Although my father was young at that time, he was very concerned about marrying a wife.
After all, children only want to have fun. Whenever someone gets married in the village, all the children in the village will be happy for a few days.
Suddenly, he heard his grandfather say that he wanted to marry him a wife. My father was so happy that he ran around the yard several times. When he came back, he was breathless and asked his grandfather whose family the girl was, where she lived, and what she looked like.
Grandpa chuckled.
"You are quite positive, kid!"
However, grandpa's face quickly darkened, he pressed his father's shoulders with both hands, stared at him with a stern look, and said slowly: "Son, listen carefully, my father married this daughter-in-law for you. , not the same as normal people!”
My father was frightened by grandpa's serious expression. His face was full of doubts, but he didn't dare to ask any more questions.
"This daughter-in-law of yours, her natal family lives in Longtan. You are not allowed to tell anyone about this!"
The father nodded repeatedly.
"Okay! The eighth day of this month is an auspicious day. At that time, my father will bring the betrothal gift and go to Longtan to get you engaged."
"When the time comes, you will do whatever Dad asks you to do! Don't mess around, understand?"
"I know, Dad!"
His father had been obedient since he was a child, and his grandfather knew that he would not mess around, so he touched his neck and held him in his arms.
In a blink of an eye, it’s the eighth day of the lunar calendar.
A crescent moon hangs over the village, a few crickets sing songs on the roadside, and the surroundings are peaceful.
At twelve o'clock at midnight, grandpa took his father with him. The father and son each carried a load. The buckets on both sides of the load were filled with betrothal gifts.
As for the betrothal gift, my father didn’t know, but he just felt that it would move!
"Laishun, bring the two small buckets over and put them next to Dad's big bucket. When Dad starts to read the letter of engagement, you take out the yarn balls in the small buckets and tie one end to the wooden bucket and the other to the wooden bucket. Take it in your hand and start walking home.”
"Remember, don't look back halfway! Otherwise, you will see something very scary. Remember? Go!"
Grandpa tied the wool to the bucket, and when his father started walking home with a ball of wool as big as a basketball, he took out a letter of appointment written on red paper and began to whisper it in a low voice.
The letters of appointment were all written in ancient Chinese, and my father could not understand a word of them. He could only keep walking forward with a ball of wool in his arms.
Along the way, my father always felt as if someone behind him was blowing on his neck.
I also heard a woman giggling and a child crying...
But he gritted his teeth, hugged the ball of wool tightly, and never looked back. Several times, he felt that the hand of the person behind him was almost on his shoulder, but he did not look back.
In this way, we reached home all the way.
Strangely enough, when I got home, I just ran out of wool in my hand.
"Dad! Dad, when will you come back! I...I'm so scared!"
When my father got home, the first thing he did was to close the door tightly, quickly take off his shoes, run to the bed, lie down, and tuck his head into the bed.
I don’t know how long it took, but a gust of wind blew outside.
The door creaked open, followed by a rustling sound.
It sounded like someone walking, but the sound was very quiet, not like grandpa's footsteps at all.
Moreover, there is a special fragrance permeating the air.
After confirming that the person coming was not grandpa, my father became even more frightened and hid in bed shivering. It was not until later that he heard the sound of the door closing again that he carefully got his head out of the bed.
At this time, the house was empty.
A full moon shined through the two glass tiles, shining brightly in front of my father's bed.
There was a small round table in front of the bed. On the table was a box of red wedding candies and an exquisite sandalwood box.
The father was very scared and did not dare to open the box. It wasn't until his grandfather came home and told him that the box contained a love token from his wife that his father opened the box with excitement.
The moment the box was opened, a green light came out. Under the moonlight, a jade pendant appeared in front of my father's eyes.
Grandpa took out the jade pendant and put it on his father's neck himself.
"My son obeys the order!"
"Dad! The baby is here!" The father hurriedly knelt in front of grandpa.
"Listen, from now on, you can't go anywhere, you can only stay at home. You can't eat, you can only drink water. When you are hungry, just say to the jade pendant, wife, I want to eat fish, naturally at night Someone will bring you fish to eat."
"All fish cannot be grilled or boiled, and can only be eaten raw."
"Listen! You can only survive if you do what dad says. Otherwise, you will become a dead person immediately. When the time comes, your stomach will burst and the internal organs inside will flow out."
My father was frightened and asked his grandfather, "Dad, what if I obey?"
"If you are obedient, that girl will appear by your side when you are twenty years old, and you two will officially get married and become husband and wife!"
"But...what does my daughter-in-law look like? Will she be scary?"
Grandpa took a painting from the study and unfolded it in front of his father.
My father went up to take a look and found that the painting was a beautiful woman in ancient costume, with bright eyes and white teeth, looking at her with eyes, long hair reaching her waist, and also wearing a jade pendant around her neck.
"See? This is what your wife looks like. Do you want to marry her?"
Father nodded.
"Okay, then hang her up at home and serve her with incense every day."
From then on, my father never left the courtyard. He was at home every day, either chopping firewood or cleaning the room, boiling water for grandfather to cook, or lighting incense for portraits and placing fruits for offerings.
The rest of the time, he knelt in front of the portrait and stared at the woman in the painting for the whole day.
Such days lasted for thirteen years. In a blink of an eye, my father is already an adult!
