The rain didn't stop.
Around lunchtime, Elder Brother came back.
Carrying a bundle of roasted sweet potatoes.
He wore a rain cloak, the edge of his new clothes was also wet.
Jiang Feng laughed heartily.
Because on the first day of the new year, he could take things from home, and he could take things from home for the whole year.
Before the meal, he gave everyone a roasted sweet potato.
It was a bit like a yam, but the texture seemed a bit off. Jiang Mianmian had eaten it before, and it would be slightly bitter, but roasted it had an aroma, and the bitter taste was not so strong.
On the first day of the new year, you had to accept what others gave you.
Young Lord Zi looked at the twisted and curled sweet potato, and his face was as crumpled as the sweet potato.
Then he watched Jiang Xiaogui use her little hands to peel the skin off the sweet potato, both of her hands turned black immediately, but she didn't care at all, just to have a hot bite, eating and wiping her mouth with her hands, but because her hands were black, her mouth only got blacker and blacker as she wiped.
Jiang Mianmian saw the little brat staring at her eating.
She gave him a sweet smile.
Young Lord Zi smiled too.
So dirty!
Elder Brother helped peel Young Lord Zi's sweet potato, and put it on a small plate with a spoon and chopsticks.
Jiang Feng was very perceptive by nature, he just knew that this Young Lord Zi liked cleanliness and didn't want to get his hands dirty.
He prepared the sweet potato for Young Lord Zi, and carefully wiped Cui's face.
Pinched her nose.
Then the whole family had lunch together.
All the dishes were made by Jiang Yu.
After seeing Cui get married, Jiang Yu became a bit more composed.
Today, when she didn't speak, Jiang Mianmian felt that Elder Sister seemed to have grown up and matured overnight, she had the feeling of an older sister.
After lunch.
The rain gradually lessened.
But it got colder.
The rain in winter chilled to the bone.
Jiang Mianmian took a nap of her own accord, little kids can grow taller by sleeping more.
But the others didn't have the habit of taking afternoon naps.
At that time, people didn't have the habit of taking afternoon naps or eating three meals a day.
The family thought Mianmian was still a baby, so she needed to sleep, and it wasn't strange.
But today at noon, Young Lord Zi also went to sleep.
Jiang Mianmian slept for an hour before waking up.
She had slept enough.
Woke up refreshed and energetic.
Little kids have a lot of energy that needs to be released.
Mainly, there were so few things a little kid could do.
Nothing but crawling and rolling around.
Crawling and rolling around on the ground as a kid, crawling and rolling around in society when grown up!
The rain had lessened at noon, but now it was raining again, so she couldn't go out to play.
Jiang Xiaoshu seemed to have gone into a late winter hibernation these past two days, lazily immobile, so she could only find her own fun.
If she found Father and Elder Brother, they'd likely ruffle her hair.
Elder Sister seemed to be whispering something with Mom.
Jiang Mianmian decided to go play with the guest.
After all, the guest was closer in age to her.
Of course, there was also a pragmatic thought.
Since Father had taken shelter with his father, theoretically speaking, he was the leader's son, so at home, she could be responsible for currying favor with him a little.
Anyway, aside from eating, she didn't do anything, so she could contribute a bit of meager social effort.
When she grew up, she might become socially awkward and unable to do anything.
While she was still a child, it didn't matter if she was embarrassed.
Jiang Mianmian carried her little robe and waddled over to the tall man, looking up at him with her baby voice, "Brother Hei Ta, I want to play with Brother Xiaochong."
Her baby voice was irresistible, adorably sweet-sounding yet shy.
Jiang Mianmian felt no one could refuse such an adorable little darling.
As expected, Hei Ta guarded the door and didn't let even a fly enter Young Lord Zi's room, but he stepped aside to let the little cub push the door open and enter.
The room wasn't cold, with two braziers lit, charcoal dumped into pottery jars, the pottery jars woven with bamboo so they could be carried.
Since it was an earthen wood house, a combination of earthen walls and wood, there was no need to worry about being smoked to death.
This was the guest room, but since Young Lord Zi came to stay, it was turned into his bedroom.
Jiang Mianmian came in, and that little brat was actually still asleep.
Curled up in a ball.
Seeing him asleep, she thought she shouldn't disturb him and turned to leave on her little steps.
But then she heard a call: "Dad."
Jiang Mianmian's short legs paused.
She felt a strange sense of pity.
Babies usually call out "mom" unconsciously, but Zi Xiaochong had never called out for his mother since he was born.
She turned back and saw that he seemed to be awake.
Or perhaps he was having a nightmare?
Jiang Mianmian curiously walked back to his side.
She saw Zi Congheng's brow was tightly furrowed, his face pale, as if not quite normal.
She softly called out, "Brother Chong?"
No response, no movement.
She called again, "Zi Congheng?"
Still no response or movement.
"Zi Xiaochong?"
A pair of eyes suddenly opened, black as ink with not a hint of light.
Like black lacquer.
It startled Jiang Mianmian.
People with too much white in their eyes sometimes looked scary, but having no whites in the eyes was also scary.
Was he awake or not?
Jiang Mianmian called out again, "Brother Chong?"
Zi Congheng regained consciousness.
Seeing the person in front of him, the green onion on her head was crooked, he wanted to help straighten it, but felt like he didn't have the strength to get up.
He said, "Can you climb up here?"
Jiang Mianmian nodded.
She was small, but climbing onto the bed wasn't difficult for her.
She used both hands to push off the bed edge, lifted one leg up with effort, then slid right off onto the floor.
She didn't cry, stood up and tried again.
Through perseverance, with a plop, she successfully climbed onto the bed.
Successfully plopping herself down onto the bed.
Jiang Mianmian crawled over to Young Lord Zi, and he reached out to ruffle her hair.
Jiang Mianmian: ...
Well, judging from his sweaty look, he must have had a nightmare.
"Did Brother Chong dream about your dad?"
Zi Congheng shook his head.
No.
He opened his eyes and forgot what he had dreamed.
The room was dim, with the gloomy light outside.
He stared at the little cub in front of him, sitting across from him so seriously, like a little Buddha, even sitting cross-legged, looking at him curiously. In this moment, he even forgot to be disgusted by how dirty she was.
He gently pinched her cheek.
Seeing her wide-eyed look of bewilderment as she stared at him.
He said, "Pinching you, you won't understand anyway, you won't remember it when you grow up. Everyone says little kids don't remember things at this age."
Jiang Mianmian unabashedly pinched him back.
Since she was a little kid, she didn't have to take responsibility.
She was an exception, she remembered, she would remember for a lifetime, hmph.
The little brat's hand lightly pinched Zi Congheng's face, but it was a bit painful, so he opened his mouth and said: "Adults sometimes say the wrong things, because I remember, I remember when I was a child, I remember Mom suffered and struggled all night, with her eyes open as she gave birth to me and lost a lot of blood. I remember that I couldn't cry or laugh, and Father found the best doctor in the world for me. The doctor said I had a brain disease, something was growing in my brain, and I wouldn't live past the age of ten. This year I'm six, so I can live four more years."
"Father adopted many sons, finding many elder brothers for me. Father raised a longevity turtle for me. Father wants to rebel, because that doctor said there might be medicine in the palace that could save my life."
Jiang Mianmian was stunned.
She sat in front of the little brat.
At first, when he said he remembered, she thought she had encountered a fellow countryman.
But then he actually said he remembered how his mother died, and remembered his father asking the doctor who determined he wouldn't live past ten years old.
What a desperate life this was?
If you knew the ending would be so tragic from the start, what could you do?
No.
She had just pinched his face and it felt so hot.
Jiang Mianmian reached out and touched his forehead again.
"Hot!"
Could it be that he was delirious from a fever?
No wonder she felt so warm, he was almost burning up.
Jiang Mianmian crawled to the bedhead, grabbed a cup and saw there was half a cup of water in it, then added some Spirit Spring water and shakily brought it over.
Sure enough, Zi Xiaochong, who had been chattering non-stop just before, closed his eyes again.
She held the water to his lips, used her hand to pry open his mouth, and poured the water into Zi Xiaochong's mouth like Elder Sister used to feed her porridge.
Then she opened her throat and cried out: "Mom, Father!"
Zi Congheng felt that he had been given water to drink.
He opened his eyes and saw Jiang Xiaogui sitting in front of him, wailing.
He couldn't help but laugh again.
Life was actually good, even if he knew when he would die. It was good to see Father ambitiously planning a rebellion, struggling every day. It was good to see his brothers scheming against each other, showing him their affection. It was good to see Mr. Gong patiently lecturing him on right and wrong. It was good to see Jiang Xiaogui wailing.
His life was short.
If he wasn't full of hope, what else could he be full of? (Note 1)
He had to be full of hope, because the scenery along the way was different, and the people were different too.
He lost consciousness, before blacking out he thought Jiang Xiaogui's foot had stepped on his hand.
......
......
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