066, Lu Dalang gets married
066, Lu Dalang gets married
"Big brother."
"You're back."
On the way in with his younger brother, Lu Youtian ran into his older brother. When the two brothers met, the expressions and tones of their greetings were so unfamiliar that they seemed like strangers.
Even worse than a stranger.
Lu Lao Si, who was caught in the middle, also noticed that the atmosphere between his two brothers was not right, so he quickly jumped in and said, "Brother, Third Brother brought back a lot of things. I asked Liu Lang's mother to take them to the kitchen. You go over and discuss with the eldest sister-in-law what to do. I'll take Third Brother to say hello to Aye and the others first."
"Okay." Upon hearing this, Boss Lu nodded to his younger brother and nephew, then walked out.
"Third brother, let's go. Aye and the others are inside the house." Seeing his eldest brother leave, Lu Laosi breathed a sigh of relief and continued to bring his third brother and nephew back inside.
The newly built blue brick and tile house is indeed much more imposing than the mud house we used to see.
After crossing the high threshold and following his father and fourth uncle into the main hall, Lu Mingfei saw his grandfather and some old people in the village sitting there talking.
Lu Laosi brought his brothers to Aye and said, "Aye, Third Brother and Seventh Brother are back. Third Brother also brought back two large pig's trotters and a basket of tofu. I asked Sixth Brother's mother to take them to the kitchen."
"There are two more cartons of wedding cakes here, which were also brought back by my third brother and his friends."
Lu Laosi specifically said that his brother brought back so many things, in fact, he hoped that Aye would be nice to his brother and nephew because his brother brought back so many things.
In fact, he knew in his heart that the separation of the third branch was an injustice to his third brother. However, after so much time had passed, the third branch's family had never returned to the village since the separation. Especially after the third branch's family made money in the city and sent gifts to the village chief and the clan leader's family during the holidays, but not to their family, his mother and brothers and sisters-in-law began to complain about the third branch in their hearts and words.
Lu Lao Si himself resented this, but he resented even more the way his mother and eldest brother had acted so ruthlessly, forcing the Third Wife out. If the Third Wife had stayed in the family, with the Third Wife at the forefront, their situation would have been much easier. Ever since the Third Wife had separated, the burden on their shoulders had grown heavier, and their lives in the family had become increasingly difficult.
Just thinking about what happened that year, Lu Laosan also felt that they deserved it. When his brother and sister-in-law were locked in the house by the family, he, as a younger brother, did not say a word of justice for his brother. He asked the family to invite a doctor to see his brother who was seriously injured at the time.
But at that time, he acquiesced to his family's actions, because he was also worried that his third brother's injuries were so serious. If he was treated and became half-dead, it would be a burden to the family. It would be better for him to die early.
So sometimes Lu Laosi felt that all this was done by themselves and it was his retribution.
When he saw the person in front of him clearly, the smile on Old Man Lu's face disappeared instantly. His thin face suddenly became gloomy, and he looked at his son who had returned with displeasure in his eyes.
Meeting Aye's gaze towards the father and son, Lu Youtian's face fell silent for a moment before he called out, "Aye."
"Grandpa." Lu Mingfei shouted after his father.
Old Man Lu did not respond to his son and grandson.
The talking in the room suddenly quieted down, the atmosphere became a little awkward, and everyone's eyes turned to Old Man Lu and his son.
Everyone in this room was from the same village, so they all knew about Lu Gensheng's family affairs and why the third branch of the Lu family was separated and moved out. However, although they knew, not all the elders agreed that Lu Youtian's family of three should be separated and moved out, and they really didn't care about the mother's behavior at all.
So at this time, an old man nearby spoke up, his words accusing Lu Youtian: "Youtian, it's not that Seventh Master is criticizing you, but look at you, you left with your wife and children, and haven't been home in all these years, nor have you ever come back to see your mother. How can there be any overnight hatred between a son and a mother? It's just a small matter, is it worth you holding a grudge against your mother's elder brother for so many years!"
There was one confused old man among them, so another confused old man chimed in, saying, "Yes, the past is the past. The one in front of you is your dear father. You should come back to see your mother more often in the future."
Hearing what the people around him said, Lu Youtian didn't even raise his eyelids, nor did he even pay any attention to those who were speaking.
"..." Lu Mingfei looked at the two old men talking and almost laughed out loud. You say that his parents locked their seriously injured son in the house to die, and separated the whole family because they didn't want to spend money to treat his father's illness. Is this a small matter?
Seeing the tension between Grandpa and his brother, Lu Lao Si quickly stepped forward to smooth things over, saying, "Grandpa, Third Master and Fourth Master, please sit here. I'll take Third Brother outside to see if there's anything I can help with."
After saying that, Lu Laosi didn't even wait for his father to nod, and quickly pulled his third brother out.
Lu Youtian turned around and left without saying anything more.
Since his father had passed away, Lu Mingfei naturally would not stay here to continue cultivating any grandfather-grandson relationship with this old man, so he followed his father and left.
He had barely stepped out of the doorway when he heard someone talking about him and his father. The voices were particularly loud, deliberately intended for them to hear. However, Lu Mingfei didn't pause. His other foot swiftly crossed the doorway and he caught up with his father.
***
After leading his brother out of the house, Lu Lao Si lowered his voice and advised his brother: "Third brother, don't be angry. Everyone has something to say. There is no malice."
"I'm not angry." Lu Youtian was really not angry, because he didn't care.
"Aye, you know Aye's character. He... he is not a talkative person. He hasn't seen you for such a long time. Suddenly seeing you come back, he, he is still a little overwhelmed. The Third and Fourth Masters mean well, so you shouldn't bother with them." Lu Laosi tried his best to help Aye find the reason. He didn't want a new rift to arise between his brother who hadn't come back for a long time and Aye.
Lu Youtian didn't respond to this, but looked at his brother who was trying hard to help Aye make up for his mistake, and couldn't help but smile. After a smile, he retracted the smile on his face and said to his brother, "Okay, you go and do your thing. I'll take Mingfei for a walk around here."
"Mother and the others are in the room inside. How about I..." Lu Laosi wanted to take his brother and nephew to say hello to Mother.
"I won't go over there for now." Lu Youtian knew what the scene was like at his mother's place without having to think about it. He patted his brother's shoulder and walked out with his son.
Lu Mingfei followed his father.
Lu Laosi, who fell behind, looked at his brother and nephew's backs as they left, feeling very upset. He was upset with his father and also with those talkative neighborhood elders.
On the way out of the yard of the Lu family's new house, they met many people from the village. Lu Youtian also greeted everyone with a smile. He took his son to the house of the next-door neighbor.
Lu Mingfei followed his father over to greet his former neighbor, sat in the house for a while, and then went outside.
Standing at the door of the neighbor next door, you can see people coming in and out of the Lu family.
The Lu family's old house was adjacent to the neighbor's fence. Lu Mingfei was standing at the corner of the old house. There was a chicken coop in this corner, with a few chickens enclosed in the fence.
Looking at the chickens in the chicken coop and these old earthen houses, Lu Mingfei recalled the days when he lived here with his parents. He knew that the chickens raised here were Lu Zhiyuan's exclusive laying hens, because the eggs laid by these hens were not edible by anyone except Lu Zhiyuan.
However, their family is no longer short of a few eggs to eat.
Lu Mingfei, who was standing here at this time, didn't know that there was a person imprisoned in the room separated from him by a wall. He was lying on the bed in the room with his hands and feet tied and his mouth blocked.
After standing outside for a while, Lu Mingfei went back into the house to listen to the neighbor uncle and his father gossiping.
***
It was almost noon when the aroma of meat wafted from the Lu family's new residence.
When the neighbor's aunt came home and saw her husband and Lu Youtian still sitting in the house talking, she said, "Why are you still sitting here? Come and find a place to sit down, dinner is almost ready."
"Okay, we'll go right away." The man responded, stood up, and called Lu Youtian and his son to go eat next door together.
The custom here is that if someone has a wedding and holds a wedding banquet, all the family members, young and old, will go together to have a meal.
Lu Youtian brought his son and followed the neighbors to the Lu family's new house. When they came, they didn't sit at the table in the yard, but found an empty table outside and sat around it.
Soon their table was full.
Not long after they sat down, they heard a burst of lively music outside, followed by someone shouting, "The groom is back with the bride..."
"Quick, go light the firecrackers!"
“Crackle—”
A burst of firecrackers rang out.
The wedding procession returned to the gate of the Lu family's new house.
Lu Mingfei and his father happened to be outside the house. Standing in the crowd, they saw Lu Zhiyuan get off the ox cart. From a distance, he couldn't see Lu Zhiyuan's expression. He only saw Lu Zhiyuan reaching out to take the hand of the bride, who was sitting on the cart and wearing a bright red wedding dress, to get off.
"The groom leads the bride in--" the matchmaker shouted.
Someone placed a brazier at the door.
The groom led the bride across the brazier and entered the courtyard, followed by the wedding procession.
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