Xiaohu: All of them spent the New Year in a large courtyard dedicated to orphans and the elderly. Now there are very few children in the compound, because the various conditions for raising children here are not mature, which is not conducive to the growth of children. It was decided that in April every year, all the children left in for a year would be sent to Hepu Town for refuge.

In the past two years, there have been very few orphans and outcasts in the capital, but the number of orphans coming from the northeast has gradually increased. Of the more than 30 children in the compound this year, more than 20 of them came from the northeast.

Erya asked the housekeeper: "There are so many orphans in the northeast suddenly, there should be something big happening, have you ever asked someone to hear about it?" ”

Of course, the chief butler knew, but it was a matter in the court, and he didn't dare to tell the owner.

Looking at the way the big butler wants to speak and stops, he knows, but he can't pay attention to whether to tell himself. Erya asked strangely, "Is there something I can't know?" ”

The chief butler shook his head: "Not either!" It's just that the government over there is a bit of a fierce quarrel with the local people, and a lot of people have died! ”

Isn't that tantamount to rebellion? Even Xiaohu, who was holding the little lazy man, was stunned all of a sudden, but he didn't dare to say the words when they came to his mouth. Erya also frowned, "Is it because the tax profits are too heavy and the people can't survive?" ”

Seeing that the owner did not give up the idea of asking the reason, the chief housekeeper simply said neatly: "No! It seems that the people of Dongying are suddenly interested in the ginseng over there, but they are too hateful to go directly to the ginseng farmers to buy it, but collude with the people in the government. The government apportioned the local people, and the number of people in the family had to pay the ginseng to offset the tax. It's not easy to dig ginseng. Ten people go in and half of them come back, so it's lucky. Even this does not guarantee that everyone has this ginseng, and there is a chance that only one or two will be obtained. More and more people died, and gradually some people took the lead in fighting against the government. ”

"And now? Has the imperial court been in charge? ”

The big butler nodded: "It's done!" Those Dongying people and county officials. and they all put to death the people who resisted. The people who led the rebellion were arrested and sentenced to exile. The prefect was also removed and stripped of his official status. ”

Erya nodded: "Arrange a few people to bring a few carriages over, and when you see children and widowed women who have no place to live, they will bring them all back if they are willing to follow!" ”

"Yes!" The chief steward can only respond, in fact, these children were also brought back by the emperor's people who used to do things. In the future, even if these children are raised and can do things, they will also have to serve the emperor. Aren't you doing someone another favor for nothing? Then he thought that he was also the emperor's person. He kept his mouth shut even more.

His heart was churning, and Erya and Xiaohu naturally didn't know. After spending the third year of junior high school happily with the children, it is time to start greeting several relatives and friends in the capital.

The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month has just passed. The Bao family was busy marrying their daughter. Because the bride and groom are so far apart, the day when the woman marries her daughter is not the same day as the day when the man marries his daughter-in-law. The eighteenth day of the first lunar month is the day when the Bao family marries their daughter, Chen Maodong and Qi Zhengke, the two of them got two convoys to pick up relatives. A convoy was four wagons. Along the way, I counted the days and arrived at this county seat on the seventeenth. On the same day, I stayed in an inn in the county seat, and the next morning I took the tea ceremony, the bride, and the bride to the woman's house to pick up the bride.

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Bao family is both excited and bitter today, because marrying two girls at the same time can't make the wedding banquet too bad, and if everyone says it's good, it will cost a lot of silver. The little silver that the daughter earned by herself was used to buy a dowry, and all the silver that was still saved in the family was used to buy quilts and quilts, and some silver was borrowed from her mother's family. It doesn't matter where you borrowed it from. I have to pay it back after all! Today's face is in the past, and the future will be sad. The second son is already old again. When it's time to say goodbye, I can't even get a dowry, what should I do!?

Here I was in a complicated mood to accept the congratulations of the visitors, and I had to stare at the kitchen again, but I couldn't let the chef hide the meat, the meat I bought today was barely enough for today's amount, if the chef hid half a piece, three or five catties was not enough for the table, but I would be ashamed and thrown to my son-in-law's house.

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Bao family was still worried about the dishes on the table today, and she heard shouting: "Which one is setting off the cannon?" Set up the cannons, and the bridegroom is coming. Get ready for a cannon fight! ”

Before she could run out of the small kitchen door, she heard another voice say: "Today's artillery battle is under the control of her third uncle, and he is already waiting at the entrance of the village with a bamboo pole." ”

All the people, including the cook, ran outside the courtyard gate, waiting for the bridegroom to pick up, and the eldest daughter-in-law of the Bao family also came out to stand on the side of the woman's relatives to pick up the new son-in-law. After a burst of artillery fire, Chen Maodong led a horse full of things on his back and walked in front, and the bride and the girl who picked up the new girl followed closely with a red paper umbrella and a rice wrapped in a red package. After their team came over, another burst of artillery rang out, followed by Qi Zhengke approaching in the same situation as Chen Maodong. The two new sons-in-law and the person who picked them up, as well as the woman's family and guests who were waiting outside, were closed out by the closed doors. There was also a child's voice shouting, "Bring the red envelope!" Bring the red envelope! ”

First, the bride of Chen Maodong's team took a red envelope from Chen Maodong's hand and handed it in through the big gap under the threshold. There was a rush of scrambling, followed by the lamentations of disappointment from many children. Then another child shouted, "There's another red envelope!" ”

The bride on Qi Zhengke's side also took Qi Zhengke's red envelope and put it in, and in the disappointed lamentation of the children who didn't grab the red envelope, the courtyard door finally opened. When they entered the courtyard, they were not in a hurry to enter the main gate, but first took down the things on the horse's back. This is according to the etiquette of Hepu Town, the tea ceremony to be brought to the woman's house on the day of the new reception. It is to give sweetness to the guests who congratulated the woman at the woman's house that day, so that they can say more good things for the man's family and help persuade the woman to send the bride out earlier. However, later the meaning of this tea ceremony changed, and it became a prop for the male family to elevate the female family.

The Bao family didn't have this custom, so they didn't know what to do, so they all looked at it stupidly. However, Bao Zhengrong was clever, and quickly took two baskets, one for each of them and placed them next to the two new sons-in-law. The others just watched the two new sons-in-law take the pastry boxes and candy buns out in the same way, and one box was not enough, so someone immediately took another one and handed it over.

After the two took out all the tea ceremonies, Qi Zhengke smiled and said to his mother-in-law: "Aunt! This is our custom to bring tea ceremonies over there, so put it away! ”

"Hey! Ay! The eldest daughter-in-law of the Bao family wiped the corners of her eyes with her hand and responded continuously. Over there, Bao Zhengrong had already taken his younger brother to carry the two baskets into the room, and the two new sons-in-law followed behind and waited to enter the hall.

Bao Zhengrong said with a smile: "It's useless for you to follow me, you can't give less red envelopes." You'd better take out the red envelope first, or they won't open the door for me. ”

The inside also shouted: "Bring the red envelope!" Bring the red envelope! ”

This time, I didn't let the bride help hand it over, and the two new sons-in-law handed a red envelope to one on the left and one on the right. There were children inside who didn't grab it crying in a hurry, and the children who grabbed it didn't care about the children's cries, so they opened the door of the hall. The child who was crying was afraid that because he was seen crying by the living, he felt ashamed and cried more and more. Chen Maodong and Qi Zhengke handed over a red envelope and stuffed it into his hand with his arms raised to cover his face, and the other children screamed to grab it.

In fact, Chen Maodong and Qi Zhengke brought a lot of red envelopes of twenty wen each, but they didn't expect them to block the door too easily, and a red envelope was enough, leaving a lot of red envelopes in the small satchel. always carried the panic that they were still too heavy, so he said to the children who grabbed the red envelopes: "You all stand up, we will give one to each of you." ”

The children in the courtyard who had not been able to come in and block the door also ran in with a scream, standing in the line to receive the red envelopes. There are so many red envelopes prepared by the two, each child got one, and there are several in the small satchel. But keep these few, I can't say when I need it later.

The doors of the two bridal rooms were blocked by the cousins inside, and they were a little glad that they still had a few red envelopes in their hands.

Here, the groom enters the bride's room, which is different from the usual custom on TV or when the groom enters the bridal room and takes the bride away. The protagonist of the bridal room here is not the groom, but the bride who comes from the man, and she wants to give the "foot rice" prepared by the man to the woman.

Speaking of this "foot rice", we have to talk about this custom in detail, otherwise many people who don't know this custom will be baffled.

In that place in Hepu Town, Pu Pian agreed with this custom. On the day of picking up the new one, the man's family will prepare a bucket of rice to bring to the woman's house. In the bride's new house, the woman will put a large dustpan in the center of the dustpan, and the bucket will be filled with the bucket of rice prepared by the man's family. The bride sat in this bucket full of rice, waiting for her brother to carry her out, and before she left the ground, she had to hook the rice out of the bucket with her feet. The rice that was hooked out was the rice sprinkled in a large dustpan, and it had to be taken back by the man in a red cloth. According to the man's statement, the more you hook it out, the more you will bag it back, and the more prosperous your mother-in-law's family will be in the future. According to the meaning of the woman's family, the less you hook and the less you take away, and the more you leave for your mother's family, the better it will be for your mother's family.

This is just a new daughter-in-law entering the door to ask for auspicious lip color, but it often determines the fate of whether the new daughter-in-law enters the door or not. Usually when the mother-in-law sees a lot of rice coming back from the red cloth bag, she will like this daughter-in-law, saying that this daughter-in-law is a good person who looks at her mother-in-law's family. If you see very little rice wrapped in red cloth, it's over! No matter how well this daughter-in-law does in the future, there will be a pimple in the mother-in-law's heart - this is a person with a foreign surname who only looks at the good of her mother's family.

After the bride gives the rice to the bride's mother-in-law, who takes care of the bride, she goes out and sits down at the banquet specially prepared for the male guests, drinks tea and eats pastries, and waits patiently for the woman's family to put the banquet. (To be continued.) )