"Dad, why are you back so early?"

Yun Tao returned home and saw his father Yun Changda sitting in front of the house, so he asked curiously, after all, his hard-working father is simply a person who can't be idle, usually at this time he is working outside, and only if he can't go out to work, he will stay at home.

In his old man's words, "it's uncomfortable to be idle", speaking of his father, Yuntao sometimes wants to cry, it's not that his father is not good to him, and his father has had a hard life so far.

I heard from the uncle in the village that his father, as the eldest son of the family, did not even have the opportunity to go to the school, and when he was very young, he had to help the family work, and when he was twelve or thirteen years old, he had to do the heavy work of carrying hundreds of pounds of goods.

Although the family is poor, several of Yuntao's own uncles have been in books for several years, and his father can't even write his own name, even the Arabic numerals of 1, 2, 3, and 4 were taught by Yuntao when he was in elementary school.

After his father and mother got married, in order to earn more money to subsidize the family, his father and some old people in the village went to Pingtai County next door to carry wood, that is, they walked to the deep mountains and old forests of Pingtai County, hundreds of kilometers away, and went there to buy nanmu for building houses in the hands of the villagers, and then carried two hundred catties of nanmu on their shoulders and walked hundreds of kilometers of mountain roads to their homes.

Many people who don't know the situation at that time will ask, why don't you take the road, the road is easy to walk, and the distance is shorter.

At that time, the state did not allow the indiscriminate cutting of trees, and there were many people who caught stealing wood, but they didn't care if you bought it from someone else. If you catch it, you will have to confiscate the wood, not to mention. And a few days in lockdown.

Of course, at that time, everyone knew what the situation was like. It will be released in two days, and as for the timber, I'm sorry that the state confiscated it, so Yuntao's father didn't dare to take the road at all, they all took the mountain path.

Even so, there will be a lot of people caught in the mountains, and when they meet such a person, they will immediately carry the wood and run, and it is basically impossible to throw away the wood and run, after all, a piece of wood. Carry it back and buy it, and pay the family's living expenses for several months, if you throw it away, what will the family eat for a few months?

Yuntao's father encountered such a thing several times, and often ran away from other people in the village, cutting more than 200 catties of wood to go home, and it usually took three or five days to get out of the deep mountains and old forests.

Sometimes if you get lost, you have to spend more time to get out of the deep mountains and old forests, as long as you get to the territory of your own county and cross the border inspection. You can boldly go to the highway.

After all, the people in charge of the forestry bureau in their own county will earn an eye. If you close your eyes, as long as the trees in your own county are not cut down and bought, they won't care about other counties.

How can you say that in your own county, those hard-working farmers also have to eat and support their families, if you force people to have no food to eat, this farmer will really work hard with you.

At that time, the common people in the countryside had to fight with the sky and people, sometimes for the water to water the farmland, for the weeds in the mountains and forests, they often fought, let alone quarreled, but at that time it was a collective system, so the fights were all village by village, and the situation did not improve until the nineties of the last century.

Carry the timber home, and wait for the town market, then carry it to the town to buy, a piece of such nanmu, at that time you can buy dozens of yuan, when you are lucky, you can buy a hundred yuan, in the era when there were still one or two cents, a hundred yuan is definitely more valuable than the current thousand yuan.

Maybe his father grew up from a hard snack, his father never let Yuntao do any heavy work and tiring work by himself, just to ask Yuntao to study hard, and not even a little bitter Yuntao to eat, in addition to doing heavy work and tiring work outside, he also took care of the heavy work at home when he returned home, and he would not let Yuntao help do it.

This is also because Yuntao was powerless before, and he didn't know how to plant vegetables and farm, he didn't do these jobs at all, even now, Yuntao couldn't recognize where his family's fields were, and how many acres of land his family had.

"I'm helping out at your sixth master's house today, and I'll come back early after the work is done, I heard your mother say that you went to Beijing?" Yun Changda asked.

After all, Beijing is the capital of China, for the old farmers who have never left Minzhou City, the capital of the country is very mysterious, who has been to any big city in the countryside, it will blow for a few months when they come back, not to mention that Yuntao went to the capital of China.

"Yes, after eating that day, I rushed to the capital city." Yun Tao said.

"How is the capital, is it as beautiful as watching it on TV?"

Yun Changda asked curiously, Yun Changda has never been to any big city, so he is very curious about those big cities, after all, those people in the village who have been to big cities come back and talk about big cities so mysteriously, which makes Yun Changda very envious.

It's not that Yun Changda doesn't want to go to the big city, and he doesn't dare to go to the big city, it's not that he doesn't dare to go to the big city because of his inferiority, for their generation, they have experienced a lot of things, and their hearts are very strong.

The reason why Yun Changda did not dare to go to the big city was that he did not know a few big characters, and so far in addition to ten Arabic numerals and his own name, that is, he knew the words on the bus from the town to the county seat.

If you go to the big city, Yun Changda is really afraid that he will get lost, after all, it doesn't look like he is in Minzhou outside, he speaks the local Minzhou dialect, and when he arrives in the big city, he has to speak Mandarin, Yun Changda can understand a few simple sentences, as for speaking at all.

"It's pretty good, but the air environment is a little bad."

Yun Tao looked very curious and his father said, Yun Tao felt that he was really an unfilial son, he had grown up so big, he never thought of taking his parents to the big city to take a look, and invited them to have a good meal, Yun Tao decided to often take his parents out of the city to play in the future, and he was not short of that money now.

"Be specific."

Yun Changda said, after all, his son has been to Beijing, the capital of China, and his face is bright, ask something specific, and when you can blow it to someone you know, how to say that your son has been to the capital of China, what is the capital, and that is where the "emperor" of the country stays.

"What are you two still doing outside the house, it's time to come in and eat."

Yun Tao was just about to speak, and his mother Wang Mei shouted in the room.

"Dad, let's eat first." Yun Tao said.

"Okay." Yun Changda stood up and walked into the house, after all, people who do manual work are hungry fast.

"Ergou, what were you doing in Beijing a few days ago?"

Halfway through the meal, Wang Mei asked with concern, after all, her son should not go to the capital city for no reason.

"Jing Ting's grandfather is sick, I'll go take a look." Yun Tao said.

"Tingting's grandfather is sick, is it serious?" Wang Mei asked.

"It's heavy, but I've been cured." Yun Tao said.

"So, you've met Jing Ting's parents." Yun Changda asked with concern, after all, this is a lifelong event related to his son.

"See." Yun Tao said.

"What's the matter, do they agree to your marriage to Tingting?" Wang Mei asked nervously, after all, Wang Mei didn't want her son to be rejected by the woman's parents.

"Jing Ting's family is very approving of me and Jing Ting's affairs." Yun Tao said.

"This is great, I didn't expect Jing Ting's parents to be reasonable, whether Jing Ting's parents are big officials or not." Wang Mei asked.

"Jing Ting's father is the deputy mayor of Tiannan City, and her mother is in business." Yun Tao said.

"Mayor, such a big official!"

Yun Changda said in surprise, after all, in the eyes of the peasants, the mayor is already a great official, and the county magistrate is the "Emperor of the Soil", not to mention the mayor who is bigger than the county magistrate.

"Ergou, that, Jing Ting's family really agrees to your marriage with Jing Ting, don't lie to your parents."

Wang Mei said in disbelief, after all, the composition of Jing Ting's family is too good, her father is from the mayor, and the gap between her and her own peasant family is too big.

"How could I lie to you about this?" Yuntao said to his parents.

"Does Jing Ting's family know about our family?"

Yun Changda asked, if his son didn't tell others about his family's situation, then there would still be trouble in this matter.

"But Jing Ting's family doesn't mind that our family is a farmer, and they also invite you to Beijing," Yun Tao said.

"Really, this is really good, your father and I are going to prepare for your marriage," Wang Mei said happily.

"Dad, Mom, what Jing Ting's family means is that Jing Ting has not yet reached the legal age of marriage in the country this year, and wants to get engaged first, and then get married when Jing Ting reaches the legal age of marriage." Yun Tao said.

"This is as it should be, it is to get engaged first, and there is no problem after the marriage."

Wang Mei said happily, after all, after getting engaged in the countryside, it doesn't matter when you get married, there are not a few people in many places in Minzhou who get engaged and wait for their children to get married when they are in elementary school.

"This Jing Ting family, what are the requirements for the dowry."

Yun Changda asked with some concern, after all, they are rich eunuchs, this dowry will definitely not be in the minority, I hope that it can be affordable in my own family, otherwise this marriage may not be able to be determined.

"What Jing Ting's family means is that the dowry is set according to our customs and habits here, and as for the dowry, they want 66,666 yuan." Yun Tao said Jing Lao's request.

"I didn't expect Jing Ting's family to be so reasonable, this dowry must not be high, our village people marry a rural daughter-in-law, and this dowry is not less than this amount." Wang Mei said. (To be continued......)