Hearing that Zhou Shihong's son was looking for a daughter-in-law, and this May Day was going to plan to marry his son, Zhou Shihong's brother Zhou Shiming had a smile on his face, nodded again and again, and then left without saying a word.

After sending Zhou Shiming away, Zhou Shihong and his family walked back while talking about their son's next major event.

"In charge, there are four more days, and it will be time for the son to marry, this business, we can't fool our own family. In this way, you will go to the eldest brother's house for a while, give a notice, and then go to the lower courtyard to make a notice, and let our eldest brother go to the upper courtyard to make a notification. ”

The Zhou family is the largest household in Zhoujialing Village, Nantie County, Luzhong City, with a total of more than 1,800 people in Zhoujialing Village, and then there are almost 900 people with the surname Zhou plus their families.

The Zhou family is large, divided into five branches, and Zhou Shihong's branch, the population is also eighty-two, of which Zhou Shihong's father Xuezi generation is still alive in 2003 there are thirteen; there are fifteen families and thirty people; Zhou Peng's generation is the Yuan generation, there are nine households and eighteen people who have started a family, and there are 15 people who have not started a family; and then Zhou Peng's next generation is the adult generation, a total of six people, and the oldest is just in elementary school.

In the countryside, clan families are very important, and some things are discussed and handled by big families.

Zhou Shihong agreed with his wife's words, and then instructed his wife to collect the money, while he held his hands and followed the village road, planning to go to his eldest brother's house to talk about his son's marriage.

Zhou Shihong's two brothers, two by themselves, and a big brother named Zhou Shitong, opened an oil mill in the village, and their lives were much more generous than in Zhou Shihong's family.

There were many people in the oil mill, and Zhou Shihong did not go to the oil mill opened by his eldest brother by the river, but came directly to his brother's house.

"Oh, the second child is here. ”

Zhou Shihong's sister-in-law, that is, Zhou Peng's eldest mother, is a rather obese woman, forty-six or seventeen years old at this time in 2003, but she usually eats well, and the traces of time are less than Zhou Peng's mother's face.

"Sister-in-law, where's my brother?"

"What's the matter at the oil mill? Do you want him to come back?"

In April and May, there was not much business in the oil mill.

The really busy time in the oil mill is the time of peanut harvest in the autumn harvest season, and the time when the people buy New Year's goods at the end of the year.

After Zhou Shihong sat down, he raised his head and said to his sister-in-law, "Let my brother come back." ”

Zhou Shi walked on the oil mill side, and his son Zhou Jiang would be on top of it.

Zhou Jiang is Zhou Peng's uncle and brother, three years older than Zhou Peng, just 22 years old this year, and then talked about a girlfriend of the same age as Zhou Peng, named Su Canwei, who usually lives in two side rooms on the oil mill, saying that they will get married as soon as Su Canwei is old enough.

The two of them just got married in Layue last year, and they spent a total of more than 6,000 yuan.

Zhou Shitong also has a head and face in the village, and he wants to get face, and he also has 300,000 and 500,000 in his hand, so he also has to get face.

Hearing that Zhou Shihong wanted her husband to come back, Zhou Shitong's wife called the oil mill with the phone on the bedside, and the other party said that she would come back immediately after hearing it.

Zhoujia Oil Mill is an old oil mill with a history of more than 100 years, and when it was passed on to Zhou Shitong's generation, it was already the fourth generation.

Zu Zhou's family was a big family, and later the public-private oil mill became a collective property, and then the market was opened, and Zhou Shitong contracted the oil mill in the 80s, and it became a personal property again.

In the era of material shortage, opening an oil mill is quite profitable, for example, in 1991, Zhou Shitong's Zhoujia oil mill earned more than 70,000 yuan a year. At that time, a construction worker's annual salary was only more than 1,000 yuan. Ordinary people celebrate the New Year, if they have two or three hundred yuan in their hands, then they can have a good New Year.

Not long after, Zhou Shitong returned home with a smile, and when he saw his brother sitting on a big chair, he asked, "Let's eat here at night." ”

Zhou Shitong and Zhou Shihong are not good at talking, and they are both very sincere rural people.

"Don't eat, brother, I have something to tell you. ”

"What's the matter?"

After Zhou Shitong sat down, he touched a tea bowl, and then Zhou Shihong hurriedly poured a bowl of tea for his eldest brother.

"Your nephew Pengzi, I talked about a girlfriend in Quancheng, thinking about the second day of April next month, and I want to call the people in our family to my house tomorrow night, and drink and discuss together. ”

At this time, Zhou Shitong's wife heard her husband's younger brother say that it was a matter of this matter, so she coughed, came over with a hot water kettle to add water to the teapot, and squeezed her eyes at her husband at the same time.

However, Zhou Shitong didn't look at his wife at all, and said excitedly: "Pengzi, hey, this kid is okay! Where is your girlfriend? Is it a classmate? This is a good thing, if you don't have enough money, you can talk to me about the second child, and I will go to the bank for you to get it when you go back." ”

Zhou Shihong hurriedly waved his hand and said: "You don't have to worry about the money, brother, you can help me go to the upper courtyard to make a notice, and I will go to the lower courtyard at night to give a notice." ”

Zhou Shihong and their Zhou family's side, when Zhou Shihong's grandfather's grandfather split the family, one of the two brothers was assigned to the upper courtyard, and the other was assigned to the lower courtyard, which spread to Zhou Shihong and their generation, and there were six households in the upper courtyard, all of whom were very rich. And the lower courtyard is closer to Zhou Shihong, plus Zhou Shihong, they have a total of nine households, but the conditions of Zhou Shitong's family are similar to those in the upper courtyard. The other families, like Zhou Peng's family, are very poor.

"Okay, you can rest assured. ”

Because Zhou Shitong has money in his family, if there is something in the upper courtyard, he will directly tell Zhou Shitong and ask him to notify him in the lower courtyard. As for the lower house, it is often through Zhou Shitong to communicate with the six of them in the upper house.

In general, because the six families in the upper house are rich, they generally look down on the eight families in the lower house except for Zhou Shitong.

"Then, brother, I'll go to the lower courtyard and tell them now, and I'll drink tomorrow, if I don't call everyone, I won't have time. ”

"It's not time to run out, then the second one, you go first, and come back for dinner later. ”

"No, I'll go back to Zhou Shiming's house and ask about going out to work. ”

Zhou Shitong nodded, watching his brother leave, and then he turned around and said to his wife: "This time, the second child's son is married, and the money is indispensable, so I will help the second child." ”

However, when Zhou Shitong's wife heard this, she immediately objected and said: "What do you help? Did the second child ask you for help? Didn't he just say that you don't have to take care of the money? Don't put a cold face on your hot ass!"

Zhou Shitong heard this, and was very dissatisfied: "Don't worry about my brother's affairs, you stopped Pengzi last time he took the exam, and later I knew that Pengzi's money for school was borrowed from his second uncle, and I, who was my uncle, where did I put my face?