The happy little days of the Ye family

It was March in spring, and every household in the village was busy with spring plowing.

At dawn, smoke rose from many houses in Taohua Village. At this time, Taohua Village is filled with smoke, chickens crowing and dogs barking, and it is peaceful.

In a small farmyard in Taohua Village, 11-year-old Ye Qingqing was sleeping soundly, her little face with baby fat was flushed and cute.

The Ye family lives in the small courtyard. There are seven people in the Ye family. Ye Guitian, Mr. Ye, Li Chunhua, Mr. Ye's wife, Ye Fengsheng, Ye's father, and Ye Xiuxiu, Ye's mother, their eldest son Ye Donglin is 12 years old, their eldest daughter Ye Qingqing is 11 years old, and their youngest son Ye Xilin is nine years old.

Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye started raising pigs when they were young and are well-known pig-raising experts in the village. Every year, the family raises five or six pigs, half of which are kept for the family to eat, and the rest are sold to the butcher in the village. By raising pigs, they can earn seven or eight taels of silver every year.

Ye's father works as a clerk in a grocery store in the town. He has been working as a clerk in the grocery store since he was 15 years old and has been working there for 15 years.

Ye Xiuxiu is the daughter of the embroidery mother. She is not only virtuous and capable, but also has good embroidery skills that make all the girls and daughters-in-law in the village envious.

Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye can earn seven or eight taels of silver from raising pigs every year. Ye's father also earns six hundred cents a month from the grocery store. Ye's mother earns more money per month than Ye's father if she is good at embroidery. The Ye family is considered to be in relatively good condition in Taohua Village.

However, although the family earns more, it also spends more money.

Two brothers, Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin, go to school in the village. The school charges one tael of silver per person per year, and they have to buy books, brushes, and paper themselves.

Books and papers are all valuable things. Every time Father Ye goes in to buy something, it feels like he is cutting his flesh.

Not only that, the Ye family, both young and old, are all greedy cats. Eggs laid by chickens, mushrooms picked from the mountains, and dried bacon cannot escape their mouths. They are also greedy for meat and sugar all day long.

The head of the house, Mrs. Ye, said she was disgusted, but she was also very talkative, turning a blind eye and allowing them to do so.

Therefore, the Ye family, which seems to be rich to outsiders, actually does not have much money.

Mrs. Ye grabbed a few handfuls of ground corn and two handfuls of rice into the pot, added water and started to make porridge. After lighting the fire, she took out a few sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped them, and put them into the pot to make porridge together.

Sweet potatoes are winter sweet potatoes, which are much sweeter than summer sweet potatoes. Whether they are eaten steamed or baked, they are deeply loved by the Ye family. The greedy little cats at home either want to bake sweet potatoes or make shredded sweet potatoes.

Mrs. Ye likes to make sweet potato porridge. Sweet potatoes are sweet and very filling. The cooked sweet potato porridge is sweet and soft. Mrs. Ye cooks a big pot every day.

When the little ones at home were old enough to eat, in addition to a large pot of porridge, Mrs. Ye also fried a large basket of pancakes. The pancakes made of cornmeal were golden and looked very appetizing.

When the sweet potato porridge was almost ready, Mrs. Ye put three washed eggs into the porridge, mixed the pickles, and then took the hard-boiled eggs out of the porridge.

Old Mrs. Ye took the pancake to the dining table, put her hands on her hips and shouted to the yard: "Eat breakfast, have breakfast!"

Mr. Ye had just watered the vegetable garden next to the door, put the bucket on the ground in the yard and said, "Old lady, what delicious food did you cook today?"

Old Mrs. Ye put her hands on her hips and glared at Mr. Ye: "You are a greedy old man. Everyone in the family is following you. They know how to eat all day long. No amount of money is enough for you."

"Being able to eat is a blessing. Only when you eat well can you be healthy. Spending money on food is better than spending money on medicine." Mr. Ye said with a smile while stroking his beard.

It is better to turn money into food and eat it than to spend it in the drug store. A trip to the drug store can cost a few hundred coins at least, or ruin the whole family. Mr. Ye thinks he is very good at calculating this account, and the drug store can't get it from him. Make a penny.

Old Mrs. Ye put the porridge on the table, wiped her hands on her apron and said, "You are smart enough to get those two brats up for breakfast. If you don't hurry up, you will be late for school." ."

The school in the village was opened by Ye Tongsheng. Ye Tongsheng's family was poor and his qualifications were average. However, Ye Tongsheng had a good attitude and became the enlightenment teacher in the village early. Relying on the school, his family lived a prosperous life. .

"Thief, stop."

"Hahaha, you can't catch me with your short legs, maybe..."

The two brothers Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin ran in laughing and chasing each other.

Old Mrs. Ye gave each of her two grandsons a bowl of sweet potato porridge, "Run slower, run slower, what are you two enemies doing? Hurry up and have breakfast."

Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin took the porridge, holding corn tortillas in the other hand and gobbled it up. They were brothers, and they drank porridge and took pancakes at the same frequency.

Mrs. Ye put the two eggs in front of her two grandsons and said, "Slow down, slow down, no one is going to fight with you. Where are your mother and Qingqing? Did they stay up late doing embroidery again last night?"

"I went to bed late last night to catch up on the embroidery work, and accidentally got up late this morning." Mother Ye, who had not slept well last night, had faint dark circles under her eyes and pulled the yawning Ye Qingqing into the house.

Ye Qingqing has been learning embroidery from Ye Mu since she was seven years old. After several years of study, she has become quite decent at embroidery. Recently, she has started to learn simple small embroidery patterns from Ye Mu. This time Ye Mu embroidered the Guanyin picture and followed her throughout the process.

Ye Qingqing felt that she hadn't slept for long before she was picked up by Ye Mu to eat breakfast. Her little face, so tender that it could make water come out of her mouth, was so red from sleep that she couldn't even open her big, watery eyes.

Seeing this pitiful little appearance made Mrs. Ye very distressed.

Mrs. Ye placed an egg in front of Ye Qingqing, then brought two bowls of porridge and placed them in front of the two of them. "I've told you so many times that you can't make enough money. No matter how much money you make, it's no use working in a drugstore."

The atmosphere in the village is good, and there are very few people who favor boys over girls. Old Mrs. Ye loves Mother Ye and her granddaughter from the bottom of her heart.

Ye's mother's family is also from Taohua Village, just a few lanes away from Ye's family. Ye's father and Ye's mother had played together since they were young. Old Mrs. Ye had long been tired of seeing the brat that teased cats and dogs, so she lured her well-behaved and sensible daughter-in-law in early.

Old Mrs. Ye has no daughter, and Mother Ye raises her as her own daughter.

Ye Mu rubbed her sore eyes and said, "It's Li's mother's birthday in a few days. The construction period for this Guanyin picture is relatively tight. Although the embroidery is not big and easy to embroider, the wages are quite high. I'll go and embroider after breakfast. Tu, buy some meat when you come back, it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten meat at home.”

"Eat meat, eat meat"

"Mother, mother, I want to eat braised pork."

"No, I just ate braised pork last time. I want to eat lotus root stewed pork ribs."

"Making braised pork, braised pork knuckles, braised large intestines..."

When I heard that there was meat to eat, the eggs in my mouth no longer tasted good, and a few greedy cats chirped and announced the names of the dishes.

"Stop, stop, stop, you guys are going to tear the roof off. We still have bacon at home, so we can buy whatever meat we want. Don't buy it." Mrs. Ye, a diligent and thrifty housekeeper, felt her head grow bigger when she looked at the starving ghosts at home.

"Mom, the children are still growing. Only by eating well can the children grow tall and strong like their father."

It's not that the family doesn't live in the same house, Ye's mother is also a glutton. Every time she goes to the town to sell embroidery, she will cut off the meat and bring it back. Of course, it is said to be for the children's health.

The kids in the village were extremely envious of the fact that the Ye family could eat meat two or three times a month and have snacks from time to time.

I hate God for not giving me such a good mother. Of course, I can only think about this secretly in my heart, and my mother’s legs will be broken when she hears it.

Seeing that in the family of seven, only Ye's father did not come over for breakfast, Ye's mother couldn't help shouting: "The child's father, it's time for breakfast!"

"Hey, here you go, Xiuxiu is still thinking of me." Although Father Ye is already in his thirties, he still often acts coquettishly and amusingly to his mother and wife.

"Hurry up and have breakfast. Qingqing and I will go to the embroidery workshop later to hand in the embroidery drawings. We will go to town together after breakfast." Ye's mother turned red with embarrassment and quickly placed the prepared porridge in front of Ye's father. , and blocked Ye’s father’s mouth with cakes.

Ye Xiuxiu is a typical Jiangnan girl, with fair and delicate skin and a gentle and pleasant temperament. She is often teased by Ye's father until her face turns red.