Chen Qiaoshan's maternal grandfather's house is in Huangqu Town, which is close to Dengzhou, the straight-line distance between the two places is less than 100 miles, but the traffic is very inconvenient, take the provincial highway to detour to Xinye, and then turn to Xiangfan, drive for almost three hours, if you transfer to a long-distance bus back and forth, you have to toss a day on the road.

The Chen family went out early in the morning, and when they arrived in the town, they would catch up with lunch.

For the arrival of the son-in-law's family, the old man and the old lady of the Tao family are very happy, the old couple has only one daughter, and the grandson and granddaughter are very rare.

The happiest is still Tao Xiuying, who has been married to other provinces for more than 20 years, and this is the first time that the family has returned to her parents' home so neatly.

The old Tao family has two sons and one daughter, the eldest Tao Chengguang, Tao Xiuying is the second, and there is a younger brother Tao Chengliang who is three years younger than her, Tao Kai is the youngest son of the third child of the Tao family.

Among the three brothers and sisters, Tao Xiuying got married the latest.

The family originally said a family for her in the local area, and the man was also in the town, working as a safety officer on the Yindan Canal.

Although she is only a ditch guard, she eats commercial grain outside, that is, Tao Xiuying is very good-looking, otherwise she would not have her turn.

It was supposed to be a good marriage, but before he could get to the door, the man was injured in a landslide and couldn't be saved.

This is not unusual, Xiangfan used more than 100,000 laborers in order to repair the Dan Canal, and there were thousands of casualties in the middle.

This is nothing, in the new era, it is not uncommon for widows to remarry, not to mention that the two families have only discussed marriage, and they have not yet passed the door.

In the end, Mr. Tao sent a message and asked his daughter to stay at home for a year, which can be regarded as worthy of the man.

However, it is good to die, so that a blind fortune teller in the village is disturbed, saying that it is the woman of the Tao family.

After the gossip spread in the town, the man's family came to make trouble twice, and since then, no one in ten miles and eight towns has dared to go to the Tao family to propose marriage.

This delay is several years, and the good yellow flower girl finally cheapened Chen Weiguo, an old man who married for the second time.

Tao Xiuying has rarely returned to her parents' home in recent years, and this time she came with great fanfare, and she didn't mean to raise her eyebrows.

Not only Tao Xiuying, but also grandmother Liu Sanchun also had this idea, in front of the surrounding neighbors who came to see the lively neighborhood, Chen Qiaoshan was pulled by the old lady to introduce them one by one, "Aunt Liu, this is the son of my second girl, the top student in the college entrance examination in Henan Province the year before last, and he was also in the newspaper, and now he is studying at Yenching University, how is it, the young man is not bad, right?"

A lame old lady squinted her eyes and looked Chen Qiaoshan up and down, and praised: "He is a good offspring, and he is promising at first glance." ”

"That's it, Xiuying's more prominent girls back then were all harmed by Zhou's blind man......" Seeing that the old lady began to chatter, Tao Xiuying hurriedly interjected: "Mom, it's all sesame and rotten grain, why are you mentioning that person?"

"Yes, don't mention the old turtle, or my eldest grandson has a future......" The old lady was very happy today, and regardless of the presence of outsiders, she praised Chen Qiaoshan again and again.

Although many students from Xiangfan No. 4 Middle School and No. 5 Middle School are admitted to Qingbei every year, the living provincial champions are rare after all, and the news spreads after just one meal, and the Tao family quickly surrounded a group of strange-looking neighbors.

For this kind of scene, Chen Qiaoshan is already numb, and he is familiar with it.

As early as two years ago, he had seen a bigger battle than this, in Qianwang Village, Chen Qiaoshan was almost praised by the villagers, and today's scene is really nothing.

Chen Qiaoshan consciously stood beside his grandmother and mother, and was flattered by his neighbors, which was not so much to make a face for his grandmother, but to earn face for Tao Xiuying.

At the beginning of the reform and opening up, women in big cities were proud to marry overseas, regardless of whether their husbands were white and black, European, American or Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots, as long as they could go abroad, they would become the envy of the people around them.

On the contrary, in some remote areas, only singles who can't find a daughter-in-law will marry a foreign woman, and local girls who marry outside will also be looked down upon, and Tao Xiuying is one of the victims.

A few years ago, the Chen family's life was not satisfactory, which is also the reason why Tao Xiuying rarely returned to her parents' house, or she couldn't take care of it at all, but now not only is she back, but she also takes a family with her family, which is quite a bit of a sense of returning to her hometown, how dare Chen Qiaoshan refute his mother's face, and can only be a good son.

This time when she went back to her parents' house, Tao Xiuying was very confident, now her family is well-off, her son is promising, and her three daughters are not bad, this is her biggest capital.

pulled her son around to show off, Tao Xiuying lost interest, tomorrow is the marriage of her nephew, she, as an aunt, still has serious things to do.

……

At lunchtime, my cousin sat at a table.

Chen Qiaoshan has come to Tao's house a limited number of times, so he is not familiar with each other, but he deliberately glanced at Tao Kai a few times, this tomorrow's groom official, the stubble is not blue, where is the age of marrying a wife and having children.

Chen Qiaoshan is not surprised, this kind of thing is very common in the township, it doesn't matter if you can't get a marriage certificate, as long as the banquet is done, this family business will be recognized.

Thinking about himself, Chen Qiaoshan can only envy.

For two lifetimes, he didn't know what it was like to get married, and in his previous life, he finally got the approval of his mother-in-law, but it suddenly disappeared, and he couldn't rush in this life, so he had to graduate from college to consider these.

After eating, Tao Kai went to his father-in-law's house, and the woman's side had a day's wine today, and his prospective son-in-law had to go over and order something.

Tomorrow is the right day, a group of cooks will come to prepare today, the Tao family invited a butcher to kill the pig in the afternoon, and Chen Qiaoshan was called to pick the pig's tail.

He has seen a lot of pig killing, but it is the first time to start in person, and he is still a little excited in his heart, Xiao Wu also came over to see the excitement, but he was driven away by Tao Xiuying when he turned his head, and the little girl's family couldn't move forward.

After a busy meal, Chen Qiaoshan's hands trembled violently, not frightened, but overexerted, just helping to pull the rope that tied his hind legs, but he was tired enough to choke, which made the two uncles laugh.

The son-in-law is a coquette, and the grandson is treated the same.

Except for the time when he killed the pig, Chen Qiaoshan was very idle the rest of the time, but Tao Xiuying couldn't see it, so he sent him to help pick up the pair.

For tomorrow's happy event, the Tao family specially invited the old principal of the town to write the happy couplet, and Chen Qiaoshan, the champion, naturally became a companion, but fortunately, it was not troublesome to do here, and it was over soon.

The Tao family has long been separated, and the old man and the old lady live in the old house, with blue bricks and gray tiles, which is similar to the old house of the Chen family, and Chen Weiguo's family is also arranged to live here.

Chen Qiaoshan was originally preparing to pick up his relatives tomorrow, but he didn't know how to discuss, but when he got down, Tao Xiuying came over and said, "Second brother, you stay at the second uncle's house tomorrow, see where you need help, and take a hand." ”

Chen Qiaoshan asked, "Does anyone drive?"

"Your second cousin-in-law can drive, he has a little relationship with the Zhou family, and it is easy to talk tomorrow. "Tao Xiuying, who is an aunt, is very dedicated, and she has just come back, and the situation is clear.

"Done. "Although they are cousins, they don't have much contact, Chen Qiaoshan really can't get close, so it's better to hide here to be quiet.

Tao Xiuying was still very relieved about her son, but she couldn't help frowning when she looked at the old man sitting on the side.

Tao Laohan is old, and his health is much worse, so he can't help, so he can only chat with his grandson.

As soon as people get old, they don't pay so much attention to it, and they wear a white-washed undershirt, and the threads can already be seen in some places.

Tao Xiuying's nose was sour, her own life was difficult in the early years, how could she take care of her mother's side.

Seeing the old man like this, she also blamed herself in her heart, and after thinking about it, she said, "Dad, why don't we go to the town for a walk?"

The old man said, "I can't walk, call Fenghua to go with you?"

Shen Fenghua is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Tao family, Tao Xiuying was not married yet, Shen Fenghua entered the door of the Tao family, the relationship between the sister-in-law and sister-in-law is not bad, but the brother-in-law wants to marry a daughter-in-law, and the sister-in-law naturally has to help with it, where can she go away.

Chen Qiaoshan said: "Mom, why don't I drive and send you and grandpa to the town?"

Tao Xiuying wanted to help the old man buy two clothes, the pedestrian street in the town was so wide, and most of the cars were blocked when they drove in, and they were scolded by others, and after thinking about it, she said: "Okay, you accompany grandpa to chat, and I will take your grandmother and Xiaowu to them." ”

Chen Qiaoshan didn't say anything until the evening, when he saw the group come back.

Tao Xiuying took out two new clothes and said to the old man: "Dad, this was bought for you in the town, you can change it and see if it fits." ”

The old man was a little unhappy, "I have clothes to wear, what are I doing with all this unjust money?"

"Put it on, tomorrow Tao Kai will marry your granddaughter-in-law, you can't dress poorly, so as not to let the Zhou family see the jokes. Tao Xiuying is used to being able to speak, and she persuaded the old man in a few words, but her face was not half happy, but faintly angry.

Chen Qiaoshan couldn't be more clear about his mother's temperament, he wanted to ask, but in front of his grandparents, it was not suitable to say this, so he had to find another time.