The continuous autumn rain has been falling for a day and a night.

When it was time to turn the lamp, it slowly became smaller.

On Suzaku Street, the most prosperous county seat in Anguo County, there is no one, only the Fan Family Inn at the end of the house, which has been lit with lanterns early, and it is a few dim spots in the rain. At this moment in the pharmaceutical capital of Hebei, there is a little bit of a feeling like Jiangnan.

Fifteen-year-old Duan Meimei stretched her hand back from the window on the second floor of the inn.

She looked out into the streets, where the rain ended, and the wet alleys were long and desolate, not knowing where they lead.

Tonight was a beautiful day, but she was not happy at all.

Walking down the stairs from outside her room, there was the lobby of the Fan Family Inn, where the man who was about to become his husband was directing the guys. On each table they set up fresh and dried fruits, cooked meats, cold dishes, wine, and soup.

The man's surname is Fan, he is just over 50 years old, and his wife died last year. This Fan inn is now his, and after marrying him, Duan Meimei became the proprietress of this shop, and she has no worries about food and clothing ever since.

Duan Meimei can only marry him, she owes Boss Fan a lot of money, she still has to support a ten-year-old stupid brother, and after getting married, she should be able to eat enough.

Duan Meimei lit a candle and looked at her makeup again in the bronze mirror.

Eyebrows, trimmed.

Mouth, shades appropriate.

I can't talk about a sentence that captivates the country and the city, but it deserves to be coquettish.

Duan Meimei was born with good-looking eyebrows and eyes, and often guests would praise her when they saw her:

"It's a beautiful embryo."

The word embryo indicates that she will become a beauty in the future, but not yet.

She should be allowed to grow for another two or three years, she is not yet a woman's mature plumpness, and now she is wearing a bride's auspicious dress, which looks a little wandering, but on the tall and slender body, the woman's characteristics are already clear.

A girl of this appearance, if she was born in an official family, I am afraid that she can find a good family, but unfortunately, she is a poor girl.

If you are a poor girl, then give yourself permission to marry an old man.

Especially the kind of rich old man, the onlookers will not feel sad at all, and will only sincerely say "congratulations".

From ancient times to the present, there are often some poor silly girls who will have the dream of "if I can't do it, I will find a rich man to marry", it seems that rich people are born fools, and they are willing to take over her injured life, until they are educated by reality, they don't understand what is going on.

Rich men are more calculating.

They seldom wish to find a poor and gentle girl to comfort the rest of their lives, on the contrary, they are like an unfed tiger, they are old enough to focus on their health and happiness, and they still feel young and strong and ambitious.

They aspire to become richer, and when they marry, the first thing they look at is their family background.

Boss Fan died of his wife last year, and when the proprietress was out of breath, the matchmakers had already come in one after another, sneaking in through the back door, and muttering to Lao Fan what kind of room to fill.

Lao Fan's conditions are really a bit up and down.

His son Fan Chef is twenty-five years old, he was a prodigal son when he was young, and he was finally born in two years, and under the coercion of Lao Tzu, he returned to the Fan family inn to take charge, and married a wife and had children the year before last.

There is also a daughter, who married the young shopkeeper of the Ximen Neijing Ji Crude Medicine Shop the year before last, and gave birth to a son last year.

Which woman marries into Lao Fan's family is obviously not worried about food and clothing, and she also has money.

But the trouble is also obvious, if Lao Fan dies in a few years, this house, together with a son and a half daughter who fills the house, is afraid that he will suffer from the eldest son's idleness.

Of course, matchmakers will say this:

"Lao Fan's health is very good, marry him and quickly have a few sons, when the child is twelve or thirteen years old, there are many people, and he will share the family with the old one, can this big brother still make trouble?"

There is another advantage to marrying an old man, the five dynasties of the Tang Dynasty are a troubled era, and in the past few years, the Central Plains is a rare peace, despite this, marrying a young man, maybe tomorrow this person will be conscripted to fight.

It's better to marry an old man with a family and a job to fill the house.

It's a pity that someone picks Lao Fan, and Lao Fan can't help but pick a woman.

If you want to find a girl to warm his feet and talk, it would be good to buy a slave and maid from Renyazi to use it.

This year, there have been a lot of people, but Lao Fan thinks very highly of himself and is too picky.

Last time, a man came from the Southern Tang Kingdom and brought a girl from Yangzhou, with picturesque eyebrows and eyes, and she could sing on the piano, Lao Fan was fascinated, but when he pinched the girl's shoulders and arms, he began to complain again:

"A handful of small bones, short and thin, when I am old, she will not be able to support me."

Ya Po listened, understood that he was going to find a nurse when he was old, and next time he found a girl from Khitan, this girl is very open, the distance between the eyes is wide, at first glance is a good character, can afford two buckets of water without changing shoulders, unfortunately, the physique has reached the upper limit of the slightly fat world.

After reading it, Lao Fan said in front of the Khitan girl: "What I want to marry is a concubine, my family does not sell human meat buns, you pick a fat one, but you don't want to make stuffing?" ”

The matchmaker Tao Ganniang once told him that the daughter of a forbidden military captain in the Later Tang Dynasty has a very good appearance and a strong body, after all, she is still an official eunuch. Lao Fan minded for a long time, saying that he felt that the family was the daughter of a military attaché, and the family had lost again.

It's easy to be willing, and the matchmaker's family wants a gift, eighty-eight sixty-four taels. He was shocked: "What are you doing?" Sell your daughter? ”

Tao Ganniang understood that he was unwilling to spend money, and told Lao Fan about a widow, and his head shook like a rattle: "No, no, no, I'm not short of money, why do you want to find a widow, don't laugh at me from this villager?" ”

When Mrs. Tao heard this, she felt that this matter was hopeless, and was about to turn around and go out, but she didn't expect Lao Fan to open her mouth and ask again: "How is this little lady's family wealth?" ”

Tao Ganniang felt that this old fan was noisy and didn't want to talk more, so she said: "I don't have much money, it's no problem to make ends meet." ”

"Then ask the godmother to ask this lady if she is willing to come to my store to sell wine and spend her days, and she will associate with me in private, and there will be sweetness on weekdays."

Tao Ganniang walked away, and later said to others: "I have always felt that there are many nasty people in our matchmaking industry, but I didn't expect him to open such a business, which is much cheaper than our matchmakers." ”

Lao Fan became famous in Ya Po and Matchmaker, and began to look for a partner in the neighborhood, these people are also familiar with his face, which one is willing to give his daughter to him?

It was also during this year that he saw a weed blossoming.

Duan Meimei.

Duan Meimei worked in Lao Fan's shop, and to put it more clearly, she grew up in Lao Fan's shop.

Lao Fan's shop used to be the Duan Family Inn.

Duan Meimei's father is the boss, this Duan shopkeeper has read books, and he also went to school in his early years, he is a genuine talent, Duan Xiucai speaks kindly and has a good upbringing.

It's a pity that good people may not live long, five years ago there was a plague, Duan's shopkeeper and his wife both died, Duan Meimei was ten years old that year, and her stupid brother Duan Zishou was five years old.

The two sisters and brothers had to repay their parents' medical expenses on credit and bury their parents, and they immediately fell into a dilemma.

At that time, Lao Fan hoarded medicinal materials such as honeysuckle forsythia, claiming that it was a secret recipe for the plague, and made a windfall, so he took the opportunity to buy Duan's store at a low price, a good house and a good store of four or five hundred taels, and seventy or eighty taels were taken down, and only two small dilapidated houses outside the store were left for the sister and brother, so the sister and brother still owed him twenty yuan.

Duan Meimei's salary was used to repay the debt, and after five years of repayment, the debt changed from 20 to 50.

During this period, Duan Meimei helped cook and sell wine in the store, and served the sick lady of the Fan family, and later helped Chef Fan's daughter-in-law take care of the children.

But Lao Fan doesn't think so, he often tells his business partners about his kindness to this pair of children: "This is a pair of children of the previous shopkeeper, desperate, raised by me, my character, you should believe it." ”

These nonsense can be hidden from distant people, but not from neighbors.

Everyone can see that Lao Fan bullied a pair of orphans and lost his heart.

But you have to ask them, how is Lao Fan, everyone has a "hard to say" expression, and they don't dare to say bad things about him, because Lao Fan has sharp ears, small hearts, and revenge, and his mouth is sour and mean.

His son, who is a cook, is also a tyrannical man who loves to eat and drink and beat people.

It costs money to continue the string, so it's better to simply develop one from your own side.

In the spring of this year, when the weather was still cold, Duan Meimei was washing clothes for Fan Chu's daughter-in-law by the well, and suddenly felt a pair of hands coming from behind and holding her hands from behind.

"Girls can't always touch cold water like this." When I looked back, it was Boss Fan's smiling face.

This face is disgusting!

The hairline recedes far behind, the bun is also sparse, black and white, white and black, the folds at the corners of the eyes are piled up, and there is a forced place for the smile, the nose is shiny, and there is a boil tip that is about to come out, but the old man still feels good about his face.

Duan Meimei felt shocked in her heart, pushed away the old man's hands and left.

I had a nightmare that night, and I wanted to convince myself that it was an accident, but when I thought of Lao Fan's face, I felt that this face was full of smiles and had no good intentions.

After tossing and turning all night, I fell asleep in front of dawn, and when I woke up in the morning, I found that there were blood stains all under him.

Duan Meimei was afraid of startling the silly brother in the next room, so she cried softly.

Later, I thought about it, the daughter-in-law of the Fan family had a bloody middle coat, and she had washed it herself, and the woman would not die because of a little blood, so she got up with abdominal pain, cleaned up her clothes, put straw paper, rolled up her sleeves, and still boiled the steamed buns.

It's strange to say, after the bleeding, Duan Meimei also has various changes in her body.

The slender body gradually became a little rounder, and the chest became a lot plumper.

She was accustomed to the monthly bloodshed, and she also knew how to count the days of bleeding from the old lady Qian in the back kitchen.

Duan Meimei learned how to alleviate the pain from Qian Lao Niang, but the fact that she was bleeding also spread from the mouthy Qian Lao Niang to the ears of Old Man Fan, and he asked Qian Lao Niang to come to Meimei to talk, wanting this girl to be his concubine.

To be honest, Mrs. Qian is not a bad person, she is just mediocre and stupid like most people.

Mrs. Qian likes Duan Meimei, because Duan Meimei has a good personality and is quick with her hands and feet, but the way she loves this girl is to make her "stable".

stability!

For the sake of the sister and brother to eat a bowl of rice, she put a girl into a marriage that she didn't want at all, and the price was the girl's life.

In fact, in the eyes of most old ladies, a girl's life may not be so important.

If you ask them why it doesn't matter how girls feel, they will say with a little bit of worldly pride: "Believe me, my wife has been like this all my life, and men are all the same." ”

Listening to them babble countless details about themselves and those around them, you have only one feeling:

If you fall into a fishing net, not struggling is the best relief.

Accepting this net is your destiny and the destiny of this gender.

Listening to Mrs. Qian's chatter, Duan Meimei suddenly had no head and no brains to ask: "Mrs., you are also fifty-seven." ”

"What's wrong?"

"Boss Fan is fifty, your female eldest is holding a golden rooster, why don't you marry him?"

"Amitabha," Mrs. Qian said Buddha, "people have to look up to me!" ”

"I'm not married."

The next day, Duan Meimei went to the kitchen to eat, and found that she and her brother's rice bowls and chopsticks were thrown in the swill bucket. Boss Fan paced over and whispered on the side: "It's only fifty times, pay it back, wherever you go." ”

Duan Meimei gritted her teeth that day, she rushed to Old Man Fan in one step, and looked at her with her angry eyes, eager to burn this old man. She said word by word: "Yes, but I want to marry Mingmei." ”

The guys and helpers who were eating heard this, and Lao Fan smiled and said, "Yes." ”

Duan Meimei often recalls that humiliating morning these days, and she remembers every detail of that day.

After that day, her girlhood was over, she was not a girl, she was not a woman yet, and perhaps she would never live like a woman again.

In the future, she will be like the walking dead, sleeping with such a bad old man, and carrying out her duties as a wife expressionlessly under his fistula, maybe she will love her children very much, both male and female, and then wait for Lao Fan to kick his feet, and endure all kinds of humiliation and torture from Chef Fan.

Just as I was thinking, there was a white figure in the twilight, holding an oil-paper umbrella, stepping on clogs and slowly passing through the drizzle, and the figure of a stranger looked up at her light shadow on the second floor, and then walked downstairs and entered the gate.

It was a very young man, very handsome.

Before entering, he glanced at her in front of the window and smiled shallowly, there was a light downstairs, she could see his face, she could see that he was smiling at himself.

But the light upstairs was behind her, and he couldn't actually see her face.

But the man laughed anyway.

After many years, when Duan Meimei thinks of this man, she still feels: Smiling at the world seems to be this man's obligation to the world.

At this time, a young man's voice came from downstairs: "Man, come to an upper room." ”