Early morning, Ping An Restaurant.
When He Yiqi woke up from his sleep leisurely, he found that Jiang Xianfeng, who was squeezed into the same bed with him and chatted with him until midnight, was already gone.
For some reason, he felt a little disappointed. Although he had known the result for a long time, he still had some strange emotions.
In this small town, few children of the same age would come to play with him, because He Yiqi always had an eccentric personality. He didn't know how to play games played by his peers, and he didn't have much interest in them.
Before Lan Yu came to teach him how to read and write and make him like reading books, his only entertainment activity might be to be in a daze.
However, the cripple who likes to joke always laughs and teases He Yiqi, saying that this is not called being in a daze, but being full and having nothing to do, and he is feeling spring here.
She also asked Aunt Biao to ask the matchmaker in the town to find a girl from the family and arrange a baby bride for He Yiqi, so that he could make up his mind as soon as possible.
Sick of spring? He Yiqi slowly chewed these two words on his lips.
The stove in the house has been completely extinguished after a night of heat, but there is still a trace of heat in the house with the doors and windows closed.
After a while, He Yiqi felt a chill, so he lay down again, wanting to sleep again.
However, no matter how much he tossed and turned and tried to fall asleep, he couldn't fall asleep.
He always felt a little restless.
Perhaps it was because he had lacked someone around him who could share his joys, share his sorrows, and listen to his concerns for too long.
If I suddenly find someone to help share the burden that I have always shouldered alone, maybe I can no longer bear it and want that person to be there all the time.
Finally, He Yiqi slowly put on thick clothes and got out of bed.
He hesitated at the door, but finally walked to the window and pushed it open a crack.
Pushing open the window that was tightly sealed by ice and snow, a wave of wanton cold air hit his face instantly, making He Yiqi suddenly feel a stinging pain on the bridge of his nose, as if he had been pricked by a needle.
He Yi abandoned his probe and looked down, only to see that the ground in the courtyard below was covered with snow, and thick snow covered the ground tightly.
And Mrs. Biao, who got up early, was sweeping the snow in the yard into the ditch with a broom.
As if feeling He Yiqi's gaze, Aunt Biao raised her head and looked at him.
"Why did the abandoned child get up so early today?" Aunt Biao asked curiously, holding the broom.
He Yiqi shrank his neck, and the cold outside kept creeping into his collar.
He Yiqi yawned and said, "I don't know, I can't sleep."
"Early risers are eaten by birds, so it's better to go back and get some more sleep." Presbyopia shook his head while carrying a basin of hot water to wash his face.
Aunt Biao suddenly became angry and tried to hit him with a broom.
"You old thing, you don't know good things, so you just say these useless words, right?"
Presbyopia quickly twisted his body to dodge, but his old appearance was quite funny as he walked one foot deep and one foot shallow on the thick snow.
He also spilled half of a basin of hot water as he swung it around.
He Yiqi also smiled knowingly when he saw this.
Aunt Biao didn't have time to catch up. She turned to He Yiqi at the upstairs window and said, "If you can't sleep, then come down and wash up and have a bowl of noodles."
He Yiqi nodded, his eyes passing by the gate of the backyard, and the two lines of wheel marks that had not had time to be covered by the snow.
After finishing a bowl of steaming noodles, He Ziqi put away his bowls and chopsticks and sat quietly at the table warming himself over the fire.
The lame man and the presbyopic man were chatting away.
Mrs. Biao wiped her oil-stained hands on her apron, then took out two lists filled with scrawled handwriting from her pocket and handed them to Presbyopia.
Presbyopia took the list and squinted at it.
Aunt Biao pointed to the two lists and said, "Just follow what's written on them and take Lame to buy all the things on them. I've marked them clearly, which store to go to, how much weight to buy, roughly How much does it cost? If you don’t buy it from above, just mark it and tell the boss to buy it next time. I will take the abandoned child to buy two new clothes later. "
Presbyopia nodded and said, "Okay, no problem."
"Then we'll leave after I've washed the dishes. When I come back, we'll almost be ready for lunch," Aunt Biao said.
"Have all the guests who came last night left?" He Yiqi suddenly asked.
While scraping the chyme on his teeth with his nails, the lame man said vaguely, "Well... the group of people... were mumbling about leaving before dawn. I also advised them to... take them away later. They He refused, so he paid a silver coin and left."
He Yiqi nodded and said nothing more.
At this moment, there was a sudden sound of footsteps on the stairs.
Everyone looked up and were stunned.
I saw a figure covered in a black robe walking down behind the proprietress.
"Boss Wife? Why did you get up so early today?" He Yiqi said with some confusion, his eyes always staying on the person behind the Boss Wife.
Logically speaking, the landlady usually wouldn't get out of bed until midnight. She would lazily go downstairs only when Aunt Biao had finished cooking lunch.
But today, not only did the lady boss get up so early, but there was also an extra person behind her.
For some reason, when he saw the person behind the proprietress appearing, He Yiqi faintly felt that Aunt Biao, Laizi and others around him became nervous, as if they were afraid of something.
The proprietress just glanced at He Yiqi, then stood in front of everyone with the person behind her, and said, "This..."
Before the landlady could finish what she said, He Yiqi immediately said, "I know! This is the owner of Ping'an Restaurant!"
As soon as these words came out, Lame Man and Presbyopia frowned at first. Then they all nodded and said, "I think so, I think so!"
However, the landlady looked indifferent and indifferent.
Seeing this scene, the lame man and the presbyopic man quickly changed his words and said, "Actually, we were all joking just now, this...this..."
The black shadow who had been silent said in an extremely hoarse voice, like two pieces of iron stuck in the lungs, "My name is Zi."
"purple?!"
Before He Yiqi could figure out why someone was called Zi, he saw the lame man and the presbyopic man with flattering smiles on their faces.
"It turns out to be Lord Zi, disrespectful."
"Happy New Year, Mr. Zi, I'm here to wish you a happy new year!"
The two people's flattery did not make the man shrouded in black robes do anything.
For some reason, He Yiqi always had the feeling that this man in black robes had been watching him.
While he was dazed, a hand suddenly placed on his head and touched it gently.
He Yiqi looked up and saw that the proprietress had walked up to him at some point and was looking at him with a smile.
"What's wrong? You woke up so sleepy that you didn't even recognize me?" The landlady said while rubbing his head for a while, like rubbing a bun.
"No... not at all! I was just in a daze." He Yiqi replied while shyly pulling the landlady's hand away from his head.
"Don't touch other people's heads casually, they will not grow taller!"
"Haha, you're still afraid of this!" The landlady covered her mouth and chuckled, then pointed at He Yiqi's head, turned to look at the man in black robe aside, and said, "Would you like to touch it too? It feels good. Not bad!”
The man in black robe didn't seem to hear what the landlady said and didn't react at all.
However, He Yi Qijue, who was staring at the man in black robe with a look that said that if you dare to reach out, I will bite you, the man in black robe must have felt that what he said was reasonable, so he did not move.
"Okay, okay, let's go, let's go. I'll buy two pieces of clothes with you. This person is actually a distant cousin of mine. Now he is in trouble and has come to seek refuge with me." said the landlady.
The three cripples also responded lightly and didn't ask too many questions.
But He Yiqi asked curiously, "How far is it?"
The landlady said without thinking, "It's probably as far as the top of Changbai Mountain in Yanzhou from our place. He is the son of my aunt's cousin's son, my grandfather's cousin's nephew, my third aunt's half-brother's son, so this always means It’s far enough!”
He Yiqi felt that his ears and brain circuits had experienced a life-and-death crisis, and he quickly stopped trying to figure out how complicated the relationship between this man named Zi and the boss's wife was.
Seeing He Yiqi's dizzy look, the lady boss also laughed, and then led everyone out the door.
Watching Mrs. Biao and the proprietress walking towards the tailor shop in the east of the town, the lame man patted the shoulder of Presbyopia, who was trying to find the keyhole and lock the door, and said, "What do you think this guy wants to do here? ?”
"What can I do? I guess I have something to do with the boss lady. Don't worry so much and just do your own thing well. I guess after this year, the boss lady will leave..." Presbyopia said with a little emotion. Said, "But then again, what is the relationship between the boss lady and He Yiqi's child? Sometimes I really feel that they are quite similar to mother and son, but sometimes I feel that they are not like each other."
"When we came here, this restaurant was already there. The pig butcher came one step ahead of us, and she was already taking care of He Yi. When we saw him, he didn't even have half an arm like mine. "Boss, I thought at that time that the child was born to the pig butcher. But she said it was not hers, and the landlady also denied it. The birth of this child is really unclear." The lame man shook his head and said with emotion, " I'm afraid only the pig butcher and the proprietress know about this child's life experience, no, Zi... adults should also know about it."
"Stop talking, stop talking. If we are found out discussing these things in private, we will be scolded again." Presbyopia finally locked the door, and then slowly took out the two Biao aunties from his pocket and gave them to him He squinted his eyes and read the shopping list slowly, "Let me see where to buy things first..."
The cripple was a little impatient in waiting, and he also poked his head to see what was written on the list.
"With the pitiful few words you know, what can you understand! I asked you to follow He Ji and abandon that child to learn how to read, but you said you were embarrassed and refused to go. Huh! You deserve this. You're called blind." Presbyopia mocked unceremoniously.
The cripple opened his mouth, as if he wanted to refute something, but after a long while, Abba couldn't think of anything to refute, so he could only groan twice to vent his grievances.
