The husband's son-in-law

Li's family set off from the village in mid-April. They walked for two days on the road and spent a day looking for a house in the inn. They tidied up the house, built walls, replaced tiles, rebuilt the mule shed, painted the doors and windows, powdered the walls of the inner house, and rebuilt the house. Frame the window paper, beat the furniture, etc., and it will be the end of the month after everything is settled.

Among them, the bed is the latest to come back, and it is also the most expensive.

Just two beds cost two and a half silver.

The owner of the house enthusiastically talked about the furniture shop. He heard that the Li family used to sleep well on the kang, so he reminded that he must book a bed first. Tables, wardrobes and stools are all in stock. Yes, if you sleep on the ground every day, you will feel cold.

Sure enough, as the owner said, a bed would take two days at the fastest.

The bed in Gu Zhao's mind is a modern simple wooden bed, but here it is a four-poster canopy bed. The bed itself has no fancy carvings. The shelf on the top of the headboard is hollowed out, and four pillars stand at the four corners of the bed to support the cover.

This is the most common and cheapest bed that people in prefectures and counties sleep on nowadays.

It's really fancy and rich, and there are six pillars, eight pillars, moon gates, complex carvings, and precious woods such as nanmu and sandalwood.

The bed in his house is made of birch, which is durable.Because both Zhou Zhou and his father are big and tall at home, the custom-made bed is also big, 1.8 meters, and I paid half a penny more, otherwise a tael of silver would be enough for an ordinary family's bed.

The bed has a big head, and the others are not so expensive, like a round stool for [-] yuan a piece, four of which were ordered at home, and a round table is placed in the main room.Two wardrobes with two doors, Gu Zhao's desk and bookshelf, these add up to one tael and a half of silver.

The furniture only cost four taels, and bricks, tiles, stone powder, yellow mud, wood, etc. only needed one tael, and no workers were hired to make it. Li Da and Li Zhouzhou could make it with their hands.Saved a small labor fee.

The remaining one or two bought paint, paper for mounting windows, and things to use in the stove, such as larger water tanks, rice noodle tanks, grain, meat and vegetables.Basins, racks, sweat towels, tooth powder for brushing teeth in the house.

That's right, Gu Zhao found toothbrushing tools in the prefecture.

Today's craftsmen are skillful, using bamboo handles, drilling holes for braiding horsetail hair, and dipping tooth powder for cleaning.Not much different from a modern toothbrush.A toothbrush is eight cents, tooth powder is more expensive, a box of tooth powder is twenty cents, a girl slaps a big porcelain bottle, the kind with a short round belly and an open mouth.

Li Zhouzhou saw that his husband liked it, so he bought it for him.

"Buy a set for dad too." Gu Zhao said coquettishly, "Our whole family can use it, and I can't just use it, okay~"

There are not many dentists now, and it would be terrible if the tooth decayed.In the village before, Gu Zhao was very afraid, so he brushed carefully with willow branches every day.

Li Zhouzhou bought them for all three of his family.Three toothbrushes, two boxes of tooth powder.In the store, Gu Zhao looked like a pretty boy, and said nice things, "We both use a box of tooth powder and buy it when we run out."

The big guys all looked at the young couple, Li Zhouzhou was embarrassed to pay, Gu Zhao took the initiative to take the things, and took Zhou Zhou out of the shop with one hand.Let the people behind guess who is the husband and who is the husband.

Six taels of silver were not spent indiscriminately.

The husband and wife are now lying on the four-poster bed. After talking about the expenses of the past few days, Li Zhouzhou turned to face his husband and asked, "Sister-in-law, should you go to school?"

After a child student passes the scholar examination, he must go to the government office to register within one month, and then he can take the booklet to the government school to report, and then he can enter school.

After the house was rented, Gu Zhao took the time to go to the yamen to get a seal. Now he can go to government schools any day, which is not like the modern day where he takes five days off and two days off a week, but now he takes a bath every other day.

About three days a month, No. 11, NO.21, and No. 31.It would be great to have a [-].

"Does Zhou Zhou think I'm annoying you by staying at home?" Gu Zhao put his arms around his wife and was reluctant to let go.

Li Zhouzhou smiled with his eyes wide open, and said, "My husband is talking nonsense again. The yard was busy before, and you didn't go to the school to stay and help. I know it. Now that the family has settled down, I'm fine by myself."

"Is it really okay? Zhou Zhou is not afraid?"

Before Li Zhouzhou could say that he was not afraid, Mr. Xiang held his cheeks with both hands and deliberately teased him, saying: "Zhou Zhou has to say that he doesn't want to part with me."

"Of course I don't want to part with my husband." Li Zhouzhou's heart was soft and sweet, his eyes sparkled, he boldly leaned over and kissed his husband, and said in a soft voice, "I want my husband."

Some heat up.

Afterwards, Gu Zhao thought that it was reasonable for the bed to be expensive. The quality was indeed good, and it didn't vibrate or shake, and it was very stable.It won't be said that it will shake and fall apart after a year and a half. It is handmade by folk pure wood, which is easy to use.

Gu Zhao kissed the corner of Zhou Zhou's lips.Li Zhouzhou's mind was still in a daze, and he didn't know when it would start. He couldn't take it anymore when the husband hugged him and had sex with him.

On the first day of the bridal chamber, the husband was happy, and he comforted him.Li Zhouzhou's whole body was sore and limp, but Xianggong kissed the corner of his lips, and in the old habit, he raised his arms and put his arms around Xianggong into his arms.

"Don't bother you, go to sleep." Gu Zhao lay curled up in his wife's arms, wrapping his arms around, and covered Zhou Zhou with the corners of the quilt.

Li Zhouzhou's voice was also a little hoarse, he said yes in a soft voice, and then fell into a deep sleep.

It was a good night's sleep.

The freshly pasted window paper was bright, and the sunlight outside came in, and Li Zhouzhou woke up.It has been seven days since he came to the prefecture and county. A few days ago, because he was busy with yard work, he fell asleep at night and got up early to work.

Because there was no rooster, the rooster didn't crow in the morning, so he seemed to get up late again.

Li Zhouzhou got up from the bed, and Xianggong also woke up early and was not there. He was wearing clothes, tied his hair with a cloth belt, and opened the window to ventilate. He had just left the house when he heard the courtyard door unlocked.

Gu Zhao bought breakfast and came back, last night he had a lot of trouble, and the number of times was too many, Zhou Zhou was tired.

"Are you awake? Coincidentally, I bought steamed stuffed buns filled with meat and vegetables, as well as soy milk." Gu Zhao went there with his own big jar. From his house to the entrance of the alley, it was only a hundred meters away. On the street, there is a breakfast stall.

Meat buns cost three cents a piece, vegetarian ones cost two cents, and steamed buns are cheap and cost a penny.

Li Zhouzhou stepped forward to take the bowl, and there were two steamed buns and one steamed bun in the bowl.Gu Zhao went into the yard without locking the gate. The prefecture and county were in good order. He watched the residents living in this alley in the past few days, and every household did not lock the gate during the day.

Of course it was also because there were people in the yard.

When he went out in the morning, Zhou Zhou was still asleep, so of course he couldn't leave the door open.

Breakfast was placed on the round table in the main room, Gu Zhao went to get the chopsticks, and said to Zhou Zhou, "Go wash up, eat breakfast while it's hot, and I'll go to the academy to report after I'm done eating."

There was a well in the yard, and when Li Zhouzhou went to fetch water, the man behind him said, "There is a well in the basin. I washed it in the morning, so I don't need to fetch water."

Li Zhouzhou's heart softened, and when he saw that there was water in the basin on the shelf, and his toothbrush was stained with tooth powder, he was rinsing his mouth and brushing his teeth with a bamboo cup.

"Is your waist still sore?" Gu Zhao asked his wife after setting things up.

With water in his mouth, Li Zhouzhou couldn't speak, his cheeks were puffed up, and he was so ashamed to look at his husband.

"I care about my family, Zhou Zhou." Gu Zhao looked innocent.

Li Zhouzhou spat out the water, resisted his embarrassment and blushed, unable to think about what happened last night, and said softly and honestly: "It's still a little sour."

"Take a break in the morning."

After Li Zhouzhou washed up, the couple sat at the table in the main room and had breakfast. The temperature was just lukewarm. The meat and vegetable buns were divided in half, and so were the steamed buns.

After eating, Li Zhouzhou told Xianggong not to move, and he came to clean up. Xianggong said that he was going to school today.

"Let's go together? Today is No. [-]. There is only the class teacher in the school, and I will come back with you after I register. Just Zhou Zhou, you can confirm the location. If I go to school during the day, do you know where to find me? .” Gu Zhao said.

Li Zhouzhou was obedient and left the house alone, changed into clean clothes, and the two of them locked the gate of the courtyard.

Qingping Academy is the official school of Ningping Prefecture. It is located on the side of Qingping Mountain. This Qingping Mountain is very short and beautiful. In Gu Zhao's view, it is not so much a mountain as a bag of earth—it cannot be described in this way.

Anyway, it is not tall, small and exquisite, and some common trees are planted, such as willow, bamboo, pines and cypresses, which are favorite plants of literati and elegant guests. Now, on the first day of May, standing at the gate of the academy and looking up, I feel elegant and quiet, with a touch of Silky coolness.

The gate of the academy is a stone tablet with the words Qingping Academy on it, which is said to be inscribed by the first dean.Enter the gate, climb up the steps, there are more than 60 steps, symmetrical buildings in the front, the main courtyard, and the courtyards on the left and right sides.

A place for six classes to study and study during the day.

Through the left and right of the main building, there are houses for students to live, eat, bathe and other chores.

Li Zhouzhou was standing under the stone signboard of the college, and he could vaguely see the school above. He thought it was a private school in a village or town, but he didn't expect it to be so big and beautiful. She clasped her hands and said, "Master, I know the place, so I'll just wait for you here, and I won't go in."

"Okay, I'll go and come back quickly." Gu Zhao didn't force it.He didn't know if the college had a rule that outsiders were not allowed to enter, or a rule that women and brothers were not allowed to enter.

He didn't think that Zhou Zhou was inferior to a scholar, but the rules of this world are like this. Before he was able to protect Zhou Zhou, he dragged Zhou Zhou into the academy, even if there were fewer people in the school this Muxiu, but in case Some teachers found out and reprimanded Zhou Zhou, which put Zhou Zhou in an embarrassing situation.

Gu Zhao was unwilling to take the risk.

When he entered the academy, he didn't have time to see what the names of the three courtyards in front of him were. He asked a student, found the teacher in charge, and registered.

"National from Xiping Village, Ningsong Town, this spring's scholar, the third Gu Zhao of Linsheng."

Gu Zhao bowed and answered yes.

After checking that it was correct, the teacher found Gu Zhao's sign and handed it over. He said things, such as going to the courtyard at Chenshi in the morning to get his clothes straightened, ringing the bell at the quarter of the hour to get into class and start studying, and taking a break at two quarters in the afternoon to eat at the restaurant in the back. Classes at [-]:[-] pm, school at [-]:[-] pm in the afternoon, and so on.

Gu Zhao calculated the time in his head, arriving at school at 11:30 am, eating at [-]:[-] noon, starting class at [-]:[-] pm, and leaving school at [-]:[-] pm.Take a break every time.

Because Gu Zhao is a granary student, three buckets of rice per month equals sixty catties of rice, all of which are hung here at the school, and the school cooks for free, and there is no money for food delivery, all of which are government school subsidies.Of course, don’t think too much about the free dishes in the big cafeteria, it’s impossible to see the sky.

The conditions of the family are good, and there are book boys, so they can cook in a small stove.

Anyway, rich people have been able to find a comfortable way of life throughout the ages.

Most ordinary students eat in the cafeteria.

The teacher was not surprised when he heard that Gu Zhao was going to be a day student, and said, "Take your badge to school every day, don't lose it."

"Understood." Gu Zhao bowed and thanked.

Two more sets of school uniforms were distributed, spring and summer single gowns and autumn and winter quilted gowns, together with the four taels of silver for the students. Gu Zhao signed after confirming that they were correct, and he was able to leave school and start classes tomorrow.

Gu Zhao came out with his things, fearing that Zhou Zhou would be in a hurry, so he didn't take a stroll around the school - he would have time to visit in the future.

"How did Mr. Xiang go so fast? Are you all ready?" Li Zhouzhou reached out to take the clothes from Mr. Xiang's arms, not daring to touch them carelessly, for fear that the rough calluses on his hands would scratch the clothes.

Gu Zhao said: "It's all done. Don't be afraid, this school uniform is made of cloth, no different from what we wear."

"How can it be the same? This is a scholar's uniform." Li Zhouzhou retorted in a low voice.

Zhou Zhou would be shy and agree to whatever Gu Zhao said, even if it was a mess in bed, but when it came to Gu Zhao's studies, Li Zhouzhou was sometimes very persistent.Gu Zhao knew that Zhou Zhou respected and worshiped scholars, but not all scholars have good principles.

But Gu Zhao didn't refute, his family Zhou Zhou's eyes were full of pleasure staring at his school uniform cautiously.For some reason, Gu Zhao's eyes were a little sore.

"Honey, shall I teach you how to read?"

Li Zhouzhou was taken aback. If he hadn't held the scholar's robe in his hand, he would have panicked. He shook his head and said, "Ah? Be heard by others to laugh at you."

As he grows up, he has never heard of brothers and girls who can read.

"No one else would laugh at me. It's too late to envy me. My family Zhou Zhou looks handsome and has a good figure—" Don't praise this too meticulously outside. Quick, people are smart..."

Li Zhouzhou's ears were red, saying that everyone knows these things, but his father-in-law did not boast so much.

The topic turned a corner, and it became Gu Zhao's shameless talk, insisting on forcing his family Zhou Zhou to say that Zhou Zhou is good.Li Zhouzhou: "There is no one who praises himself."

But he acted like a fool to his husband, but in the end he could only blushed honestly and praised himself.

Gu Zhao laughed, not playing with his temper.

Walking all the way back, the alley where they live is called Pomegranate Alley, because there is a pomegranate tree in the middle of the alley, so the street with the door face shop is naturally called Pomegranate Street.More than half of the dozen or so households opened their doors to do business, mostly selling food, such as sesame cakes, steamed buns, noodles, vinegar, wine, sugar pastries, etc.

Entering from the entrance of the alley, the two are strangers. They have only been here for a few days, and the front is pulling bricks and tiles and sending out waste. The residents of the entire alley know that after the previous cloth seller left, the empty yard moved in. The new residents just couldn't figure out what they were doing.

The older man left two days earlier, leaving only a young couple.

Someone in the alley was curious and guessed what kind of business the newly moved home was going to do. Seeing that only one shop was bricked up, the other one was left, which was designated for business.Don't do anything for food. If you make pasta pancakes like hers, it won't work.

Isn't this a fight against Taiwan?

Aunt Xu's family sells steamed buns, so she listened to the words. Her house happened to be next door to the new resident, so she waited for the older man next door to come out to deliver scraps, so she asked, and found out that the new resident's family name was Li. Before he asked if he wanted to do business, Li Da said he was busy and drove away with the mule cart.

"It doesn't look very easy to get along with." Aunt Xu's family said.

"It's difficult to get along with each other if you don't get along well. If you live with the door behind closed doors, can he still occupy your house?" said Zhou, who can speak well on weekdays.

That's true.

There are more than [-] families living in this alley, and it is not said that every family has a close relationship.Later, the new resident's Li's house didn't beat and transport things, and it seemed that they were settled and ready, but after listening to Aunt Xu's words, no one came to say hello on their own initiative.

Li's courtyard is full of men, and there is no female relative.

Later, someone heard that the tall man turned out to be a brother, a gentle, fair and beautiful husband-in-law, so I said, why can there be a family of gentlemen, all ages are not young, how could they not have a family? Female dependents.

At first, people in the alley thought that the three people who moved to the Li family were father and son, and after they settled down, they went to pick up the daughter-in-law from the countryside. off the shelf.

Now I know it was a big joke.

"So it's my brother. It really doesn't look like it. I've never seen someone so tall."

"I heard it very clearly. When I bought tooth powder, the beautiful and fair girl was talking to coax his brother."

"But why didn't I see the mole on my brother's face?"

"He's been busy working in the yard all the time. Even if we meet each other from a distance, it's not surprising that we didn't see clearly. Besides, it's not surprising that that brother is so tall."

It's also a few words in my spare time, how the newly moved Li's family has little to do with them, and they don't mix in the same pot for dinner.

At about the end of Chen's hour in the morning, Li Zhouzhou and Xianggong entered the alley and were about to arrive home.

Under the pomegranate tree, there are still a few young children playing around, five or six years old. The girl turns the red rope in her hand, the boy squats under the tree and plays with ants and bugs, and some mischievous ones scare those who are turning the red rope with bugs. Little girl, the little girl was so frightened that she opened her mouth and cried, saying that she would tell her mother to go.

Da Da Da ran into the courtyard gate and shouted at the top of his voice: "Mother, Xu Wenbin threatened me with bugs and threw them in my hair, Mother."

"Why are you still crying at the top of your lungs? I'm busy." Zhou came out wearing an apron to see, the two children usually quarreled when they saw each other, and they went back to their homes and separated, thinking about it, she didn't care. Know what to say.But it's not okay to scare her third mother with bugs, so I have to talk about it.

Zhou's hands were stained with rice dregs, wiped them on the apron, and took Sanniang's hand in one hand, and stepped out across the threshold. Sanniang was a little timid, and said, "Mother, do you want to scold Xu Wenbin? Don't scold Xu Wenbin." he."

"Then who just cried and called me?" Zhou said angrily.

Only when he was old enough did he know how to protect the Xu family boy.

As soon as he left the courtyard, there was no shadow of Xu Wenbin under the pomegranate tree, and he had already run away.Originally, the children were playing and making trouble, but could it be possible that Mrs. Zhou really gave Xu Wenbin a few times when she came out?It was just a few words, but when the Xu family boy ran away, Zhou's heart became angry.

Especially her Sanniang was still thinking about it just now, afraid that she would scold Xu Wenbin harshly.

Mrs. Zhou poked her daughter's forehead with her finger and said, "Look, everyone has run away."

Sanniang was wronged, she was scared by the insects just now, and now she was taught by her mother again, she couldn't shed her tears, Mrs. Zhou was about to say a few words to her daughter, when she raised her eyes and saw the young couple from the Li family who had just moved back. So, he swallowed back the words of the lesson, so he didn't have to scold his daughter in front of outsiders, and let people watch the excitement.

"Go back." Zhou said to her daughter.stop playing.

Sanniang nodded obediently and walked into the yard, it's fine if Aniang didn't scold her.Mrs. Zhou didn't leave, they ran into each other, just nodded and said hello, but when they got closer, they saw the clothes that the tall guy was holding in his hands.

Weirdly familiar.

Zhou's mind suddenly remembered how familiar it is, isn't this the robe worn by the talented men in Qingping Academy in the prefecture and county?

It turned out that the newcomer was actually a scholar.

Mrs. Zhou's heart was shaken. She originally wanted to nod to say hello, but now she became enthusiastic and said hello with a smile. After settling down, we are all from Pomegranate Lane, so we can walk around more on weekdays."

"My family lives here." Mrs. Zhou pointed to the yard behind her. "My family is a jealous business. If you are jealous, you can come to my house. Look at what I said as if I was soliciting customers for the family business. You are laughing at me."

Li Zhouzhou was used to listening to Aunt Wang in the village speak straight to the point, with a loud voice, showing good and bad on her face, and seldom concealed it, but later Aunt Wang had a gap with him, and she smiled and said good intentions on her face. , in fact, it can be seen.

But now it's different, this person's voice is neither high nor low, the prefectural accent is a little soft, and he is warm and polite with a smile on his face, Li Zhouzhou naturally followed this person and lowered his voice, saying: "Hello, sister-in-law. .”

He saw that the person who was speaking didn't seem very old.

Mrs. Zhou smiled, "I forgot to introduce you. Look at my memory. My husband's surname is Zhang, and my surname is Zhou. Looking at our ages, we are falsely older than you. Just call me Mrs. Zhang."

"Hello, Mrs. Zhang. My surname is Li. I usually call me Zhou Zhou or Li Zhou Zhou. My family's husband's surname is Gu."

Mrs. Zhou was still thinking, why is this brother's surname Li?She had heard before that the older man who had just left for two days was surnamed Li, so the newly moved house was naturally the Li family's courtyard.

But this scholar's surname is Gu, what's going on?

The man and the son don't have the same surname?

Alley thought that Li Da and Gu Zhao were father and son, and Li Zhouzhou was married to Gu Zhao.

Gu Zhao knew at a glance that Mrs. Zhang was puzzled, put her hands together, and said with a smile, "Ms. Zhang misunderstood. It was me and Zhou Zhou's father who went back to my hometown. Our family name is Li. I came to Li's house to marry her." , Zhou Zhou is the head of my family."

Li Zhouzhou was almost in a hurry, but Mr. Xiang said that again outside.

When I looked back at my home in Dongping Village, my husband said that he was afraid that his stepmother would bully him, so he let him be the "head of the family". Outsiders joke about each other.

The polite and thoughtful smile on Zhou's face would be unnatural.

"Huh? Oh, good."

Later, Mrs. Zhou didn't know what she said, and the little husband said goodbye to her. She went back to her yard and was stunned for a long time, waiting for the man to call her.

"What are you stunned for?"

Mrs. Zhou came back to her senses and said, "You don't know, do you? Just now I met a new husband outside. I didn't expect it. That husband's husband is still a scholar. He came back with Qingping in his hand. The robes of the Academy."

This time the man was also surprised, and said: "Unexpectedly, a scholar lived in our Pomegranate Lane. The scholar is good. We are also lucky in literature. We will work hard and strive to get pregnant with a fourth son. In the future, there will be such a scholar." good fortune."

Zhou reproached and spat at Mr. Zhou.

"...Don't interrupt me, what am I talking about? By the way, the scholar's surname is Gu, but the family in the newly moved yard is surnamed Li. Guess what? Gu Xiucai came to marry Li's family."

The men of the Zhang family were all stunned, and after a long time regained their senses, the first sentence was: "That won't work, if we have a fourth child, we will never have such good luck."

What a shame.