Wang Shan arrived the next morning. Although he was in a free relationship with Yinhua, old etiquette was still unavoidable on the relatively closed Loess Plateau, so he used a carriage to pull his father, the village chief, and Wang Shan. A respected elder in Shawan Village came to Zhao Machuan as a matchmaker. They first went to Yinhua's house together, and the matchmaker represented Wang Shan's family to discuss the engagement between him and Yinhua. Although Village Chief Zhao kept his word, and the in-laws were also the principals in Wangshawan, he still invited the villagers according to the rules. The old horse dealer came to discuss the engagement with the matchmaker. The four elders also decided to ask Mr. Mi, the most capable yin and yang man in Hanwangchuan, to choose an auspicious day.
After the discussion, the matchmaker and Wang Shan's father were of course left to eat. In this way, Wang Shan had most of the free time. Because he wanted to pick up the two old men who were drinking at noon, his second brother-in-law Shitou was more experienced than him, so after asking the elders for instructions, Wang Shan went directly to Yangliufang's carpentry shop. He went to the hospital and asked his second brother-in-law to pick up his father and the matchmaker when he returned in the afternoon and send them back to Wangshawan. He himself took Li Tongfu with him and took the goods, and the two of them went to the countryside.
After the four elders finished their meal, they came together drunkenly to visit Yangliufang's small carpentry courtyard. Yang Liufang and the village chief Shitou also stopped their work to welcome the inspection of the elderly. The attentive Yang Liufang even poured four bowls of water for them. When the four of them saw the unpainted Eight Immortals table and the half-assembled desk, they were full of praise.
"Xiao Yang, you and I are here to arrange the engagement for San'er. Your furniture won't delay things, right?"
"Don't worry, uncle. You and your third brother's affairs will not be delayed by manual work. What's more, we have machines now." Yang Liufang showed them the working efficiency of the machine table saw again. Several people Very relieved.
"Xiao Yang, if Emeng doesn't delay your work, let Shitou send Emeng back. It won't affect you, right?"
"Sou (Uncle), it doesn't matter. All the things that need to be done were done yesterday. Brother Shitou was going to go back to collect water today."
"That's good."
"Sir, tell me when you'll be back, and I'll catch the car."
"Then, in-laws, let's just say this. Meng (we) will go back and make preparations right away. We will find Mi Yinyang to decide on a good day, and let your son-in-law tell you."
"Hello Ni (there), Hello Ni (there)." The four of them shook hands with each other and said goodbye.
Head Shitou went to the village to drive the donkey cart that was fostered there, and took the two old people away. After seeing off the guest, Yang Liufang continued to work on his joinery.
Li Tongfu and Wang Shan came back very late, and they shouted coldly as soon as they entered the house. It is true that "it is snowing in August", not to mention that it is already October in the northwest of the lunar calendar. The two of them went indoors and gathered around the stove to keep warm. Yang Liufang steamed rice and cooked egg soup for them. They ate and drank enough before they recovered.
After the meal, Li Tongfu took out his notebook, listed the sales details and accounts, and gave it to Yang Liufang, who took a rough look at it. He saw that when the two went to the countryside for the first time, the sales were not bad, with more than 120 yuan. He felt extremely relieved when he remembered that when he first came here to do business, he only sold a few yuan for the first time. Thinking that they would have to go to the countryside to sell goods early tomorrow, they went to bed early.
The village chief Shitou returned after dark the next day. Yang Liufang was a little surprised and asked, "Brother Shitou, why did you come back so early this time?"
"Oh, I'd like to discuss something with you."
"What's going on?" Before Village Chief Shitou could answer, he heard Li Tongfu and Wang Shan talking excitedly outside the door: "Oh, it went so smoothly! My brother's prediction was really right."
"Yeah, I didn't expect it to sell out so quickly." Then there was a knock on the door.
Village Chief Shitou opened the door and asked, "What makes you so excited?"
"Hey! The needlework was sold out early in the afternoon. You are really good at pinching and calculating!" Wang Shan said excitedly, patting Yang Liufang's shoulder.
"Third brother, I'm also thinking about this. Winter is coming soon. People here have to make new or mended cotton-padded clothes, trousers, shoes, quilts, etc., so there will be a huge demand for needlework."
"Oh, it's true. We used to sell them one by one, but now everyone wants them in packages."
"Hey, Brother Shitou, what did you do just now?"
"Oh, it just so happens that San'er is here. It has something to do with you. Our Buddha (said) wants Xiao Yang to contact the friend who has a truck and drive over to make a wedding ceremony for you."
"What time?"
"I showed it to Mi Yinyang who I found this morning. It was said to be October 19th, which is a good day for marriages and engagements."
"Today is...October 12th, how many days has it been?" Li Tongfu was wearing a sheepskin vest that Wang Shan gave to Yang Liufang on his father's order, with a white towel wrapped around his head. He looked like a northwest farmer. He stood Next to him, he pointed his fingers and said. Although Yang Liufang listens to the radio every day, he only knows that today is November 13th in the Gregorian calendar.
"It's true. I've been so busy these days that I've forgotten the days." Village Chief Shitou also said.
"That's good. I will go into the city tomorrow and tell Zhang Feng that he will drive to Wang Shan's house on the 19th."
"Brother, tell him to rent a car for a day and we'll pay for it."
"Oh, brother, why don't you have to pay for me to do things for me? Meng (our) family has money."
"Oh, third brother, you have been helping Ermeng (us) do business with your car and people, how can we let you out!"
"You can't say that, brother, my brother-in-law and my second brother-in-law are both making money from you, so how can I be embarrassed to let you fool me!"
"One code is one code. Since we are brothers, we should help each other! That's it. Stop arguing. Let's make food and see how we can live tonight."
"Go and burn the kang. From today on, our kang will be lit. It's too cold." Village Chief Shitou volunteered.
Because it has not yet entered winter, and the temperature of the charcoal fire is high, whenever the kang is lit, the room will be as warm as spring. I was originally worried that there would only be three quilts at night, which would not be able to cover four people. But now it is good, I don’t need a quilt and it will not be cold. . It was the first time for Yang Liufang and Li Tongfu to sleep on the kang. Their skins felt so hot that they got up several times to drink water during the night. Finally, he simply lifted the quilt and put it under it before falling asleep.
Yang Liufang and the village chief Shitou got up to work as usual when the alarm clock rang at 5:30. Li Tongfu also got up to make breakfast for everyone. Only Wang Shan slept a little longer. But when the table saw rang, he couldn't sleep. He simply got up and watched them cut the wooden cubes. When he saw that they were too busy, he stretched out his hand to help them stack the cut wooden cubes, and then tied them with ropes to tighten them.
After breakfast, Wang Shan sent Li Tongfu to the village headquarters and explained the situation to his father-in-law. He asked his father-in-law to send someone to find a truck to pull sand and take Li Tongfu back to Xizhoucheng, while he drove the carriage back to Wangsha. Wan helped her family prepare the engagement ceremony.
In the 1980s, the engagement ceremony in Xizhou was more grand. Since both men and women have found Mi Yinyang to choose the auspicious day of October 19th, the groom’s family has to prepare for the engagement ceremony. The necessary gifts for ordinary families are: two bottles of wine, two Cigarettes, "prescriptions", "lidang" cloth, and pairs of clothes. You should also prepare some other items such as flower buns, melon seeds wedding candies, etc. Although it was already the late 1980s, it was still difficult to prepare these supplies in the northwest, not to mention that the Wangshan and Yinhua families were well-known local village cadre families, and the gifts were even more abundant than ordinary families.
When Li Tongfu returned to Xizhou after doing some business, he brought a military coat and a pair of large-toe shoes with wool inside for Yang Liufang and himself. He said that Zhang Feng took him to find the old chief and bought them at the store in the army compound. . In the next few days, Li Tongfu went out to sell goods while helping Wang Shan and his father prepare for the engagement ceremony. Li Tongfu gave full play to his businessman's mind and prepared rich and beautiful gifts.
After getting permission from Yinhua University, Zhang Feng was asked to drive to pick them up and go to the supply and marketing cooperative where classmate Wang Yanhua worked to buy "lidang" fabrics and pairs of clothes. By the way, Yanhua was invited to join them. wedding. In addition to blessing them, Wang Yanhua also promised to participate and marry Yinhua.
In the blink of an eye, October 19, 1987, was a very important day in Wang Shan and Zhao Yinhua's lives. This time, in addition to the sweet words of each other's vows during their relationship, it was truly witnessed by their parents and matchmakers. Determine the day to be together forever. Early in the morning, people in Wangshawan Village began to prepare. They started sprinkling water from the loess road at the entrance of the village to prepare for the arrival of Wang Shan and others.
