Shufei can finally no longer bypass the terrifying human life bay, and when she walks on the newly built stone road with her friends, she can proudly say that this is the road built by my family!

But Shufei is even happier - the eldest sister is getting married. Just like watching people and meeting people, after the engagement and the next issue of the book (a ceremony that combines the birthdays of men and women), Guoqiang and Shufang are finally going to get married. The wedding day is set in the winter - the sixteenth day of the winter month of the lunar calendar.

Fushun has worked very hard since the road was built, and Shufei gradually accepted this brother, and sometimes took the initiative to ask her brother to send her to school. Every time Fushun walked on that familiar road, he had a special feeling, and even squatted down to touch the stone marks he had chiseled with a hammer and chisel.

He and Guoqiang carried the trees cut down in the mountains back to their homes, and together with Guoqiang, they also cut down the larger trees in the mountains and carried them home, looking at the pile of cypress and pine, the two young men knew that in another summer, this pile of wood would become Shufang's dowry - wardrobes, granary cabinets, cupboards, wooden tables, wooden chairs......

On the bride's side, the preparation process for marriage is long, but the process is blissful. But this happiness is limited to ignorant children, as well as the beautiful bride-to-be in the story. For the bride's parents, the process is painful, especially for Shufang's parents, who have to feed two fat pigs in a few months to prepare for the feast, which means they won't kill them again. They had to cut down almost all the trees in their mountains to prepare for the dowry, which would be stretched thin when the other girls were married; They also had to eat up the bacon they had saved because they were calling the craftsmen, the vegetables grown in the geography could no longer be carried to the stone bridge to be sold, and the craftsmanship of the fourth master had to be stopped—because there was not so much room at home for more than two craftsmen to work; At the same time, the four had to move to live in a straw pile upstairs in the pigsty for a month or two, because their sloping house had to be vacated for the craftsmen to live in.

For Fushun, who is already very sensible, this process is also happy. Because Yang Laosi invited a carpenter, a carpenter from the mud ditch, the carpenter is also surnamed Liu, but Fu Shun can't remember whether he has seen it before.

Yang Laosi still smokes the leaf cigarettes he grows, although Guoqiang bought him a lot of cigarettes, he saves them pack by pack, waiting for the family to "pass the craftsman". Generally speaking, the "owner" has to pay the craftsman a "salary" according to the workload or on a daily basis. In Shiqiao, there is a superb craft that is extremely important, and many crafts are "family-style", just like the stonemason work done by Xie Guoqiang and his son; Some crafts are learned from apprentices, just like the blacksmith shops recruit apprentices all year round; Others are self-taught, just like Yang Laosi's several crafts: carpenter, grafting mulberry trees and orange trees, because the old wizard's "craft" is really not a son originally intended to learn.

Fushun also had a "family-style" craft, but unfortunately his father left early, and the eldest brother's craft has not been passed on to him. He never again dreamed of one day becoming a craftsman like his father and eldest brother – a skilled carpenter.

Carpenter Liu, who was invited by Yang Laosi, took his sixteen-year-old son to Yang's house, and after a decent meal of wine and food, the carpenter began to work with his son.

In five years, Fushun has never been so close to his dream as this time. He rummaged through the carpenter's toolbox, and every one of them was so familiar: ink-soaked ink fountains, iron-headed drills in the shape of "Ben", polished wooden pushes, sharp chisels and axes, two pointed U-shaped iron claws, and toothed tug-of-war...... He seemed to see his father go out with this kind toolbox on his back, as if he saw his brother using these tools in his yard to make fun wooden cows. But where are they now?

Fu Shun didn't think much about it, and followed the carpenter to the shrine of the hall, where the carpenter offered statues of Lu Ban and Li Dan, burned a pile of paper money, and said something in his mouth-

"First please Luban Immortal Master, and then please Taishang Laojun.

The ancestors of the Yang family are enshrined in the Big Dipper.

The descendants of the disciple Liu sincerely invite the gods to come.

But begging for peace in the house, Taishang Laojun is as anxious as the law! ”

After a routine "please" from the craftsmen, the first thing they do is to break down the wood according to the size of the furniture to be made – by playing ink and changing the material. Ink play is to use an ink fountain to make an impression of the wood according to its size, so that it can be used as a reference when changing the material. The material is divided into large material and small material: the large material needs a high wooden pier shelf, with a large saw with a wide and wide saw blade, two laborers left and right to open the bow, mainly to process long boards and large wooden squares; The small material is simple, two iron claws nail the wood to the pillar, and the saw blade of the small material is slightly narrower, and one or two laborers can be completed from top to bottom, mainly processed into short planks.

And Fushun's task is to follow the carpenter's son and help the carpenter - so that the Yang family does not need to hire a laborer to help - Fushun is obviously very willing. He took the initiative to help the carpenter pull the ink bucket line, and watched the carpenter pull up the thin rope and flick it gently, and the straight black lines were printed on the surface of the wood.

However, because Fushun's height is not enough to change the wooden pier of the big material, Fushun and the lame father mainly change the small material by the side of the pillar. It wasn't hard for him, and at the age of six or seven he sawed wood with a small saw.

After entering the substantial furniture processing stage, Fushun actually stepped in front of the yard for the first time, and would use a fader to push the plank to the level and make a boxy hole for the wood.

"Yes, your baby is not simple, have you learned to live in wood before?" The carpenter asked Fushun while grinding the steel push blades (leaf-shaped pieces of steel that are mounted on the faders to flatten the planks).

"No, Uncle Liu, I'm also from the muddy ditch." Fushun replied sincerely.

"Oh, I'll just say, you should be the second baby in the Liu family's compound in the ditch?" In fact, this carpenter had already heard about the Fushun brothers.

"Yes, Uncle Liu, I've been here for eight years, you must know what my brother and my brother are like now, right?" Fushun took advantage of the fact that everyone else was not at home, and hurriedly asked about the situation of his relatives.

"Uh...... Didn't you go back and take a look," Carpenter Liu was a little surprised, "Your house on the west side of the compound has collapsed, and no one lives in it!" ”

"Huh? What about ......" Fu Shun was even more surprised and put down the clippers in his hand, "What about my brother and them?" ”

Carpenter Liu actually doesn't know very well, after all, the two families are not in the same "production team", but he told Fushun that it is said that after the death of Carpenter Liu, several children disappeared, only heard that the eldest really couldn't support his two younger brothers, and sent the two younger brothers to other villages for foster care, and he didn't know where to go.

Fushun's happy process came to an abrupt end, and every day after that, he didn't think about tea and dinner, and he was getting thinner and thinner day by day, but he was always saying to himself, if he had to work hard, he would definitely find his brother and the rich family!

The Yang family didn't have time to pay attention to this son surnamed Liu, because the carpenter's work ended after two months, and after about half a month of lacquer work, the eldest daughter's wedding date was approaching!

The stone bridge in the winter moon is hazy, Yantai Mountain and Mao'er Mountain are still dressed in green - the proud pines and cypresses and noble green bamboos are listening to the moving suona sound, and the spring water of the dripping rock is still singing pleasantly - it is also blessing the newlyweds.

The busyness before the banquet was more than ever: the young and middle-aged men and women of the "production team" had to come to help, the tables, chairs and benches of the neighbors were moved to the dam of the Yang family, and the two pigs in the pen who had not yet been fattened died with a whimper...... The woman's banquet was held in the early morning of this day, and relatives and friends would also come to congratulate her the night before. Whether it is the main seat or the "inverted seat", it is a square table of eight people, and the elders are the most noble "upper seats" sitting close to the direction of the hall, and the "right and left" are lined up in turn, from "tea food" peanuts, melon seeds to cold dishes, stewed vegetables to steamed vegetables and stir-fried vegetables, so lively! Six tables were set up in the courtyard of the Yang family, and the wedding feast of the flowing water seat sat for three rounds just by "inverting the seat" - Yang Cripple's popularity is still passable in Shili Eight Villages.

The man's welcoming procession set off early in the morning, and at the front of the procession were the groom and the groom's sisters-in-law and aunts; In the middle is a band beating gongs and playing suona, blowing festive music; Next is the procession carrying the congratulatory gifts - there are cereals, a whole fat pig with a big red flower on the side, and some bedding; At the end of the procession were the young laborers of the village of Xiejiaba, carrying bamboo poles or sticks about the thickness of bamboo poles, as well as bundles of strips of glove that were used to carry the dowry.

The team arrived, hundreds of firecrackers rang out, the Yang family took the congratulatory gift, arranged for the welcoming team to sit, and the banquet also increased from six tables to eight tables per round.

There was a burst of "mile la la" suona sound, the greeting team was staggered, the first round of seats was over, while other relatives and friends were eating, the dowry had begun to be counted here, and the second uncle continued to shout:

A good couple is born and will always be united. Xie Yang's two families tied the knot, and the Yang family prepared a small gift, wishing the two newcomers a hundred years of good together!

After the shouting, there was another sound of firecrackers, and the welcoming team carried the dowry and furniture to the edge of the dam one by one and tied them firmly - a total of 19 large and small, meaning a lifetime and a long time - this is shabby in Shiqiao Township, and each dowry is pasted with the big red characters carefully cut out by Shufang Niang and her two sisters.

The bride wore a red jacket made of red cloth, cotton pants and red cloth shoes, and sat in the humble boudoir with her sisters waiting for the auspicious time to come—after the second uncle said, "The good day has come, please leave the court," Shufang and the sisters slowly walked out of the boudoir and came to the hall.

Guoqiang is wearing a crisp blue tunic and waiting for the beautiful lady in the hall!