"Okay, let's not talk patronizingly, the village has prepared a feast, hurry over and eat." After being polite with Shumin for a while, Li Lizheng hurriedly welcomed everyone into the village and took them to his yard.

There were three tables in the courtyard, and all the people present were representatives of the Li Zheng and the Qin family from various villages.

Shumin and the Qin family representatives Qin Yonghuan and Li Yuanan gathered a table together, and the other fifteen village leaders also made up two tables so-so, and everyone happily pushed each other for a long time, and finally entered the table.

Except for the three women of Shumin, the rest are men, and women are not allowed to serve at the table, but these three are all under the orders of the county magistrate, so no one cares.

It's all men, so you have to drink.

Shude and Cheng Zhen are really bad, these Li Zheng are not willing to let go of this opportunity to curry favor, and they toast to them one after another, Cheng Sheng is fine. Shude is still young after all, and after a few bowls of water and wine, his face turned crimson. But he wouldn't refuse, and in the end, his steps were unsteady, he vomited all his food, and he drank unconscious.

Shu Min was afraid that the child would have a problem drinking, so he hurriedly asked Uncle Li for sobering soup and asked him to drink it when he woke up. Li Boniang naturally agreed again and again.

There are few people in this yard who haven't drunk much, so she simply boiled a big pot and drank it one by one after everyone took a nap.

During the meal, Qin Yonghuan, the uncle, has been trying his best to please Shumin and play the role of a kind uncle:

"Shumin, come and eat a lion's head, uncle remembers that you loved it when you were a child. ”

"Shumin, come and try this chicken, but the old hen that has been raised for many years, I specially brought it to you today when you came and asked Uncle Li to cook it for you to eat, but it can be made up. Look, you've lost weight!"

"Shumin, you must go to your uncle's house after dinner, your aunt misses you!"

When Shumin was very young, this uncle was still very good to her, at that time, all the children born in the family were male babies, and it was not easy to look forward to a girl, and the family was very rare.

But within a few years, my grandfather was getting old, and the family began to separate. I don't know why, during the time of the separation, the uncle quarreled with several brothers, which means that he is the eldest son, why the ancestral land by the river is not distributed to him, so that he has no face in the village, and so on, and later, the grandmother passed away, and the two families became more and more separated.

Originally, the ancestral land should indeed be left to the eldest son, but the Qin family was very poor back then, but the grandfather insisted that the people in the long house go to literacy and study, which was a big expense. Grandpa felt ashamed of his younger sons, so he gave his ancestral land to a few younger ones. The boss can only inherit the new land that was reclaimed later.

It's a pity that the uncle doesn't understand grandpa's heart, and he always feels that grandpa is biased, and even treats his younger brothers mean.

Especially when Shumin's parents and brother died one after another, this uncle, who had already become the patriarch, drove out his sister-in-law and the only son and nephew in the second room along with other people in the clan. This sent a chill down the hearts of the other brothers in the clan. Even Shumin also held a grudge against him: If he hadn't found Feng'an by accident, his brother's flesh and blood would have gotten there!

Shumin ate silently, but his mind turned a thousand times.

Uncle is still uncle, just do the etiquette you should have. Anyway, God has mercy, Feng'an is now growing up happily and healthily by his side, and that's enough.

Shumin has always been the kind of person who thinks very much, and when he thinks about it, he no longer has a cold face towards this uncle. This flattered Qin Yonghuan. After eating, I had to take her to the house to sit down first, meet my aunt and so on.

The size of the Li family is a little restrained. But it's all good. The older the Great Li family, the less evasive they are. Xiao Li is so good that she is Zhang Huaishuo's eldest daughter-in-law, and she can meet once or twice a year in such a battle, and she can cope with it.

After eating, Shumin followed Qin Yonghuan's father and son and went to their house first.

The Qin family got the letter somewhere, and several of Shumin's uncles, along with their aunts and their children, rushed to the uncle's house. A room full of people sat down.

"Shumin, I'm your third uncle. An honest man, Qin Yongming, greeted Shumin with a dry smile on the side. He looked a little hunched on his back, probably due to long-term exertion.

"Third uncle. Shumin greeted him very politely, and shouted to a chubby middle-aged woman next to him, "Third aunt!"

"Hey" The third uncle and the third aunt were very happy. Busy responding.

"Shumin, who do you remember about me?" a man with a goatee, a well-dressed man, and a very white face and hands pointed to himself and asked Shumin.

"Is it the fourth uncle?" Shu Min had some impressions, but he was not sure. The fourth uncle ran a business with someone when she was very young, and she didn't come back for many years, and the last time Shu saw him was before Shumin got married.

"Shumin, you still remember. Fourth Uncle Qin Yongliang seemed to be very pleased, stretched out his hand and patted Shumin's shoulder, and said repeatedly, "Okay, child, you are happy." ”

Standing beside him was a young and beautiful woman, who was not sure if it was her fourth aunt, so she only nodded to her.

As for those of Shu Min's peers, Shu Min also took a few general glances. The uncle's family has three sons: Shuyan, Shuwen, and Shuqi.

They all went to school and studied, but unfortunately except for Shuyan, who was admitted as a child and continues to study, the other two brothers did not have any talent for reading, so they had to pick up a hoe and honestly become farmers.

The third uncle has two sons and a daughter in his family: Shu'an, Shucheng, and Shuxiu.

Shu'an and Shucheng are like the third uncle, and they are honest and honest. Shuxiu is already married and is not here today.

The child of the fourth uncle's family is now one, named Qin Shuhuai.

He was only eleven or twelve years old, dressed in silk and jade, like a fortune boy, very round and lovely.

Qin Yongliang ran around when he was young, and he had no fixed residence, so he never said that he was married, and later praised some silver and opened a small shop in Fucheng, and the days finally looked decent, so he married a few wives and concubines, I don't know if it was because he was older, and the few wives and concubines were pregnant with a child in this Fang family, and the rest did not move at all.

So, although he is not the most favored Fang family, he will take her with him wherever he goes, after all, she is the only mother of the child.

After recognizing his relatives, Shumin was a little tired, so he asked the uncle how to arrange their daily life.

The eldest aunt patted her head and said

"Look at my carelessness, Shumin, I have cleaned up your hometown, and you and those two sisters-in-law live in your original home. ”

After speaking, he took Shumin and the others to Shumin's hometown. The uncles continued to eat tea and chat.

Shumin's home is separated from his uncle's house, and it is the other side of the village. It's quite close to the third uncle's house.

The yard is still the same as it was, but because no one has lived in it for a long time, it is a little less angry. There is a well in the yard, and the water of the well is connected to the Cheonggye River, which is very clear. Next to the well, there was an old persimmon tree, whose leaves had fallen and stood bare.

The main house seems to have just been renovated, and the window paper is all freshly pasted, presumably ordered by the uncle a while ago. The furnishings in the house are exactly the same as before.

Shu Min touched the strange but familiar furniture, and an indescribable smell surged in his heart: as if he was nostalgic and lamented.

"Yo, Hui'er Niang, this is your house, it's pretty good. It seems that you didn't suffer when you were a child!" Da Li looked left and right, a little curious. When she saw the bluestone slab yard and the old but still exquisite furniture at home, she couldn't help but speak.

"Well, when I first separated, I didn't get anything in the family. However, my father often carried the merchant to the countryside to do business in the countryside during the slack time, and slowly life got better. ”

Shumin remembered that when he was a child, whenever he heard the swaying sound of a rattle, he would run out to see if his father had returned, and he couldn't help but feel a little sad.

Seeing that she was a little sad, the big and small Li glanced at each other, silently withdrew, found a basin and began to fetch water to wash their faces.

"The water is here, Hui'er Niang, you can also wash your face and sleep. I'm going to teach everyone how to make tofu at night!"

Xiao Li brought a basin of hot water.

The hot water was boiled by the aunt a long time ago, and it was hot in the pot.

"I'm so sorry, when I came to my house, I forgot to entertain you, and asked you to fetch me water. Shumin adjusted his affection, and he was a little embarrassed.

"It's okay, who are we with whom!" Da Li replied first.

There are still a lot of rooms in Shumin's house, but there is only one room with a kang, and Shumin and Li simply freshened up, and then went into the quilt to rest.

Although it has been sunny these days, it is still quite cold in the morning and evening. Besides, in order for them to sleep well, the aunt directly cleaned up the room with the kang.

"Your uncle looks very good, but why are you so cold? You treat your third and fourth uncles very well. "Da Li is a big mouth, and he has always liked to ask people.

"Auntie, why do you have so many mouths. "Xiao Li has always been deeply influenced by Zhang Lizheng, and in line with the requirement of not being a long-tongued woman, he is a little dissatisfied with Da Li's inquiring about Shumin's family affairs.

"Don't I care? Da Li replied curtly.

"It's nothing, it's not a secret. Shu Min didn't care about the gossip of the Da Li family, what the uncle had done to his family, he could ask anyone in Liuxi Village to find out. "Auntie, look at my house, in fact, this is already my uncle's house. ”

Da Li didn't say anything more when he heard this. But her brain is running at high speed: how the Shumin family declined, how the uncle's family took the opportunity to encroach on the family property, drive away the children and nephews, and so on

"Do you hate your uncle?" asked Xiao Li after a long time. If you should hate it, the uncle not only did not send charcoal in the snow when his family was in decline, but disregarded his family affection.

"I don't know, I shouldn't hate it. "First, she is not the original Shumin, and secondly, she has found her brother's son and raised it by her side. As for the property of the hometown, it is not something that a married woman can covet. If you want to talk about grievances, it should be Feng'an who is the most wronged.

However, Feng An should not be rare in his hometown's property, and she will leave him more property than his hometown in the future.

Big Li and Little Li glanced at each other, and they both saw the incredible in each other's eyes.

In ancient times, it was very immoral to seek to seize the property of brothers and drive away their parents and nephews. It has to be the same as the fire.