In the spring, Cuiying went to the village to ask a matchmaker to find Hexin's in-laws. Hexin is already a seventeen-year-old girl, she looks shy and timid, but she acts very calmly, and she listens to her family members very much, and she has almost no temper. There are a few people who come to the door to propose, but Cuiying can't look down on it, either they look a little stumbling, or their family background is not very good. The matchmaker walked around the village, and she felt that she had recommended it to Cuiying, but she couldn't even take a fancy to it. So the matter gradually delayed, seeing that Hexin was getting older and older, Zhou's mother began to complain about Cuiying, saying that it was just about the same, and there was no need to be so picky. But Cuiying still insisted on her decision, she wanted to find a good in-law for Hexin, a filial daughter, so that she and the child would be more comfortable in that house in the future. Jiafu knew what Cuiying was thinking, and he agreed very much, but he didn't say it, leaving Cuiying alone to deal with it.

Two weeks later, on her way back from delivering food to a relative on the other side of the village, Cuiying saw a well-dressed, well-dressed young man passing by her. She has lived in this village for more than ten years, and she almost recognizes all her faces, but this young man is a new face, and she has never seen it. Seeing that his actions were all in the city, and he was not at all different from the young man in the countryside, he suddenly became curious, and grabbed an aunt in front of him and asked, "Who is that young man?" Why haven't I ever seen one? ”

"That's the grandson of the old Liu family, he is nineteen years old this year, it seems to be called Liu Ji."

"Hey, I know that, but I've never seen it in the village?"

"You don't know, this baby went out with relatives in the city in her early years, it seems that she studied in the city, and now she works in the city." The aunt was holding a handful of melon seeds in her hand, gossiping with relish, "What, you like it?" ”

"My eldest daughter is old, aren't I looking for her in-laws?" Cuiying said, as if she suddenly remembered something, turned around and left, and didn't say goodbye. The girl barked twice in the back and then stopped screaming, and felt very bored, so she shook her head and went into the house.

Cuiying returned home, and Hexin and Hedi were busy on the stove. She put down the jar in her hand, walked to Jiafu, who was doing carpentry in the yard, and asked, "Do you know the grandson of the old Liu family?" ”

"You know, what's wrong?" Jiafu didn't raise his head, he lowered his head and was just busy with the work at hand.

"I see he's coming back from the city, ouch, that magnificent, good-looking kid." Cui Ying couldn't help but fuss and said, "I think this young man is not bad, and he is a good match for our family." ”

"If you think it's worthy, then you can get it." Jiafu raised his head and wiped the sweat from his face, "I'll leave it all to you, I don't know how to do this." ”

"I know, you know how to do this!" Emerald Shadow pointed to the smooth piece of wood that had been ground with her index finger and turned to enter the house. She took out a new cloth shirt from the cupboard and put it on her body, changed the old cloth shoes on her feet, and began to comb her hair in the mirror. She dipped the broken hair hanging down on the left side with some water, and then carefully combed it to the back of her head with a comb to make the hair look very smooth and compliant, and then she went out slowly, walked along the village road to the door of Lao Liu's house, and raised her hand to knock on the wooden door.

"Who?" A young, energetic voice came from the door.

"Me! Your aunt of the Zhou family. Cuiying heard that this was the voice of Lao Liu's grandson, and hurriedly said. Then there was a sound of footsteps, and someone opened the door, and it was the young man who was very well dressed. He smiled and invited her into the house, and Cuiying was not polite, and went straight to the main house of Lao Liu's house.

"What have you been busy with lately?" Cui Ying asked as soon as she stepped through the threshold. Lao Liu was sitting on a chair facing the door smoking a dry cigarette, and when he saw her come in, he stood up with a smile. The two sat down face to face and chatted about common things, and the young man sat on the small stool next to Lao Liu, and when he saw that the tea in their teacups was gone, he quickly got up and filled them up.

After chatting for a while, Cuiying's eyes moved to the young man, and asked with half curiosity, "Is this your grandson?" ”

"yes." Lao Liu picked up the gaiwan teacup and took a sip of tea, "I've followed his parents to the city since I was a child, and I don't work anymore, come back to see me." He looked at his grandson with pity, "I'm just such a grandson, and I don't feel bored when I come back to spend a period of time with me every year." ”

"What kind of work does the baby do in the city?"

"I heard that it's for Zhengfu, but I don't understand my old man." Old Liu smiled innocently. Cuiying smiled and glanced at the young man again, and asked the young man, "What's your name?" ”

"Auntie, my name is Liu Ji."

Cui Ying nodded secretly in praise, then stood up and smiled: "It's not early, I'll go back and cook for the family." Lao Liu, you have nothing to do and come to my house to sit, if you don't come, I have to invite you? ”

Lao Liu raised his head and laughed a few times, got up and said, "Go, definitely go, you come and invite me, forget it, I can't stand it haha." ”

Cuiying went out and went straight to the matchmaker's house, dragging her to make sure the matchmaker would go to the door the next day to say goodbye. The old woman had long been bored by Cuiying's picking, and this time she finally met the right eye, and her enthusiasm came up, and she simply cleaned up the next morning and went to Lao Liu's house. Cuiying waited at home, and waited until the afternoon when the matchmaker came to her house, sat down and drank several sips of tea in a row, before panting and saying, "The grandson of the old Liu family refuses." ”

"What?" Emerald Shadow almost jumped up from her stool in shock. She pulled over Hexin, who was standing beside her, waiting to pour tea, and said in disbelief, "Look at my girl, where is her appearance and literacy not worthy of him?" Why didn't he refuse? ”

"It's not that your girl is not worthy of him, and besides, other people's children haven't seen your girl yet." The matchmaker took two more sips of tea, "He said this, he feels that he is still young, and he wants to fight for a career before thinking about marrying a wife and having children." ”

"." Cui Ying took a sip anxiously, "Start a family, start a family, start a family, what is the young man thinking about." She rolled her eyes and hurriedly said to the matchmaker, "In this way, you invite Lao Liu and his grandson to my house for dinner tomorrow, so that the two young people can meet, maybe they will see each other." ”

The matchmaker shook her head and said, "Ouch, now in this world, where is the turn of the babies to speak." ”

"By the way, how did Lao Liu react?" Emerald asked again.

"Lao Liu is not happy, but I think he also dotes on his grandson too much, and as soon as his grandson says he doesn't agree, he won't speak." Saying that, the matchmaker stood up and walked out, "You are ready to pack up, I'll go and give them an invitation." ”

He Xin stood beside her mother and listened to the conversation between the two people clearly, and couldn't help but blush. She shyly and timidly followed her mother to send the matchmaker out of the door, and without saying anything, she went back to the back room to do needlework. Cuiying looked at her daughter's figure, and made up her mind in her heart, no matter what, she had to break the heart of the grandson of the old Liu family, so that she could return victoriously with the first happy event she handled.

At ten o'clock in the morning of the next day, Lao Liu came with Liu Ji with his hands behind his back. Hexin Hetu was busy working on the stove with Cuiying, and when she saw Lao Liu stepping in, she was busy with her neck and calling to look at the family photo of He's homework in the back room. When Jiafu heard the sound, he hurriedly invited Lao Liu and Liu Ji to the main house, and took out the tea leaves that he was reluctant to drink on weekdays to entertain them. After Cuiying brought all the food to the table, she invited a few of them to come over, and everyone laughed and talked, although they were not in the family matter, they could hear that they were talking about it. Liu Ji and He Xin sat facing each other, both bowing their heads and not speaking. He Xin had long known what her mother had in mind, and at this moment she was blushing like a ripe red apple, and she lowered her head and didn't dare to look at Liu Ji. Liu Ji didn't want to start a family so early, but when he saw Hexin, his heart moved inexplicably, especially her Danfeng eyes, when she occasionally glanced at him, that gaze seemed to construct an invisible bridge between them. He regretted rejecting the matchmaker a little, maybe it would be okay to start a family first and then start a business. He thought to himself, his eyes looked at Hexin presumptuously, and he felt a throbbing in his heart.

"Well, I make sense, right?" Cuiying smiled proudly and took Hexin's hand beside her, "My daughter knows what kind of temperament, what else do you Lao Liu pick and choose?" ”

"I didn't pick it." Lao Liu smiled honestly and poked Liu Ji who was in a daze next to him with his elbow, "What do you think?" ”

Liu Ji first glanced up at Hexin, her slender figure, fair skin and black thick braids were deeply imprinted in his mind, and he said in a low voice: "Look at you." ”

"That's a promise, isn't it?" The matchmaker clapped her hands and smiled, she was happy, after all, she had an honorarium for herself, and she could have a banquet, what a good thing.

The date was quickly set, and on the eighth day of the 11th lunar month, it was a good day for marriage and relocation. Because there is no way to store the fresh meat of livestock slaughtered on important days in the countryside, we can only wait until the weather is cold before holding a big event. During the days of preparation in the middle, Hexin followed the family to work in the fields as usual, and when the autumn harvest was over and the weather gradually cooled down, Cuiying would not let her work on her hands, so that her daughter who was about to get married could enjoy happiness at home. So Hexin sat on the kang every day, either supervising Hexin's homework, or helping her family make shoes and sew torn clothes. Almost all the work in the family is on Hedi, but she has never complained, feeling that this is what she should do. And she is reluctant to give up her sister in her heart, after all, after getting married, her sister will follow Liu Ji to the city, and it is not certain that she will not see her in a year. The more she thought about it, the more sad she became, and she almost didn't want her sister to get married. But when she told Cui Ying this sentence, Cui Ying smiled and poked her forehead with her finger and said, "Little girl, you will have such a day in the future, what is there to be reluctant to." ”

"I don't want to get married, I want to stay at home for the rest of my life." He Tu said loudly, his voice full of innocence and childishness.

"How can a daughter grow up and stay at her parents' house, so that others can hear the joke."

"Why do you care so much about what other people think?" He Tu pursed his mouth, and his voice became unassuming.

"You learn from your sister, listen to the adults, where do you have so many problems." Emerald Shadow said as she stood up, lifted the curtain and went out. He Tu sat still, thinking of what Xiuhan had said to her, and began to contradict in his heart, what his parents said was right, or what Xiuhan said was right?

Winter is coming soon, and as soon as the month enters December, Hedi's family is busy. He didn't understand the process of marriage, but just ran around behind Cuiying's ass and listened to her calls. Hexin sat cross-legged on the warm kang, knitting a sweater with a woolen needle entangled with old wool in her hand, Heyi Hefu went to school, the whole room was missing them, it seemed a little empty, and the yard was very lively. After finishing his work, he ran in with a kick, stuffed his frozen hands into the quilt, and said tremblingly: "It's so cold, it's cold." ”

"Hurry up and warm up." Hexin hurriedly said.

"No, there are still dishes that haven't been washed, and my mother said that I will press them all into the tank today." He said, pulling his hand out and running out again. Hexin looked at the feeling in her heart, so she got out of bed and put on her shoes to prepare to help, and as soon as she went out, she was driven back by Cuiying, and said: "You go back and sit, and when you get to your mother-in-law's house, you are busy, and now you are idle, when you think of us in the future, at least you will remember it in your heart." ”

"Even if I'm busy, I'll remember it." Hexin said secretly in her heart, but she didn't react, so she had to lift the curtain and enter the house and add charcoal to the stove.

Soon it was the good days that Cui Ying said, and that day Hexin was sitting at the table in the bedroom, there was a mirror on the table, and Cui Ying was combing her hair and smearing all kinds of things on her face. She picked up a piece of red paper and put it in the middle of Hexin's lips, and let Hexin sip it, and her lips became red. She put Hexin's thick braid on the back of her head into a delicate bun, and her rough fingers nimbly interspersed between the hair. When the makeup of her head and face was finished, Cuiying turned around and shook off the wedding dress she had sewn from the kang, which was a set of bright red satin cotton jackets, with fine gold threads sewn along the collar, sleeves, and trouser legs. She asked Hexin to change into this set of clothes, and put a hijab embroidered with a pair of mandarin ducks on Hexin's head, and let Hexin sit on the edge of the kang and wait for her uncle's family to pick it up.

"Mom, I'm a little nervous." Hexin said sullenly under her hijab, she felt like she was almost trembling.

Cuiying squatted down, put a pair of beautifully embroidered wedding shoes on Hexin's feet, and said in a muffled voice: "What's so nervous, Mom came here like this." ”

"Mom, am I married, so I can't stay in our house?" Hexin asked again, trying to calm her body down, so she distracted herself by asking questions.

"The water spilled by the daughter who got married." Cuiying straightened up, exhaled a big breath from her mouth, and sat down beside Hexin, "You must be obedient when you go over, don't do bad things, and if you are in order, your mother will rest assured." ”

"Got it." Hexin felt a clogging sensation in her throat, and her nose was sour.

"Don't cry." Cuiying heard her daughter's choked voice, "On a happy day, it's unlucky to cry." But the corners of her eyes were moist, and she reached out and grabbed Hexin's arm tightly, and the reluctance in her heart was a thousand times heavier than the reluctance in Hexin's heart.

He Tu opened the curtain and ran in, Cuiying hurriedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and asked, "Are you here?" ”

"It's coming, it's coming." He shouted excitedly, turned and ran out again. Several female relatives standing at the door also became excited, carrying the table and moving the stool, blocking the door tightly, and resolutely not letting the groom come in easily. The courtyard gradually became lively, and there was a lot of noise, as if there were hundreds of people making noise in the courtyard. Hexin was infected by their enthusiasm, the infarction in her throat receded, her body stopped shaking, and she pricked up her ears to listen to the movement in the yard, feeling both anticipation and curiosity in her heart.

The bridegroom was crowded to the door, and the groom, holding several red paper bags in his hand, bent down and stuffed them into the crack of the door, begging the women inside to open the door. The women were frolicking, and the red envelopes were all stuffed in and not opened, and finally Cuiying couldn't stand it anymore, so she smiled and pushed the women who were playing and asked them to take away the tables and benches blocked at the door, and the groom and the men outside poured in like a tide.

"I've entrusted my daughter to you." Emerald Shadow grabbed the groom's arm, and her tone was meaningful. Liu Ji nodded heavily, and over Cuiying's shoulder, he saw Hexin sitting on the edge of the kang, with a red hijab on her head, and a beautiful figure outlined by a satin cotton jacket, which couldn't help but make his heart ripple. He took Hexin's hand and led her out to his house. A large crowd followed them, Jiafu and Cuiying walked at the back, and it was the first time that Hetu had participated in this kind of scene, holding the hands of his younger siblings and running forward excitedly, burrowing through the crowd. He Rui walked beside her parents with a straight face, holding several red envelopes that her new aunt had just stuffed into the door.

There were more people in the courtyard of Lao Liu's house, and they were almost shoulder to shoulder. Liu Ji led Hexin to worship tea to the elders in the family, and when he came to Jiafu and Cuiying, Hexin's head was lower than when he worshipped other elders, and he almost knocked on the cushion. Jiafu and Cuiying hurriedly picked them up, and Liu Ji led Hexin to visit other elders, and introduced them one by one, and Hexin called them back one by one.

After the newlyweds finished worshipping their elders, the people in the courtyard sat down around the large round table. There were six such large round tables in the courtyard, and some people could not sit down. On the table were beef and mutton, as well as all kinds of cold dishes and dried fruits, all of which could not be eaten on a daily basis, and the people were very happy, and they tried to sweep them clean with chopsticks one after another. The couple's immediate family members and friends were invited into the room and sat down around the long table on the kang. Hetu, Herui, Heyi and Hefu sat next to Jiafu and Cuiying, the three girls were embarrassed to pick up the dishes in the distance, and only ate the dishes in front of them, only Hefu was noisy, either this or that. Jiafu smiled dotingly, and from time to time straightened up to help him get what he wanted to eat. The feast lasted until six o'clock in the afternoon, when the sky began to darken, and the newlyweds retreated into their new rooms, where some of the young men rubbed their hands together and thought about how to make a room to be happy. The light of the candles casts the figures of the room on the windows, moving around as if they were performing a shadow puppet show. He Tu and He Yi stood in the courtyard and watched curiously, and Jiafu Cuiying led He Fu over, telling them not to look, and led a few children to sit with their in-laws for a while, and then they were about to leave.

"Don't worry, we will definitely treat her well." The mother-in-law held Cuiying's hand and kept talking, Cuiying nodded again and again with sadness and joy on her face. A family of six exited the courtyard of Lao Liu's house and walked towards their home in the middle of the night.

He Tu felt empty in her heart, and when she remembered that there was no one at home rushing to help her with her work, she felt uncomfortable. But looking at her parents, younger siblings, they didn't seem to feel sad, but were very happy, and her heart was even more sad. How did she know the hearts of her parents? Adults hide their sadness in their hearts and never show it easily, if they cry like a child, laugh when they laugh, they will be ridiculed as crazy. When the courtyard gate was opened, the ground of the courtyard was still covered with debris from firecrackers. Jiafu wanted to sweep with a broom, Cuiying said: "Sweep it tomorrow, it's so dark, the children are sleepy, clean up and let us sleep." ”

Jiafu didn't listen to her, and swept the yard clean in the dark, and then washed his hands and face and lay on the kang. To save candles, the family went to bed early. The room fell back into darkness and silence, as if no one lived in it at all.

He Tu lay on the side of the kang, and his younger siblings slept in it. In the past, Hexin always slept on the outside, and Hetu felt very secure in his heart, even if the monster came, he was not afraid. But now that it was her turn to sleep on the outside, she felt mixed feelings in her heart, both a sense of loss in her sister's absence, and a sense of responsibility to take care of her younger siblings for the first time. These two feelings intertwined in her heart, and when the starlight gradually thinned, she slowly fell asleep.