The snowy night passed peacefully amidst the crackling of firewood in the clay stove.
The next day, the three children of Lao Zheng's family went out together. It was already afternoon, about half time.
The snow has stopped falling since the fifth watch, but the wind blowing knives outside the house seems to be more severe than when it snowed last night. As soon as the door is opened, it whizzes and "chops" people.
"Ouch! Hiss..."
Sister Li Yingyue, who had been guarding the brazier at home for most of the day, screamed in the wind, hurriedly got behind her brother to hide, and said sadly:
"It's really hard to go out today. It would be nice if it was afternoon and no one could come out on the street."
She thought that if the merchants in the city couldn't go out for activities, the teahouses would have no business, and no one would listen to books, then she wouldn't have to brave the cold to go out.
"What's good? Where is it good?!"
The sister Zheng Yunniang on the side quickly took over the conversation and said angrily: "You think it's best if you always guard the brazier at home and take a break, but if you take a break and lose money, where will food and clothing come from?"
"Oh, there is still noodles in the noodle vat. It's half full. If you don't make it for a day, your clothes won't be three inches shorter."
Li Yingyue did not make eye contact with her sister, but rested her head on her brother's back and spoke back sweetly.
"Yes, who told you no? Not only has the New Year just passed, you are another year older. You have to eat less pancakes two fingers wide. You have to make new clothes when they are too small, and you need more fabrics. ”
Zheng Yunniang pointed her two fingers in the cold wind, turned to look at her, and thought to herself that she was growing up so fast. If she hadn't lowered her head, she would have grown past Yu Zhi's shoulders.
Li Yingyue tilted her head and glanced at her sister, "Well, Mother Yun, aren't you a year older? You use more cloth."
"But I stopped growing. I stopped growing two or three years ago. Didn't you see that I haven't made new clothes for a long time? Unlike you, you grow too fast. The wheat seedlings in the spring field I would be happy if you grew up so fast.”
"Nonsense, how can I grow faster than wheat seedlings? If I had grown so fast, I would have been taller than fish porridge, no, taller than Mr. Fairy."
Li Yingyue gestured with her hand above her head, reaching the highest point, but as soon as her palm came out of her brother's shoulder, Feng Daozi slashed her again. She hissed in pain and quickly retracted.
The two sisters bickered, but Ye Yuzhou never participated. He walked forward first and said, "Instead of standing at the door and freezing, it's better to get to the teahouse earlier."
"No." Zheng Yunniang clicked the door lock as she said it, put the key in her arms, and walked into the courtyard.
"Ah." Li Yingyue stood alone in the wind. She suddenly felt that her ears were about to be blown off. She quickly raised her hand, took off the usually ugly ear protection on both sides of the wolfskin hat, wrapped it up, tied it up, and chased out and said:
"Fish porridge, wait for me, wait for me, I want to walk behind you."
Accompanied by her bloated steps as she ran out, and the wind blowing in her face, the clumps of gray bristles on the front of the old wolfskin hat swayed messily between her forehead and eyebrows, which looked quite lively and interesting.
Speaking of her wolfskin hat... That year, Zheng Laomen and his friends went hunting in the snow, and luckily they brought back a huge winter wolf.
The wolf skin was peeled off, tanned, and cut into three pieces.
One piece made a pair of boots for the eldest daughter Yunniang, the other piece made this hat for the youngest daughter Dragonfly, and the other piece gave her son fish porridge to sit on while reading outside.
He said that Yun Niang is the eldest child who works for others, and her feet are the most important. Dragonfly is beautiful, and her head and face are more important. Fish porridge is a man, and her butt is the most important. The position a man gets in his life depends on his butt. Where to.
Later, the old storyteller said that his harsh words were actually quite powerful.
The snow in the yard only cleared a passage for people to walk through. Li Yingyue ran "chachacha" all the way, not forgetting to be naughty, and reached out to beat the snow on the small willow tree beside the road.
Snow fell to the ground, and the branches and leaves swayed.
"Oh, this Xiaoliu is so awesome." She exclaimed loudly as she dug into Ye Yuzhou's back.
This small willow tree is the rootless willow tree that the old storyteller planted in the yard when Zheng Laomen was buried the year before last. It survived and was doing well, but its growth was slow. After nearly two years, it was no more than knee-high and as thick as a thumb.
The reason why the dragonfly expressed such admiration was because she saw that many tall trees had their branches broken by the wind and snow last night, and then looked at this small willow tree. It was obvious that the entire tree had been buried by the snow, but after digging it out, , the leaves are still bright, the body is tall and straight, and it is unscathed.
"What's awesome? How awesome is it?!"
Zheng Yunniang, who was walking on one side, stopped, took over the conversation again, and said angrily:
"It can't bear fruit and can't be used as firewood. It has no use except for bright spots. How can it be so powerful? Besides, besides us, who else is planting willow trees in the yard?"
Dragonfly still talked back, turned around and said, "The storyteller's house."
"Did he plant it in the courtyard? He planted it in a basin and put it on the table as a landscape." Zheng Yunniang argued angrily.
Come to think of it, if this little willow tree hadn't been inserted by the old storyteller, and the timing and meaning of the insertion were quite special, Zheng Yunniang would have shoveled it long ago.
"Oh." "Doesn't that mean it's good? It was born in a beautiful place."
Or maybe it was because the cold wind felt uncomfortable with his mouth open, so Dragonfly finally stopped talking back this time. Except for the first sentence "oh" and the rest of the sentences, he just muttered quietly in his cheeks, not letting his sister hear him clearly.
Ye Yuzhou pretended not to hear clearly, and while feeling amused in his heart, he stretched out his hand and pulled his sister Yun Niang behind him to block her.
The three siblings lined up in a straight line, went out to the yard, closed the door and started walking to the market.
Lao Zheng's house is built on the side of a mountain. Thanks to the small size of the city, it takes about a quarter of an hour to walk from the house to the main street.
Today, due to the snow and cold wind, the three of them walked very hard and slowly. It took at least twice as long before they finally completed the trek and appeared on the main street of Gucheng.
At this point, the road under their feet is no longer difficult.
Because early this morning, men from every household in Gucheng had gathered together to clear the snow in the streets and alleys along the main street, as well as the passages into the city from the north and south.
Collective snow removal is a tradition, or rule, in Gucheng. It is said that it has existed since there were only a dozen or so households in this poor place.
The reason why it has been able to last for such a long time is actually simple, because it is about livelihood.
It is not the livelihood of any one family, but the collective survival needs of Gucheng people.
This remote border town relies on passing merchants for its livelihood. Only by clearing the snow in time can they allow the merchants in the city who were stranded due to the heavy snow to come out and spend money. Then, if new caravans from outside the city come in, they themselves can work easily.
Therefore, unlike Yun Niang and Dragonfly, this trip was actually the second time Ye Yuzhou went out today.
On that trip out in the early morning, after clearing the snow, I waited for work at the south gate. After waiting for an hour, Ye Yuzhou didn't go back until lunch time.
"Oh, it's freezing to death on this journey. Isn't it even colder when you went out to clear the snow this morning?"
The three of them stopped at the intersection. Sister Li Yingyue tilted her head and asked, looking at her brother's broken and scabbed cheek.
Ye Yuzhou thought about it seriously and said, "Actually, it's almost the same."
"Almost?"
"Well, it's the same even if it's numb from the cold." Ye Yuzhou said with a relaxed smile.
At this time, "Fish porridge?" "Fish porridge!" The greeting came from afar with the cold wind coming from the north, and quickly passed by my ears.
"Hey, here it is!" Ye Yuzhou motioned to Yun Niang and Dragonfly to go to the teahouse first. He raised his hand in response and walked along the main street towards the city gate.
North entrance of Gucheng.
Braving the biting cold wind, a hundred or so men were waiting for the caravan to enter the city. They were neatly divided into four piles along the base of the city wall. Each pile was well-proportioned in number. They crowded next to each other and squatted there shivering.
In order to wait for work and fight for work, most of them did not even go home for lunch.
But until now, they have not waited for a caravan to enter the city.
"The border is not peaceful. The number of passing caravans has dropped by at least 30 to 40%. Life for the people in Gucheng has become increasingly difficult."
Ye Yuzhou thought like this, walked close, stopped, and did not go to any of the crowds to hug together to avoid the wind and keep warm.
Because according to Gucheng people, this is called "gathering". The group of people in front of you is a group, and they will take over the work of the caravan together later.
Even now, the four groups are still joking with each other from time to time, and the scene looks quite harmonious. According to Ye Yuzhou's long-term experience, whenever a caravan appears next, these people who were clearing snow together in the morning and carrying a pole will People may push each other at any time to fight for a living, or even start a group fight.
He stood like this at the foot of the city wall back then, watching his adoptive father Zheng Laomei fight with people for work every day, and it gradually became natural for him to get used to it.
"Yuzhi, did you see that dad threw Zhu Laosan's big leg just now? Dad will teach you later. You have to learn this. When you grow up, you will be able to work and fight. You will definitely use it."
"Yuzhi, tell them how Zhao Dahuai suddenly fell down when he was chewing shit. Is it because dad was dealing with two of them by himself and gave him a kick in the back?"
At that time, every time he won a prize, Zheng Laomen always liked to brag to him endlessly about his bravery and strength while working with Xiao Yuzhu and moving things.
Although in fact he was not that powerful, there were quite a few scenes of Xiao Yuzhi being beaten by others, but Zheng Laoming took the initiative to ignore all those disgraceful scenes.
Later, he left.
Fourteen-year-old Ye Yuzhou had to find work on his own.
It stands to reason that the big legs passed down by the adoptive father should come in handy here. Some people in Gucheng with various thoughts can finally verify for themselves whether the Beiqi cavalry whose head was cut off before is actually fourteen years old. Ye Yuzhou killed it himself...
However, in the past two years, Ye Yuzhou has not once fought or fought with anyone for work.
Because there is no need.
"Fish porridge." In the crowd on the right front, a middle-aged man named Zhao Dahuai stood up and said, "Let's talk about it first. We'll wait for the caravan to enter the city. I'll be with you. You go and negotiate the price." , we will do the fighting and work."
Ye Yuzhou grinned brightly and said, "Okay, Uncle Da Huai."
He said "Okay", which sounds refreshing, but it actually means nothing, because even Zhao Dahuai himself, who said hello, actually knew very well that when a group of people came to say hello later, Ye Yuzhou would still say "Okay" smoothly. Leh".
This guy never gangs up with others to grab a job, but no one has ever excluded him because of this. Even if a group grabs a job, they will immediately send someone to call him over to help negotiate with the merchants. Price.
Ye Yuzhou is not the one who negotiates the price for work in Gucheng and offers the highest price. After all, the price can only be higher, not the highest. There are many shameless guys in Gucheng who wish they could just load and unload a truck of goods and take away the merchants. Entire wealth.
However, he must be the one who can make the merchants think it is reasonable and be willing to accept it after offering an appropriately high price.
In Gucheng, this is a huge skill.
In this way, responding to various greetings along the way, Ye Yuzhou walked alone to the side of the old city wall, to a corner formed by the protruding pillars attached to the wall.
There was a piece of square stone in this corner. The snow on it had been cleared early in the morning. Ye Yuzhou took out an old wolf skin that was already badly worn from his arms, spread it on the stone, and then sat down.
Then, he took out another book from his arms, Volume 7 of "The Collection of Xu Yin Longchi", and leaned against the wall to read the book intently.
This scene, placed at the gate of Gucheng, seems a bit abrupt and out of place, but the people around it have long been used to it. They have been watching this scene for about four years.
Four years ago, because he had to follow Zheng Laomei to the city gate every day to wait for work, in order not to waste time, twelve-year-old Xiao Yuzhu began to read alone in the corner at the base of the city wall.
Many people present today had teased him at that time, or grabbed his books, or surrounded him and made noises, asking him if he wanted to be a scholar and marry a fair-skinned woman from a wealthy family when he grew up.
Two years ago, they started to get used to this, and they only occasionally came over to laugh and ask a few questions when they were bored.
Until now, another two years have passed by in a hurry.
Sixteen-year-old Ye Yuzhou is still used to sitting alone in the corner at the base of the city wall and reading while waiting for his death. Nothing has changed.
On the contrary, the men working in the upper class on the streets of Gucheng gradually began to get used to gathering around him day after day without even realizing it, and they consciously lowered their voices to speak.
