Siheyuan: I Raised Ten Thousand Wild Boars

Mr. Zhao was wearing a black cotton jacket with many patches on it, and he looked like a very honest man.

The woman next to him should be Zhao's mother. She was dressed similarly, except that she wore an apron-like dress over her clothes with sleeves on her arms.

Next to them were two little boys about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing black cotton coats and trousers. The tops of their trousers were covered in dirt from rolling around somewhere; they were wearing a pair of large cloth shoes that were a bit too big and had fallen off their heels, but they were not wearing socks.

These should be Zhao Yunxia’s two younger brothers, named Zhao Yunlong and Zhao Yunhu, one is 16 years old and the other is 15 years old.

There was also a little girl about 3 or 4 years old, wearing a floral apron, hiding behind her mother's legs, blinking her big eyes and peeking at Li Guohua. Li Guohua knew that this girl was Zhao Yunxia's younger sister, named Zhao Yunmei.

There are not many entertainment activities these days, and there is nothing much to do after going to bed at night. So it is not strange at all if there is a big age gap between brothers and sisters or there are many brothers and sisters.

"Qinglin, this must be the new son-in-law, why don't you introduce him to me!" Next to the Zhao family, there were two men who looked 6-7% similar to Zhao Qinglin. They should be Yunxia's uncle and third uncle.

"Guohua, this is Yunxia's uncle and third uncle!" Zhao Qinglin hurriedly introduced them after hearing his brother's words.

"The one on the left is the eldest Zhao brother, Zhao Qingsong, and the one on the right is the third Zhao brother, Zhao Qingbai." Zhao Dalai explained on the side.

Zhao Qingsong looks much older than Zhao Qinglin, with dark skin and wrinkles all over his face, just like he is in his sixties, but he looks very honest.

Zhao Qingbai looked much younger. He was tall and thin with a smile on his face.

"Yunxia's great uncle and third uncle, that's my great uncle and third uncle, the two elders are smoking."

Li Guohua did not seem to be at all nervous. He stopped his bicycle, took out his Daqianmen cigarette and gave one to each person.

When Zhao Qingbai saw that it was a Daqianmen cigarette that cost about two cents a stick, the smile on his face grew even wider.

This was his first visit to his father-in-law's house, and Li Guohua had made some preparations in advance.

There were many bags on the bicycle, including two pounds of flour, ten pounds of corn flour, two bottles of Tongzhou Laojiao, two pounds of meat, two pounds of brown sugar, two pounds of candy, and two portions of Daoxiangcun cakes.

Asking Zhao's father and mother to bring the things into the house together, the neighbors nearby were stunned, especially Zhao Qingbai, who felt that his second brother's new son-in-law was a little unusual.

"Hey, kid, just come here, why do you bring anything with you?" Zhao's mother seemed a little distressed when she saw that Li Guohua brought so many things. If it were converted into money, how much would it be?

"It's nothing, just some rice and flour, and some snacks!" Li Guohua said with a smile.

The Zhao family’s house is of very traditional rural style, with two adobe houses, facing north and south, and the door is on the right side of the house.

The room outside should be a utility room and kitchen. There is a stove on the left, and a water jar and a pickle jar, as well as a cupboard, on the right.

Although it is called a storage room, there is actually nothing in it. Apart from a few farm tools, shoulder poles, baskets and so on, there is nothing else.

The bedroom is located through the small door on the left. Under the left window is an extra-long earthen kang, which occupies almost half of the space.

It seems that the whole family is sleeping on this big bunk bed. I don't know where I will sleep tonight. Should I stay and sleep here? I feel a little annoyed when I think about falling asleep to my father-in-law's snoring at night!

There was no furniture in the room. There were two large wooden boxes on the earthen kang. They were very large and tall, probably used to store clothes, quilts and so on.

There was no table, just a low table on the earthen kang with a sewing basket on it.

There were a few small baskets hanging on the roof, and it seemed that there were things in them.

Zhao Yunxia, ​​Zhao's mother, and several sisters-in-law were busy cooking in the outer room, so Li Guohua and other masters went straight to the kang.

Everyone pulled Li Guohua and Zhao Dalai to sit together in the main seat, which was the seat with their backs to the window. Li Guohua was unwilling, so he asked Zhao's father and Zhao Dalai to sit together, and he chose the western seat, from which he could see the situation outside the window and the people coming from the outer room, which was the absolute center of attention.

After exchanging pleasantries with a few people, Li Guohua discovered that there were two little followers around him without him noticing.

Ever since he arrived at the Zhao family, Zhao Yunlong and Zhao Yunhu have been following him around. Now that he is lying on the kang, these two guys are still standing by the kang, staring at him without saying a word, just like the two generals.

"Yunlong, Yunhu, right? These are specially brought by your brother-in-law for you!" Li Guohua picked up his backpack, took out two pairs of work shoes, and handed them to the two generals behind him. He thought that the clothes would not last long and it would be better to buy a pair of shoes.

These two brothers are extraordinary. They wear size 43 shoes, which is the same size as Li Guohua!

"Thank you, brother-in-law!"

The two men took the shoes and were overjoyed. They called him brother-in-law without anyone teaching them.

Seeing that her two brothers had things but she had none, Zhao Yunmei, who was standing at the door of the inner room, became angry and came up to pull Li Guohua's trouser leg.

Li Guohua took out a candy, peeled off the candy wrapper and stuffed it into her mouth. Immediately, her little eyes narrowed and she called out in a baby voice, "Brother-in-law!"

Well, the little girl is still lovable, and Li Guohua's heart softened when she called her.

He then took out a few candies from his pocket and stuffed them into the apron pocket on his belly, which made the little girl very happy.

"Guohua, is your textile factory still hiring?" The first thing Zhao Qingsong said was something that gave Li Guohua a headache.

Since 56, when the household registration system was established, the only way to change from agricultural to non-agricultural status and to eat commercial grain was to work in a factory.

"Boss Zhao, what are you thinking? Can anyone enter the textile factory?"

It was right that Zhao Dalai was invited. He started by giving Zhao Qingsong a scolding, which made Zhao Qingsong feel a little embarrassed.

"After more than half a year of recruitment expansion, the textile factory is now fully staffed and will not recruit any more people. However, the country is making great strides forward and all walks of life are also developing rapidly. There should be many opportunities in the future!"

Although Zhao Qingsong did not mention it, Li Guohua still explained the situation. In fact, his farm was still hiring, but he did not know several relatives well enough, so he could not let them go easily.

"Eat, everyone eat, Guohua is treating this like the master of his own house!" Father Zhao saw that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, so he quickly took the basket and let everyone eat the fried peanuts together.

For the lunch, Zhao's mother was still very generous. She steamed two-grain flour buns, cooked seven or eight dishes, and included two pounds of meat.

This visit was the first time the new son-in-law came to visit, and in fact, he also came to propose marriage.

At the dinner table, in front of everyone's witness, Li Guohua gave the Zhao family a betrothal gift of ten yuan, and the marriage was settled.

These days everything is kept simple, there aren't so many fancy things, such as having both sets of parents come over and having a big banquet to invite the whole village to dinner.

What's more, the two of them worked in the textile factory and were revolutionary comrades, so there was no need for both parties to get letters of introduction. They could just apply directly at the factory and get approval from the leaders.