Chapter 27 call me old man's sister-in-law

The third woman I want to write about is my nanny.Just as I was about to write, the editor suddenly sent me a letter, irritating me to write "my sister-in-law".Of course it is possible, but I have three sisters-in-law, all of them are good, which one should I write?Write everyone a little bit, lest they say I am partial! I often said to my father: "Other families are lucky for their sons, but our family is lucky for their daughters-in-law. Look at your three young wives, it makes people feel so happy!" My father smiled. Looking at them eagerly, I said, "Why don't you also find a happy young mistress for me?" So my younger brother and sisters-in-law all looked at me with a smile.I said: "I don't see anything inferior to them either, but after all these years, I can't get a wife." The younger brothers all smiled proudly and said, "Without plane trees, you can't attract Phoenixes." Come on. Just because you are not a sycamore tree, you cannot get a phoenix!" This may be true, so I had to accept their ridicule with humility.It was June of the 26th year, when my third brother went to visit relatives in Peiping after his wedding. He had a complete population. He proposed to take a photo of the family reunion, but I sternly refused.I can't watch them get carried away, let alone see myself in a photo without a woman next to me, so let the proposal go.To this day, I am quite regretful, because in less than a month, we were all separated after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.My father died, and my younger brothers lived far and wide. "The brothers in the sea are separated from each other, and the world is far away with tears and tears" is a sentence I often recite, but I don't have a single photo of them!

My second sister-in-law was originally my cousin, my uncle's daughter, the sixth in the university, only one month younger than my second brother. I watched them grow up, they are really childhood sweethearts, childhood sweethearts.There are so many sweet and innocent stories in their memories, and if they would tell me everything, a good novel could be written.I proposed to them, and they laughed: "I don't want to tell you, everything that comes out of your mouth has changed, we can't let you arrange it!" When they were seven or eight years old, they were betrothed by their parents. After the engagement, the aunt thought that unmarried men and women should avoid suspicion, and they became estranged.However, we live across the courtyard from my uncle's house, and we can always see them when we go in and out in the morning and evening.I could see their smiling expressions at each other, and I only teased my second brother behind my back, and never said a word in front of adults, lest my aunt would interfere again, which would be too unpleasant.

One year, it was my second brother who was studying in Tangshan, and my sixth sister was studying in Tianjin. One spring morning, I suddenly received a letter from "Mr. Said: "Brother, I want to communicate with my sixth sister. ... I have sent three letters, but she has not replied to me. Please help me to clear it up. Thank you very much." I laughed, these two fifteen-year-old children , Spring has come to their hearts!I took this letter and went to show it to my mother first, but my mother just smiled and said nothing.I knew that the most important key was my aunt, so I went to see my aunt again.

After exchanging pleasantries, I casually mentioned that my second brother sometimes felt lonely at school, and it was hard for him to be alone at such a young age. We often wrote to him and hoped that my aunt and sixth sister would also write to him often, so as to give him some comfort and peace. encourage.My aunt hesitated for a moment, and was about to speak, I quickly said: "Mother has already agreed. This year, it is not like before. If you want their young couple to reconcile in the future, you should let them exchange ideas and connect with each other. They are both A very sensible and well-measured child, I will write the guarantee for everything." The aunt thought for a while, then sighed with a smile and said, "Where did this come from! Anyway, you are the elder brother who is responsible for everything." I also I don't know what I was responsible for, but the negotiations were finally successful, so I reported to my mother, and sent letters to the two of them, saying: "Let's communicate, all obstacles have been cleared away, don't bother me again if you have nothing to do!"

When they were 21 years old, I came back from abroad. My second brother had already graduated from university. He was doing a very good job and could play the violin. He was taller than me and was very young. I am really old-fashioned.Sixth Sister has also grown up a lot, as if she is a big girl.At the reception banquet, she also sat with her second brother, chatting and laughing freely.In the middle of the night, my parents and I were chatting affectionately. When it comes to the relationship between the second brother and the sixth sister, they are improving day by day. Although they are not like Western lovers who go hand in hand, they are considerate and encourage each other under considerable restraint. When my mother was ill, my sixth sister would often stay at our house, serving soup and medicine with my younger brothers, and taking care of some housework for my mother.Speaking of this, my mother said: "Really, what happened to your own life? This year's twelfth lunar month is your father's 60th birthday. I always hope that you can bring a daughter-in-law back to be my master. Now you don't move Not at all, the second brother Ming Xia is going abroad again, and the third and fourth brothers are still young, when will I become a mother-in-law?" I was silent for a while, then smiled and said: "This kind of thing should not be rushed. You want to be a mother-in-law but Easy; the second brother can go abroad after getting married. Just now I saw the situation of the sixth sister here, she seems to be a very capable little housewife, and it is said that she is not too young at the age of 21. I have to go with my aunt for this matter. Say it." As if she hadn't thought of it, the mother turned her head and smiled and said to her father, "This is also a way."

When I mentioned it to my second brother the next day, he smiled and had no objection.A few days later I mentioned it to my aunt, and my aunt said, "I don't care, but Liumei still has a year to graduate from college. Ask her if she wants to." I smiled and went to Liumei.She was knitting on the porch, and when she saw me coming, she pulled a stool and asked me to sit down.I said: "Liumei, I have something to discuss with you, please help me." She looked at me with wide eyes. I said, "On my father's birthday this year, my mother wants someone to help her as the master. She wants me to get married. Do you think I should be obedient?" She stood up happily, "You? Marriage? Of course I should be obedient in this matter." .When will you get married? Who is the other party?

What can I do for you? "I laughed and said: "The main premise has been set, you said it yourself, of course you should be obedient to this matter.I don't know when I will be able to get married, because I don't have a partner yet, I have already put the responsibility on my second brother, I ask you to help him. She suddenly understood, turned her head and left with a blushing face, and said, "You always like to joke!" "I stopped her and said sternly: "I'm not joking with you. My mother, aunt, and second brother have agreed to this matter, and I'm just waiting for your opinion." She stopped, became serious, and said, "Second Brother, isn't he going to go abroad next year?" I said: "We have also discussed this matter, because he is going abroad, I can't be at home often, and mother must have a competent person, so I have to wrong you." She bowed her head and thought for a while, a smile gradually appeared on her face. I knew that the negotiation was successful again, so I said, "Okay, I will take care of everything, you just prepare to be a bride!" She spat and ran into the house. But my aunt came out and said with a smile:

"You old uncle is not serious-but only three or four months, we are old and useless, everything is up to you." On the day of my father's birthday, it snowed heavily in the morning, and I rushed into the city from the western suburbs.On that day, they held their wedding at the European and American Student Association, and the bride was as bright as the moon of Mid-Autumn Festival!After eating the wedding wine, they returned home in a noisy manner, and put on a birthday feast.After the birthday celebration, most of the senior guests dispersed, only the second brother and a group of friends, who must build a new house, parents are not easy to stop, the third and fourth brothers are happy to watch the fun, everyone rushes in.I was a little tired, so I went back to the east room to smoke and rest by myself.My three rooms are a quiet place for weekends, and they are neatly tidied up. There are rattan beds and bamboo chairs in the same color, two pots of wintersweet on the flower stand, and there are narcissus on the desk.I sat for a while, turned to the book, and was fascinated by the old place thousands of miles away. I suddenly looked up at the clock. It was half past twelve, and the new room in the south room was still full of people.I went in and saw that the bridal house was at its most lively stage. The bride obeyed everything they asked the bride to do, but they were still not satisfied. Finally, they asked the bride to smile at everyone, expressing the meaning of chasing away the guests. Everyone is willing to leave.The bride was probably tired, maybe she was angry, but her face was sullen and she refused to smile, she froze for a while, and the second brother couldn't say anything, just smiled and looked around with no idea.I hurriedly found a pencil, wrote a note, and asked the bridesmaid to deliver it secretly, which said: "Sixth sister, please smile, let these little bandits get off the stage, I will drive them into my room !" In the panic, the bride read the note, nodded and smiled at me in the crowd, and everyone burst into laughter, feeling satisfied.I took advantage of the situation and let them all go to my study.That night, my study room was unprecedentedly messy. These "little bandits" drank, sang, ate, and played cards there until dawn.

In less than a few days, the bride took over everything, and took over everything. The mother was aloof and ruled by doing nothing, and her face was often full of a "mother-in-law" smile.I come back from the western suburbs every weekend, and I am treated like a guest by the little housewife. She lived among us, as if she had been in our family from the beginning of time, that kind of naturalness, that kind of fit.In the summer of the second year, my second brother went abroad, and my third and fourth brothers and I could not always be around when teaching or studying. Only she was the comfort of my parents day and night.

More than ten years have passed, and she is now the mother of five children, but she still likes to joke about "big brother", for example: she doesn't call me "big brother" recently, but calls me "old man"! (This article was originally published in the 29th issue of "Weekly Review" on June 20, 1941, signed by a man, and later received.)