Speaking of the boy named Abao, Pei Shaorong knew about him after just asking around in the village, because this boy was so famous in the village.
The boy’s full name is Mo Xiaobao, he is eighteen years old and is the young man of the Mo family in the village.
The Mo family was originally a well-off family in the village. In his early years, the man of the Mo family was a peddler. He saved a lot of money by going from street to street. He also had land and savings in the village.
Later, the man of the Mo family got married and had a daughter, Mo Lanzhu. When his daughter was two years old, he had a younger brother, Mo Xiaobao.
In the countryside, people value sons. After Aunt Mo got married, she didn't give birth to a son for two consecutive pregnancies, which made Father Mo feel dissatisfied.
In order to have a son, the couple burned incense and prayed to Buddha for elixirs everywhere, but they didn't get a son. Instead, Father Mo had an accident and fell while going out.
The fall was not serious, but it happened to injure Old Man Mo's vitals. It is impossible for him to have children in this life, and naturally, there is no need to think about his son either.
After this incident, the Mo family was gloomy for a while. After that, Old Man Mo had to give up the idea of having a son and focus his attention on his daughter and younger brother, thinking of finding a son-in-law for them in the future.
As the two children grew up, the eldest daughter reached the age for marriage, and Father Mo originally wanted to recruit a live-in son-in-law.
However, the eldest daughter of the Mo family, Mo Lanzhu, is good-looking, and the families who propose marriage to her are mostly wealthy families who will not allow their sons to marry into the family.
After turning down two marriage proposals, Old Man Mo failed to find a suitable son-in-law, but Mo Lanzhu found a marriage for herself.
The other party was a family surnamed Sun from the next village. The family conditions were not very good, but Sun Yaocai, the son of the Sun family, was a good student.
After ten years of hard study, he passed the imperial examination at the age of nineteen and became a celebrity in the area. Everyone believed that he had a bright future.
Because Sun Yaocai studied hard in his early years and his family environment was not good, his marriage was delayed. When his son passed the imperial examination, his father also wanted to arrange a marriage for his son.
At this time, Sun Yaocai and Mo Lanzhu met privately at some point in time and fell in love with each other.
In fact, both Father Mo and Father Sun disagreed at that time. Father Mo wanted to marry a son-in-law into the family, while Father Sun wanted to marry his son to a virtuous and well-respected girl.
Later, the two families discussed the marriage, and Father Mo and Father Sun each made a concession. Father Mo used money to sponsor Sun Yaocai to take the government examination, and Father Sun promised that the second son born at that time would have the surname Mo, as a descendant of the Mo family.
Old Man Mo thought that Sun Yaocai was a scholar, and he would be proud if his daughter married a scholar. In the future, when Sun Yaocai passed the imperial examination, the Mo family would also become prosperous, and the Sun family would also agree to give him a son. This was the best of both worlds.
Therefore, when Mo Lanzhu got married, Old Man Mo sent most of the family's money as a dowry to the Sun family. After that, he also gave a lot of money to the Sun family every year to support Sun Yaocai to continue his studies and wait for the imperial examination every three years.
After settling the marriage of the eldest daughter, the family's younger brother, Mo Xiaobao, also reached marriageable age, so naturally Old Man Mo had to take care of it.
However, ever since Mo Lanzhu got married, the Mo family had almost no money left for Mo Xiaobao's dowry. It was already difficult to find a marriage partner for this young man, and the dowry was small, making it even more difficult.
Afterwards, Old Man Mo and Old Lady Mo ran around looking for matchmakers and finally arranged a marriage for Mo Xiaobao.
The other party was from Linjiang Village, named Wang Afu. His family was not wealthy, and could even be said to be poor, but Father Mo was already very satisfied that the marriage was possible.
Mo Xiaobao's marriage was settled in this way. These days, everything is decided by parents and matchmakers, so he had no right to object.
Fortunately, Wang Afu had all his limbs intact and was a good worker, so Mo Xiaobao did not have much resistance. After he knew he was engaged, he felt happy and shy every time he saw Wang Afu in the village.
But who would have known that not long after the engagement, word spread that Wang Afu had a secret meeting with a girl named Liu Meihua from the neighboring village, and they were even seen kissing in the wild!
Mo Xiaobao was dumbfounded at the time. Just two days after hearing the rumor, the Wang family came to cancel the engagement, making the Mo family a laughing stock in the village.
At that time, not only Mo Xiaobao was angry, but Old Man Mo was even angrier. This was related to the reputation of the Mo family, so he took Aunt Mo and Mo Xiaobao to the Wang family to reason.
The two families started quarreling in the village. If not for everyone trying to stop them, the two families would have definitely fought. Finally, with the mediation of the village chief, the Wang family paid the Mo family 500 copper coins to calm the situation.
Originally, the matter seemed to have been settled, but when Old Man Mo was preparing to take his wife and son home, he unexpectedly saw Liu Meihua, one of the people who had ruined this marriage!
As soon as Liu Meihua appeared, the fire reignited and the two families began to quarrel again. In the end, Mo Xiaobao and Liu Meihua started fighting and both fell into the river together.
Mo Xiaobao was unlucky. When he was rescued to the shore, his clothes were torn and he was naked and seen by the whole village.
In fact, it’s not that serious. It’s just exposing the upper body. This is not a big deal in modern times, as people often go out in underwear. But in ancient times, it was a serious matter.
Mo Xiaobao was originally a young man, but now not only was his engagement broken off, but he also lost his innocence and had his body seen by everyone in the village. His reputation is completely ruined!
Now, let alone choosing a good marriage, it would be good enough for Mo Xiaobao to find someone to marry him. There is no family in the surrounding area who is willing to marry a young man who is naked in front of the whole village.
Since people in the village couldn't persuade the girl, Old Man Mo could only ask the matchmaker to go to other villages to propose. However, because Old Man Mo had to continue to support Sun Yaocai's studies, he could not give Mo Xiaobao much dowry, so the marriage was delayed again and again until Mo Xiaobao was eighteen years old.
Mo Xiaobao is the first young man in the village who is still unmarried at this age. Most of the boys and girls of his age have already gotten married and had children, but he is still at home.
Just recently, someone finally came to the Mo family to propose marriage. The other party's surname was Pan. He was a blacksmith, in his forties, with a lame leg. His ex-wife had died and he wanted to marry a new wife.
To be honest, these conditions are really not good. Although Mo Xiaobao doesn't have a very good reputation, he is actually a good person. He is one of the more capable and hardworking guys in the village.
If Mo Xiaobao had not been fished out of the river naked in front of the whole village, and his family had to support his brother-in-law's studies and he had no dowry, he wouldn't have been delayed until now.
The two of them were not a match at all, and Old Man Mo had hesitated, but the betrothal gift offered by Blacksmith Pan was a lot, a full three strings of coins.
The imperial examination, which is held every three years, is about to begin, and Sun Yaocai needs money to go to the government office.
Therefore, even though the other party was older, a cripple, and his wife had died, Old Man Mo had to put up with it. He thought it was good enough that someone wanted his young man now, and the betrothal money could just help the eldest son-in-law take the government exam.
After Mo Xiaobao knew about this, although he felt aggrieved, he also knew that he could not find a good family now. So he just accepted it, even if he was old or lame.
But who would have known that the blacksmith Pan was not only old and lame, but also a drunkard. When he was not drinking, he had a bad temper and wanted to beat people up, and he became even more unrestrained after drinking.
I heard that his previous wife hanged herself because she couldn't bear the torture he did to her. Therefore, the reason why Blacksmith Pan asked the matchmaker to find Mo Xiaobao was because he couldn't find a wife in their village.
Although Mo Xiaobao had a bad reputation in the past, she had never been married, was diligent, and worked hard. She would definitely be a good match for him, a drunkard and lame blacksmith. Blacksmith Pan also planned to bring a human-shaped ox back home.
After knowing what kind of person Pan the blacksmith was, Mo Xiaobao was unwilling to marry her. He didn't have the money to choose someone, but the Pan family was a hell of a place. If he really married into the family, his parents might have to collect his body by the end of the year.
When Mo Xiaobao told his father that he would not get married, Old Man Mo got furious. He had been worrying about this young man for many years.
You are already eighteen and still not married. Are you going to stay at home for the rest of your life? He didn't count on his son to support him in his old age. Does that mean he has to continue supporting a freeloader when he's old?
What’s the use of Mo Xiaobao being diligent and capable? Can he really give birth to a son? Even though the boy looks no different from a man, he is not considered a male after all. He cannot see you off to your grave. It is better for him to get married off as soon as possible!
Therefore, even if Mo Xiaobao was unwilling in his heart, the marriage was still settled, and they just waited for the auspicious day to come to send him to the Pan family.
Unable to resist, and Mo Xiaobao himself was a brave man, he chose to run away secretly, thinking that he would return the betrothal gifts to the Pan family when he earned money from work in the future.
At worst, she won't get married in the future. No man would want her anyway. No matter how bad his reputation is, it won't matter this time!
After making up his mind, Mo Xiaobao found an opportunity to secretly run away from the Mo family and hid in the back mountain. No one knew where he was hiding except his good friend Lin Ge'er.
Until now, the Mo family and the Pan family are still looking for him. Old Man Mo doesn't want to return the silver to the Pan family, and Blacksmith Pan doesn't want to lose such a good wife. The marriage has been deadlocked until now because of Mo Xiaobao's sneaking away.
After listening to Mo Xiaobao's story, Pei Shaorong returned home and was silent for a while. Somehow, he felt the urge to go to the mountains to see the young man.
"Forget it, I'll go to the back mountain tomorrow. The barbecue is almost sold out anyway, so I'll go hunt some game in the mountains and take a look..."
Pei Shaorong thought about closing his eyes and sleeping. Well, he was going hunting. Selling kebabs cannot just be about pork. The diverse selection of his Earth kebabs is also his key strategy to carve out a path in the kebab industry!
As for the little brother named Abao, I just went to see him. He looked quite pitiful when he was sneaking around that day, and his angry and talking appearance was quite interesting. It has been a long time since I met someone or something that I was interested in...
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