"Sister, it's not me who said about you. It's not worth mentioning. As far as the conditions of Wang Datou's family in the next Wangcun village are concerned, it's too late for many people to curry favor with you. You are not willing to leave it."
"But..."
"What is it? My eldest sister, your eldest child is also 18 this year, right? I can't learn it, and I can't be a bachelor at home. Besides, the girl Wang is very clever, and you can't afford to lose when your baby is too busy."
As soon as the matchmaker Huang Po entered the Li's yard, she took a middle-aged woman and tried to persuade her.
The woman, Peng Lanhua, is the hostess of the Li family.
"What, a burden? Who do you think of my Lao Li family?"
Li Jinde, the man of the Li family, ran out of the house with bare arms and glared at the old woman.
"Lao Li, you are not too young. You have done nothing these years and still want to face. How much is face worth? If you don't tell me, this time your eldest child was stabbed a few times and had no money to cure it. If Big Head Wang had not called a barefoot doctor, would you still live again? I am ashamed of you if I don't want to repay my kindness."
Seeing Li Jinde's face reddening, Huang Po beat the railway while it was hot: "Old Li, you should look forward to life. Feudalism is not good. When is it? There is nothing wrong with visiting son-in-law."
The hazy Li Xian was awakened by the sound outside the door. When he opened his eyes, he saw the first scene of black tiles on his head.
He looked around in surprise, strange but familiar.
The walls made of yellow mud mixed with withered grass are mottled, and the falling dust will rush down as soon as the wind blows.
He gently rolled down the bed made of straw, put on a pair of worn old cloth shoes, and without paying attention to the pain in his chest, went outside to the lobby to look at the calendar for a long time.
It reads: March 10, 1990.
"Daxian is awake?" Peng Lanhua, who came into the house to scoop the grain, saw Li Xian and was surprised and pleased. "The doctor told you to stay in bed more and go back to the house quickly, so that you won't catch cold."
Li Xian suddenly turned his head and looked at the woman. His eyes stagnated, and he hugged the woman: "Mom, you are still there, really are!"
Peng Lanhua was puzzled by him. She patted him on the back, and the corners of her eyes were also wet. "You child, did you hear what Huang Po said? Let's not get involved, let's not go!"
Hearing this, the old woman pulled down her face and said, "Big sister, what are you talking about? With all my saliva, it's useless?"
"Burdens?" Li Xian was dumbfounded, and had not recovered from the shock just now.
"Why? You still want to marry openly? Don't look at your conditions?" Huangpo held her waist like a bucket and laughed at Li Xian.
Li Xian remembered the past, and the old woman came to talk matchmaking.
"Why don't you go to enjoy yourself?" Li Xian looked at her and turned into the house to put on a coat. It was cold in the early spring morning.
"The third son of my family is not lucky for you. Wang Datou asked you." Seeing Peng Lanhua picking up a handful of millet to feed the chicken, Huangpo was a little worried: "Li Xian, his mother, you should say something!"
"Daxian has no intention, so we won't agree." Peng Lanhua shakes her head, doesn't look at her, and scatters another handful of millet.
Mrs. Huang grabbed Peng Lanhua's sleeve and said, "What's the old saying? Marriage is a big event, and parents order matchmakers to say that if I am the matchmaker, you parents will have no guts, and you can still show your own chaos?"
Li Xian secretly sighed that Huang Po's mouth was indeed the material of a matchmaker, but he would not agree to such a thing, not because of shame, but this time, he wanted to dominate his own destiny.
"You tell Wang Datou that I won't agree, let him die of his heart." Li Xian shouted to Huang Po as he looked around the house.
"Fortunately, Big Head Wang tried hard to find a doctor for you. You are a white eyed wolf..." Huangpo angrily pointed at Li Xian's back and scolded.
"Why? How much did Wang Datou give you?" Li Xian looked at Huang Po in disgust, and naturally knew that Wang Datou was not a kind person. He was stingy and often bullied his neighbors. Even the barefoot doctor who treated the disease was still his brother-in-law. His medical skill was not very good, but the cost was real.
When Huang Po heard this, she immediately choked and her face turned red.
"Daxian has said no, don't go now! Take all the things you brought back, and my old Li will be able to lose the rags of Wang Datou?" Li Jinde carried a hoe, glanced at Huangpo, and walked out of the yard.
"You, you, OK, let me go!" Huang Po stamped her feet angrily and carried away a chicken and some sweet potatoes she had brought.
Standing in the yard surrounded by the fence, Li Xian looked at the blue sky and said in his heart, "I really went back to 1990, not dreaming."
Memories of the past flooded in. This year, he was eighteen years old. He was neither tall nor short. He was thin and thin.
Looking at my busy mother, I suddenly remembered that in my last life, I had been traveling, and my mother was unwilling to go with him to live in the city. Before I could fulfill my filial duty, she died.
Because of years of hard work, my father fell ill early, and spent the rest of his life almost in bed, dying before my mother.
He also has a younger brother, Li Shuang, who is four years younger than him. He also worked hard outside all his life. Later, he married an urban daughter-in-law, but because he was born in the countryside, his mother's family gave him a bad look.
In a word, everything is caused by poverty. If he has money, his father will not be unwilling to treat diseases. He will stay in bed all the year round, and his mother will not live alone in the countryside because the house is small, afraid of affecting their family
Since he had lived a lifetime again, he decided to live a personal life and redeem his past regrets one by one.
Lunch is a large bowl of boiled vegetable leaves, with a slight earthy taste.
Li Xian took a few mouthfuls of rice and put down his chopsticks. After recovering from a serious illness, he had no appetite.
"Orchid, kill the old hen to stew and make up for Daxian," Li Jinde said in a stuffy voice.
Peng Lanhua was a little distressed. After all, she was the only hen laying eggs in her family. However, she nodded and agreed: "If you kill later, Daxian should make up for it. Unfortunately, Xiao Shuang is at school, otherwise you can taste something new."
Li Xian was about to say no when he heard a call outside the door: "Li Xian, Li Xian, I've come to see you!"
A man about the same age as Li Xian came running in. He was recognized by Li Xian as his little Li Zhu. In the last life, Zhu Zhu spent all his life digging food in the ground. Every year, he would visit him in the city and bring him some local products. He would not eat every time and left in a hurry.
During his years in the city, he was also a pillar to help take care of his mother.
"Pillar, have you eaten something?" Peng Lanhua said with a smile.
"Get a pair of chopsticks for the pillar." Li Jinde pushed Peng Lanhua.
"No, uncle, aunt, I have eaten, but I came to find Li Xian." The pillar quickly waved his hand and refused.
"Li Xian, you have finally recovered from your illness, which has suffocated me these days." The pillar moved a chair to sit down on his own, looked at Li Xian and said.
"Why, nobody has played with you?" Li Xian knew that Zhu Zhu was born to be active. He went up to the mountain to pick up birds and went down to the river to fish, but he was not fond of learning.
"That's not true. By the way, do you know how the village passes you on?" Looking at Li Xian's puzzled eyes, the pillar continued, "saying that you are ungrateful, look down on the girl in Big Head Wang's family, and will not marry her even if you die. Let them die. In fact, Li Xian, I think you are really promising."
Li Jinde slapped his chopsticks on the table and angrily said, "It must be that Huang Po is chewing her tongue behind her back."
"Huang Po did this really badly." Peng Lanhua's eyes flashed with tears, looked at Li Xian and said, "Daxian, don't take it to heart. It will pass in a while."
Li Xian shrugged his shoulders carelessly. Some rumors in the village could not affect him. Anyway, he would not have too much interaction with them in his life.
After dinner, Li Xian and the pillar came to the river and looked at the dense stream of small fish. He suddenly said, "Pillar, how about some fish?"
"I'll go down to the river and get it." The pillar was about to take off his clothes and shoes when Li Xian stopped him.
"No, that's too slow. Bring your fish cage. I'll see what I can use as bait." Li Xian turned and walked home.
When he got home, he happened to see Peng Lanhua tearing and pulling out the hen's guts, which made him feel uncomfortable.
When Peng Lanhua saw Li Xian coming, she quickly wiped away her tears and forced out a smile: "I have long wanted to kill him. I will eat as much as I can and will not lay eggs."
Li Xian also smiled, went over and put the viscera on the ground into a bowl, saying, "Mom, I have used the viscera."
"Alas, go, go, come back early and be careful of your health."
"Got it!"
Li Xian returned to the river, put his viscera into the fish cage brought by the pillar, and threw the cage into a deep water.
Sitting on the bank, Li Xianzai thought carefully. At present, the most important thing is to improve life. In this era, there are business opportunities everywhere, but only a pair of eyes are lacking.
He is not short of a pair of eyes, but he is short of starting funds. I'm afraid he can't afford ten yuan at home.
"Li Xian, the bastard who hurt you that day, was caught and was a habitual criminal." The pillar suddenly said, interrupting Li Xian's thinking.
"Hmm." Li Xian replied, not very attentive. In these days, public security is not good, and robbery is a common occurrence.
After almost two hours, Li Xian received the fish cage, which was crowded with many fish and several big ones.
There are many fish in the unpolluted river, which is easy to catch.
At dinner time, Li Xian left the pillar for dinner. Peng Lanhua stewed a large pot of chicken soup, fried the small fish with chicken oil, and pickled the larger fish.
In fact, the reason why people in the village seldom eat fish is that lard essence is expensive, and no one will waste fried fish in oil.
Li Jinde went to the village head's house to buy two liang of wheat wine, which is very powerful.
Li Xian couldn't drink because he was injured, so he drank chicken soup in silence. Zhu touched Li Jinde.
After dinner, there was still a lot of chicken left. Peng Lanhua put the chicken in a bowl and said to Li Jinde, "Send some to Xiao Shuang tomorrow. He has a hard time at school alone."
