Chapter 67 On the eve of the Spring Festival, living together under one roof...

According to the custom of the Li Dynasty, the cleaning of dust would begin on the first day of the Spring Festival.

The house must be thoroughly cleaned, inside and out, symbolizing the removal of dirt and bad luck.

Li Zhengming was also on leave and at home. The two brothers were standing outside the gate cleaning the spider webs from the corner of the eaves.

His mother took a broom and walked straight towards the two of them, symbolically patting each of them once.

"Mother, what are you doing?" Li Zhengyang asked, puzzled.

His mother was in a good mood today, and she said with a smile, "This house needs to be cleansed of bad luck, and people naturally need to be cleansed as well." After saying that, she swept herself a couple of times.

The two brothers looked at each other, both seeing the helplessness on each other's faces. Their mother was always so capricious, doing whatever came to mind.

"Hey, it's the village chief's house, sweeping dust!" A woman walked by the door, carrying several oil paper packages in her left hand and holding the hand of a child who was still drooling.

"Oh, yes!" Li Zhengyang's mother immediately replied, and casually asked, "Did you take the child to town?"

The woman seemed to have been waiting for her to ask this question. Upon hearing it, she shook the oil paper package in her hand, her eyebrows dancing with excitement, and said, "I went to town. There wasn't much meat left at home, so my husband asked me to buy some more. When I saw that the butcher shop in town had a lot of good meat, I bought too much. Luckily, meat doesn't keep well in this weather, so if we can't finish it, we can save it and eat it slowly. We'll be able to finish it eventually."

Li Zhengyang's mother smiled. The more insignificant something is, the more she wants to show off. At her age, how could she not know what the other person was thinking? She probably chatted with them all the way, as if afraid they wouldn't know she had bought some pork for the holiday.

The village has a strong culture of comparison. If you can eat meat during the festival, you want everyone in the village to know. Even if you don't have money, you will go to the town to cut a tiny piece. You can't bear to use it for cooking, so you just boil it in water and put it on your lips after each meal. Your lips will be shiny and oily before you go out, just so you won't feel inferior to others and you can walk with your back straighter.

When she was younger, she had seen even more outrageous things. They would go to town and, when no one was looking, touch the fat on the chopping board, then rub their hands on the mouths of the whole family. The smell was so close to their nostrils that the fishy, ​​stinky odor would seep into their noses, making them unable to vomit. They had to pretend to be satisfied with the meat they had eaten, which was simply a case of suffering for the sake of saving face.

The reason she remembered it so clearly was because it was her father who did it. His family was poor but he was proud, so he did it every year. Later, she married into this family and her life improved. Putting aside everything else, she could still have some meat during festivals.

This year, the family's life has been even better. Her two sons are doing well. The younger son got a job in the government office. Although the salary is not high, it is stable and respectable. The older son, thanks to Zhu Mingyue, went to work in town. He is not very bright, but he works hard. Zhu Mingyue raised his wages to nearly one tael. During the holiday, he didn't have to work and got 600 coins for free. When Li Zhengyang came back, he told his family that this was his year-end bonus. He used the bonus to buy fish and meat. As long as they don't eat too much meat, they won't be able to finish it after the holiday.

She was living such a comfortable life that she no longer wanted to show off; if she showed off too much, she would only arouse jealousy.

When she sees others showing off in front of her, she doesn't get annoyed, she just chuckles and says a few flattering words that the other person wants to hear, trying to get rid of them as soon as possible.

To his surprise, the woman found the conversation enjoyable and refused to leave. She leaned against the wall and insisted on chatting with him about the village gossip.

They say that Li Zhu'er's parents arranged a marriage for him before the New Year. The girl was from a village on the other side of the mountain, and her family was so poor that they couldn't even afford to eat, so she was married off. The girl will be sixteen after the New Year, but Li Zhu'er can't wait and insists on bringing her over to live with him right now.

They also said that Lin Damazi was able to get out of bed. He had thought his wound was going to swell up with abscesses and he had a persistent high fever, but his wife cried all day long, eventually waking him up. Apparently, the first thing he said when he woke up was to tell his wife to calm down.

It was windy outside, and the woman swallowed a lot of ash as soon as she opened her mouth, but she didn't care at all. She was so engrossed in her conversation that nothing could stop her burning gossip spirit.

"Ptooey, ptooey!" She spat out the ash she had swallowed and immediately continued, "Lin Dama Zi is awake, but his leg is probably beyond saving. He and Li Zhu'er do look like a good match, one lame on the left and the other on the right." After saying that, she found it funny herself and laughed out loud.

Li Zhengyang's mother got angry whenever she heard Lin Dama's name. What kind of person was he? Even if there was a problem, he couldn't just completely ignore his child! That kid would come to their house every day at mealtimes to freeload, and no matter how much they pleaded, he wouldn't leave. They couldn't really do anything to him, so they could only patiently give him some food. But even while eating, he wouldn't settle down; he insisted on eating meat. If you said there wasn't any meat, he would point to the cured meat hanging from the rafters and order you to cook it for him right now.

Even if she has a good temper, you can't keep feeding her meat. Her own family hasn't had enough meat yet!

She finally managed to get rid of him, but the incident remained a lingering unease in her heart. It wasn't a deep, unpleasant feeling, but the thought of it always bothered her. Back when Lin Dama was in trouble, all the men in her family went to help him—wasn't this repaying kindness with enmity?

Seeing her face darken, the woman assumed she had been too obviously gloating and immediately stopped laughing. She then said insincerely, "Oh dear, Lin Dama is also pitiful. It is said that when the accident happened, his child accidentally entered the Xie family's house. Everyone says that he was tainted by the bad luck of the jinx at that time, and that's when the accident happened on the mountain."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a spider web landed on her face. Li Zhengyang exclaimed, "Auntie, I'm so sorry, I was just sweeping away a spider web!"

Li Zhengming also looked at her apologetically and said in the same way, "Auntie, please don't mind."

Who are you calling auntie! It's true that she's married and has children, but she's not that much older than Li Zhengyang! The woman brushed the cobwebs off her face, feeling a little unhappy, but she didn't dare to argue with him too much. It was only because this was the village chief's house that she dared to say a few words of abuse to anyone else.

Before she could even react, Li Zhengyang's mother's broom arrived first.

"Let me brush your face clean too, look how much dust has settled on it."

The woman was caught off guard and nearly got hit in the face by a broom. She even forgot to hold her child's hand and hurriedly dodged it.

Li Zhengyang's mother chuckled and said, "If you don't want me to sweep, fine, but why come all this way? Is my broom some kind of man-eating tiger from the mountains?"

The woman chuckled awkwardly, "No, that's not it." But what normal person would use a broom to sweep their face?

She spat out the ash in her mouth and complained, "I shouldn't have taken the shortcut through the Xie family's gate. I must have picked up that bad luck from that Zhu guy. Why is all the dirt and grime getting into my mouth?"

Li Zhengyang's mother saw that even a broom couldn't shut her up, and she was still obliviously complaining about Zhu Mingyue. Didn't she even look at her face, as if she wanted to listen?

She did have a prejudice against Zhu Mingyue before. Regardless of whether she was a jinx or not, it's always better to have less contact with her.

As it turned out, her eldest son was rebellious and refused to listen to reason, so he went and provoked her. No matter how she tried to dissuade him in secret, he turned a deaf ear and talked about Zhu Mingyue all the time.

A month or two passed, and nothing bad happened to her family, so she was a little relieved. Later, Li Zhengming was promoted in the government office, and Li Zhengyang got a job in town because of his friendship with Zhu Mingyue.

Nothing bad happened to her family; on the contrary, their lives improved steadily.

She was still very superstitious; after all, deeply ingrained beliefs are hard to change. But she did change her perspective on the problem.

Why did Li Zhu'er get a limp? It wasn't because he entered the Xie family and got some bad luck, but because he offended Zhu Mingyue. And why did Lin Dama's family end up like this? It wasn't because his son accidentally entered the Xie family, but because he failed to properly raise his son, causing his child to offend Zhu Mingyue.

On the other hand, why did nothing happen to her two sons who were close to Zhu Mingyue? It was because they were both happy to befriend Zhu Mingyue, so one got a promotion and the other made money.

From this perspective, everything makes sense!

She felt that she had seen through the essence of things that no one else in the village could see through through this series of phenomena.

She threw the broom aside and reached out to grab the woman's sleeve.

The woman was much less wary this time and nimbly dodged backward.

Li Zhengyang's mother: ...

"Come here! I have a secret to tell you."

The woman doesn't believe him; what secrets could she possibly have? He's probably just trying to trick her into going there to embarrass her again.

Li Zhengyang's mother frowned. If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't stand seeing her constantly slandering Zhu Mingyue, she wouldn't have spread this matter. What if it took away her son's good fortune?

"Come here, do you think I'll eat you?"

The woman was a little intimidated by her. Li Zhengyang's mother, like her two sons, was tall and strong, and her expression was indeed quite intimidating.

But she had to go over there; she couldn't afford to offend anyone. She walked up to her reluctantly and asked, "Auntie, what secret do you want to tell me?"

Just then, Li Zhengyang popped his head out from behind: "Auntie, you can't call me 'Auntie,' it messes up the generational hierarchy."

"Screw you!" the woman cursed through gritted teeth. Her family and the village chief's family weren't even related; how could this be considered a mix-up of generations? It was clearly this bastard who started calling her "auntie" first, making her seem much older than she was.

She glanced at the other person, her eyes filled with annoyance.

Li Zhengyang's mother, as if she couldn't see through it, leaned close to her ear and said mysteriously, "Actually, Zhu Mingyue isn't a jinx."

"That's it?" The woman curled her lip. "What else could it be? Just some ordinary person like us?"

Li Zhengyang's mother shook her head: "No, no! He's not like us ordinary people; he's a lucky star."

The woman stood there stunned for a moment, then burst into wild laughter, almost laughing herself to death, before patting her chest and saying, "I think you've gone mad, Auntie."

Li Zhengyang's mother was unhappy, "Who are you calling possessed?"

She recalled that Li Zhengyang seemed to be close to that person surnamed Zhu and said sarcastically, "Your son must have been bewitched by that person surnamed Zhu, and you've become like this because of him."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhengyang was about to retort angrily, but was stopped by his brother. Li Zhengming shook his head at him and glanced at his mother, signaling him not to be impulsive, as his mother was still there!

Li Zhengyang calmed down and thought about it. He realized that he had almost acted impulsively. It would not look good for a big, burly man like him to argue with an aunt.

For this kind of thing, it's best to have his mother do it.

His mother did indeed live up to expectations, arguing with the woman, not for his sake, but simply because she was angry that others didn't believe her.

She spoke logically and with evidence, but the other party just wouldn't believe her. Not only did they not believe her, but they also said that she had lost her mind.

The woman was also furious. Normally, she would never dare to argue with the village chief's family like this. She regretted that she had come all this way just to show off that her family had bought meat. The Li family were crazy; they had all been fooled by the man surnamed Zhu.

She spat on the ground: "If Zhu Mingyue is really a lucky star, then the Xie family's house will collapse overnight."

When this was mentioned, the three members of the Li family fell silent, which was unusual for them.

Almost everyone in the village knew about the Xie family's house being blown down.

Ever since Li Zhengyang's mother firmly believed that Zhu Mingyue was a lucky star, she has been constantly finding reasons for various signs.

For example, when this house collapsed, she thought it was old and should have collapsed long ago. The reason why it didn't collapse was because Zhu Mingyue was a lucky star who brought him good fortune.

This reason is somewhat far-fetched. That's what she thinks in her heart, but if she really said it out loud, no one would believe her.

She gave a heavy snort, indicating that she didn't want to explain to her.

Seeing that the three men were speechless, the woman's face, which had been flushed with pride, seemed to have won a battle. Instead, she felt extremely relaxed and finally felt triumphant.

She raised her head, picked up the meat, and left. Before leaving, she glanced at the three of them with a sympathetic look, and then said hypocritically, "Find a shaman to take a look! I'm doing this for your own good, so you won't be completely bewitched by demons."

In her eyes, Zhu Mingyue was a monster, an ominous one at that, a monster that brought misfortune. Her beautiful appearance was merely a ploy to lure people closer.

Li Zhengyang's mother, having lost the argument, was filled with resentment. She spat at her departing figure to vent her anger: "What a piece of trash! What's so great about cutting off a few ounces of flesh?"

She turned to look at her two sons, thought for a moment, and said, "One of you go to the Xie family and see if there's anything you can do to help them. The house has collapsed, which is no small matter. See if you can help them in any way you can."

She didn't even need to say it; Li Zhengyang rushed over as soon as he heard the news, only to find he hadn't even gotten inside.

His mother also suggested that he go and take a look, so he naturally decided to go and check it out.

The two brothers went over because they were not far apart and it was not difficult to make the trip.

Zhu Mingyue was lying in bed reading a storybook and was getting sleepy when she heard a knock on the door.

"Xie Pei! Ming Yue! Are you home?"

It was Li Zhengyang. Zhu Mingyue snapped out of her reverie. Heaven knows Xie Pei was incredibly boring. He'd been trying to find a topic for ages, but Xie Pei couldn't utter a single word. He understood that Xie Pei was already doing his best to respond. He was utterly bored; he was tired of reading storybooks and sleeping, and all he wanted was someone to chat with to relieve his boredom.

Xie Pei went to open the door.

Li Zhengyang went to greet Er Ya first when he came in. Li Zhengming and Xie Pei were not very familiar with each other, so he only gave each other a perfunctory greeting.

Li Zhengming asked, "Is your sister-in-law home?"

Xie Pei was stunned for a moment. He hadn't heard such a form of address in a long time, and at first glance, he felt a little annoyed and irritated.

He quickly suppressed this sudden irritation before speaking: "He caught a cold a couple of days ago, but he's almost recovered now."

Remembering the expectant look on Zhu Mingyue's face when she urged him to hurry up and open the door, Xie Pei said, "Shall we go in and take a look?"

When Li Zhengyang entered the room and saw the person on the bed, he was shocked: "How did they become so thin?"

After several days of struggling, Zhu Mingyue lost all the weight she had painstakingly gained.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have gone to the county with you. I must have caught a cold from the wind that day.” He began to blame himself.

Zhu Mingyue's lips twitched: "It has nothing to do with you." It even has nothing to do with that day in the county.

He was so tired from playing that day that he slept soundly and didn't even realize that the thatch on the roof had been blown away by the wind. He was so cold that he was shivering in his blankets and ended up getting a fever.

Fortunately, Xie Pei noticed something was wrong that night and carried him away first, otherwise he would have been crushed to death.

That's how he explained it, but Li Zhengyang wouldn't listen. He felt that it was his own problem that caused Zhu Mingyue to get sick.

He brought a food box with him when he arrived. It wasn't filled with vegetables; it was cabbage and pork buns that his mother had asked him to bring.

She specially waited for Li Zhengming to come back from his day off before making these, and she used fine flour. Putting everything else aside, the taste was much better than her usual pancakes. Because she used meat, she couldn't bear to make too many, but when he came to visit the Xie family, she generously took ten.

This steamed bun was exactly what Zhu Mingyue wanted to eat. His mouth was practically watering at the thought of it. He eagerly reached out his hand and said, "Quickly, let me try Auntie's cooking."

Li Zhengyang was about to give it to him, but Xie Pei stopped him halfway, asking, "Is there anything spicy in it?"

"Uh..." Li Zhengyang saw Zhu Mingyue desperately trying to wink at him and was about to speak to brush her off.

Li Zhengming, however, spoke up and answered truthfully for him: "My family has a strong palate and loves spicy food, so we added a lot of vegetables, ginger, and chili peppers."

Zhu Mingyue and Li Zhengyang: ...

Xie Pei nodded slightly in thanks, and under Zhu Mingyue's resentful gaze, took the food box and delivered it to the kitchen.

Li Zhengyang comforted him softly, "It's alright if you don't eat it. I'll have my mother make it for you when you're better."

Zhu Mingyue was on the verge of tears. No one could understand him. Was he craving Li Zhengyang's mother's cooking? Of course not! He just had no taste in his mouth and was really craving it!

The three of them talked for more than an hour, with Li Zhengyang doing most of the talking while the others listened.

During this time, Li Zhengyang asked, "If your house collapses and you sleep in Xie Pei's house, where will Xie Pei sleep?"

Zhu Mingyue didn't reply to him, pretending not to hear clearly, but the tips of her ears quietly turned red.

Fortunately, Xie Pei calmly spoke up to help him out: "There's another storage room at home."

Li Zhengyang looked as if he had suddenly realized something.

Zhu Mingyue glanced at Xie Pei secretly, a smile playing on her lips. Xie Pei was truly a master of wordplay, completely fooling Li Zhengyang.

He only mentioned that there was a storage room in his house, but didn't say that he would sleep there at night.

In fact, he had already discussed it with Xie Pei yesterday. Xie Pei would still sleep in this room tonight. To outsiders, they were uncle and aunt, but in reality, they were two men. What did it matter if they squeezed in? It wouldn't hurt either of them. As long as they kept the secret and didn't tell anyone, no one would know.

They slept in the same bed last night, but Xie Pei slept even more properly than him! He lay on the bed with his body perfectly straight, seemingly without moving an inch from beginning to end...

As Xie Pei saw him off, Li Zhengming remembered his purpose and asked him, "Your sister-in-law's house collapsed. What should be done with it? Does it need to be repaired?"

Li Zhengyang followed up by saying, "Remember to call me then, I'll be doing the tamping."

It's called repair, but it's actually reconstruction. In cases where only a small section of the wall remains, repair is simply impossible.

Xie Pei replied gently, "No, we'll demolish the rest of the houses and rebuild them in the spring."

Since the topic had come up, Xie Pei casually mentioned that he wanted to buy the land in the backyard.

Li Zhengming worked in the yamen and knew a lot about the people who bought the land, besides his father. "It's not troublesome, just make sure the money is ready."

After the two said goodbye,

Halfway there, Li Zhengyang finally couldn't help but exclaim, "They're fucking rich!"

Seeing his brother's envious expression, Li Zhengming chuckled to himself, "If we work hard for another two years, we can build a few more brick houses for our family."

Li Zhengyang nodded, clearly having considered this idea. The Li family's house wasn't big; strictly speaking, no family in the village had a spacious and grand house. Everyone saved costs wherever possible, and everyone lived in cramped conditions.

His family had three rooms. He and his brother used to squeeze into one room. After his grandparents passed away, they each got a room. But the room was very small, about the same size as the one Xie Pei lived in. He secretly wanted to build a larger room.

Xie family,

Taking advantage of the fact that no one else was around, Zhu Mingyue started to act unreasonably again, saying, "Anyway, I just want to eat something flavorful. I don't want to drink porridge or eat eggs."

Xie Pei was already used to his persistent nagging and remained unmoved: "Let's talk about it when your throat is better."

Zhu Mingyue still wanted to protest,

Xie Pei saw through his thoughts and raised an eyebrow: "I'll be keeping an eye on you at night too."

Zhu Mingyue blushed again as if she had thought of something.