The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

"Oh, they bought a TV!" Xiao Ling just sat down and saw the TV placed at home.

"Well, my dad bought it yesterday, and we watched the Spring Festival Gala yesterday." Xiaoying said excitedly to Xiaoling and turned on the TV for Xiaoling to watch.

"It's great. It's imported. It's much clearer than the one I have at home."

When Xiao Ling saw the TV in Sibei'er's house, although she smiled on the surface, she still felt a little disappointed in her heart. Now she had one less reason to invite Sibei'er to her home to play.

Xiao Ling's family has few children and does not need to support the elders. In fact, her family's living conditions are slightly better than Darong's. Xiao Ling bought the TV earlier. In the past, when she had holidays, she would call a few classmates and take the four generations to her house to watch TV together.

As they were talking, the third brother and his group of little brothers went to Darong's house to pay New Year's greetings.

"Mom, big sister, happy new year." A group of young boys shouted energetically, shaking the earth.

Darong’s mother likes this kind of atmosphere. The house is lively and bustling, and the children are all saying auspicious words. This is how the Chinese New Year should be.

"Okay, okay, all is well. You all should go home and take good care of your parents and elders." Darong's mother answered the children with a smile and gave the children the dried goods and candies prepared at home.

The third brother’s brothers were still younger after all, so they went from house to house, and everyone’s pockets were bulging with money.

"It's all my mother's fault. I told her to sew a bigger size in the pockets, but now it can't hold the candies given by Sanniang." A young boy complained to his mother with a chuckle.

Darong's mother was so amused by him that she couldn't stop laughing, and a group of children went to the next house to pay New Year's greetings in a noisy manner.

"It's Dadunzi who is the greediest. What he said was not funny at all, it was clearly from the bottom of his heart." After the third brother and his group left, Xiao Ling said to Darong's mother.

Darong's mother looked at Xiaoling and smiled helplessly in her heart. Xiaoling was indeed a good hand at work. Every year when she came home on the first day of the new year, she helped with a lot of work. With her and Darong helping, she didn't have to do anything.

It's just the child's temper that Darong's mother doesn't like. Xiao Ling treats Sibeier with genuine love, but she is extremely stingy to others.

In Xiao Ling's world, if she doesn't take advantage of others, she is at a disadvantage. This is completely contrary to Darong's mother's educational philosophy, so she doesn't like this child very much.

But Darong's mother couldn't bear to see her son being with someone else all day long. She thought that as long as the four generations were willing and she was nice to them, she would just let them do as they wished.

"Sibei and the others are here." When Sibei and a group of children just arrived at the entrance of the alley, Darong's mother heard the noise.

"Happy New Year, Mom and Big Sister." A group of children greeted Darong's mother and Darong like a group of children.

Before Darong's mother could answer, the bad boys lined up again and shouted to Xiao Ling in unison, "Happy New Year, sister-in-law!"

Xiao Ling was so shocked by the shout that she was stunned for two seconds, and her little face instantly turned red to her ears.

This is the third time that Xiao Ling has come to Sibei's home to celebrate the New Year. Since the winter vacation of the first year of the New Year until now, she has always reported to Sibei's home on time early in the morning on the first day of the New Year every year.

Everyone around Sibei knew Xiao Ling's thoughts, but Sibei just refused to admit that they were dating.

At that time, there was no obvious control over premature love. Most children in the southern suburbs went to work after graduating from junior high school. Once they started working, they were adults, so there was no concept of whether to fall in love prematurely or not.

But it is also because of this that many children take the wrong path.

Let family members take care of love affairs. Everyone is already working. If they don't care, it will take several more years for the children to reach marriageable age. From graduating at 17 to getting married at 20 or 22, the years in between leave the children with too much homesickness.

"Go away, stop messing around. Who told you to shout like that?" Sibei suddenly became a little anxious. He did not expect that this group of brothers would play such a joke.

Hearing Sibei'er's slightly angry reproach, Xiao Ling's feeling went from shyness to loss. She had worked so hard to pursue Sibei'er for so long, but in the end he couldn't even respond to a joke.

After all, they are all children, and Darong's mother saw through Xiao Ling's emotional changes at a glance.

"Come on, come on, have some candy." Darong's mother hurriedly got candy and dried fruits for the kids and changed the subject.

"Kids, don't blame Sibei for saying that. You can't joke like that. Ling is a girl, so you have to be tactful when teasing her. Sibei said you are right. He was thinking about Ling's shyness and felt embarrassed."

Darong's mother found a good excuse for her son at the right time, which also gave Xiao Ling a way out and made her less embarrassed.

A group of children responded to Darong's mother's preaching with all their voices. After exchanging pleasantries for a while at Darong's house, they got up and went to the next house to pay New Year's greetings.

In addition to these children, some relatives and friends would come to pay New Year's greetings, but most of them would just pay their New Year's greetings and leave, and would not stay long. The morning of the first day of the New Year passed quickly in the busy and lively atmosphere.

Ever since Sibei'er and his gang of little brothers left, Xiao Ling's little face has never been able to cheer up again. She has been mumbling all the time without a smile when she goes in and out. This even made Darong's mother a little unhappy.

After lunch, Xiaoling and Xiaoying were watching TV when Darong’s younger sister Zhou Xiaomei came over to talk to Darong.

"Little sister, come in quickly." Seeing that it was Zhou Xiaomei who came, Darong enthusiastically led her into the inner room.

Although she heard the gossip about Zhou Xiaomei from Qiaozhen, Darong would certainly not take the initiative to ask as long as Zhou Xiaomei didn't say it herself.

After the two chatted about family matters for a while, Darong also felt that Zhou Xiaomei was absent-minded. Although they were classmates, their relationship was not very close. Zhou Xiaomei came to her house today, and she guessed that there was something wrong.

"Da Rong, I have something I want to ask you for help with."

Sure enough, Zhou Xiaomei finally spoke.

"What's the matter? Tell me." Darong looked quietly at Zhou Xiaomei in front of her.

"I, I'm getting married, right after the first month of the lunar year, and I'd like you to help me with my makeup."

Although Zhou Xiaomei had a shy expression, her tone did not contain much anticipation and joy of getting married. Instead, her voice was slightly hoarse with a hint of bitterness.

"Okay, no problem. Which day do you want to set?" Darong looked at Zhou Xiaomei, who had her head lowered, with a calm and gentle tone.

"Aren't you going to ask me?"

Zhou Xiaomei looked up at Darong. Ever since her marriage was arranged, everyone had been curious and asked her questions. She knew that those people were just pretending to be ignorant.

Now Darong not only agreed to help her put on makeup, but also showed no curiosity or questioning. She probably guessed that Darong had heard about her situation.