The next day at noon, Zhao Guoliang went out with a large backpack on his back without even eating. Yuan Mengzhi frowned. Zhao Guoliang was out for nearly two hours yesterday, but ended up not getting half a basket of firewood.
According to Zhao Guoliang's temper, he probably won't go out to get firewood today, because the door of their house is already piled with firewood, and there is actually no shortage of firewood this winter.
But Xiao Aiqun coughed all night last night. I guess he went to look for herbs. It was icy and snowy, and the mountain had been blocked by heavy snow. Where could he get herbs
Could he go to find Doctor Ye? But Doctor Ye lived in the village chief's house. Zhao Guoliang probably didn't have the courage to go to the village chief's house, otherwise he would definitely be criticized.
It's okay to be criticized, because they started to flatter the cowherd as soon as they arrived, thinking that they could make clothes, and after helping the cowherd make two sets of clothes, they could become proud.
"Old Zhu, why don't you also take a backpack and go find some firewood. We don't have much firewood at home, and I don't even dare to take a bath."
"Why take a bath? It's so cold, don't freeze yourself."
Zhu Qingde was obviously unwilling to go out. There was a kang burning in the house, and he would be cold if he went out. He was already hungry, and if he was cold, he would die.
"How can you be so stupid? I want you to go see where Zhao Guoliang went. I always feel that he did something bad."
"Why are you so annoying? It's their freedom to do whatever they want. Why do you care so much?"
"You... I knew I was down and out and had no money, and you looked down on me. When will this life end? I don't want to live anymore."
Yuan Mengzhi burst into tears. She knew Zhu Qingde was most afraid of her crying. Sure enough, Zhu Qingde stood up with a frown:
"Hey... I can go out and take a look, okay?"
Zhu Qingde could only carry a backpack. Since he was going out, he might as well find something to bring back. He didn't want to go out in vain. He followed Zhao Guoliang's footprints and walked out. When he was almost at the foot of the mountain, he saw Zhao Guoliang walking back.
"Old Zhao, did you find anything today?"
"What else can I find? I just dug through the snow and picked up some dead branches. My wife is not in good health, so the kang needs to be heated up, otherwise it will be troublesome when spring comes."
Zhu Qingde nodded. In the spring they would go to reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land, as well as raise pigs and shovel pig manure. The most important thing was to take advantage of this leisure time and keep their health in good condition.
"Old Zhao, if you need any help, just ask. I... hey."
Zhu Qingde couldn't continue. He knew that he had cough medicine in his room, and he suggested sending some to Zhao Guoliang and the others, but was rejected by Yuan Mengzhi.
But think about it, there is only so much medicine, and if I send it to others, what if I catch a cold, who will help them? So I could only listen to the constant coughing coming from next door and cover my ears with two rags.
"Thank you, Lao Zhu. I understand. You don't have to worry about it. My wife said that if you cough too much, you will stop coughing. Once your immunity is improved, the disease will naturally get better."
Zhu Qingde nodded and walked towards the foot of the mountain. He also wanted to dig some firewood to see if he could bring it home.
Xiao Aiqun went to the kitchen to boil a pot of hot water, and then poured it into the thermos. This thermos was brought by her son Xiaobao at the request of Brother Niu. She felt heartbroken when she thought that if she used the thermos, her son would not be able to use it.
When Yuan Mengzhi saw Xiao Aiqun holding a thermos in her hand, she secretly rolled her eyes. She was quite capable to be able to get this.
Xiao Aiqun didn't even look at Yuan Mengzhi. She knew that the other person was hostile to her, so if she got close to her, she would be like a bootlicker. She didn't want to be abused.
As soon as the door was closed, Zhao Guoliang came back and walked straight into the house with a backpack on his back. Yuan Mengzhi frowned. Usually, when Zhao Guoliang came back from collecting firewood, he would pile the firewood at the door and put the backpack in the kitchen before entering the house.
He went straight into the house today. Could he have found something good? But she couldn't just go into the house and look around, as that would really break up the relationship.
He hurried into the house, put his ear to the wall, and listened carefully to the noise next door. First he heard Xiao Aiqin's voice: "I didn't pick up much firewood today."
Zhao Liguoshi put his finger in the middle of his mouth, pointed at the next door, then pointed at the backpack, signaling her not to speak. Xiao Aiqun's eyes lit up, and she quickly stood up and looked towards the backpack.
"Aiqin, I just found a few dead branches today, so I brought them in and burned them directly to save the trouble of running in and out."
The dead branches were thrown into the kang hole, and the fire suddenly started up, and the temperature in the room rose a little, but Xiao Aiqun looked at the backpack and couldn't speak.
Two dark blue cotton vests, which I realized were not made of cotton but down when I held them in my hands, a large bag of walnut cookies, a large bag of egg cakes, and a large bag of milk powder.
There was also another wooden box, which when opened contained several packets of medicine powder and a bottle of medicine liquid. The medicine liquid was cough syrup, and the words "anti-inflammatory powder" and "fever-reducing tablets" were written on the medicine powder packet.
Cheng Liguo had already picked up the pen and started writing on the notebook. The sentences were very brief: Cheng Liguo was here, Cheng Qiao was Cheng Liguo's daughter, and the medicine, snacks, and clothes were given by Cheng Qiao.
Xiao Aiqun had never met Cheng Qiao before. Since Zhao Min left, they had lost contact with Zhao Min, so Xiao Aiqun looked at Zhao Guoliang with a questioning look, wondering if he had made a mistake.
Zhao Guoliang smiled and continued to write a sentence on the paper. In fact, he, Zhao Hui and Zhao Guodong had visited Zhao Min. They went there specially when Zhao Min gave birth to Cheng Qiao.
Xiao Aiqun smiled. As expected, one must leave a way out no matter what one does. If they had ignored Zhao Min like Zhao Chen did, Cheng Liguo would definitely not have recognized them.
"Have you eaten? I'll go make you some porridge."
"No, there's not much food left. We have to eat prudently."
While Xiao Aiqun was talking about eating carefully, she took a piece of egg cake and stuffed it into Zhao Guoliang's mouth, and took a piece for herself. Zhao Guoliang smiled, took out an enamel teacup, scooped a few spoonfuls of milk powder, and dissolved it in boiling water.
The two of them ate egg cakes and drank milk powder, and suddenly they felt that life was getting better. Xiao Aiqun waited until her stomach felt slightly full before she took the anti-inflammatory powder and antipyretic tablets and took them.
Yuan Mengzhi listened in solitude against the wall, and when she saw Zhu Qingde returning empty-handed, she took the opportunity to scold him a few times. Zhu Qingde was furious. His life was already not going well, and now he had to suffer unfairly. Who could bear this
But Zhu Qingde was an extremely gloomy person, and even though he was unhappy, he did not show it on his face. Now was his time of trouble, and when he turned things around, he would plan to flee far away, since he had a sum of money hidden in his hometown anyway.
That night, Xiao Aiqun's cough was relieved by half. Two days later, she felt a lot more relaxed. She didn't expect that the medicine Cheng Qiao gave her was so effective. She would remember this kindness deeply in her heart and would repay it when she had the ability.