Firstly, he could get money from the carpenter to help him get a wife.
—After the younger brother completes his apprenticeship, he will work for his master for seven years for free, only needing to be provided with food and lodging.
Secondly, although seven years of apprenticeship is difficult, carpentry is, after all, a valuable skill!
Moreover, the carpenter who was going to take his younger brother away was a very famous one in the surrounding area! It could be said that he completely solved his younger brother's future livelihood problem.
However, in Aivenxing's eyes at the time, this was a great humiliation.
He was like those older brothers who wanted to exchange their sisters for wives so that they could marry their own wives.
His case was even worse, because his younger brother was the one who was swapped out.
My younger brother, Ai Wendou, is a quiet and slender boy who is starting to grow taller, but he doesn't have any meat on his body.
The carpenter pinched his younger brother's arm with disdain: "It would take me two hundred catties of corn and seven or eight pheasant chicks to fill this kid's body and arms with muscle!"
Aiven clenched his fists.
He simply couldn't bear the thought of his younger brother being treated like livestock waiting to be picked over, being manipulated so carelessly, and being judged so disdainfully.
He rushed forward and pulled Aiven away, shouting, "We won't sell our brother!"
The father, Ai Ganbei, was shocked. He quickly pulled him over and kicked him so that he sat down on the ground.
Ai Ganbei smiled ingratiatingly at the carpenter: "Third cousin, my old brain isn't working very well, please don't take it to heart!"
The carpenter stood up, his face ashen. "Since someone in the family is unwilling, it probably won't last long. This ancestral craft of mine, if I weren't sonless, I wouldn't have wanted to adopt one. It's just that your child's name is auspicious, with the character '斗' (dou), which suited our ancestor's taste! But there's no need to force it! As for his cousin, our two families aren't meant to be!"
It turns out, he wasn't an apprentice, but rather an adopted son!
No wonder the carpenter asked for a much higher sum than he would have offered to buy out an apprentice.
Hearing the carpenter's words, Ai Ganbei became anxious, and so did his mother.
My mother, Du Juan, was a well-educated and reasonable woman. She married into this remote mountain village to avoid trouble.
Following old customs, the mother first gave a curtsy before speaking to the carpenter: "Third cousin, please don't take the child's words to heart. He just can't bear to part with his younger brother. Let me talk to him properly!"
Then he looked at Aivenxing and said, "Xiaoxing, quickly apologize to your third uncle!"
Ai Wenxing's eyes were red: "Father! Mother! Please don't sell my brother! I'll go into the mountains with you more often from now on. Our family can support him! This third cousin is so strong. I heard he loves to beat people—his wives, his children! He even beats the maids in his own house! He's especially ruthless when he beats his apprentices! My brother is so thin, like a bean sprout. What if he beats him to death?"
Upon hearing this, Ai Wendou felt a jolt run through his body.
The carpenter's face was as black as ink; he was completely enraged: "Fine! You specifically mentioned the girl, so you're saying I don't have a son, right? Fine, keep your precious son for yourselves! I don't want him!"
After saying that, he broke free from Ai Ganbei's hand that was holding his sleeve and strode away.
The Ai family courtyard fell silent instantly, with only Ai Wendou's soft sobs.
Ai Ganbei took out his pipe, but couldn't light it after trying for a long time. He looked at Ai Wenxing and sighed, "Did your father kick you too hard?"
Ai Wenxing burst into tears instantly: "Father, don't adopt my brother..."
Ai Ganbei sighed deeply: "Xiao Xing, once we pass this village, I don't know when I'll be able to find you another wife!"
Ai Wendou stood behind the group without saying a word.
He couldn't say he didn't want to be sent away, nor could he say he wanted to be sent away.
Any statement he makes will hurt the hearts of everyone in his family.
When Dujuan cried, she turned her back to him and then used a handkerchief to wipe her tears.
Aivenxing remembers every detail of that night, and it remains vivid even after all these years.
...
The next morning, no one in the Ai family mentioned the matter again.
Making a living in these deep mountains is too difficult and too dangerous. The father saw this clearly and did not want his two sons to repeat his old path.
However, the opportunity was missed.
Ai Wenxing remembers that his father's face was always gloomy during those months, and his back seemed to be more hunched.
Not long after, that incident happened.
It was a summer night, around eight o'clock in the evening.
Ai Wenxing and his family of four were having dinner in the yard.
The sky was still in a state of half-light and half-darkness.
The sky that day was a pure blue, without a single cloud.
Except for the mother, who was sitting with her back to the mountain, the other three people all saw the shooting star in the night sky.
It was as if it was crashing into their small courtyard, growing larger and larger.
Meteors are silvery-white and have long tails.
As it drew closer, Aiven discovered that the meteor's head was a very bright red.
The meteor barely grazed their scalps before falling into the old pig grove behind their cabin.
The father and his two sons all stood up abruptly.
Immediately, Ai Ganbei gave the order: "Sit down and eat!"
After a meteor falls to the ground, it is called Yinghuo (荧惑).
On the one hand, it is an ominous symbol; on the other hand, in recent years, Russians with big noses have been collecting Mars everywhere, and when they make offers, they are all using foreign gold coins.
In Aivenxing's view, this was an opportunity that he would only come once in his lifetime.
Judging from the size of the star in their eyes, it must have landed very close to the cabin!
However, the meteor was so dazzling that they weren't the only hunters to see it.
At times like this, everyone wants to take it all for themselves.
A few years ago, in a mountain not far from here, a fight broke out among hunters who went into the mountains to search for Mars, and several families lost all their men.
Ai Ganbei was also tempted, but after weighing the pros and concluding, "We shouldn't be greedy for this thing; Mars brings misfortune."
Evans didn't hear what was in his heart.
That night, after his family had all gone to bed, he tiptoed into the mountains with dry food and a hunting rifle.
On the way into the mountains, we encountered several more hunter families.
At times like these, no one wants to travel in groups.
Everyone nodded knowingly and then went off to search.
Aiven stopped at a fork in the road.
From that moment on, it became a strange night in my memory.
That night, it got dark later than usual.
Aiven Star stood at the fork in the road and noticed a hazy red light, appearing and disappearing on the left-hand road, as if it were a guide.
The red light was the exact same color as the light he saw on the head of the meteor, only much fainter.
Panting heavily, Aivenxing walked towards the fork in the road on his left!
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