Yoshida Mii

Chapter 259
After entering the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the atmosphere and charm of the New Year become more and more intense. There are more and more people going to the market in the town, selling sugar and New Year pictures. When there are the most people, the streets are too crowded.

Without Dongbao's knowledge, Li Shi and Aunt Qiuxia had secretly discussed the date of their engagement.

"It will be February [-]!" Li said to Dong Bao with a smile after returning home, "This is a good day. Your Aunt Qiuxia asked the master in the temple to calculate it."

Dong Bao smiled and nodded. Anyway, it was just an engagement, and it was still a long time before the real marriage. "You and Aunt Qiuxia can decide."

People from the Li family were in high spirits on happy occasions, smiled and nodded Dong Bao's forehead, "You girl, you are not shy at all!" The daughter of another family is not shy when she hears the news of her engagement, only her The girl doesn't look like a girl, she looks calm and calm.

"What's there to be ashamed of?" Dong Bao laughed, "We're so familiar."

Mrs. Li reached out and tapped Dong Bao's forehead again, and said in a rambling voice, "Let me tell you, it will be different when you get engaged. From now on, you and Dashi can't get together every day like before. People will gossip about you when they see it." , and also, you have to learn how to sew well..." Seeing that Dongbao was still about to talk, Li's eyes widened, "Don't fool me with the messy pajamas you sewed! You just make it Clothes, who can wear them outside? A daughter-in-law can’t do her needlework, and a man can’t look good outside.”

"Got it, got it!" Dong Bao smiled and pushed Li Shi.She also knew what Mrs. Li said was true. There is no ready-made clothing store in a small place like Yuanshui. Everyone who makes clothes buys cloth and cuts it by themselves. As the hostess of a family, she is responsible for the care of her family. Clothes, shoes, and sewing skills still have to be able to do it, otherwise, like Second Aunt Song, she will dress up fairly well, but her husband and children at home will be in a mess, which is a joke.

This year is the first Spring Festival after Mrs. Li and Mr. Yan formed a new family. Mrs. Li doesn’t have many relatives, and Mr. Yan’s side has even less relatives. The businessmen in Yuanshui Town took advantage of the opportunity of the Chinese New Year to come to the office to solicit favors and make a good sale.

On the second day of junior high school, Mr. Yan drove a donkey cart, took his family and Li Hongqin's family of three, and the seven of them crowded to the house of uncle Li Changfeng.

Dong Bao didn't know if it was thanks to Mrs. Yan, this year the two tables prepared by Mrs. Gao were extraordinarily sumptuous, and their smiles were also extraordinarily amiable. The female guests also prepared fruit wine at a very low price.The table for the male customers is in the front shop, while the table for the female customers is in the main room in the backyard.

When the female guests were halfway through the banquet, Mrs. Li was a little drunk, her face was blushing in the winter, she got up and said that she was going to the latrine to relieve herself, Mrs. Gao stood up next to her immediately, and said with a smile: " I will go too."

Dong Bao didn't care, but after waiting for a long time for the food to cool down, the two of them didn't come back. It was snowing now, and Li Hongqin was a little worried that the two of them slipped and fell on the way, and just about to get up to see, the two Individuals entered the main room one after the other.

"I still think you two can't get up after wrestling!" Li Hongqin laughed and sat back.

Both Li Shi and Gao Shi were clean, and there were no dirt marks on their bodies, but their faces were not very good-looking, especially Gao Shi, whose mouth was tightly pursed.

Normally, under such circumstances, the host would have to answer and cheer, Gao Shi didn't say a word, Li Shi could only laugh and said, "We're not children, so it's so easy to fall down!"

Li Hongqin also sensed that the atmosphere between the two was not right, so she smiled and said nothing.

"Hey, little girl, you've come out of your days." Gao Shilong sat on the stool with his hands folded, and said with a half-smile, "It's both a shop and a workshop, and a hair root is thicker than your brother's waist! Anzhou The landlords in the city are richer than you!"

Without waiting for Li Shi to speak, Li Hongqin laughed loudly and said, "Sister-in-law, look at what you said, can our own family not know what kind of life Hongzhen lives? Does Lao Cai, a landlord in the city, get up in the middle of the night to make bean curd? Does Lao Cai, the landlord here, do the housework by himself? Hongzhen and I are both rural daughters-in-law who work hard, and we can’t compare to you, sister-in-law, who are free and have enough food and clothing, so we envy your life!"

Li Hongqin's voice was loud, and she spoke impolitely, and immediately blocked Gao's sour words in her throat. Gao's heart became more and more unhappy, and she didn't even think about entertaining guests, so she just sat there and said nothing.

Mrs. Li didn't want to sit down anymore, so she sent Xiao Xu to the front to see if Mrs. Yan and the others had finished drinking, "Tell your father, the snow is falling heavily in the sky, and the road is difficult to walk, let's go back early."

In fact, Yuanshui Town is so big, and the distance from Li Changfeng's shop to their house is not far, and it only takes two quarters of an hour to walk. Don't want to stay anymore.

Soon, Xiao Xu ran back from the front shop, saying that they had finished drinking, were sitting there talking, and could leave at any time.

Mrs. Li quickly stood up and said with a smile to Mrs. Gao: "Sister-in-law, it's not a coincidence today. It's snowing too much. Let's go first. We brothers and sisters will get together again some other day."

Gao clasped his hands and stood up, and said symbolically: "Sit down a little longer, there is no delay in leaving after dinner."

"No, it's getting late, Xiao Xu has to go back to practice calligraphy." Li Shi declined.

Gao Shi didn't say anything to try to persuade him to stay, but with a forced smile on his face, he sent Li Shi and his party to the door.

Master Yan and Zhang Qian sat outside the donkey cart and let off the alcohol because they were drunk. Except for Xiao Xu, there were only female relatives in the cart.Dong Bao hugged Xiao Xu and sat on her lap, and asked Li Shi, "Did my eldest sister-in-law want something from you?"

Li Hongqin and Zhang Xiuyu also looked at Mrs. Li, Zhang Xiuyu wrinkled her nose and snorted: "Look at her later, her nose is neither nose nor eyes, it seems that we owe her a lot of money, why don't we just eat her a meal, How many banquets can we hold for the annual gift we gave her?"

"Okay! The girl who is about to go out, you can't talk about the elders like that!" Li Hongqin scolded her with a smile. Zhang Xiuyu is honest and docile in front of outsiders. Straightforward, talkative temperament.

Mrs. Li sighed, and said with a wry smile: "It's still the same thing before, saying that Chang Liang doesn't want to be an apprentice in Anzhou anymore, he thinks he has no future, and wants to work as a government servant with his uncle. Last year I said that the child was young or something, but this year she will Said that the child is one year older, not too young, and I have to give her an affirmative answer. How can this be? If I want to, I have to tell Xiaoxu's father about this matter, and see if it can be done. I said go back and ask, and she got angry, saying that I didn't care about the face of my relatives, and stabbed me, saying that I couldn't even manage this kind of family, what kind of family can I be an illiterate woman? Can it be Xiao Xu's father's house? Isn't this a joke!"

"Chang Liang is also willing?" Li Hongqin asked, "Does the elder brother know about this? Didn't the elder brother disagree with Chang Liang being a government servant! I don't think there is much benefit in being a government servant, but just looking at the scenery, seeing Tianxun Street, Come and go in the wind and rain, if Chang Liang learns the craft well, opens a shop by himself, and has Master Yan to look after him, the wind won’t blow and the sun won’t shine, wouldn’t it be better than being a yamen servant?”

This is Li Hongqin's heartfelt thoughts. Although her prospective son-in-law Liang Zi is a yamen servant, she still believes that having a craft in her hand is better than being a yamen servant.

Mrs. Li shook her head, "I think the tone of her speech seems to be annoyed with elder brother. They don't think the same way as us!"

"You didn't give her a face when you didn't agree?" Dong Bao frowned and sneered, "If we don't care about relatives, the dried bean curd sticks and tofu wholesaled to her won't be that price. How can we care about relatives? Don't I thought I didn’t know that Uncle’s shop was in a poor location and couldn’t sell many goods. Most of the goods that my sister-in-law took from our workshop every month were sold to her natal brothers. She still thought she was hiding it from us. Let’s give her whatever price you give to others in the future.”

Dongbao has a uniform price for everything dried from bean curd sticks. No matter who buys it, the price is the same. Uncle’s shop also wants to sell these bean products. Dongbao’s price for uncle is two cents per catty lower than others’. is the only concession.Don't underestimate these two pennies. If you add up hundreds of catties of goods, the cost savings will be considerable.

Li Changfeng and Gao buy goods directly from the workshop in Tagouji every month, and each time they buy thousands of catties, at least two-thirds of which are distributed by Gao to her two natal brothers to sell in the streets. Yes, the money earned will naturally belong to her natal brothers. Dong Bao knew this a long time ago, but she just turned a blind eye for Li Changfeng's sake.

My natal brother and sister-in-law have done such a thing, it's okay not to tell the truth, but Li's face will be shamed if it is said.In desperation, Mrs. Li said to Dong Bao: "Your uncle... There is nothing you can do. The two uncles are not very capable, so if you can help, you can help. Otherwise, you will go to his place to fight the autumn wind. Now it is considered a legitimate one." make a living……"

After returning home, Mrs. Li and Mr. Yan communicated with each other, but Mr. Yan said: "My brother-in-law mentioned it to me during the meal, and that kid Chang Liang also said that he wanted to be a government servant, so I agreed too." Yes, let him come when spring begins."

Mrs. Li was very embarrassed, and said hesitantly: "Is it easy to do? If you offend someone, forget it, let him settle down and learn the craft."

Lord Yan smiled and pulled Mrs. Li to sit down, "Don't be afraid to cause trouble for me. What troubles do we have between husband and wife? Isn't your nephew my nephew? It's not difficult for him, I'm still here In this position, there is still the right to arrange personal rights. It's just..." When Master Yan said this, he shook his head with a smile, "I don't think Chang Liang is as mature and stable as his elder brother Chang Xin, and he doesn't seem to be able to endure hardships." , Guess, he won't be able to do this yamen servant for long."

　I'm sorry that I can only update one chapter in the past few days, because Xiao Zhai's fetal gas has moved, and he has to stay in bed to recuperate according to the doctor's advice.I wish you all a happy new year and good luck in everything!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)