Chapter 30: fight for home
Mo Dai was a little tired today. After washing, she felt that her eyelids were too heavy to open. She climbed onto the kang and found that Maru Niu and the two children were sleeping soundly, so she leaned over and kissed the foreheads of the two children. He flattened his body and fell into a deep sleep after a while.
In the middle of the night, Mo Dai, who was sleeping deeply, could faintly hear Mo Xiaoyu beside him whispering like a kitten: "...cold...cold..."
Mo Dai was in a daze of sleep, she reached out her hand in the dark to hug Xiao Yu into her arms, but just as she stretched out her hand, it was hit by a large drop of icy rain, was the roof leaking? Mo Dai shuddered, half of her drowsiness disappeared, she hurriedly sat up and fumbled to light the lamp.
There was a strong wind outside the house, and with the rain whimpering against the three dilapidated thatched houses of Mo Daxi's family, cold wind poured in from the cracks in the walls and windows from time to time, and the flames the size of soybeans were blown left and right by the wind.
Mo Dai touched the quilt on Xiao Yu's body, it was wet, she quickly carried the little guy out of the wet quilt, took off his wet clothes in two or three, and directly stuffed the cold little body into her arms to warm it up. with. Xiao Yi and Maru Niu were still asleep, Mo Dai touched the quilt on his body, but luckily it was not wet, she turned her head and looked at Xiao Yu in her arms, the child no longer babbled and shouted cold because of the source of warmth. She slept soundly against her chest.
Mo Dai hugged Xiao Yu, tightened the quilt around her body, listened to the sound of wind and rain outside, glanced at the dripping and leaking roof, and sighed inwardly, this house needs major repairs.
At this time, Xu Shaolin's voice came from outside the curtain: "Daxi, the roof is leaking, I brought you a basin to catch the rain!"
"Oh, dad, come in, the bed is wet from the rain!"
After Xu Shaolin handed a pottery pot to Mo Dai, he went back to the east anteroom and continued to sleep, presumably he was used to the heavy rain outside and ticking inside the house. Mo Dai smiled wryly, and fell asleep again in a daze, listening to the sound of rainwater falling from the roof and hitting the clay pot drop by drop.
After an unknown amount of time, Mo Dai was woken up by Xu Shaolin, saying that it was Mao hour, and it was time for her to get up and go to town.
Mo Dai didn't get enough sleep, she rubbed her eyes and yawned, wrapped Xiao Yu in her arms tightly in the quilt, dressed herself and got off the kang. Xu Shaolin boiled two more eggs for Mo Dai this time, and Mo Dai just wanted to say no, but he forcefully stuffed them into his hand, with a look of resentment in his eyes: "Take it and eat, don't leave it for the two little ones." Yes, you are thin enough yourself, you are willing to eat two eggs!"
Mo Dai was a little moved, but at the same time she wanted to laugh, remembering last night, when Xu Shaolin learned that the radish **** she made had three eggs in it, the look on her face was so heartbreaking, if it wasn't for Mo Dai who later said that her wages had risen again Yes, Xu Shaolin must be reluctant to eat those radish balls.
Holding the two eggs that were still hot, Mo Dai didn't shirk any further, and just said to Xu Shaolin as if swearing: "Father, I will work hard, and we can eat eggs every day from now on!"
"Hey, hey! Dad knows you are capable! The rain may not stop for a while, so be careful on your own way!" Xu Shaolin covered his eyes with the action of putting on Mo Dai's coir raincoat out of the boom.
Mo Dai put on her bamboo hat and went out, subconsciously looked back in the rain, and happened to see Xu Shaolin rubbing her lame left leg, frowning tightly, as if she was enduring the pain.
"Father, your legs..." Mo Dai asked. From Mo Daxi's memory, she couldn't find any episodes about Xu Shaolin's lameness. She only knew that Xu Shaolin's legs were still good and healthy before Mo Daxi got married. In the next few years, without knowing it, he became the current lame look. It can be seen how thoroughly Mo Daxi neglected his family.
"It's okay, it will be like this every time it is rainy, and it will be fine when the weather clears. Daxi, go to the town as soon as possible, don't delay your work and be told by others!" Xu Shaolin waved his hand with a smile.
Mo Dai's eyes darkened, she turned to leave, and then suddenly remembered something and turned her head again: "Father, I slept too hard at night, and Xiaoyu didn't notice it even though it was drenched in the rain. I was worried that he would get cold, you Cook a bowl of hot **** soup for him later!"
"Hey, I'll go to boil later, you go!" Xu Shaolin felt relieved, Daxi had really changed, and he knew how to care about his children! Xu Shaolin thought of his three sons again, and couldn't help but sighed again, those three stupid children, why couldn't they see it, as the saying goes, the prodigal son will never change his money, they are too ignorant!
Mo Dai rushed to Fumantang in the rain, naturally later than usual, and was ridiculed by the fat man, but the fat man could only provoke him with harsh words, the shopkeeper didn't say anything, she kept talking Naturally, a mere little girl can't afford to make waves.
On a rainy day today, many small households who rely on the sky to set up food stalls can only squat at home and idle, and there are no entertainment activities. It is really suffocating. Rather than staying in a daze at home, it is more interesting to go to a restaurant and listen to books with many people. As a result, there were many more guests in Fumantang, especially those who listened to books, and the storytelling venue on the second floor was crowded early.
The shopkeeper was happy but at the same time he couldn't help being troubled. From today's point of view, the rain will never stop, and the guests who come to listen to the book will naturally stay in the restaurant for a longer time, but the space for storytelling is limited, and those who come early are reluctant to leave. The people who came later couldn't come in to listen to the book, seeing five or six people leaving shaking their heads, Fang Ling felt very sorry.
"Shopkeeper, why don't we temporarily set up a listening room in the lobby? The lobby is much bigger than the second floor!" Mo Dai, who was about to go up to the second floor for a knife show, saw that many guests were all because the second floor was full. Feeling disappointed and leaving, he couldn't help suggesting.
Fang Ling raised his eyebrows and glanced at Mo Dai: "I never thought about what you said, but there is only one old storyteller, and the younger one left Liugang Town a month ago, even though Mrs. Shi sometimes I will appear in person, but that's just 'sometimes', sometimes, don't you understand?" Fang Ling said, and the resentment in his heart couldn't help venting to Mo Dai, as if what happened to her, with a distorted and constipated expression on his face .
Modai nodded blankly: "Uh, I understand."
"I understand that you should go to the second floor to perform. If you can't perform well, don't blame me for deducting your monthly fee!" Fang Ling growled viciously, and then saw guests coming in and leaving, so I was so entangled in my heart!
Modai's knife show started, and bursts of applause came from the second floor.
Fang Ling felt a little more at ease, and Mo Daxi was a good girl, and yesterday's accidental competition with a cloth strip to cover her eyes earned her another business opportunity. Fang Ling stood at the stairs on the second floor, leaning against the railing, and couldn't help admiring Modai's knife performance.
In order to attract the audience's attention, Mo Dai thought about it secretly on the way to Fumantang today, so when she showed off her craftsmanship, the knife was precise and neat, and at the same time added a lot of beautiful and dazzling Fancy tricks, such as turning the knife before cutting vegetables, such as throwing up the vegetables, catching them with a knife, chopping them into evenly sized blocks with a few swipes, etc., are more ornamental than yesterday, and the room can be seen Ling's heart couldn't help going up and down, calling out exquisite!
So when the little mistress Wu Lian walked through the audience with a copper bowl, the rewards of money kept clinking and clinking.
Fang Ling felt more at ease again, but when she saw a guest coming and going for the fifth time, she felt unhappy again.
Coincidentally, at this time, Mrs. Shi's carriage drove up to the gate of Fumantang, and there were two young men holding huge oilcloth umbrellas to shield the people who got on and off the carriage from the rain.
Fang Ling glanced over, and couldn't help frowning, why is it all here on this rainy day?
Shi Xiyan and her three husbands, two sons and one daughter, all seven members of the family came.
"Ah, cousin, first cousin, second cousin, third cousin, and three children, come in quickly, it's really rare that you're all here on this rainy day!" Fang Ling greeted him with a smile , while greeting Shi Xiyan's family, he turned his head and yelled fiercely at the inside, "Fatty Bai, I didn't see Mrs. Shi, have Mr. Shi's family come? Hurry up and help lead the carriage to the backyard!"
Fatty Bai was completely stunned by this group of gorgeously dressed people. Now that Fang Ling was mad at her, he hastily agreed to rush into the rain to pull the carriage.
Shi Xiyan is Mrs. Shi, the owner of Fumantang. She is thirty-six years old this year. Her three husbands-in-law were originally the sons of Ruan Wuxiang, an old scholar in this town. They were influenced by their mother since they were young. The three husbands came here through hard work. Shi Xiyan's two sons are also gentle and well-behaved. As for the daughter Shi Lan, she is the founder of Biyu pear flower cake in Fumantang.
Another burst of applause came from the second floor, and Shi Xiyan looked at Fang Ling in surprise: "A new storyteller?" Asking Modai to perform a knife show on the second floor.
"No, it's Mo Daxi performing knife skills!"
"Really? It seems very popular."
"exactly!"
Fang Ling smiled and led the family to a certain box on the second floor. This is an extremely elegantly decorated box, which can separate the crowd and clearly hear the sound of storytelling. It is Shi Xiyan's exclusive box.
The Shi family sat comfortably in the box, Fang Ling opened the window, and through the crystal curtain hanging from the window, they saw that Modai was finishing the knife show, and then it was the storyteller's turn to come on stage.
The venue was quiet, but after waiting and waiting, the old storyteller did not come up. Shi Xiyan looked at Fang Ling in surprise again, Fang Ling's heart skipped a beat, and then he laughed and said that he would go to see the situation.
When Xiao Xiao found the old storyteller who was coughing due to typhoid fever in the backyard, and told Fang Ling about the situation, Fang Ling wanted to faint for a moment. Dad, why did you pick a critical moment to make mistakes for her? ? But the old storyteller didn't mean to get sick on purpose, who doesn't have a headache when the old man is old?
Fang Ling could only come to Shi Xiyan with a shy face: "Cough, cousin, today, are you in the mood for storytelling?"
Shi Xiyan frowned: "Cousin, I am here to listen to books!"
"Ahaha, I know I know, it's just...you see..." Fang Ling saw that Shi Xiyan simply closed his eyes and ignored her, so he turned his pleading gaze to Ruan Gan, Shi Xiyan's great minister, "Big cousin... "
"Cousin, my wife's throat is not feeling well these days, so don't make things difficult for her!" Ruan Gan smiled helplessly.
Fang Lingdun felt that the ambitions he was full of were suffering from being unable to carry out his life. Nothing could be more bleak than this...
"Cousin, it's time to start the storytelling!" Shi Xiyan said lightly for a long time. This sentence almost made Fang Ling tear off her usual elegant and reserved appearance, and transformed into a shrew to scold Shi Xiyan for being incomplete. , However, these can only be thought in the heart, who is the real owner of this restaurant?
Fang Ling went downstairs in a frivolous step, thinking that there was no other way, he had better go and pick up that old storyteller, it was better than letting the guests wait in vain!
However, when she saw the old gentleman with her own eyes, no matter how heartless she was, she couldn't do anything to force him to tell a story, because the old gentleman's voice was so hoarse that he had to cough when he said a word. After a while, he coughed until his internal organs were pulled for her.
"Shopkeeper, let me try."
Mo Dai had just learned from Xiao Xiao that the old storyteller was ill, and now seeing Fang Ling's impatient appearance, she couldn't help but speak out. This is the third time she has taken the initiative to fight for an opportunity. Although this time it is likely that she will steal the old storyteller's job, but when she thinks about the situation at home, she thinks about earning more money to improve it. She couldn't care less.
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