A burst of fierce dog barking sounded, Li Qinghe opened his eyes, and Fifth Sister beside him also woke up, "What's wrong?"
Li Qinghe put on her clothes and got up, and the fifth sister was also busy dressing, "Fourth sister-in-law, is there a thief? Don't go, I'll take a look."
The two opened the door together. Under the moonlight, there was no one in the yard. The rhubarb at the door howled outside. Li Qinghe saw her and vaguely understood that her pond was outside the courtyard wall, and the rhubarb was also feeding in the yard, afraid that someone might be there. Fascinated by her fish, she picked up the pole, and Fifth Sister dodged it and gave her a piece of firewood, "This one is lighter."
When I opened the door, I saw a figure at the pond. When I heard the sound of the door opening, the figure ran away, and Rhubarb ran out to catch up.
Li Qinghe didn't chase after her. She is pregnant now, so she can't run too fast, let alone not stealing, even if the thing was really stolen, she would not chase after it. Nothing is as important as your body.
Walking to the edge of the pond, there was nothing but a puddle of water, but there was an extra fishing net soaked in the water, with a dozen fish caught in it, and it must have not been dragged out in time.
She put away the fishing net, and the fifth younger sister over there had already walked around the pond, but she didn't notice anything else. Li Qinghe put away the fishing net, turned and entered the door.
In the middle of the night, neither of them fell asleep. The next morning, she got up early to cook and eat. After eating, Fifth Sister hurried back, and brought Zhou's mother over after a short while.
Mother Zhou looked worried, "Did you get robbed last night?"
Seeing her worry, Li Qinghe felt warm and said with a smile, "It's okay, they ran away when Dahuang called."
"How can this be all right? Your belly..." Mother Zhou turned around twice, "Go back to your hometown to sleep tonight, and I'll show you here."
Li Qinghe didn't want to go back to Zhou's house to sleep, and said, "I recognize the bed, I can't sleep if I change the bed."
Mother Zhou was dumbfounded, "I'll come over that night too."
This is fine, there are so many houses anyway.
After this day, Zhou's mother and fifth sister lived here at night, and the water in the pond was much less than in previous years. During the day, Zhou's mother looked at the pond and sighed, "I heard from the boss yesterday that the town Of the several wells, only one still has water, and the others are dry.”
"Our village is still relatively good. There is still drinking water. I heard that in other counties, let alone washing clothes, there is no drinking water. This year is especially dry. The price of beans and tofu has risen. People in the town If you don’t eat it, you can’t sell it now, so I told him not to go tomorrow.”
Living here in Wangcun, I don't know what's going on outside, I didn't expect it to be this serious.
Zhou Chengkang's visit this time was the same as in the past, and it took five days to go back and forth. After hearing that his home was burglarized on the first night, he became more serious, sent Zhou's mother and others away, and hugged her in his arms, "I knew I would Not going. If something happens to you, I…”
Li Qinghe didn't think that something would happen to him, so he smiled, "There is rhubarb, and the courtyard wall is so high, they can't get in."
"From now on, I will never be separated from you again." Zhou Chengkang said earnestly, "When selling fish next year, either I will bring you with the children, or the fish... don't sell it or keep it."
Li Qinghe thought of something, "How is the fish selling?" Now that the price of everything has increased, the price of fish should also increase.
"Forty cents a catty." Zhou Chengkang sighed slightly, "We didn't go to the town to see it. The uncle who sold fish in the town has long since stopped selling it. It's not easy to sell here. The water in the fish pond over there is dry. There are many, and the fish are not big enough to raise the price, which is inevitable, even if it is forty yuan a catty, there are not many fish in the market in the county town."
Is it that difficult
"Also, when I came back just now, I met Wanwan and the others on the road, and asked me to give them a ride. They said that there was no water in the town, and they wanted to come back to live." He said, only to remember that he smelled fishy all over his body. , Went into the kitchen to boil water to wash up.
He went to the source with a bucket and said, "Over there in the county, there are only two wells on one street. You have to line up to fetch water, and you have to get up in the middle of the night."
Li Qinghe followed him all the way while supporting his waist.
"You bought this land back then." Zhou Chengkang fetched water, looked at the water continuously emerging from the ground, and joked, "I took advantage of you, otherwise I would have to carry water to eat."
The well in Zhou's yard was dry, and Li Fu's well was almost out of water, so they had to queue up at the entrance of the village to pick it up.
This year's drought has become like this. In fact, many people don't have much food in their homes. Now is the time when the harvest is not harvested every year. In previous years, we can still look forward to the harvest in the field. The most common saying is: just wait for the autumn harvest.
But this year, the reduction in grain production is inevitable. Fortunately, there are still sweet potatoes in the field. Although the seedlings are half dead, the sweet potatoes in the field are growing day by day.
Li Qinghe was taking a walk in the yard, Zhou Chengkang came out of the wash, it was full of steam, he suggested, "Shall we also use bricks as a courtyard wall to surround the pond outside?"
Now the people outside are about to fight for the water in the small river to enter the paddy fields. At this time, they are doing too much to surround the pond. Instead, they remind people that there is water here. Li Qinghe thought for a while and said, "It will take a while."
The two cooked and ate together, and talked for a while. When they heard someone knocking on the door, Li Qinghe thought it was Zhou's mother.
Opening the door, I saw a very surprising person, who was actually the village chief.
Li Qinghe asked him to come in sideways, "Third Master, why are you here?"
The village chief entered the yard, turned around with his hands behind his back, looked around the yard, and focused on the water at the source, "There are too many people queuing up for the water at the entrance of the village, do you have many here?"
There must be many, and they all flowed to the small river along the original ditch, but they have not flowed there yet, and they have been led to the fields.
After a pause, he continued, "This is a natural disaster. It's so hot now. When autumn passes, it will definitely rain. It will be fine by then. Calculate that there are still two months at most, can you..." He stretched out his finger The ditch under the courtyard wall, "That place allows the villagers to come and fetch water."
Li Qinghe and the two looked at each other, "Yes."
The water from the original source was divided into two streams, the big one flowed into the pond, and the small one was for their own use. But if someone picks it up, there will probably be no more paddy fields, but it's none of their business, since there is no water for people to drink, who cares about the fields
The village chief got the right words and left happily. The two also locked the door and went to see Li Fu. Every time they went to the county town, they would bring him something back by the way. This time, she was also wearing cloth for making clothes. Li Qinghe was pregnant and was busy making clothes and swaddling clothes for the child.
The Li family's house was busy at the moment, Li Qinghe opened the door and went in. Before entering the house, he heard arguing, "You are forcing them to die!"
It was Qian's crying voice.
Immediately afterwards came Li Fu's voice, "Why did I force them to die? The two of them come back to live now, that's forcing me to die!"
Then in a blink of an eye, I saw two people at the door, Zhou Chengkang was holding a piece of cloth in his hand, and Li Qinghe was supporting Li Qinghe with the other hand.
"Look, my two daughters, you haven't come back for so long, what have you brought?" Li Fu looked disappointed, "There is no water in the town, and I didn't let you come back, but I also have no food to eat. Is there a lot of money on the second day of the month?"
Zhao Wanwan and Hu Yanxi were standing in the room with a big burden next to them. It was fine if there were no outsiders. Li Fu just said what he said, but now there were two more people, and the two of them were at a loss, especially It was Hu Yanxi, pinching his shirt uncomfortably, hanging his head but didn't say anything about leaving.
When Zhao Wanwan saw him, she felt that he was extremely wronged, and she burst into tears, "Father, what can I do?"
Li Fu raised his hand to stop her words, "I just want to ask you, do you have two coins with you?"
The two of them were silent, and Li Fu was even more annoyed, "You guys go away, it's clear that you came back to take advantage of me. Wanwan, you know in your heart how I have treated you all these years, if you force me like this, you... Qinghe doesn't even have you It's only natural."
The unspoken meaning of these words is that none of her own daughters is as confident as Zhao Wanwan asking him to subsidize her.
Hu Yanxi said at this time, "Father, don't be angry, we will give you the money."
"Those are your expenses for next year." Zhao Wanwan looked worried, "What about next year?"
"People are starving to death and still worrying about money." Li Qinghe entered the door and said bluntly, "Why don't you go to your own father? See if he is willing to support you two."
This is not polite at all, and for so many years, few people in this family will mention Zhao Tianfu, as if he is a taboo, especially Wanwan has stayed in this family for so many years, no one will deliberately say the word "dad".
Zhao Wanwan's face suddenly turned pale, "Sister, you... I only have one father, and this is my home." As she spoke, tears were already falling, "It turns out that I am always different in this family."
"I don't have a conscience for saying that." Li Qinghe entered the door, "Last year..."
Hu Yanxi interrupted her, "We'll give you money!" Looking at Li Fu, he said seriously, "You are my father-in-law, and you have been my father-in-law for the rest of my life. I will always remember your help to me."
He took out a dime and put it on the table, "These are two months' food expenses. As for later, I will think of a way."
In front of everyone, Li Fu took the money, "It's not that I insist on embarrassing you, but if you don't accept the money, you are embarrassing me."
The author has something to say: See you tomorrow afternoon.