Gongqing bone

Chapter 8
Yanjiao Hutou Town

"My little brother, please ask you, is the old man Niu in Maiya Village still living in the east of the village?"

A woman with a slightly yellow complexion, wearing the satin that country people only wear on New Years and festivals, with a pair of faintly yellow bracelets on her wrists, asked passers-by.

The little brother looked blank: "East of the village? There is no one with the surname Niu. Maybe someone lived there before, but now it's just a dilapidated thatched cottage."

The woman's face froze, and she took out a veil from her purse, which contained broken silver and scattered copper coins.

She picked up a few stuffs for her brother and asked, "How many old people are there left in the village?"

"Madam, if you want to ask any questions, just ask me. I'm the one in our village, so there's nothing I don't know!"

An aunt who had been watching the two not far away saw the woman take out the money, and rushed forward with a single stride.

The little brother snorted coldly with disdain, this Aunt Liu is here again.

Then he put the money back into the woman's hand, and went to work in the fields.

The yellow-faced woman smiled indifferently, and handed the money to the aunt like a gentleman:
"Look, this sister is actually about the same age as me. Maybe we met each other when we were young. I am the only daughter of the old man in the east of the village. I married far away in my early years. After traveling thousands of miles, I may be able to come back in a lifetime." This time, unexpectedly, my father has already gone..."

Aunt Liu narrowed her eyes and looked at the yellow-faced woman from head to toe, and suddenly her eyes widened:

"Yellow-faced girl... No, no, Niu Yuegui! Is that you, Yuegui? I'm your sister Axiang!"

Aunt Liu didn't bother to play with that yellow-faced girl when she was a child, because her name was Yue Gui, so she always urged others to call her the yellow-faced girl, but now seeing her eagerness, she thought they were childhood sweethearts!
"Oh! It's Sister Axiang, how are you, Yueyue, Fenfen, and Guizhi? We haven't seen each other for so many years, and you are all parents too... By the way, how is my mother?"

"It's all good, all good, us, no matter how good you are, you are now a noble person!"

Aunt Liu smiled so hard that her teeth could not see her eyes. Although her mouth was full of gossip, her eyes never moved away from Yuegui's jewelry.

"My Auntie Niu, just a few years after you married, Uncle Niu contracted lung disease. After he passed away, Auntie Niu also remarried under the introduction of a relative from a family in the next village. I heard that, too. Married far away like you..."

When Niu Yuegui heard the last sentence, her lips moved uncontrollably, and tears dripped down her face. After a while, her face was full of tears.

Seeing her like this, Aunt Liu thought she was a sad mother and daughter who would never see each other again. She wanted to wipe her tears with her sleeve, but found that she was slowly wiping her tears with a handkerchief.

Aunt Liu put down her hand in such embarrassment.

"That's all," Niu Yuegui continued,
"That's what I expected. I always know that A Niang is still alive, so I'm relieved. But, fortunately, it's always good to see us sisters and sisters, isn't it?"

"Sister Ah Xiang, regarding my piece of land, I have to talk to the village chief about selling it, after all, it will never come back again;
After I married into the Hakka family that year, the guy in my family somehow got lucky and got rich when he went out to do business. Although he is not considered rich and powerful now, I have finally come to the end of all my hardships. The day when the loess turned its back to the sky...

By the way, Sister Axiang, I also brought some greeting gifts to the folks in the village, you can pick them up with me later;

Let me borrow your place tonight, I will be the host, and go to the town to buy some familiar goods, we old sisters, let's have a good get together! "

By the time Niu Yuegui came back from the town with her things in hand, the news of Niu Yuegui's "returning home" had spread throughout the small Maiya village.

So at the small gathering at Liu Axiang's house in the evening, almost half of the women in the village went, and they all got the gadgets brought by Niu Yuegui;
No more, Niu Yuegui gave the money directly, which made many people jealous.

So when Niu Yuegui euphemistically said that he wanted to find a wife for his son and brother-in-law who were born in southern Fujian, the women's scramble broke out for a while.

"Yuegui, when we were young, what did the scholars say? Oh yes, childhood sweethearts, it would be great if our children formed a pair..."

"What are you talking about, your girl is lazy, Yuegui's child must be a dragon and phoenix, can she be worthy of her?
If you want me to say that my daughter is better, hardworking and capable, just like Yuegui! "

"Cut, it's true that you are diligent and capable, but there is one thing, and it looks too ugly! Is your girl leading the way out?"

"What are you talking about Liu Axiang, see if I don't tear your mouth apart!..."

Seeing that the situation seemed to be about to break out, Niu Yuegui quickly stood up and said,
"Sister Axiang, Yueyue, what are you doing! You are all my good friends, and the two children must be excellent, but don't the children have to look at each other to be appropriate?"

He went on to say:

"Sister Axiang, based on our friendship, since you have given the child to me, I will definitely treat this daughter-in-law as my own daughter, and the gift money will definitely not miss you! Yueyue, I heard people say that you Your man is in charge of the house, he loves his girl, can he let her marry far away?"

The aunt named Yueyue was also speechless:
What is your relationship with Liu Axiang?But Liu Axiang had already laughed heartily in her heart, and she still despises your ugly girl!

Finally, Niu Yuegui said:
"Everyone and I have grown up with each other since we were young, and it doesn't matter if we take anyone's girl back.

How about this, there are a lot of Hakka boys, and they all like our girls, who are beautiful and willing to work, so this time I will spare my old face and introduce their daughter-in-law in the name of being the head of the family!
My head is in Baoding now, I will take the maids to show him in two days, since he has plenty of money, I will tell him to give out all the betrothal gifts for everyone, and he will be back in less than ten days.

Let the girls follow me to Hakka to have a good day with wine and meat! "

The people in the neighboring village wondered why the people in Maiya Village were so noisy and sleepless at night.

It wasn't until the next day that I found out that a woman who had returned home came to see the folks with big bags and took a dozen beautiful girls with her to say kisses.

The people in the neighboring village listened like a cat's paw scratching their heads. They secretly planned that when the lady came back ten days later, she would bring her girl to her, hoping that she would be good-looking and be favored by nobles...

(End of this chapter)