"Sister, sister, my brother-in-law has sent someone to pick you up."
A barefoot half-grown boy ran towards a dilapidated adobe house, shouting loudly.
The half-grown boy rushed into the courtyard in two or two steps.
There is a stove under the roof of the west room in the yard, and a woman is making a fire to cook.
"Second son is back. Go wash your hands quickly. We will have dinner when your father comes back soon." The woman looked at the half-grown man with loving eyes as he entered the yard.
The young man came to the woman in a few steps and said in an excited tone: "Mom, my brother-in-law is here. No, my brother-in-law has sent people. There are dozens of soldiers, all of them wearing armor. They are very powerful."
"Nonsense, where did your brother-in-law come from? You must not say such nonsense." The woman's face darkened.
My daughter is not married yet. If there are rumors about her daughter, let alone her husband's family, she may be thrown into a pig cage and thrown into a pond.
Not only is the daughter unlucky, but the rest of the family is also unlucky.
"Really, people outside are saying this, and they say it came from the gentlemen above." Seeing that the woman didn't believe it, the young man quickly told all the evidence he knew.
The woman grabbed a firewood stick at hand and whipped it on her son. While whipping, she scolded: "It's okay for you to talk nonsense, but you still dare to frame the old man. If you don't want your life, the rest of the family will too." Alive!"
The more he talked, the angrier he became. He hit his son with the firewood stick in his hand, leaving no strength at all.
The half-grown boy who was beaten with a firewood stick jumped up in pain, with tears hanging in his eyes, and he still shouted insistently: "You're right, that's what is said outside, ow!"
In pain, he began to retreat backwards.
"How dare you talk nonsense!" The woman chased her son with a firewood stick and beat him.
While mumbling that he was not lying, the half-grown boy jumped up and down in the yard to avoid the firewood stick in the woman's hand.
The two men chased and fled around the yard several times.
The woman who had been chasing for a long time put her hands on her knees, looked at her lively son, and said breathlessly: "Stand there and don't move!"
"Stop, mother, it's time to hit me." The young man looked at the woman warily.
The woman said angrily: "I'm not beating you because you have ruined your sister's reputation. If you were honest, why would my mother beat you?"
"It's not me. I didn't say it. It was spread by outsiders. They said that my brother-in-law specially sent someone to pick up my sister and go back to visit her." The young man said with an aggrieved look.
He couldn't understand that his mother should be happy when these gentlemen found a brother-in-law for their sister.
"That's nonsense. Why didn't mother know about this?" The woman didn't seem to be lying when she saw her son, but she had never heard that her daughter was getting married.
When a daughter is about to get married, how can a mother not know why?
"What are you arguing about? I can hear you mother and son arguing from a long way away."
A middle-aged man walked in outside the fence. He was also the man of the house, the husband of the woman, and the father of the child.
"Dad, you are finally back. The child is dead." When the young man in the yard saw his father coming back, he hurriedly came forward to complain.
The woman pinched her hands with one hand, raised the firewood stick in her hand and pointed it at the young man and said: "Your son has been shouting that his brother-in-law is here as soon as he comes back. Our Qing'er has not married anyone yet. If he makes such a noise, who will come in the future?" If he still dares to marry Qing'er, do you think he should be beaten?"
"I didn't lie, I told the truth." The young man retorted for himself.
When the woman heard this, she immediately raised the stick in her hand and cursed: "Hey, you little brat, your father is back and you still dare to throw dirty water on your sister. Let's see if I can't kill you." "
As he said that, he rushed forward in two or three steps.
When the half-grown boy saw this, he hurriedly hid behind his father, grabbing the corner of his father's clothes in his hand, and said nervously: "Look, Dad, Mom is going to hit me again."
"Okay, okay, put away the firewood sticks in your hands!" The man stopped the woman who wanted to beat her son.
When her man said this, the woman stopped.
However, she still said in a serious tone: "Why don't you care about your son who has ruined our daughter's reputation like this? If this word gets out, how will Qing'er live?"
The Kong family attaches great importance to the innocence of women.
Once a woman loses her virginity, there may be a chance of survival elsewhere, but in the Kong family, the only choice is to die to protect the reputation of the Kong family.
"What the second son said is true." The man reached out and rubbed his son's head and said, "The clan has promised Qing'er a wife."
At this time, the half-grown man behind the man showed his head and said to the woman: "Mom, you heard it. I'm not lying. The man sent by my brother-in-law has stayed in the family's home. He is very powerful."
"Really promised? Why didn't I know about this?" The woman ignored her son and asked her man.
The man said: "I just found out from the clan elder, not much earlier than you."
"What kind of thing is this? My daughter is getting married, and her parents don't even know about it. How can there be such a truth in the world? These people are too overbearing!" The woman looked unhappy.
The man who heard this said quickly: "Please lower your voice, can you complain about the clan elder? The clan elder must have the clan elder's intention to do this."
"I am a woman who doesn't know what the intention is. I know that my daughter is getting married, but parents don't know anything. These gentlemen bully others, and they don't bully people like this." The woman's eyes were filled with tears. tears.
The man sighed sadly and said: "My arms can't hold my thighs. How can ordinary tribesmen like us resist the things arranged by the elders?"
The Kong family is a large clan with many members, but only a few people at the top have the final say.
The woman raised her arms and wiped the tears from her eyes with her cuffs, and asked: "Who did they betroth Qing'er to? Is he here? As parents, we must meet our future son-in-law. "
"No one came. I heard that only my bodyguards were sent." The man shook his head. He didn't get much information from the clan elders. He only knew that his daughter was married to someone else.
At this moment, the half-grown man stuck out his head again and said to the woman: "I have seen all my brother-in-law's guards, they are very powerful. They are wearing armor and stomach, a big-brimmed hat on their head, and the weapon in their hand is a blunderbuss." , there is also a short blade on his waist, and the leader also has a particularly short blunderbuss, which I heard can be shot with one hand."
"Have you really seen it?" The man pulled his son out from behind.
The grown-up boy nodded and said, "Yesterday when my children were playing by the river, they saw them and Uncle Yinjing going to the Kong Mansion. Sixth Son was there at the time, and he also saw it."
In order to prove that he was not lying, he even told his friends who could prove it for him.
"Why don't I sound like a good person? How can an innocent family be like this?" The woman looked worried.
