Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

The two chatted along the way, Xu Damao even told a few jokes that could be told in this era from time to time, and Lou Xiaoe almost fell off the back seat with laughter. They chatted and laughed like this and returned to Lou's house.

Both Lou's father and mother were at home, obviously waiting for them to come back. Lou's mother asked, "How was it? Did you get the certificate smoothly?"

"There were not many people today, so everything went smoothly. We also went to the photo studio to take a lot of photos. We will be able to pick them up in two weeks." Lou Xiao'e said as she took out the marriage certificate and Xu Damao's household registration booklet from her bag and showed them to her parents.

Lou's mother looked at their new marriage certificate, then at Xu Damao's household registration booklet. When she saw that her daughter's class status was no longer a capitalist, she burst into tears of joy. Although the Lou family was classified as red capitalists, red capitalists are still capitalists. In the current social environment, they are still excluded in various ways. (The author has checked a lot of information but has not found out whether the class status will change after marriage. This is the author's own inference based on the plot. In the original play, Lou's mother wanted to marry Lou Xiao'e to Xu Damao because Damao's class status was good and could protect Lou Xiao'e.)

"Mom, don't cry, everything will be fine." Lou Xiao'e hurried to comfort her mother.

Xu Damao, who knew history, thought to himself that this was just the beginning, and when the wind blew, everything would be meaningless, so he should just run away and stay useful so that he could serve the motherland in the future.

Xu Damao suddenly remembered that they were both married, but his family hadn't given a gift yet. Although his father-in-law said no, Xu Damao was a particular person, so how could he not give it? It just so happened that the system rewarded a lot of pills, and he could just borrow flowers to offer to the Buddha. Ten pills were enough for his family to share, and he had the prescription.

Thinking of this, Xu Damao no longer hesitated and took out the two small bottles provided by the system. "Mom and Dad, these are the pills given to me by an old Taoist priest who saved a starving wandering monk. The one in the white porcelain bottle can strengthen the body, and the one in the green porcelain bottle can beautify the skin. The old Taoist priest said it with great confidence, so let's try it quickly."

After Xu Damao finished speaking, he poured a glass of water, took out two pills and swallowed them with the water. The pills melted in his mouth, slightly bitter, with a fresh herbal fragrance. There was no scene of being covered in black mud, but he felt that his body was really much more relaxed and felt stronger.

"Mom and Dad, eat the moths quickly, it will work!"

They are all family, and Lou's father and mother were not afraid that Xu Damao would harm them, not to mention that he had already taken the pills, so they took the pills without hesitation.

The three of them frowned at the same time, obviously because the pills were a bit bitter, and then they all looked happy, obviously feeling the changes in their bodies. Especially Father Lou, who had been working hard for a long time before, had problems with his cervical and lumbar vertebrae, and would feel pain from time to time. This time he clearly felt a slight heat in the affected area, so he got up and started to move his body, and he felt that his body was no longer painful and he looked several years younger. This was really a pleasant surprise.

"Da Mao, the old Taoist priest you saved was incredible. He was definitely a hermit master. You are lucky to have formed this relationship with him. Next time you meet him, you must thank him."

Xu Damao thought to himself that I had made it up, so where could I go to thank him? However, he did not mention the recipe. The timing was not right yet, so it would be useless to tell him.

Xu Damao sat in Lou's house for a while and then said goodbye. After all, getting a marriage certificate was a big deal. Although both parents had agreed, he still should tell his own parents and send some pills over as well.

On the way, Xu Damao was riding the bicycle provided by the factory, and he was becoming more and more dissatisfied. He was already a deputy section chief, and it would be inappropriate for him to use the bicycle provided by the factory after bringing out his two apprentices. Now that he had both money and tickets, he would buy a new bicycle when he had time.

Xu Damao hurried all the way to the courtyard where his parents lived. Today was Monday, and Xu's father came home at night after work, and his sister usually lived in the school dormitory, so Xu's mother was the only one at home.

"Mom." Xu Damao pushed the door open and looked around for his mother.

Xu's mother was mending clothes in the inner room. She came out when she heard the voice and said, "Da Mao, why are you here at this time? Aren't you at work?"

"Ezi and I went to get our marriage certificate today, and I took a leave of absence from work." He took out the award-winning marriage certificate and showed it to Xu's mother.

"How come you got the marriage certificate so quickly? Didn't you say you would get married after the house was renovated?"

"Hi, Xiao'e and I went out to play too late yesterday, and the weather was bad, so I stayed at Lou's house. Then I couldn't control myself that night, so Uncle Lou asked us to get the marriage certificate this morning." Xu Damao said somewhat embarrassedly.

"You, now that you're married, stop doing those messy things and be nice to Xiao'e." Xu's mother poked Xu Damao's forehead with her finger.

"Mom, I'm married now. I'm not a child anymore. I will treat Moth well." Xu Damao said.

"Wait a minute, I'll get you something." Xu's mother went back to the inner room and rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, finally finding an antique box. She opened the box and found a cloth bag inside. She opened it layer by layer, and finally revealed a pair of jade pendants. The jade pendants were clear and translucent green. With Xu Damao's eyes, um, it was impossible to tell whether they were good or bad. I thought they were not vulgar things that could be passed down.

"I heard from your grandmother that this was your great-grandmother's dowry. Your great-grandmother was a daughter of an official. Your great-grandmother passed it on to your grandmother, and later your grandmother gave it to me. This is a treasure handed down from generation to generation in our Xu family. The rule set by our ancestors is to pass it down to daughters and not sons. Now one is given to you, my wife, and the other is left for your sister." As she spoke, Xu's mother handed over a jade pendant.

Since it was a family heirloom and I didn't have my share, what was going on? So I accepted it without hesitation. Xu Damao took out two porcelain bottles and poured out three pills from each, and repeated the story he had made up at Lou's house.

Seeing that what he said was mysterious, Xu's mother didn't ask any more questions, saying that she would wait for Xu's father to come back before taking it together. "Mom, tell Dad later not to hold the wedding banquet yet. Once the decoration is completed, we can just have two simple tables in the courtyard. And we have to hurry up and deal with the land for the house."

The mother and son chatted for a while, and Xu Damao said he wanted to check on the progress of the renovation and left his parents' home.

When we arrived at the courtyard, the door god, the Third Uncle, was not there. When we reached the middle courtyard, we saw Yan Bugui, who was directing his two sons to work with his hands behind his back.

The temperature in the north is relatively low in winter, and the ground is frozen solid. Fortunately, it was irrigated with hot water before digging, otherwise it would be impossible to dig. Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang, two young men, were busy with pickaxes and shovels, and the sweat on their foreheads was steaming and white smoke was coming out. This job seems to be difficult to do, and we need to find more people. The second boy from the Liu family is a good candidate.

At this time, Yan Bugui saw him coming and took the initiative to walk over, "Da Mao, your uncle is supervising at both ends. I guarantee that no one will be lazy, so you can rest assured."

"I don't mean that, Uncle. I just saw that Jiecheng and Jiefang were working hard, so I came here to take a break and have a cigarette." Xu Damao took out a box of Daqianmen cigarettes, took out one first and then handed over the whole box.

Yan Bugui was a little surprised. This Daqianmen cigarette was only 35 cents a box. It was a great bargain today. At this time, the two boys of the Yan family also stopped their work and gathered around, staring at the cigarette in their old man's hand.

Yan Bugui was smoking happily, and seeing his two sons like that, he was reluctant to give them any cigarettes. But Damao said that he was giving them because of his sons' hard work, so he reluctantly took out two cigarettes and handed them over.

The eldest, Jiecheng, knows how to smoke, but Jiefang has just started learning, and coughs from time to time. Yan Bugui feels sorry for the second son when he sees him coughing, because it would be a waste to give him such good cigarettes. He should give each of them 10 cents to buy a pack of economical cigarettes tomorrow, because his sons also get paid for their work, and the rest must be handed over to him as a father.

"Uncle, I want to hold a meeting for the whole hospital tonight. My house is under renovation, so it would be bad if someone bumps into it. Also, if we find a few unemployed young men to work with us, things will be faster."

Yan Bugui was a little reluctant, this was all the money his family could earn, but since they had asked for it, he couldn't stop them. "Okay, I'll let you know after get off work." Yan Bugui didn't have classes at this time, so he sneaked back. He used to go fishing when he didn't have classes.