On this day, the morning sun rises, the colorful glow dyes the sky, and the spring breeze blows. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In the early morning, Hongji Village, shrouded in a faint white mist, began to be lively. Every family gets up and opens the door to start their day. Taking advantage of the fact that the sun is not too low and cool, the men have taken farm tools out to the fields for spring ploughing.

And the women, the maidens, and the little ones of the house, all dressed up, began to get busy.

Those over the age of eight have gone to the fields with hoes and sickles, those who stay at home to clean the yard, feed chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep, and fix food, and there are also those who carry or carry the dirty and smelly clothes that their families have changed the day before, and go to the Chengshui River at the head of the village to do laundry.

The younger children asked their friends to run around the mountains and play.

Generally, those who go out to do laundry are the old and young daughters-in-law of the family.

Young girls are not allowed to go to the Chengshui River to play. And the teenage unmarried girls are basically discussing marriage or have already made a marriage. According to custom, before getting married, you can't show your head outside.

Therefore, every morning, if it does not rain, the Chengshui River will be full of people, very lively. Those old and young daughters-in-law love to gossip, and the countrymen have a loud voice, and they talk like they are quarrelling. Dozens or hundreds of people spoke together, like hundreds of ducks gathered together and quacked, and the sky collapsed.

Xiangxing, who lives on the edge of the Chengshui River, is Jing Lonely, and was woken up as soon as the sky was bright, she was very displeased, but helpless. Rao is as powerful as her, and she can't shut up the group of broken-mouthed women outside.

I had to get up in a hurry, pack up neatly, bring silver tickets, miscellaneous papers, etc., and prepare to go to the village entrance for a while to take an ox cart to the county seat, and do a good job of settling down and buying land and servants as soon as possible.

She didn't expect Xiangxing's house to be so dilapidated, several thatched houses were crumbling, and the roof was still light!

When she came back yesterday, it was very late, and when Xiangxing's mother, Widow Guo, saw her, and only knew to hold her and cry, and tell Jing Lin about her misfortune. Two years after Xiangxing left home, Zhao Dazhu and his son went to the mountains to pick mountain goods, but they were unlucky to be bitten by a poisonous snake, and before they could go down the mountain, they died halfway up the mountain.

He also talked about the difficulties of her young widowhood: walking on the road by the rough people and idle men in the village, asking people to knock on the door in the middle of the night, being scolded by the long-tongued woman in the village for the broom star and the mourning star, how hard it is to go to the field and farm alone, and how lonely it is to be unaccompanied......

All kinds of trifles, and so on.

Widow Guo told Jing Lin in tears that if she didn't feel sorry for her, she would have scraped together the money to buy her back, let her choose a son-in-law, and leave one for the old Zhao family, she would have followed her deceased husband and son.

Jing Xiao thought of last night, and she didn't have a chance to speak at all. First, I heard Widow Guo crying and complaining, and then I saw her put the silver money she had earned over the years, and the silver, gold, silver, jade ornaments, and satin muslin that Xiangxing had brought home to her in the past three years, on the bed for Jing Xiao to see.

Widow Guo told Jing Lin not to worry, she had money in her hand, and her eyes lit up and she swore that she would definitely choose a good son-in-law for her and let her live a good life.

I didn't expect that she would be a fairy one day, and she would be told to find her a husband. It's as if she can't live a good life without her husband.

However, Jing Lin knows that there is a saying called "follow the customs of the locals". If it comes, it will be safe. Besides, listening to Widow Guo's words, finding an honest and capable husband is also her fate Xiangxing's wish. She wouldn't fail to take it to heart.

……

When the sky first appeared, Jing Lin seemed to hear what Widow Guo said in her ear, she went out to find a matchmaker to say goodbye to her, and let her get up and cook by herself.

Jing Lin is not used to eating those coarse noodles and grains in the countryside, not to mention whether she can cook, she will never go to the kitchen.

If it hadn't been for Widow Guo's loving kindness last night, saying that she was too thin, and feeding her herself, she would never have touched the coarse batter and wild vegetables that looked unpalatable and tasted even worse, and the corn cobs that were so old that they could burp out human teeth.

The only son was so hungry that she cooed, Jing Lin twisted the handkerchief to wipe her face, checked the small baggage she had packed again, and confirmed that everything was brought, she went out directly, planning to go to the village entrance to take an ox cart into the city to run errands.

didn't go far before she stepped onto the bridge, and she called several middle-aged daughters-in-law who were washing clothes by the river below the Chengshui Bridge and she didn't know to stop.

The first to greet Jing Lonely was a round-faced middle-aged daughter-in-law who was usually close to Widow Guo and was wearing a brand-new navy blue cloth dress, "The eldest girl of the old Zhao family, don't leave yet, my aunt asks you, why didn't your mother come out to do laundry today?"

"We all made an appointment early yesterday morning, washed our clothes together, and went to the town to catch the market. I'm going to get it here, and in a quarter of an hour, when I'm back to dry my clothes, I'll be ready to go. What are you holding in your hand? I see you walking towards the entrance of the village, why don't you also go to the town to catch the market?"

"Hello auntie. I'm going to the county seat. Her question was too jumpy, Jing Lin picked up the key and replied casually: "My mother went out early in the morning." I don't know where she went. She didn't say when she would return. I don't think you should wait for her, go to the market by yourself. ”

"The eldest girl of the Zhao family, your clothes are so beautiful! It's still shining! Is there a gold and silver thread hooked in it? I heard my family say in the county's silk shop, the kind of silk you wear is precious, and there are few of them in our county that can afford to make clothes and wear them. What have you been doing out there all these years? How can you afford to wear such noble clothes?" A woman with a pointed chin and a somewhat mean and cunning look stared at Jing Lone's clothes like fire, and she was a little uncomfortable.

Before Jing Lin could answer, several other women listened to the words of the woman with pointed chins, and their eyes became hot when they looked at Jing Lian, and they all looked up at her standing on the bridge.

"Big girl, your mother said that you were a maid in a big family in the capital, and I heard that the master of that family was generous, did they give you a lot of reward? This dress is also rewarded by the master? Where are you on an errand? Can you get my two girls in as well? My aunt doesn't expect them to be as productive as you, and they can work for two or three years to earn enough for their dowry. This is said by an insider who has a good relationship with Widow Guo.

"Big girl, you have made money, but you can't forget us folks. Over the years since you left, we have helped your mother a lot. Now my two boys are going to marry a daughter-in-law, and my sister-in-law has turned gray for the sake of the dowry. You are so rich, I don't want much, I just ask you to take thirty or fifty taels. "This is to see her rich and red-eyed and want money.

"Congzi Niang said that your shirt is worth at least sixty taels of silver. Big girl, isn't it easy to make money in the capital? Will you go back? Take my boys and girls to a long experience, and let them earn money to come back and honor me. "It's a relationship.

"Big girl, is it easy for you to work outside? Isn't it easy to make money? Auntie looks at you, you look white and tender, and you look like a young lady more than the young ladies of the big Liu family in the town. How much money did you bring to your mother when you came back this time? Your mother said that she would save money for you to marry your husband. I have always had a good relationship with your mother, or you don't go to find someone else, I will tell you the second son of my family, and let him be your son-in-law. As for the dowry, you can just give one hundred and eighty taels. "This is because she has money and wants to sell her son to her.