Chapter 33: Wedding
As the saying goes, a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. In his previous life, Deng Shirong lived alone in his hometown. His children gave him enough money for his retirement, but if he had a headache or fever, their children were not around to take care of him.
The person who took care of him the most in his later years was a cousin named Deng Changping who lived across the creek from his house.
The blood relationship between the two families is quite close. Deng Changping's grandfather is Deng Shirong's cousin, and their fathers are brothers.
Although Deng Changping was only 26 years old at this time, he was already the father of three children, and the four brothers had separated three years ago.
The young couple, raising three children, lived in an old house with their parents, and their living conditions were quite difficult.
Now that the land has been distributed to each household, since he doesn't plan to farm the land himself, it would be the best thing to lend the land to Deng Changping for farming.
Thinking of this, Deng Shirong said to his little daughter, "Azhu, go call Changping over. I have something to tell him."
"Okay." Deng Yunzhu responded, then walked to the other side of the stream to call for help.
Three minutes later, Deng Changping came over.
As soon as he entered the room, Deng Changping asked with a smile, "Jiu Gong, what do you want?"
Deng Shirong put the pipe aside and said, "Now our production team has divided up the first batch of land. There are five people in your family, and each person has four mu of land, which is only two mu. Even if there is a bumper harvest this year, after paying the public grain and eating for ourselves, there probably won't be much grain left."
Deng Changping sighed and said, "Jiugong, there's nothing we can do about it. Our production team has so few fields! In Macun, for example, each person has two to three mu of land. There are so many fields that they can't finish planting them all. That's when life is truly fulfilling."
Deng Shirong said with emotion: "In fact, many fields in Macun originally belonged to our village, but in the era of eating from the same pot, the brigade secretary was from our Naye Village. Anyway, the situation at that time was that it didn't matter how much we worked, so in order to reduce the burden on our villagers, most of the fields were allocated to the people of Macun to cultivate.
As a result, the situation changed within a few years. Production teams were established in each village, and the people in Macun refused to return the land that had been allocated to them.
That’s why we have so few fields in our village, but so many fields in Ma Village that we can’t finish planting them all.”
Deng Changping had heard this from his elders before. He smiled bitterly and said, "It's not the fault of the brigade secretary at the time. After all, his original intention was to take care of the villagers and reduce their burden. He just didn't expect the situation to change so quickly. In the end, he ended up losing more than he gained."
The two chatted for a while about the past of the brigade secretary, and Deng Shirong got to the point: "Changping, I called you here because I want to let you farm the land that was allocated to my family. You will be responsible for paying the public grain tax. I wonder if you are willing to do that?"
Deng Changping said in surprise: "Jiu Gong, don't you plant this field?"
Deng Shirong said, "Now my son Yuntai works in a tile factory, Yunheng and the three children are in school, and I have changed my career to become a matchmaker. Farming is too busy for me!"
As the wedding invitations of Deng Changfu and Guan Yongying were sent out, and the news that Deng Changmei went to Changtian to look after the family spread, almost everyone in the village knew that Jiugong had now started to change his career to become a matchmaker.
In addition, Jiugong was one of the owners of the tile factory, so Deng Changping understood that Jiugong did not plan to farm.
Jiugong called him over to ask questions, which was clearly to take care of him. After all, rural people now work in the fields to make a living, so who would complain about planting too many fields? "Jiugong, thank you for taking care of your nephew. I will be responsible for paying the public grain, and when the rice harvest comes, we will each have half." Deng Changping said with gratitude.
Deng Shirong smiled and said, "You don't need to give half. When the harvest is good, you can give 100 to 180 kilograms of grain to honor Jiugong!"
…
After returning from Jiugong's house, Deng Changping walked into the room with a smile on his face.
In the room, Deng Changping's wife Chen Xiaohua was feeding her baby. Seeing this, she couldn't help but joked, "You're smiling so hard that your eyes are narrowed. What good news does Jiugong have for you?"
Deng Changping said with a smile: "Wife, you are right. Jiugong really has good things to do for me."
Chen Xiaohua gently patted the child's back and asked, "What's the good news?"
Deng Changping came close to his wife and whispered, "Mr. Jiu doesn't plan to plant his fields. He asked me to come over to ask if I'm willing to plant them. I just need to help pay the public grain tax."
Chen Xiaohua's eyes suddenly lit up when she heard this, and she couldn't wait to ask, "Is this true? Are you kidding?"
Deng Changping nodded and said, "It's true. I'm not kidding."
Chen Xiaohua said excitedly: "That's great!"
It's no wonder that she was so excited. In this era when everyone in the countryside cultivates the land, being able to plant three more acres of land means producing several thousand more kilograms of grain a year, which is a number that no one can ignore.
As for whether it is hard or not, it is not a big deal for people of this era.
Deng Changping said: "Jiu Gong said that as long as we pay the public grain, it will be fine, but we definitely can't do that. When the harvest is good, we must at least carry a few loads of grain to Jiu Gong."
Chen Xiaohua nodded repeatedly and said, "It's as it should be. Jiugong is taking care of us. We also need to know how to be a good person."
After saying that, she put the child, who had fallen asleep after drinking milk, to bed.
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Deng Changping said enthusiastically: "With the three mu of land from Jiugong's family, as long as we work hard, our lives will definitely get better and better."
Chen Xiaohua said: "My eldest brother's family and my second brother's family have built new houses and moved out of the old house. We should also build a house and move out as soon as possible. After all, it is not very convenient to live in the old house."
Deng Changping hummed and said, "Now that we have divided the land and are working on our own, and with Jiugong's care, I believe it won't be long before we can build a new house."
Thinking of the various benefits of moving out to a new house, the couple became more and more excited. If it weren't for the wrong timing, they would probably have staged a drama! ...
June came to an end as the first batch of land was distributed to households in the production teams of Bangjie Brigade.
Tomorrow is the wedding day of Deng Changfu and Guan Yongying. The entire Naye Village became busy early this morning.
The first thing to do is to slaughter a pig. Today, the man's family will send a gift of ancestor worship to the woman's family. This is for the woman's family to worship their ancestors and set up a banquet, and it usually includes two chickens, two pig buttocks, and some pork.
There were also candies, cakes, cigarettes, alcohol, and two red envelopes.
Of course, if you don’t have a pig to kill and can’t buy that much pork, you can also give cash to the woman’s family. This is all negotiable.
In the afternoon, the groom's relatives came over with wine and rice to drink at the wedding! In those days, transportation was inconvenient, and the wedding banquet in Shuangwang Territory was held before noon instead of in the afternoon or evening, so relatives and friends came to drink at the wedding the day before the wedding.
As for the wine and rice baskets, they are the standard for wedding banquets in this era.
Relatives and friends who came to the wedding had to bring ten or eight kilograms of rice and two bottles of rice wine, and the red envelopes were wrapped in red paper and placed on the rice.
As a matchmaker, Deng Shirong will go to the bride's home to attend the wedding banquet this afternoon, and then accompany the wedding guests to see the bride off tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)