Chapter 257: Something must be wrong when things are abnormal [6000 words]
Taipingpo Village.
After Deng Shirong said those words sincerely, Father Liu quickly responded: "I understand this, but I didn't expect you to be Dashi's uncle. This child is so lucky to have an uncle like you who cares about him wholeheartedly!"
"I am the only uncle of these children, so naturally I hope they all live well."
At this point, Deng Shirong smiled and said, "There is one more thing I want to tell my relatives. My second nephew just bought a truck at the beginning of the month and is doing transportation. Tomorrow he will drive his brother to pick up the bride. Do you think we should let him drive the truck directly to our home or to the entrance of the village?"
According to the marriage customs of that era, the groom would not come to the house to pick up the bride when the bride got married. Instead, the wedding party would send the bride out the door, then stop halfway and wait, and the groom's side would then send someone to pick the bride up.
In this era, the bride-receiving process in Shuangwang Territory is basically the same.
But Deng Shirong knew about the wedding customs of later generations. In later generations, the groom would bring a convoy to the bride's house to pick her up. If the family lived far away, such as across cities or even provinces, the bride would be taken to a hotel in the county or township one day in advance and then a convoy would be sent to pick her up on the wedding day.
Now that there is a car to pick them up, Deng Shirong simply asks, if the girl's family agrees, then he will let his nephew drive directly to their home to pick them up. This can be considered a small reform of the marriage custom.
Father Liu hesitated when he heard this and said, "Uncle (it's a special feature here to call the children uncle), I think we don't have a precedent here to pick up the bride?"
Deng Shirong smiled and said, "My dear, the rules of marriage actually change with the times. For example, in the old society, when a family married off their daughter, they had to cry for twelve times at least, and when they left the house, they had to sing a crying song to bid farewell to their parents and brothers.
But after liberation, didn’t this custom gradually change?
If they come to pick me up on foot, then it would be better to follow the rules. But if they come to pick me up by car, I think it is necessary to come to my house to pick me up. This way, Liu Mei can get married in style. How wonderful it is!"
The relatives and friends sitting nearby originally wanted to come over and ask Deng Shirong to introduce potential partners to their children. However, after learning that Deng Shirong was not a matchmaker but the man's uncle, they all stopped talking about matchmaking.
Now, hearing that the groom's side was driving over to pick up the bride, these relatives and friends couldn't help but speak out to persuade them.
"My uncle is right. The rules of marriage change with the times. If there is a car to pick you up, just drive it directly to your house. It will make you proud!"
"When people from the neighboring village came to pick up the bride, they just rode a few bicycles and rode directly to the bride's house. Now there are cars coming to pick up the bride. Why don't you agree to such a great thing that will bring you honor?"
"I also think it's better to drive directly to my house to pick me up. If I drive halfway to pick me up, who will see it?"
“…”
Originally, Father Liu was already tempted when he heard what Deng Shirong said. Now that relatives and friends said so again, he nodded and said, "Okay, then come directly to my house to pick me up!"
Liu's mother and Liu Aihong soon found out what had happened here.
The mother and daughter were equally surprised to learn that the matchmaker Deng Shirong's real identity was Bu Dashi's uncle.
Of course, this is just a small episode and has no impact on the marriage. The only difference is that Deng Shirong's status is more honorable!
…
The next day.
The Liu family prepared several tables of food and wine early on. According to the old rules, the banquet would have started immediately. After the meal, the wedding guests would send the bride out.
But this time everyone has heard that the groom will drive to the house to pick up the bride, so it is not appropriate to start eating right away. At least we have to wait for the groom to arrive before eating together, otherwise it would be too rude.
As for Deng Shirong, he rode his bicycle to the village entrance and waited for his nephew to arrive.
At around 9:40 in the morning, the uncle and nephew met at the entrance of the village.
Then, Deng Shirong briefly recounted the whole story, and finally asked, "Dashi, how many red envelopes did you prepare?"
Bu Dashi replied: "I only prepared six red envelopes."
Deng Shirong directly took out dozens of small red envelopes from his left and right pockets, stuffed them all into his nephew's pockets and said, "Take these red envelopes. There's not much money in them, only 1.8 cents. When you pick up the bride later, give them to everyone you meet so that everyone can share in the joy.
As for the red envelopes you brought, just give them to the bride as originally planned."
Now is not the time to be polite. Bu Dashi took the red envelope handed over by his uncle and nodded, "Okay, I got it!"
"Okay, that's all for now. Just act accordingly. I'll remind you as well." After giving his instructions, Deng Shirong led the way on his bicycle.
Two minutes later, the brand new truck stopped in front of the woman's house.
In this day and age, people can occasionally see cars passing by on the road, but few of the guests present have ever come into close contact with a car. At this moment, a brand new car stopped in front of them, and everyone curiously came over to watch.
The groom, Bu Dashi, was not idle and began to go through the process under the guidance of his uncle.
Bu Zhongshi had nothing to do, so he stayed there to answer various questions about cars raised by the girl's relatives and friends, greatly satisfying their curiosity.
Soon, Bu Dashi, led by his uncle, completed various procedures, sat down to eat something casually, and then distributed a wave of red envelopes. After earning enough face, he picked up the bride and the wedding guests, along with the woman's dowry, and happily went home.
As for Deng Shirong, he did not choose to take the car, but rode his bicycle back behind the car.
Anyway, this bumpy dirt road is difficult to walk on, and the car is not driving fast, so he can keep up on a bicycle.
Watching their daughter leave, Liu's father and mother were happy but also a little sad. They were happy because their daughter was getting married in a grand ceremony and their son-in-law had earned them enough face; but they were sad because after their daughter got married, she would belong to someone else's family, and as parents it was a little difficult to accept this for a while.
…
Baoshan Village.
After the bride and groom went to the A-Zu Gong Hall to pay homage to their ancestors, all the relatives, friends and villagers began to clamor for the bride to open the box.
Nowadays, every bride will have a dowry box when she gets married. If the family is well-off, the dowry box will naturally be very high-end. If the family is not well-off, the dowry box will be relatively simple.
Liu Aihong's dowry box was quite presentable. Although it was not a high-end box, it was specially made by a carpenter, and not a simple one made casually by her father and brother.
Because she married well, her parents wanted to win face for her in her husband's family, so the dowry items and dowry money were all presentable. So when everyone urged her to open the box, she opened it openly and showed the fabrics and dowry money inside.
Watching the bride unboxing is a very interesting part. Almost all the guests will come to watch. As long as the bride agrees to unbox, someone will help count the fabrics and money inside clearly.
The fabric that Liu Aihong brought as a dowry totaled dozens of feet, including nearly twenty feet of high-end fabric, which was very good.
As for the dowry, her parents also spent a lot of money and gave 288 yuan, which was considered very prestigious in that era.
The following steps are similar, so there is no need to say more.
…
Taipingpo Village.
An old lady was sitting at the door sewing clothes while chatting with an old lady who came to visit.
The hottest topic in the village today was naturally Liu Aihong's marriage, so after the two chatted about family matters for a while, the topic naturally turned to Liu Aihong.
The old lady said with emotion: "Ah Hongmei is so lucky. She is the first in our village to marry in such a grand manner. The man she married is also very good. I heard that he is a chef in a big restaurant in the county town and earns dozens of yuan a month!"
The aunt said with a smile: "You may not believe it, but I have contributed a lot to the fact that Ah Hongmei was able to marry so well!"
Grandma was surprised when she heard this: "Is it true? And it's your contribution?"
The aunt stopped what she was doing and said with a smile: "Of course it's true. When the matchmaker came to our village for the first time, I chatted with him for a while. He asked if there were any pretty girls with good personalities in our village. I said yes, and then he praised Ah Hongmei a lot.
When he left, he jokingly told me that if the matchmaking was successful, he would give me half a pig's butt! I didn't expect that not long after, the matchmaking was actually successful, which surprised me."
The old lady had not expected such a story to exist, and said, "In that case, it is really your contribution that Ah Hongmei could marry such a good master. Today is their wedding day, and I wonder if you can eat this half of the pig's buttocks."
The aunt laughed and said, "I was just joking, why did you take it seriously?"
The old lady laughed and said, "That's true, but I have to talk to Aihong's mother about this and ask her to remember your kindness."
The aunt smiled and shook her head: "There is no need to tell this to Aihong's mother. I was just telling the truth at that time. In our Taipingpo Village, the only one who is beautiful and has a good personality is Ah Hongmei. It is only right that she married well."
Grandma agreed and said, "That's true. Sister Hong is a good kid. We are all very happy to see her get married in such a grand manner."
While the two were talking, the brand new car with the word "囍" on the front drove into Taipingpo Village again and stopped next to them.
Then, people jumped down from the cart one by one. They were the wedding guests who were sending Ah Hongmei off to get married. Each of them was holding a piece of five-flavored food in his hand and had a smile on his face.
Meanwhile, a man jumped out of the car in the driver's seat, holding half a pig's butt and a bag of candy biscuits in his hands. He walked quickly to the aunt and said with a smile on his face, "Dear, I told you before that if this matchmaking is successful, I will give you half a pig's butt. I am here to fulfill my promise. I hope you don't think it's too little!"
The aunt was shocked when she saw this and hurriedly declined, "Cousin, I can't accept this. I was just joking with you, but you really gave me a pig's butt."
Deng Shirong stuffed the half pig's buttocks and the candy biscuits into the aunt's hands and said with a smile: "Dear relative, please don't refuse and accept it quickly. I am actually the man's uncle. If you hadn't said that at that time, I don't know when I could help my nephew find such a good partner. You are entitled to eat this half pig's buttocks."
The aunt politely refused the gift a few times, but seeing that Deng Shirong was giving it sincerely, she accepted it with a smile on her face.
She really didn't expect that just by saying a few sincere words, she could actually bring a couple together, indirectly acted as half a matchmaker, and also received half a pig's butt. This magical experience also added a rare memory to her life.
After Deng Shirong delivered the things, he said some polite words before getting in the car and going back with his nephew.
…
That night.
Baoshan Village.
Bu Dashi played a short friendly match with Liu Aihong.
During the halftime break, the two people who were still somewhat unfamiliar with each other began to exchange feelings.
After chatting casually for a few minutes, Liu Aihong asked, "Dashi, how many days of vacation do you have this time? When will you return to the county to work?"
Bu Dashi smiled and said, "My uncle gave me a week's vacation. I will stay at home for a few days. When you come back to visit me, I will take you to Bobai."
Liu Aihong was surprised and asked, "Your uncle gave you a holiday?"
Bu Dashi chuckled and said, "I forgot to tell you that the restaurant in the county town is actually opened by my uncle."
"ah?"
When Liu Aihong heard this, her eyes widened and she was completely stunned.
She had seen how big the restaurant in the county town was when she went on a blind date with Bu Dashi. Both mother and daughter were shocked at the time. They did not expect that the restaurant in the county town was so much bigger than Shuangwang's restaurant. It opened their eyes.
Knowing that this was a private hotel, the mother and daughter speculated at the time whether this hotel might have been opened by a big boss from Hong Kong.
But they never expected that such a big restaurant was opened by their uncle who acted as matchmaker for them. It was really unbelievable.
"Dashi, you're kidding, right? Is that restaurant in the county really owned by your uncle?"
Seeing his wife's eyes almost popping out of her head in shock, Bu Dashi said proudly, "Of course it's true. You can't joke about this kind of thing. If this restaurant wasn't owned by my uncle, do you think I, a newcomer who has only worked for a few months, would be able to help you find work?"
Liu Aihong suddenly understood what was going on. No wonder her uncle was so confident when he came to their house for the first time to propose matchmaking and mentioned that he could arrange for her to work in the hotel. It turned out that her uncle was the owner of the hotel, and it was only a matter of words for him to get her to work in the hotel.
Although she understood, Liu Aihong still found it incredible and asked, "Dashi, the restaurant that my uncle opened in the county town should cost a lot of money, right?"
Bu Dashi nodded and said, "Of course, my uncle invested more than 300,000 yuan in this restaurant."
Although she knew that the money invested in a restaurant of this scale would be an astronomical figure, Liu Aihong was still shocked when she heard her husband say that. The figure was really too scary. In an age when a monthly income of more than 300,000 yuan is enviable, investing more than 300,000 yuan to open a restaurant, how could this concept exist?
That’s ten thousand times more!!!
"Daishi, what does your uncle do? How come he is so rich?"
Bu Dashi admired his uncle very much. When he heard his wife asking, he naturally boasted about him: "My uncle is a very capable man. He used to be the master of the vat kiln in Bangjie Brigade. Two years ago, he partnered with others to contract out the vat kiln in the brigade. The business is pretty good. He can easily make a few thousand yuan a year.
In addition, my uncle also cultivated an orchard to grow lychees and watermelons. This year, he made more than 6,000 yuan from selling lychees and watermelons alone! Of course, with this income, it is definitely impossible to open such a big restaurant in the county, but my uncle's courage is not comparable to that of ordinary people. The money to open the restaurant was actually borrowed from a credit union."
Hearing this, Liu Aihong exclaimed from the bottom of her heart: "Uncle is really amazing!"
Bu Dashi agreed and said, "That's right. There is no one more capable than uncle in this area. You are the one that uncle has chosen. As long as the two of us work honestly for uncle, he will definitely not treat us unfairly."
Liu Aihong nodded repeatedly. She was also quite excited. With such a capable uncle to help them, their lives would surely not be bad.
The physical recovery ability of young people is really amazing. After the couple chatted for a while, Bu Dashi regained his spirits and the two started the second friendly match of the night.
Compared with his vulnerable performance in the first game, Bu Dashi made considerable progress in the second friendly match.
By the time they played the third friendly match in the middle of the night, the two were finally able to play back and forth, and they were getting better.
…
A week later.
Sui Feng Hotel.
Bu Dashi and his wife distributed wedding candies to other employees of the hotel. Naturally, the employees who received the wedding candies offered a few words of blessing.
During the meal, Zhang Xiuping smiled and said to Liu Aihong, "Cousin, September is about to end. You can take a rest for the next two days. Let Dashi accompany you to the county town to have a look. You can also go to see the house you bought. You can go back to work on the first day of next month. How about that?"
Liu Aihong thanked him happily. Although she had been looking forward to working in the county town for a long time, as she had just arrived, she still wanted to familiarize herself with the environment before starting work.
…
The weather in Guangxi is often really confusing. The weather changes as fast as a woman's changing her face. It was still summer yesterday and everyone was wearing shorts and vests, but today the temperature dropped by more than ten degrees and went straight from summer to winter.
When Deng Shirong saw the temperature drop suddenly, he realized that the coldest weather in decades was coming. The worst thing was that the weather did not warm up in the middle and would last until next spring. The time span was also very rare.
Fortunately, he had already warned the villagers in advance, and more than half of the people in Naye Village were willing to believe him, while another part was skeptical. Basically, they had taken anti-freeze measures in advance, and only a small number of people did not believe it at all.
Over the past month and a half, under the care of his niece and her husband, Deng Shirong's one thousand lychee trees in the orchard have taken several anti-freeze measures, so there will be no problem for them to safely survive this year's extreme weather.
6pm.
After dinner, the villagers came to watch TV as usual. The cool weather did not affect everyone's enthusiasm for watching TV.
Deng Yunjun sat on the bench holding the pipe, and said with some relief in his heart: "Uncle Jiu, it seems that what our ancestors left behind is really correct. The temperature has never dropped so early in previous years, at least it started to drop after the beginning of winter. But now it is suddenly dropping in late September, which is indeed a bit unusual!"
Deng Shirong said, "It's said in the book that something must be wrong when something is out of the ordinary. Anyway, the weather this year is definitely different from previous years."
Deng Yuncai continued, "It is indeed rare for the temperature to drop in late September. I don't know if it will only be cold for a few days before warming up, or if it will continue to be cold."
Deng Yunqiang's family has also taken anti-freeze measures for the lychees. At this time, he said with a relaxed look: "Whether it is cold for a few days and then warms up, or it continues to be cold, it should not have much impact on the people in our village."
Deng Yunfeng also built a cowshed for his family's dozen cows to protect them from wind and rain. He was not too worried either, and echoed, "Indeed, with Uncle Jiu's reminder, we have made preparations for freezing. Whether the weather stays cold or warms up, it will not affect us."
Those who have made anti-freeze preparations in advance all look relaxed when talking about the weather changes, but the few who didn't take it seriously are feeling a little nervous at this moment.
Fortunately, they only put in some effort and planted sweet potatoes as they did in previous years. Even if the potatoes were really frozen to death, there wouldn't be much loss.
Therefore, they are still in the mood to watch TV.
No words were spoken that night.
It rained the next day and the weather cooled further, with the lowest temperature dropping to 4 degrees.
On the third day, the minimum temperature dropped to 2 degrees.
In just three days, I went from wearing a sweatshirt and vest to wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket. The change was so fast that it was really hard to react.
After the temperature dropped to 2 degrees, the idle villagers basically did not go out. They all stayed at home to warm themselves by the fire. Even if they went out, they would go to their neighbors' houses to warm themselves by the fire. No one would hang around outside.
As for the people who are working, they will not stop working as long as it doesn't rain, and the cold weather cannot stop them from going out to work.
Of course, at night, as long as it doesn’t rain, many people will brave the cold weather to come to Deng Shirong’s house to watch TV.
Although the TV was placed by Deng Shirong under the wooden shed outside, a gust of wind would make people shiver with cold, but if many people were crowded together, except for the people at the outermost edge who would feel cold, everyone else in the crowd would feel quite warm.
After a few days of cooling down, with the appearance of frost weather, sweet potatoes began to be frozen to death in large areas throughout the Bobai area.
As the low temperature weather continues, in addition to the large-scale freezing of sweet potatoes, tobacco leaves grown in various places also began to be frozen to death on a large scale.
Immediately afterwards, at the two county-run farms, Longtan Pepper Farm and Wendi Pepper Farm, due to employees' lax management and insufficient attention to this year's low temperatures, more than 1,000 acres of pepper trees on the two farms were frozen or even frozen to death, causing huge economic losses.
In addition, the oxen working the farm in the county began to freeze to death one after another.
(End of this chapter)
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