$179, Life of a Miser

It is now May, and there are still four months before the enrollment of primary and secondary schools in September. During this period, Yan Chu needs to deal with the goods that need to be sold urgently, and keep running back and forth between the city and the provincial capital to find a suitable house to rent.

In addition, it is also necessary to obtain a temporary residence permit and the information for the child to register for school after going to the provincial capital.

In these four months, because of the family's previous savings, the profits from the last batch of goods returned from Shenzhen, and the two hundred yuan that Yan Chu's second cousin's family reluctantly took out, it is far from the time of running out of money.

At the end of June, one day before July came, Yan Chu finally got everything done, and at the same time, the old lady and several granddaughters also prepared almost all the things that needed to be moved from the house.

It was not until the moving truck drove to the entrance of the alley that the neighbors heard that the Yan family was moving.

"Why are you moving out of the blue?"

An old lady with bound feet took Lu Aihua's hand and said, she was one of the few friends that the old lady could talk to in this alley.

"Ah Chu found a job somewhere else. The children can't be separated from their father for a long time. Let's just move in together and rent a house."

The small courtyard of the Yan family is not big, but it is more than enough for a small family.

In addition, it has a courtyard and a well in the courtyard. A family who wanted to rent a house nearby paid a deposit on the same day after seeing it, waiting for the Yan family to move out and move in.

Lu Aihua also talked about this with her old sisters, so that the tenants would not be mistaken for thieves when they come.

"We will be far away in the future, and I don't know if we can meet again."

The old lady was a little reluctant, but people of their generation had experienced war and had long been accustomed to separation. Now they just felt a little grateful.

"There will always be a day to come back."

The old lady thought that when her granddaughters and grandsons are grown up, if she is still alive, she will definitely go back to the old courtyard to take a look, and maybe there will be a day to reunite.

Before parting, all the past grievances were thrown aside. The neighbors came to help carry some furniture and luggage to the truck at the entrance of the alley. Some people were curious about where Yan Chu's new job was and where the whole family moved to. Yan Chu fooled them with a few words. After talking a lot, no one asked where their new home was. It was not until everyone got on the truck and saw the truck's shadow getting smaller and smaller that they realized this.

"I'm afraid he is hiding from his relatives."

Someone who understood suddenly said.

"I guess so."

Everyone sighed a few times, talking about how kind Yan Chu's family was and how bad their old relatives were. They completely forgot the joy of watching the fun and the words they said to the Yan family girls, which they thought were jokes.

All the mistakes were the fault of Yan Chu's relatives. I'm afraid that for a long time to come, the people on Yan Chu's eldest and second cousins ​​will not be able to raise their heads in this area.

*****

"Dad, look at the vest I made."

The truck only has two seats in the front, one is the driver's seat, and the other is the co-pilot seat. The old lady is old, so she sits in the front with her two-year-old grandson in her arms. Yan Chu takes his five daughters and the furniture and luggage and sits in the car hood together.

The weather is a little hot and humid now, and sitting in the car hood and blowing the wind is also a fun thing for the children.

The youngest sister Feicui is attached to her father, showing off their achievements in the past month.

This is a simple vest. The white pure cotton fabric has been washed once, and it feels soft and comfortable. In the center of the vest, a flower is sewn with four or five different colors of fabric. The cutting and sewing techniques are not too advanced. It looks weird, but it also has a childlike taste.

"Which little princess sewed this flower? It looks so beautiful."

Yan Chu is not stingy with his praise. As long as it doesn't cost money, he is not stingy.

Yan Jin and Yan Zhen blushed slightly. They were not old enough to use a sewing machine, but their grandmother taught them some basic needlework. The flowers on the vests the twins were holding were sewn by the two sisters.

Originally, the two sisters thought that the sewing was a bit ugly, far inferior to the clothes that their grandmother had made for them with a sewing machine in the past, but now listening to their father's sincere praise, the two sisters felt that their embroidery was not bad, and they were more excited to improve their embroidery skills.

"Dad, dad, I chose the color of the petals with Si Fei and Wu Cui."

Yan Zhu was the third among the sisters. She was not as old as the two older sisters and could help with some housework, nor was she like the two younger sisters. She was a rare twin.

Being in a position that was neither up nor down, it was inevitable that people would ignore her.

In the past month or so, Yan Zhu became much more cheerful. She felt that she was as important as other sisters in her father's eyes, and she began to actively show herself in front of her family.

This is a good habit that should be cultivated from an early age.

"Well, the colors of the flowers chosen by Three Pearls, Four Jade and Five Greenery are also very beautiful. This vest looks better than the clothes sold in the mall. Dad can't wait to see how you look when you wear it."

The genes of the Yan family are good, and every child is exceptionally tall. Even if they are wearing tattered linen, they probably won't look ugly. What's more, this little vest is not ugly at all. The old lady is watching over it. Woolen cloth.

"I didn't plan it well this time, otherwise the saved fabric could be used to make a few urine rings for my brother."

The eldest daughter Yan Jin sighed and said that now in her heart, in order to be able to provide for herself and her younger brothers and sisters to study, there are many places to save money at home. The white cotton cloth that their father bought before was not used high enough. After the sisters' little vests and little trousers, there were a bunch of bits and pieces of cloth. When put together, they turned out to be quite small.

Yan Jin felt a little sorry for the wasted cloth. If they hadn't cut it in a hurry and redrawn the cutting range on the cloth, they might have saved a lot of cloth.

The eldest daughter is now very housekeeper-conscious, which makes Yan Chu very happy.

"It doesn't matter. I still have a piece of useless cloth at home. Think carefully before doing it this time. When you get to the provincial capital, dad will take you to the shopping mall to see what other people's clothes are like. We can still learn study."

Yan Chu thought that if he didn't buy it anyway, it wouldn't go against his original ideas.

A big shopping mall?

The eyes of the five girls were so bright that they almost blinded Yan Chu.

*****

The house Yan Chu rented took into account the issue of the children's future schooling. Across an alley is the city's primary school. The old lady has to take care of other children in the family who have not yet reached school age. She will definitely not be able to send her granddaughter to and from school. Such a situation Come, the school is closer and safer.

The courtyard is quite large, in the shape of an old-fashioned three-heyuan courtyard with a single family, which is similar to the Yan family’s previous courtyard.

The landlord's son is abroad. The old couple are intellectuals. They must have suffered a lot of persecution in those years. They were probably frightened by the fight. As soon as they were rehabilitated, they quickly found connections and went abroad to find their son.

Their Sanheyuan was their ancestral home, but the old couple probably didn't plan to come back. They wanted to sell it, but the price was too high, fifteen thousand yuan, which was far beyond the price of the same type of house now. The price puts many people off.

The old couple needed money urgently, so they changed their mind to renting. The monthly rent was thirty-eight yuan, one year at a time, which meant that Yan Chu did not have to worry about the house being sold during this year.

The main house has four bedrooms, one for Yan Chu, one for the old lady, and two rooms for the children to sleep in. When they get older and need each child to have their own private space, they can also Clear out some empty rooms in the left and right wings.

However, Yan Chu estimated that by that time, the family might have bought their own house and would not be able to use the wing rooms on both sides for the time being.

Now the third, fourth, fifth and youngest son still have to sleep with the old lady, otherwise she will be worried. Nine-year-old Yan Jin and seven-year-old Yan Zhu first had a room that belonged to their sisters before starting their elementary school careers. Yan Chu allowed them to use the scraps of fabric to make trinkets to decorate their rooms, which made the two sisters happy for a whole day.

Until I went out at night to familiarize myself with the surrounding environment, the corners of my raised lips never dropped.

The Yan family went out after dinner. The sun was long in summer, and when they finished dinner after five o'clock, it was still very lively outside.

The whole family was going to the supply and marketing cooperative to purchase some daily necessities. When they moved, they took most of the things with them, but there were always things missing.

Nowadays, some vendors have begun to appear on the streets, most of them selling food or fashionable southern gadgets.

One of them sells sweet-scented osmanthus porridge, and the business is particularly good. The main reason is that the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus is so overbearing. When everyone smells the smell, they can't help but come to the stall.

It is still the end of June, far from the season when the sweet-scented osmanthus blooms. The sweet-scented osmanthus used by this family to make porridge was probably left over from last year, but I don’t know how to preserve it.

Even though they had just eaten dinner, the children couldn't help but become greedy when they smelled the aroma.

The fragrant scent of osmanthus is mixed with the fragrance of millet porridge. Sugar must have been added, and the air is sweet.

Yan Fei and Yan Cui held their sisters' hands, swallowed, and remained silent.

"Let's have some sweet-scented osmanthus porridge. It's not expensive, only eight cents a bowl."

When Yan Chu passed by, the boss said to him that the price was indeed fair, but Yan Chu looked at it and saw that the bowl was the size of an ordinary rice bowl at home. He could drink it all in three or two gulps. For an ordinary adult, if he wanted to be full, he would need at least Let's have three bowls.

"Boss, let's have a bowl of sweet-scented osmanthus porridge."

Yan Chu handed over the eight cents, and then took the bowl of sweet-scented osmanthus porridge handed over by the boss, which was still steaming.

"Mom, try this. It smells pretty good to me."

Yan Chu took a spoonful and handed it to the old lady holding her little grandson.

"I won't drink it, give it to the children."

The old lady shook her head. Old people always want to leave good things to their children.

"You have brought up these children all by yourself. You are the most qualified to drink whatever good food our family has."

Yan Chu did not want his children to develop the idea that good things from their parents and elders should be left to them. Respecting their elders was the most important virtue that children should learn.

"Grandma drinks."

Several little girls looked at the sweet-scented osmanthus porridge with greed, but no one felt that their father's words were wrong.

Her son and granddaughter were all filial, and the old lady's eyes were red. She happily drank the spoonful of porridge her son handed over to her. She felt it was extremely sweet. This was the best sweet-scented osmanthus porridge she had ever tasted.

The second mouthful, Yan Chu kept it for himself, and then the five daughters, and the youngest son was also lucky enough to drink the small spoonful of sweet-scented osmanthus porridge at the bottom of the porridge. His little tongue licked the corner of his mouth, and his eyes narrowed into a small slit.

After everyone took a mouthful, the bowl of porridge was just gone, and Yan Chu returned the bowl to the boss. Even if the money in his bag was enough to buy all the porridge on the stall, he only chose to buy that bowl.

The whole family was very happy, and no one felt that the amount of porridge per person was less.

Yan Chu thought proudly that he was rich but stingy, but he was a good father.