The next morning, as soon as the sky was bright, everyone in the three rooms got up.

No matter what happens inside, the face is still peaceful.

The eldest aunt and the second aunt came over early in the morning to help clean up, with a smile on their faces: "Today is a big day, we have to clean up and don't let the man laugh." ”

Ye Shi looked grateful, didn't dare to really call them, and picked up some light work for them to grind their hands.

The old lady put on new clothes, and assigned people to work with a smile: "Sweep the yard again, and the firewood in the corner of the wall will be neater." ”

"Do you have autumn oil and miso ready? The eldest aunt is a talent, and the food is fragrant. ”

"Don't mix sweet potatoes with today's rice, mix some red beans with a bowl of rice."

“……”

After breakfast, the Yang family was busy.

Carambola and Yang Chunxiao stepped on a high stool to hang red lanterns on the door, and the two broken doors were also pasted with red paper. At first glance, I was very happy.

Yang Cui put on it early in the morning, and carefully traced her eyebrows with charcoal, and the whole person was beaming with joy and brilliance.

Not long after, the idle neighbors also came over one after another, helping while knocking their teeth, and they all had enough energy to see the showman.

A-Niang was busy on the stove, and A-Dad was called around and grinned.

Carambola and Chunxiao went to Qiao An's house to borrow a red whip, held it high on the door, and smiled: "After a while, let's light the whip and keep it lively." ”

"I'll cut some bamboo tubes again, and throw them in the fire when the time comes, and the crackling sound of firecrackers will be good."

"Good"!

The atmosphere of the Yang family was warm and joyful.

But the man who was supposed to pay the dowry never came.

Seeing that it was about to be noon, Yang Laosan rubbed his hands and was anxious, and secretly called the star fruit over: "You and Chunxiao go to the entrance of the village to have a look, isn't there an accident?" ”

Li Xiaozhuang's house is in the next village, a cup of tea can go back and forth, the road is used to walking, what can happen?

Carambola sighed in her heart, didn't dare to say anything unlucky, and took Chunxiao to the entrance of the village.

On the way, Yang Chunxiao was angry and tired, and his face was a little bad: "Sister, why didn't you say Li Xiaozhuang came?" ”

"Maybe there's a delay."

"What could be more important than marrying a daughter-in-law? The date of marriage is set, and he will send a wedding card after being hired today, he ......"

He didn't dare to say the rest of the words, and looked at the star fruit pitifully: "For as long as I can remember, Li Xiaozhuang has been revolving around our eldest sister, pestering the eldest sister three times a day in the name of looking for me, he is sincere to the eldest sister." ”

"Yes, sincerely." Carambola was also a little panicked in her heart, and she said a perfunctory word to her younger brother and stopped talking.

But think about it carefully, I haven't come to the eldest sister for seven or eight days since I was a talent from Li Xiaozhuang.

The sister and brother stood under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village and thought about their thoughts, but no one spoke again.

Suddenly, Yang Pan ran over in a panic, and shouted at the sisters and brothers without taking a breath: "Go home quickly, the eldest sister has an accident." ”

"Huh?"

The sister and brother were scared enough, and hurriedly ran home, asking Yang Pan as they ran: "Okay, what's wrong?" ”

"You will know when you go back, it's about to make a fuss, grandma is going to strangle the eldest sister."

"What?"

Carambola and Chunxiao were so frightened that they lost their souls, and they spread their feet and rushed forward.

From afar, I saw Daddy chasing the matchmaker with a flat pole to chop, and the neighbors were coaxing to drag Daddy. Grandma took a hemp rope and wanted to strangle the eldest sister's neck, and Grandma knelt on the ground crying and begging for mercy.

Star fruit and Yang Chunxiao didn't care about asking the whole story, one dragged the eldest sister who was crying into tears to hide in the house, and the other desperately blocked the grandmother.

After a lot of commotion for more than half an hour, he barely managed to settle down.

The neighbors were scattered, and Grandma was still standing in the middle of the yard throwing things, pointing to the three-room house and scolding.

What a little bitch, a rotten whore, what a nasty scolding. The things that were placed outside in the third room were all smashed if they could be moved, and those that couldn't be moved were chopped with knives.

"I knew that you were such a rotten thing, and you should have been thrown into a gong bucket and drowned when you were born, so as not to ruin the reputation of my Yang family."

Grandpa couldn't listen to it, so he dragged Grandma to the hall with a calm face.

The three-bedroom family of five shrank in the house and listened to the movement, and they didn't dare to make a sound.

When Grandma finally entered the house, Carambola asked, "What happened?" Why is it so serious to kill? ”

The eldest sister covered her head in the quilt and cried, silent; Daddy held a cigarette stick and guarded the threshold, smoking one puff after another; A-Niang's face was full of tears, and it took a long time to stabilize her mood and speak.

"The matchmaker came over with half of your sister's sleeve to withdraw from the marriage, saying that someone bumped into your sister in the middle of the night and tangled with wild men in the woods, and let us compensate the man for the loss. In front of so many neighbors, the matchmaker was a little slut, and your father was so angry that she beat her.

Your grandma thinks that your sister does not abide by women's morals and has lost the face of the Yang family, and wants her to apologize for her sin with death. ”

"Nonsense."

Yang Chunxiao slapped the table with red eyes, and got up from the chair with a bang: "It's too much deception, I'll go to Li Xiaozhuang to settle accounts." ”

Carambola was quick and grabbed him: "The matter hasn't been figured out yet, settle the accounts, and let the Li family beat him again?" ”

"Then why do they say that, eldest sister?"

"You sit down for me."

Carambola pressed Chunxiao back into the chair, went over and lifted Yang Cui's quilt, sat on the edge of the bed and patted her on the back, and asked her softly: "You know the truth best, you tell us." ”

Yang Cui's eyes were swollen from crying, and her eyes were bloodshot. She glanced up at the star fruit, and when the words came to her mouth, she couldn't speak, and she cried again.

"What's the use of crying?"

Carambola pulled the eldest sister in her arms and helped her down: "We all know that you are not that kind of person." If you are bullied outside, we will avenge you, and if the Li family is at a loss, we should retreat.

But if someone slanders your reputation, even if it turns the world upside down, you have to let the Li family get justice. ”

Yang Cui was still crying, heartbroken.

The eye sockets of star fruit can't help but pantothenic, what a good pair, the man is handsome and talented, and the woman is beautiful and virtuous, how did it come to this point?

She took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears for her eldest sister, and then persuaded her: "We are close relatives, and we can't say anything if we don't have anything." Knowing the truth, we can take the next road. ”

Yang Cui buried her head in the carambola's arms, she felt that she had no face to see people, but in the end, she told the truth-

"The day before Li Xiaozhuang's examination for the show, he asked someone to bring a letter. He asked me to embroider a sachet for him and send it, and when he saw the sachet in the examination room, it was like seeing me, and he would be more energetic.

I rushed to finish it for him in the afternoon, and only sent it in the evening. When I came back and passed through the grove, I met two riffraff. They were uneasy and willing to drag me into the woods, and I pulled them apart, and with great difficulty I escaped, but they tore off half of my sleeve. ”

"Those two bastards, I killed them." Yang Chunxiao slammed his fist on the table and trembled, and the green tendons on his forehead protruded.

Daddy knocked on the door with a cigarette stick and hit his head against the wall.

A-Niang held down Chunxiao, and then went to hug Yang Cui: "Silly girl, why didn't you say it when you came back?" ”

Yang Cui was also aggrieved, threw herself into her mother's arms and shook her head: "Why am I embarrassed to talk about this kind of thing?" Besides, they didn't do anything to me, they just pulled me a few times, and they didn't even touch my arm. It's dark, I thought no one knew. ”

Ah Niang sighed, and Yang Cui was excited again: "Mother, my body is really clean, if it really makes people ruined, I won't rely on Li Xiaozhuang, and I won't live today." ”

"Mother knows, mother knows ......"

The mother and daughter cried together, Yang Chunxiao puffed out his eyes and wanted to rush out, but the star fruit held him down.

"Are you still making trouble, still making trouble, and the books are all in the dog's belly? What people are holding is our sister's sleeve, and the person who is pulling with our sister is in their village, you just make trouble with the yamen, and they are justified in withdrawing from the marriage. ”

In ancient times, this was the case, a man's three wives and four concubines were called amorous, and a woman's loss of virginity even if her arm was peeked.

Trouble, the world knows it, how else does the eldest sister behave?

Yang Chunxiao pounded the wall, took the hand of the star fruit and pressed it on his chest: "Sister, I'm uncomfortable, it hurts here, it hurts." ”

Her mother's heart was like being stabbed with a knife, and the knife saw blood, she didn't speak, but she thought in her heart: Even if you withdraw from the marriage, you won't quit like this. The elders came over in advance to sit down, and made it clear that the reason was done quietly, everyone looks good, isn't it?

The Li family is poor and has no money to go to private school, but it is still the Meng that Cui his father gave to Xiao Zhuangqi, and the Yang family has been no worse than his own son over the years.

Even if you are not satisfied with the marriage, you should remember some old love, right?

Daddy picked up the cigarette stick again and smoked, one puff after another, choking on himself and coughing so hard that he burst into tears.

The six-foot-tall old man covered his face with one hand and clutched the cigarette stick with the other, so that the back bones of his hands turned white.

Star fruit knew that her father hated her for not being able to do it.

If he were a man, he wouldn't have to live in this poor country, and his daughter wouldn't have encountered such a pickled thing. If he had the strength to draw a bow and hunt, no matter how ruthless the gangster was, he would not dare to touch his daughter; If he had money, everyone would stammer with him, and the Li family would never dare to withdraw from the marriage in this way......

The whole family was in the house, and no one moved when it was dark.

Carambola quietly wiped away her tears, took the hands of her mother and eldest sister and said, "Things have happened, no matter how difficult it is, we have to continue our days." Let's all start with the spirit, don't let people look down on us. ”

A-Niang nodded, and the eldest sister also came out of her mother's arms, but she still refused to look up.

"Brother, you are a man, you have to hold up the family for us, and you have to endure the pain. Light the lamp, let's make dinner. ”

Yang Chunxiao obediently lit the lamp, looked up and asked the star fruit: "Then what should we do next?" ”

Ye also looked at the star fruit, and pointed in the direction of the hall worriedly: "Your grandmother can't accommodate your eldest sister." ”

"If you can't tolerate her, you have to tolerate, Cui'er is my daughter, what mistake did she make? She's being bullied, she's wrong, isn't she? Whoever wants to kill my daughter, kill me first. ”

Yang Chunxiao also stood up with his chest: "That's it, whoever dares to touch a single hair of my eldest sister, I will fight with her." ”

The two of them shouted loudly, and there were echoes all over the yard, and the Yang family heard them clearly and clearly.

So, there was another sound of beating in the hall, but in the end there was no more unpleasant scolding.

Carambola pulled Yang Chunxiao out to clean up the yard and light a fire to cook. The good things prepared in the past two days were taken away, and they didn't even leave a handful of miscellaneous grains.

Star fruit gritted her teeth, picked up a few rotten sweet potatoes, cut off the rotten parts and cooked a pot of sweet potato soup, and then cut the pickles and fried them with fragrant seasonings.

Yang Chunxiao clenched his fists with a dark face, and the star fruit broke his fingers one by one, and looked at him seriously: "Life is passed, it's useless to be angry, and the storm is not terrible, we will definitely be able to walk out of a broad road if we straighten our backs." ”

Chunxiao nodded, but her brows did not stretch: "The Li family will pay ten taels of silver, otherwise they will report to the official." But even if we smash the pot and sell iron, we can't take it out. ”