When the pears are green

Chapter 238 First Snow

The north wind had been blowing all day, and the sky had slowly grown gloomy. The two cats that usually loved to play in the yard hid in the straw stack and snuggled up to each other for warmth. The usually majestic big black dog lay quietly in the doghouse, motionless.

Jiang Qingzhou quickly ran into the main room, rubbed his hands and sat in front of the burning iron stove to keep warm.

Song Li used wire to hook up the round cover on the iron stove and threw a few pieces of chopped wood into it.

Jiang Qingzhou exhaled white air and said to Song Li who was holding out her hand for warmth: "Xiao Li, it should snow soon. Once it snows, it will freeze. I will kill three or four chickens and stew them for the next few days."

Song Li rubbed her hands vigorously for a few times, then covered Jiang Qingzhou's still cold hands and replied softly: "Well, someone in the town has been collecting rabbits recently. When the road is clear after the snow, sell the forty or fifty rabbits in the nest and keep a pair for breeding next year. Sell two pigs as well, otherwise there will be nothing to eat throughout the winter. The remaining two can be sold during the New Year."

Jiang Qingzhou agreed with a smile.

Jiang Huan's crying "wa, wa..." was heard from the east room. Song Li quickly let go of Jiang Qingzhou's hand and ran into the east room to see Jiang Huan. She found that Jiang Huan was hungry, so she quickly sat in the quilt, picked up Jiang Huan and fed him.

Jiang Qingzhou followed in and sat beside the bed, waiting patiently for Jiang Huan to finish eating.

The north wind seemed to be stronger, and the doors and windows were clanging.

Jiang Qingzhou hurried to the main room, pushed open the slightly open door to check the situation. Snow grains like salt fell to the ground. It turned out that it was snowing.

"Xiao Li, it's snowing. I'm going to kill a chicken." Jiang Qingzhou turned around, picked up the rabbit fur hat sewn by Song Li from the eight-immortals table, put it on his head, and strode into the snow.

The north wind, wrapped in snow, blew into the slightly open door of the main room, drowning out Song Li's words: "Qingzhou, put on your hat and be careful of catching a cold."

Soon, the sound of "cluck, cluck" of a chicken was heard from the east room. Jiang Huan, who was breastfeeding, was stunned for a moment, then he grabbed Song Li's clothes and continued to breastfeed peacefully.

"Haha, you greedy little baby." Song Li adjusted her posture and spoke softly to Jiang Huan who was concentrating on feeding.

The snow was getting heavier and heavier. When Jiang Qingye and Song Xing came back from school, the ground was already covered with a layer of white snow.

After dinner, heavy snow fell from the sky to the ground. Song Li stood at the door of the main room and stretched out her hand to catch a snowflake. Unfortunately, the snowflake turned into a drop of snow water as soon as it touched her palm.

Song Li patted the snow water on her palms, turned around, half-closed the door, and walked towards Jiang Qingzhou who was holding Jiang Huan with a smile.

Jiang Qingzhou touched Song Li's cold palms and let Song Li warm her hands while watching Song Xing and Jiang Qingye play chess.

Jiang Qingye played black chess and Song Xing played white chess. Although white chess made the first move, Song Li, an amateur, could see that white chess was obviously at a disadvantage on the board. White chess only focused on defending black chess but did not have its own "qi". (In ancient Chinese Go, white chess made the first move before the end of the Qing Dynasty.)

Song Xing knew that he had already lost the game, so he placed the chess pieces absentmindedly. Jiang Qingye also lost interest and ended his pursuit of the white chess pieces.

Song Li came forward and asked Jiang Qingye: "Qingye's chess skills are pretty good. How does he compare to Master Yang who taught you how to play chess?"

Jiang Qingye replied with a smile on his face: "Sister-in-law, I am not as good as Master Yang. It's good enough if I can win one out of three games."

"That's not bad. After all, you have just learned to play chess. Xiaoxing, don't put away the chessboard yet. I will teach you how to play Go." Song Li hurriedly stopped Song Xing who was about to put away the chessboard.

Song Xing quickly asked Song Li curiously: "Sister, what is Gobang?"

"Gobang is very simple. Whoever connects five pieces into a line first wins. I'm an adult, so I'll let you go. You have the white pieces, so you go first." Song Li said as she put all the black pieces scattered on the board into the chess box.

Jiang Qingye walked over to Jiang Qingzhou and sat down, then took a rabbit-skin glove from the Eight Immortals Table to tease Jiang Huan who was scratching.

Song Li and Song Xing played a few rounds. Song Xing smiled and said to Song Li, who was holding her chin and frowning, "Sister, your chess skills are not as good as mine. We played five games, and you only won once. You are going to lose this game again."

Song Li looked up at the jubilant Song Xing, resigned herself to her fate and placed the black chess piece on the board. Sure enough, she lost again.

Seeing this, Jiang Qingzhou handed Jiang Huan to Jiang Qingye, and smiled as he played Gobang with Song Li.

Song Li looked nervously at the three black pieces that formed a diagonal line on the chessboard, and prayed in her heart that Jiang Qingzhou would move the white piece he was holding at his fingertips somewhere else.

Jiang Qingzhou's gaze lingered on the three black pieces, and he moved to an independent white piece without hesitation.

"Haha, I won." Song Li took out a black chess piece from her palm and placed it on the chessboard. She happily scattered all the other chess pieces in her palm into the chess box. The crisp sound of the chess pieces colliding with each other echoed throughout the whole room.

With Jiang Qingzhou's "constant mistakes", Song Li successfully won every game.

The snow was still falling outside, and Jiang Huan kept yawning while holding Song Xing's fingers.

Jiang Qingye hurriedly shouted to Song Li who was still playing chess: "Sister-in-law, Huan'er wants to sleep."

Song Li quickly threw the chess piece on the chessboard, picked up Jiang Huan and returned to the east room.

Jiang Qingye and Song Xing packed up the chess pieces, one carrying the chessboard and the other holding the chess box, and returned to the west room together. It was cold in winter, and it would be much warmer for the two of them to sleep together.

Jiang Qingzhou put out the burning wood in the iron stove, closed the half-open door of the main room, and hurried into the east room to warm the bed for Jiang Huan.

"Are you asleep? You're already hot." Jiang Qingzhou asked softly to Song Li who was sitting in the bed holding Jiang Huan.

Song Li raised her index finger to her lips, signaling Jiang Qingzhou not to speak.

After a moment, Song Li motioned Jiang Qingzhou to go outside, then lifted the quilt, carefully put Jiang Huan into the warm bed, and then carefully tucked in the corners of the quilt.

Song Li was just about to lie down when Jiang Qingzhou, who used his hands and feet, wrapped his arms and legs around her waist. Their eyes met, and their watery gazes overflowed with infinite affection.

Heavy snow fell all night, and the green bamboo in front of the window was bent under its weight.

Jiang Qingzhou got up early, walked into the kitchen to boil water, and walked through the deep snow that was not up to his ankles.

Small paths were cleared in the deep snow. Song Xinglian, awakened by the sound of shoveling snow, put on his clothes, rabbit fur cotton shoes, a rabbit fur hat and gloves, and went out to help Jiang Qingzhou shovel snow.

"Brother-in-law, I'll shovel the snow, you go do something else." Although he was wearing warm clothes, Song Xing couldn't help shivering.

Jiang Qingzhou handed the shovel in his hand to Song Xing, led the donkey into the new house, and started grinding soybeans.

The thick reed curtains blocked the biting cold wind. Jiang Qingzhou scooped soybeans while thinking about the changes in his home over the past two years. The originally deserted home now had new life.

Five or six days later, the snow melted completely, and Jiang Qingzhou went to the town to sell his rabbits and two pigs.

The winter with short days and long nights seemed to pass quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was the twelfth lunar month. Song Li began to worry about what to give Song Yue as a wedding gift.

After much deliberation, Song Li asked Jiang Qingzhou to go to the cloth shop in town to buy two pieces of high-quality cotton cloth, and gave them to Song Yue as a gift together with the painting of a hundred children.

On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Song Changhe first took Old Man Wang's ox cart to the town, and then rented an ox cart with a carriage in the town to go to Jiangjia Village to pick up Song Li and Jiang Huan and take them back to Wuzhuang Village.

Song Li asked Song Changhe in confusion: "Dad, Yueyue's wedding is still three days away, why are you in such a hurry to let Huan'er and I go?"

"Your mother wants you to go to the Wu family to make room for Xiaoyue. Plus, we all miss Huan'er and are afraid it will snow, so we thought of taking you over in advance." After saying this, Song Changhe hugged Jiang Huan and asked Song Li to pack the clothes.

The two waited until Jiang Qingzhou returned from the restaurant with the goods, then boarded a rented ox cart and headed for Wuzhuang Village.

Jiang Qingzhou looked at the back of the ox cart driving away, feeling infinite melancholy in his heart.

Before Song Li and Jiang Huan had gone far, Jiang Qingzhou had already started missing them.