would get addicted to playing with grasshoppers and get out of control.
Therefore, Lin Yuanqiu has been thinking about how he should use to bring people back these days.
What Lin Yuanqiu didn't expect was that before he could come up with a good idea, Zhou Zixu's problem of "not doing his job properly" was gone forever, but the process was a bit "tragic".
It turned out that after seeing the might of the "Great General", Zhou Zixu had always had an unconvinced voice in his heart. He always felt that although his several grasshoppers were incomparable in size, it did not mean that he could not fight.
So, while Lin Yuanqiu was going to the latrine, Zhou Zixu secretly put the "Iron Belly General" and the "Great General" together in the earthen jar, preparing to let them compete in fighting skills.
Unexpectedly, in just two rounds, the "Iron Belly General"'s hind leg was torn off by the "Great General", and the other leg was also likely to be bitten off soon.
Seeing this, Zhou Zixu became anxious and hurriedly poured "Nan Batian", "Black Wind King", and "Golden Horn King" into the earthen jar, thinking that he could save "Iron Belly".
Unexpectedly, the three "reinforcements" did not dare to step forward at all. After dodging several times, they were all greeted by the "general".
The scene of the stumps and broken arms flying away frightened Zhou Zixu to the point of being stunned for a moment.
When Lin Yuanqiu came back from the latrine, he saw Zhou Zixu leaning against the corner crying sadly. At his feet was the egg noodles he had eaten for dinner, vomiting all over the floor.
And the "tragic situation" in the gray-black earthen jar almost made Lin Yuanqiu vomit out his dinner.
I saw that those with missing arms, those with missing legs, and the grasshopper named "Nan Batian" were already lying motionless at the bottom of the jar.
Only Lin Yuanbai's "General" still stood proudly among them, rubbing his paws and wings, and shaking the two long beards on his head triumphantly.
Lin Yuanqiu quickly cleaned up the "battlefield". Except for the "general", he dumped all the other "wounded" into the grass, leaving them to "reliance on their own".
There is no way, because their owners no longer dare to see them anymore.
…
It's time for the ten-day holiday soon. Today, Master Zhou specially let everyone finish school early so that students from far away can have enough time to go home.
Zhou Zixu went back with Zhou Xiucai. The Zhou family's old house was in the west of the city, not far from here, but Zhou Xiucai usually only went back during the holidays.
When Lin Yuanqiu came out carrying the book box, he saw his father waiting outside the door.
"Dad!" Lin Yuanqiu ran over. He hadn't seen him for many days. He really missed his father.
Lin Sanzhu took his son in his arms and looked at him carefully from head to toe. When he saw his son's rosy face, he finally felt relieved.
You know, Lin Sanzhu has been worried about his son since he studied here.
"Come on, daddy will carry you." Lin Sanzhu knelt down and asked his son to get on his back quickly.
Lin Yuanqiu was not polite, put his arms around his father's neck, and then lay down on him.
Lin Sanzhu smiled and rolled his eyes. It felt so good to carry his son on his back.
"Gouzi, are you tired from studying in school?" As soon as the question came out of his mouth, Lin Sanzhu immediately remembered that he couldn't call him Gouzi anymore, lest he be imitated by Gouzi's classmates.
Thinking of this, Lin Sanzhu quickly turned his head and looked behind him. Fortunately, there was no one.
Lin Yuanqiu shook his head, "I'm not tired."
"Can I have enough to eat?" This was what Lin Sanzhu was most worried about.
"Yes, daddy, my son has white rice to eat every day in school."
Lin Yuanqiu was not telling lies. During these days in private school, he ate white rice every day. Although it was broken rice, it was not bad. He also had white-flour steamed buns and gruel in the morning. Compared with what he had at home, It's all so much better.
However, if you still want to eat boiled eggs in the morning, you need to pay extra money to Uncle Xiang, one egg is a penny.
Lin Yuanqiu also bought it twice, using the pocket money his father gave him.
He didn't spend much money in private school, and he didn't have the habit of buying snacks outside. Therefore, Lin Yuanqiu basically didn't touch the money given by his grandparents and parents. Now he still has two pieces of silver in his hand, plus Forty-two copper coins.
As for this money, Lin Yuanqiu planned to use it as sparingly as possible.
In a few months, the eldest brother will get married. At that time, a lot of money will be needed to give the bride price to the eldest sister-in-law's family, decorate the new house, and purchase the necessities for the wedding. And once the eldest brother gets married, it will soon be the second brother's turn to get a wife. In addition, the eldest sister has also reached the age of marriage. Once the marriage is announced, she will have to buy a dowry immediately.
For ancient women, it is not an exaggeration to say that a dowry is a talisman. It is definitely not good if it is too shabby.
So my family still has plenty of money to spend. Now that I have to spend a lot of money to go to private school for a year, I don't have the nerve to ask my family for help.
Lin Yuanqiu planned to wait for the holiday to end and go to the bookstore to find out if there were any jobs for copying books. That day when he was at Zhanggui Gao's bookstore, he saw students coming to get books to copy. At that time, Lin Yuanqiu had this idea in his mind. , anyway, this job won’t affect your studies, and it’s pretty good to earn some pocket money.
Thinking of Shopkeeper Gao, Lin Yuanqiu immediately thought of the book covers. On the day he came to the private school, his father told him that his family was planning to sell book covers. Now he doesn't know how the progress is, "Dad, our book covers How's the set going?"
"Your mother and uncle are working on it. You can see it when you get home. By the way, the little flower you drew on the book cover last time was quite beautiful. Today your mother also said that when you get home, , I will ask you to draw a few more flowers so that she can embroider them on the book cover as a pattern."
Lin Sanzhu walked quickly as he spoke. Although he had just agreed with Lin Dong to let him wait for a little longer, he couldn't let people wait for too long.
Tricks? Lin Yuanqiu quickly remembered the flower he drew on the book cover, which was a spring orchid.
During their family studies, Master Wang would often teach them how to draw, and this orchid was exactly the style Master Wang taught them.
Painting is not difficult for Lin Yuanqiu. If he were not afraid of revealing his secrets, he could draw more than a dozen different orchid varieties in one go.
However, Lin Yuanqiu felt that after returning this time, he could draw a few more patterns. If anyone asked then, he would just say that he learned it from the Master in a private school.
The father and son soon arrived at the parking lot at the South City Gate. There were already several people waiting on the oxcart.
It was always embarrassing to have people wait for him, so Lin Sanzhu thanked everyone.
"Sanzhu, why are you so polite? We are all from the same village, so it's okay to wait a little longer."
"Yes, yes, we are all from the same village, why should we be so open-minded?"
It was Aunt Wuzi and Lin Shi's wife who spoke. Several other villagers also nodded and told Lin Sanzhu not to be so polite.
This situation made Lin Dong beside him filled with emotion. Who would have been so polite to the third son of the Lin family before? But since his son passed the county examination, everything has been different.
Sure enough, the elders say that you earn face by yourself, and this is absolutely true.
Today, her grandson is going home, so Wu specially asked Zhou to steam steamed buns with white flour, and braise the silver carp that Yuansong's father-in-law brought a few days ago.
My grandson loves to eat fish, so he keeps it in the water tank, waiting for him to come back to eat.
…
Chapter 50 Recruitment
By the time the father and son arrived home, it was almost dark.
Dinner has been served on the table, but before eating, the whole family took a good look at Lin Yuanqiu. Some said he had gained weight, some said he was whiter, and some said he was taller.
In the end, Lao Lin made the final decision. His grandson not only gained weight and turned white, he also grew taller.
Lin Yuanqiu stretched out his hand to compare his height. He felt that it was definitely possible to become grayer and gain weight. But after only ten days, could he grow taller with the naked eye?
Before Lin Yuanqiu was in a daze, Lin Yuanbai reached out and pulled him aside, "Brother Gouzi, my general? Have you brought him back?"
That day, Lin Yuanbai gave the "General" to Lin Yuanqiu on a whim, and regretted it very much afterwards. First, he was worried that the master in the private school would confiscate it, and then he was worried that Gouzi's brother had never raised a grasshopper before. He was starving to death by then, and in addition to the fact that he had always lost in grasshopper fights with Daniel Tiedan and the others in the past few days, Lin Yuanbai was even more looking forward to the "general" coming back soon.
Seeing the other party's eager look, Lin Yuanqiu was secretly glad. He said that the grasshopper was the fourth brother's treasure. Fortunately, he did not let it go alive that day.
"I've brought the Grasshopper back. I'll pick it up for you after dinner."
As for the glorious deeds of the "Great General" who fought one against four, Lin Yuanqiu decided not to talk about it. Otherwise, when the fourth brother shows off in the village, the whole village will know that he took Grasshopper to school, and his family will definitely know by then. , not only will the fourth brother be beaten, but he will definitely not be able to escape. After all, the family spent money on your education, not for you to go to a private school to fight grasshoppers.
Lin Yuanbai was naturally very happy when he heard that the Grasshopper had been brought back. He nodded hurriedly and said, "No hurry, no hurry, let's have dinner first."
Haha, now that the "general" has returned, tomorrow he and the third brother can go "kill all directions" again.
Mrs. Wu divided the steamed buns in the basket among everyone, and then scooped a spoonful of egg soup into each bowl. As for the other dishes, she didn't share them one by one.
Now that the family is not always hungry like before, there is no need to worry about food grabbing.
What's more, your granddaughter-in-law will come in in a few months, and it will be too ugly for you to share the food with him by the spoonful.
Therefore, Wu decided to slowly change this habit from now on.
So at this moment, she was staring at a few small dishes. If anyone did not follow the rules and picked up the dishes several times in a row, Wu would immediately hit the back of someone's hand with a chopstick.
