The peasant's daughter-in-law of crossing

Chapter 53

I started driving the ox cart in the morning and didn't return home until the afternoon of the second day.After being away from home for a few days, Yingniang and Bo Ming were thinking about home very much on the way, and hoped that everything at home would be smooth in the past few days and nothing would happen.

When they parked the ox cart at the gate of the courtyard, they found that the gate was closed.The gate of the courtyard has been repaired by Zhongping, and it can be opened and closed freely, but... there should be no need to close it now, right?
Did something happen at home?Yingniang pushed the courtyard door nervously, and the door was pushed open, she looked inside, and saw Shuchang and Yinyue sitting in the courtyard.

Shuchang was holding a pack of herbal powder in his hand. He didn't know whether he was shocked by Ying Niang pushing the door, or because Ying Niang bumped into him and Yin Yue was ashamed. In short, his hand shook, and the pack of medicinal powder was scattered. Half off.

Yinyue half opened her mouth in astonishment, looking at Yingniang who came in, her cheeks flushed immediately.Yingniang saw that her sleeves were rolled up and her arms were red and swollen. It seemed that Shuchang was applying medicine to her.

Yinyue was stunned for a while, then quickly stood up, and called Yingniang embarrassingly, "Sister-in-law."

Before she passed the door, she called Yingniang's sister-in-law. Yingniang was dazed before she realized it, and nodded with a smile, "Yinyue, why are you here?"

Yinyue stretched out her arms to show Yingniang, "My father was so angry that he hit me with a shovel and beat my arms like this, because the Zhen family sent people to my house to say that I would not be a concubine. When digging the reservoir, my I can't use my arms at all, and Shuchang said that there is herbal powder for reducing swelling at home, so let me... let me follow."

Yingniang carefully looked at her arm, "I saw that you are really swollen, how can your father be so cruel? Sit down quickly, Shuchang, and apply medicine to Yinyue. "

Yinyue sat down obediently, and stretched out her arms to let Shuchang apply the medicine.At this time, Birming unloaded several big burdens from the bullock cart and carried them over.

Yinyue met Birming when she was digging a reservoir in Nanshan, so she knew him a long time ago.This time she didn't get up, but just called Big Brother when Birming entered the door.

Bo Ming had heard the conversation between Ying Niang and them outside the gate of the courtyard just now, he also smiled and responded to Yin Yue, but there was a small lump in his heart.Shuchang and Yinyue met before they were married, which is not in line with the local customs, but now Yinyue actually came to the house to play. If this news gets out, it won't be very pleasant.

Seeing that Shuchang might be avoiding his eyes due to shyness, Bo Ming asked, "Shuchang, are you the only two at home? Where are your second sister-in-law and Ji Wang? Is your second brother coming from Nanshan soon?" came back?"

Shuchang looked up at the sun, "Well, the second brother should be finishing work soon. I don't know where the second sister-in-law has gone, and I didn't see her when I came back. Ji Wang must have gone to herd cattle. He grazes cattle every day."

"Oh." Bo Ming replied, carrying the burden into his room.Yingniang was thirsty on the way, and she was drinking water in the kitchen, and she brought a ladle of water to her room for Birming to drink.

Bo Ming whispered to Ying Niang: "Third brother is too careless. He brought Yinyue home before he was married and closed the gate of the courtyard. If others find out, I don't know how to arrange it. Although we live our own lives and don't care what other people say, but some people like to add oil and vinegar to this kind of thing about weathering, and it will be ugly when they say it."

Yingniang also felt that it was a bit inappropriate, but this time there was a reason, and it should be fine, "Don't worry, it's justified, Yinyue is here to apply the medicine, so I shouldn't be so careless in the future You must drink some water, you must be thirsty."

At this time, Zhaodi came back, and when she saw the ox cart parked outside the courtyard gate, she knew that it was the eldest brother and sister-in-law who had returned.Carrying a basket of Chinese cabbage, she happily ran into the yard, but when she saw Shuchang and Yinyue sitting in the yard, she stopped in her tracks.

Although Zhaodi has never met Yinyue, but seeing her with Shuchang, she knows that this girl must be Yinyue.

It's just that Yinyue's expression is more frightened than Zhaodi's. Yinyue is staring at Zhaodi's face, especially the big birthmark on Zhaodi's face.She didn't know if she was frightened, or she felt a little dazzling, so she stuck out her tongue.

Zhaodi and Yinyue stared at each other in a daze for a while, then Shuchang quickly said: "This is my second sister-in-law."

Yinyue stammered and called out, "Second...Second sister-in-law."

Zhaodi nodded in embarrassment, "Hey."

She responded and went into the house, shouting: "Sister-in-law, brother, are you back?"

Yingniang and Bo Ming hurried out, "Zhaodi, are you collecting Chinese cabbage?"

Seeing that she was carrying a basket full of vegetables with such a big belly, Yingniang helped to pick it up, "I'll make spicy cabbage later, and it will be ready to eat in six or seven days, but it's time for dinner."

Zhaodi laughed and said, "I'll eat more this meal, my stomach is so big, will it be difficult for the child to grow too big?"

"Your stomach is so big, it's a good thing to be able to eat, it shows that my little nephew is strong, how wonderful." Yingniang carried a vegetable basket into the kitchen with a smile.

Zhaodi also went in, "I thought you and the eldest brother must not come back so soon. The ox cart is no match for the horse-drawn cart, and the eldest brother has never driven it. Zhongping and I have been so worried these days that we can hardly sleep. If you have an accident on the road, you are afraid that you will fall into a ditch, or that you will go the wrong way, Zhongping also said that you have a lot of money on you, and you are afraid that someone will steal it."

Yingniang chuckled, "Look at you, you are so worried, but you almost fell into a ditch." Yingniang told the story of how Boming couldn't drive an ox cart at first.

Zhaodi giggled when she heard this, "So it's because the elder brother drove the ox cart as fast as the horse cart, so you two can come back so early!"

Sitting in the yard, Yinyue heard Yingniang and Zhaodi talking and laughing, she was a little envious, but also a little uncomfortable.I feel that Yingniang and Zhaodi should come out and talk to her to be polite. It's the first time she comes back, so they can be regarded as guests anyway.But then she figured it out again, and felt that it was nothing. After she got married, she would definitely be able to get along well with them.

As soon as she thought of this, Zhaodi came out, and poured a cup of hot water to Yinyue, and said with a smile: "Recently, there is a shortage of tea at home, and I forgot to go to the town to buy it. You can just moisten your throat."

Yinyue took a few sips from the cup, and when Zhaodi entered the room, Yinyue lowered her voice and asked Shuchang, "Your family told your second brother whether the marriage was cheated by the matchmaker, and didn't say what kind of parents they are. Did you just get married in such a muddle?"

Shuchang looked at the door of the house, and was relieved when he saw no one heard him, "No, the second sister-in-law escaped from the famine in Qishan, and my parents bought it back for fifty Wen. At that time, my second brother also hesitated to ask for it." No, but the second sister-in-law is really pitiful, so I want it. Don’t say such things again in the future. The second brother and the second sister-in-law are doing well. I have never seen them blush. The second sister-in-law is meek and never speaks loudly , get along with sister-in-law like real sisters."

Yinyue pouted: "Don't worry, I can get along well with them then."

Shuchang was very happy when he heard that, "Are you planning to marry me?"

Yinyue blushed and glared at him, "I hate it, that's all I'm talking about, and I'll talk about it if my father agrees with it."

"I don't care, next year I will go to your house with my elder brother to propose marriage." Shuchang was so happy that he couldn't wait to marry her.

Yingniang and Zhaodi were chatting in the kitchen while cooking, and Yinyue came over, "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, I'm going back."

Ying Niang hurriedly greeted, "Have dinner here before going back, the food is almost ready."

Yinyue really wanted to have a meal with their family, but she politely refused, "Thank you sister-in-law, if I go back late, my father might beat me again, I'd better go home quickly."

Now that Zi Zhongping came back, he went into the kitchen to drink water, and when he saw Yinyue was here, his face tensed immediately, and he didn't say anything.Zhongping was angry at first, because he suddenly didn't see Shuchang and Yinyue while he was working, and thought they were hiding behind the mountain for a tryst.

Even though now he found that the two of them were not going on a tryst, but came to his home, he still felt uncomfortable for some reason.Maybe because Yinyue brought a lot of troubles to the family, I didn't have a good impression of Yinyue at first, but now I see her running to her future husband's house before she even passes the door, and I feel somewhat uncomfortable.

But Shuchang likes Yinyue, so it's not easy to stop him as the second brother, not to mention that the eldest brother and sister-in-law didn't say anything, and it's not his turn to say any objections.

Yinyue discovered that Zhong Ping was very rigid when she was digging the reservoir, and she knew how to work hard without talking. At this time, she saw him drinking water without saying a word, and then walked out again, as if she hadn't seen her , nor say hello to her.Yinyue was not very happy, she smiled falsely at Yingniang and Zhaodi, "I really have to go, if I don't go, it will be dark."

Yingniang told Shuchang, "Go and give away Yinyue."

"En." Shuchang responded, and then went out with Yinyue.

When Shuchang came back, Ji Wang also returned home.A family of six ate around the dinner table. Yingniang always smiled when she saw Shuchang, knowing that he was happy because he could finally marry Yinyue. Yingniang praised Yinyue for being good-looking and sweet-mouthed. The boast is also true.

Zhaodi deliberately said sourly: "Sister-in-law looks more and more beautiful, and Yinyue has delicate features, and someone will definitely say that our family has a handsome daughter-in-law. With such a foil, I will be even more..., alas, maybe it will happen again." Someone was laughing at me behind my back."

Zhongping muttered: "Who dares to laugh at you, I'll join him! People don't care about their looks, and you don't look too bad, let alone marrying a daughter-in-law is not based on looks, as long as you are gentle, can manage the house, and can be a good wife and mother. If it's just Good-looking, totally ignorant of etiquette and virtuous, it's all useless."

Boming was afraid that Shuchang would not be happy, so he quickly changed the subject, "Now it's getting colder and colder. I heard that many people started to build a kang like Landlord Ge's. Do we want to build three?"

Yingniang also thought about this problem a long time ago, "Come on, I heard that it costs three hundred Wen to start a kang head, and nine hundred Wen to start three. Our family can still afford the money. Zhaodi, your house and Shuchang Jiwang’s houses are linked together. You only need to build a small stove in the middle, and then it leads to the two houses. You usually boil water on the small stove, and you can heat up a kang for frying or other dishes. The house of me and Birming It’s connected to the kitchen, so you don’t need to make a stove, you just need to change it, and you can just use the top of the kang. One small stove and three kangs, it’s estimated that one thousand Wen can be spent.”

Everyone was so happy when they heard that the kang head was going to be built at home, and they all smiled.I used to go to bed every winter without warm sleep, and my legs and feet were still cold until I woke up in the morning.Thinking of being able to sleep on a warm kang like Landlord Ge's house, this day is not going to be too good.

Ji Wang said excitedly: "Our family built three kang heads at once. I don't know how many people are envious. I heard that there is a mason in Jiangjia Village whose craftsmanship is the best in Yongzhen. He was the one who built it for the landlord Ge's family. Kangtou, big brother, can we just invite him here?"

"Okay." Birming smiled, "See how happy you are."

Zhao Di also said cheerfully: "In this way, when I give birth, I won't be cold, and the child will also have a warm kang to lie on, so it won't be easy to get sick from the cold."

Seeing that the whole family is happy like this, Yingniang is also very happy.It's just that they started the kang, and they felt that they had a good life.She thought that in modern times, she lived in a house with floor heating. In winter, she only needed to wear a thin shirt at home. The floor was warm. When she walked around the house wearing socks, even the soles of her feet were warm.Some people's floor heating is too hot, so they wear short sleeves at home.She was still worried about whether she could survive the winter with only the kang head.

Everyone is in a good mood and has an appetite when eating, and the meals are all eaten clean.After the meal, the brothers happily went to each room to check the location, and when they saw it, it was better to put the kang on it.

Yingniang and Zhaodi were putting away the bowl together, when Zhaodi accidentally saw the silver bracelet on Yingniang's wrist, and exclaimed without thinking: "Sister-in-law, you bought this silver bracelet in Wuzhou, right? So lovely!"

Yingniang took it off, "Try wearing it, it must look good, yesterday was my birthday, your brother bought it without telling me."

Zhaodi just held it in her hand and looked at it lovingly, she was embarrassed to wear it on her own wrist, it was a gift from her eldest brother to her sister-in-law, how could she wear it.

Yingniang thinks that this is a family life, some things cannot be owned by her alone, but not by Zhaodi.Although she didn't think there was anything rare about a silver bracelet, for the people here, it should be considered a very important thing. "Zhaodi, you are only a few months younger than me, that is, it will be your birthday soon after the Chinese New Year, and I will ask Zhongping to buy one for you then."

It was only then that Zhaodi came to a sudden realization, how could she not make people think that she wanted it very much by touching her sister-in-law's silver bracelet like this.She shook her head hastily, and returned the silver bracelet to Yingniang, "Sister-in-law, I just look at this, I don't like wearing things on my hands, it's not convenient at all, so don't worry about it at home. I wasted money on this."

"This is not a waste of money. A silver bracelet is just silver. How long it has been stored, it is still money. It is less than seven hundred Wen to buy such a bracelet, which our family can afford."

Zhao Di was in a hurry, "I really don't want it!"

Yingniang understood what she meant, and coaxed her: "Okay, okay, don't want it if you don't want it, let's talk about it later, let's see what Zhongping means. After the two of us put away the bowls, we went to look at the thread we bought. Aunt Yao said Tell us to weave a few pieces first, and sell them to her good sisters first, then there may be many people who want to buy them, and our family will not worry about not being able to make money."

"En." Zhao Di nodded and said, "Aunt Yao is really willing to help, she is so thoughtful."

When the two of them came to the house and opened the package, they found a strange purse.Yingniang opened it curiously, and found that there was a purse full of broken silver inside, she was a little dumbfounded.

Zhaodi has never seen silver, let alone so much, "Sister-in-law, this must be five or six taels of silver, which is worth five or six thousand Wen! Who left the purse in our family's burden? "

Yingniang has not yet reacted, "I don't know, people who lost their purses are so anxious, so much money. I don't know who lost it, how can we return it to others?"

Yingniang was still thinking, should I give up the money?No way, ignoring money is ignoring conscience!She carefully looked at the purse, saw the patterns and words embroidered on it, and felt a little bit in her heart, "Someone lost this, it was clearly stuffed by Aunt Yao to me on purpose, look, there is a 'mat' on it. Aunt Yao’s name is Yao Yuzhen. If it’s not hers, who could it be? At that time, Boming and I didn’t find this purse when we were packing our bags. Aunt Yao came to talk to me the night before yesterday, so she must have secretly stuffed it in at that time. here."

Zhaodi looked at the white money and the words on the purse. Although she didn't know it, she thought it was pretty, "Aunt Yao is a nice person and a good name. The reason why she secretly stuffed it in must be I was worried that it would be given to you directly, and you would not accept it."

Ying Niang sighed: "She is really hardworking. However, we all have hands and feet, so we can't just accept other people's money for nothing. Let's weave a few more beautiful yarns and give them to Aunt Yao."

The Boming brothers went around all the rooms, and they already had a good idea of ​​where to start the kang head.They came to the house and prepared to start winding, because they knew that they bought a lot of thread this time and came back to weave clothes, and it would be impossible not to wind the thread into balls.

When they saw Yingniang and Zhaodi surrounding the table looking at such pieces of silver, they were startled, they opened their eyes wide and wanted to cry out.

Yingniang hurriedly hissed, "Don't say it loudly, this is the money that Aunt Yao secretly gave us, don't let people hear about it. With this money, Shuchang will be engaged to give a bride price when the time comes, and there will be various wedding gifts when we get married. All the expenses are covered. In this way, there will be some left over, and our family will save up more, and we will say goodbye to Ji Wang at that time."

Ji Wang blushed when he heard this, "I don't want to marry anything!"

Bo Ming patted Ji Wang's head, "Hmph, silly boy, you can still stay unmarried for the rest of your life. After two years, I'm afraid you'll be in a hurry."

Yingniang took out the remaining copper coins from her purse, and gave each of them [-] Wen, "This is pocket money for you. If you see anything you want to buy, just buy it yourself."

She got up again and went to the bottom of the box to take out [-] Wen, and handed it to Zhongping, "You take the money, you and Zhaodi also have your own little home, and it's not good to bother me and Boming when you buy something small. Zhaodi The baby is about to be born in about fifty days. Buy some things for the baby. The baby’s cotton jacket is ready, but the cotton shoes and cotton socks are not ready yet. Let’s buy some materials and come back to make it. For her birthday, buy her a silver bracelet."

Zhaodi hurriedly said: "Sister-in-law, I really don't want it."

Yingniang deliberately got angry and said: "Are you still listening to sister-in-law? Even if you don't listen to me, you have to listen to Zhongping. I don't care if Zhongping buys it for you."

Zhaodi was at a loss, and responded obediently: "Okay."

Yingniang thought of something again, "Tomorrow I want to go to the town and ask Housekeeper Yin to return my wages for more than half a month, which is worth seven hundred Wen. Boming, let's go together. After paying the money, we went to Jiangjia Village to find a mason to build the kang head together."

Bo Ming was afraid that Yingniang would run into Yen Zicha when she went to ask for wages, but don't be bullied again, he must go with him, "Okay, besides getting back wages and hiring a mason, we also need to return the ox cart by the way. To my uncle. When passing through the town, let’s bring two catties of meat and a few packs of pastries to my uncle’s house. We always borrow his cows, but we can’t borrow them for nothing. Besides, we are afraid that we will often go to Wuzhou. have to borrow."

"Well, this gift has to be given." Speaking of the ox cart, Yingniang thought again, "When our cow has a calf in the coming year, the cow can also go to Wuzhou. In the past few days, our family has cut down trees to make a cart." Let’s take a car, even if you need to borrow it for half a year, you only need to borrow a cow, not a car. My uncle’s family usually uses a cart to pull things, so it’s inconvenient for him to borrow it from our family.”

"That's a good idea." Birming excitedly said, "I'm going to chop trees in the next few days."

Having said all this, the family began to get busy.Men's winding balls and women's knitting clothes, talking and laughing while busy, have a good time.

(End of this chapter)