In March, the sky is clear with a few white clouds floating in the sky. Under the white clouds, an apricot forest is sprouting new buds. A breeze blows, and the ground is covered with apricot blossoms.
The apricot forest in Xiahe Village is hundreds of years old. In the center of the forest stands an old apricot tree lying diagonally, with cracked bark that looks like its wrinkles.
Several children in open-crotch pants were playing games on the winding branches of an old apricot tree. One child was blindfolded, but he bravely climbed along the trunk, groping and shouting. The other children on the branches were silent, hugging the trunk tightly and shushing the blindfolded child, not daring to breathe. When the blindfolded child was about to touch another child, a child in the distance deliberately shook the branch at hand to lead the blindfolded child to the side. Then, the child who was almost caught was moved and nodded vigorously to the child who lent a hand.
Just when the naughty kid who was almost caught thought he had escaped, the blindfolded kid who was lured away made a sudden comeback and caught him by surprise.
"Hahaha, I caught you." The blindfolded kid grinned and pulled off the blindfold with one hand.
"You little pig, you liar, you must have lifted the cloth to peek!" The naughty child who was caught was not convinced.
"Come on, you haven't taken a shower in more than half a year, you stink. I can tell where you are just by smelling you without even looking!" The naughty kid named Xiao Xiao Zhu pulled off his blindfold and pouted.
"Hurry up, it's your turn to catch!" Little Pig threw the blindfold to the naughty kid and urged him.
The naughty kid took the cloth but didn't put it on. Instead, he pointed behind the little pig and whispered, "Little pig, run, run, your sister is coming."
"Stop it, it's your turn. Don't just say my sister is here, it's just..." The little pig didn't care and said while patting his chest and waving his fat paws.
"What is it?" A girl's voice came from under the tree.
Hearing the sound, the little pig was startled, lost his footing, and fell down. The girl under the tree quickly caught him, and was almost knocked down by the momentum. She rolled her eyes and pushed the naughty child to the ground and spanked him twice.
"Sister Yu, it hurts. If you hit me again, I'll tell mom and I'll beat you!" The naughty child was spanked and couldn't help but scream.
"You dare to tell lies? I'll beat you. Mother gave you this nickname so that you can learn from Brother An, but you just slander Brother Zhu!" When the girl heard the kid's threat, she couldn't help but slapped him twice on the butt.
"I'm not slandering you. Second aunt said that brother Zhu loved to play tree monkey games when he was a child!" the naughty child cried.
"You still don't admit your mistake. Well, I won't take you with me to Second Uncle's house this time!" The girl made a gesture to stand up.
Going to second uncle’s house
The naughty kid jumped up when he heard that, he was so excited.
"Go away. Sister Yu, I was wrong." The naughty kid didn't dare to talk back. He was too obedient and ran after the girl happily.
"Little pig, where are you going? Come and play with me." The naughty kid on the tree shouted loudly.
"I'm going to my second uncle's house. My second uncle's house is my brother Zhu's house. Hahaha, do you know who my brother Zhu is? My brother Zhu is Zhu Ping'an, the founder of the Ming Dynasty!"
When the naughty kid talked about Zhu Ping'an, the first champion of the Ming Dynasty, he deliberately puffed out his chest, and pinched his fat waist with his chubby hands. He was so proud that he seemed to be flying to the sky.
Then, the naughty kid in the tree gave an envious look.
Although everyone knows that Xiao Xiao Zhu's elder brother is Zhu Ping'an, they are still extremely envious every time Xiao Xiao Zhu says this.
"Sister. Sister, did Brother Zhu always give you delicious food when you were little?" The naughty child chased after the girl, grabbed the hem of the girl's skirt with his fat paws and asked with his chubby face.
"Of course, Brother Zhu is the best to me. When I was a child, Brother Zhu always gave me the scrambled eggs that my grandmother made." The girl held the hand of the naughty child, pouting her little mouth, looking like a little girl.
Awww
Hearing this, the naughty kid was extremely envious. He thought that the scrambled eggs given by Brother Zhu must be the most delicious scrambled eggs in the world, and his mouth started watering just thinking about it.
The girl led the naughty boy step by step towards the village. When they were almost at the old house, the naughty boy noticed that besides his own family, there were also grandparents, his eldest uncle's family, and his fourth uncle's family preparing to leave outside the old house.
Then, the naughty kid curled his lips with a look of disgust, and quietly pulled the girl to ask, "Sister, sister, why are uncle's family going too?"
Even though they all live in the old house, the naughty kid doesn't like his uncle's family at all. His uncle is so fake, and his aunt always thinks she is superior to others. He especially dislikes Jun Ge's new daughter-in-law the most. She always makes trouble with one eye!
"It's the eldest uncle who wants to go. I don't know what he's thinking." The girl was also unhappy. She pulled the naughty child in a low voice, "When you go to the second uncle's house later, don't just focus on eating. Help the second aunt to keep an eye on things."
"Yeah, don't worry, sister." The naughty child patted his chest hard, acting like a little man.
"Oh, why is there such a strong smell? Where did Fourth Brother go? Third Aunt, why don't you do anything about it? It won't work if he keeps rolling around in the dirt. What will he have in the future? In our family, we would have hired a teacher when he was this old."
As the girl approached with the naughty child, the woman at the door of the old house, wearing an eye mask, new clothes, and makeup like a new bride, covered her mouth, raised her eyebrows, and spoke with disgust.
Third Aunt glanced at the new bride and said nothing, but the naughty kid next to her was not happy.
"You talk too much!"
The naughty kid pouted and rolled his eyes.
“You... ..” The woman with makeup on was very angry.
"What do you mean? What fourth brother said is not right. Why are you talking so much?" Zhu Pingjun walked out of the crowd in a nonchalant manner, glanced at his one-eyed wife, with an unhappy look on his face.
"What nonsense are you talking about, this is your wife!"
Seeing Zhu Pingjun talking so harshly to his daughter-in-law, the aunt couldn't help but slap Zhu Pingjun lightly on the shoulder. This daughter-in-law is a cash cow, and she is still thinking about getting more benefits from her daughter-in-law.
"Hehe... Jun Ge's daughter-in-law has such a good eye..." Little Fourth Aunt covered her mouth with a handkerchief, looked up and down at her uncle's family with her narrow eyes, and smiled sweetly.
"Hehe... Of course I have good eyesight, I can tell that Fourth Aunt is the blessed person. This little kid is running around, so annoying. Fourth Aunt doesn't have to worry, hehe... I don't know if I'm a naughty kid." Jun Ge's wife turned her head to look at Fourth Aunt, covered her mouth and started laughing, and with her other hand she deliberately touched her belly which didn't even show any sign of pregnancy.
“You...” Aunt Xiao Si hated it the most when people talked about children, and her face was twisted with anger.
"Okay, stop arguing. It's disrespectful to haggle over every penny. Zhu'er has won the first prize in the imperial examination. This is a great event for our whole family. Let's not talk about trivial matters. It's been so many days since Zhu'er won the first prize in the imperial examination. We should go to my second brother's house to congratulate him, right, Dad?" Uncle Zhu Shouren was wearing a brand new navy blue silk gown and a square scarf, looking very dignified.
"Hmm." Grandpa Zhu held a pipe in his hand, hummed, and said nothing more. The pipe in Grandpa Zhu's hand was brand new, which was bought by Zhu's father at the market a few days ago to honor Grandpa Zhu.
Mr. Zhu nodded, and the matter was settled. The whole family of the old house went to Zhu Ping'an's house in a mighty procession. (To be continued.)