Zhang Fangyuan held his breath and finished turning the soil. Only then did he calm down. He knocked the hoe down and sat on the hoe handle, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

He took out a handkerchief from his belt and wiped his sweat, staring at Xu He beside him.

"Don't associate with Fei Lian anymore."

Xu He looked at the very familiar handkerchief in Zhang Fangyuan's hand. He didn't know when it had been tucked close to his chest. His ears turned red and he didn't want to be outdone by the butcher's fierce tone: "Why should I listen to you!"

"Tell me what he gave you, and I'll buy it for you." Zhang Fangyuan realized that even if he spoke loudly, he couldn't scare anyone. Instead, it made Xu He even more furious. He was in a mess, but he didn't dare to express his anger. In the end, he lost his temper and softened his tone: "Please, please."

Xu He's ears turned red when he saw Zhang Fangyuan's almost pleading look: "Why are you telling me this?"

After he finished speaking, he added: "Besides, he didn't give me anything. He just wrote a few words for me to recognize."

Zhang Fangyuan's thick eyebrows moved: "Although I have never been to a formal academy, I can read. If you want to learn to read, I can teach you."

Xu He did not answer. In fact, he wanted to tell Zhang Fangyuan that Fei Lian was going to become his brother-in-law and it had nothing to do with him. It was impossible for others to want to have anything to do with him given his condition.

But his mother had told him not to make the matter public until it was completely settled. Otherwise, if something went wrong, it would be difficult to find his relatives. If her mother knew that he had told the matter to others, he would be in big trouble when he returned.

Zhang Fangyuan saw that he was silent again, and he felt very irritable and uncomfortable everywhere: "Why don't you speak?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Tell me you know! Tell me to come to me if you have any problems in the future!"

Xu He was furious, but he couldn't help but say, "You...how can you be like this?"

Zhang Fangyuan saw that he would not say what he wanted to hear, so he was still upset for a while, and then said, "Why don't you use the headband I gave you? Don't you like it?"

"No." Xu He squatted down to cut the newly grown weeds so that he could feed the ducks later. "Who brought such good stuff?"

Zhang Fangyuan's heart suddenly became elated again: "Then you can bring it with you during the Flower Festival in a few days."

“…”

"Go ahead, I want to see you do it."

"We'll talk about it when the time comes."

Xu He heard someone talking in the distance. He glanced at Zhang Fangyuan, who seemed to be born in the ground, and urged him in a low voice, "You go back first."

"You chased me away after I finished the work for you. Why didn't I see you chase Fei Lian away? Do you really not want to see me?!"

Started yelling again.

This person wasn't like this before.

Xu He could only stroke the pug's frizzy fur: "You're standing here. What if someone sees you? You're going to talk nonsense again."

Although Zhang Fangyuan didn't care much about his reputation, the place was in a mess, but Xu He was a boy after all, different from a man. Although he was unhappy to hear that, he did not refute it and stood up by himself: "Then I'll leave."

The tone is sour.

“…”

"See you next time."

"I'll be waiting for you at Haitang Bay at the beginning of the Flower Festival!"

Xu He looked up and saw Zhang Fangyuan's eyes suddenly lit up. It was as if a big tail had grown behind him, wagging at him.

Having said that, without waiting for him to agree or refuse, she climbed over the ridge of the field and ran away.

Xu He held the sickle in his hand, and the redness in his ears had spread to his cheeks, which remained unchanged.

…………

The second pig Zhang Fangyuan bought was a little small, so the meat was not as much as the first one, but it did not sell as quickly as the first one. One reason is that when the first head is sold before the 15th day of the lunar year, there are many people buying the meat; the other reason is that the meat is thick and easy to sell.

It took several days of work, but fortunately they were all sold out, and I barely made a thousand coins. As a butcher, he could make money faster than ordinary people, but he spent a lot and could not save much money. During this period, he set up a stall in the city, ate and drank in the city, and bought some take-out food. He only had two thousand coins saved.

Before taking it away, there was more than a thousand coins left from the bracelet, and all added up there was still four thousand coins.

Today he went to another village to order a pig, and tomorrow he will slaughter it and transport it directly to the city. He needs to sell all the slaughtered pigs before the Flower Festival.

As soon as he returned home, Zhang Fangyuan heard Chen Si coming outside the house with a pot of rice wine.

The two of them tacitly understood each other, one opened the wine and the other took out food from the kitchen.

Chen Si looked at the dish of marinated mutton, which had a unique mutton aroma, and drooled: "You've made money!"

Zhang Fangyuan sat down on the chair and said, "What's the point of making money? We've just started. This is the mutton I promised you. Although the winter solstice has passed, I'll make up for it now."

Chen Si ate the meat in a hurry and said with a big tongue: "You are too polite, hehe."

Zhang Fangyuan ate the braised pork and drank the rice wine bit by bit. Looking at Chen Si who was eating voraciously, he suddenly asked, "How do you think I compare to the only son of the Fei family?"

Chen Si looked at Zhang Fangyuan in confusion: "You are both only children, what is there to compare?"

Zhang Fangyuan kicked him under the table. Chen Si was in pain: "What do you want to compare? You are a butcher and a scholar. There is a word in the book that says, poles apart! There is no comparison."

"If you were a woman or a boy, and had to choose a husband, who would you choose?"

Chen Si saw that Zhang Fangyuan was a little puzzled and didn't want to make such an assumption, but because Zhang Fangyuan's strong and powerful fists were gradually clenched, he still said: "If I were the younger brother, I would choose you."

"Why?"

Chen Si patted Fang Yuan's hard chest and smiled: "Look at how healthy this body is. How can a pale-skinned scholar compare to it?"

"roll!"

Zhang Fangyuan stretched out his leg, and Chen Si fell to the ground with a bang.

…

Fei family.

When Fei Lian arrived home, his mother had just returned from the fields. Seeing her son coming home from vacation, she was so happy that she immediately scooped a bucket of water from the water tank beside the yard to wash off the mud on her hands and said, "Mom will cook something delicious for you."

"Okay." Fei Lian went back to his room, put down his school bag, and changed out of his school uniform as well, fearing that it would get dirty when he got home.

"The teacher looked at the essays I wrote recently and said that I have made great progress and I have a good chance of passing the college entrance examination."

After changing his clothes, Fei Lian went to the kitchen and took the initiative to report his study progress in the academy to his mother.

After hearing what her son said, Fei's mother couldn't hide her smile, as if the monthly allowance and fertile land specially allocated by the imperial court for the scholar had already been in her hands, and the villagers were already envious and their eyes were red: "My son has made great progress, and the Fei family has a bright future! It's worth it for your parents to work hard to support your studies all these years."

Fei Lian pursed his lips and threw the broken firewood into the stove: "Mom, I'm not young anymore. I'll be young in two years."

"Although scholars tend to marry late, it's also..." Fei Lian was embarrassed to finish the rest of his words: "After I pass this college entrance examination, if I can get good grades, I want to..."

Mother Fei naturally understood that her son wanted to get married, and said with relief: "My son has grown up. Even if you didn't say it, I would have had this plan. Now that you have brought it up, I might as well talk to you."

"My mother went to visit the Xu family a while ago and told Madam Xu that the conversation went very well. After you pass the examination, we will go to the Xu family to propose marriage."

Fei Lian's hands trembled with excitement when he heard this. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he stood up from the stove: "As the saying goes, no one knows a son better than his mother. A mother really knows her son's mind."

"Hurry up and sit down." Seeing her son was so happy, Mother Fei was also happy, but she also felt a little uncomfortable. She didn't understand why he was like that, but she still said, "You and Shaochun can get along well. That girl is really beautiful, and she is very juvenile and easy to raise. It will be a great honor for Lian'er to have her by his side when he becomes an official in the future."

Fei Lian was startled, and the smile on his face froze: "Shao, Shaochun... Mother chose Shaochun."

"Who else could it be? The Xu family only has two children, so it could be Xu He." Mother Fei said puzzledly, "The little brother is fine, but his talent is not at all comparable to Lian'er's. He will definitely be laughed at by the villagers."

Fei Lian said anxiously: "But, but I..."

Mother Fei was stunned for a moment, and raised her eyelids slightly, looking at her reluctant son, and asked in shock: "Could it be that Lian'er has taken a fancy to Xu He!?"

Fei Lian said nothing, just lowered his head.

Mother Fei dropped the spatula and walked anxiously from the stove to Fei Lian. She even suspected that she was too strict with her son and didn't allow the girls and boys in the village to get close to him, which caused her son to be a little distorted: "Xu He is tall and thin, dark as a dried monkey, and has a strange and aloof personality. Why would Lian look down on him! His second sister is the most beautiful girl in our village. Even the men in the neighboring village are eyeing her!"

She said a lot of good things about Xu Shaochun and belittled Xu He. Fei Lian showed a painful look on his face: "I think He is very good. He is diligent and not fussy. The most important thing is that he is motivated and willing to learn. But Shaochun...she is also good. She looks like a beautiful and good wife, but she doesn't like to read and write..."

Mother Fei shook her head. "Not to mention that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent, Xu He is definitely not suitable. Even if you don't want Xu Shaochun, it can't be Xu He. It's really ridiculous. He doesn't look like a good match for you. Not only do I disagree, but your uncles and aunts won't agree either. Do you want me to be laughed at by the people around us? I have worked so hard for you to study, and you want to disobey my parents and make them sad..."

Seeing Fei Lian remained silent for a long time, Fei's mother suddenly burst into tears: "Mom raised you to this age, not asking you to repay your parents, but only hoping that you would listen to your parents. Now you are grown up and have your own ideas, you have no conscience."

"Mother, mother, that's not what I meant." Seeing his mother at a loss, Fei Lian said, "Son, son, I'll listen to you."

Seeing this, Mother Fei stopped crying and asked, "Really?"

Fei Lian closed his eyes and nodded in pain.

"Mom is doing this for your own good."

"I know……"