Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

On the morning of March 18th, the Xu family all got up early. After breakfast, everyone was waiting in the living room in the front yard. The two families, Zhide and Qingnian, also came early. This was the first happy event for the younger generation of the Xu family, so how could they not be present? Wenxing is twelve years old this year. He is not short in stature. He has a round face and big eyes, and he already has a vague look of ambition. Jinghe is ten years old this year. She is not as good looking as Jingxian, but she can still be considered a pretty young beauty. Mr. Han is getting older now, and his temper is much stronger than before. He makes everyone smile when he sees her. Life is getting better here, and if Han continues to be as usual, I'm afraid no one will pay attention to her.

Jing Hui is seven years old this year. He looks like a tiger-headed man and is very energetic. Huixin didn't come today because she was pregnant again. After giving birth to Jinghui, Qingnian was worried about Huixin's health, so he never dared to have more children. Unexpectedly, last winter, I got pregnant again. Now it's almost five months old. I'm gradually getting stupider, so I stayed at home. Furthermore, pregnant women also have many taboos, so it is better to avoid such occasions as often as possible.

The whole family was all neatly dressed and sitting in the room waiting. At the end of the morning, the old Wangtou outside shouted, "Old man, old lady, the Yue family is here, they are almost at the door." This old Wangtou had been watching outside, and when he saw the Yue family from a distance, he hurriedly ran in to report the news. After saying that, he hurried out again.

Brothers Zhixin, Zhiming, and Zhide, together with their wives and Qingnian, all went out to welcome him. This showed that they valued their in-laws. When everyone came outside, the Yue family's carriage also arrived at the gate.

The two carriages in front and behind stopped at the door of Xu's house. Several men got off the first car, and the leader was of course Yue Pengcheng. Pengcheng turned back to the carriage behind him, opened the curtain, and helped a woman get out of the carriage. This woman is naturally Pengcheng's mother, Mrs. Liu. When Pengcheng helped his mother down, several more women came down from behind. One of them looked very familiar. She was the matchmaker Wu who Zhixiang found to get married.

Zhixin and others hurriedly came over and led everyone into the courtyard and directly into the living room. Yue Siyuan and his wife brought Yue Pengcheng to greet the old man and Chen, and then introduced them to everyone. It turned out that those who came with him were Pengcheng's uncle and aunt, as well as his uncle and aunt. On such an occasion, relatives must come.

The servants of the Yue family on the side also placed all the betrothal gifts they brought in the hall. The betrothal gifts of the Yue family include a pair of large geese, a piece of loin meat with four ribs, two fish, four handfuls of vermicelli, four jars of wine, and four boxes of tea. In addition, the Yue family also prepared a gift of one hundred and sixty taels, including a pair of red gold hairpins and a pair of red gold bracelets. There are also sixteen brocades of various colors, and of course two sets of clothes prepared for Jingya.

Matchmaker Wu took the list and read it to everyone. Mrs. Chen waited for Matchmaker Wu to finish reading and said quickly, "Oh, how good is this? Whose girl has such things for her engagement? Siyuan, Xiujuan, you are going too far. These betrothal gifts are enough for a daughter-in-law of ten or twenty, but Jingya is just a country girl, this is too much. "

What Chen said is true. For people here, a gift of twelve or eighty taels is usually very good for a child's engagement, and the rest can be collected at will. Some don't even have gifts, just four kinds of gifts are enough, and some even have the two families settle on the marriage as soon as they talk about it verbally.

The Yue family has prepared such a generous betrothal gift, which is enough to prove that they value Jingya, which of course makes Mrs. Chen very happy. But thanks to the fact that the Xu family has been doing well these past few years, otherwise, after receiving such a betrothal gift, I really wouldn’t know what to get as a dowry to match it. Sometimes, having a large betrothal gift is not necessarily a good thing, and the woman must have the ability to accompany her. Some families will accept the betrothal gift from the man and then send a small dowry to their daughter. After getting married, the bride usually has little status in her husband's family and her life is not good. This is called selling a girl. Of course, this phenomenon is very common. Many families raise girls just to exchange for betrothal gifts and find wives for their sons. In families that do this, both the girl and the son often have a bad life.

Naturally, the Xu family is not the kind of family that sells girls, so after accepting this betrothal gift, they have to properly purchase a dowry for Jingya. The family had originally discussed that, except for some food sent by the Yue family, Zhixin and his wife would just keep some of the things that were of interest to them, while Jingya would take the rest. It would not be good if the mother's family didn't keep any of the betrothal gift, but some amount should be kept.

Pengcheng's mother over there smiled and said, "Look what my aunt said, Jingya is not a country girl. Let me tell you, these girls from the Xu family don't look like they come from farmers' families at all. Just say they are." The young ladies from the rich families in the city are all believed in. Look at these pretty little faces, they are really annoying. Auntie, don’t worry about it, our family is friends here, these betrothal gifts are part of ours. Jingya is a good girl, and this betrothal gift is appropriate. "The Yue family has a great business, so naturally they don't care about this little money. Pengcheng likes Jingya like an eyeball. Yue Siyuan and his wife also like Jingya very much, so they prepared these betrothal gifts.

Matchmaker Wu said from the side, "Auntie, if you ask me, it doesn't matter. Your Jingya is top-notch in our town, both in appearance and character, and is worthy of this betrothal gift."

There are not so many rules in the north, so Jingya is here today. Dressed in red, standing next to Chen, she looks like a blooming red lotus. Pengcheng's aunt and uncle had never seen Jingya, and when they saw it now, they couldn't help but nod secretly. It's no wonder that Pengcheng rejected several marriage offers from big families in the town and insisted on choosing the Xu family. This daughter of the Xu family is really good-looking. Not only Jingya, but also the girls on the side are all outstanding.

Everyone was chatting and laughing together, Jinghan pulled Jingwan and Jingxian over, "Let's go and help cook." The Xu family didn't hire any helpers, and there were no servants at home. Today's banquet was, of course, hosted by Zhu Shi and Han helped with the work. Jinghan was afraid that they would be too busy, and she was also afraid that Jingxian would stand out too much here, so she quickly dragged her two sisters out. "Grandma, let's go to the kitchen to see if there's anyone who can help. I'll ask the eldest sister to come over later and cook two of her specialty dishes." After Jinghan said that, she led Jingwan and Jingxian out. He was still young, so he didn't follow.

"Auntie, you are so lucky. Look at the appearance of these granddaughters. They all have beautiful faces, but they are not bad at all. I see that those two are not young anymore. Have you kissed me?" Matchmaker Wu said this is her first time. The second time I arranged marriage arrangements for the Xu family, I was very familiar with them, so when I saw Jinghan and the others, it was inevitable that this bad occupational disease would happen again.

"Jinghan and Jingwan are both fifteen, but they haven't said goodbye yet. We farm girls don't want to say goodbye too early. Besides, Jingya hasn't gotten married yet, so it's not their turn yet. I don't want to be married either. Thinking of staying for another two years, otherwise all of them will be married off, and the old woman will have to be lonely? "Ms. Chen thinks it is too early to propose marriage at the age of fifteen. If a girl stays in her parents' house for one more day, she will be happy. It’s a day of happiness, so I’m not in a hurry to say goodbye to Jinghan and the others.

"My aunt loves her granddaughter so much that she can't bear to marry her off early." Pengcheng's aunt said. "Speaking of which, this woman is most blessed before she gets married. When she gets married and has children, she is so busy at home and outside, how can she have a moment of leisure? Fifteen years old is quite early for us in the north. A lot of people get married when they are 17 or 18 years old."

Not to mention the people in the room chatting affectionately, Jinghan and her two sisters came to the kitchen, where Xue, Zhu and Han were busy. "Mom, let's come here to help with the work. How are the dishes prepared? Leave a few things for the eldest sister to cook later. The eldest sister is good at cooking. Today is the time for her to show her face." The girl's cooking skills are good. My husband's family won't be offended.

"Okay, let your sister stew a fish and stir-fry two more vegetables. You guys come over and help pick out the mushrooms and fungus. They will be useful later." Mr. Xue had already thought of this, so she did it without even thinking about it. said.

Jinghan and the other three quickly rolled up their sleeves and then stepped forward to help. These mushrooms and fungus were all grown by Jinghan. Of course, there are no fresh ones, they are all dried. The ladies were busy in the kitchen. Not long after, Jingya also came. Jinghan quickly found an apron and tied it on Jingya, then helped light the fire while Jingya started cooking.

By the beginning of noon, all the dishes were almost ready. The lunch banquet was held in the living room, with four tables in total. Looking at the table full of dishes, everyone in the Yue family was very satisfied. Generally, the richness of the food and wine represents the satisfaction of the mother's family with the marriage, so even if the family is poor, the engagement banquet cannot be too bad.

At the banquet, the men naturally wanted to drink. Wenhan brought out the good wine he bought specially yesterday and poured it for all the elders present before returning to the table of juniors. Wencheng, Wenxuan, Wenchang, and Wenxing were all at this table, and of course Yue Pengcheng was also indispensable. "Pengcheng, come on, let's have a drink too. You have to call me big brother this time." Wenhan also poured wine for Pengcheng. They are all twenty now and can drink.

"Where's the eldest brother? Why don't you, the eldest brother, push us to the front? I don't know when I will have a sister-in-law." Pengcheng is one year older than Wenhan, but now he can only call Wenhan his eldest brother. To be honest, Yes, I feel aggrieved.

Wenhan smiled happily after listening to Pengcheng's words, "Do you think everyone is like you and can find someone you like so easily? How many people in the world are like my girl? You just have fun secretly. Go ahead."