The little man on the apex

Zhou Ziyu and Feng Wanlong got engaged on the fifth day after Guyu.

Looking back at the mountain area, I still attach great importance to marriage. No matter whether the family is poor or rich, I will try my best to be thorough in all procedures.

In the past, most of the major marriages were arranged by the parents of both parties. Some couples didn't even know what each other looked like until the day they got married.

It is different now.

The national power is growing day by day, and even the customs have become more civilized. Many young people are looking for the right person on their own. The combination of the year, Geng, zodiac and the like is for "marriage proposal".

After the marriage proposal has been fully discussed, the two parties will have a "marriage discussion" meeting to discuss "small gifts", that is, bride price and bride price.

On the day of the engagement, Zhou Ziyu washed and dressed in the yard early in the morning, combed his hair meticulously, and tied a new crimson silk cloth.

The clothes on his body were also custom-made in the town. In order to prevent wrinkles, he didn't even want to sit for a long time, and kept walking around the room.

At noon, just as the sun was rising, a group of people dressed in red and green came along the road.

In front are some men carrying burdens, and a large bamboo basket is hung on each end of the burden, covered with red silk cloth, and inside is the betrothal gift.

The amount of betrothal gift is also agreed upon by both parties. There are standards such as six dan, ten dan, etc. If the conditions are particularly good, the highest specification of eighteen dan will be used.

From a rough look, Feng Wanlong should be a "six dan" dowry gift, which is quite common in Ping'an Village.

In addition to some gift money, there are candy, betrothal cakes, tea, red dates, etc. in the burden, and two pairs of chickens, two females and two males, are placed in the last burden.

Feng Wanlong walked in the middle of the team, also wearing a dark red dress, with an unconcealable joy on his face.

The load fell to the ground, and the bamboo baskets full of them were lined up in the yard of Zhou Ziyu's house. The matchmaker led people to count and loudly reported the contents of the bamboo baskets.

Zhou Ziyu stood on the door frame, looking at the people in the yard with some novelty, glanced at Feng Wanlong from time to time, and then felt shy for a while.

After everything is settled, Feng Wanlong will send a "pass book", that is, a two-layer engagement certificate with red on the outside and green on the inside, and Zhou Ziyu will also send a "reply note" to express his approval.

Next, you can wait for the noon banquet.

When there are any weddings and ceremonies in Ping'an Village, they will come to the town to invite the master chefs who leave the table to come and build a big earthen stove in the yard.

A few days ago, Feng Wanlong specially went to Zhao Jing's house and invited him to a banquet today.

When he arrived, Feng Wanlong was standing in the yard with Zhou Ziyu, and the wok of the master chef next to him was bubbling with oil.

Zhao Jing handed Feng Wanlong the prepared gift box, but he never dared to look at Zhou Ziyu.

Zhou Ziyu reached out to open the gift box, and saw a pair of exquisite wooden combs inside, and a little doll's clothes underneath.

"I made this pair of combs. Don't think I'm clumsy. May you grow old together."

"And this little dress, I bought it... in the town. I was going to give it to you when you get married, but I want to go out for a while, open a shop or something, I'm afraid I will miss you The wedding was sent ahead of schedule."

He smiled slightly, and said solemnly: "Brother Feng, Brother Ziyu, we are engaged."

Beside, Xiaoyue lowered her head and squeezed her fingers.

Feng Wanlong took the gift box from Zhou Ziyu's hand, closed it, turned around and handed it to the person in charge, took Zhou Ziyu into his arms again, thanked Zhao Jing, and went to greet other guests.

Zhao Jing was stunned for a while, and it was not until Xiaoyue pulled his sleeve that he came back to his senses.

Yuan Xi was sitting in the yard with his chin resting on his hands. When he saw Zhao Jing and Xiaoyue coming, he called them over.

The relatives sat at three tables, and Yuan Xi sat at one table with Zhao Jing and Xiaoyue.

Halfway through the meal, Feng Wanlong seemed a little tipsy, so he took Zhou Ziyu and started toasting one by one, introducing him as "Second Uncle" and "Fourth Uncle".

Those "second uncles" and "fourth uncles" drank some wine, and their voices became louder, saying "you can do it", "when will you get married" and so on, and there was a bearded man who didn't know if he was an uncle or an uncle. The man grinned and said a few nasty words, which caused the whole table to boo.

Zhou Ziyu didn't understand, but he could guess the general idea, blushing as if bleeding, he kept hiding behind Feng Wanlong.

Zhao Jing understood, and listened from afar, without raising his head, but kept stuffing things into his mouth, and seemed to be choking, with tears in his eyes.

Amidst the voices of "kiss each other", Feng Wanlong pulled Zhou Ziyu closer and moved his mouth towards him. Zhou Ziyu was a little embarrassed and stepped back to avoid it.

Those uncles quarreled again: "Wan Long can't do it!"

"You see, people are avoiding you."

"If you haven't got married, you can't control it. In the future, you can wait to be a cow and a horse for the Zhou family!"

The person who said the last words was naturally a relative of Feng Wanlong's side.

Zhou Ziyu's family is considered a well-known rich family in Ping'an Village, and Feng Wanlong's family is not poor, but compared with Zhou's family, they are still far behind.

Some time ago, Feng Wanlong was very attentive to the Zhou family. He not only helped pick tea, but also often came to do some work of carrying water and cutting firewood. marriage.

In the eyes of outsiders, these things are indeed suspected of currying favor with the Zhou family.

Zhou Ziyu lowered his head and pinched the corner of his clothes, not knowing what to do.

Feng Wanlong felt that he couldn't hold back his face, so he stretched out his hand and grabbed Zhou Ziyu.

Zhou Ziyu still hid, but fortunately the person serving the food came with a large plate of roast chicken, and Feng Wanlong let go of it.

This roast chicken is really well done, the oil is shiny, and when you insert a chopstick, a lot of soup will flow out of it, so even the chicken breast, which is the easiest to burn, is extremely smooth and tender.

The seasoning used to make roast chicken is the secret recipe of the master chef. Someone who opened a restaurant in the town once studied it. He asked several cooks, but he didn't guess the whole recipe of the roast chicken.

After respecting relatives, Feng Wanlong came to Zhao Jing's table again, put down the small wine cup in his hand, and said to Zhou Ziyu, "Go get two big bowls."

Zhou Ziyu asked, "What are you doing with the bowl?"

Feng Wanlong waved his hand: "Don't worry about it, go and get it!"

Zhou Ziyu pursed his lips, and went to the kitchen to bring two clean white porcelain bowls.

Feng Wanlong poured two full bowls of wine, handed one to Zhao Jing, and said, "Thank you Brother Xiaojing for taking care of Ziyu when I was a child. I'm happy today. Let's drink from a big bowl."

When he was young, Feng Wanlong was one of those boys who didn't like to play with Zhou Ziyu, so he also knew something about Zhou Ziyu's past with Zhao Jing.

Zhou Ziyu stopped him, and said worriedly: "Drinking like this will hurt your health, it would be better to use a small wine cup, and I remember that Xiaojing will get red rashes when drinking."

Before, when Zhao Jing was still young, he accidentally drank water from an unwashed wine bowl, and his body became red, which took a long time to disappear.

Zhao Jing picked up the porcelain bowl in front of him, smiled generously and said, "Today is a good day for you, you should drink more. Come, Brother Feng, I respect you."

After finishing speaking, he raised his head and poured wine into his mouth. Because he drank in a hurry, a few drops of wine flowed out from the corner of his mouth and dripped down to his neck, wetting a small piece of his collar.

He covered his face and coughed, and waved the wine bowl downward, which meant that he drank it all.

Feng Wanlong picked up his bowl with a smile and drank it like drinking water.

After going around in a circle, Feng Wanlong returned to the table of relatives and had a drink with those uncles.

Zhou Ziyu doesn't know how to drink, so he said in advance that he won't persuade him to drink today.

Standing behind Feng Wanlong, he looked a bit cramped.

Another half-drunk uncle said, "Why doesn't he drink?"

Feng Wanlong poured a mouthful of peanuts into his mouth, shook his head and said he couldn't drink it.

"Can't drink? Practice! Come on, I'll pour it for you!"

Zhou Ziyu was stuffed with a half-full wine cup in his hand, and looked at Feng Wanlong in bewilderment.

Feng Wanlong raised his eyes and glanced at him, "Have a drink, a glass is fine."