Chapter 9 Chapter 9 I'm going
At the Qiaotou Hui Niangzi cloth shop, Liang asked some questions and sent the young lady away. Seeing that Kang He had gone to the toilet and had not returned yet, she looked at Fan Jing with some hesitation: "The young man said..."
Fan Jing said bluntly, "He's not very talkative."
Liang was a little embarrassed, but she also knew the situation of the Fan family. It was not easy to find a son-in-law.
After all, the village is different from the county. When the conscription came, the better families in the county had money to spend, so they paid the money to be exempted, and the men were not sent to the battlefield.
Farmers in rural areas had little savings and had no choice but to accept conscription, so there were fewer men in the surrounding area.
In the past two years, many men and women have come out to work.
She whispered to Fan Jing to comfort him, "No one is perfect. As long as you have good character and can live a stable life, that's enough."
"I know."
When Liang saw Fan Jing coming back from outside, she said nothing more.
He turned to look at the clothes with the other two people and said, "The material is quite good, a medium-fine cloth. Do you really want to change it?"
Kang He couldn't understand the dialect the woman spoke, so he looked at Fan Jing.
"Change."
"If I exchange it for money, even if my aunt doesn't earn any money, I can get three hundred coins."
Liang and Fan Jingdao.
Fan Jing pointed his finger to Kang He.
Kang He changed his mind about exchanging the clothes for money and pointed to the cloth in the store. He wanted to exchange the clothes for cloth.
Liang went to get some pieces of cloth and patiently introduced the prices to Kang He with gestures. Kang He asked for a piece of dark blue coarse cloth and a piece of apricot-colored coarse cloth according to the price.
Liang wrapped the two pieces of cloth, then took out another piece of thick cloth woven with cotton and wrapped it together. She said to Fan Jing:
"I wonder if I'll be able to come and have a drink with you on your wedding day. This piece of cotton lunchbox is my gift to you."
She really wanted to go for a drink, but she was afraid it would be difficult to free up her hands.
Her husband had gone out to get some goods and didn't know when he would be back. She had to run the shop and take care of her five-year-old child, who was now pregnant.
It is difficult to arrive in person, but the ceremony must be there.
"It's too expensive. No."
Fan Jing refused to take it, saying that a piece of thick cotton cloth cost no less than four or five hundred coins.
Although the Liang family made money faster than farmers by opening a business, business was not necessarily easy. They all had families to support and could not afford such gifts.
"When your mother was alive, she brought you to the shop to play, and your aunt promised her that she would give you some cloth when you got married. Even though Lingniang is gone, your aunt can't break her promise."
Liang pushed the cotton cloth over to her and said, "When Zhen'er grows up and gets married, I'll give her the cloth."
Fan Jing said, "There won't be any banquets at the wedding, so please don't spend money. Today, I gave you some cotton cloth, and I will return the favor when my younger brother or sister is born."
Liang paused when she heard this: "You kid."
While this made sense, it was a bit too blunt. Liang knew Fan Jing's personality was always like this; if it were someone else, they'd probably be more suspicious.
He insisted on not taking it, so I had to give up.
The two men declined Liang's offer and returned home with a few bundles of cloth. It was not late, but the sky was getting dark. There was a drizzle on the road, and it became heavier when they got home.
Qiao'er heard the noise and ran out of the house. When she saw Kanghe holding the cloth, her eyes widened.
"Goff, you and my brother bought so much cloth! What styles are they?"
Kang He knew that the little girl was fond of the cloth. Even though he didn't know what she said, he could tell what she meant from her expression. So he squatted down and showed the cloth to the little girl patiently.
Qiao'er touched the cloth. It was clearly the same style and color that the villagers would buy when they were in good shape. But she said, "Brother, you have excellent taste! This cloth feels like top-quality goods."
The little girl's mouth was as sweet as honey, so Kanghe gave Qiao'er the bright cloth that was originally prepared for the two little girls.
The other one was for Zhang and Fan Dad.
A piece of cloth, if cut well, can make two sets of clothes. If one is skillful, for figures like Zhen'er and Qiao'er, three sets can be made.
Qiaoer happily took the cloth, her eyes curved with a smile: "Thank you, brother!"
The little girl took the cloth and ran back into the house like a rabbit, as if she was afraid that Kang He would regret it if she was a step slower.
Kang He thought the little girl was very cute and was about to give the other piece of cloth to Chen. But when he reached the closed door of the house, he heard a low cry coming from inside.
"I don't know how I've gotten through this day. Dajing, please tell me what's going on. Does your father have any conscience?"
Fan Jing knocked on the door and called Chen out. He asked her what was wrong, and she started crying.
It rained sometime in the afternoon, and the village women who had come to the house to watch the fun dispersed. Only Zhang Jingui from the main house stayed there, waiting for her new son-in-law's family to come and take a look.
When she heard Chen say that her family was not planning to hold a wedding banquet, she saw Father Fan coming from Luoyu's house and asked him why there was no wedding banquet for such a happy occasion.
Father Fan said with a big mouth that it was Chen who didn't allow it.
After hearing this, Zhang Jingui immediately acted like an elder sister-in-law and started to criticize Chen Sanfang.
If you don't hold a banquet when you get things done and ask the villagers to come just to celebrate, it will alienate the relationship. When there is something going on at home, they will not be willing to help.
She also said that not holding the banquet would be impolite and would bring shame to the Fan family, and she shouldn't hold on to the money too tightly.
As he said this, he even said that Chen was biased as a stepmother.
Chen took these words to heart and her expression changed. Zhang Jingui saw that something was wrong and slipped away.
"I'm wrong. I shouldn't have refused to prepare this feast. Even if I had to sell everything I had, even the money I'd have used to pay taxes, I'd still be able to please your father and the first wife and have a feast, with all the pomp and ceremony I could think of!"
Seeing Chen's anger, Father Fan said, "Sister-in-law is just joking, why do you take it so seriously?"
"My sister-in-law is a joking person, but I am stingy. But now I am not stingy anymore, I will be generous for once!"
"I'll go early tomorrow morning to arrange for the chickens, ducks, fish and meat. Laurie is looking at the almanac to find a good day."
Fan Jing saw that he had only been out for a while, and the two of them started arguing again. They had already quarreled several times because of their marriage.
"No need to do that."
Fan Jing spat out.
Chen heard him say this, but she refused: "If I don't do it, people will say I am a stepmother.
This spread like wildfire, and by the time it got back to my hometown, people were saying how the Chen family, with a girl like me, couldn't stand up straight. The maids in the Chen family said they couldn't even get married, and they were still burdened by an aunt like me. From now on, I don't dare go back to my parents' home."
Fan Jing said, "What if we don't have money?"
Misappropriating the money for paying taxes was just an angry remark. If the taxes to the court were really in arrears, the county government would have to conscript people to perform extra service to offset the taxes.
There were not many male children in the family, so if they wanted to take someone away, they could just take Father Fan away. How could Chen agree to that?
Otherwise, the only option is to borrow.
In recent years, everyone has to live a tight life, so how can they be willing to lend money easily?
"You're just being unreasonable."
Seeing that Chen fell silent, Father Fan said something secretly.
"I'm not being reasonable, you're being reasonable! Old man, if you hadn't been so sarcastic in front of my sister-in-law, I wouldn't have tolerated her saying that!"
Chen was infuriated by what Fan's father said. She started crying in front of Fan Jing, and turned to Fan Shoulin and immediately became furious.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she rolled up her arms and wanted to fight with Fan Dad.
Father Fan jumped up from the stool, dodging backwards while saying to Fan Jing, "Dajing, look at her! Look at her! What a shrew! "
Kang He didn't understand the reason, but he could still tell that they were going to fight.
Seeing the situation, he quickly stood between the two of them. He was tall and separated the two of them.
Chen was still furious: "Kanghe, get out of the way! I'm going to scratch this old man's face to prevent him from telling people that I don't agree with him on any matter, big or small!"
“That’s enough!”
Fan Jing snorted coldly.
"If you want to do it, then do it. I don't have enough money. I'll save some money and do it in December."
After saying that, he left the main room.
Fan Jing spoke to settle the matter. Chen and Fan's father glared at each other angrily, but finally stopped making trouble.
Kang He saw that the generals were like two balloons that were inflated and about to burst, but suddenly they deflated and became limp. He couldn't help but sigh that it was still Fan Jing.
Chen was pleased and also received a new piece of cloth from Kanghe, which made her happy again.
Father Fan had always wanted to prepare the feast to save face, and although there was some unpleasantness in the middle, he finally decided to do it and was very happy.
Never mind, Fan Jing took the responsibility.
So after dinner that night, Fan Jing packed up the rice and prepared to go into the mountains early the next morning.
"I'll bake two pancakes for you to eat in the mountains."
After the two girls picked up the dishes, Qiao'er ran back to the house quickly, wanting to use the bright cloth that Kanghe brought back to make a new dress so that she could wear it before winter.
Zhen'er didn't go into the house. She found Fan Jing and whispered something to him.
She is introverted but sharp-minded.
She knew what her parents were arguing about.
There were often quarrels at home about lack of money, and it was always the eldest brother who came up with the money to solve the problem.
It seems that my parents have gotten used to this.
But she knew that her brother was making a living in the mountains and money was hard to come by.
Seeing him like this again today, I can't help but feel sorry for my big brother.
"It's too much trouble. It's not necessary."
Fan Jing looked at the girl behind him. She was already thirteen years old this year, but she was so thin and small, as if she was only ten years old.
"Go back to the house and go to bed early."
Seeing this, Zhen'er frowned.
Kang He was going to stay in the newly cleaned western utility room at night.
At the other end, a small bed was built with wooden boards and benches, and a new mattress was laid out.
Kang He remembered that his boxes were still in Fan Jing's room, so he came to get them.
I saw the little girl walking out of Fan Jing's room with her eyebrows downcast. She seemed to be in a bad mood and I didn't know what was wrong.
When he went over, he saw Fan Jing packing clothes and rice into his backpack, as if he was going on a long journey.
"Where...?"
"Into the mountains."
Fan Jing saw Kang He standing at the door and answered.
Then I remembered that he might not understand, so I pointed to the mountains outside.
Kang He actually understood it. On the way to the county, he asked Fan Jingshan what he said, and he still remembered it.
Judging from the appearance, it seems that he will be gone for some time.
Kang He was silent.
"I...will go."
Upon hearing this, Fan Jing paused what he was doing.
"What are you going to do?"
Kang He guessed that Fan Jing wanted to ask him what he was doing on the mountain. He pointed to something on the wall and took out the small bow Fan Jing had given him from his waist and pulled it.
"You can't get those."
After saying this, Fan Jing took out his boxes and bags without caring whether Kang He understood or not.
Kang He held the bag and stood in front of the door, not letting Fan Jing close it.
“I’ll go!”
The two of them stared at each other, neither of them giving in.
After a long while, Fan Jing finally gave up.
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