Chapter Seven What A Coincidence

  "Mom, is there any silk thread at home? I need to use it." Qiao Lian'ou asked hurriedly when she saw Qin Ying was about to go out to work.

  "What are you going to do? What silk thread, if you want to use a needle and thread, go find it yourself in the patchwork bag. I'm leaving, there's still much to be done." After finishing speaking, he shouldered his hoe, put on his straw hat and went out again.

  Qin Ying was a beautiful person who loved beauty. She would wear a straw hat while working and carry an umbrella when going out on sunny days. While other village women wore long braids, she had short hair, looking neat, tidy, and elegant. After finishing farm work, she would clean herself up thoroughly, earning her the reputation as the most beautiful and charming woman in the area.

  Qiao Lian'ou finally understood why her father Qiao Zhenxuan had always been on good terms with her mother Qin Ying. It was not just because Qin Ying was eloquent and capable, but also because she knew how to dress up and loved beauty, which set her apart from other women. When she was with other wives, she stood out like a crane among chickens. Men who met such a woman would feel that they were blessed by good fortune in their previous life, and wouldn't dare to beat or scold her like some rascals did. They couldn't even bear to hurt her feelings!

  Qin Ying went out, and Qiao Lian'ou ran to her mother's room to find a bamboo container for storing scraps of cloth and threads. She rummaged through it in search of silk threads but couldn't find any. In those years, what silk threads could their family have? At most, they had a few white, black, and blue sewing threads that were relatively thin and not very sturdy. After searching for a while, she found a roll of red sewing thread. Qiao Lian'ou folded the thread into several folds, twisted it into a relatively sturdy cord, threaded the fish-shaped stone she had picked up from the riverbank onto the cord, hung it around her neck, tied it securely at the back, and ran to the mirror to admire herself. Hmm, it looked quite good! The fish touched her skin with a warm, smooth feeling, like jade.

  "Let's go——” At this time, several loud shouts came from the big road outside the yard. Qiao Lian'ou knew that his partners must have come to invite him to go up the mountain to find cattle, so he quickly ran to the storage room, put a small backpack on his back, put the sickle in it, tied a rope, and rushed out to meet Song Xiaoshan and others.

  As soon as they came out of the alley, they arrived on the main road and saw a group of friends waiting for them. In addition to Song Xiaoshan, there were several others. Qiao Lianou took one look and these guys were all his iron buddies from childhood, very familiar.

  That somewhat short and slightly fat one is called Zhou Yongsheng, a comical and funny guy, nicknamed "beggar", which means beggar. Rural-born children all have to take some very cheap names, adults say that's the only way to raise them well.

  Another one, white and clean, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, is called Zhou Qingdong. He was the elder brother-in-law of Qiao Lianyu in his previous life. He is a bit older, about 17 or 18 years old, and stopped studying after junior high school to help with farm work at home.

  There was another girl about the same age as Qiao Lianyu, named Zhou Xiuyun. She had long and narrow eyes, an outgoing personality, and often went to the river with Qiao Lianyu to take a bath. She was very good at swimming and could swim like a fish in the water. Qiao Lianyu got along well with her, and they were very compatible.

  There is also my cousin Qiao Yunzhi, who is 16 years old and has stopped studying.

  Everyone may find it strange, why do people in this village seem to have the surname Zhou? Isn't this Zhou's Village?

  It's really like that, most people in this village have the surname Zhou, and only a few have other surnames like Qiao or Song. However, the village is not called Zhoujia Village but rather Zhoujiaba. In mountainous areas, land is very precious, as long as there is a small flat area, the place name will include the word "ba" (meaning dam or embankment). People who don't know might think it's a big dam, but when they arrive, they find that it's all mountains with only a few mu (a unit of area) of flat land.

  Song Xiaoshan saw Qiao Lian'ou come out with a basket on her back, waved her hand and whistled, saying "Let's go!" The group of people chatted and laughed, and went up the mountain in a mighty manner.

  "Stop making noise, I'll give you a question, let's see who knows the answer!" Zhou Yongsheng ran to the front of the crowd, chuckling as he said.

  "Alright, you go ahead and we'll guess." Everyone suddenly became interested.

  "Listen carefully, Xiaoming's older brother is called Daming, his second brother is called Erming. What is Xiaoming called?"

  "What's it called? It's Sanming, of course." Zhou Xiuyun said with a smile.

  "Hahaha......" Zhou Yongsheng laughed triumphantly, laughing so hard that he bent over, really silly, and still so proud of himself, hahaha......

  "That——" Zhou Yunxiu looked at everyone with a puzzled expression, "Isn't that right?"

  "Of course it's not Sanming, but Xiaoming. Such a simple question is also used to test us." Qiao Lianou said with a smile.

  "Then you come up with one, and we'll guess." Zhou Yongsheng refused to give in, and the others all looked at Qiao Lianyu, waiting for her to come up with a question.

  Qiao Lian'ou pinched a tender branch from the roadside, fiddled with it in her hand, and suddenly had an idea, saying:

  "There was an old man in his seventies, who only had one front tooth left. One day when he was eating hot pot, something got stuck in the gap between his teeth. Do you know what happened?"

  After finishing, he looked at everyone with a pleased expression. This brain teaser was created by a man named Lin Zhifeng. One day, the two of them were eating hot pot together when Lin Zhifeng suddenly asked Qiao Lian'ou with a smile. Qiao Lian'ou thought for a moment and said that maybe the old man's teeth got stuck in a piece of beef. Lin Zhifeng heard this and burst out laughing...

  How did I think of this, what about him? Did he really have no choice but to be helpless in front of me? Qiao Lianyu's heart suddenly felt a little sour and painful. Seeing that everyone was deep in thought, she returned to reality: What am I thinking about? Those are all past events, they can't come back again.

  "What's hot pot?" Song Xiaoshan asked Qiao Lianyu with a tilted head.

  "Oh, look at me..." Qiao Lian'ou suddenly remembered that there was no hot pot in his hometown at that time. In his memory, eating hot pot was also a thing of the 91 or 92 years. Now it's just the 80s, and it's still several years before he can eat hot pot. He was so focused on talking that he almost spilled the beans, and quickly corrected himself: "I spoke too soon, anyway, it's just eating."

  "I can't think of it, I don't know, this question is so weird." Zhou Yongsheng and Zhou Qingdong shook their heads, Qiao Lianru looked at Song Xiaoshan, "Aren't you very smart? Tell me, if not, I'll announce the answer haha."

  Qiao Lian'ou felt a little proud, this question actually stumped so many people.

  "Don't worry, I know," said Song Xiaoshan calmly.

  "Come on, it's killing me!" Zhou Yongsheng, who was "begging for a mouthful", couldn't hold back anymore and ran forward. He slipped on a small stone on the road and almost fell. The comical sight made everyone laugh.

  "Because the old man was eating lotus root, his teeth fell into the hole on top of the lotus root."

  "Ah, how did you know?" Qiao Lian'ou was shocked. At that time, people hadn't eaten hot pot yet, nor had they dipped lotus root in it to eat. They didn't usually eat lotus root either. How did Song Xiaoshan know?

  "This is what happened, that day my sister brought her boyfriend home to meet our parents, he brought a bag of things over, inside there were several pieces of lotus root. That day mom stewed the meat with the lotus root, and when grandpa was eating it, something like this happened."

  "Ah, no way, what a coincidence?!" Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief. Qiao Lianyou also felt unbelievable, it seemed that real life was the source of all art, this saying wasn't wrong after all.

  The world is so big, there's nothing strange that doesn't exist!

  Song Xiaoshan's face turned red with embarrassment as everyone praised him, and he tried to change the subject by suddenly turning to Qiao Lianyu and asking:

  "Huh, Lotus Root, speaking of root, I was actually going to ask you, your three sisters' names are quite interesting, how did you come up with them? They all seem to be things on a lotus flower. Look at you, you're called Lotus Root, your second sister is called Lotus Flower, and your third sister is called Lotus Bud. Your dad is really good at naming, but how did he think of these?"

  "Come on, just say it, why?"

  Several people are curious, although they get along with Qiao Lianyu and the three sisters every day, sometimes they think about this issue, but they have never formally asked about it.