Chapter 2 second quarter

The fourth sister stayed at the second aunt's Xie Yang's house, and within half a month, four families entrusted people to propose marriage. For every man or woman who stepped over the threshold to propose marriage and matchmaking, the second aunt greeted him with a smile, warmly greeted, and softly asked the man's family composition, how many brothers, the width of the house, and his physical condition, but in the end, there was no family. Favorite.Among the four families mentioned, one is a landlord and the other is a rich peasant, the status of which is too high.Fortunately, the other two families are the most popular poor peasants in the countryside. One of them has a single eye, and one eye is covered with radish flowers.For the first three families with flaws that cannot be concealed, the second aunt answered clearly in front of the matchmaker without leaving any excuses. However, the language of the refusal was tactful and her attitude was very sincere.Marriage is not human, so there is no need to be upset.The fourth family is a poor farmer with an only son, and the boy has no major flaws. The second aunt was tempted, so she went out to a relative's house to inquire, and found out that the boy was a white-faced idiot, at most Bacheng, whose name is 250, suffered from meningitis when he was young.When the second aunt got home, she was annoyed immediately, and vented her anger in front of the lame uncle: "What kind of goods are you going to bring to my niece? Landlords and rich peasants, blind idiots, turtles and monkeys! My niece is looking for this time." If you don't get a good partner, you won't marry..."

Hearing the situation of these candidates, the fourth sister cried sadly, it's too humiliating!The second aunt turned her face away, changed her breath, and comforted the fourth sister, saying that things are expensive away from home, but people are cheap away from home!If it weren't for the fact that Xie Village of the Yang family had two harvests in summer and autumn, she wouldn't want to marry the lame uncle as a daughter-in-law!The crippled uncle followed the dry pipe, and was not annoyed when he heard the second aunt's unabashed ridicule of him. Instead, he let out a smug laugh in his throat, squinted at the second aunt and smiled, the meaning was obvious, It doesn't matter what you say, it's a couple anyway.

The second aunt told the fourth sister that the customs and habits of this place in Guanzhong are different from those in the mountainous areas of northern Shaanxi. One of the strange things is: the big girl is not married to the outside world.In recent years, there have been continuous movements in the countryside. No matter what kind of movement starts, the landlords and rich peasants will first be brought to the stage to fight.In this way, it will be difficult for the sons of landlords and rich peasants to find a wife. Whose girl loves to be so useless!The children of high-ranking students can't find wives in the local area, and they don't care about the local customs, so they randomly find women who are short of food from Henan, Sichuan, Gansu, and the mountainous areas of northern and southern Shaanxi in this province.The girls in these places don't care about their status, even regardless of the man's obvious physical defects, they all want to get the feng shui place in Guanzhong.The fourth sister felt a chill in her heart when she heard this, and wondered that the four families who proposed marriage to her as a matchmaker were either high-ranked or possessed of madness.Since the people in Guanzhong have such a custom, it may be hard for her to settle down in the end.Thinking of this, Fourth Sister bowed her head sadly.

The second aunt said that things are not rigid and need to be taken slowly.The second aunt expressed her determination that anyway, she must not push her niece casually into the fire pit of those landlords and rich peasants, nor should she be shoved to those handicapped people with missing arms and eyes.With the second aunt as a backer, with food and shelter, the niece and daughter can live with peace of mind until they find the next satisfactory owner.Uncle Pozi also expressed his opinion immediately, saying that he was never afraid that the fourth sister would steal the rations, and said generously: "Don't worry! The busy monk can't keep up with the good dojo. This matter will be handled by your second aunt, no Mada! You are here The house is the same as in the old house, casually, we are close to relatives, just like a family, don't be restrained..." The uncle is sincere, and the fourth sister thinks that the second aunt married this person, although her legs and feet are not beautiful, but her heart is still Pretty good.

After that, another ten days passed, and no one came to propose marriage again.The second aunt said that it had spread in the village that the new fourth sister had high eyesight and would not marry someone with madness.It is even said that not only landlords and rich peasants do not marry, but poor peasants with poor conditions and poor appearance do not marry.This is obviously spreading rumors and distorting the original intention of the second aunt and fourth sister.The second aunt didn't care, she said it was good, so as not to prevent those tortoise kings and monkeys from marrying again, and let the villagers know that women in the mountainous areas of northern Shaanxi are not sold at cheap prices!But the fourth sister thought in her heart that if she dragged on like this for half a year, she would not be able to find a house to live in. She would sit and wait at the second aunt's house for a long time.The rations are divided according to the head. Although Guanzhong produces food, there are also standard rations.She struggled so hard that she couldn't speak.

In the anxious anticipation, the fifth matchmaker came into the gatehouse. It has been raining for three consecutive days, and the ticking has not stopped. The fourth sister is cooking with the second aunt in the small kitchen, learning to roll the dough with the second aunt, and someone is calling Uncle Lizi in the yard.The second aunt leaned over to look through the window, then ran out of the stove, said with a smile, "Uncle Liu, come here, sit in the room quickly." Then she led the man to the upper room.The fourth sister lowered her head to roll out the noodles, feeling that another matchmaker was coming, her heart jumped up, and the rolling pin became even more difficult to use.In my hometown in northern Shaanxi, although I have a rolling pin, it has been idle for many years. Where can I find white flour rolling pins!During the New Year’s Eve, when I made some white noodles, my mother always rolled them into noodles by herself, afraid that she would spoil them.Now, the second aunt is teaching her how to roll noodles. If she marries a certain family in the future, she will be ridiculed if she doesn't know how to roll noodles.People in Guanzhong eat many kinds of noodles, such as dry noodles, soup noodles, willow leaf noodles, scorpion noodles, square noodles, sparrow tongue noodles, flag flower noodles, mosaic noodles, alkali noodles, pang pang noodles, stick noodles...

After rolling out the noodles, the fourth sister sat under the stove and lit the bellows again. Her ears could not help but froze, listening to the indistinct conversation from the upper room, her ears felt hot and her cheeks felt hot. , my heart was pounding, and my whole body was hot and dry. "Fourth sister, come on!" Fourth Sister buzzed in her head, her hands and feet flustered.Usually when a matchmaker comes, it is the second aunt who picks them up and sees them off, and then tells the situation to the niece and daughter.How embarrassing enough to call her in person today!She pulled the bellows and said: "The pot is about to boil—"

"Put it down!" Second Aunt said, "I'll burn it later!" She got up from under the stove, walked out the door of the small stove, patted the ashes that had fallen in front of her lapel, walked into the upper room, lowered her head involuntarily, and leaned against the edge of the kang. The second aunt said: "This is Uncle Liu from Fengjiatan. He took the trouble to show you a picture. He came running through the mud... Listen to Uncle Liu and tell me about the baby. Make your own plan, I won't arrange it..." "I've told your aunt about the baby's situation in detail, and I'll tell you about it later, so I won't go into details." Uncle Liu said beside the table, in a blunt tone, "This is the baby's image. Let’s see if it’s bald or pockmarked.”

The fourth sister raised her head slightly and saw Uncle Liu's face, she couldn't help being startled, this man looked very strange, with a long clapper face, a pair of red eyes with red edges, blinking constantly, It gave people an extremely unreliable feeling, and the red eyes that kept blinking were full of secrets and panic.She hastily lowered her head. The second aunt stuffed a photo into her hand: "Look at—" The fourth sister seemed to be holding a piece of burning coal in her hand, and her eyes were blurred. She looked down at the photo, she didn't look ugly, she seemed to be still smiling, her facial features were still upright, and her arms hung on both sides a little awkwardly. , both legs are the same length, not a cripple... She didn't dare to take a closer look, so she sent the photo to the second aunt.

"After I'm gone, take a closer look!" Uncle Liu said with a smile, "This is the baby, this is the property, you all discuss it carefully, and give me a reply every three or two days. If you are willing, let's talk about it later." The matter of meeting; if you don’t want to, don’t mention it, and no one will force anyone. Uncle, I’m a matchmaker, and it’s all done according to the new marriage law, so you can be free..." "Okay. Uncle Liu, I'll discuss it with my baby and get back to you right away." The second aunt said flatly, "I won't ask you to wait."

"Well, give me a photo of our baby." Uncle Liu said, "I have to let the man's family take a look..." Oh!The fourth sister actually didn't have a full-body photo of a single person.The second aunt sighed that she was too sloppy, and the fourth sister forgot to prepare the next full-body single photo in more than a month after her arrival.While sighing, the second aunt suddenly clapped her hands, remembering the family reunion photos she took with her brother, sister-in-law and fourth sister when she went back to her natal home last year, and asked the matchmaker if it would work? "All right, all right!" Uncle Liu said, "As long as you can see clearly!" The second aunt quickly took out the photo from the frame in the building and handed it to Uncle Liu.The fourth sister really wanted to see this photo, but she was too embarrassed to ask for it from Uncle Liu. She remembered standing stupidly next to her mother, smiling so hard that her front teeth were showing... Liu Hongyan ate and walked away through the muddy water. Then the second aunt told her that the marriage Uncle Liu was talking about was the third child of Lu Kejian's family in Lujiabao, Xiaheyan.The family is a middle peasant, with three brothers, the eldest is a teacher, the second is a farmer with some carpentry skills, and the third is a farmer in his 22s this year. My aunt interrupted this time and said: "Lao Ba Lu of Lujiabao, he is a well-known good family and good family, and he is also a good person." The fourth sister wants to hear the opinion of the second aunt. The second aunt said: "The composition of the upper middle peasants is a bit high. In the countryside, it is not dependent on the object (relying on the poor peasants, uniting with the middle peasants, fighting against the landlords and rich peasants), nor is it the object of struggle. It is neither good nor bad. As long as you don't suffer struggle There's nothing to worry about. Anyway, we don't expect good ingredients to eat. This baby! From the photos, it doesn't look ugly, and the body is also strong. The agricultural cooperative earns work points based on its strong body. What do you think?" The fourth sister has already heard the meaning of the words, and the second aunt's tendency is obvious.She thought about it, and this composition and this young man with no physical defects were already the best of the several targets mentioned, and she was basically settled in her mind.She said, "Gun, just look at it!" "Don't worry." The second aunt said, "I'll go to the back of Lujiabao tomorrow to inquire about it, and I'll talk about it when I come back. Don't say it's two hundred and five!" The next evening, the second aunt came back sweating profusely, and said: "I actually called for a while. Although the family's status is a little higher, the child's father is popular and virtuous, and he is indeed a good host. The child also No melon, I heard that he is one of the most spiritual brothers..." Seeing Second Aunt's happy look, the joy in her eyes and words, the fourth sister felt a little more at ease in her heart, and said shyly, "If Second Aunt agrees, then that's fine..." "Let's call Uncle Liu first and make an appointment to meet." Second Aunt said, "We'll meet and talk. If you find out that there is something wrong with him, he's a fool or a fool, it's not too late if you don't want to!" That night, the second aunt sent the crippled uncle to Fengjiatan, and called Uncle Liu Hongyan back, and agreed on a date to meet.