There was a commotion in the Zhang family courtyard.
Ms. Liu sat down on the ground, slapping her thighs, opening her mouth and crying. Her legs were kicking around, filling the yard with dust, making Zhang You choke and cough repeatedly.
"Mother!" He persuaded Mrs. Liu with a dark face, "It's just a dowry. It doesn't cost much money. Just think of it as preparing it for Qiu Ju."
Mrs. Liu's face looked better now: "Then there's no need to prepare another quilt. I just prepared a quilt for Qiu Ju a year ago, so just take that one."
Zhang You summed it up.
Although a quilt is a little thin, it makes sense if you add some tables, chairs, benches, pots and pans.
He immediately discussed with Zhang Laowen about hiring someone to make tables, chairs and furniture.
"Hit some furniture!"
Mrs. Liu howled again.
"The dowry is only a quilt, which is already very impressive. You are a prodigal boy, but you are still building furniture for that little bitch!"
Zhang You persuaded Mrs. Liu earnestly: "Mother, just now in front of the villagers, I have said that Li Qiu is my biological sister. When my biological sister gets married, her dowry will be a quilt. This is not true."
Mrs. Liu snorted: "Why is it so outrageous? The quilt I prepared for Qiu Ju is for her dowry. Don't be dissatisfied with the water thrown away by your married daughter!"
Zhang You was stunned.
His mother, why are you so picky?
After all, he was also a scholar. Li Qiu, the girl he had no choice but to accept, didn't care that the dowry was not so pretty, but Qiu Ju was his biological sister.
The scholar's biological sister only got a quilt as a dowry?
Isn't this a joke to show his classmates?
Here Zhang You patiently tried to persuade Mr. Liu, but over there Yu Cuihua gave up and imitated Mrs. Liu, sitting on the ground and crying about her mother-in-law's favoritism, her voice so loud that it could be heard two miles away.
Zhang Laowen was so angry that he slapped Yu Cuihua, but Yu Cuihua simply went all out, tore her clothes to imitate the beginning of autumn, and asked the villagers for comment.
Zhang You had no choice but to abandon Mrs. Liu and stop Yu Cuihua from saying good things.
A handsome scholar was troubled by a pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
At the beginning of autumn, I watched the good show through the window, and my eyes were so happy that they turned into crescent moons.
"Liqiu, how can you still laugh?"
Qiu Ju worried about her: "Gu Laizi is not a good person. He doesn't do any work all day long. If you follow him, it will be a difficult life."
"No matter how hard your life is, how can it be worse than the one in the brothel?"
Qiu Ju didn't say anything, and after a while she whispered softly: "At least I can eat well and drink well. This is better than anything else."
Li Qiu frowned slightly.
This girl Qiu Ju is scared of poverty.
The Zhang family's life is pretty good in the village.
Except for Zhang You, all three fathers and sons of the Zhang family are making a living.
During the off-season, the three fathers and sons went to other people's homes to work as helpers, and all the money they earned was given to Liu for safekeeping.
Mrs. Liu is so stingy that she would like to break a penny into an eight-petaled flower.
But she didn't dare to pick on the Zhang family and his son, so she tried her best to save it on Li Qiu and the others.
The men eat two dry meals a day. They can only eat one dry meal a day in Beginning of Autumn. This meal can only be eaten every two days. The other two days are all gruel, and the gruel can be as thin as possible. Show the silhouette of a person.
If you want to eat meat, you have to wait for someone in the village to have a happy event or die.
Mrs. Liu was afraid of suffering a loss, so she rushed the whole family to join the battle, so that they could eat from the same pot as others.
Living like this for too long makes people want to eat enough.
"Qiu Ju, listen to my advice," Li Qiu sighed and put down the cicada in his hand. "It's important to have enough food and clothing, but what's more important is that you have to be an upright person."
Qiu Ju pursed her lips: "What if you are about to starve to death? How can you live an upright life if you can't even survive?"
"If you really want to get to that point, then you must first treat yourself as a human being. You must not do anything that is harmful to nature or disrespectful to your conscience. But it is not yet to the point of starving to death. There is another way to go. You can be a human being and do whatever you want. Why do you want to be a ghost?"
Li Qiu knew that Qiu Ju didn't listen to what he said.
The delicacies from the mountains and seas, silks and satins, were too tempting for a little girl who had never had enough to eat or clothes to keep warm.
But for this little thing, Li Qiu didn't want to be treated like a pig or a dog.
She picked up the half-knitted straw cicadas again. In the past few days, she had accumulated a bunch of straw knitted things. After marrying Gu Changan, she wanted to do some needlework and sell them in the town to compete with knitting. These things make more money.
After just finishing one, Zhang You pushed the door in and was startled when he saw Li Qiu who was joking softly with Qiu Ju.
We haven’t seen each other for a few days, and Beginning of Autumn seems to be different from before.
I can't say what's different, I just feel that Li Qiu's eyebrows are more relaxed, her expression is more calm, and she is no longer the timid village girl before.
Zhang You couldn't help but regret, why did he just relent and give Li Qiu to Gu Changan?
He had long been attracted to the beautiful Li Qiu, but at that time Mrs. Liu was too keen on her, and he thought that she would always be in his own room, and her body would be his sooner or later, so he did not make a move.
If he had known today, he would have cooked the raw rice and thrown the worn shoes to Gu Changan, and he would not have felt so uncomfortable.
"Third brother, why are you standing there so stupidly? Sit down quickly."
Zhang You came to his senses, and he and Li Qiu were the only two people left in the room.
"I just came to tell you that you don't have to worry about the dowry..."
Before she finished speaking, Mrs. Liu shouted through the window: "What dowry! I don't have a penny! The dowry is just a quilt. If you like it, you have to get it. If you don't like it, get out!"
Zhang You looked troubled: "Liqiu, this is my mother's temper. Don't take it to heart. In fact, my mother loves you very much and wants to prepare a generous dowry for you. But my family has no money now and cannot afford a dowry. My mother is very worried." Shedding tears, Li Qiu, what do you think we should do?"
Li Qiu said nothing, and kept staring at Zhang You, which made Zhang You look at him: "Li Qiu, you are talking."
"What did the third brother tell me to say?" Li Qiu curled his lips, "The third brother wanted me to say that I don't want a dowry myself?"
Zhang You sighed: "Liqiu, I know you have always been sensible and can understand the difficulties of mother and family..."
"Third brother doesn't want to give me a dowry, so let's be honest. I, Yuan Liqiu, don't care about this thing from your Zhang family. But third brother insists on forcing me to give up the dowry. It's too hypocritical. Don't say that my family has no money. I know my mother has a lot of money, otherwise, where will the third brother get the money to go to a prostitute?"
Zhang You's expression changed drastically, and his eyes suddenly became sharp: "Yuan Liqiu, it's you! It was you who told Gu Changan, right?"
Gu Changan threatened him with his visit to a prostitute, and he was suspicious at that time.
He has always been rigorous in doing things, how could Gu Changan know about it.
It turns out that there is a ghost around.
"So what if it's me?" Li Qiu chuckled, "You should be lucky that I didn't tell your academy about this, otherwise, you wouldn't even be qualified to take the scholar exam!"
Zhang You was furious: "How dare you!"
Then he sneered a few times: "Yuan Liqiu, don't you want a dowry? I will give you a thick dowry so that boy Gu Changan can enjoy it!"
