Xianggong is a big man in men's clothing

After the end of summer, Yuehe Village ushered in the majesty of autumn tigers. The weather was still hot, and the sun was shining at noon. The hardworking villagers stopped working, drank tea under the shade of trees to enjoy the coolness, and continued to work in the field when it was cooler in the afternoon.

At this time, on the empty village road, an old woman in luxurious clothes and a matchmaker in a bright red dress came, which were very conspicuous.

A villager asked curiously: "Isn't that Madam Li from Landlord Liu's family? She is also accompanied by a clever matchmaker. Is this another family where she is going to propose marriage?"

Such a combination is rare, but in recent years there have always been one or two times a year, and the villagers have become familiar with it. It is very clear that Landlord Liu is about to take a concubine again.

I don't know, who is the lucky one this time?

For most villagers, marrying Landlord Liu as a concubine is not a shameful thing.

Because Landlord Liu is the richest person in the entire Yuehe Village. His name is Qianqing, and he is also in charge of a large business. He lives in a luxurious house built with blue bricks and red tiles at the east end of the village. The man-made lake in the yard alone , is enough for the villagers to talk about it.

Although Landlord Liu is nearly forty years old and short and fat, he has no son yet, so he has only taken concubines into the house in the past few years, and he has eight concubines so far.

The girls who marry into his house as concubines don't have to worry about food and clothing. It's like falling into a nest of blessings. They are far better than marrying poor boys in the village. Wealth is at your fingertips.

The villagers never thought that there would be people who would not be willing to marry Landlord Liu, and this marriage would definitely come true.

The villagers with good deeds, standing in the sun and dripping sweat, also followed behind Nanny Li and the matchmaker, wondering whose girl Landlord Liu fell in love with this time, and they thought of the unmarried girls in the village. The pretty girl counted them, but there were a few candidates.

But to their surprise, Nanny Li stopped outside the gate of Lu's house, and the matchmaker took the initiative to step forward and slapped the courtyard gate.

The villagers were stunned for a moment, thinking that there was indeed an unmarried girl in the Lu family, but that girl...

The villagers looked at each other with narrow and contemptuous smiles on their faces.

It was a young and beautiful girl who opened the door for Qiao Matchmaker, about fifteen or sixteen years old, her skin was as white as suet, and she looked like a person walking out of a painting.

Her facial features are exquisite and beautiful, and her eyes are clear and bright. The most rare thing is that she is full of style, unlike other pretty girls in the village. She is beautiful, but she is full of rustic.

This time I picked up a treasure, Li Nanny looked more and more satisfied, and asked: "Miss Lu, where is your lord?"

Lu Dongfu frowned uncomfortably. From the corner of her eye, she had already caught a glimpse of a few villagers gathered outside to join in the fun. She lowered her head and whispered, "Father has gone to the county town for some business, and mother is resting inside the house."

She stood in the courtyard door stupidly, and would not open the door to welcome the guests. Nanny Li was very dissatisfied with her dullness, and went straight to the courtyard door, looked left and right, and took a panoramic view of the entire courtyard. , said: "Let your adults come out, just say that I have something important to discuss."

These words were very blunt, Lu Dongfu guessed that she couldn't stop her, so she answered, closed the door and went inside to call mother Zhang.

Mrs. Zhang was still in bed in the morning, and was disturbed by her, and got up cursing, angrily wanting to see who the visitor was in her daughter's mouth.

When she saw that she was a clever matchmaker, the reluctance on her face turned into joy, she warmly greeted her with a smile, and said, "It's really a distinguished guest, Erya, go to the kitchen and make tea for the distinguished guest."

Lu Dongfu frowned, thinking: Where did the tea come from at home?

She glanced at Qiaomatchmaker. She had just returned to the village and had been doing embroidery work at home all day, so she couldn't recognize who this person was, but she had an ominous premonition in her heart.

She went to the kitchen to boil water, added some wild plums picked in the mountains, and cooked a sweet and sour plum soup.

She was used to serving people, and after the sour plum soup was cooked, she thoughtfully drew well water, chilled the sour plum soup and let it cool before serving it.

As soon as he stepped into the threshold of the main room, he heard Zhang's joyful voice, and hurriedly said: "Marry, of course marry, Landlord Liu is able to take a fancy to my daughter, it is her blessing in her previous life."

Lu Dongfu's hands and feet were suddenly cold, and she almost couldn't hold the plate in her hand. She pursed her lips and stepped forward, put the plate on the table, and said, "Mother, I don't want to marry."

The corners of Nanny Li's mouth, which was originally curved, drooped immediately, with a displeased look on her face.

When Mrs. Zhang saw this, she raised her hand and slapped Lu Dongfu, angrily said: "Marriage has been a major event since ancient times, parents ordered the matchmaker to speak, when will it be your turn to be a girl who talks too much? I am your mother, I said Marry, you have to marry!"

Lu Dongfu held her sore and hot cheeks, and shook her head stubbornly.

Mrs. Zhang clicked her tongue and said irritably, "I don't care. It's a dowry gift of 50 taels of silver. It's the only one in the village. If you miss this, it's hard to find a better one. You don't even think about your own value in the village." Fame, after returning to the village for such a long time, which decent young man is willing to marry you? Landlord Liu’s family has a great career, and you will enjoy the blessings when you marry. I am your mother, and I will definitely not harm you. You go back to the room first. Ok, deal!"

The tears in Lu Dongfu's eyes could no longer be contained. She burst into tears and begged, "Mother, please, I don't want to marry, so let me stay at home and serve you and father."

Nanny Li sneered, and said in a neutral tone, "Madam really gave birth to a good girl."

Mrs. Zhang rubbed her hands in embarrassment, and then said cheekily: "This child is filial, Erya, mother is also reluctant to let you marry, but the girl is old, she always wants to marry, otherwise me and your father But if you want to be poked in the back by the villagers, you are so filial, you must not have the heart to see your parents make things difficult, can you?"

She was moved by what she said, but when she looked up, she saw Lu Dongfu still frowning, standing still like a stubborn donkey, and scolded impatiently: "Lu Erya, I'll just put the words away today." Here, if you don’t marry, you have to marry me, even if you die, you have to wait until you get married before you die!”

What I said was heart-wrenching, and the matchmaker coughed and said peacefully: "Mrs. Lu, just now we talked about the betrothal gift..."

Mrs. Zhang came back to her senses, patted her mouth lightly, and said with a sneer, "I'm a man with a knife mouth and a bean curd heart. When I get angry, I'm prone to say wrong things. Please don't be offended. Just now, the mother said that the dowry is in addition to 50 taels What else is there besides silver?"

They actually planned to ignore Lu Dongfu's opinion and discuss her marriage on their own.

Lu Dongfu couldn't listen anymore, and ran out of the house crying.

She pushed open the courtyard door, and saw her neighbors and a few villagers gathered outside to watch the fun, laughed and asked her impolitely when she came out, she ignored them, and ran to the river at the foot of the mountain, avoiding these idlers.

The water and grass are lush here, and there is no one there.

She wept sadly, looking at the rolling water, returning to the village after many years, only this Huai'an River was exactly the same as when she left when she was five years old.

When she was five years old, Huainan Road, where Yuehe Village is located, suffered a severe locust plague. The grain production in the field was greatly reduced, and the family was so poor that they couldn't afford it.

In order to survive, the parents sent the eldest sister Lu Daya, who was only eight years old, to the Peng family with a better family in Linxi Village next door as a child bride-in-law.

Because of her more outstanding appearance, she could be sold for a good price, so she was sold to Ren Yazi by her parents for ten taels of silver.

Ten taels of silver is enough for an ordinary peasant family to spend for a year.

Although the price of goods soared during the famine, with this money, the family can at least survive this year, hoping that God will open his eyes next year and let the field have a good harvest.

And she, together with the girls who were sold in the village, was led by Ren Yazi to leave Yuehe Village, Siyuan County, and came to the lively Haozhou City.

Because life is really difficult, there are more people who sell their sons and daughters. Lu Dongfu is still considered outstanding in Yuehe Village, but in Haozhou City, she can only be regarded as moderately handsome.

Therefore, she was very lucky not to be picked by the old bustard in the place of fireworks, but a few days later, she was sold by Ren Yazi to Xue Yuanwai's mansion as a maid.

Her master is the second daughter of the mansion, who looks about the same age as her, but looks like a boy sitting down by an immortal, and patiently asked them about their age and name.

After learning that her name was Erya and the other maid was called Tuniu, she wrinkled her nose and changed their names.

Since the two maidservants beside her were named Bichun and Xiahe, the two later ones were called Yingqiu and Dongfu according to their age.

This is the origin of her name, she likes this name very much, and she likes Xue Yuanwai Mansion even more.

Here, she can eat and dress warmly. There is no mother yelling at her to get up to work before dawn, and no father asking her to be courteous and accommodating to her younger brother at all times. She only needs to serve the second young lady well.

During these days in Yuan Xue's mansion, although she was busy, she felt comfortable. She wanted to stay in Yuan's mansion for the rest of her life and serve the second lady all the time.

But the world is unpredictable, she offended the Second Miss unintentionally, and she still can't figure out why the Second Miss, who has always valued her, completely rejected her, so that Xue Yuanwai's mansion could no longer tolerate her as a little girl. the maid.

The second young lady was quite tolerant, even though she was angry with her, she still cared about her loyal service over the years, so she specially arranged for a steward to send her back from Haozhou City to her home in Yuehe Village.

After many years, returning to this strange home again, she was afraid and apprehensive in her heart, but the matter had come to this point, she could only recognize the reality and continue to live at her parents' house in Yuehe Village.

After returning home, her mother and father treated her very well at first, always asking her about her life in Xue Yuan's foreign residence, with longing looks on her face, wondering why she was sent home.

Whenever this question was mentioned, Lu Dongfu remained silent. Although they were displeased, they would not continue to ask.

It's not her turn to do the dirty work at home, she just needs to stay in the house and do embroidery.

But two months later, Mrs. Zhang probably realized dully that she was really driven home by the second lady, and her attitude changed drastically.

Not only did she push all the dirty and tiring work at home to her, but she also changed her previous gentle voice and scolded her loudly for not being smart enough to climb into the bed of the young master and be a rich man in Xue Yuan's house for many years. As a concubine, she will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of her life.

But she was sent back home. Even if the steward sent her back, the people in the village firmly believed that it was someone she invited to perform a show.

She was so beautiful, and she was a weak woman with nothing to rely on. She must have been sold to a dirty place at the beginning, and she didn't return to Yuehe Village until she earned enough money to redeem herself.

She has been in such a dirty place for more than ten years, her body must have been unclean long ago.

With such a reputation on her back, the decent people in the village would never come to ask her to marry her.

Occasionally, someone would come to propose marriage, either a widower with children in the village, or a large number of old rogues who had nothing to do.

Mrs. Zhang rejected them all, and Lu Dongfu knew that it was not because Mrs. Zhang was reluctant to marry her, but because she didn't like the dowry they offered.

That's fine, Lu Dongfu didn't want to just marry a man she didn't know. Although she had to work hard at home and be reprimanded by Mrs. Zhang, it was much better than marrying into someone else's family and being tortured by others.

But Mrs. Zhang is a high-spirited person. After being squeezed out by the villagers several times, she insisted on fighting for her. He wanted to marry her to a good family and get a large dowry that made the villagers jealous.

A few days ago, Mrs. Zhang took over the embroidery work from Landlord Liu's house, and asked her to work hard, and also asked her to deliver the embroidery work to Landlord Liu's house in person.

She didn't think too much about it at the time, so she went to Landlord Liu's house at the east end of the village.

Unexpectedly, he would meet Landlord Liu who was taking a walk in the yard.

She still remembers Landlord Liu's appearance to this day. He is a middle-aged man with a big belly and gray hair. But it is very infiltrating.

She lowered her head, not daring to meet his gaze, hurriedly handed in her embroidery work and ran back home.

Unexpectedly, Landlord Liu came to propose marriage today. I think Zhang took over Landlord Liu's embroidery work for today's purpose, but I hate that she didn't see clearly Zhang's plan at that time.

When Lu Dongfu thought that Mrs. Zhang was determined to marry her to Landlord Liu as a concubine, and that she would live with such a man for the rest of her life, she didn't want to live anymore.

She wiped the tears off her cheeks, looked at the Huai'an River flowing eastward, took a deep breath, and walked firmly into the river.