Chapter 8 08 Conversation between husband and wife
Yang Chunyan came out of the kitchen, poured some water to wash, and went to the first room in the west wing.
When I walked to the door, I saw it was open. When I entered the room, I saw Zhou Huaian lying on the bed with his hands behind his head, his legs crossed, looking at the ceiling. I wonder what he was thinking?
She looked at the big red wedding character pasted on the window frame, the maroon cabinet under the window, the bunk bed, and the low cabinet at the head of the bed with a wooden box of the same color on top of it.
These were all her dowry. The old woman used the more than 60 yuan betrothal money from the Zhou family as her dowry. In addition, she also gave away eight beddings and eight quilts, two bed curtains, and 18.88 yuan as a dowry before leaving.
Yang Chunyan squinted at Zhou Huaian, who had a buzz cut, a full forehead, fair skin, thick black eyebrows, bright and vigorous eyes, and the depressed man appeared in her mind...
Seeing her standing there blankly, looking at him stupidly, Zhou Huaian chuckled and said, "What's wrong? Can't you even recognize your man?"
Yang Chunyan came back to her senses and said, "The old man is still planting taro in the vegetable garden. Why don't you go and take a look?"
Zhou Huaian didn't answer. He stood up and sat upright, looking at her, "Yan'er, if I have never been able to do anything, will you dislike me?"
Yang Chunyan pulled the stool in front of the cabinet and sat opposite him. She looked at him and asked, "Why do you think of asking this?"
"Don't worry about it. Just tell me if I'm always so incompetent, will you dislike me?"
"First, tell me what is considered capable and what is considered incompetent, so I can have a reference."
Zhou Huaian thought about it for a while and felt that no matter which one of them was more capable than him, he pushed the question back with some frustration, "What kind of man do you think is capable?"
Yang Chunyan looked at him seriously and said, "I think men like you and mine, who are down-to-earth, responsible, and serious about their lives, are capable."
Zhou Huaian laughed at her serious expression, "Yan'er, aren't your requirements too low?"
Yang Chunyan raised her eyebrows and looked at him seriously, "Do you think I am incompetent for raising five of you brothers and sisters, finding wives for your four sons, and buying a dowry for Yumei so that she can marry into her husband's family in a decent manner? If it were you, could you do better?"
Zhou Huaian was stunned after hearing this. After thinking for a while, he found that he couldn't find any words to refute her.
When did the young wife become so eloquent? She looked a bit like a school teacher, and her words made sense.
Yang Chunyan continued, "Just like today, if it was an old man carrying water, he would not chase the plague cow of the Xiong family. At most, he would wait for it to drink up the water and then carry another load of water."
"But what did you do? You were so brave as to argue with a beast! If the cow didn't have bezoar in its stomach today, have you thought about the consequences?"
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian felt so ashamed that he wanted to slap himself twice: Everyone else was avoiding that cow, and it wanted to grab the water to drink. Couldn't he just put down the dung bucket and let it drink?
He just happened to get angry with a beast and ended up being blamed by the Bear family.
If there was no bezoar, Zhou Huaian thought of his pale mother and his father leaning on a wooden stick, staggering, and the feeling of panic came up again.
If there was no bezoar, my mother and husband would definitely fall seriously ill, my brother and sister-in-law would also blame me, and Chunyan... He suddenly didn't dare to think further.
Seeing his changing expression, Yang Chunyan said softly, "I hope that no matter what you do in the future, you can think about your family first. I don't ask to be rich with you, but I also hope that my man is a responsible man."
She said, and without waiting for his answer, she stood up and left the room.
Zhou Huaian watched her go out, then lay back down with his head in his arms, Yang Chunyan’s words just now echoing in his mind.
Yang Chunyan went out and saw Zhao Huifang picking vines in the vegetable garden, so she went into the garden to help.
Zhao Huifang asked her with a smile: "What happened to the youngest? I saw him standing at the kitchen door for a while, then he went back to his room."
Yang Chunyan finally understood why he asked her, "He's lying in the room!"
Zhao Huifang hesitated for a moment, looked at Yang Chunyan sincerely and said, "I think what Third Aunt said is right. You have to take good care of the youngest. Don't let him mess around with Xu Erchun, Cai Ermei...those lazy bastards, or you will be the one who suffers in the future."
"Thank you, sister-in-law!" Yang Chunyan sighed, "Huai'an has already formed a habit. It may be difficult to change it in a short time. We can only take it slowly."
She knew Zhou Huaian's personality well, a typical obedient person, and she wanted him to change and become more obedient and more docile.
Zhao Huifang sighed, "Yes, it's not easy to change a habit that has been formed over 10 to 20 years. Unless he thinks it through, he can truly repent."
Yang Chunyan also found it difficult, but she wanted to give it a try. If Zhou Huaian could change, he would have children to take care of him and have a good ending in his life...
The two men picked a full bamboo basket of rattan vegetables, and also picked a handful of coriander and green onion leaves. They carried them out of the vegetable garden and went to the well to fetch water to wash them.
Zhou Jiakang and Zhou Xiaolin were delighted to see the water. They ran over with their short legs and said in baby voices, "Auntie, let me help you wash the vegetables."
Yang Chunyan quickly grabbed Zhou Xiaolin who was jumping into the water and said, "Auntie, let me take you to get a basket to fill up the vegetables for you."
Zhou Xiaolin looked up at her and said, "Aunt, meat is delicious. Xiaolin likes to eat meat."
"Okay, let grandma give Xiaolin two more pieces later."
Yang Chunyan took her to the kitchen and got two baskets.
The Zhou family had nothing else, but they had never lacked bamboo weaving tools.
Except Zhou Huaian, all of Zhou's father and his sons can use bamboo strips to weave bamboo utensils needed by farmers.
The Zhou family never needed to go to the street to buy colanders for washing vegetables and filtering rice, brushes for washing pots, scoops, winnowing baskets, and grass rakes...
By Zhou Jiaming's generation, no one knew how to weave these things. There were so many plastic products on the streets and people were too lazy to spend time weaving them.
After Yang Chunyan and Zhao Huifang finished washing the vegetables, Zhou's father and old man Zhou entered the yard together.
Father Zhou asked Zhao Huifang, "Have Huairong and Huaijun returned?"
"Not yet!" Zhao Huifang looked at the sky and saw that it was already dark. "Old man, are they staying at my brother-in-law's house?"
Mr. Zhou said, "It's okay. Two young men of that age are not afraid of walking at night."
Before he finished speaking, Zhou Huairong and Zhou Huaijun came into the yard carrying baskets: "Old man, beef is not easy to sell. The last ten pounds or so were bought by my brother-in-law who helped find a restaurant."
Father Zhou nodded, "It's good to sell them out. You are sweating all over. Go wash your face and take a rest."
Zhou Huairong handed the bag of money to his father, "Old man, this is the money from selling beef. The best-selling ones are 1.2 yuan per catty, and the last ones are 1 yuan per catty. The rabbits caught by my sister-in-law were sold for 3.5 yuan."
"Who cares? Just sell them out."
Father Zhou poured the money onto the eight-immortal table and counted it. He found that the dead cow he bought for 450 yuan only sold for a total of 110 yuan:
"Alas! A cow can't even fetch as much money as a big fat pig!"
(End of this chapter)
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