Thanks for the invitation: In ancient times, people shared children

Widow Mu found the jar containing the deed and a rat choked to death by paper in the cellar.

She couldn't read, but she knew there was no such thing at home.

Little Pei stood on tiptoe beside her, reading the half-gnawed piece of paper. "This is it. It says that Mu Shuanglin of Puluo Village rented Yu Li, the wife of Yu Laomo from Peijia Town, as his wife, from June 1st of the sixth year of Tianji to... I don't know which June it was..."

In June, the Mu family’s house was almost completed, and they were quite early in the lottery.

Widow Mu breathed a sigh of relief at that time. Everything would be fine if she had a house. If the family tightened their belts for a few years, they could save some money. At worst, they could sell an acre of land and find a good wife for their son.

Although she lost two sons, she still had one left, so she still had a man to rely on and could still make ends meet.

What does this mean now? When she was calculating how to make ends meet, her husband was thinking about how to find another wife and have a son?

She knew that pawning his wife would cost at least two taels a year. If he needed the money urgently, he could get one tael a year. How long did it take him to rent her for ten taels?

Five years or ten years?

Now that he is dead, even if he takes her back, who will she give birth to?

Dalang is only eleven years old, a little too young.

We still have to get the money back. Marrying a son with six or seven taels of money, including the betrothal gift and the banquet, will be enough. The rest can be used to build two new yellow mud houses for them, so that they will have a place to live even if they have grandchildren.

If you save enough money, you can build a stone house or a brick house.

When Widow Mu thought of this, she was not sad at all. Instead, a smile appeared on her face. Her loose, wrinkled face was pulled up by her muscles. Her smile was not very beautiful, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes became deeper.

A cold wind blew by, and Pei Xiaohai sneezed. She rubbed her nose and stepped back.

That's scary, what is she laughing at?

Only when Pei Xiaohai looked at Mu Dalang did he feel more normal. He clenched his fists, his face flushed, his lips pressed into a line, and angrily kicked the jar and roared, "How could my father do this!"

The choked mouse was hit by the jar and came back to life. It squeaked in confusion, stood up and looked around. When its eyes fell on the three people, it squeaked again and slipped away.

This little thing is a little scary no matter when you see it. Little Pei said nothing, just jumped up and hung on Widow Mu's back, and even wanted to climb up.

She was afraid that if she stood there any longer, the furry, pointed-mouthed mouse would crawl onto her feet, dragging its fleshy tail.

"What are you doing?" Mu Dalang looked at her dissatisfiedly, "Why are you jumping on my mother?"

Pei Xiaohai: "I'm just hiding from mice, what else can I do? Do you think I like being carried on someone's back?"

Mu Dalang: "How would I know if you like it or not!"

"I do not like!"

When Pei Xiaohai saw that the mouse had disappeared, he immediately let go and jumped down.

"I found the things after you guys, I'm leaving now, don't tell anyone that I said that."

"Wait a minute," Widow Mu had been sobered up by her, and her tone was much softer. "Miss, how did you know about this?"

"That's a secret, I can't tell you." Pei Xiaohai shrugged and ran away without looking back.

She is going to find Waiya.

Mu Shuanglin, who had gotten what he wanted, said to her, "Thank you."

Didn't follow again.

Pei Xiaohai felt better. He arrived at Liu Waizui's house and knocked on the door. After a while, someone answered.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Waiya!"

"Kid! You're finally here!"

Waiya opened the door and said to her in surprise,

"I went to the Liu family's gate several times but didn't see you. Your maid told me that you were sick and couldn't come out, so I had to leave. Are you okay?"

"I'm well now," Pei Xiaohai said, confused and angry. "Cui Mei never told me that you came to see me."

Waiya was also very angry: "I knew you wouldn't refuse to see me. I went there several times, but she gave me a steamed bun, and I never went there again. She really is annoying!"

"She must have done it on purpose!"

Pei Zhu always felt that the fact that Waiya just wanted to beg for food was somewhat related to Cuimei's mouth.

"Forget it, let's not talk about her anymore. Come in quickly." Waiya pulled her and ran into the house.

Liu Waizui's house is quite small, with only two rooms, a kitchen full of miscellaneous items and a living room.

When Liu Waizui is not back, Waiya lives in the house. When he comes back, Waiya would rather sleep in the kitchen where the window paper is torn.

Put two boards and a straw mat on the two benches, covered with straw, and stuff the quilt with cattail and willow fluff. Don't take off your clothes when you go to bed. Remember to make a fire and don't sleep too deeply to avoid being burned to death by sparks. If everything goes well, you can survive the winter. If not, Pei Xiaohai can only make a few friends.

The best case scenario is that Liu Waizui doesn’t come back this winter.

That's what they were looking forward to, but now there's Yu Meng.

At that time, Waiya thought that Yu Meng would definitely live in the house, and whether Liu Waizui came back or not, she would have to sleep in the kitchen. She would have to serve one more person and would not be able to take Pei Xiaohai out to play. Unexpectedly, nothing she worried about happened.

"He's a little different from that old guy. Although... they both drink quite a bit, he works like crazy when he's drunk. He's clearing snow, repairing the roof, chopping wood... With the snow so deep, how many people would go up the mountain to chop wood in winter? He's also a carpenter. He made himself a bed. Did you see the kitchen?"

Waiya opened the window and asked her to look, but the two children stretched their bodies far away.

There are a few extra wooden boards on the kitchen window. If you want light to pass through, you have to take them down first, but it does block the wind.

"He asked the old man to live in the kitchen, and he also planned to take him to cut down a few more trees and build a wooden shed to store miscellaneous items in the spring."

"He can still work?" Pei Xiaohai found it unbelievable.

Waiya said that after she was six years old, her father was too lazy to even farm the land, and would often run away halfway through the work. She was left alone, and the land was already small, so she couldn't farm it properly, and the harvest was even worse.

"He wouldn't," Waiya rolled her eyes. "He ran away after three days and hasn't come back yet."

"What about Yu Meng?"

"I drank a bowl of wine and went up the mountain to chop trees."

Pei Xiaohai: ...

"That doesn't sound like a bad thing."

Waiya: "Probably. He just eats a bit too much. He drinks two bowls of porridge for one meal. But I thought, if he can help with the spring plowing, it won't matter if he eats a bit more."

Pei Xiaohai could only play for half an hour. When he left, he saw Yu Meng coming back dragging a tree. Like Liu Waizui, he was drunk and shouted as soon as he entered the door: "Come out quickly, girl, and see what uncle found."

Little Pei followed curiously and saw the thin young man, whose name was totally inconsistent with his appearance, took out a few bird eggs from his arms, about six or seven.

He smiled cheekily and said, "Cook it for me so I can have it with wine."

"Why?"

"I'll give you half."

"Okay!"

Only then did Waiya agree to him.

Yu Meng politely tried to stop Pei Xiaoxiao from leaving, and said with a look of deep regret, "Stay a little longer, and I'll give you one too."

This person didn't seem as annoying as they imagined, even though none of them called him uncle.