When the pears are green

Chapter 181 Bronze Mirror

After Song Li and the other two returned home, they took a short rest. After getting up early and walking a long way, the three of them were already exhausted.

The afterglow of the sun slowly disappeared, and the Jiang family courtyard became dark. Song Li stood up from the stool and went to the kitchen to cook, while Jiang Qingye and Jiang Qingzhou went to clean the pigpen, chicken coop and rabbit hutch.

Song Li made a simple dinner. After the three of them had eaten, they dragged their tired bodies back to their rooms to rest.

Jiang Qingzhou, who was sitting on the bed, took out a bronze mirror from his bag and placed it in front of the drowsy Song Li. Song Li opened her eyes with difficulty and glanced at the bronze mirror. When her hazy eyes saw the familiar face in the mirror, the sleepiness in her body was instantly driven away.

Song Li sat up and looked at himself in the bronze mirror again and again. The clarity of the bronze mirror was no less than that of the glass mirrors of later generations.

"Do you like it?" Jiang Qingzhou asked with a smile.

Song Li nodded happily. She looked at the back of the mirror again. The pattern on the back of the mirror was a twined flower pattern.

"I'll buy you a bigger one later." Jiang Qingzhou promised while hugging Song Li gently. He saw himself and Song Li leaning on each other in the mirror held up by Song Li.

Song Li took back the bronze mirror and told Jiang Qingzhou with a smile that she believed in him.

Seeing that Song Li was more energetic than before, Jiang Qingzhou casually took out "The Great Music Ode" from his bag.

Song Li hurriedly held Jiang Qingzhou's hand as he tried to open the paper. She coaxed Jiang Qingzhou softly, "Qingzhou, read it later. I'm too tired today and don't have the energy to play with you."

Jiang Qingzhou didn't understand why Song Li said that. He took the paper in front of him and told Song Li: "Since Xiaoli is tired, I will read it to you as a lullaby."

Song Li lay down obediently. She smiled and looked at Jiang Qingzhou who was about to open the paper. She saw Jiang Qingzhou quickly glanced at the contents, then blushed and threw the paper in his hand under the bed with a beating heart.

"I told you not to watch it, but you still didn't believe it." Song Li couldn't help but laugh after she finished speaking.

Jiang Qingzhou belatedly asked Song Li if he had read this fu.

"I've read a little bit about it before. This fu was incomplete when it was unearthed in our world." Song Li covered her mouth and explained to Jiang Qingzhou.

Jiang Qingzhou asked Song Li again: "Then why is it called Dalefu?"

"There's a line in it that says 'There's nothing more joyful than this that people enjoy, so it's named 'The Great Joy Fu'." As soon as Song Li finished speaking, Jiang Qingzhou got off the bed to pick up the fu. He quickly skimmed through the part that made him blush, and then found the sentence Song Li said.

Jiang Qingzhou looked at Song Li in surprise. He accused Song Li in an unbearable voice: "Xiao Li can actually recite it. How many times have you watched it?"

Song Li quickly stretched out her hand and gestured a number. Jiang Qingzhou took another look at the content of the poem with a half-believing and half-doubting look. He stuffed the paper into his bag at random and prepared to go to the bathroom to take a shower.

"Don't go. It's cold at night. Be careful not to catch a cold." Song Li held Jiang Qingzhou's hand. She lowered her head and did not dare to look into Jiang Qingzhou's eyes.

Jiang Qingzhou understood what Song Li meant. He wanted to persuade himself to wait a little longer, but was eventually defeated by the impulse in his heart.

When Song Li woke up again, it was already bright. She put on her clothes slowly and went to the yard. There was no Jiang Qingzhou in the yard, only Jiang Qingye was sitting on a stool reading a book.

"Qingye, where is your brother?" Song Li asked softly.

Jiang Qingye quickly put down the book in his hand and told Song Li: "Sister-in-law, my brother went to the restaurant to pay the bill. He left the food in the pot, but it should be cold now."

Song Li stopped Jiang Qingye who wanted to heat up food for her. She asked Jiang Qingye to continue reading while she went to wash up and then go to the kitchen to heat up food and eat.

Jiang Qingzhou came back near noon. Song Li, who was making winter shoes in the yard, looked up when she heard the door open. She smiled and asked Jiang Qingzhou, "Why are you back so late?"

"When I came back, the head of the village happened to be sending people to notify every household to gather at the threshing ground, so I went directly there and just dispersed. Xiaoli, are you still feeling uncomfortable?" Jiang Qingzhou said as he held Song Li's hand as she was stuffing cotton into her shoe.

Song Li blushed at Jiang Qingzhou's words. She picked up the shoe soles in the basket and patted Jiang Qingzhou's hands, then asked what the head of the village said.

"The land tax and head tax are the same as last year. They need to be paid before February next year. Let's go to the government office to pay them in a few days." Jiang Qingzhou put the back of his hand that was slapped red by Song Li in front of Song Li, and then coaxed Song Li to blow on it.

Song Li had no choice but to blow gently a few times.

"I told my cousin about the plan to raise the wall this afternoon, and they all said they would come to help after feeding. You can kill a chicken in the afternoon and invite them home for dinner in the evening." Jiang Qingzhou also wanted to use this incident to reconcile with Jiang Heng and Jiang Ji's families.

Song Li nodded in agreement. After all, they still had to live in the village, and there would be a time in the future when Jiang Heng and Jiang Ji would be needed to speak up for their family.

Jiang Qingzhou handed the eighty copper coins he earned from the restaurant to Song Li, and then relayed Hu Zhimin's words that he wanted them to continue delivering bean sprouts.

"Then let's go ahead. This time it was Mr. Hu who proposed it in the restaurant, so Lingling will naturally not be involved. Of course I'm happy to be able to make money. However, I have to inform Mr. Hu in advance when I go to deliver it tomorrow. The bean sprouts won't grow in winter." Song Li thought Hu Zhimin should be aware of this matter, but it would be better to explain it in advance.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled and responded: "Okay, I'll go and see you off tomorrow. I won't forget."

Jiang Heng and Jiang Ji came over just after Song Li and the others had finished feeding, and they brought Jiang Qingzhou's three cousins ​​with them.

The group of people worked quickly, and in just half an afternoon they had almost made the wall of the new house as high as the Jiang family's wall.

Song Li went home to boil water on the pretext of going home. She held a knife in front of the chicken coop and thought about it, and finally decided to kill two chickens. She was afraid that if she killed only one, there would not be enough for the crowd.

When Jiang Qingzhou and his companions came back after packing up their tools, Song Li had already stewed the chicken in the pot. Jiang Heng and his four companions smelled the smell of meat all over the yard and hurried to say goodbye and go home.

Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye quickly grabbed Jiang Heng and Jiang Ji. Jiang Qingzhou smiled and told them, "If you cousins ​​continue to be polite, I won't dare to ask you for help again."

Jiang Heng and Jiang Ji no longer refused. They took Jiang Qingzhou's three cousins ​​with them to help Jiang Qingzhou dig a doorway next to the chicken coop that connected to the new house.

Because there were only men at the table, Song Li refused Jiang Heng's offer to let her eat at the table. After eating alone in the kitchen, she put the remaining chicken in the pot into two bowls, ready for Jiang Heng and Jiang Ji to take home for their wives and daughters.

Song Li sat in the kitchen waiting for the man in the main room to finish his meal. She waited until she was drowsy, and then the group of people came out of the main room.

"Uncle Heng, Uncle Ji, these two bowls are for my two aunts and several younger sisters. I don't go out often and I don't know where they live, so please bring them over." Song Li handed over the two bowls of meat in her hand.

Jiang Heng and Jiang Ji quickly waved their hands to refuse. Song Li handed the bowl to Jiang Qingye, who then put it into the hands of the boy from the Jiang family.

"Look at how useless you are." Jiang Heng patted the heads of the two boys who took the bowls with a stern face. The two boys hurriedly hid behind Jiang Qingzhou.

Jiang Qingzhou quickly came out to smooth things over. He stopped Jiang Heng and said, "Uncle Heng, calm down. Jiang Ming and Jiang Chen also wanted to let the aunts and sisters eat better. They are all filial children."

Jiang Heng then withdrew his outstretched hand. He and Jiang Ji took the three children and hurriedly said goodbye. It was already dark, and they were afraid that their families would worry.

Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou first found a wooden board to block the doorway, and planned to ask Zhang Peng for help in building a courtyard gate tomorrow.

The moon on the sixteenth was especially round. Yang Jing, who couldn't sleep, climbed down from the bed and took out the "Da Le Fu" that Li Yun'an had lent her.

Yang Jing hummed a little tune as she opened the paper, and then she almost choked on her own saliva. She stared blankly at the three big words on the cover, and quickly threw the paper on the ground like a hot potato. She curled up in the quilt, thinking about returning the things to Li Yun'an early tomorrow morning.