The Xie family's compound is definitely the courtyard of a large family. A typical three-courtyard structure in northeast Sichuan, the main house sits in the south and faces north, the middle is the hall house dedicated to the shrine of "Heaven and Earth Monarch Teacher", two rooms in the east and west wings, the bedroom of the old man and the eldest son, and the silkworm room and storage room; The corner of the wing room extends to the north and south to five rooms each, which is also divided into east and west hall houses and inclined rooms; To the north of each there are kitchens, pigsty and thatched huts, which are not counted as the number of rooms.

The earthen houses on three sides form a square courtyard, and the slate-paved courtyard dam is still drying wheat and rapeseed; There are three stone stairs connecting the eaves in the east, west and south, and the eaves are also paved with stone slabs, and the agricultural tools of each family are placed on the east and west sides - plowshares, grinding rakes, dustpans, baskets, and windmills; There are six big cypress pillars on the eaves to support the eaves, and the lower side of the wooden pillar is the stone carving carved by the ancestors of the stonemasons for generations, there are "Meilan bamboo chrysanthemums", there are "happy eyebrows", there are "fortune and treasure", there are "Pixiu town house"; The mortise and tenon joints of the wooden structure tightly connect the girders, column bases, rafters and eaves, and the wood carvings under the eaves are exquisite and poetic; The threshold of the main hall house is more than two feet high, the Qimen stools at both ends of the threshold are smooth and flat, the left side is engraved with the word "Fu" surrounded by hibiscus, and the right side is the word "Shou" surrounded by longevity and peach; The roof is covered with green tiles, from the ridge to the eaves, the line is extremely beautiful, the eaves of the stucco outline the delicate phoenix eaves, and the morning dew hangs from the early morning; The exterior walls are all scraped white with lime, and the base of the wall is painted with sky blue paint about a meter up.

Such a north-south transparent compound is a treasure left by the ancestors of the Xie family, which has witnessed one unforgettable history after another - the former wartime hospital, the bandits' den that was forcibly occupied, the school in the early days of liberation, and the "canteen" for cooking big pot rice...... Xie Guoqiang's grandfather and father continued to expand and repair on the basis of several main houses left by their ancestors, and there is the current Xie family compound. There are three families living in this Xie family compound, Xie Guoqiang's uncle's family and the old man of the Xie family who live in the main house, the five rooms in the west are the third uncle's family, and the Xie Guoqiang family lives in the five rooms in the east.

On this day, the compound was boiling - the old Xie family had a grandson to meet! Meeting is a special ceremony, is the lovers must go through the procedure before marriage, the woman's family will organize relatives and friends to find out the man's family background, the man's family will naturally have to prepare carefully for the woman's first visit, do everything possible to show the strength of the family, but also have to deal with the woman's guests of all kinds of "torture". This method is more straightforward than the woman asking the man if he has a car and a house twenty or thirty years later, but it is also more simple.

The man's family is a figure with a head and a face in Xie Jiaba, and the craftsmanship of the stonemasons has been passed down for hundreds of years, and the descendants are also fighting for strength and constantly carrying forward this craft. The eighty-year-old Xie stonemason got up early to arrange today's "living road": the women of the family had settled the pigs and cattle on the first day, and Guoqiang's mother got up early today to clean up the house, and the tables, benches, and cabinets were all spotless; His aunt was in charge of greeting the guests, and the fried peanuts and pumpkin seeds had to be prepared sufficiently, and the eagle tea had to be boiled in several pots; His Sanniang was in charge of the lunch meal, the pork knuckles were stewed early and cooked thoroughly, the bacon had to be boiled and raked, and the vegetables in the vegetable field had to be picked back and washed quickly; The men put down their farm work in the morning and moved all the decent styles of each family to the east house; The two members of the national family have to show their sharp teeth, and they must not let the Yang family ask for it.

The woman's lineup is not so gorgeous: Shufang, Shufen, her mother and Shufen's second uncle and third aunt, Fushun was unexpectedly selected, and Shufei was eliminated because she was too young and needed to go to school. It is also a happy day for the whole family, after all, it is the marriage of the first girl, and it is not allowed to be sloppy, although the lineup is not gorgeous enough, but this group of women's army, especially Shufang's aunts and aunts, are famous for their fiery eyes and iron teeth and copper teeth, and the child's lifelong event cannot tolerate a little sloppiness. The "women's team" set off early in the morning.

Fushun, his sister and second sister were wearing the new clothes and cloth shoes that their grandfather bought for them, but Fushun was not happy about this, the only thing he was glad about was that one day he could finally stop doing farm work, but he would have to do the work left sooner or later. But Shufen had already thrown the matter of dropping out of school to the clouds, talking and laughing with her sister along the way, and the hearts of the two sisters were jumping like the bean flowers blooming on the side of the road, and the butterflies flying around. Shufei, who was unhappy, went to school under the escort of the lame father, and she complained that the stone road had not yet been built and she continued to detour, and she was even more unhappy that she could not witness today's excitement.

The three sisters and sisters-in-law discussed the Xie family's family conditions and their reputation for dealing with the world, and they arrived in the Xie family's courtyard after a while.

"Yo, the guest is here, hurry up and sit," the third sister-in-law who was washing vegetables by the water tank at the east end of the yard hurriedly put down the work at hand, "Guoqiang, call your mother and they will come out to pick it up." ”

"Hurry up and sit in the hall," Guoqiang, his mother, and his aunt hurriedly greeted him, and passed the gift in Shufangniang's hand - two pillow towels, two catties of brown sugar, and two catties of white sugar.

When you enter the hall, the ground is flat and clean, and the middle wall of the hall is a shrine for worship; In the center of the room is a large painted table of eight immortals, on which are tea trays of fried peanuts and fried pumpkin seeds, and on all sides are four long benches that have been wiped clean; On the west wall there is a hanging portrait of the "Ten Marshals", on the east wall is a hanging image of **, and there is a wall calendar of beautiful pictures printed by the "Xileng Printing Society"; On all sides of the spacious hall were neat chairs and stools, and two large cabinets on which a tape recorder was placed; The old man of the Xie family sat on the rattan chair in the center, smoking a leaf cigarette.

Beckoning visitors to sit down on the east side, Guoqiang's sister-in-law carried the tea tray and brought water one by one, and the people rushed behind to deliver peanuts and pumpkin seeds. Guoqiang picked up a position to look at Shufang and sat down, inevitably a little nervous. Shufen and Fushun sat down near the gate, Guoqiang's father also handed Fushun a "plum blossom" cigarette, Fushun smiled and didn't light it in his hand. Everyone else sat down in turn. Mrs. Wang was late, grinning and grabbing a handful of pumpkin seeds and knocking them up.

Fu Shun didn't sit still for a long time, got up and wandered around the yard, he remembered the muddy ditch's own compound.

Shufen didn't sit for a long time, looking at the tape recorder on the cabinet and was curious, he had seen this thing in Mr. Tian's office, and the tape could play a beautiful tune when she put it in, she walked over and flipped through a few tapes, all of them were old Sichuan operas, and there was no Teresa Teng she liked.

"Yo, second sister, this is a new trick, this is called a tape recorder, Guoqiang, this kid is filial, go to the Chahe River to hit stones, and buy it back for his father-in-law in the town," Mrs. Wang hurriedly introduced this "new thing" to the Yang family, "Look, there is also this radio, the effect is very good!" ”

The rest of the Yang family was not interested in these two things, and the matchmaker smiled and said, "He has a few concubines, let's go out and turn Ha'er!" After speaking, he got up and pulled up the sisters and sisters-in-law of the Yang family and walked out, and went straight to the pigsty of Guoqiang's house.

"Guoqiang's family is very diligent, a few masters are busy beating stones, and the pigs and cattle are still fat," the matchmaker pointed to four or five pigs of more than 100 catties in the pigsty and shouted.

"Is this Guoqiang's family or is it fed with his uncle and uncle?" Shufang's second aunt spoke.

"Well, our family," Guoqiang's sister-in-law hurriedly took over, "Their male family is beating stones outside, and my mother and I are feeding pigs and cattle and raising silkworms at home. After speaking, they went to the courtyard and pointed to the fields, mountains and forests at home, and took the Yang family to visit the grain in the warehouse and dozens of pieces of bacon hanging on the wall of the inclined house, and the sisters and sisters-in-law were still satisfied with the Xie family.

Shufang is certainly curious about the Xie family's background, but she wants to know more about Guoqiang. Guoqiang and Shufen didn't go to see any pigs and cows, and wandered around the bamboo forest behind the house.

"That...... Xie Guoqiang, you hit stones all day long, have you ever thought about getting married? In fact, Shufang, who is not good at talking, broke the silence.

Guoqiang suddenly became more nervous, and he didn't know how to come back to this sudden question, "It's time to tie the knot, my old man said, in the past few years, I have more stones to save some money, and I can't pick up my mother-in-law without money," the honest Guoqiang is so direct.

Shufang laughed out loud, "Have you saved a lot of money?" ”

"I don't know, it's all my old man who settles the bill," Guoqiang said, "My mother was calculating last night, as long as the bride price you want doesn't exceed 1,000 yuan, it's no big problem." "The bride price has always been popular in the countryside at that time, and the general bride price includes food, cash, some bedding and non-staple food.

Shufang smiled, in fact, she didn't know how much her parents would ask for a bride price. "Xie Guoqiang, what kind of girl do you like in your heart?"

"You're like this, you look good and you can say that you can do business," in Guoqiang's view, Shufang's selling backings on the street is a business, "I just don't know if you can afford me?" ”

"I don't know, you have a good attitude," Shufang smiled brighter than her face in her heart, "I can't sing mountain songs, which one will like it?" ”

"I can sing, my brother doesn't want me to sing, besides, your sister is too fierce to sing and can't win her," Guoqiang explained anxiously.

Shufang suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Xie Guoqiang, we are going to build a stone road to the Jade Emperor Temple, and you will come to help when the time comes!" ”

Guoqiang nodded vigorously.

Shufang and Guoqiang didn't talk for too long, because Guoqiang's mother was already beckoning everyone to dinner.

The men of the Xie family have already arranged tables and stools on the hall and the eaves, and the table is full of four tables, Guoqiang's mother and two sisters-in-law have done their best, and the cured meat on the table is fragrant. The Kokumin couple beckoned the guests and the elders of the family to sit down, and the third brother of Guoqiang was busy delivering food from the kitchen to the table with a large wooden tray for passing vegetables. The first to come up are cold dishes - roasted pork belly, pig ears, pork liver and pig tail, fried peanuts, fried shrimp chips, cold salad folded ear root; The second round came up with meat dishes: sweet and sour carp, stir-fried bacon with fungus, shredded green pepper pork, and back to the pot meat; The third round came up with steamed dishes: plum cabbage button pork, salty roasted white, and tamale; The fourth round came up with vegetarian dishes: fried bean sprouts, fried toon, fried peas, fried bamboo shoots; Finally, there are stews and soups: stewed soybeans with pork knuckles, stewed pork ribs with lotus root, and egg and vegetable soup.

After the dishes were basically ready, the people took the second brother to the big table in the hall where the woman was, and Guoqiang picked up a bowl of soup and wine, and took turns to toast the Yang family. Except for Fushun, no one else drank alcohol. The young man is also so cool, no matter whether the other party drinks or not, he is a mouthful and a half bowl, and Shufang is in a hurry. It's the Fushun brothers and sisters, who have never eaten such a good meal, how can they care about any toasting and punishment, and they cover their heads and eat big.

During the banquet, my mother and the two aunts asked for Shufang's opinion, and they also exchanged opinions, and there was nothing dissatisfaction with the Xie family. Shufang's second aunt just put down the dishes and chopsticks and called Mrs. Wang: "The Xie family is a big family, and the big family must have the rules of a big family. ”

Mrs. Wang naturally understood what the Yang family meant, "There is no problem with this, the Xie family's eldest daughter-in-law is 500 dowries, 500 catties of grain, as well as covers, blankets and pillows, you can rest assured, I will go and tell the second brother about this matter as soon as I ha!" "The matchmaker Guan Guoqiang's father is called the second brother.

The second aunt didn't say much, and the Yang family was not greedy for these cheapness, they just wanted the girl to marry beautifully, and the Xie family could treat her like their own girl. The Xie family was also free and easy, and after asking Guoqiang if he had any opinions, he took out a bride price of 800 yuan, and every guest who came had a handkerchief.

The meeting ended after lunch, and it was still the busy season for the farm, and there was too much farm work in each family, and the man did not stay overnight, and the women left after chatting with each other.

Fu Shun shuddered, and muttered in his heart: "God, the Yang family is really ruthless, eight hundred ...... If you grow up and marry a daughter-in-law, where should you find this money! ”