Zhang Xiao'e excitedly asked, "Father-in-law, are you really willing to lend her grain?"
"If it weren't for Yueying, you wouldn't be able to marry into our family." Zhao Zheng smiled.
Wu Yueying and Xiao'e were both from Jiuli Village. At that time, the Zhang family was so poor that they could barely make ends meet and wanted to sell Xiao'e to a landlord as a slave. When Wu Yueying learned about it, she took the initiative to make the connection.
No matter how poor the small mountain village is, it has more people than Jiuli Village and is more powerful.
At that time, the eldest son of the previous life had just been engaged to Yang Zhaodi, and he couldn't treat his youngest son unfairly, so Zhao Zheng asked someone and finally married Xiao'e home in exchange for five kilograms of corn.
The situation was not as bad as it is now a few months ago. In addition, the imperial court exempted taxes, so every household in the small mountain village still had some grain reserves.
But now, the villagers in the small mountain village can hardly survive.
After receiving a positive answer, Zhang Xiao'e was very excited. "Thank you, father-in-law. I will go get the rice right away. Sister Yueying is not a talkative person. She will definitely not say nonsense."
There are not many people with good reputation in the village. Wu Yueying is one of them. Moreover, she is quite good to her two daughters-in-law. Zhao Zheng also appreciates this. It is just half a pound of corn, which is nothing to him.
"Go ahead."
Zhang Xiao'e hurried to get rice.
Yang Zhaodi also breathed a sigh of relief, "With this half pound of rice, Sister Yueying will have something to explain when she returns."
Zhao Zheng snorted, "A lazy man marries a virtuous wife, and a shrew marries a brave man. What kind of world is this?"
At this time, Wu Yueying outside the door was very nervous.
There has been no movement for such a long time, it is probably hopeless.
But she couldn't borrow the rice. When she returned home, her parents-in-law would definitely scold her again, and her husband might even beat her.
Her eyes dimmed and she prepared to leave.
"Sister-in-law Yueying, come in."
Wu Yueying looked at Zhang Xiaoe and said with a wry smile: "Uncle Zhao doesn't agree, forget it, I can understand..."
"No, my father-in-law agreed."
Zhang Xiao'e stuffed half a pound of corn into her hand and whispered, "Sister-in-law Yueying, my father-in-law asked me to say thank you. Thank you for taking care of us sisters-in-law these days. I'll lend you this half a pound of corn. You don't have to pay it back much. You can give it to me whenever you have money. My father-in-law trusts you."
"You know, everyone is struggling right now, so you mustn't say it was lent to you by our family..."
Wu Yueying was deeply moved. She didn't expect that Zhao Zheng, who had always been stingy, could say such words.
"Thank you, Xiao'e. I won't tell anyone, don't worry." Wu Yueying felt relieved after getting the corn. "Tell Uncle Zhao thank you for me. Also, I'll meet you at the village entrance tomorrow morning."
As she said this, she hid the corn in her clothes and left as if nothing had happened.
Zhang Xiao'e was in a good mood after helping Wu Yueying. She even hummed a tune while cooking at home.
When Zhao Zheng took a look, he saw that it was clearly an innocent and brilliant girl.
After dark, the three of them had dinner early.
There are no special entertainment activities in the village, everyone just stays indoors and sleeps.
There was a dim oil lamp lit in the room.
The fire in the floor stove was also burning, and the temperature in the room, which was not very big to begin with, rose a lot.
After soaking his feet, Zhao Zheng lay directly on the earthen kang. After burning the coals for nearly two hours, he was almost done.
"Oh, it's so nice and warm!"
Feeling the temperature of the earthen kang, Zhao Zheng couldn't help humming.
Yang Zhaodi smiled and used the beaten Ula grass in her hand to weave new straw sandals for Zhao Zheng. The weather was cold and her father-in-law often went out, so he must keep warm.
This Ula grass is a treasure for the poor.
Zhang Xiao'e was also busy, weaving bamboo baskets with bamboo strips. They were a bit ugly, but very sturdy.
Hearing her father-in-law's humming, she said, "Father-in-law is really smart. This way, you can cook and warm the kang at the same time!"
Zhao Zhengdao said, "Stop busying yourself and come up to warm yourself up."
"Father-in-law, I'll come over after I finish making this straw sandal." Yang Zhaodi said.
"The bamboo basket will be ready soon. I can carry the new basket to pick shepherd's purse and dandelions tomorrow!" Zhang Xiao'e's favorite thing to do is to pick wild vegetables.
Zhao Zheng didn't say anything. Although he was used to the modern nightlife, he still couldn't adapt to the silence of the countryside.
It's only been two days since I finished my meal, and I'm already thinking about developing a toy to kill time.
Just then, there was a knock on the courtyard door, "Zhao Di, I'm here to give Uncle Zhao a foot massage."
"Sister-in-law Li is here again." Zhang Xiaoe pouted subconsciously.
Yang Zhaodi asked, "Father-in-law, do you want to open the door?"
"Open it, let her in." Zhao Zheng was feeling bored. Wouldn't it be nice to have a foot massage before going to bed?
Yang Zhaodi opened the door, and Zheng Chunmei shivered after entering. "Huh, Uncle Zhao's house is still warm. Unlike ours, it's as cold as an ice cave."
She was wearing very thin clothes, just a linen shirt on the outside, with willow catkins and Ula grass stuffed inside. It looked bulky but was not actually warm.
He was wearing a pair of straw sandals, and the exposed skin was frozen purple.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered the door, she felt the long-lost warmth.
"Hey, why did the bed in Uncle Zhao's house change?"
She spotted the earthen kang at a glance.
"Oh, this is the earthen kang I made today. It's very warm. Do you want to sit on it and feel it?" Zhao Zheng said with a smile.
Zheng Chunmei walked over and touched it with her hand. "Oh, it's hot."
"Are you comfortable?"
Zheng Chunmei was stunned, and immediately sat down on it. "Comfortable, this is too comfortable. Uncle Zhao, how did you do that?"
"Don't worry about it." Zhao Zheng is not a saint. Why should he tell others about the earthen kang he built with great effort?
Zheng Chunmei was silent. If she could sleep on such a warm earthen kang, would she still be woken up by the cold at night?
She looked at Yang Zhaodi leisurely weaving straw sandals and Zhang Xiaoe warming herself around the ground stove, and felt extremely envious.
"Uncle Zhao, let me massage your feet."
"Don't massage my feet today, massage my back instead."
"Back massage?"
"Come up." Zhao Zheng lay on the earthen kang.
Zheng Chunmei blushed, feeling that Xiufen was having trouble, "Uncle Zhao, we agreed that I would only massage your feet, not your back."
"Half a bowl of rice with crusty rice." Zhao Zheng pointed to the low table on the bed.
Zheng Chunmei looked over and was immediately delighted: rice crust.
Even if it is burnt rice crust, it is still rice and cannot be compared with corn.
"Uncle Zhao, that's not what I meant..."
"If you think it's too little, forget it. Just massage my feet."
Zheng Chunmei was anxious. How could she let the rice crust that was right in her mouth fly away?
From last night till now, apart from the half piece of bread given by Ma Dazhu, she only drank a bowl of corn porridge as thin as water. She was almost too hungry to walk. This half bowl of rice crust was a rare delicacy to her.
"Uncle Zhao, let me give you a back massage." She took off her shoes and was about to go to bed.
Zhang Xiao'e said, "Have you washed your feet? Come to bed now?"
Zheng Chunmei was stunned, looking at her muddy feet with a bit of discomfort, "No, it's not that particular, right?"
"This is my father-in-law's new earthen kang. It's very clean. You are not allowed to get on it without washing your feet!"