On the first day of the new year, you can't sweep the floor, you can't use the knife, Chinese New Year's Eve boils the meat that should be cooked, cuts the vegetables that should be cut, does another big cleaning, and then goes to the bathhouse to take a bath, which is the practice of the New Year.

After breakfast, Li Shuangfeng has been busy working in the stove house, Zhang Yan didn't want to go in to be bored, so he started to do a big cleaning.

There are three rooms in the house, the east house is larger, there are two beds, Zhang Chuanqing and Li Shuangfeng sleep one, Zhang Nan and Zhang Bei sleep one, Zhang Yan lives in the west house, this house is stacked with grain and two wardrobes, and a very small bed is placed against the wall, which was left by her grandmother after her death when she came, there is no door in the east and west rooms, and two cloth curtains are put together to deal with things, only the hall is equipped with a wooden door that is open.

The three houses are not big, and there are many things that can't be erected, they are all worthless small things, Zhang Yan made a basin of water, wiped clean the coffee table, table and cabinet, sorted out the trivial things, swept the floor with a broom, and pasted the new wall calendar paste on the wall that he asked for from others.

It's ten o'clock in the morning after these are done, Zhang Yan can't care about the backache, so she hurriedly ran to the house to find clothes, took a bag and put it up, none of her autumn clothes and autumn pants sweater jacket were bought by the family, relatives and neighbors gave one to the east and one to the west, even the corset was by people, her only new clothes were underwear and socks, and thanks to other people's families who didn't give it to her, otherwise the money wouldn't have been spent by her.

Thinking about the two sets of new clothes on the small bed in the east house, which were prepared for Zhang Nan and Zhang Bei to wear on the first day of the new year, Zhang Yan couldn't help but feel cold, if only he got married early.

The snow had stopped, and Zhang Yan was afraid that it would be difficult to walk when she came back, so she changed into rubber shoes and went out.

Yesterday I made an appointment with Meizi to take a bath together, and I don't know if Meizi was in a hurry, Zhang Yan walked a little fast, the mud ground was frozen very hard, the thick snow layer made the villagers step on the same as the skating rink, a few children slid around on a section of the road, and the ground was getting more and more slippery, Zhang Yan fell to the ground with a bang, a few leather boys were playing on the side of the road, pointing at her and laughing, Zhang Yan also laughed, just got up and saw Zhang Mei running here with a plastic basket, she wore a pair of non-slip cotton shoes, and walked quite steadily.

"Yan, hurry up, the owner of the bathhouse closes at two o'clock for the New Year, let's go quickly, otherwise I spent two yuan to buy a bath ticket and didn't wash it to get out thanks to it, I was in a hurry, my sister called me to wash it together in the morning, I didn't go, see how good I am to you." ”

"Meizi, you're so nice!"

"Of course, I'm your best friend. ”

The bathhouse is separated by two villages, even if the two of them walked fast, it took half an hour to arrive, Meizi stopped talking along the way, and came out of the bath, still hesitating there.

"Meizi, what's the matter? ”

"Then I said, you have to promise me not to be angry with me. ”

"Okay, okay, I'm not angry with you, Miss, say it quickly, you see my hair is about to freeze. ”

"Oh, it's Jiang Tao, his grandmother wants the matchmaker to go to your house to talk about coal, he feels that he has a bad reputation, I'm afraid that you are willing, I want to ask you first, I told him that today we will come out to take a bath, you can ask on the way home, just accidentally bump into it, if you don't want to, others will not gossip, he is waiting for us on the side of the road." Zhang Mei said and pointed forward: "Look, that's not him." ”

Zhang Yanzheng touched his hard hair, and was stunned after hearing this.

Zhang Mei saw that she didn't speak, thinking that she was angry: "Don't be angry, I didn't mean to lie to you, I didn't want to, it's all my brother and him, you know, the best brother he plays is Jiang Tao, he packed the ticket with me and said that Jiang Tao is very good, and it is not good for people who have no vision to dislike his family, who wants to marry Jiang Tao, he will be happy in the future, he said that if I really treat you as a friend, I have to help find this opportunity!" Yan, I really didn't mean it, you also know that I'm stupid, I can't read well, and people don't have ideas, my brother said I'll listen, if you don't want to see him, I, I'll drive him away. ”

Zhang Mei was ashamed and ashamed, she felt sorry for her good friend, as if she was helping outsiders calculate her, she was so anxious that she was incoherent, Zhang Yan hurriedly interrupted her, "Meizi, why am I angry with you, I believe in you, I also believe in Brother Qiangzi, if you say okay, then I will go and meet." ”

Zhang Mei immediately smiled, she didn't expect Yan to be so simple, she took the clothes of the two and ran away, leaving space for Zhang Yan to speak, I really hope the two of them can succeed!

Jiang Tao has been waiting here for a long time, he has mixed tastes in his heart, looking forward to it for a while, and being very annoyed for a while.

Last night, he finished settling the accounts, put the money in his pocket and went out, and repaid the debts door to door as in previous years, and the old and young masters who received the money repaid the IOUs, and happily praised him as a good boy, saying that he would have a future interest, and those families could not pay it back for the time being, and he also ran over to explain it, ensuring that he could pay it off at least every day in the future, and it was also a good face.

I still remember that when the accident just happened, these creditors ran to the house, scolded and scolded his grandmother, pulled away everything that could be pulled, and dropped everything that could not be pulled, no one gave them a good face, grandma wiped her tears, pulled him to gamble on the sky and swore that he would repay the debt, and when the waves of people were gone, they picked up the door panel that was removed by people as a bed, and picked up the bun that was thrown to the ground as a meal.

From that day on, grandma was frugal, to take him to pay off debts, sold food, picked up rags, he graduated from junior high school and went out to work, they were reluctant to spend, very hard to earn, little by little, one by one, sooner or later can be an upright person, he always remembers what grandma said, people live, they have to stand up to the sky.

In fact, he is not in a hurry to get married, and he is not in a hurry for people of the same age to become fathers, there are many poor people in this world, and he can't see himself as a poor person, everyone can look up to him, and he can afford himself! Besides, in the state of his family, whoever he marries now will bring who suffers and suffers, and he will talk about it when he is debt-free and light.

But when he returned home after paying back the money, his grandmother cried there alone, saying that she was sorry for her dead ancestor, sorry for his parents, that he was old and had never been able to marry him a daughter-in-law.

I really don't like it!

He didn't have the time to think about this, and in the end he was forced to have no choice, Zhang Yan suddenly flashed in his mind, if he really wanted to find it, he wanted to find a strong girl to be his daughter-in-law, a girl who would not give up no matter what she experienced and suffered, Zhang Yan should be this kind of person, right?

At this moment, he saw Zhang Yan coming over, standing in front of him tenderly, his nervous palms sweating, but he still said everything he wanted to say.

"Zhang Yan, don't blame Meizi and her brother, this morning my grandmother ran to Meizi's house to beg, the old man is old, others can't bear to refuse her, you are still young, I don't want to lie to you, just tell you the truth." ”

"Brother Jiang Tao, you say, I'll listen. ”

"I was seven years old that year, my grandfather died early, my dad in order to get ahead and partner with people to do business, my mother and my grandmother guarded me at home, the family opened a commissary, there was a bastard in the village called Erlaizi, while my dad didn't rush home, at night under the pretext of buying things to bully my mother, in the middle of the night when my dad came back, my mother had already drunk pesticides, my dad was dizzy, stabbed to death with a knife, was sentenced to twenty-five years, that day I had no mother and no father, people laughed at me and looked down on me, I married a daughter-in-law and had to be tired by me, going out to be pointed at。 ”

Speaking of this, Jiang Tao glanced at Zhang Yan a little nervously, "Are you afraid?

"Don't be afraid, you can continue to talk! No one says anything about harming people, but the victim is looked down upon, so there are some things that you can't care about, don't care what others say, and live a good life. In fact, Zhang Yan has heard of these things, but no matter how much she hears them, she can't compare to the impact of what the parties have said.

"Everyone says I'm pitiful, but there are more annoying, people who do business with my dad are out of town, see my dad is capable to find someone to introduce to partner with my family, there is not much friendship, as soon as my family has an accident, he ran away with the money, leaving a butt of debts to me, I have been repaying the money all these years, and I have not paid it back until now, there is not much excess, I work harder, and strive to pay it off in two or three years, and I can rest assured that I can spend on my family how much I earn in the future. Zhang Tao looked at Zhang Yan, if he could really have this, he would definitely treat her well.

Jiang Tao didn't want to say too many words of assurance, it would make him feel despicable and coax the ignorant little girl, he finally said: "Zhang Yan, that's all for my family's situation, don't rush to answer me first, go back and think about it seriously, if you agree, tell sù Meizi, I asked my grandma to find someone to match, if you don't agree, I won't blame you, in the future, you will be the same as Meizi, you will be my own sister, and I will be your brother." ”

"Brother Jiang Tao, if I pass with you, will you always be good to me in the future?"