In a small remote village, a simple and tidy farmhouse yard with plum blossoms in the yard, it can be seen that the owner of this place must be very fond of this noble, strong, and modest plant.

"Girl (the affectionate name of the elders in some areas for their children in ancient times), don't show off, it's time for dinner, come out and help my mother cook." A middle-aged woman who was busy outside shouted into the room.

"Hey! Just come. There was a crisp and beautiful reply from the room.

Glancing at the room, the woman sighed helplessly and shook her head and sighed, the girl is too old to be a mother.

At this time, an old woman walked into the courtyard with dry firewood and asked the busy woman, "Is our girl still showing?" ”

"Isn't it? In the past few days, I don't want to think about it, I just bury my head in showing off her plum blossoms, and I don't know what to do. The middle-aged woman replied to the old lady, and then said, "Mother, you put the dry firewood here, go into the house to rest, and I'll come." ”

The old lady looked at her daughter-in-law kindly and said with a smile: "Don't get in the way, don't get in the way, I'm not too old to walk, help you, you have to relax." ”

The middle-aged woman didn't persuade her, she understood the old lady's character, and no one could stop her, and in this regard, her husband also inherited it gloriously.

Seeing that the middle-aged woman was not talking, the old lady asked again: "Is our girl a fancy to a young man, otherwise who is this plum blossom for?" ”

"Who knows? The girl is older, and I can't guess what I'm thinking about as a mother. The middle-aged woman replied.

The old lady put the dry wood in front of the stove, and said again to the middle-aged woman: "I think there is a good chance that she will give it to anyone, to you, I have never heard of that girl show plum blossoms to give to her mother, her father and the bad old man are impossible, as for my old lady, it is even more useless, I see that the young man in this village is about to enter Beijing to catch the exam, and it is estimated that it is given to one of them." The old woman's tone changed from speculation to certainty.

"Grandmother, what are you guessing?" At this time, an arrogant tone came out of the room, a woman wearing embroidered shoes and pink clothes pushed the door and walked out, the woman has a peerless face, although the face has not been put on any makeup, but it gives people a feeling of clear water out of hibiscus, the country and the city, the most attractive when a red spot at the center of its eyebrows, as if it has half of the magic power to make people unable to extricate themselves.

The old lady looked at the woman's face with a smile and said kindly, "I am willing to put down the gift to the little lover and come out." ”

"Grandmother, if you talk like this, I won't leave you." The woman said to the old lady's coquettishness.

"Okay, grandmother won't talk about it." Seeing that the big girl and the old woman in her family were full of smiles, the wrinkles on her face were piled up, "But you have to tell your grandmother, what do you like the guy in that family, and who is this plum blossom for." ”

The woman pretended to be angry and looked at her grandmother and said, "What's the matter, I haven't taken a fancy to anyone, isn't this for my own show?" ”

Grandmother knew her girl's thoughts, whose girl didn't have spring, and she also came from this time, so she smiled slightly and didn't ask again.

The three of them chatted while making dinner, and in a blink of an eye, the sun had already set, and the dinner of several people was ready, when two men walked back from the courtyard, a middle-aged man and an elderly man.

When the woman saw this, she automatically ran over and shouted, "Daddy, grandfather, you are back." ”

Seeing the woman, the two of them who had been busy all day smiled, and the elderly man looked at the woman and said with a smile: "Why did you come out today to help your mother and them work, and don't show your lover's baby?" ”

"Grandfather, why are you just like your grandmother, ignoring you, hum!" The woman shouted proudly and left in a huff.

The grandfather glanced at his son, shook his head and smiled and sighed, this girl is too old to joke casually.

The two of them went into the house to wash up briefly, and then the three women also brought the meal to the table in the house and set it up, and it could be seen that although the life of the family was not very rich, it was also very rich, and there were four dishes on the table, two of which had meat, and there was also a bottle of wine.

During the meal, the middle-aged woman asked her man, "How is today's business?" ”

"There is no difference from usual, now my Datang national strength is strong, invincible to the outside world, the people in the territory are healthy, and there are no thieves and thieves, who can come to buy our knives, are those generals and knights, but fortunately, they are all big customers, one day of opening is enough to eat outside for a year, don't worry, although I haven't received business in the past few days, I have heard that the imperial court will carry out what martial arts tests in a few days, and the generals will be selected in the people, and it is estimated that there will be many knights who will come to buy knives." The man said as he ate the dish.

The middle-aged woman nodded after listening to her husband's words, and then the old man asked the old woman, "How long is there enough surplus food at home?" ”

The old lady replied, "Don't worry, if you don't open for a year, we won't starve to death, and we will eat enough meat for half a year." ”

The old man nodded and said reassuringly, "That's good, I estimate that it will be open almost this month." "Grandfather, Daddy, why don't we sell some ordinary knives? It's because our knives are too expensive, so they sell less. Then the woman interjected.

When my grandfather heard this, he smiled and said, "What do you know?" Girl, do you know that our family's craftsmanship has been handed down from our ancestors, and it has always been only to make treasure knives, in addition, what is the use of ordinary knives, other knife shops sell for a year, and we don't make more money selling a knife. ”

"But don't you sometimes sell a handful a year?" The woman couldn't help but say.

Grandfather looked embarrassed when he heard this, but the so-called people are old and fine, and their face is comparable to the city wall, and grandfather continued to speak: "Who said, don't you sometimes sell two or three handfuls? And let's sell a handful, they don't make as much money as us, you see that the knife seller raised the girl to us so white. ”

"Grandfather." The woman glared at her grandfather, and every time she liked to joke about herself, it was really annoying. Grandfather didn't care, he smiled, picked up the wine glass and took a sip. For their baby girl, they have always been the pride of the family, not only beautiful, but also the craftsmanship of the female workers, and the most important thing is that they are kind-hearted and good.

At this time, the middle-aged woman, that is, the woman's mother, looked at her precious daughter and frowned, and spoke to her husband again; "I'm not worried about the money, our family points to the craftsmanship left by our ancestors, although it doesn't say that it can be rich and expensive, but it can be regarded as having more than enough life, but has that thing been settled?" After speaking, the mother glanced at her daughter.

Hearing his mother's question, his father's brows were obviously furrowed, and his grandfather and grandmother also glanced at their own baby girl, their brows were slightly furrowed, and the woman found the abnormality and asked everyone, "What's wrong?" What's going on in our house? ”

The old woman was the first to react and said, "It's okay, it's just that the girl is older, and I want to find a suitable in-law." ”

"Grandmother, you, you, hum! Ignore you, I won't eat it. The woman looked at everyone with a blushing face, finished the bowl of food, and ran into her house in a panic.

"Hahahaha." Everyone looked at the girl who had fled and burst into laughter.

Then the brows of the people furrowed again, and the father took a sip of wine and said; "I asked someone to inquire today, and everyone said that they had never seen this kind of symptom, and all the doctors in our annex had come to see it, but they had never seen this condition, and I think I will go to the town to see it in the next few days."

"If you want me to say, this girl's illness is not an ordinary disease, nor is it something that ordinary doctors can see, I think we should still go to the Taoist temple to find a few Taoist masters with high mana to take a look, maybe we can see something." Then the woman's grandfather spoke.

The woman's father nodded and said: "Well, it should be so, although it may not be cured, but the Taoist leaders are well-informed, maybe they can recognize this strange disease, and then we will be able to prescribe the right medicine, the person who came to us to buy a knife before thought that he knew the Qingfeng Taoist who thought that he was powerful, I will contact him tomorrow to see if I can let him invite the other party." ”

"It's the best, every time Mei'er gets sick, my heart is about to jump out, I'm afraid that she won't wake up, what kind of sin did I create in my last life, so that my poor girl has to bear such a big sin." The woman's mother seemed to think of something at this time, her expression was sad, and she couldn't help but shed tears on her face.

The old woman hurriedly spoke to comfort her, and the woman's father and son said, "This matter should be kept secret from Mei'er, don't let her know." The crowd said they knew, and after dinner, the old woman and the middle-aged woman cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, and everyone rested.

At this time, the woman who was lying in her room looked at the plum blossoms that had finally been embroidered, and a bright smile appeared on her face, "Brother Niu will enter Beijing to take the exam the day after tomorrow, and I must hand this over to him tomorrow." Perhaps thinking of something, the woman's face turned red, and she raised her hand to cover her face, and let out a grinning laugh.

......

The next day, beside a silent river, the woman kept walking around boredly, looking like she was waiting for someone. Sure enough, after a while, a handsome scholar ran over panting, and the woman had a happy smile on her face when she saw it.

"You've been waiting for a long time, haven't you? I had to get rid of my family, so I wasted a little time. The scholar gasped and said to the woman.

"No, I just came." The woman shook her head shyly and looked at her beloved, and had the heart to wipe the sweat on her face for him, but she was too shy to do it, drawing a circle on the ground with her toes.

"That's good." The man may be the representative of the nerd, and he didn't hear the woman's kind words at all, but really thought it was so, and let out a sigh of relief.

Looking at the woman who was his childhood sweetheart, the man showed a sincere smile on his face and praised him: "Mei, I haven't seen you for so long, you are still so beautiful." ”

"What nonsense? I'm talking nonsense, ignoring you. The woman pretended to be angry to hide her shyness.

"No nonsense, really, you are the most beautiful in our village." The scholar hurriedly showed his sincerity and said.

"Is it just in our village?" The woman seized on the loophole in the words and asked.

"No, you are the most beautiful in the whole Datang." The scholar also reacted and hurriedly made up for it.

"Humph! That's because you haven't seen other women, this time when you enter Beijing, you will definitely see the ladies of various big officials' mansions, and even the princess's daughter, but when you don't think I'm a beautiful wild girl in the village. The woman deliberately said angrily.

The scholar hurriedly swore when he saw it: "No, I swear, in my heart Mei'er will always be the most beautiful." "Who said that scholars are stupid, how can scholars be stupid if they are stupid, how can they attract the hearts of female ghosts and fox demons, maybe this sentence is suitable to describe scholars at this time.

The woman's heart was happy, but her expression did not change: "You will coax people, you said that you haven't seen me for so long, do you miss me." ”

The scholar hurriedly replied: "Of course, I think about it day and night, and I hope to see you." ”

"Humph! I don't believe it. The woman's heart was even happier, but her expression remained unchanged, and she walked aside from the man.

The man hurriedly caught up and said, "Really, what I said is true, what the book says is good: not seeing you for a day is like every other autumn, and it is exactly what I miss about you." ”

"What a broken book, what kind of embarrassing words are said, at first glance, it is not a serious book, nor is it said by a serious person." The woman said.

"Really, really, this is what Confucius said." Scholar explained.

"Phew! If you don't think I'm going to study and lie to me, Sage Kong won't say such shameless words, I think it's like you're talking nonsense. The woman said with a sip.

The scholar scratched his head in embarrassment and explained: "Although I don't know who said it, it was really said in the book." ”

"Humph! This one is up to you. If you dare to mess around in the capital, I won't clean you up when I come back. The woman gave the scholar the plum handkerchief that had already been shown, and fled without looking back.

The scholar looked at the handkerchief in his hand, looked at the woman's distant back, and suddenly shouted: "Mei, when I pass the exam, I will definitely come back to marry you, you must wait for me." ”

The woman's running figure froze and turned to the scholar and said, "When the king returns, the concubine will wear red makeup." Then he ran away with a blushing face.

The scholar looked at the woman's back, held the handkerchief with fragrance in his hand, and smirked.

That year, she was eighteen years old, that year, he was crowned, she showed off her wisdom, he was peerless, she was captivating, he was suave, the two made a vow before he entered Beijing, his name was Niu, and her name was Mei.