Four Foods in the Mountains

In June, the mountains start to heat up.

In the middle of the afternoon, the sun was not so poisonous. In Yunxi Village, a daughter-in-law and brother-in-law went to the river to wash clothes with wooden basins and sticks.

A daughter-in-law put down the wooden basin and said to the people next to her, "Have you heard that the second son of the Lu family is getting married, and he is marrying the elder brother of the Orion Cen's family in the next village."

"Who doesn't know this? I heard from my mother-in-law that the brother of the Cen family is very good-looking. The father and brother in the family can both hunt. When they reach the age of marriage, the threshold of the family will be broken."

"Then why did you fall in love with the second boy?"

"Look at what you said, the second boy of the Lu family is not bad, he is tall and handsome, and he is also good at work, but he is not very talkative and taciturn, but this kind of guy is more reliable than that glib guy."

"It's so good, why didn't your sister tell him when they talked about their marriage last year, and went to other villages to find someone?"

"Hey--"

The two daughters-in-law laughed and began to fight, at this moment, a brother next to him suddenly coughed twice, and pouted his mouth towards the bank.

Several people looked in the direction, and there was an elderly daughter-in-law walking towards the river with a wooden basin on the bank. This woman was dressed in indigo cloth, with silver hairpins and silk flowers on her hair. The young daughter-in-law in the village is still pretty.

It was the stepmother of the second boy of the Lu family, Wang Fengyu.

Humming a little tune, Wang Fengyu put down the wooden basin on the stone pier by the river. Seeing all the daughters-in-law looking at her, she said, "Why do you look at me if you don't wash your clothes?"

The daughter-in-law who just had a fight with someone said with a smile: "Auntie, your clothes are new, right? I don't think they are coarse cloth, but high-quality cotton cloth. Isn't it cheap?"

The corners of Wang Fengyu's mouth suddenly turned up, and she raised her chin and stretched her sleeves and said, "One piece costs more than 300 Wen. I just went to the town to pull cloth to make it."

"Yo!" The daughter-in-law's eyes widened, "More than 300 Wen, enough for me to make four or five sets of clothes. It's not the New Year or the festival, but Aunt Fengyu's life is good at home, so she is willing to make new clothes."

Wang Fengyu was even more proud, she helped the silver hairpin on the sideburns and was about to say something, the daughter-in-law secretly nudged the daughter-in-law next to her with her elbow, and winked at her.

The daughter-in-law who was touched immediately understood, raised her brows and said, "Sister, you don't know about this. It is said that the second boy of the Lu family is going to marry his husband soon. Although the family is separated, Aunt Fengyu is also a queen. Damn, of course I have to buy decent clothes so that I can go to dinner and meet the bride."

"What, what husband?" The smile on the corner of Wang Fengyu's mouth froze.

"Aunt Fengyu, you don't know yet, do you? Chuanzi is getting married, and he is marrying the brother of the Cen family in the next village."

"The village chief's daughter-in-law personally made the matchmaker. The elder brother of the Cen family is good-looking, and life at home is also prosperous. Chuanzi is really lucky."

"Hey, auntie, don't you wash your clothes anymore?"

The daughters-in-law talked to each other, Wang Fengyu picked up the wooden basin, and said with a sullen face: "I'm getting too hot now, I'll wash it in the afternoon." She left in a hurry.

The daughter-in-law looked at her back and snorted coldly: "I just don't like her like that, why didn't I tell my sister to the Lu family? Alive, even if his family doesn’t give a dowry, I’m willing to marry my girl.”

Speaking of the Lu family, no one in Yunxi Village knew about it, and even the little ones could shake their heads and say, "No stepmother."

This is usually ruthless and was educated by my mother's ears.

"You're so disobedient that I'm so pissed off, let your father find you a stepmother like Wang Fengyu and come back, and see how you can live a good life!"

The Lu family was originally a good family in Yunxi Village, with a new house and a lot of land. There was a son and a daughter in the family. The daughter was betrothed to a wealthy carpenter in Lincun in the early years, and the son Lu Dexing married Wei Zhuming, the youngest daughter of the Wei family.

It's a pity that Wei Zhuming's health was not good, the two brothers Lu Yunlang and Lu Yunchuan passed away when they were young, and Lu Dexing married Wang Fengyu later.

In the first two years when her parents-in-law was still there, Wang Fengyu treated the two brothers with respect. Once her parents-in-law left, Wang Fengyu completely revealed her true colors.

All the heavy and rough work in the family was handed over to the young brothers. In order to support their young son Lu Yunrui to study, the scorching heat and cold winter forced the two brothers to do coolies in the town to earn money.

All the workers in the town were grown men, the two brothers were sandwiched between them to carry bricks and wood, their backs and palms were so worn out that even the foreman couldn't bear to look at them, so he spat a few times in his heart, what unscrupulous parents!

But the village values ​​filial piety, and even though the two brothers have suffered, they have been enduring it until a few years ago when Wang Fengyu wanted to forcefully marry her mentally impaired niece to Lu Yunlang. The family members are going to separate.

The separation of the family while the parents were still alive was a matter of being poked at the spine, but the villagers also watched what the Lu family brothers had lived at home these years. They did not have enough food and clothing and were tired day and night.

In the end, they quarreled for several days, during which time Wang Fengyu jumped into the river and hanged himself. In the end, she was fine, and Lu Yunlang and Lu Yunchuan went to the dilapidated old house of the Lu family to live alone.

The Lu family's new house is one of the best in the village. Several tile-roofed houses are connected to a large yard, spacious and grand.

In the main room, Lu Dexing was sitting and drinking tea leisurely, when Wang Fengyu came back from the outside, angrily threw the wooden basin in his hand to the ground, and Lu Dexing was so frightened that he hurriedly looked around, fearing that his own land would be damaged. Make a big hole.

"Aren't you going to wash your clothes? Why are you so angry?"

Even Lu Yunrui, who was studying in the side room, was disturbed. He walked out of the room and said unhappily, "Mother, what are you doing? I'm studying."

In the past, when she saw that she had quarreled with her son's studies and exams, Wang Fengyu would immediately make amends, but today she was so angry, Wang Fengyu put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Lu Yunchuan is getting married!"

"Married?!" Lu Dexing patted the table with his palm, "Why didn't I know?"

"You ask me, who should I ask? I'm a stepmother, yes, but you are my own father. You go and ask your two good sons. Why do you feel at ease if you don't come to talk to your father about such a big event as marriage? ?" Wang Fengyu said angrily.

In the early years when Lu Yunlang got married, he didn't tell them, and he didn't come to invite them over on the day when the wine was set up, which caused them a lot of embarrassment in the village. In the end, Wang Fengyu just ran over and brought back a bag full of things to calm down .

"Which family did you marry?" Lu Dexing's face was ashen.

This is the key point, Wang Fengyu said bitterly: "It's the brother of Orion Cen's family in the next village!"

Lu Dexing frowned and said, "Why did you marry a brother?"

"That's the brother of the Cen family! It doesn't matter if he looks good, do you know how much money the three men of his family can earn from hunting? Why did such a brother follow Lu Yunchuan?"

Wang Fengyu was so angry that she almost gritted her teeth. Her natal nephew is sixteen years old, which is a good age for marriage. Because the family is poor, she wants to make a good marriage and ask for a daughter-in-law who can help.

After looking at many families, her nephew immediately fell in love with Cen Ning of the Cen family, and asked Wang Fengyu to help him look, and Wang Fengyu was also satisfied.

Although she is older than her nephew, but she looks good, can tie down his nephew, and the family conditions are also good. In the future, she will not worry that her nephew will not have the support of the Yue family, and her family will eat meat. Will she be able to watch her brother eat chaff at her husband's house?

For this reason, Wang Fengyu specially took out ten taels of silver to let her mother's family build a new house, thinking that the dowry was fully collected, and a new house was built, and the marriage was destined to be successful.

Unexpectedly, the Cen family was unwilling, and the nephew went to ask for a marriage in person to show his sincerity, but was kicked out of the house.

Wang Fengyu's heart ached when she thought of her nephew who was so sad that he was bedridden and still thinking about the brother of the Cen family.

Now when she heard that the Cen family married her elder brother to Lu Yunchuan, she hated her nephew for losing a good marriage, and she was also dissatisfied that Lu Yunchuan could find a good husband.

"No, you absolutely can't just let that brother marry in like this." Wang Fengyu thought in her heart, if she married Lu Yunchuan, what would her nephew do? Where can she find such a good marriage?

Seeing Lu Dexing with a sullen face beside him, Wang Fengyu said: "The marriage of children is always the order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker. You are the father of the second boy, and you are also his father after the separation. If you don't nod, this marriage will not be possible. "

Lu Yunrui stood aside and listened for so long, but he didn't know what his mother meant.

Originally, he didn't bother to care about these trivial matters, but no matter how good the brother of the Cen family is, he is also a countryman, so how could he be so good.He even looked down on his mother's nephew, walking on the road and seeing a widow who looked like he could drool at people, it was very vulgar.

But he knew in his heart that many people in the village had pointed at his parents behind his back and scolded him for the separation of the family these years. It was all because he was a scholar that no one would show their family face face to face.

If his mother ruined Lu Yunchuan's marriage again, she would really lose her head in the village, and the most important thing would be to affect her own reputation.

So Lu Yunrui walked up to his mother and persuaded him: "Mother, it's just a brother. Lu Yunchuan married as soon as he married, and he doesn't know how his life will be in the future. What are you anxious about?

"Besides, I'm going to go to Fucheng to take an examination of my merits soon. If you don't do anything else, you should also think about your son. You can't do things like this and ruin my reputation."

"But, but your second cousin..."

"When I pass the exam as a scholar, what kind of wife can't my cousin marry?" Lu Yunrui said perfunctorily.

Wang Fengyu drank a cup of tea, thinking that what her son said was good, after all, it was the matter of Yunrui's examination of fame that was the most important thing.

The Cen family hates the poor and loves the rich and is unwilling to marry their elder brother to their nephew, but how much money does that kid Lu Yunchuan have, and how much noise he will make after getting married, she will be happy to see a joke.

The tone in her heart came over, Wang Fengyu hurriedly patted Lu Yunrui's hand and said: "My son, you are still promising, go in and study, mother will not disturb you."

Out of the corner of his eye as he spoke, he caught sight of Sister Lan who had just entered the courtyard, and scolded with a serious face: "You little girl, I told you to water the vegetables in the vegetable garden, where did you go to hide? It was during the meal If you know how to work hard and run away as soon as you work, what's the use of raising you!"

Sister Lan was ten years old this year, dark and thin, she was scolded by her mother, she shrugged her shoulders and said in a low voice, "The food has been poured, and the third brother said he wanted fried tofu for lunch, so he asked me to go buy tofu at the entrance of the village."

As he spoke, he took out a bowl of tofu in the bamboo basket and showed it to Wang Fengyu.

Hearing that it was her son who was calling, Wang Fengyu calmed down and said, "Then why don't you put it in the kitchen and put it away in the kitchen? It cost a few pennies to buy tofu, is it okay?"

Sister Lan quickly shook her head: "No, Dad gave me two copper coins, so I bought tofu for two cents."

Wang Fengyu ignored her daughter, turned to Lu Yunrui and said, "Son, what's so delicious about tofu, mother will kill a chicken for you at noon."

When she heard that the chicken was going to be killed, Sister Lan swallowed her saliva, but said nothing, she lowered her head and went to put the tofu in the kitchen.

The Lu family's old house is at the end of the village, leaning against the mountain. It was originally a dilapidated thatched cottage.

Lu Dalu and the two brothers had no land and no money when they separated. It was a hard time for a while. Later, when my aunt Lu Wangyue heard about it, she rushed back from her husband's house crying and gave it to her two nephews. silver.

The first thing the brothers did when they earned money was to go to their aunt's house with eggs and pastries and pay back the money.

The two brothers are diligent. Over the years, they help people harvest wheat during the busy season, and go to work in the town during the off-season. They not only bought fields but also built a new house. The days are getting better and better.

Although the old house was dilapidated, it was spacious near the foot of the mountain, and there were no houses close to it. The houses of the two brothers were built one behind the other. They were all three green brick houses. It was Lu Yunchuan who lived alone.

On the day before the wedding, the room in the back was extremely lively.

Several aunts who were invited to help were counting things in the kitchen, while Lu Yunlang and Lu Yunchuan were busy moving the newly made tables and cabinets into the new house.

They were all made by a carpenter using good wood. Lu Yunlang's daughter-in-law Yao Chunling touched them and nodded with satisfaction.

Tables and cabinets were added, bright red "囍" characters were pasted on the windows, newly made quilts were neatly stacked on the tables at the end of the kang, and even the sheets on the kang were replaced with new ones, Yao Chunling put them on the table again. Bronze mirrors, wooden boxes and other things were added, which were specially bought from the town for the new husband.

The originally simple house was tidied up like this, and it was very festive.

"Chuanzi will spend the night in the front room tonight, and this new sheet will have to sleep with her husband tomorrow night." Yao Chunling laughed.

Lu Yunchuan was tall and tall, with sharp edges and corners. Although he was handsome, he could not help showing a bit of coldness. He was obviously not yet 20 years old, but he looked calm, and he just worked with his head depressed all day long.

But at this moment, listening to his elder sister-in-law's jokes and thinking of his husband, Lu Yunchuan still couldn't help showing a smile.

He met Fulang once. Last winter, he and his eldest brother went to the next village to sell firewood. On the way back, it suddenly snowed heavily. A kind hunter saw it and told them to take shelter at home and warm their bodies. .

Because he was not married yet, before entering the house, Lu Yunchuan specifically asked Orion if there was a girl or brother who was waiting to be married, for fear that he would bump into that girl or brother's reputation.

"There is a youngest brother in the family who is not yet married, but it's cold, so he just stays in his own room all the time, so it's okay."

Even so, after entering the main room, Lu Yunchuan never looked around, only staring at the charcoal basin in front of him.

When the snow stopped, the brothers and Orion thanked each other and went home. They refused to accept the copper coins, and left two bundles of firewood as a thank you gift.

After walking a few steps, Lu Yunlang covered his chest, saying that he had accidentally dropped the purse. Lu Yunchuan was quick on his feet, and immediately turned around to get it.

Walking to the gate of the courtyard, Lu Yunchuan was about to shout, but saw a brother with picturesque features coming out from the side room. The courtyard was covered with snow, but the red plums beside him were in full bloom, making his whole body radiant. White as jade.

Lu Yunchuan immediately turned his back to dodge. He leaned against the courtyard wall, listening to the brother's clear and soft voice, said: "Daddy, is the noodles I cooked at noon delicious? Are the guests satisfied?"

Lu Yunchuan clenched his broad palms hanging by his side, and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Lu Yunlang's figure in the distance. Lu Yunlang ran forward a few steps, pointed to the basket behind him, and signaled that the money bag was in the basket.

On the way back, the blowing cold wind mixed with the snowflakes blowing from the treetops, Lu Yunlang felt that his younger brother was extraordinarily silent, thinking that he was freezing, thinking that he would ask his wife to cook thick ginger soup when he got home.

But Lu Yunchuan looked at the pure white snow in the mountains, and thought of the bowl of hot noodle soup that he ate at Orion's house at noon. scum.