When the pears are green

"Brother Qian, isn't it a little early? My sister-in-law's family raises a lot of chickens, pigs, and rabbits. They may not have finished their work now." After Zhang Ying finished speaking, he looked up at the sun which had not yet climbed above the treetops.

Jiang Qian, who was about to knock on the door, turned around and replied, "Ying Niang, it's a good time to go now. It will get hot soon. If Qingzhou and the others are not done yet, we can just wait for a while."

Jiang Qian stretched out his right hand and knocked lightly on the gate of Jiang Qingzhou's house. Jiang Qingye, who had just grabbed a handful of grass to feed the rabbit, hurriedly threw the grass in his hand into the rabbit's nest after hearing the knock on the door.

Jiang Qingye opened the gate and saw Jiang Qian and Zhang Ying. He took a look at the wooden barrel in Jiang Qian's hand and asked quickly, "Brother and sister-in-law, are you here to go fishing with my brother?"

"Yeah, I wonder if you have finished your work?" Jiang Qian raised the wooden barrel in his hand to show Jiang Qingye.

Jiang Qingye looked back at Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou who had finished feeding the pigs. He asked Jiang Qian to wait for a while and they could set off after they got everything.

While the two were talking, Song Li came out carrying a wooden barrel. She smiled and said to Jiang Qian and Zhang Ying, "Second brother, second sister-in-law, let's go."

Afterwards, Jiang Qingzhou also walked out of the yard. He first locked the gate, then took the wooden barrel from Song Li and walked forward with Jiang Qian.

Today, Song Li and her friends were not the only ones fishing. When they approached the river, they saw three or five people sitting by the river fishing, and five or six boys playing in the river.

After seeing Song Li and Zhang Ying, the boys shyly hid their upper bodies in the river and several of them quickly swam away.

"Ying Niang, don't go down. It's a bit steep and I'm afraid you might fall." Jiang Qian persuaded Zhang Ying. He wanted Zhang Ying to stay on the river bank. After all, Zhang Ying was pregnant with the baby for more than seven months.

Zhang Ying touched her bulging belly. She naturally didn't dare to take risks with the child, so she smiled and nodded in agreement.

Jiang Qian helped Zhang Ying walk to a willow tree on the shore. He first let Zhang Ying sit in the shade, then reached out and broke off a few willow branches to weave a willow wreath for Zhang Ying.

"Yingniang, call me if you have any problems." Jiang Qian put the willow wreath on Zhang Ying's head and reminded Zhang Ying repeatedly.

"I understand. You should go quickly. My sister-in-law and the others might have already caught some fish." Zhang Ying smiled and urged Jiang Qian to go fishing quickly.

Sitting under the willow tree, Zhang Ying watched Jiang Qian slowly walk to the fishing spot, watched him take the fishing rod that Jiang Qingzhou had tied for him, and watched him throw the fishing rod into the river while sitting next to Jiang Qingzhou.

Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qian were talking softly about the college entrance examination in August.

After hearing this, Song Li asked Jiang Qian curiously: "Second brother, I only know that we belong to Linhe County, but I don't know where the prefectural capital is?"

"Sister-in-law, the administrative division of Dayong is modeled after the Tang Dynasty. Linhe County belongs to Songzhou, and Songzhou's seat is in Songcheng County. Songzhou belongs to Henan Dao, and the seat of Henan Dao is in Bianzhou. So the capital is in Bianzhou, which is not too far from here, about four or five hundred miles to the northwest." Jiang Qian told Song Li everything he knew.

Song Li thanked Jiang Qian first. She wanted to confirm what she heard in Linhe County during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, so she asked, "Second brother, I heard that Dayong was founded after Yashan. Is that true?"

"What my sister-in-law said is right. I have heard the teacher talk about that period of history before. At that time, the foreign tribes attacked Hangzhou directly and the emperor fled in panic. After Yashan, our dynasty's founder Xie Yan took the lead in recruiting soldiers in the west of Jiangnan to resist. People from all over the country responded and finally unified the north and the south after more than 20 years of war." After Jiang Qian finished speaking, he noticed that the fishing rod sank, so he pulled up the fishing line with joy. It was indeed a big fish.

After listening to Jiang Qian's words, Song Li fell into deep thought. She guessed that she must have entered a fragment of time and space, or a parallel world.

"Xiao Li, Xiao Li." Jiang Qingzhou saw that Song Li was just staring at the river with lifeless eyes and didn't even notice that the fishing rod moved.

Song Li came back to her senses quickly after hearing Jiang Qingzhou's voice. She noticed the fishing rod moved a few times, so she quickly pulled it up, but the fish had run away and the peanuts in Kong Ming's hook had been eaten.

Jiang Qingzhou quickly comforted Song Li. He helped Song Li tie another Kongming fishing rod, then smiled and said to Song Li, "Don't be distracted this time."

"I won't do that as long as Qingzhou is here." Song Li smiled and nodded to Jiang Qingzhou, then threw the Kongming fishing rod into the river.

Song Li heard the "swoosh" sound of a slingshot coming from not far away, and she guessed that it must be Jiang Gou Wa shooting wild animals.

Jiang Qingye wanted to run to the embankment to see what was going on, but was stopped by Song Li: "Qingye, just sit here and fish. Gou Wa is hunting, if you go, he will definitely give you some, let's just pretend we didn't hear it."

"Okay, sister-in-law." Jiang Qingye returned to his seat and sat down again.

By the time Kong Ming's fishing rod was used up, Jiang Qian had caught three fish in total, and Song Li and the other two had caught five fish.

Jiang Qian hurriedly carried the wooden barrel to Zhang Ying. Zhang Ying looked at the fish swimming in the barrel and praised Jiang Qian for a good job.

Jiang Qian looked back at the broad river surface and murmured, "I am a country boy who entered school at the age of eight. I beg to be a carp in the Yellow River and leap into the Dragon Gate in one go."

"Brother Qian, what are you saying?" Zhang Ying saw Jiang Qian's lips opening and closing, but no sound was heard.

"It's nothing. Once Qingzhou and the others come up, we can go back." Jiang Qian explained to Zhang Ying with a smile.

Zhang Ying looked at Jiang Qian's expression. Before she got pregnant, she only focused on doing farm work and housework at home, but she had never had a deep conversation with Jiang Qian. Since she got pregnant, Jiang Ping and Jiang Qian no longer let her do housework. When Jiang Qian was free, he would read some books to her and tell her about what happened in the school. Although she didn't understand the words in the books, she still listened very seriously, but this made her feel very tired.

At this moment, Zhang Ying suddenly realized that there was a huge gap between her and Jiang Qian. She wondered if Jiang Qian would tell her what he had just said if she could read.

Zhang Ying thought back to when the matchmaker came to the Zhang family to propose marriage, Zhang Ying's mother was not optimistic about this marriage. Zhang Ying's mother thought that Jiang Qian was a scholar, while Zhang Ying could not read a single word. She was afraid that after Zhang Ying married Jiang Qian, the two would not be able to communicate with each other, and in the long run, there would be a gap between the couple.

"Yingniang, what's wrong with you?" Jiang Qian saw that Zhang Ying looked unhappy, and he was worried that Zhang Ying was not feeling well.

Zhang Ying looked at Jiang Qian's anxious expression, and she smiled and said to Jiang Qian what Zhang's mother had once said.

"Mom, you're worrying too much. I will definitely treat Yingniang well. Yingniang has contributed a lot to this family." Jiang Qian hurriedly took Zhang Ying's hand and promised Zhang Ying that he would never let her down in the future.

The three members of the Jiang family walked under the willow tree and watched Jiang Qian excitedly pointing at the river and swearing to Zhang Ying: "I can swear to the Black River that I will never let Ying Niang down in this life. If..."

"Okay, stop talking. Don't let your sister-in-law laugh at you." Zhang Ying quickly interrupted Jiang Qian. She smiled and asked Song Li about her catch. Song Li brought the wooden barrel to Zhang Ying and let her see the fish inside.

"Second brother, although I don't know why you swore to second sister-in-law, I just want to say that what you do is far more important than what you say. Second sister-in-law, let's go back." After saying this, Song Li put her arm around Zhang Ying's arm and helped Zhang Ying slowly walk down the river bank.

Jiang Qian pondered over Song Li's words, and he also regretted that he did not tell the truth to Zhang Ying just now.

Jiang Qingzhou hurriedly asked Jiang Qian what happened, and Jiang Qian told him what happened with shame.

"Second brother, although you did it unintentionally, my second sister-in-law thinks that you are deliberately concealing something. If this continues, there will definitely be a gap between you two." Jiang Qingzhou said, and patted Jiang Qian on the shoulder.

Jiang Qian nodded in annoyance, and hurriedly picked up the wooden barrel to chase after Zhang Ying who had already walked far away.

Wuzhuang Village.

In the afternoon, Song Yue hid the finished shoes in her backpack, and left home under the pretext of going to the Heihe River embankment to collect grass for the chickens.

When Song Yue arrived at the place where she, Song Li and Song Xing had picked chrysanthemums together, Wu Mingde was already waiting there.

"You try it on." Song Yue took the shoes out of the backpack and handed them to Wu Mingde.

Wu Mingde took the thick-soled blue cloth shoes from Song Yue's hand. He stroked the stitching on the shoes and told Song Yue with a smile that they fit him perfectly at first glance.

Song Yue smiled and said that it was not right to just watch without trying, and she urged Wu Mingde to give it a try.

Wu Mingde looked at the smiling girl in front of him, and he kept repeating in his heart: A gentleman should restrain himself and return to propriety.

Seeing that Wu Mingde didn't take any action, Song Yue took the shoes, lowered her head and wanted to gesture, but Wu Mingde hugged her around the waist.

"What, what's wrong, Mingde?" Song Yue asked a little at a loss. She and Wu Mingde had only held hands before and had never done such intimate actions.

Wu Mingde replied softly: "Nothing, I just want to hug you. Although a gentleman should restrain himself and return to propriety, you and I are already engaged, there is no need to care too much."

"So that's how it is. Don't hold me for too long. I still have to dig grass." Song Yue laughed out loud after hearing what Wu Mingde said.

Wu Mingde held Song Yue for a while, then he let go and said, "This place is too remote and unsafe. Let's go to a crowded place, and I'll help you dig the grass."

"Aren't you afraid of what others will say about you?" Song Yue asked with a smile.

Wu Mingde picked up the backpack and led Song Yue out. As they walked, he said, "You and I will be married next year. What are you afraid of?"

The two of them came to the place where they usually dug grass, one after the other. Wu Mingde helped Song Yue dig a basket of grass under the gazes of others.

Wu Mingde sent Song Yue to the entrance of the alley where the Song family lived. He pointed to the shoes in his bag and said to Song Yue: "I will go back to the academy tomorrow. I will come back to see you after the college entrance examination."

Song Yue didn't say anything. She nodded heavily at Wu Mingde and waved goodbye.