Chapter 192 Li Xiuzhi
"Alright! I won't drink a sip of my wine, but you should at least give me a sip of water, right? That's really tough! You ran thirty miles back and forth without touching ground in the entire afternoon." He reached out and scooped a ladle of well water from the lead bucket, drank it all in one gulp, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve and let out a long "Hi".
Then he shouted to the outside of the door, "Hey! Why don't you come in? Come in, come in! This is your home. Come and meet me, this is the 'old rightist' I mentioned, his full name is Xu Lingjun; he's good in every way, except that he's a little poor, but the poorer, the more glorious it is!"
Xu Lingjun looked over from the door and saw a group of children outside surrounding a strange girl. The girl was wearing a wrinkled gray top and carrying a small white bag. They were looking carefully at the small mud house covered with dust and smoke.
The girl had two pigtails and was obviously tired from the journey, with her eyes full of worry about her uncertain fate.
"This... this is not possible!" Xu Lingjun said according to the lines in the movie, "You are joking too much!"
"Why not? Don't be careless." Guo Zizi took out a piece of paper from his pocket and slapped it on the edge of the kang. "The certificate has been issued. This is the law. Do you understand the law? I told the political department that you went to release the horses and asked me to take charge of it. If you don't do it, it will be very unkind."
Guo Zizi knew that Xu Lingjun had some concerns, so he just acted first and reported to the emperor later. Now that the procedures had been completed, there was no room for Xu Lingjun to regret. He was already 32 years old this year, which made him an absolute single young man at this age. If he didn't take this opportunity to finalize the marriage, he would probably be single for the rest of his life.
At this time, the girl also saw the situation in the room and Xu Lingjun's appearance clearly. She felt a little relieved, bit her lip, walked straight in, and sat down on the small stool calmly.
Guo Zizi put the certificate on the kang and said, "Okay, live well! When you have a fat boy next year, don't forget to invite me to the wedding."
After saying that, he left. When he reached the door, he spread his arms and chased the children away like chickens. "What are you looking at? What are you looking at? Haven't you seen your father and mother get married? Go back and ask your father and mother. Go, go, go!..."
It was already dark at this time. Under the dim light, Xu Lingjun looked at the girl. She looked tired, haggard and her face was full of sweat. But it was obvious that she was in good health. If she took good care of herself for a few days and replenished her nutrition, she would be a beautiful girl.
Xu Lingjun thought about it and stood up to pour her a glass of water. "Drink it. You must be tired after walking such a long way, right?"
After pouring the water, I secretly reminded myself to change the water bucket in the next few days. Lead is a heavy metal. If people drink water from such a bucket for a long time, it will definitely affect their health.
The young girl raised her head, glanced at Xu Lingjun, and silently drank a glass of water. She seemed to have recovered some of her strength, so she knelt on the kang and folded the quilt. Then she pulled over a pair of pants, spread the worn area on her knees on her thighs, untied the small white bag she had brought, took out a small square of blue cloth and needle and thread, and lowered her head to mend the pieces.
If it was the old Xu Lingjun, he probably wouldn't know what to say after seeing this scene, but the current Xu Lingjun had no lack of experience in dealing with girls, and he immediately understood what the girl was thinking at the moment.
She is now at her wit's end. When she agreed to Guo Zizi, she probably had already made up her mind that no matter who he introduced her to, as long as she could survive, she would spend her whole life with him and accept her fate.
So he didn't waste any words at this time, he got up and started to make a fire to cook porridge, "You haven't eaten yet, no matter what you plan to do, fill your stomach first."
"Let me do it." The girl finally spoke. In her opinion, cooking was a woman's job. Since she had agreed to marry Xu Lingjun, she should do these chores.
"Then you help with the fire. Oh, by the way, cow dung can be burned, right? This is a ranch, and we don't have that much firewood. We basically rely on cow dung for cooking and heating." Xu Lingjun talked to himself while he worked.
Hearing this, the girl slowly relaxed. "I heard from my cousin that when I was at home, I also helped to pick up cow dung, but not for making fire, but as fertilizer. Crops grown well with cow dung."
"Where are you from? By the way, I still don’t know your name. My name is Xu Lingjun. My family is originally from the capital, but later I was labeled and sent down here. I have been here for more than ten years." Xu Lingjun asked.
"My name is Li Xiuzhi, and I'm from Jiangyou, Sichuan." She used fire tongs to adjust the position of the cow dung in the stove hole, leaving some gaps between the pieces of cow dung so that the fire could light quickly. She had never burned cow dung before, but the principle was the same. The fire in the stove hole soon became prosperous.
"Jiangyou is a great place. The great poet Li Bai was from Jiangyou."
"When I was in primary school, my teacher also talked about it and taught us to recite his poems, but now I can't remember much. My family was poor, so I stopped attending school after the second grade."
As they chatted, Li Xiuzhi gradually relaxed and a smile appeared on her face. She felt that she was lucky to meet someone like Xu Lingjun.
The situation in Jiangyou has not been very good in recent years. Many families can't even fill their stomachs, and the girls can only leave in batches. As long as there is someone willing to take them in and provide them with food, they will marry that person.
At this time, they had no time to be picky. No matter if the woman was blind, lame or stupid, it was good enough if she could get married.
Li Xiuzhi had heard many similar things. Now she saw that Xu Lingjun was neither lame nor mute, spoke in a polite manner, and his house was tidy. Apart from being a little older, he had no other shortcomings.
Oh, yes, there is also the issue of Lao You's hat. Actually, it's nothing. If he hadn't been wearing a hat, he would have married a wife long ago. How could it be her turn? Besides, she was not qualified to be picky about these things now.
Considering that Li Xiuzhi must be starving and had been malnourished for a long time, Xu Lingjun cooked a pot of porridge and added some dried meat. It was best to drink porridge at this time, and eating anything else might harm the body.
After it was done, Xu Lingjun served a bowl to Li Xiuzhi first, and put all the dried meat into her bowl. He also explained, "It's not that I don't want to give you more, but it's mainly because people who have been hungry for a long time are not suitable to eat too much at once, so as not to upset your stomach. Drink a bowl of porridge first, and I will cook for you if you are hungry in the evening."
"You are the boss, the meat should be yours." Li Xiuzhi compared the situation in the pot, picked up the chopsticks and was about to give the dried meat to Xu Lingjun.
Xu Lingjun wanted to take it back for her, but there was only one pair of chopsticks at home, and he didn't know what to do.
"Pfft." Seeing this funny scene, Li Xiuzhi couldn't help laughing.
(End of this chapter)
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