The village chief was in his fifties and also had the surname Wang. He was very serious on weekdays and had authority in the village. Now he took the initiative to ask Li Zhouzhou to ride in the ox cart, and Li Zhouzhou did not dare to refuse. In fact, he also wanted to ride in his heart.

　　It’s not that he’s lazy or afraid of walking, but he used to envy others when he saw them sitting on the cart, but there was no place to sit at that time, so now he wants to try it. He sat on the cart for a while. In the past, he walked beside and behind the cart, watching the people on the cart talking and laughing, but now he has changed his perspective and is sitting on the cart.

　　I think it’s not that unusual, it’s not something I thought of as a kid.

　　The bus was filled with eggs and firewood that the villagers were going to sell in town. The space was small, so one had to tuck in one’s legs and not move around. It was freezing cold after sitting for a while, and one had to face the gazes of the villagers on both sides of the bus and behind. Li Zhouzhou was not used to it, so it was better for him to walk around, which would be much warmer.

　　So after sitting for a while, Li Zhouzhou took the initiative to get down.

　　”Why don’t you sit for a while? Why are you coming down so soon?” the village aunt said with a smile.

　　Li Zhouzhou: “I’ll walk around to keep warm.”

　　”That’s right. There’s a lot of stuff on the cart, and I don’t even know where to put your legs.”

　　Li Zhouzhou smiled, not knowing what to say or how to respond, so he just smiled or said “hmm”. Fortunately, the aunt knew Li Zhouzhou’s personality, so she didn’t say anything and just chatted with others with a smile.

　　The hottest topic in the village recently is the stove. Have you bought one? Yes, yes, you can bake a steamed bun. Just stick it with chopsticks and turn it a few times. My family messed around and put some peanuts next to it. It made me angry…

　　Xing Ge’er pulled Li Zhouzhou’s arm, winked at him, and asked in a low voice, “Are you unhappy with Aunt Wang?”

　　”Um.”

　　Xing Ge’er: “How did she offend you? You can be unhappy with your temper?”

　　The two of them walked slower. Aunt Wang also came today, walking in front. The two bundles of firewood on the ox cart were from Aunt Wang’s family, which they took to the town to sell. In previous years, there were several families in the village who did the same thing, but this year, because it was too cold and they had bought a stove, Aunt Wang was the only one who took firewood to the town to sell.

　　We just started talking about the stove and someone asked about Aunt Wang.

　　”Your grandson is only half a year old. I thought your family would not sell the waste firewood this year.”

　　”Aunt, have you bought the stove? See why I’m asking. Your children are young, and you live next door to Zhou Zhou’s house. You should have heard the news and bought it a long time ago.”

　　Aunt Wang said with a smile, “We have too much firewood this year to use up. Let’s sell some more and I’ll have the eldest brother go get the stove.”

　　”Buy it today? That’s a waste of time. The clay craftsmen have sealed the furnace cellar.”

　　Aunt Wang couldn’t even laugh now. The others who were chatting changed the subject immediately after seeing Aunt Wang’s expression, talking about what they were going to buy in town, buying flowery hairbands for the girls and boys, and cakes for the children at home, which were expensive, but it was New Year’s Day so they should buy some.

　　Li Zhouzhou and Xing Ge’er walked slowly and kept some distance between them. Then they briefly talked about the stove. Xing Ge’er pouted when he heard it, “She is so shameless. She doesn’t mind giving you the stove you used. Give her ten cents off.”

　　”I refused, so let’s not talk about it anymore,” said Li Zhouzhou.

　　Xing Ge’er stopped talking and turned his head to look at Li Zhouzhou. He said with a beaming face, “If it was before, you would definitely suffer this loss and it would be hard to refuse. Now it’s fine.”

　　”I’m not stupid, it’s just that they used to be trivial things, like eating less or walking more, which were no big deal,” said Li Zhouzhou.

　　Xing Ge’er thought so too. He got married first at that time. Later, seeing that Li Zhouzhou was also anxious, he introduced him to a few good ones in the village. Although they were ugly, they were honest and decent. No matter how much he talked, Li Zhouzhou was not happy and refused to agree.

　　”Let’s not talk about this anymore. I told you to listen to your instructions. Go back and show your kindness to my eldest sister-in-law. I didn’t put the stove in the living room, but in my room. But I asked the two children to come over here to play and keep warm, and offered melon seeds and peanuts. That day, my eldest sister-in-law was much more enthusiastic towards me and helped Yuanyuan to rub diapers. She felt guilty because she knew about the stove incident and tried to instigate my mother-in-law…”

　　Xing’er’s sister-in-law, Xu, was a hard-working person who could endure hardships and knew how to live. She was not particularly stingy, but she lived a frugal life, similar to her mother-in-law. So Xing’er’s mother-in-law was very satisfied with Xu. But when the weather got cold, adults could bear the cold, but children could not.

　　Xu’s son and daughter went to the second aunt’s room to keep warm. Xing Ge’er was not restricted by eating and drinking. After finishing their housework, the two children loved to go to the second aunt’s room to play. It was warm and they could play with Yuanyuan. When Xu came back and heard what her children said, she naturally paid more attention to Xing Ge’er.