Chu Yi knew very early that in the hearts of his grandpa and grandma, grandsons were different from each other. Without his parents, he could only stay in the countryside and work. How could he compare with his eldest grandson, a promising scholar?
However, Chu Yi glanced at his brother who was at a loss next to him. Ah Li shouldn't have heard this today!
"Mom, I didn't mean that..."
Grandpa Chu glanced at his wife and brother Chu Yi who were silent, sighed, and interrupted Third Uncle Chu: "Okay, Ah Yi, it's not that grandpa and grandma are partial. I'm getting older and my physical strength is not as good as before. You It’s not convenient for Third Uncle. Most of the household’s work depends on you. You should know that life at home is not easy!
Your uncle wanted to live alone because he wanted your cousin to have a good future. Chu Ren was studying in the town, and he didn't need money for food, clothing, pens, ink, paper, and inkstones?
He has to go to Fucheng every three years to take the exam, and there are expenses everywhere. How can your uncle and his wife alone support it? The whole family has to work together!
If Chu Ren goes to high school in the future, it will be a great joy for the whole family! Old lady, just take out another one tael and make up for the bride price of three taels! "
"Abba!"
"Third uncle, just three liang." After saying this, he ignored everyone's reactions and led Chu Li out of the Chu family's main room.
Chu Li looked up at his expressionless brother and hesitated: "Brother..."
Chu Yi stopped and patted his brother on the shoulder: "Don't worry, brother will find a way."
"Ayi!"
Hearing the sound, Chu Yi turned around and took two steps to support Uncle Chu who was chasing him. Seeing that Chu Li was still standing there, he urged: "Ah Li, it's time for you to go to school."
When Uncle Chu saw Chu Li leaving the yard, he spoke again. It was better not to say some things in front of the children: "Ayi, don't blame your grandpa and grandma, they... they are also for this family. Alas, don't talk about this. Now, the 3 taels of betrothal metal is actually a little short. If you hire someone from the village, even an ordinary family will have to scrape together 5 or 6 taels. The Shen family is living a prosperous life, but if the dowry money is too small, it will be hard to get rid of it. The third uncle has also saved some over the years. Third uncle will get the rest of the silver for you, and we will also pay twelve taels of betrothal money! But don’t give it to your grandpa and grandma yet!”
After his father and mother left, his third uncle always treated him and A Li as his own sons. Chu Yi knew that, so he didn’t want his third uncle to be in trouble between him and his grandma: "Third uncle, you keep the money, and I will pay for the bride price." Find a way."
"There are elders at home, how can you find a way to raise money for employment! Besides, what can you do? Either go out to work or find someone to borrow money. The work at home cannot be done without you. If you can't work part-time, is it possible that we really let you go? Borrow it? It’s not like we don’t have any at home!”
Chu Yi knew the rules of the family. After the children and grandchildren got married, if they finished the work at home, they could do some private work to earn money. This was the case for his uncle, his father and his third uncle.
But his third uncle has never done any private work since he broke his leg. He also saved the money before that. Over the years, he has been subsidizing the family from time to time. If he takes out another seven or eight taels, he is afraid that he will be out of pocket. Got it!
"Third uncle, you really don't need it! I have money!" Before Chu Yi's father died, he left some money for his two sons. Xu was not worried about leaving his two sons alone in the world, so he specially asked them Chu Yi, tell him not to mention it to others and to keep it by himself for emergencies.
"You can just keep the money. Chu Li is now studying and getting married, doesn't he have to rely on you? When your father left, I promised him to take care of you two as my own sons. Why do you want your third uncle to break his promise?"
"Third uncle..."
"When I broke my leg and we divorced, what did you say? You said you and Ali would take care of me like a biological father in the future. Why don't you want to admit it?"
"no."
"Then what's wrong with a father giving his son betrothal money?"
Chu Yi couldn't beat his third uncle, but he didn't want his third uncle to spend all his money to marry him: "Then third uncle can help me raise another two taels, and I will take care of the rest."
"No..."
This matter cannot be hidden from grandpa and grandma. Even if it is hidden for a while, grandpa and grandma will know it on the day of acceptance. Then grandpa and grandma will know that the third uncle has filled in so much privately, and they don’t know how it will end. , Chu Yi didn’t want the third uncle to be difficult to do when the time comes: “It’s hard for the third uncle to cross my grandpa and grandma.”
Uncle Chu hesitated for a moment, and knew that what his nephew said made sense: "In that case, Uncle Chu will give you another three taels, and you can make up the rest yourself. It's only three taels, and it doesn't count as going beyond your grandpa and grandma." .”
The matter of the bride price has been settled for the time being. The wine, tea, and cakes are all taken care of by grandma. However, a pair of wild geese are needed as a first gift on the day of the wedding, so Chu Yi plans to go to the yard of his grandfather’s house next door and call his cousin Chu Yi. Ping went to the mountains to try his luck.
Chu Ping was squatting under the eaves of his house, drinking porridge. When he saw Chu Yi coming in with a basket on his back, he asked, "Cousin, why are you here?"
"Na Zheng still needs a pair of wild geese to make the first ceremony, so I came to you for help!"
After Chu Ping finished his breakfast, he smiled and said: "If you don't tell me why I have always followed my cousin since I was a child, my cousin knows me best. I don't dare to talk about anything else. This matter of catching the chicken and chasing the bird away, the whole thing Even the backing village is no match for me!”
Chu Ping's mother, Mrs. Qian, heard something going on in the yard. As soon as she came out of the kitchen, she heard her son behaving badly: "It's annoying if you play with cats and dogs all the time. I don't think A Yi will dislike you. He will catch you." He still has to be on the harp! Ayi, if you can go to his place if you want, just ask him to go. It won’t be helpful if he’s at home, so you don’t have to worry about me watching.”
Although Mrs. Qian said she disliked him very much, in fact, apart from Chu Ping and his grandma, Mrs. Qian was the one who loved Chu Ping the most!
Chu Ping's father is Chu Ping's cousin. There are very few men in the cousin's family. There is only one male of the same generation as Uncle Chu's third uncle, that is, Chu Ping's father, Chu Ping's father and his mother-in-law Qian Shi. After giving birth to five daughters in a row, it was not easy to get a single child like Chu Ping!
It is no exaggeration to say that Chu Ping is the baby of their family. He cannot be beaten or scolded, for fear that the only Miaomiao will make a slight mistake! This did not give Chu Ping a loose temper. He was not a bad person, but he was just a fool. He could not do a good job in the fields. He spent all day in the mountains and rivers entertaining cats and dogs, but he was not in a good shape!
Seeing that his mother-in-law was starting to nag again, Chu Ping hurriedly put the bowl and chopsticks in his mother-in-law's hands, went back to the house, grabbed the slingshot, pushed Chu Yi out of the door!
Xing'an County and Changshui Town, where Kaoshan Village is located, are located in the north of Daqian Kingdom. It is already mid-September, which is the time for wild geese to migrate south.
Although Chu Ping was used to being lazy, he did have some skills in catching birds and fish. On the way up the mountain, he talked to Chu Yi about his thoughts: "Cousin, although I have never really caught wild geese, the birds and pheasants on this mountain are I've shot down a lot of them with my slingshot. I heard people say that these wild geese are monogamous and will stay together for the rest of their lives. If they catch the female, the male will come to look for her. Why don't we just hunt the female later? "
"That's fine. The female goose is smaller, so it should be easier to use a slingshot." Although Chu Yi had never heard of this statement, he knew that wild geese are monogamous, so it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
The two walked and chatted along the way, and soon entered the forest halfway up the mountain. They chose an unknown small lake as a stopping point. The view above was wide, and it was a good place for hunting.
Chu Ping selected the stones he would need for a while on the shallow beach by the lake. After picking up a bag, he ran to hide behind some pine trees by the lake, planning to use this as a base to start squatting.
Chu Yi was not idle either. He walked around the lake while Chu Ping was picking up stones. On a flat shallow beach on the opposite side of the lake, he turned his backpack upside down on the ground, sprinkled some grains in it, and used He propped up a corner of the collected branches and set up a simple trap.
Then he tied the rope to the bottom of the branch, took the other end in his hand, and lay down in the grass not far away to hide. The two could vaguely see each other's figure across the lake.
The two of them squatted by the lake for more than an hour. During this period, only a few deer came to the lake to drink water, not even a goose feather!
Chu Yi was just thinking that he wouldn't be able to use this trap anymore, and could only count on his cousin to see if he could catch two from the sky, when suddenly there was a cry of "quack-quack--" mixed with the flapping of wings. The sound came from a distance, getting closer and closer, until a group of wild geese landed on the edge of the lake in front of him to drink water and rest.
Chu Yi lowered his body and waited for a long time before he saw a wild goose swaying and jumping near the trap he had set. Chu Yi silently wrapped the rope around his hand twice while waiting for the goose. The geese relaxed their vigilance and went to eat the grains under the baskets on their backs.
After a long time, the wild goose tested it two or three more times and found that there seemed to be no danger. Finally, he felt relieved and walked to the basket to eat the grains. At that moment, Chu Yi pulled the rope in his hand hard, and then the whole People also jumped on it!
The nearby geese were frightened, and they all flapped their wings and flew back to the sky. At this time, Chu Ping on the other side of the lake also moved.
After three sounds of "咻-咻-咻", it hit two wild geese that had not flown far. One fell in the grass not far from Chu Yi, and the other flapped its wings on one side and swayed. Then he fell into the nearby woods.
Chu Yi tied up the two wild geese that fell into the trap and fell in the grass near him, put them in the basket on his back, and got up to look for Chu Ping who had entered the forest.
After walking more than ten feet away, I saw Chu Ping carrying two wild geese: "Cousin, this method really works. Before I got closer, I saw this male walking around the female. I simply caught them together. I didn’t know if the two just now were males or females. Fortunately, I thought that you had set a trap for me, cousin, and I thought that it wouldn’t be too late for me to do it after you did it. Four of them were caught in no time. ,Hahaha!"
Chu Yi also didn't expect that he would catch four of them in one go after just over two hours in the mountain: "I saw it, and it happened to be a male and a female. They only had some injuries on their wings. Thank you for today!"
On the day of the recruitment, only one pair of geese was needed. The extra pair was injured and could not be released. After discussing with his cousin, Chu Yi decided to go to the town to try his luck and see if he could exchange some money. .
It was a coincidence that as soon as the two of them arrived at the market in the town, someone came up and asked if the wild goose was for sale. It turned out that the grandson of a wealthy family in the town was planning to get married. He was worried about not getting the wild goose, so he sent a butler. What are you looking for in the market?
The two parties quickly agreed on the price, and a pair of wild geese were given two taels of silver!
Normally, it is impossible to sell it at such a high price, or even not sell it at all. It is absolutely impossible for ordinary people to pay for it. If they can't get it, they will use wooden geese instead. In these days, people in the village raise a pig. At the end of the year, if the butcher takes it away, you will get four or five taels. Two taels of silver is really a lot for a pair of wild geese.
Chu Yi and the others came out for a day. Not only did they catch the wild geese needed for the betrothal gift, but they also got a tael of silver each. They even walked back to the village much more briskly!
