Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

Mr. Hu's name was Hu Gui. He was lying on the kang at this moment, staring at the roof, and said thoughtfully: "Her mother, do you think this girl is a liar? How can such a good thing happen to our Yingzi?"

Mrs. Hu said unhappily, "Have you ever seen such a beautiful liar? Besides, Yingzi is just a girl, not made of gold, how can she be deceived?"

Mr. Hu: "No, I have to go with you to see if you can sell Yingzi out."

Mrs. Hu: "It's up to you." Then she turned over and went to sleep. This old lady didn't take her daughter seriously at all.

After breakfast the next day, Xu Huizhen planned to say goodbye and leave. She had limited time and could not stay here for too long. Mrs. Hu smiled with wrinkles on her face and said, "Huizhen, we have discussed it. People go to higher places, and water flows to lower places. Ask Yingzi to go with you."

Xu Huizhen knew this would be the result. What a great fortune it was to have the opportunity to go to the city in this day and age! She took out another piece of blue cloth from her backpack, which could make about three sets of clothes. This color could be worn by both men and women. Seeing the clothes worn by the Hu family, she was worried that Hu Yingzi had no clothes to wear when going out.

She handed the cloth to Old Lady Hu and said, "Use this piece of cloth to make a new set of clothes for Yingzi. You two can also make something with the rest. I have to go somewhere else and won't be back to the capital for a few days. After five or six days, ask godfather to send Yingzi to my house and let him recognize my home. Don't think that I'm a human trafficker and have kidnapped your daughter." After that, she wrote down her home address and handed it to Old Man Hu.

Mr. Hu nodded and said, "My daughter is very open and honest. I have no reason to worry about her."

Old Mrs. Hu rolled her eyes at him and said, "That's what I said last night. I have a very good eye for people. My daughter is a good person!"

Xu Huizhen smiled, took out another 30 yuan and handed it to the old lady: "This 30 yuan is Yingzi's half-year salary. Please keep it first."

The old lady took the money excitedly and said, "Then I won't be polite to you. You can see the situation of my family. Life is difficult. I am sorry to have cost you money again."

The family accompanied Xu Huizhen to the entrance of the village, and then reluctantly went back. Xu Huizhen found a forest, took out the bicycle from the space, tied the child to her chest, and rode to Xujiawan. Xujiawan is about 10 miles away from Shilipu.

Shilipu Village is close to the county seat, and the surrounding area is flat, with tracts of land, and all of it is fertile farmland. Xujiawan Village is located at the foot of the mountain. There are continuous hills to the east of the village. The land is all mountainous, and the grain yield is not high. It is more suitable for growing crops such as sweet potatoes, sorghum, and fruit trees.

However, people live by the mountain and by the water. Living at the foot of the mountain, people can go into the mountains to hunt, pick mushrooms and wild fruits. During the three difficult years, almost no one in Xujiawan Village starved to death.

At that time, people from the surrounding villages walked 20 to 30 miles into the mountains to look for food, even grass roots and tree barks were not spared, and finally the entire Dongshan Mountain was turned upside down.

The reason why it is called Xujiawan is that there is a small reservoir at the foot of the mountain. The reservoir is elliptical in shape, so people usually call it Yadanwan. Halfway up the mountain, there is a valley between several peaks. There is also a reservoir in the valley, which is shaped like a crescent moon, so people usually call it Crescent Moon Bay. 70% of the people living in the village have the surname Xu, so the village is named Xujiawan.

Xu Huizhen's father in her previous life was named Xu Jianshe. His father, Xu Wannian, was the patriarch of the Xu family and had great prestige in the village. Xu Jianshe had only two brothers, he was the second oldest, and his eldest brother was named Xu Jianshe.

It is said that the emperor loves the eldest son, and the people love the youngest son. But Xu Wannian favors his eldest son, and his heart is so partial to him that he is almost indebted to him. During meals, he said, "Jianshe, your eldest brother is weak, you should let him eat more good food to replenish his body." When there is heavy work to be done, the old man will say, "Jianshe, your eldest brother is not as strong as you, you should do more work."

In short, the good things in the family are all done by the eldest son, and the hard work and suffering are all done by the second son. When the eldest son came of age, the old man found him a job in a leather factory in the city, and he became a city dweller from then on. The second son was a farmer at home.

Xu Huizhen once suspected that Xu Jianshe was not the biological son of the Xu family, but the elders all said that he was a biological son and she had no evidence.

During the three years of hardship, Xu Wannian used a bag of grain to buy Xu Jianshe a new wife, Hu Yingzi. Xu Huizhen was not their first child. She had an older brother, nicknamed Huzi, who was cute with a tiger-like face. When Huzi was six years old, he was pushed into Yadan Bay by Xu Jianshe's eldest son and drowned.

This is what happened: Hu Zi and his friend Tie Tou were playing by the Yadan Bay with a wooden duck carved by Xu Jianshe. Tie Tou suddenly had a stomachache, so he covered his stomach and ran to a nearby bush to defecate.

At this time, Xu Jianshe's eldest son Shengli and second son Qianjin came over. Qianjin saw the toy in Huzi's hand and wanted to play with it. Huzi said, "This is what my father made for me. I won't let you play with it."

Qian took the wooden duck and threw it into the water. Huzi ran to the water crying and picked up a branch to fish the wooden duck out. Shengli saw that there was no one around and kicked Huzi on the butt, and Huzi fell into the reservoir.

Their actions were seen by Tietou who was not far away. Tietou pulled up his pants and ran towards the reservoir. Shengli and Qianjin saw that things were not going well and ran away.

Tietou was only five years old, one year younger than Huzi. Adults had told him more than once that falling into a reservoir would kill one, so what should he do? He was at a loss for words. He picked up a branch and handed it to Huzi, hoping to pull him out of the water.

It was late autumn and early winter, and Huzi was wearing a thin cotton jacket. After he fell into the water, the cotton absorbed the water and became very heavy, pulling Huzi's small body down. He couldn't hold on to the branch at all.

Seeing this, Tietou dropped the branch and ran towards the village, shouting to everyone he met: "Help! Huzi has fallen into Yadan Bay."

At this time, most of the people at home are women and children. In the countryside, there is endless work to do all year round, and the strong laborers all go to the mountains to prune fruit trees and tidy up the mountains. Therefore, Tietou's shouting attracted many people, none of whom can swim. Moreover, the water temperature is quite low in this season, and going into the water to save people also requires the spirit of Lei Feng.

In this way, the best time for rescue was missed.

When someone finally went into the water and fished Huzi out, he was already dead. Someone sighed: "Huzi was so careless. How could he fall into the water? What a pity."

When Tietou heard someone talking about his friend, he became unhappy and said with his neck stiff, "Huzi didn't fall in by himself, he was forced into it by Shengli..."

Before he could finish his words, Tietou's mother blocked his mouth. Tietou's mother said, "You are still talking about others. You are also a disobedient person. If you dare to play by the water again, I will break your legs." After that, she hugged Tietou and hurried away.

Those who were attentive heard some information from Tietou's words and knew that things might not be that simple.