Unconsciously, it has been half a year since the complete ban on hemp and the construction of a cultural square, the atmosphere in the village has improved a lot, and the villagers get along with each other a lot.

After the winter, the odd workers in the city came back one after another, and the harvest of the fields was completed, and the village slowly became lively. Since this time, there have been more red and white ceremonies in the village.

According to local customs, the proprietor of the red and white wedding usually invites two people who have a good face in the village to be Mr. Zhibin and Mr. Concierge. Mr. Zhibin is responsible for the arrangement of visitors and the completion of some customs during the wedding event; Mr. Concierge is in charge of the accounts, i.e. the receipt of gift money, the registration of gifts and the return of gifts.

Who else in the village will have more head and face than Director Dai Yuedai? It is logical that every villager who does a happy event will go to the team headquarters to invite Dai Yue devoutly, so pious that if Dai Yue refuses, he feels that he has made a big mistake.

However, Dai Yue thinks that he is not very familiar with the polite contacts and customs of people, and he only acts as a concierge every time he goes to a house. The concierge is facing money, as long as there are no problems with the accounts, and everyone who has given the gift money can get the gift in return and not be rude.

Tomorrow is the 40th birthday of a group of villagers Liu Deren, the general wedding banquet in the village is for two days, the day before the wedding all relatives and friends will come to congratulate, this day is also the busiest time for Mr. Concierge, there will be neighbors and relatives and friends all day long, Dai Yue registered one by one to receive gifts to give back gifts, so busy that he couldn't even eat.

In the evening, basically the guests were almost there, and the gift book was almost full, Dai Yue grabbed something in the kitchen and squatted in the corner and stuffed it into his mouth. Every time the Liu family has a happy event, it is the most tiring, because the Liu family has the largest population, and the registration is not finished in a day, and most of the time they can't eat.

"Grandma, are we going to have wine again tomorrow?" An immature child's voice sounded beside him.

"Alas," an old female voice sighed, "yes, saving some money all year round will basically be spent here." ”

Dai Yue glanced sideways, it was Liu Wupo from the second group riding a tricycle with her granddaughter. Liu Wupo's husband's surname is Liu, he died very early, his son and daughter-in-law are working outside, and sometimes Dai Yue will ask Dai Yue for help when there are some things that cannot be solved at home, so the two are quite familiar. Liu Wupo parked the tricycle, and Dai Yue went up to pick up her granddaughter down.

"Director Dai, are you still here to help as a concierge?" Liu Wupo said hello.

Dai Yue nodded: "Fifth woman, you and Liu Deren also have a relationship?" ”

Liu Wupo smiled reluctantly: "I can't write two Lius in one stroke, my dead ghost is Naruhito's uncle." After that, he took out two hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it to Dai Yue: "Register the name of my son Dexing, our family conditions are only like this, and we can't be a big person." ”

Dai Yue politely said on behalf of the owner: "Where does the fifth woman say, it's already good that you can come, hurry up and bring your granddaughter to the table to prepare for dinner." ”

finally stuffed her stomach half full, and Du Jiaolan, the wife of Liu Deren, the owner of the happy event, came over: "Director Dai, help me register a favor." ”

Dai Yue opened the gift book and waited for Guerlain Du to say her name and give money.

Du Jiaolan hesitated for a moment and spoke: "The name is written as Du Yinlong, and the gift money is 5,000 yuan." ”

After Dai Yue registered his name and the amount of gift money, he raised his eyes to look at Du Jiaolan, Du Jiaolan hesitated and said, "I'll sign a name here and write it for collection." ”

There is also a rule of "introduction", for example, some mother's family guests are more reserved, and the gift money will be secretly given to the hostess of the happy event, and the hostess can't remember the amount of gift money for a while, so she will register her name and write the introduction. This situation is generally not liked by Mr. Concierge, because as long as the hostess makes a mistake in adduction, there will be discrepancies in the accounts, and losing money is a trivial matter, which will ruin Mr. Concierge's reputation.

But Dai Yue doesn't care, during this period of time, he has been a concierge for a long time, so he has summed up an experience: he doesn't bring a dime with him, and all the money he collects belongs to the owner, so as to avoid mixing his money with gift money, and the chance of making mistakes is much smaller.

At the beginning of the dinner, the guests were basically almost here, and Dai Yue was also idle, and sat aside to rest with a long sigh of relief.

On the other side, the male and female hosts of the happy event, Liu Deren and Du Jiaolan, nodded quietly to see if all the guests who should have arrived have arrived.

Dai Yue has already seen this kind of scene, not that Liu Deren and Du Jiaolan are afraid that there will be guests who have not arrived and will not greet them well, but that they have an account in their hearts about the gift money they sent out before, to see if they have received their gift money, and this time they did a happy event but did not come, such people will not have contact in the future, and they will be mean when they meet.

After calculating that the people who should have arrived have basically arrived, Liu Deren turned his head in satisfaction, and Du Guerlan lowered his head and followed behind.

"You said that your brother is true," Liu Deren suddenly turned his head and complained in a low voice: "From his marriage to the full moon of the child, the arrest of Zhou, the age of five, and the age of ten, I spent a total of tens of thousands of yuan in gift money, why did I finally become a forty-year-old, he can be regarded as doing it, and the gift money is actually on the account." ”

Du Jiaolan never looked up: "Yinlong's situation has been bad in the past two years, and it has suffered a lot of losses, if it is not really impossible to take it out, who is willing to lose this face." ”

Liu Deren raised his voice slightly: "Is this something that can't be taken out?" Haven't you heard the old saying 'human affection is not better than debt, and you still get up to smash the pot and sell it'? He Du Yinlong smiled when he accepted my favor, and when he got up, he played a white strip? Did he treat you like a sister? ”

Du Jiaolan's head lowered even more and did not make a sound. Liu Deren continued: "He's not looking down on me, he's cheating on you, if our brothers and sisters know that your mother's family can't afford to be a person, will they immediately look down on you?" It doesn't even carry me anymore. ”

Du Guerlan whispered: "I registered a collection of five thousand with Director Dai, and no one will know." Liu Deren turned his head and saw Dai Yue sitting next to him, and it was estimated that he had heard what he had just said.

Liu Deren stepped forward and handed over a cigarette: "Director Dai, it's hard work." ”

Dai Yue smiled: "It's okay, it's not hard." ”

Liu Deren looked back and forth, and said: "Director Dai laughed at Du Yinlong's matter, and please don't say it." ”

Dai Yue smiled: "I am only responsible for taking care of the accounts, and your family affairs have nothing to do with me." ”

Liu Deren nodded, simply sat down and lit a cigarette: "Actually, I don't want to do it at the age of forty, I really can't help it." ”

"How?" Dai Yue became interested.

Liu Deren asked rhetorically: "Director Dai has studied in college and seen the world, have you ever heard of a fortieth birthday outside?" ”

Dai Yue thought for a while: "I've seen sixty or seventy birthdays, but I really haven't had this." ”

Liu Deren smiled bitterly: "I haven't heard of working outside, in fact, there was no local one a long time ago, and I don't know when it started to be a fortieth birthday." In fact, the person who did this birthday is the same as me, there are too many favors sent out, and there is no way to take it back for the time being, only to shamelessly make a 40th birthday and collect some favors back. ”

Dai Yue remembered that his parents at home often urged marriage for this reason: find a wife to get married quickly, we haven't had a happy event in our family for a long time, and how much gift money has been given out over the years, we have to take it back quickly.

Liu Deren continued: "In fact, the people who do this happy event are reluctant, and the people who come are also reluctant, especially in this season, pork has risen sharply, and there is not much money left after a happy event, only fat to sell meat, tobacco and alcohol." ”

Dai Yue laughed: "Since you are reluctant, don't give some gifts that shouldn't be given, and don't accept what you shouldn't receive, so you can't avoid a lot?" ”

Liu Deren sighed: "Living in this humane society, who should give and who should not give?" Who should take it and who should not take it? Don't people all try to save face? Take the more than 100 households in our Liuji Village as an example, in fact, some of them are at least ten generations apart, but when it comes to it, they can't write two Liu characters in one stroke. As for receiving gift money, if you accept Liu San and confiscate Liu Si, Liu Si will feel that you look down on him, and if you don't get it right, you will have to turn your back. can only say that he will accept it when he comes, and then he will pay it back when he does a happy event. ”

Dai Yue remembered what Liu Wupo said just now, and she really didn't want to come when she heard the tone. Moreover, since the beginning of winter, the happy events of the Liu clan have not been interrupted, even if each family only gives a gift of 200, Liu Wupo will have to get a few thousand yuan this winter.

This is just a folks' account, and those who are slightly closer in blood are all counted in thousands; As for those close relatives, 1,200 can't be reached, at least 35,000.

There are also some concubines who fight for the strength of their mother's family, your family will give 5,000 and my family will have to give 8,000, and his family will give 8,000 and my family will get 10,000. How many rich relatives do rural people have? As for the real strength of the mother's family, it is even rarer, but the father and mother are afraid that their daughter will not speak hard at the in-law's house, so they are desperate.

At first, when the villagers took Dai Yue as a guest or protocol, he only felt that some vulgar etiquette was too troublesome and ridiculous, and those villagers religiously accepted him, not that he couldn't do this happy event without him, but he went to the villagers with more brilliance on their faces, for the unity of the village and future work, Dai Yue was basically cooperating. And I grew up in a humane society, and I am not very sensitive to the exchange of gifts, and now I occasionally calculate an account, and the gift money of favors is actually a large expense for farmers.

Take Liu Wupo as an example, she is a lonely old woman who serves a few acres of land at home, how much income can she earn in a year? I'm afraid it's just enough for a gift money for a big clan like the Liu family. If you encounter a happy event for your loved ones, I am afraid that you will have to borrow money to give gifts.

Looking back at the reception at the banquet, there were at least forty-one packs of cigarettes and hundreds of bottles of wine. And the consumption of these things is very large, originally Dai Yue was just a person who smoked to meet the occasion, and he smoked a lot during this period of time.

When each visitor registers the gift money, Mr. Concierge will hand out a pack of cigarettes, most of the visitors will take the cigarette apart and scatter it in a circle, the loose cigarette is inconvenient to hold in the hand, and it is a waste of two dollars, so most people are unwilling to smoke the cigarette, they really can't smoke, and they will throw it away after two puffs.

The wine on the table is not much better, and most people have to pour a glass whether they drink it or not, and in the end, even if not a drop is touched, it will be taken away and thrown away by the helper, causing a lot of waste.

In this way, this so-called 'happy event' is really not a good thing.