Poor Family

  Chapter 50 Father-in-law as matchmaker

When Li Daqi was admitted to the Xiangzhou Juren with the first place in the Fajie Examination, he immediately became the object of attention from all parties. At that time, Li Daqi was not married, and many big families in Tangyin County were concerned about his marriage. In the end, the patriarch Li Wenyou was the matchmaker. He married Ding Jiaoyun, the second daughter of Ding Zhong, a big family in Tangbei Township.

The next year, Ding Jiaoyun gave birth to Li Daqi's son Li Yanqing, but unfortunately the good times didn't last long. Li Daqi committed the Cizhou imperial examination case. Ding Zhong immediately asked his daughter to divorce Li Daqi and marry someone else, but Ding Jiaoyun resolutely refused. .

  Li Daqi's self-abandonment made his family impoverished day by day, and his son was a fool. Ding Jiaoyun was troubled by poverty and worry, and fell ill, and soon passed away.

After Ding Jiaoyun died of illness, she was buried in her natal family's cemetery. Although it was not in accordance with the etiquette system, Ding Zhong's dominance also made Li Daqi helpless. Not only that, Ding Zhong also scraped hundreds of dollars of funeral expenses from Li Daqi, which can be regarded as compensation The loss of his married daughter.

  It is such a cruel and selfish father-in-law who never cared about the life and death of the Li family father and son. When he heard that his grandson won the first prize in the Boys' Association and was favored by the officials who knew the state, he felt that his grandson was a rare commodity, so he wanted to reconcile with Li Daqi again.

  In the afternoon, Li Daqi and his son left the official road and walked a few miles along the field path, and a village suddenly appeared in front of them.

   "Qing'er, that's the Ding family mansion!"

  Li Daqi pointed to a big house with white walls and black tiles at the entrance of the village, "I brought your mother home from here!"

  Li Daqi looked at Xiaolu, as if the scene of marrying Yunniang appeared in front of him again, his eyes were a little moist.

   "Dad, don't forget, I fell off the donkey just now, my leg was injured and I couldn't kowtow!"

  Li Daqi quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said with a wry smile: "If you don't want to kowtow, then don't kowtow! Why are you looking for so many reasons?"

   "Isn't this for daddy's face? It saves daddy from coming down."

  Li Daqi rolled his eyes, is this called saving face?

  Father and son walked to the door, and Zhuang Ding immediately ran into the house to report. After a while, Ding Zhong, his second wife and two sons came out to welcome him, and Ding Zhong was all smiles.

   "Daqi, you are wrong, why haven't you come to see your old father-in-law for so many years!"

   Without waiting for Li Daqi to answer, he continued: "Of course, I also know that you will think about people when you see things, but people can't be resurrected after death, so try to be more open!"

  Li Daqi nodded silently, bowed and saluted, "My son-in-law sees my father-in-law!"

  Ding Zhong winked at his two sons and asked them to dismiss Li Daqi. He is not very interested in Li Daqi now, he is only interested in his grandson Li Yanqing.

  The two brothers-in-law hurried forward to support Li Daqi, "Brother-in-law, let's go have a drink. We haven't seen each other for a few years. We must punish brother-in-law three times first!"

  Li Daqi was dragged away by them, so he had to turn his head and say, "Father-in-law, give Qing'er some medicine, his knee hurts a bit."

  Ding Zhong looked at his grandson with a smile on his face. He had only met Li Yanqing once when he was born. It has been six or seven years since then, and his grandson is actually quite talented.

  He was waiting for his grandson to kowtow to him, but when he heard Li Daqi's words, he was startled, and quickly asked with concern: "Where did you fall, show grandpa."

  Li Yanqing pointed to his knee, grinned and said, "I fell off the donkey and hurt my knee."

   "Quick! Quick! Quick! Go invite Doctor Yang."

   "Go get the pergola again!"

  Ding Zhong's series of orders made the family members flustered, but he forgot that the little official hadn't kowtowed to the master yet!

  . ． ． ． ． ． ．

  Li Daqi came to Ding Zhong's house just to visit his wife's grave. Under his repeated insistence, Ding Zhong had no choice but to let his son bring his son-in-law and grandson to his daughter's grave.

Because the grandson is coming, in order to make a good impression on the grandson, Ding Zhong specially asked someone to clean up the weeds on the tomb and add some new soil, which looked pleasing to the eye, but the tombstone made Li Daqi and his son feel ashamed down.

  ‘The Tomb of the Beloved Girl Jiaoyun’

   Did not mention half of the word Li, as if he died without being married.

Ding Wen, the brother-in-law who brought them here, had a quick brain, and quickly laughed and said: "Father wants Qing'er to write the tombstone for mother by himself, so he has been waiting for Qing'er to grow up. Let mother leave a note! We will engrave a stele immediately."

  Li Yanqing stood silently in front of the Song Dynasty mother's grave. Although he didn't have any impression of this mother, he also knew that her mother had a miserable life later on.

  Thinking of this mother who has never enjoyed a day of happiness, Li Yanqing's nose was sore, his eyes were a little moist, he knelt down slowly, and kowtowed three times to his mother heavily.

   Standing in the distance, Ding Zhong snorted dissatisfiedly, just now he complained that his legs hurt and refused to kneel down, now his knees don’t hurt anymore?

   "Master, Qing'er kneels down to his mother when his leg hurts so much, he is a good and filial child!" Ding Zhong's second wife said with emotion.

   Ding Zhong gave his step-wife a hard look, turned around and walked away with a dark face.

  . ． ． ． ．

  Although Li Daqi was determined not to stay overnight at his father-in-law's house, he persuaded Li Yanqing to stay for dinner in order to visit his dead wife's grave during Qingming.

There was a table full of dishes in the dining hall, and Ding Zhong, his second wife and two sons accompanied him. People in Song Dynasty sat around and shared meals. Although everyone sat around together, everyone still ate their own meals. Everyone's face is full.

At this time, the sound of ringing sounded, and a strong fragrant wind rushed towards my face. I saw a young woman coming out of the back room. She looked about twenty-five or six years old. No matter how much lead powder was applied, it was as white as paper, and the original skin color could not be seen at all.

   Dressed rather richly, wearing a fine white fox fur jacket, a gold silk printed pleated skirt, and a pair of spring shoes embroidered with gold thread and pearls.

  There are several big gold bracelets on her wrists, and ten rings on her fingers, but what makes Li Yanqing feel strange is that she is actually wearing a bun, which is a sign of an unmarried woman, which does not match her age.

  The woman gave Li Daqi a shy look, and then sat down directly beside Li Daqi. Li Daqi was so frightened that he trembled all over, and half of the glass of wine was spilled.

  Li Yanqing was surprised, who is this woman!

  Li Daqi seemed very afraid of this young woman, he leaned towards his son, and introduced to him: "Qing'er, this is your aunt!"

  It turned out to be his mother's older sister, Li Yanqing hurriedly saluted with a smile, "Hello, Auntie!"

   "So it's Qing'er, she's grown taller!"

  The woman spoke insincerely. Although she was an aunt, she had never met Li Yanqing. How could she talk about being tall? She glanced at a pair of frighteningly large almond eyes, and her eyes fell on Li Daqi again, and she asked in a delicate voice: "Daqi, how long have you been here, why don't you come to see the slave's house?"

  'Pfft! ’ Li Yanqing couldn't help but burst out laughing, he could see that his father was going to be lucky.

  Li Daqi glared at his son fiercely, what did the brat think, this is my aunt.

   "Eat wine! Eat wine!"

Ding Zhong laughed and smoothed things over, and everyone pushed glasses and started to drink, but Li Yanqing looked at this aunt with interest, and saw that her pair of tender and affectionate eyes never left her father, but his father was obviously afraid of this aunt. Auntie, her body was stiff and she didn't dare to look at her. She was sweating in such a cold day.

   "Has your son-in-law considered continuing the strings?" Ding Zhong asked Li Daqi through his drunkenness after drinking for three rounds.

It was a bit embarrassing for the father-in-law to ask his son-in-law this question at the wine table, but the topic attracted so much attention, the two brothers-in-law also stopped their wine glasses, and even Li Yanqing was curious. Could it be that the Ding family really wanted to marry their auntie again? father?

  Li Daqi was unequivocal about this question. He shook his head like a rattle, "My son-in-law never thinks about it!"

"There's no need for a good son-in-law to go overboard. Marrying a wife is an important matter in human relations. How can there be no wife in the house? The good son-in-law is only thirty-two years old this year, and he is still so young. Of course, he should consider marrying a new wife. At least someone can take care of Qing'er, good The son-in-law can't just think for himself!"

  Li Daqi had a deep affection for his dead wife, and felt guilty. He never wanted to marry another wife, but his father-in-law was cunning and cunning, and he used his son Wu Niang as an excuse.

  Li Yanqing became even more curious, and simply asked directly: "Is my grandfather planning to introduce a bride to my father?"

  Ding Zhong stroked his beard and smiled and said: "Your aunt is a widow at home, and she is only 26 years old. I think one widow and the other widower are a good match!"

   Li Daqi almost spit out his wine, and actually wants to marry the tigress next to him, can Li Daqi still live?

Ding Zhong has two daughters, but their personalities are completely opposite. The second daughter, Ding Jiaoyun, is gentle and virtuous, and is praised by everyone. The eldest daughter, Ding Jiaoqiu, is a shrew. female worm.

  Li Daqi was flustered, so he was a little unscrupulous, and hurriedly said: "Didn't Auntie remarry last spring? Why are you still at home?"

  The fat aunt next to her suddenly looked a little unkind, and said coldly for a while: "At the end of the year, my husband died again, so I had to come back."

Li Yanqing secretly stuck out his tongue. Before the rise of Confucianism, it was very common for women in the Song Dynasty to remarry. Even the queen mother remarried when she was young. The husband died, and it is only the second day of the new year. The family is so anxious.

  Li Yanqing saw his father's embarrassment, so he helped his father and said: "Daddy, grandpa is joking with you! How can marriage matters be settled at the wine table casually, grandpa will not be rude."

  Li Daqi was helped by his son, so he quickly climbed up the pole, "Of course Daddy knows, don't care about your business, hurry up and eat! There are important matters in the family, Daddy has to go back."

Ding Zhong glared at Li Yanqing. This kid is young and full of ghosts. He also has ideas about marrying his eldest daughter to Li Daqi. He witnessed Li Daqi's family building a new house with new furniture. A job with a good income, and the key is to have a son who is up to date. The eldest daughter is not bad for marrying Li Daqi, and she can completely control their father and son. I don't have to listen to my daughter crying all day about getting married.

  It's just that Li Yanqing blocked his mouth with a single word. How can marriage matters be discussed as a joke at the wine table?

   Unexpectedly, the other party was annoyed, Ding Jiaoqiu went 'Suddenly! ’ Standing up, the bowls and dishes in front of him were overturned ping-pong-pong, and Li Daqi, who was beside him, was so scared that his face turned ashen.

  Ding Zhong knew that his daughter was going to commit a crime, and he became very anxious. He stomped on his daughter under the table. Ding Jiaoqiu finally restrained his temper, and stamped his foot coyly, "Daddy, don't you want it!"

  She turned around and ran away shyly, everyone got goosebumps.

  Li Yanqing glanced at his father sympathetically, presumably his father had learned how powerful this aunt was, so he was so afraid.

Ding Zhong knew that there would be no results today, so he didn't mention it anymore, and said with a smile: "Since my son-in-law has something to do in the family tomorrow, of course family matters are the most important thing. I won't stop you, but why did Qinger leave? He injured his knee, wouldn't it be good to recuperate here for two days?"

  Li Daqi was stunned for a moment. Now his son has done it to himself. Let's see how he responds?

  Li Yanqing said in a calm and unhurried manner: "Grandpa doesn't know something. Tomorrow morning, my grandson will pay New Year's greetings to the county magistrate. It has been agreed in advance, so I can't go!"

  Li Daqi was taken aback. How could his son be involved in the county magistrate? This is too daring!

  Ding Zhong's eyes narrowed, his grandson is promising! Actually going to pay New Year's greetings to the county magistrate, it's true, but I'm still fooling myself! He rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Then I'll let the carriage take you there. Since you're going to travel at night, it's more convenient to take the carriage."

  Li Yanqing smiled happily: "Then I will trouble my grandfather!"

  Li Daqi was puzzled, what was his son up to, and what was he going to do in the county?

  Li Yanqing secretly wrote two words on the back of his father's hand: Bookstore.

  Li Daqi suddenly realized that his son was going to the county bookstore, and this brat had planned it long ago.

  . ． ． ． ． ． ．

   After dinner, Li Daqi and his son set out on the road. Li Daqi rode two donkeys home, while Li Yanqing got into Ding's carriage and headed for the county.

Li Yanqing finished the second manuscript last night. He originally planned to go to the county to hand in the manuscript after sweeping his mother's grave. Since Ding's family is willing to send him in a carriage to save him from the fatigue of the journey, why not? for.

  Li Yanqing got into the carriage and fell asleep. He fell asleep until the fifth watch, when the coachman woke him up, "Little official, the fifth watch is here."

  Li Yanqing sat up, rubbed his eyes and asked, "Where are you now?"

   "We have already arrived at the county seat, but the city gate has not yet opened, and we have to wait for half an hour."

   "Then you go back!"

  The coachman was taken aback, "How can this work, the master asked me to send the little official to the county government!"

   "That's unnecessary, I'll go to the county office myself, you go back! Just say that I have been sent to the county office, my grandfather will not know."

   As he spoke, Li Yanqing gave him fifty coins, "Take it and have breakfast on the way."

   "Thank you, little official, but I'm afraid..."

   "You're afraid of a fart!"

  Li Yanqing immediately became angry, "If you don't leave, I'll tell grandpa that you're extorting money from me on the way. I'll see if you're afraid!"

  The coachman was so frightened that he hurriedly cupped his hands, "Young man, let's go now, let's go now, little official, please take care!"

  The coachman turned his horse's head and drove the cart away, but Li Yanqing packed up his belongings a little bit, and rushed to another official road around the city. It was five o'clock, and it was time to run.

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  (end of this chapter)