sbdcsierra Chapter 252 The Kid Next Door Is Envious of Me
Chapter 252 The Kid Next Door Is Envious of Me
As I was walking, I heard a noise outside the dark courtyard.
The sound was not loud, but it was particularly abrupt in the dark night, and the whole family looked outside.
Zhou Gu whispered, "Could it be a blind bear or a wolf?"
Everyone became nervous after hearing this.
These days, when Zhou Guo had nothing to do, he would pester the old man to tell him the anecdotes of his escort work when he was young. He was talking about the time when he slept outdoors at night and woke up in the middle of the night to find himself surrounded by a dozen hungry wolves.
The Zhou family members were amazed when they heard it, and whenever they heard any noise they would suspect that it was a wolf or a blind bear.
Li was annoyed, "What nonsense are you talking about? Can you just say something like this casually?"
Zhou Guo's eyesight was not good enough, so he walked forward and looked outside through the fence, but there was no moon tonight and only a few stars had come out, so he could not see clearly.
The old man said lightly: "It's okay, it seems to be the two little kids next door."
"Ah?" When everyone heard that they were two little kids, they all crowded to the fence and looked out.
I looked for a while but didn't see anyone.
Zhou Guo said: "He has already gone home. I don't know how long he has been watching here. None of us noticed him."
I was dazzled by the aroma of roast suckling pig.
Zhou Mai couldn't bear it, "I'm afraid he was attracted by the smell of roast suckling pig."
Although no one said anything, everyone thought the same thing in their hearts. Who made the food so delicious?
Mrs. Li sighed, "The two children are pitiful."
However, Zhou Mi had no sympathy at all. If their family didn't have the husband, their life might be much harder than others. It's not like they had nothing to eat or clothes, yet they acted like this.
He really was not in a good mood. He had helped their family a lot along the way. Sometimes when the two children could not walk anymore, they would sit on their own cart and they would help push it. They got every bit of their share and sometimes they were not asked to do any work that they should do. It was already good enough.
Zhou Gu rubbed his head and brought up the old matter again, "Next time we eat something delicious, shall we send a bowl over?"
Zhou Guo frowned. Although she felt sympathetic, each family had to live their own life. If she could help once or twice, could she help them for the rest of their lives? If one day she suddenly stopped helping or sending gifts, wouldn't she be hated?
He shook his head and said, "Forget it. Next time when we kill the big wild boar at home, we can call them all over for a meal."
Zhou Dacang disagreed, "Those two children should be taken care of by their mother. We are not their parents, so how can we control their eating, drinking, defecation and urination?"
Li said, "That's right. As the saying goes, a little bit of rice is a debt of gratitude, a big bit of rice is a debt of resentment. Some things can be helped, and some things cannot be helped. It would be bad if you help and then end up making enemies."
The old man was very pleased and walked back to the house slowly with his hands behind his back.
Zhou Gu responded obediently, if he couldn't help then he wouldn't help, after all it was just the lack of meat, the food at home was more than enough.
Zhou Guo looked up at the sky, then looked over there. It was pitch black, obviously there was no light. He yawned and said, "I've eaten and digested the food. I'll wash up and go to bed."
Zhou Xing had just boiled water and was looking for a basin. "It just so happens that the water is hot, let's wash everything. Hey, why is there only one left? How many basins are there?"
Zhou Guo pointed to the backyard and said with an embarrassed smile: "Sister, give me those basins to use for them to drink water."
There is only one left out of the four face and foot basins!
Zhou Mi and the other boys couldn't wait any longer. They knew they couldn't compete with Zhou Guo, so they just ran to the well, wiped their faces with cold water, and rinsed their feet with it. The well water was really cold!
Li came out from behind with a basin and saw them washing their faces and feet with well water. She scolded them, "The well water is so cold at night. You don't have to worry about catching a cold. Just take the basin and wash it with water. Then fill it with water and put it back. It's not dirty. What are you afraid of? Come, take it. You've been running around all day. It's more comfortable to wash your feet with hot water before going to bed."
After hearing this, Zhou Guo opened his mouth, wanting to say something but didn't say it. Well, cows and horses would not mind that they were dirty, and they seemed to have no reason to mind that cows and horses were dirty. It was just a basin for drinking water, so they just had to wash it.
Saved some money on wooden basins!
The next day, in just half a day, the other two fields were plowed out.
For most of the rest of the day, Zhou Guo did not go to the mountains, but stayed at home to build a woodshed.
Li and Zhou Xing stopped sewing and cutting grass. The three of them spent most of the day putting up the frame of the woodshed, and the roof was half built. The whole family took half an hour every morning and evening to work on the rest of the work, and it would be completed in less than ten days.
In the following days, Zhou Guo followed his grandfather and uncle into the mountains to chop firewood every day. Later, the team gradually grew and people from several other families also came. At first, they were all men, and later, when there were not enough people, women also came.
After sewing a cotton jacket for everyone, Li also came out. In winter, if you don't have clothes, you can close the door and make them at home. But if it snows and the mountain is blocked, there will be no firewood.
It becomes lively when there are more people.
Even Qian from next door brought her two children into the mountains. Zhou Guo followed the principle of helping whenever he could, so he did some physical work. When he came out of the mountains, he had firewood on both shoulders, one bundle from his own home and one from his neighbor's home.
Other families in the village also helped. After all, they were from the same village, and each person was taking care of two children, so it was just a matter of lending a hand.
Several families took one bundle each, and then they brought out their firewood.
A few days later, the large tracts of land owned by two landlords at the entrance and end of the village were finally ready to be harvested, and they were recruiting temporary workers.
As soon as the news spread, the villagers rushed to the manager to sign up for jobs. Throughout the year, they could only earn a few dollars during the spring plowing and autumn harvest, and that was near their homes. Normally, if they wanted to find a job, they had to go to the county town or other villages. It was very difficult to find work near home.
Except for Zhou's and Wang Fugui's families, other families could not sit still. The strong laborers in the family also went. Even Qian wanted to go, but unfortunately the landlord's family did not want women.
Seven or eight people came, but only one was chosen. It is said that the person in charge took a look at the others and thought they were too frail, so he did not have the energy to refuse.
The person who was rejected felt very sorry. "Thirty cents a day, although not much, but it's good to have a copper coin at this time. There are two people in our family, that's sixty cents a day, and lunch is included, which is also cost-effective."
Everyone else nodded. Yes, if this could be chosen, it would take at least ten days to harvest this land. Ten days would yield six hundred coins, which was enough to buy a piece of high-quality cotton cloth.
Even Li felt a little regretful after hearing this account. If Zhou Dacang and Zhou Gu were chosen, they could earn a piece of cloth.