"Master Zheng is such a good young man. Not to mention his good looks, the main reason is that he is talented. I heard that he will definitely be a scholar in the academy examination next year." Mrs. Zhang said proudly, "Such a talented person can be recognized at a glance. She fell in love with Xiuhong from our family. She didn’t come before because Mr. Zheng didn’t agree with the marriage. But Master Zheng just likes Xiuhong. He went on hunger strike every day. The Zheng family had no choice but to send a matchmaker to propose marriage. Yesterday, he showed off The red bride has entered the house, and we will become the wife of an official in the future."
She grabbed a handful of candies from the bag and said, "Xiuhong met a good match in our Dahe Village. She specially asked me to give out wedding candies to everyone. Everyone has one, so I am very happy."
This wedding candy is a pastry made of sugar and flour, and the villagers can only eat it during the New Year and festivals.
Sun Shuiqin in the crowd pinched the corner of her clothes.
Li Xiuhong had borrowed her clothes for more than ten days and refused to return them. Only now did she realize that Li Xiuhong was wearing her clothes to seduce Master Zheng.
If she had not married Zhao Shagen, she should have married Master Zheng.
"Shuiqin, here you go." Zhao Shagen put the wedding candy into Sun Shuiqin's hand, "This wedding candy is so sweet, take a bite."
Sun Shuiqin looked at the piece of wedding candy, and Zhao Shagen took a small bite. There was still saliva left on it. Disdain flashed in her eyes: "You can eat it yourself."
Zhao Shagen smiled stupidly. His wife was so kind that she would leave all the delicious food for him.
Sun Shuiqin pursed her lips and squeezed out of the crowd.
A group of women were still chatting about this matter together.
Tiezhu Niang couldn't help but ask: "How did I hear that Master Zheng didn't even go to pick up the bride in person? What kind of marriage is this?"
"You don't know this, right? I heard that I am a concubine. Master Zheng already has two concubines in his family, and Mrs. Zhang's niece is the third."
"Why can't such a beautiful girl think about being a concubine? I heard that concubines are worse than maids. You have to set rules every day."
"Isn't that right? Madam Zhang has caused misery to her niece."
Mrs. Zhang originally wanted to show off and make the villagers envious of her, but in the end, most people actually criticized her.
She put her hands on her hips and said angrily: "The Zheng family are officials, powerful and rich. Even if they become a concubine in the Zheng family, they are still better than you people who work in the fields. From now on, Xiuhong will give birth to a son for the Zheng family. Then she won’t have to worry about it in this life, no one in our village can compare to Xiu Hong, why are everyone so upset, huh!"
She took away all the unfinished wedding candies.
Cheng Wanwan saw Old Man Zhao coming back with beams from a distance, so he changed the subject and said, "The beams of our house have arrived. I'll go take a look."
Everyone also gathered around to watch the fun.
"This beam is good, the middle beam is enough."
"Dashan Niang, your house is almost finished. When will the beams be put up?"
Old man Zhao took a puff of dry cigarette, and the old man said calmly: "I'm looking for someone to make ends meet. In three days it will be an auspicious day, so it's time to go to bed."
Cheng Wanwan said with a smile: "On the day of Liang Liang, our family will arrange meals. Everyone who has time can come and join in the fun."
Dahe Village has always had this custom. On the day of Liang Liang, a banquet is arranged to invite craftsmen, relatives and friends to gather together, which is more lively than getting married.
Cheng Wanwan had already started preparing for this day, and specially invited Tiezhu Niang, a good cook in the village, to cook a big pot of rice.
The population of Dahe Village is quite large, but she does not have a good relationship with every household. A rough calculation shows that about fifty or sixty households will come to have a banquet. Adding in the workers and craftsmen, at least twenty tables must be prepared. It can be regarded as a big event in Dahe Village. The last time we had a banquet was in the spring of last year. In the past year or so, no one in the village had done anything big.
Cheng Wanwan listed the menu. There were six dishes on the table, which were neither too shabby nor too luxurious. They were: Braised meat platter, tofu and meatballs, pickled beans, scrambled eggs with fungus, stir-fried wild vegetables, pork bone and radish soup, and Wine was prepared for the craftsmen's tables.
Looking at Dahe Village as a whole, such dishes are pretty good.
The day before the beams were laid, two temporary large earth stoves were built in the yard, one for steaming rice and the other for frying large pots of vegetables.
Mrs. Zhao took Wenshi and Sunshi to cut the meat, Tiezhuniang and Tieshuanniang were making tofu and meatballs, Cheng Wanwan was making braised meat, and all the children in the family went to the mountains to dig wild vegetables. This is all tomorrow Ingredients for the banquet.
Mrs. Sun looked at the table of pork and couldn't help but murmured: "Sister-in-law is too generous. Why buy so much meat? Just put two taels on a plate and leave the rest for your family to eat?"
"You short-sighted thing." Old Mrs. Zhao scolded, "This is Liangjiu. We don't let the craftsmen who put Liangliang eat and drink well. They didn't pay attention when they put Liangliang and tiles. When the time comes, they will eat it. A bigger loss."
It's okay to dig and dig in other places, but you can't be sloppy when it comes to wine in Shangliang. This is closely related to the prosperity of the family, so you must be careful.
There is an old saying in the village: If there are beams on the roof, there will be food in the house. There are no beams on the roof, and the animals are not prosperous.
The words passed down from generation to generation naturally make sense. Mrs. Zhao hopes that the life of the eldest family will be prosperous and that the four eldest grandchildren will become more and more promising. The better the Shangliang Wine is, the better the future prospects of the children will be. The bigger.
That night a group of women worked until very late before going back to rest.
Zhao Dashan and Zhao Ergou did not go home and stayed at the new house to guard the ingredients in the yard and the tile noodles that had just been transported.
The genius was slightly bright, and the men working in the village came.
Old man Zhao directed people to set up several large tables in the yard. The tables were covered with red cloth, and then placed sacrifices, pig-headed roosters, wine cups, etc.
Immediately afterwards, he took out the red paper couplets that Cheng Zhao had written yesterday and pasted them on both sides of the main house.
The beams of joy are filled with joy, and the spring light fills the courtyard for thousands of miles.
After all the things that should be prepared were prepared, almost the whole village came to watch. It was an auspicious time. The masons and carpenters came forward and began to perform the beam ceremony. A pot of wine was poured on the ground and they murmured: " Liang, please come to the front of the hall...the first glass of wine is to honor the ancestors...the fifth glass of wine is poured high, and there are three stars on it to shine..."
After the beam ceremony is over, it is time to install the beam. The custom in Dahe Village is to find eight young people with good luck to climb up the roof to pull the beam. After pulling the beam, it is time to stabilize the beam. This is a technical job and requires a professional carpenter to check the position. It cannot After the slightest mistake was made, the beams were placed in place, and then came the most exciting part of throwing the beams, which was the favorite part of the children in the whole village.
As the owner of this house, Zhao Dashan and the carpenters stood on the beams and threw the wedding candies, cakes, red date cakes and other items that had been prepared from a high place. The whole village would come to grab them. At the same time, , the sound of firecrackers rang out at the door of the house. They were not firecrackers, but burning bamboos. When the bamboo joints burned, they would make a crackling sound. It was extremely lively.
Amid the bustle of joy, Old Man Zhao led his men to bring twenty tables and set them up in the yard of the new house.
Mrs. Zhao took the women to table after table of dishes. The tangy aroma made everyone's mouth water. Six dishes, one bowl of rice for each person, was enough to satisfy everyone.
Of course, these people are not here to eat for free, they all bring gifts.
