Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

After a heavy snowfall, Huanglongyuan turned into a huge steamed bun, white and steamy.People often say that auspicious snow heralds a good year, and the Spring Festival in the 16th year of the Republic of China came surrounded by heavy snow, which heralded a good year for Zhoujiazhai. From the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, the taste of the year is getting stronger and stronger.First, there is Laba porridge. The corn is crushed on a roller and cooked with carrots and tofu. The red, white and yellow colors make people drool just by looking at the color, not to mention eating.After eating Laba porridge, the heart is warm, and the severe cold in Sanjiu is not a problem.On the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, there is a sacrifice to the stove, and the pot helmet is to be baked and offered to the Stove Lord. The old man has eaten a round pot helmet, and God only talks about consummation.On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, men want to kill pigs.Every household in the village raises pigs in order to eat meat at the end of the year.The village is full of complaints from pigs. They don't understand why the owner who has treated them as pets for a year suddenly changed his face, and the knife is in and out of the pig.The red eyes of the masters were also red. I don't know if they were red from killing or soaked in tears.Women absolutely do not watch this scene, not only because they are afraid, but also because they feel distressed.What they have to do today is to sweep the shrine. In ancient times, the shrine was a sacred place for worship, but today it has become a platform for the ancestors of each household.Women should clean the desks and candlesticks enshrined to their ancestors, so that they will feel happy when they return home.After finishing the cleaning of the undead, they couldn't even take a breath, and then they were busy with the general cleaning of the living people, cleaning the front and back of the house and outside the house.The twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month is to invite the ancestors. Women cannot participate in this matter. The eldest son of each family should lead the descendants to the grave of the ancestors, light candles and burn incense, perform three prostrations and nine prostrations, and invite the ancestors to follow them home new year.After arriving home, place the memorial tablets of the ancestors on the clean table, and then offer the gift buns, wine and vegetables, which is considered to have settled down for the ancestors.On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, steamed buns are steamed. The women are busy from morning to night, making dough, kneading dough, kneading dough, and dishing dough. Pomegranates, lotus flowers, longevity peaches, ingots... Although they are tired, they are also happy. This is the best opportunity to show their ingenuity.Putting up window grilles on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month is still a woman's business. They insist on using colorful paper to dress up the gray-faced winter in a beautiful way, so that it can go to the end of the new year with a happy face.The 30th of the twelfth lunar month is the end of the year, and the momentum of the year has also been accumulated to the end.The door gods and couplets were posted, and the family guarded the table full of pork and gift buns, waiting devoutly for Lord Sun, who had been busy for 365 days, to leave, and then lit the firecrackers on the bamboo poles.The violent explosion was the sound of Nian hitting the ground from the air, and the sound of Nian's footsteps as he ran.Smelling the scent of sacrifice, it plunged down from the sky, and rushed to the dining table of every household impatiently, sharing the last feast of this year's end of the year with people.This meal is the longest, from thirty to the first day of junior high school, which is called keeping the year old.This meal is the most sumptuous, the steamed buns should be the whitest, and the fine noodles should not be mixed with grain; the pork should be the fattest, more than a stick thick;People have worked hard for a year, and they have a reason to reward themselves.This meal was also the happiest, because with Nian, the sacred being, no one could swear at others, and no one dared to lose their temper, for fear that Nian would mistakenly think that he was referring to Sang and scolded Huai.I can only laugh and sing, have fun and be crazy, this laughter can lift up the village, and it will be lifted to the first day of the new year.

All these happiness have nothing to do with Yinwa.Others celebrate the new year, but she is having a hard time!Every New Year's Eve is a ghost gate for baby introduction.According to the custom in the Zhoujiazhai area, any married daughter must not celebrate the New Year at her natal home. As the saying goes, the water thrown by a married daughter will be born into her husband’s family and die as a ghost of her husband’s family. The blessings of the mother's family are brought to the husband's house.Yinwa is a married daughter, so she can't spend the new year at her natal home, but she lost her husband and fell out with her parents-in-law, so she can't go back to her husband's home for the new year.At this time of year, Yingwa would become a lonely ghost and could only wander in the wilderness.

The Yin baby was only four months old when Zhou Shuancheng and his wife brought her back. No one knew where the baby girl came from. Zhou Shuancheng and his wife were tight-lipped, even Zhou Liang who gave them warm advice .Of course, this is because they are afraid that when the child grows up, he will know his life experience and go to his relatives.According to Zhou Shuancheng and his wife's idea, even if they are warm-hearted, it is best to hold a boy baby as an introduction, so that it is easier to attract a boy baby.But how precious is the long cow, who is willing to give it to others?In the end, I could only hold a braided one.

Just because she is a primer, it is reasonable not to treat her as a human being. Who has ever seen a medicine primer as medicine?Ever since she entered Zhou's house and named her Yinwa, her fate was sealed.Zhou Shuancheng and his wife didn't bother to take care of her, as long as they didn't starve to death, Zhou Guoshi didn't even have to bind the feet of girls.The introduction of the baby was really effective, and Zhou Guo became pregnant after a year of warm pregnancy, and the baby she gave birth was still a long-term baby.From then on, Yinwa was almost forgotten by Zhou Shuancheng and his wife. They only had their precious son in their eyes, and this daughter could only be regarded as a long-term worker.It’s fine if it’s a long-term worker. A long-term worker is invited to work, not beaten and scolded. He has personal freedom. If the master is too harsh, he will shoot his butt and leave. People who rely on their strength to eat, why should they be so useless? !Yinwa is different, in addition to being a coolie, she also acts as a punching bag. Anyone in the family who is angry will vent on her. Even the younger brother had diarrhea, caught a cold, was startled at night, and choked on the milk, it was all the baby's fault. Punching and kicking were commonplace.Yinba has no place to hide, no one to tell, so she can only carry it to her death.

Yingwa is also hard-fated, although she has been tortured, she has grown up tenaciously, and she has grown up strong, as the saying goes.In stark contrast to her was her baby brother, who was wilted from birth, and has been soaked in medicine jars since then. He would eat anything delicious for him, and he would not even come out with a good excrement.No one controlled the introduction of the baby, but it made her feel at ease, and she developed a willful temper. Many people in Zhoujiazhai said that she had no tutor, so Zhou Kewen simply called her a wild girl. Yinwa got married when she was ten years old.Male colleges should be married, female colleges should be married, although the introduction of the baby is a little earlier, but it is also close to Tiangui Chutong, barely justified.What is unreasonable is that her husband was not born when the baby was married, and his father was still having a tendon in his calf, so he had to be lured out by the baby.There was no such married woman in the Zhou family village, and everyone was dumbfounded in surprise.

But Zhou Shuancheng was not surprised. Isn’t she just being a child bride? The only difference is whether it is paid in cash or paid in advance. The husband's family who introduced the baby was from Kangjiabao on the Beishan Mountain. There was a couple in that village who had been married for ten years and hadn't given birth.At that time, the news of the introduction of the baby had already spread, and salt and vinegar were added to the rumors, making it even more miraculous. It was said that the baby girl was a virgin girl who sent her off to the empress. It's a kid!The couple couldn't help but decided to ask the girl's adoptive father to transfer the introduction to them.They think that this matter can be done, because the function of the introduction is to draw out their own flesh and blood. Once this purpose is achieved, the introduction will become redundant. Since it is redundant, why not take it out for some benefits?

The man on the bank of Beishan found Zhou Shuancheng and said what he wanted. Zhou Shuancheng stared and said, "You want me to sell my daughter!"She is my darling, how can I be willing to part with it!Immediately afterwards, he told how he had fed and dressed his daughter well since she was a child, and how he held it in his hand for fear of falling and holding it in his mouth for fear of melting.The man by Beishan curled his lips. He had already inquired and knew how Zhou Shuancheng treated his daughter poorly.He said, we can negotiate the price.Zhou Shuancheng was very angry. He said, what are you talking about? Are we selling animals?It's not about money, it's about reputation!The man by the Beishan was not reconciled, and asked, is there no room for negotiation?Zhou Shuancheng justly said that selling children and selling daughters is an unrighteous thing, and I, Zhou Shuancheng, would not do such a thing even if I was a beggar!

The man by the North Mountain was desperate. He walked out of the door disheartened, climbed on the back of the donkey, and was about to leave, but Zhou Shuancheng stopped him, saying that I think you are pitiful enough, and you are sincere. Let's get married. The man by the Beishan was overjoyed, and kept saying that he couldn't wish for it, he couldn't wish for it!Zhou Shuancheng said, you marry a daughter-in-law and I marry a daughter. Although this is the best of both worlds, your son has not been born after all, and I am wronging my daughter by doing this.The man by Beishan quickly said, I will not treat my in-laws badly, nor will I treat my daughter-in-law badly.

Things have come to this point, the man by the Beishan River has learned the shrewdness of his in-laws: it is obviously a useless introduction, but he insists that he is reluctant; it is obvious that he is abusing his daughter, but he insists that he picked the stars for her to go to the sky and go to the sea to cut the dragon's beard , This is all to increase the value; it is obviously selling a daughter, but it is said to be marrying a daughter, and the infamy of selling a son and a daughter is completely wiped out. Marrying a daughter requires a bride price is a matter of course, and the king of heaven and I have nothing to do with it; Knowing that it is risky to marry a daughter to a husband who has not yet been born, but passing this guilt on to others is nothing more than putting pressure on the other party to double the compensation.Facing such a calculating person, the man by Beishan reminded himself that he must be careful everywhere.

In this way, the two men bargained for a whole day, with a dry mouth and a sore throat, and finally negotiated the deal. The business of the two men is basically buying short and selling short. According to Yinwa's character, she could have protested, but she didn't say anything.Yinwa thinks so, she has stayed in Zhou's house enough, and if she is not treated as a human being here, she might be beaten to death if she stays any longer.Fortunately, he was not beaten to death, and he might not be able to bear it and committed suicide. If this is the case, he might as well try another place, and if he is lucky, he can meet a good family.She felt that she was so unlucky in her life that she should change her luck.Of course, there is a risk for her to be the introduction, she may attract a husband, or she may not.After all, no matter how much younger he is than her, he is her man after all, and she has something to rely on in her life.this is the best.But it's also possible that she can't be attracted at all, and she will have to stay as a widow for the rest of her life.Just keep it, Yingwa was still young at the time, she didn't know the difficulties, and she felt that she could bear it, so she had the right to be a girl who would never stay out of the court for others.

Yinwa has no objection to Zhou Shuancheng selling her, and she still has some thoughts of repaying her kindness.Although she didn't know where she came from, no matter where she came from, there was a prerequisite, that is, her biological parents didn't want her.At that time, girls were contemptuous, and those who did not want to be raised were basically killed. They were either stuffed into the urinal and drowned, or thrown into the wilderness to feed the dogs. She survived thanks to the adoption of Zhou Shuancheng and his wife.Although they treated her badly later, she can understand, after all, she is not their own flesh and blood.They sold her, even if they sold her to a man who didn't exist, she didn't complain, it was right as compensation for their support. Because of this, Yinwa still cried on the day she got married.People in Zhoujiazhai thought Yinwa wouldn't cry, they said that she should be happy that she was going to escape from Yan Luodian.What they said was probably right, Yinwa was really looking forward to getting married, and she showed this happiness on her face, which was different from ordinary girls who were waiting to be married.No matter how much other women look forward to getting married, they will not show this emotion. On the contrary, the more they get married, the more they will show the sadness of not letting go of their parents.Yinwa, who had always been in a good mood, thought she would not cry, but the moment she got on the donkey's back, she looked back at her adoptive parents and saw tears in their eyes.The eight-year-old brother suddenly ran over. He was just as tall as a donkey's back. He took off his cotton waistcoat and stuffed it under Yinwa's buttocks. He said, sister, you put this on the pad, the road is far north.Mrs. Zhou Guo said, Baoba, put it on quickly, don't catch a cold, and ask your father to take the mattress.Zhou Shuancheng went back immediately, and when he came out, he took a slumped pillow, padded it for the baby, patted the donkey's buttocks and said, I have wronged my baby, don't blame my father, my father is also doing it for the sake of life! As soon as the donkey started to lead the baby, it cried.Like all the married daughters in the Zhou family village, she cried very sadly, but other people stopped crying when they left the village. They knew it was a procedure, and they just passed it.But the baby cried all the way.There are too many sad things for her, which girl in the Zhou family village has her life to suffer! Ten years ago the donkey carried Yinwa away, and ten years later the donkey brought her back.The difference is that it was the donkey's mother who carried her away, and it was the donkey's daughter who carried her back.Leading the baby to the bank of Beishan not only led to the little husband, but also led to a little female donkey.This pair of happy events happened at the same time in the third year of the baby's marriage, but the family by the Beishan Bank was so happy that they thought their money was well spent.That family was different from Zhou Shuancheng, they didn't forget to attract the baby because of the birth of their son, on the contrary, they were very good at attracting the baby.They have to rely on the baby to take care of his son, and let the thirteen-year-old daughter-in-law take care of the baby husband, they are relieved and at ease.Yinwa also felt that her timing was really good. She regarded this family as a lifesaver, and took care of the baby in her arms as a lifelong support. Just when Yingwa was immersed in the dream of being a good wife and mother, God gave her a slap in the face, and her five-year-old husband had smallpox and died in her arms.The family on the bank of Beishan was devastated, and Yingwa was crying to death.One cried after she died, and the other cried that she was a widow.However, this family of Peerless thinks about it and thinks that they can go on forever. Isn’t it very effective to attract a baby?Yinwa also accepted this idea, who told her to be so unlucky? But it's only three things, and Yinwa, who had already worked twice, failed this time.Three years have passed, and the stomachs of the women in Beishan are still flat. The men in Beishan attribute the responsibility to their wives, thinking that the old woman is a saline-alkali land that has been drained of fat and water, and it is rare to grow crops.At this time, the baby beside me was in her early twenties, and it was the peak season of flowers, so it would be a waste not to use it.So the man discussed with his wife that he wanted to recruit the baby to be a child, saying that he would not care about other people's gossip after he said that he would stay.Unexpectedly, the old woman agreed, and even came to call Yinwa her younger sister, and advised her to consummate the marriage as soon as possible. His face flushed red with embarrassment, the father-in-law marrying his daughter-in-law is the most shameful thing in the world, why is this family so shameless!She rode a donkey and ran away secretly that night. Where could she go?Can only run back to Zhoujiazhai.Zhou Shuancheng took her in. Anyway, he is her father. Besides, Yingwa is already an adult, and her feet have never been bound. She is strong and a good laborer. She can work like a man, which is much more cost-effective than hiring a long-term worker. What's ridiculous is that the man on the bank of Beishan went to Zhou's village to ask for someone, saying that there must be no deadline for the daughter-in-law to return to her mother's house, leading the baby on the left to pick up ashes and on the right to make a fuss, scolding him bloody.Before he left, he wanted to take the donkey away, but Zhou Shuancheng didn't say anything, but Yinwa grabbed the rein and refused to let go, saying that I led the donkey out, why should I give it to you, I'm afraid you will take the donkey back and consummate the house! The man by the north mountain fled.