Fight the Giants

  Chapter 5 Waking Up Early

  Dawn dawned slightly, and Huo Xi woke up from the dream again.

  In the dream, she kept running, running, unable to breathe, as if her throat was tightly pinched, and she was about to suffocate.

  Huo Xi opened his eyes, stared straight at the top of the boat, opened his mouth, panting heavily. In the dream, Mother looked at her in horror, shook her head at her, and then, Mother disappeared.

  Huo Xi clenched his fists tightly, lying quietly on the deck of the boat, biting his lips and weeping silently.

  It took a while to sit up, wiped his face, moved to the wall of the ship, gently rolled up the straw curtain on the window, and looked out with his head on his stomach.

  The surrounding fields are quiet, there is no sound of water waves, and the tips of the reeds on the shore are dripping with morning dew, and the green color is about to drip. A burst of water vapor hit, faint, fishy smell of water. Huo Xi has been smelling it for so long, from the discomfort at the beginning to now that it smells pretty good.

  Huo Xi put down the straw curtain, rolled up his bedding, put it together with the pillow, used his fingers as a comb to put a bun on his head, put on his clothes, and came to the bow.

   Scooped water in the wooden bucket at the bow to wash, wet the face towel and wiped it on the face, and the whole person was completely awake. The remaining half scoop of water was poured back into the bucket. It was not easy for her father to fetch a load of water.

  Huo Xi hung the face towel on the clothesline, and reached out to touch the clothes he washed last night. Well, it was half dry. When the sun rose, let it dry for a while before it could be put into the cabin.

  There was movement on the boat not far away, so Huo Xi sat down on the bow and looked around.

   There are seven or eight awning boats parked not far from her family’s boat. Like their family, they are all fishermen who take boats as their homes or temporarily take their boats as their homes.

  This safe haven is where her father often stops his boat at night. The river is gentle and calm, and it is sheltered from the wind.

   It stands to reason that everyone lives on boats, lives on rivers, and relies on fishing to support the family's livelihood. If there are more people, the catch will be less. Moreover, if there are too many fish and shrimps on the market, they will not be able to sell at a high price.

  However, Huo Xi observed for so many days and found that everyone is obviously in a competitive relationship, but secretly they all rely on each other.

  If you have something to do during the day, just stand on the bow of the boat and shout twice, and nearby boatmen will row their boats to help. When the boat was docked at night, everyone spontaneously docked in twos and threes to take care of each other.

  Her father said that it is not easy to make a living on the water. When it is windy and rainy, boat capsizing often happens. If there are no boats nearby, no one will help when they fall into the water.

  Huo Xi stared at the ships docked near her house with interest.

   "Boy Huo, did you wake up so early?"

  Huo Xi came back to his senses, and greeted him with a smile: "Morning, Uncle Qian."

Qian Sanduo scooped up half a gourd full of water, took a big gulp, raised his head and grunted a few times, then spit it out again, and joked to Huo Xi: "Children should sleep more, otherwise they won't grow taller. Like a short winter melon, it depends on whether you are in a hurry."

   After speaking, I poured some water, scooped it up and wiped it on my face and neck a few times, then shook the water drops in my hand, and shook my head from side to side twice, and it was clean.

   Baring her teeth at Huo Xi, the cat entered the cabin.

  Huo Xi smiled at his back, turned around and poured water into the casserole on the bow, preparing to cook some rice porridge for the family for breakfast. Just as he was about to put some firewood into the bamboo basket, someone held down his hand.

   "Xi'er, why do you get up so early? Children who don't sleep much will weigh on their height. Let mother come."

  Took the firewood from Huo Xi's hand, stuffed it into the small stove, and ignited the fire.

   "Mother, I'll watch the fire, you go wash up."

   "Waiting for mother to scoop up some broken rice..."

  Before finishing speaking, Huo Xi pushed her: "Mom, go wash up, I will do this."

   Yang took a look at her and followed her.

  While washing, Mrs. Yang watched Huo Xi scooping up rice to wash the rice, pouring broken rice into the pot, and adding firewood. Her movements were skillful and quick, and she felt that there was no place in her body that was uncomfortable.

  She also has a little padded jacket. The corners of the mouth are raised high.

  Seeing that Huo Xi was still dressed as a boy, with a boy's bun tied on his head, and looking at his body, he was wearing Yang Fu's small clothes, and his brows were wrinkled.

   "Xi'er, mother made you two skirts, why don't you wear them?"

  Huo Xi looked at himself, smiled at Yang Shi and said, "Mother, a short brown skirt is not as convenient as it is."

   "The mother will change the skirt into a girl's blouse for you, and then help you tie the girl's hair in a bun."

   "Mother, no need, this is good. Boys are more convenient than girls." After speaking, she turned and squatted on the small stove to fan the fire.

  Mr. Yang thought of something, looked at Huo Xi's exquisite profile, and sighed.

  When the mother and daughter were talking, Huo Erhuai and Yang Fu also got up.

  Wait for Huo Xi to enter the cabin again, and found that the bedding for sleeping has been taken to the bilge by Huo Erhuai and Yang Fu. Even the straw curtains in the middle were closed.

  Huo Xi took a rag and knelt down in the cabin and wiped it carefully. Put away the rag, wash your hands, and sit beside Huo Nian to watch him. Stretching out his finger to poke his chubby face, Huo Nian waved his small hand, without opening his eyes, he tilted his head and continued to sleep.

  Huo Xi smiled and tucked him in the quilt.

   Lift the small square table stuck on the inner wall of the cabin to the bow and prop it up. He went into the cabin again, lifted the bottom of the boat, found the bowls and chopsticks, took salt, pickles, and a small plate of dried fish. After thinking about it, he took two more salted duck eggs and held them in his arms. Gently lower the bottom plate of the boat and walk to the bow.

   After a while, breakfast will be ready.

   A pot of broken rice porridge, a dish of pickled vegetables, a dish of dried fish, plus four petals of salted eggs.

  Mr. Yang reheated the pig's trotter soup that she was reluctant to finish last night, and drank it loudly.

  Yang Fu ate while biting his ear with Huo Xi. In the past, he only followed his sister and brother-in-law to cast nets in the rivers and sell fish, and he rarely had the opportunity to learn about the outside world.

  During this time, Huo Xi led him to have fun around the city, and led him to look for opportunities to earn coins.

  Yang Fu's heart became wild and grass grew.

   "Eat well! Your brother-in-law and I are the ones to worry about making money, so do you need to worry about it?" Mrs. Yang tapped Yang Fu's bowl twice with her chopsticks and glared at him.

  Yang Fu smiled at his sister twice, but didn't listen.

  Although he stopped talking, he refused to sit still and looked around, "Brother Qian, what are you eating?"

   "Brother Yu, why did you get up?"

Qian Sanduo, who had greeted Huo Xi early in the morning, was squatting on the bow of the boat with a shiny wooden bowl in his hand, and while scraping porridge into his mouth, he responded, "It's also broken rice porridge, just like you. .”

   And Qian Sanduo and two boys squatted behind him, one on the left and one on the right, and they also looked at Huo Xi's house.

  Qian Xiaoxia looked envious.

   How many times have I told his parents to buy a folding square table like Huo Xi's. Look at the Huo family, the whole family sits around the table, and there are dishes on the table. When the weather is fine, they will move to the bow, and when it is windy and rainy, they will move to the cabin. This is like eating.

  But her mother doesn't. Reluctant to give up the money, he scolded him. Take it with you, put it on the board to eat, whether you are not full or what!

   Pissed him off.

  Qian Xiaoxia propped up his upper body, and raised his voice to Yang Fu: "Yang Fu, you and Huo Xi will go to the city again later?"

  He wants to go too.

   I wonder if I can sneak behind them. I heard Yang Fu brag that his uncle and nephew have earned almost half a tael in the city these days!

  He also wants to make money. Earn money to buy maltose, meat, roast chicken, salted duck, sauced duck... Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

  Yang Fu didn't answer him, and turned to Huo Xi: "Xi'er, shall we go to the city today?"

  (end of this chapter)