The two old people also began to believe it. Otherwise, why were they so mean? It rained and hit the tablet, and the sun came out during the funeral.

　　After the funeral, Xiaotian, wearing a sackcloth and mourning clothes, walked in front holding a clay basin. He smashed the basin in front of the grave. Wang Ergou’s parents cried and shouted, “My son, my poor son.” Xiaotian knelt there in a daze, unable to cry, but Uncle Wang did cry.

　　But it sounded like Tian’s mourning. There were no tears, but there were sounds.

　　During the funeral, the villagers said that Uncle Wang was very sad and a good person. Gu Zhao thought that the word “good” might mean that Uncle Wang was a saint, but he felt that Uncle Wang had become more wise.

　　The villagers love to gossip, talking about other people’s private affairs. Even if you are obviously right, you may find yourself in the wrong position if you are not careful – unless you are as shameless as the Tian family, and the three adult males of the Zhang family can stand up and act as a deterrent.

　　Otherwise, Tian wouldn’t dare to make such a fuss.

　　The village is all about who has more family members, more land, and more strong men. In the past, Zhou Zhou from his family had suffered enough from people gossiping about him behind his back, but these people laughed behind his back and dared not bring it up in front of the father and son of the Li family because the father and son were strong and powerful.

　　Speaking of Uncle Wang, when Wang Ergou was alive, everyone in the village knew that he was a bad guy, but no one dared to provoke him because Wang Ergou was tall and no one would care when he got into a fight. Now that Wang Ergou is dead, the only people in the Wang family are an old father-in-law with clumsy arms, a mother-in-law who takes medicine all year round, and Xiaotian, a skinny medicine jar.

　　Uncle Wang is a man of integrity, and if he were to act as aggressively as Mrs. Tian, ​​he would suffer.

　　Sometimes showing weakness to others is not really showing weakness. Just look at this funeral. Uncle Wang didn’t pay a penny and lay in the house for a whole day. The next day he struggled to get up and said he wanted to work, but the aunties in the village persuaded him to go back and rest. He gained a good reputation.

　　His parents-in-law contributed money and effort, and were gossiped about by the villagers behind their backs.

　　Now that Uncle Wang has become a widow, people in the village have to stay away from him and be more considerate of him so as not to be known as a person who bullies widows and orphans.

　　Wang Ergou’s death finally ended in a lively banquet.

　　The weather was getting warmer, and within two days we could work on the fields, which were no longer muddy. The manure piled up by the Li family was ready, so they began to apply fertilizer again. Naturally, the villagers laughed at this, saying that it had been raining for ten days, and they were still applying fertilizer. Aren’t they afraid of drowning?

　　Li Xing’er kindly advised Li Zhouzhou, “You should listen to your husband about other things, but why do you listen to him about the farmland as well? Stop messing around and persuade my uncle.”

　　Li Zhouzhou accepted Xingger’s kindness, and continued to share the benefits with his father.

　　After the fertilizer has been applied to the ten acres of dry land, it’s time to plant rice.

　　Throughout March and April, the three members of the Li family hardly stopped working.

　　At the end of April, the villagers finally changed their linen clothes and started wearing single clothes. Li Zhouzhou began to take them apart and wash them. It seemed that quilted clothes were not easy to put into water directly, because the cotton would not be warm after washing. People who lived a frugal life washed them like a thick cotton quilt in winter. They took off the surface, covered the inside with a cotton net made of thread, and dried it in the sun. After the surface was dried, they sewed it again.

　　The same goes for clothes.

　　Li Zhouzhou took apart the jackets of the three people in the family, washed the cotton and dried it, then reassembled and sewed it, then folded it and put it in the suitcase. When it gets cold in autumn this year, he just needs to find a sunny day to dry it.

　　The clothes are light and convenient for doing things. Gu Zhao likes to wear the shorts that his wife wore when he was a teenager.

　　”Husband, have you grown taller?” Li Zhouzhou looked at his husband who was wearing tight clothes.

　　Gu Zhao moved his arms. The clothes were brittle and they tore apart under his armpits with a hissing sound when he raised his hands.

　　”Last winter I wore your fifteen-year-old clothes. These clothes and the cotton-padded jacket were put together. You said they were all the clothes you wore when you were fifteen…”

　　Gu Zhao grew taller and his frame became more stretched.

　　Li Zhouzhou was already 1.78 meters tall at the age of 15, but he had a small frame and was tall and thin. Years later, when Gu Zhao wore this cotton coat, it was a little loose, and the trouser legs were a little long, so he had to roll up two or three fingers to make it as wide as possible.

　　Gu Zhao estimated his height by looking at the door frame at Gu’s house. He was about 1.73 or 1.74 meters tall at that time. He looked smaller because he was thin and frail.