"Brother, look, I cut so many bamboos!"

Wen Siran was awakened by the sound. He opened his eyes dazedly and saw a figure running towards him.

He often suffers from insomnia, but he didn't expect that he could fall asleep while sitting here.

Wen Shanshan was carrying a large bundle of bamboos tied with ropes on her back. She ran fast and her body swayed unsteadily twice. Xu Qingzhi grabbed the bamboos from behind to help her stand steady.

Wen Shanshan stuck out her tongue guiltily, then weighed the bamboo on her back and boasted to Wen Siran, "Brother, look, all the bamboo on my back was cut by me. Am I awesome?"

"You're amazing." Wensran said calmly.

Wen Shanshan was even happier after receiving the praise. She shook her head proudly twice and followed Xu Qingzhi's instructions to unload the bamboo on her back at the hut next door.

Most of the houses in the village have a small house built next to them. Some families cook with firewood, so they build a kitchen to burn firewood, while some families build a kitchen to store things.

As soon as the bamboo fell to the ground, her whole back felt relaxed. She went to get a cup of sour plum soup and sat leisurely next to her brother.

Xu Qingzhi took advantage of the fact that no one was around and picked up a large bamboo that he had specially cut down and put it into the spiritual space.

The crow looked at the bamboo that suddenly appeared and cawed excitedly.

The owner is going to make delicious food again~ The two little ones are instantly full of energy! Not long after, Wang Yanmei and Xu Fuqiang also drove home, along with Aunt Zhou and two aunts, who were familiar faces from the last time they picked vegetables.

It's not just these few people. The waist drum team is rehearsing today because there will be a funeral tomorrow.

Wang Yanmei even called all the other aunts from the waist drum team over.

But the small car couldn't accommodate everyone, so other aunts came one after another on their own ladies' motorcycles.

When Xu Qingzhi saw people coming, he politely called them one by one and served them sour plum soup.

"Yanmei, how come your daughter's skin is so good, as white as milk."

Wang Yanmei smiled and said, "No, my Qingzhi is just like a normal young person."

"I see that Yanmei's skin has improved a lot. Did your daughter buy you some useful skin care products? Recommend them to us sisters too. Don't hide it."

Wang Yanmei waved her hands: "I don't use that stuff in the summer. When my face is dry in the winter, I just use Yumeijing and Dabao."

There was also an aunt who touched it directly, "Hey, you said you didn't wipe it! Look at your skin, it's so tender, almost as tender as a young girl. If you and Qingzhi stand together, people will probably think you are sisters."

Wang Yanmei knew it was just a polite remark, but she was still very happy and grinned, "I wish I were really that young."

"Hey, this sour plum soup is so delicious!" an aunt exclaimed.

The other aunts also started drinking.

They praised it one after another: "Oh, this is much better than the drinks sold in the store."

“It’s really delicious!”

“It’s delicious. Very delicious.”

"My daughter made it herself, using bayberries grown at home. It's not only delicious but also clean," said Wang Yanmei.

Xu Qingzhi looked at Wen Shanshan who stretched her neck to listen to the compliments, and laughed out loud: "Mom, Shanshan did it today."

Wen Shanshan was praised and blushed shyly: "Auntie, Qingzhi taught me, we did it together."

The aunt next to her looked at the little girl and thought she looked unfamiliar. She asked hurriedly, "Yanmei, whose girl is this? Oh, there's a boy next to her, he's handsome. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Wang Yanmei didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Some things are not convenient to tell outsiders.

Xu Qingzhi came to her rescue and said, "He is a distant relative of mine, from a northern city. He is staying at my house for a while and will go back after a while."

Everyone knew that she was a distant relative of the Xu family, and they also knew that the north was really far away, so no one was willing to talk about marriage.

Most people in the village would prefer their children to find a partner with someone from their own village or a few neighboring villages.

In the words of the grandmother, if she knew she was going to get married, she had to marry close to home. If she was bullied by the man, the grandmother would ask the grandfather to carry a hoe and walk to the man's house to break down the door, and then beat him with the hoe and stick until the man dared not bully her anymore. If she married far away, the grandfather would not be able to come.

Although Xu Qingzhi does not quite agree with this statement and practice, the current marriage customs in the village are indeed mostly based on this concept.

I don’t want my child to marry far away, for fear that the child will be bullied and I can’t help. I also don’t want to marry someone from a faraway place with unknown background, for fear that he is a money-swindler.

Fortunately, Xu Qingzhi didn't even want to find a partner, let alone get married. So if she married a bad person, Grandpa wouldn't have to carry a hoe and smash doors at other people's houses at such an old age.

The aunts were drinking sour plum soup and chatting away.

"A while ago, the family that sold toads got married with a new wife. A few days later, her family members smashed the door to pieces."

"What's going on?"

"What else can it be? The old man is not a good person, and the young man is also a bastard, beating his wife. When his wife's family found out, my brother-in-law slapped him a few times."

"So this is a divorce?"

"What kind of divorce? The bride's family asked for a huge amount of money before the wedding, 200,000 yuan as a dowry, but they didn't give her a single dowry, just a few quilts. The bride's family took advantage of the situation to ask the frog seller for more money so that they could buy a house for their youngest son in the city. That girl has a miserable life."

"Oh, I live next door to the toad seller, and I hear the screams of the new bride every night. Hey...you say we are outsiders and we can only shout a few words. People don't listen, and we can't interfere. If I say too much, people will call me a nosy woman."

When Wen Shanshan heard this, she asked anxiously, "Why didn't the bride call the police?"

An aunt saw that the girl was still young and knew that she didn't understand, so she smiled and explained, "What's the point of calling the police? They're already married, so it's their family affair."

"Then we can get a divorce!" Wen Shanshan clenched her fists.

"It's impossible to spit out the meat that's already been swallowed. Her parents are reluctant to give the 200,000 yuan betrothal gift back to the toad seller, and the toad seller won't let her go without the betrothal gift. Besides, a divorced woman can't go back to her parents' home, it's unlucky. Her parents will also feel embarrassed in the village, so the new daughter-in-law can only swallow her anger and live in silence. She should work harder and make the man feel better, so that life will be easier."

Wen Shanshan felt like she was on fire when she heard this. She was about to explode with anger. "Beating your wife is domestic violence, but it's also illegal! In serious cases, you can be arrested and sent to jail."

When they heard about going to jail, some aunts were frightened and dared not say anything, for fear that if the toad seller's son was arrested, the toad seller's father would know that it was them who were gossiping behind their backs and would come to cause trouble for them.

.

(End of this chapter)