The modern fortune-telling history of a small shopkeeper

"Shh, don't make noise, brother is still sleeping, don't wake him up, let's go out and play."

"Shh..."

"it is good."

"Play!"

Hearing voices from outside, Qiao Minglang woke up, covered in thin sweat, but he felt much more comfortable after sweating.When he found the thin quilt covering his body, he couldn't help laughing. It must have been covered by his younger brother or younger sister when he was sleeping, but he guessed it was his younger sister, who was more careful.

He had a dream just now, but when he woke up, he forgot what he had dreamed of.

Sitting up from the reclining chair, he folded the quilt and put it on the chair. He got up and went outside, and saw a few little ones playing outside the door.

"Brother!" Seeing her brother, the sharp-eyed little sister Qiao quickly got up from the ground, rushed over with her short legs and hugged one of her brother's legs.Qiao Xiaobao moved a little slower and fell behind, but he managed to hug one of his elder brother's legs successfully.

Qiao Xiaohui, Qiao Xiaofen and Qiao Mingcheng followed behind and called out "Brother."

The owner of the yard next door came back, and the woman who was washing vegetables in the yard saw the boy who came back, and shouted through the yard wall: "Minglang, you're back, are you alright?"

"Hello, Aunt Fang. I'm back today. I'm fine." Qiao Minglang remembered that they called the woman Aunt Fang. The woman was in her early thirties, she was short, and there were a few shallow crow's feet in the corners of her eyes when she smiled.

The houses of the two families are adjacent to each other. When their mother was alive, they had a good relationship with Aunt Fang next door.Since their mother passed away, Aunt Fang next door has also taken good care of their family.

However, the life of the woman's family is not very good. The couple have been married for many years and have not had children.The man in the woman's family went up the mountain a few years ago, fell down from the mountain, and broke his leg. The family has no money to treat the disease. He is still lying in bed, and can only survive by drinking medicine, eating and drinking. Everyone needs to be served.

There is also an old lady in their family, who smiles at outsiders, and is very harsh on her daughter-in-law when she returns home, scolding her frequently, and they often hear the voice of the old lady next door cursing in their own yard.

"It's fine, just be careful in the future, if you have any problems at home, just call your aunt." Chen Fang's eyes were crooked when she laughed. She has no children herself, and she likes the children in the yard next door very much.

If only she could have one herself, she would think so every time she saw the children in the next yard.But it may be that there is no fate. These things really cannot be forced.

"Fang, Fang..."

"Hey, what's the matter, I'm right here."

Hearing the man inside calling her, Chen Fang said to the boy, "Your uncle called me, I'll go in and see what's going on with your uncle, and I'll talk to you later."

"Okay." Qiao Minglang replied.

Seeing the woman go into the house, Qiao Minglang lowered his head and glanced at the few children following him, and said, "Let's go, let's go to Grandpa's house." The fish balls they made at noon are still in the kitchen. The bowl divided the fish balls into portions, put them in the baskets, and went out with them.

When they went out, they heard the voice of the old lady next door cursing, which probably meant that the woman had gone lazy again, since the woman was washing vegetables in the yard just now.But this is someone else's family business, and it's not easy for them to interfere.

Qiao Xiaofen glanced at the house next door and said, "The third wife must be scolding Aunt Fang, the third wife has wronged Aunt Fang all day..."

The third wife is the old lady next door. According to seniority, people in the village call the old lady the third wife.

"Girl, don't talk about other people's affairs behind their backs." Qiao Minglang said.

Seeing her brother's serious face, Qiao Xiaofen stuck out her tongue, said "Oh," but didn't dare to say anything more.Qiao Xiaohui pulled her sister's hand and gave her a look, which meant, look, let you talk nonsense.

Qiao Xiaofen: I'm obviously not talking nonsense, she's telling the truth.

Qiao Mingcheng held his younger brother with one hand, and he carried his younger brother on his back when he was tired from walking.Qiao Xiaobao lay on his brother's back, with his arms around his neck, his eyes and heart were full of dependence and love for his brother.

Their uncle's house is not far from their house, just a few steps away.

***

The uncle's family lived in the original old house, and now the uncle's family has built several new houses on the side of the old house. Both cousins ​​are married, and each of them gets a new house.Among their uncles, the life of the uncle's family is relatively good. The cousins ​​have grown up, and all of them can help the family.

Their father has six siblings, three older brothers and two older sisters, and their father is the youngest.

The uncle is the eldest son, and their grandfather and grandmother live in the uncle's house, and the other families will send some rice grains there every month, which can be regarded as food for the two elders.In the past, their family also sent things to the uncle's house every month, but in the past two years, they rarely sent them. The reason is that their family's life in the past two years is not as good as every day.

But these things, grandpa and several uncles never blamed them.

But there are some things that you can pretend you don't know if others don't tell you.Since this was the rule set by everyone, Qiao Minglang felt that they still had to abide by the rules, and after he made money after a while, he had to make up all the owed ones.

After a while, after he has made money, he will make up what he owes.

"Grandpa." When they arrived at the uncle's house, Qiao Minglang yelled when they saw grandpa sitting at the door smoking a pipe, and the people behind him also called grandpa.

People of the older generation in the village like to smoke dry tobacco, and they can take two puffs to refresh themselves if they have nothing to do.

"It's Mingming, you guys are here. Are you feeling better?" Grandpa Qiao put down the tobacco in his hand, and saw his grandchildren coming. He has always liked this grandson who can read a lot. Now that he sees When people come, call them in.

"Grandpa, I'm in good health and I'm fine."

Qiao Minglang took his younger brothers and sisters in, and when he saw his uncle and his mother, they couldn't greet each other.

"Minglang, you guys are here. It's good to be good, good to be good." Seeing his nephew, Uncle Qiao asked the children to come and sit.

"Hello, uncle." Qiao Minglang greeted.

Seeing a basket in his nephew's hand, the auntie asked curiously, "What is Minglang holding?"

"Oh, it's fish balls made at home. I was thinking of bringing a bowl to my grandfather and aunt's house." Qiao Minglang opened the box and took out a bowl of the largest serving, and there were two servings inside.Seeing the aunt look into his basket, Qiao Minglang said with a smile: "There are two more copies that will be sent to the other two uncles, this one is for the aunt's house."

Grandpa is at the uncle's side, so they must be sent to the uncle's side first, so it's better to go to the other two uncles first.

"Oh." Aunt Qiao saw that there were two more bowls in it, which were far smaller than the one in her hand, and the smile on her face deepened.Looking at the fish balls in her hand, Mrs. Qiao let out a sigh and said, "These meatballs look so beautiful, did you make them yourself?"

"Yeah, I happen to have a few fish at home, so I thought about getting some fish balls to try, ma'am, you guys try it and see if you like it, and I'll give it to you when you get it next time." Qiao Minglang said to Aunt Qiao.

"Okay." Aunt Qiao happily walked into the kitchen with a large bowl of fish balls.In the kitchen was the eldest daughter-in-law who was cooking. The eldest daughter-in-law asked where the meatballs in her hand came from, and Mrs. Qiao was telling the eldest daughter-in-law where the meatballs came from.

"There is some food at home, you just leave it to eat, you don't need to send it to grandpa, grandpa and your grandma have food at your uncle's place, so you won't be hungry." Grandpa Qiao still thinks about them when he sees his grandson It's not that I don't know the situation at my grandson's house, so I just let them keep it for themselves.

They are old guys, they can't do much work now, they have to rely on their sons and daughters to raise money, and they can't help their grandson.If he had been ten years earlier, ten years younger, he would not have been able to just watch and be unable to do anything like he is now.

"We don't have anything to give to grandpa and uncles. It just so happened that we made a few meatballs today and sent them to grandpa to taste. Grandpa wants to like it, so I'll make it for grandpa next time." Qiao Minglang knew that the old man was worried when he said that. Several of their brothers and sisters couldn't eat enough to eat, so they sent them out when they had a bite to eat, because they felt sorry for them.

In my impression, the old man treated his grandson very well. He loved him since he was a child, and hid everything he had stuttered in his pocket.

I wanted to mention the business to the old man today, but after Qiao Minglang thought about it, he decided to wait until everyone had tasted the meatballs before mentioning it. Maybe it would be easier for everyone to believe what he said, and he would then mention the business things will be better.

When they were talking to the old man, they saw grandma coming back from the outside, Qiao Minglang called out "Grandma."

"Grandma." Several younger ones also shouted.

Compared with the old man's liking and affection for them, the old lady gave a light hum, and her attitude towards them was a little cold.

After talking a few more words to grandpa and uncle, Qiao Minglang got up and said, "Grandpa, grandma, uncle, we still have to deliver things to the other two uncles, so we'll go first." Ask grandpa about their family borrowing money from several other uncles, but it seems inconvenient right now, so he'd better ask another day.

"Hey, don't sit down anymore, stay at Uncle's house for dinner tonight." Uncle Qiao said.

"No, no, we still have a bowl of meatballs left at home. Let's go home and eat." There are six of them here, but there are six mouths. I'm afraid he won't be able to sit at two tables, he doesn't want to disturb others.

Uncle Qiao didn't keep them when he heard that they still had vegetables at home, "There are vegetables in the kitchen, take the order home."

"No need, uncle, just keep it and eat."

Before leaving, Qiao Minglang still remembered that there was no rice at home, and said, "Uncle, I want to discuss something with you. Our family has no food now, can you borrow some food from your family first? Wait for the millet harvest in our family." Get up and return it to uncle's house."

"My family didn't pay back anything they asked. Uncle and your aunt just came back from the outside, and I was afraid that you would run out of rice, so you came when I said that I would send you some food." Uncle Qiao said, "Go back first." , I'll have your cousin deliver it to you in a while."

"Thank you, uncle." Qiao Minglang thanked his uncle, then his grandpa and grandma, and left with his brothers and sisters.