The Little Widower (farming)

3

After planting and going down the mountain, Chen Qing was so tired that he couldn't speak. He leaned on the door to catch his breath. Aunt Sun had taken good care of his body in the past five years. These farm tasks were not a problem, but he He didn't get much rest last night, and carrying water and climbing mountains again, his body was still a little overwhelmed.

"Have a day off tomorrow and let's go to a neighboring village." Aunt Sun was also taking a breather.

Chen Qing nodded: "Okay."

Chen Qing quickly cooked some food, ate it with Aunt Sun, and then went back to the room to rest.

When he woke up, Aunt Sun was already busy again, sweeping the yard, feeding the chickens and ducks. When she saw Chen Qing getting up, she waved to him: "A Qing, let's go to the carpenter's place."

Going to the carpenter's place, naturally It was time to buy birthday materials. Back then, Chen Qing sold himself to buy a coffin for his little dad because he couldn't afford it.

On the way there, Aunt Sun told him her plan: "Buy better longevity materials for Taozi. There is a family in the neighboring village who makes wedding banquets and does a good job. There should be people there who can help with wedding banquets." "She is very familiar with this process. She also sent her husband away in this way many years ago.

Chen Qing listened silently, and soon arrived at the carpenter's house.

Aunt Sun explained the purpose of her visit, but the carpenter said: "It's an unlucky time for you to come. There were two pairs originally, but two families suddenly bought them. Now I don't have them anymore. It will take at least a month to make them."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Sun was stunned: "Will it take as long as a month?"

The carpenter nodded: "If you are in a hurry, go to the town and have a look, it is more expensive." After that, he asked them to leave their address and said if Notify them when there is an opportunity.

After thanking him, Chen Qing helped Aunt Sun walk home. Aunt Sun's eyes were a little red: "I just want to do something for him in a glorious way, why is it so difficult?"

Chen Qing didn't know how to comfort her, and raised his head When I look at the sky, I feel that the sun is clearly high in the sky, but it makes my heart feel uncomfortable.

When they returned home, neither of them had any intention of working. They sat down in the yard and looked at the sky blankly.

"Ah Qing."

Chen Qing turned his head and looked at Aunt Sun.

"Let's live our lives how we want to in the future." Aunt Sun lowered her gaze and sighed.

Since there was no work in the afternoon, there was naturally no cooking in the evening. Aunt Sun was not in a hurry to go back to her room. She lit an oil lamp and went to Chen Qing's room, where she and Chen Qing sorted out Meng Tao's clothes.

Aunt Sun found one piece and told Chen Qing the story behind the piece of clothing: "This is the piece of clothing I made for him on his birthday. At that time, I could still see clearly. I made the clothes." It's also fast and good."

Chen Qing smiled: "The stitching is fine and much better than what I made."

"This piece was made from his father's old clothes. The family was poor at that time, so he could only use it. Let him change dad's clothes."

While they were talking, they had packed away a lot of Meng Tao's clothes. Some of the materials were still new. Aunt Sun didn't plan to bury all of them, and some of them could be changed into something for Chen Qing to wear.

They are all from poor families, and no one is taboo about these things.

They packed away the clothes that were to be buried with them, and Aunt Sun returned to her room. The night in the mountain village was quiet, and the sound of insects was endless.

Before going to bed, Aunt Sun made arrangements for tomorrow's schedule, asking Chen Qing to go to the carpenter in the town to see if there were any ready-made longevity materials. She herself went to the neighboring village to ask people who were doing day jobs to see when they would be free.

The distance between Luohe Village and the town is not too close, so Chen Qing went out very early. Aunt Sun baked dry biscuits for him to eat on the way.

At dawn the next day, Chen Qing got up and went out. Before leaving, he heated some hot water for Aunt Sun. He was young and had nothing to do. After all, Aunt Sun was old and she would touch as little cold water as possible.

Although Chen Qing was small, he walked very quickly. When the sun came up, he arrived in the town. The shops in the town did not open that early. He also brought some handkerchiefs he had embroidered earlier and planned to exchange them for some. Pocket money.

This job was negotiated for him by his friend Li Xin in Luohe Village. Li Xin had a lively temperament and had no stage fright when talking about these things. He quickly relied on his sharp tongue to help him find this job. The price has been set.

Chen Qing first waited at the door of the cloth shop and saw the shopkeeper opening the door, but he was not in a hurry to go in to sell handkerchiefs and open the door for business. He always hoped that his first business would be to sell money instead of spending money, so When the shopkeeper saw off a guest with a smile, Chen Qing entered the cloth shop.

"Shopkeeper, I have embroidered a few more handkerchiefs here." Chen Qing took out the handkerchiefs he had embroidered from his bag.

The smile on the shopkeeper's face faded a little. Chen Qing's embroidery work was very good, and every bird and bush of grass was lifelike. However, the embroidery work was very good, but his face lacked some novelty. The shopkeeper said: "You don't have any embroidery skills." You have to say, but this kind of style is not easy to sell."

Chen Qing blushed and hesitated: "What styles are popular now?"

"Hey, young girls and brothers, all. What kind of love do you like? You are also a married man, how can you not understand this?"

Chen Qing didn't know how to reply to his words, and only said that he would go back and study it later.

The shopkeeper still accepted his handkerchief and paid him the previous price. Chen Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief. If the shopkeeper wanted to lower his price, he didn't know how to argue.

At this time, he was particularly fond of Li Xin, but Li Xin had traveled far away some time ago. He said that he and his mother had returned to his grandfather's house far away, and they would stay there for a while.

Holding a handful of money, Chen Qing walked out of the cloth shop. It was not too early now, and the carpenter's door should have been opened.

But just like the situation they encountered in the village, the longevity coffin shop in the town actually had no stock. The store owner said that there was a big murder case in the next town, and all the coffins everywhere were bought. Now he only has a golden nanmu coffin here that costs thirty taels of silver, which Chen Qing definitely cannot afford.

Chen Qing had no choice but to give up and planned to go back and talk to Aunt Sun.

On the way back, he met many people in the village. Chen Qing lowered his head for fear of being recognized. He was just not good at dealing with people, but there were always people with good eyes who recognized him: "Chen Qing, So early."

Chen Qing nodded helplessly: "I have something to do, so I went back." He didn't listen to anyone else's answer, and walked much faster as if he was being chased.

Finally, he didn't meet anyone from the village again. Chen Qing felt a little relieved. He walked very fast, but after a while he heard the sound of a bullock cart behind him. The road was not wide. Chen Qing subconsciously leaned aside. I want to make way for the bullock cart.

However, the ox cart slowed down when it passed him. Chen Qing tried his best to shrink himself towards the mountainside, and heard the driver saying: "Go home?"

Chen Qing raised his head, and just met Zhou Yuan's sight. He immediately lowered his head and nodded slightly.

"Come up, I'll give you a ride."

Chen Qing immediately shook his head: "No, no need."

"It's just the way." Zhou Yuan frowned when he saw Chen Qing hiding from him like a savage beast.

Chen Qing still shook his head: "No, it's inconvenient."

After all, he was a married man. Although his husband was gone, he couldn't sit with a man like this. Chen Qing lowered his head and waved at Zhou Yuan He waved his hand to tell him to leave quickly.

Zhou Yuan saw that he didn't even look at him, so he drove the bullock cart away.

Chen Qing breathed a long sigh of relief and slowed down his pace, hoping to wait for the bullock cart in front to go further.

But he didn't feel relieved for a long time. Some way ahead, he saw a bullock cart parked on the side of the road.

Chen Qing: ...

The only difference from before is that there is a flower lady sitting on the ox cart.

Aunt Hua is a matchmaker, and she has been the matchmaker for many marriages in the village and town.

She pulled Zhou Yuan, as if she had seen something delicious, and her face almost burst into laughter, but Zhou Yuan was just very cold, and occasionally said a word or two back to her.

No matter how hard Chen Qing tried, he could only move forward. When he reached the oxcart, Aunt Hua saw Chen Qing and quickly greeted him: "Chen Qing, are you going back so early?"

Chen Qing nodded and wanted to hurry up. He passed by the carriage, but Aunt Hua couldn't let him go: "Xiao Zhou's ox cart is also going back to the village. Xiao Zhou, don't you mind taking Chen Qing with you?"

Zhou Yuan nodded: "I don't mind."

Chen Qing Still refusing: "No, I really don't need it, we're almost there."

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: "Then give me a penny." Chen

Qing breathed a sigh of relief and took out a penny from the purse he had embroidered. The price of the oxcart back to the village last time was two cents. He had already gone almost half of the way, so it was reasonable to pay one cent.

He stretched out his hand in front of Zhou Yuan, and Zhou Yuan reached out to take it, but Chen Qing immediately retracted his hand a little. In the end, the two hands were far apart, and the copper plate fell from Chen Qing's palm to Zhou Yuan's hand, floating in the air. At that moment, the warmth of Chen Qing's palm on the copper plate disappeared.

Aunt Hua hissed and looked at Chen Qing unhappily: "Then do I have to give it to you too?"

It was obviously a good deed done by someone, but Chen Qing had to embarrass everyone.

Zhou Yuan shook his head: "No, I'm not familiar with the place in the village. I will still need to rely on my aunt to take care of me in the future."

Aunt Hua smiled again, but her expression towards Chen Qing was obviously lighter. Chen Qing didn't care and sat there. Try to minimize your presence on the ox cart, and jump off the ox cart as soon as you enter the village.

"I'm leaving first. Mom is still waiting for me. Thank you very much."

Zhou Yuan tightened his grip on the whip as he watched Chen Qing running away in a panic.

Aunt Hua felt that he was a little displeased and quickly said: "Chen Qing has that kind of temper. He can't do anything at all. Sometimes he always makes things look bad. Xiao Zhou, don't mind."

Zhou Yuan nodded. : "It's okay, Auntie."

He sent Auntie Hua to the place, and then drove the ox cart to the village chief's house. The village offered him several homesteads, and finally Zhou Yuan chose one of them. Looking at the place chosen by Zhou Yuan, the village chief He frowned and said, "Do you want to choose this place?"

"Is there any problem?"

The village chief then said, "The place is a good place, but the neighbors are not very good."

Zhou Yuan looked at him.

"The people living next door are Sun Cui and her widowed husband." Worried that Zhou Yuan didn't know, the village chief added, "It's the old woman who cried uncontrollably at the entrance of the village that day."

"So what?

" Seeing that he had to listen to her explanation, the commander was not too polite: "This Sun Cui killed his parents-in-law when he entered the door, killed his husband in middle age, killed his own son in old age, and he also has a widowed husband at home, you know Well, I'm afraid that their bad luck will affect you."

"I'm not afraid of that." Zhou Yuan said, "It's a clean place. I just need a clean place."

Zhou Yuan's face was not as good as before: "The day after tomorrow is auspicious. We plan to break ground that day."

The village chief nodded: "Yes, you should cook the meal yourself?"

Zhou Yuan shook his head: "I can't, I will find someone.

" He patted his thigh and said, "Who else are you looking for? Your aunt is very good at cooking. If you really can't do it, I have a lot of people in my family."

Zhou Yuan glanced at the village chief's house on the table and didn't have time to eat it. The table of dark dishes on the table said: "I don't think it is good to choose anyone hastily. Let's just draw lots. It is the most fair."

The village chief sent him to the door. Before leaving, Zhou Yuan said again: "The village chief just said What you said is biased. Aunt Sun, her son died in the battle to protect the family and the country. You said that he was killed by force. I don't agree with that. The battlefield is a very dangerous place, and every soldier should be respected. "

When he said this, there was obviously no unnecessary expression, but the village chief felt an inexplicable coldness on his back, and he immediately said: "Yes, yes, that's it."

Then Zhou Yuan left, and before the village chief. Not far from home, Chen Qing heard their conversation, and an unknown emotion filled his heart, making him a little at a loss.