At night, Changan dreamed of the little goldfish again, and he told them what was in his heart: "Grandfather is so mean. He came to scold my uncle again and asked him for money."
Five little mermaids with different hair colors sat on the rocks of the pond, listening quietly to the baby's words, their shiny tails swaying slowly in the water.
"I want to bring bad luck to them so that they won't harm my uncle and aunt again." Chang'an lay on the shore and put his little hands into the water to stir the clear water.
The little golden-haired goldfish sitting in the middle said: "These are all small matters. If they are contaminated with karma, there will be retribution. You don't have to worry."
Changan pouted and nodded.
The little goldfish asked: [What did you learn today? Tell me. ]
Chang'an thought about it and told the story of his aunt making sour jujube cake.
"I peeled the sour dates, crushed the pumpkin with a rolling pin, and added icing sugar to the paste." She looked at the little goldfish carefully and asked, "Does this count as learning a skill?"
The blue-haired little goldfish smiled and said angrily, "You haven't learned anything else, but you have learned a lot about mind and tricks."
Changan blinked and asked, "What is the heart's eye?"
The blue-haired fish threw a few small pearls at her: "Idiot!"
Chang'an argued: "I can recognize twenty words at a time, so I'm not stupid! Humph!" Then he stretched out his chubby little hands and picked up all the little pearls.
The other little mermaids also smiled and threw some small beads over, then jumped into the water one after another.
Only the blond fish was still sitting on the reef, looking at Changan lovingly: "Don't dawdle, learn to read quickly."
"Yeah." Chang'an picked up the last pearl and happily ran to the low table to read a book and learn to read.
Hehe, the little seedling in the palm of her hand is about to add another leaf.
Now that he had finished learning Thousand Character Classic, Three Character Classic, and Hundred Family Surnames, Chang'an began to learn Hundred Herbal Classic.
The plants in the Herbal Classic were all those she had seen in the wild, so it was easy for her to learn them. She could learn all the words in the introduction to a plant in one night.
After learning to read, she had to learn arithmetic. Not only did she have to learn the song of multiplication and division, but the little goldfish also conjured up an abacus and let her learn how to add and subtract.
Early the next morning, the villagers lined up to fetch water from Song Sanshun's house.
The well is on the west side of the front yard. There are many bluestone slabs here, and two large water troughs are carved out of two huge stones.
There is a water outlet at the bottom of the sink, which is plugged with a wooden plug when storing water. To drain the water, just pull out the wooden plug.
A sink was built to facilitate washing clothes and vegetables at home. A water channel was also built at the outlet below, leading directly to the water storage ditch on the other side of the vegetable garden.
The women who came to fetch water saw that Song Sanshun's house had such a sink, which made it very convenient for washing clothes, vegetables and rice, and they couldn't help but envy him, but no one was embarrassed to bring their clothes here to wash.
The village women know better than anyone how precious water is nowadays.
If I really dared to take the clothes, I would probably be scolded to death by the whole village.
Not to mention the severe drought now, even in normal times, if you openly wash clothes by the well, you are not allowed, unless the well belongs to your own.
At this time, the clan leader walked into the yard with his hands behind his back, looked around inside and out and said, "Sanshun, you have enough experience. Go back and take a few people to look around for wells. The government has notified each village and household that they must dig a few wells to cope with the drought. These fields cannot be left unplanted. If there is no harvest next year, how can the villagers survive?"
Song Sanshun was a little embarrassed.
What experience do I have? Digging a well is just a blind cat catching a dead mouse. In addition, my niece's magical clay doll
must not be told to outsiders.
"It's just a coincidence that water comes out of my well." Song Sanshun scratched his head.
The clan leader glanced at him and said, "I don't care if it's a coincidence or not, this is a task assigned by the county government."
"Okay, I'll take a look when I get back from the temple fair." Tomorrow is August 15th, and there will be a grand festival not only at the temple but also in the clan, so the well digging will have to be put off until after the festival.
As the two were talking, they suddenly saw Song Baqi and his wife rushing over.
He grabbed Song Sanshun and shouted, "Rebellious son! Hurry up and hand over the money Erxiao brought back! You broke off the relationship with me, but he is still my son. Why did you keep the money I sent?"
Song Sanshun frowned and was about to say something when he heard the clan leader angrily scold him: "Song Baqi! What nonsense are you talking about? I was there when Song Erxiao asked someone to bring something back. He only brought back some children's toys. How could there be any silver or money?"
"I don't believe it!" Song Baqi held his third son tightly, "Erxiao hasn't sent a letter in three years. He finally sent a letter this time. How could he not give me money?"
The clan leader was almost mad at him, and turned to Song Sanshun and said, "Go get your brother's letter and let him read it in person!"
That day, Samsun specially asked me to write a reply letter to Erxiao, so I also read Erxiao's letter. There was no mention of sending money in it. It only said that he hadn't seen his daughter for many years and bought her a pair of silver bracelets, but he didn't know the size.
Song Sanshun shook off his father's grip, walked back into the house, took out a letter, and shook it open for everyone to see.
But few of the villagers could read, so they just stretched their heads to look curiously.
Finally, the clan leader took the letter and read it to Song Baqi word by word.
The letter only told his younger brother to take good care of Chang'an, and said that he had raised a small flag, without mentioning his biological father and stepmother's family at all.
Song Baqi's face looked grim. He suddenly thought of something, walked into the house, picked up Chang'an who was having breakfast, and walked out.
Chang'an was so scared that he screamed and tried his best to push him away and refuse to be hugged.
Wu put down her bowl and chopsticks and rushed out of the room, chasing after Chang'an to snatch the child away, but Song Baqi held Chang'an tightly and refused to let go, saying, "Chang'an is a filial child and my granddaughter. I will raise her from now on!"
"I don't want you to raise me!" Chang'an burst into tears and turned around to stretch out his little hands to his aunt.
But Wu didn't dare to pull her hard, for fear that Song Baqi would hurt the child in anger.
Seeing this, Song Sanshun also rushed over and twisted his father's fingers to try to rescue Chang'an.
But Song Baqi didn't care and strangled Chang'an's waist and neck tightly, turning the little kid's face purple.
Everyone present was furious, and Jin Guihua and Mrs. Qian even pulled out their hairpins and poked him in the arm.
After several rounds of chaos, Chang'an was finally recovered.
Look at the little baby again, his face is purple and he can't even cry.
The clan leader rushed to Song Baqi angrily and slapped him twice: "How can you treat children like this? Are you trying to use Chang'an to threaten Erxiao and Sanshun? Song Baqi, are you still a human being? Do you have any conscience?"
Song Baqi seemed to be furious as well. He struggled and tried to attack the clan leader, but his arms were twisted by several villagers and after being beaten several times, he finally became obedient.
Mrs. Zhao didn't participate much this time. She just watched coldly the whole time. She didn't even say a word when Song Baqi was beaten. They were completely different from the loving couple they used to be.
Song Sanshun carried Chang'an back into the house, and pinched his philtrum and tiger's mouth with his wife.
After a while, Changan burst into tears and hugged his aunt's neck tightly.
Just now, she seemed to be in a trance and saw again the bloody scene of many people hacking and killing people indiscriminately.
She floated over the head of another man and watched him fighting bravely with a big sword in hand.
Several times, the guys with weird hairstyles were about to chop his head with their blades, but were blocked by a beam of light.
Then Chang'an saw a cloth belt hanging on the man's collar, and the lower end of the cloth belt extended into his lapel. It was the bag strap that he had given to his father.
There should be a small clay figurine in that bag.
Could he be the father? (End of this chapter)