Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

When she heard about Hu Yingzi, she felt relieved. It should be her hometown, not her hometown.

She squatted down and put the backpack on the ground, which contained the things she had taken out from the space in advance. It was getting late, and she had to stay here tonight anyway, so she couldn't come empty-handed.

The house was the same as I remembered, similar to the courtyard houses in Beijing, with four main rooms, two side rooms on each side, and three south rooms.

The families who own such houses are considered wealthy in the village. By the way, my grandfather’s family was classified as middle peasants. They had some land before liberation, and when the class classification was made, they were almost classified as rich peasants.

For the convenience of reading, all characters in the future will be referred to according to this time and space.

Seeing this, Mr. Hu shouted into the house, "Yingzi, come out for a moment. Someone is looking for you."

"Here I come!" Following the voice, a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old walked out of the main room. She was tall, had an oval face, and wore two big braids. Who else could she be but her mother in her previous life?

At this time, Hu Yingzi was still a pretty girl, not too pretty, but above average. Her face was full of collagen, not yet damaged by time and life.

Although Hu Yingzi is a bit biased towards boys and is not very kind to me, who asked her to raise me? I will forgive her for now. In the previous life, Hu Yingzi and Xu Jianshe had a good relationship. If nothing unexpected happens, Xu Huizhen still wants them to be husband and wife.

At this time, Hu Yingzi said: "You are looking for me? I don't seem to know you!"

Xu Huizhen: "I'm from the old city, and I have something to discuss with you and your parents." Since guests are welcome, Mr. Hu said, "Then let's go inside and talk." Xu Huizhen took out the things in the backpack, which included ten kilograms of rice, three kilograms of pork, five kilograms of dried salted fish, two kilograms of dried shrimps, and one kilogram of candy.

After she took the things, she looked up and found that a group of people had gathered around her, and all of them were staring at the things she took out.

In order to ease the awkward atmosphere, Xu Huizhen grabbed a handful of candy and gave two pieces to each person, while looking at everyone at the same time. They were Hu Yingzi's mother, eldest brother Hu Guanghui, second brother Hu Guangcan, younger sister Hu Xiaoling, youngest brother Hu Guangming, eldest sister-in-law Kang Yuping, and young niece Cui'er.

She said, "Uncle, it's getting late today. I'm afraid I'll have to stay at your house tonight. These things will be my accommodation and food expenses. What do you think?"

When Hu's mother heard this, her eyebrows lit up. She shook Xu Huizhen's hand enthusiastically and said, "Stay wherever you want. I have many rooms at home. It's just that there are too many of these things."

Xu Huizhen: "This is a little gift from me. Uncle, aunt, can you please have a moment with me? I have something to discuss with you."

Mrs. Hu instructed her daughter-in-law, "Eldest daughter-in-law, go cook. Cut half of the meat that the guests brought and cook some dishes. Steam some dried fish and steam a bowl of rice for the guests."

The eldest daughter-in-law Kang Yuping responded with a smile: "I know, mother. You go into the house and talk to the guests. I will take care of the cooking."

Xu Huizhen was very familiar with the structure of this house, which was not demolished until 1985. As the name suggests, Shilipu is ten miles away from the county seat. She remembered that the county later built a smelting plant here.

After sitting down on the big kang in the countryside, Xu Huizhen took out the words she had prepared before: "My name is Xu Huizhen. I opened a small pub in Sijiucheng. I have no shortage of food or clothes. But my life is not very good. My biological parents and mother-in-law passed away early, and last year my father-in-law and husband also passed away one after another. I and the child in my arms are the only ones left in the family. A fortune teller told me to find a girl born in the hour of Chen on the Dragon Boat Festival in 1940 to become my godparent, and my future life will be smooth sailing. Although it is now said that this is feudal superstition, it is better to believe it than not to believe it."

Mrs. Hu slapped her thigh and said, "My daughter Yingzi was born on that day and at that time."

Xu Huizhen: "So, I went to great lengths to find your family because I wanted to recognize Hu Yingzi as my godsister."

When Mrs. Hu saw Xu Huizhen's clothes, she knew she was rich. Since ancient times, people have always respected the clothes before the people, and she was from the city. So she said with extra enthusiasm: "What's wrong with that? You will be my goddaughter from now on."

Xu Huizhen: "That's great. I will call you godmother and uncle godfather from now on. I will kowtow to you two elders." Then she put the child in her arms on the kang. She kowtowed three times to Hu's mother and father. After all, they were her elders, so what was wrong with kowtow? It didn't cost her a piece of meat.

Mrs. Hu smiled happily. She helped Xu Huizhen up and said, "Okay, get up, my daughter. This is not the way to do it now. I will have another daughter in the future."

Xu Huizhen glanced at Hu Yingzi standing next to her and said, "Yingzi, do you want to go to Sijiucheng with me? How about this? You go to my house and help me take care of the children first. I'll take care of your food, accommodation, and clothing, and I'll give you five yuan a month. In two years, I'll find you a job in Sijiucheng, or find you a husband, and you'll be a city dweller in the future."

Hu Yingzi's eyes widened: "Really? Sister, you can't lie to me."

Xu Huizhen thought to herself, "Xiao Yingzi, in your last life, you gave me a lot of bamboo shoots and fried pork to eat. Now you've fallen into my hands, let me see how I'm going to deal with you!"

But on the surface he smiled and said, "I'd be lying to you, little dog. I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and your family can discuss it tonight."

Hu Yingzi: "Then what else is there to discuss? I agree."

Dinner is ready. I cooked a pot of pork, cabbage and vermicelli. It's just the beginning of spring, and there is no other food at home. By the way, my grandfather's village knows how to make vermicelli. There is a vermicelli workshop.

The staple food was cornmeal pancakes, and a large bowl of steamed rice was given to Xu Huizhen. Xu Huizhen looked at the whole family, old and young, how could she feel ashamed to eat alone? Besides, she usually ate well, so she didn't need this.

So she broke off half of the cornmeal cake for herself and said, "Godmother, I often eat this kind of rice. Today I want to try the cornmeal cake. Please share this bowl of rice with my family."

Hu Yingzi's younger sister, 10-year-old Hu Xiaoling, and 14-year-old younger brother Hu Guangming, their eyes lit up instantly. They looked at their mother eagerly. In this era, transportation was inconvenient, and rice was not produced here, so the rural areas here rarely had rice to eat.

Mrs. Hu felt a little sorry and said, "How can this be so embarrassing? You were the one who brought the rice here."

Xu Huizhen: "Godmother, please don't be polite to me. I just want to eat cornmeal cakes with salted fish, which is quite delicious." The old lady then picked up the bowl and shared the rice with the man and the children.

The other women did not get any, and they did not seem to have any objections, probably because they were used to it. It turned out that Hu Yingzi's preference for boys over girls was a family tradition.

Alas, Xu Hui really doesn't want to take care of these trivial matters, and she can't. In the previous life, after Mr. Hu passed away, Mrs. Hu couldn't control her sons. The three sons were selfish people. After they got married, they only cared about their own small families. Later, because of the division of the family, the brothers turned against each other. So Xu Hui really didn't want to take care of the Hu family's affairs. At most, during the three difficult years, she would help them and don't let them starve to death.

She was tired after a long day and went to bed early. Mother and father Hu lay in bed and murmured.