In the blink of an eye, the time reached the fifth day of the first lunar month.

After dinner, Chu Lirui went out to play cards, and only Chu Yuliang, You Chunmei, Chu Lijuan and Chu Tianqi were left at home, and Liu Lianzhu had also taken his daughter back to his village on the third day of the first lunar month.

Chu Tianqi was also about to go out for a walk, but was stopped by his father: "Don't go out yet, say something." ”

Hearing Chu Yuliang's words, You Chunmei and Chu Lijuan, who were washing pots in the outhouse, also walked into the house and sat on the edge of the kang.

As soon as he saw this posture, Chu Tianqi understood what was going on.

Sure enough, Chu Yuliang opened his mouth and went straight to the point: "On the ninth day of the first lunar month last year, your mother and I asked about your marriage, and you didn't know if you couldn't forget Miss Ning, or if you had any other ideas, and in the end you didn't give an accurate answer." Later, your mother and I proposed that we must implement this within a year, and you promised at that time. This year has passed, and every time I ask you about this, you are evasive, and I haven't seen you bring back your girlfriend. Say, what's going on, how long is it going to be delayed?"

In the past, it was always the mother who mentioned this matter first, and it was also the mother who briefly expressed her views, but today it is the father who "presides over the meeting". Usually my father either doesn't talk about it, but a lot of it is to help on the side, but today he was serious and went out in person, which shows that the meeting has raised its specifications. This shows that this matter has aroused great concern among the parents, and the parents have reached a consensus on this matter.

Without waiting for Chu Tianqi to speak, her mother You Chunmei picked up: "Tianqi, filial piety comes first, in the thousands of years of history of our country, there were so many celebrities in ancient times, which one was not very filial to his parents? You are a sensible child, and now you are an official, you must understand this truth, right?"

Chu Tianqi smiled: "Dad, Mom, I must do my filial piety, but sometimes I can't help myself, and loyalty and filial piety are difficult to ...... since ancient times."

You Chunmei interrupted her son: "There is such an old saying 'loyalty and filial piety cannot be both', so you are so far away from home and go to other places to be an official and benefit the local people, your father and I did not lag behind, and we are very supportive." Although you are not around, it is rare to come back once a year, but we know that you have us in our hearts, and we are happy in our hearts. The people in the village respect us very much, that is, the township leaders are full of warm treatment when they see us, we are all stained with your light, and we are proud to have a son like you. Although you are far away, you call home twice in three days to send us medicine, food and use, and we know that you are very filial. It's just that in the matter of marriage, you make us very uneasy. Son, there are three unfilial pieties, and no queen is the greatest......"

Mother's words continued, both theoretically and quoting scriptures. Chu Tianqi realized that his mother had done a lot of homework, and it seemed that she was preparing to completely conquer her backward "fortress".

In fact, when he thought of going home, Chu Tianqi knew that this matter would definitely be unavoidable, especially the closer he was to the day of going home, the more he scratched his head. On the night of the 28th day of the lunar month, when mentioning his younger brother's girlfriend, his mother mentioned his marriage again, and his father denied his mother's issue with "New Year's Day first". Chu Tianqi understood at that time that his parents were ready to have a "showdown" with him, so he had been careful every day since the Chinese New Year. But several days passed, and there was no movement, and he thought that he must hold a "family political meeting" before his departure to condemn and persuade himself. Unexpectedly, this issue was raised several days in advance.

The mother had already stopped talking, and seeing that Chu Tianqi did not respond, she urged again: "Why do you have to give me and your father a quasi-word, right?"

Retracting his thoughts, Chu Tianqi said: "First of all, finding a girlfriend is different from buying something, you don't have it when you go, even if you buy something, it's not just right to buy it." And it's a two-way street, both sides have to look at each other and consider whether it's appropriate. Secondly, I want to ......"

The mother interrupted again: "Son, we all understand what you said, and we are not stubborn, but you can't always drag it out like this." At that time, it was said that the solution at the end of the year was to set aside time for you to talk about your girlfriend, and it is said that a year is not short. You're the deputy mayor now, and there must be a lot of girls who have taken a fancy to you, maybe they should all line up, but I haven't heard you talk about your girlfriend, but I haven't even seen a photo. It's clear that you didn't look for it, that is, you took our words as a deaf ear. ”

Seeing that her mother was a little anxious, Chu Lijuan was busy playing the round: "Tianqi, I know that your identity is different now, and your vision must be higher." However, if you are in contact not only with people in the city, but also in the region and province, it is impossible not to have young and excellent girls. I also heard your brother-in-law say that officials should have a stable family, which is more conducive to the development of their careers. He also said that the promotion of senior leaders, whether they have a family is also an important criterion, if they do not have a family, the promotion may also be affected. ”

Hearing it, not only the parents sat down to "prepare", but even the elder sister also "prepared for class" in advance, and also had a small-scale consultation with Liu Xuanzhu, and the sister and the parents must have agreed more than once. It seems that in the matter of his marriage, the rest of the family has "shared the same hatred" and is psychologically prepared to deal with his "old stubbornness".

"Listen to me. Speaking of this, Chu Tianqi looked around, and then lowered his voice, "See if the door is closed?" There are some things that I wasn't going to say, but now it seems that I can't do it if I don't say it." ”

Chu Yuliang and the other three looked at each other, not knowing what Chu Tianqi said.

Then Chu Lijuan immediately walked out of the outhouse, went to the courtyard to check it, and closed the door of the outhouse tightly, before walking back to the inner room and sitting on the edge of the kang: "It's all closed." ”

Chu Tianqi looked out the window, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice: "There is a reason why I haven't talked about my girlfriend in this year. At the beginning, it was because being the director of the county public security bureau had a certain degree of danger and was easy to bring danger to the other party, so I didn't consider this matter for the time being. In the autumn of last year, I was transferred to Chengkang City as deputy mayor, and a leader came to me specifically, saying that my superiors attached great importance to me, that my current position was just excessive, and that I was going to be promoted. However, the premise is that you have to deal with several important things, establish an image of your hard work, and do not have negative effects during this period.

I really didn't have time to think about it when I had just arrived in a new place, and I had to get familiar with the work and deal with the important things that I had to do on Saturdays and Sundays. And when talking about girlfriends in Chengkang City, people must have all kinds of discussions, and there are likely to be gossips, which are bound to have a negative impact. In officialdom, we must be good at grasping every opportunity, especially this kind of very sure opportunity, if you lose a big one because of a small one, it is too undeserved. ”

Chu Lijuan interjected: "You can not look for it in Chengkang, go to Dingye City, or go to the province, then people won't know about your girlfriend." ”

"Yes, girls in big places are better off in all respects. You Chunmei also followed.

"It's not good to go to Dingye and the province to find a girlfriend. You think, the leaders who inspected me must be in Dingye City or the province, and once there is gossip, it is easier to spread it to their ears. In particular, the government assigned me a special car, the superiors all know the license plate number, and if I often see me driving to do personal business, it will be even more troublesome. Speaking of this, Chu Tianqi added, "Now I don't talk about my girlfriend, I don't rest on the week and Saturday, and those things are also going well, and the Chengkang Municipal Party Committee is very satisfied." The secretary of the municipal party committee specially proposed at the Standing Committee that it was not possible to work so hard, and asked me to pay attention to my body, so I was asked to rest for an extra week this time and then go to work. ”

You Chunmei looked at her wife, then at her daughter, and finally her eyes fell on her son's face: "Really?

"This is not a hard and fast rule, it is the leadership who loves me and takes special care of me. If it weren't for the leader's kindness to me, he wouldn't have told me at all. Chu Tianqi nodded, "By the way, the leader told me to keep it secret and not reveal it to anyone in advance." If it weren't for you asking about your girlfriend, I wouldn't have been able to say it now. You must keep it a secret, for if you spread the word, it will be a bad thing. ”

"Don't say, don't say. If I had known this, ......" Speaking of this, You Chunmei sighed and stopped talking.

Chu Tianqi comforted: "Mom, don't worry, we are all our own family, and we don't usually ask, as long as we don't leak our mouths." ”

"Tianqi, our mother is not only worried about this, but also Lirui's lifelong event. Chu Lijuan said, "If you don't have a family now, he will have to push back." ”

"He's him, I'm me, don't affect him because of me. Chu Tianqi said busily, "Many people always think about the eldest first and then the second, which is not only influenced by the previous thoughts, but also worried that the second child will start a family first, which will make it more difficult for the eldest to marry." I am also a leader now, even if Lirui gets married, you don't have to worry about me not being able to marry a daughter-in-law. If you always let Lirui wait for me, I can't go away, and it will affect my work, as long as he gets married, I can do things better. ”

"That's right, that's right. You Chunmei instantly turned her worries into joy, and turned her head to her wife, "Then let's get engaged to Lirui, he is twenty-eight, and Yangmei's child is not bad, and it will take thirty years to have a child in a hurry." ”

Chu Yuliang thought for a while and nodded: "Okay." ”

The old couple reached a consensus, and the topic immediately changed to Lirui's engagement, and the discussion was very happy.

……

It wasn't until about ten o'clock in the evening that the whole discussion ended, and my mother and sister went to the East House.

Only Chu Tianqi and his father were left in the house.

The two of them lay down on the kang, and Chu Yuliang said softly: "The promotion you said won't be a lie to us, right?"

"No, how could I lie to you. Chu Tianqi hurriedly denied it. When he said this, Chu Tianqi felt very guilty in his heart, feeling guilty and ashamed of his lie.

In fact, Chu Tianqi's so-called promotion was a bad idea that he came up with without circumstances, just to deal with the "forced marriage". Almost all of what he said was false, only "the secretary of the municipal party committee let him rest for an extra week" is true, but the reason is not as he said.