Men and women eating in the courtyard

Over there, Zhao Gen pointed to the woman who had stood up early and said, "This is your old aunt from our house, and that is Avon's sister Yaping."

Li Xuewu called the somewhat reserved woman "Auntie".

The Zhao Gen family nodded uncomfortably and said hello. They were obviously traditional rural women and were a little scared to see Li Xuewu in uniform.

Perhaps looking at Li Xuewu's clothes and face, the two women couldn't let go, especially Li Xuewu's face, which looked a bit scary.

Li Xuewu took out a bag of candy balls he bought earlier from his pocket, opened the bag and handed it to the girl named Yaping.

The girl was wearing a rag-patched dark floral cotton jacket and cotton trousers, with bare black feet standing next to her mother. The ground was very cold, and her two little feet were curled up and stepping on the ground alternately. The cotton clothes and trousers looked like they belonged to her brothers and sisters. They were remade from old clothes, maybe because they were worn by too many people, and the cuffs and lining were worn to the point where the cotton was exposed.

The girl was a little greedy for the candy handed to her, but she was also a little afraid of the fierce man in front of her, even though the man was smiling hard.

Looking at his daughter who was hugging his legs and hiding behind him, Zhao Gen's family said with some embarrassment: "What are you doing? She won't eat. Please put it away quickly."

Zhao Gen also advised on the side: "Children eat whatever candy they want. Take it back as soon as possible. I'm grateful to your father for sending food to our family, but we can't spend any more money."

Li Xuewu smiled and put the candy bag into the girl's hand, and said: "Uncle and auntie, this is my first time here, why can't I be empty-handed? We are a family, don't be polite to me."

The girl tightly clutched the candy bag given by Li Xuewu, glanced at Li Xuewu with wide eyes, and then raised her head to look at her mother.

Li Xuewu chuckled and said, "Just take the money that second brother gave you and see what your mother does?"

Zhao Gen's family said to Li Xuewu with some embarrassment: "Thank you, Xuewu." After saying that, he said to his daughter: "Call me second brother."

"Second brother." The girl's voice was a little soft.

"Hey," Li Xuewu responded with a smile, and then replied to Zhao Gen's family: "Auntie, you're too polite, hurry up and put her on the kang, the ground is cold."

The few people talked politely, and then the old man on the kang let him get on the head of the kang, and Li Xuewen also followed.

Seeing Li Xuewu wearing a new police uniform, the old lady was afraid that the kang mat made of sorghum stalks would stain Li Xuewu's clothes, so she asked her daughter-in-law to put a quilt under it, but she was stopped by Li Xuewu.

This is not an outsider's house. You have to save face for your eldest brother. Even if you put a quilt on the kang mat, you would never do that in an outsider's house.

After taking off his leather shoes, he sat cross-legged next to Mr. Zhao, while Li Xuewen sat next to his younger brother.

Seeing that Li Xuewu could cross his legs, the moods of the Zhao family members relaxed a little. Although he was a city man, those who could sit cross-legged on the kang were all simple people.

Zhao Gen's family took the candy bag from the girl's hand, took out one and handed it to the girl, comforted her in a low voice, hugged her to the kang, and then took the candy bag and stuffed it into the base cabinet at the end of the kang.

The girl held the piece of candy in her hand and stared at her mother. When her mother came back, she carefully peeled off the candy wrapper and licked it bit by bit, as if she was eating something delicious.

Finally, he put the whole candy in his mouth, carefully folded the candy wrapper and put it into the small pocket on his clothes. Then he sat on the kang with the candy in his mouth and looked at the man who came with his brother-in-law.

Zhao Gen's family put the bag, went to the kitchen to get the rice bowl, poured a few bowls of hot water with a thermos bottle and handed it to Li Xuewu and others.

Li Xuewu responded to Mr. Zhao's warm greetings politely, while thanking Aunt Zhao for giving him hot water.

At this time, the three brothers who had returned from unloading the truck outside and carrying food to the West House came into the house.

Zhao Gen sat by the kang and pointed at the young men standing next to each other from height to floor and said: "This is your eldest brother in our family, his name is Zhao Yajun, this is your second brother Zhao Yamin, and this is your third brother Zhao Yating."

After that, he said to his sons: "This is your brother-in-law's second brother. He is older than you. You call him second brother."

"Second brother" "Second brother"

"Second brother."

Li Xuewu had just looked at his sister-in-law's three brothers outside. Although they were dressed in shabby clothes, they were in good spirits, but their nutrition was not up to par, and they all looked a bit dark and thin.

Li Xuewu stood up and was about to get off the ground. This was his brother's brother-in-law. He couldn't stand on the kang and light a cigarette to greet him, especially when they met for the first time.

Seeing Li Xuewu about to get up, Mr. Zhao held him down and said: "We are not outsiders, so don't be polite. He is your sister-in-law's brother, and he is your brother. Don't be polite."

Being stopped, Li Xuewu had no choice but to smile apologetically and said to his three brothers: "Then I won't get off the kang. Brothers, don't be restrained. We are not outsiders. Your sister is just like my own sister. We Even though it’s the first time for brothers to meet each other, they are welcome.”

Then he took out a cigarette and asked, "Yajun, do Yamin smoke?"

Zhao Yamin shook his head.

Zhao Yajun glanced at his father, reached out to take the cigarette, lit it himself, and walked back to the wall to stand.

Zhao Gen smiled and said: "The boss has worked with me to earn wages since he stopped studying, and he learned to smoke. The second boy is still studying."

Li Xuewu smiled and nodded: "That's good. You can't smoke while studying, as it can easily hurt your body."

When I first entered the hospital, I saw that the time had just reached ten o'clock. After greeting for a while, it was already dinner time.

Zhao Gen's family got up and went to the kitchen to prepare for cooking. Zhao Gen sat on the edge of the Kang and said to his eldest son: "Boss, go kill the chicken, clean it up, and let your mother stew it."

Li Xuewu hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop him and said: "Uncle, please don't. If you do this, we brothers will go back now. I won't dare to come next time."

Zhao Yajun was held by Li Xuewu and couldn't get out, so he looked at his father.

Seeing Li Xuewu's resolute attitude, Zhao Gen smiled bitterly and said, "Here, Xuewu, that's the only chicken at home that can entertain you, look."

Li Xuewu smiled and said: "Uncle, why do you still treat me as an outsider? Do you have any frozen cabbage? Fry some frozen cabbage for me and pour some sauce on it. I like this."

"How can this be done?"

Seeing that his father was in trouble, Zhao Yajun said to his father: "Dad, let me go up the mountain to see if there is anything in the condom that was placed yesterday."

Zhao Gen thought for a moment and said, "Ask your second brother to go with you and bring a fork and a gun."

Zhao Yajun agreed and left, and Zhao Yamin also left.

Li Xuewu got off the ground and called to the two of them: "You two wait a moment, I will follow, let's ride up, faster."

Zhao Gen quickly stopped him and said, "Why are you following me? It's windy and cold on the mountain, and it's dangerous to encounter wild animals."

Li Xuewu said with a smile: "It's okay. I'm so tired from working. I even hunted a wild boar when I returned from work. I just happened to go up to the mountain to have a look today."