Major General Through the Upper Gate

The Liu family was very trustworthy, the four hooves were delivered early in the morning, Cheng Wei gave one to Wei Xiaopa next door, he hesitated for a while, and finally left one to give to his uncle.

He didn't tell his uncle about the bond, although everyone in Tonghua Village knew about it.

When he came back more than half a year ago, the whole Tonghua Village was surprised, and even Lizheng came to his house to ask the reason.Because news came early in the morning last winter that he and the army died on the front line.

Both his father and younger father were still alive when he left the village. Although the younger brother was not in good health, he was not seriously ill.Unexpectedly, when he came back, he was told that his family had already been destroyed, and he was the only one left.

Although the village head and Li Zheng also called several people who were familiar with his family to confront him, everyone said that his father was unable to think about it for a while, and finally ended up in this situation.On the cemetery hill at the west end of the village, there were also tombs that the villagers helped to erect. When he came back, the grass on the graves had already covered the tombstones.

"Don't go out for a while, come with me to Uncle's house." Cheng Wei stopped Gu Xizhen early after breakfast.

The two originally planned to go up the mountain today to see if the wild dates were ripe. Gu Xijiao nodded after listening to Cheng Wei's words. He washed the dishes consciously, and then waited for Cheng Wei to come out.

Cheng Wei had nothing else to take except for the mountain leg. He carried his small basket on his back and went around to the vegetable field to pick a winter melon. It would be a good dish to stew with this mountain leg at night. vegetable.

He ate breakfast early, and when he crossed the bridge and walked to his uncle's house, his uncle had just finished breakfast and was clearing away the dishes.Seeing the two of them coming in, the man who was still carrying the bowl was stunned, and then he called out to the back room, "The head of the house."

Cheng Wei's uncle came out of the house dragging his legs. He was probably doing some carpentry, and he was covered in sawdust.He patted and dragged the stool over to sit down, then raised his eyelids and said, "Why are you here?"

His two cousins ​​didn't call anyone when they saw the two of them coming in, and avoided them from a distance. Before avoiding, they looked at Gu Xizhen with undisguised scrutiny.

There were only four of them in the main room at the moment, and the atmosphere was very dull.

Cheng Wei also didn't intend to liven up the atmosphere, he handed the pannier to his uncle silently, and then pulled Gu Xijiao to sit beside him.

He looked up at his uncle and said: "A few days ago I made a contract. His name is Gu Xichao, and his family is in the north. Because he needs to settle down and re-divide the fields when he comes to the door, and then catches up with the awn seeds, so he came here now. "

No matter how many estrangements there are, Cheng Fa is his only elder.It's his uncle's business to accept or not, but if he doesn't say anything, sooner or later he will be scolded by the villagers.

His uncle took a look at Cheng Fa, seeing that the head of the house had no expression on his face, so he put away the things in the basket, turned around and went to the kitchen to pour out two bowls of tea.

Most people in the village love to drink tea, but it is so expensive that most people seldom bring it out to entertain guests until the holidays.Cheng Wei looked at the bowl of tea, picked it up and took a sip. It was a new tea for Qingming this year.

"When will the wine be served?" Cheng Da coughed twice and asked again, his hoarse tone didn't seem to show much concern.

"We're not going to do it anymore, so we plan to come over and talk to you, and we'll just go to the town to buy some candy and come back when we're not busy in two days." Cheng Wei's tone was also indifferent, the kind of politeness between two people even strangers There is no enthusiasm.

"Take out the almanac." Cheng Da turned his head and said to the person sitting beside him.

Cheng Wei watched his uncle go in, and after a while came out with an old almanac, his uncle flipped through it carefully, counted a few times with his fingers, and said: "There are no good days this month, wait until your birthday is a good day." Good day."

Cheng Wei looked at him and didn't answer for a while.

"I went to the town to cut a piece of red cloth on the day of Anniversary, and hung it on the eaves of the gate. Then I killed a chicken and planted three sticks of incense to worship the ancestors. It is also a notice to the parents of heaven and earth." Wei's uncle said it, he didn't respond to Cheng Wei, thinking that the young man probably didn't understand the meaning here.

"Gu boy," Cheng Da didn't care if Cheng Weiming didn't understand, he closed the old almanac, then looked at Gu Xizheng and said, "Are you planning to live in Cheng Wei's two houses, or are you planning to build another one?" ?”

Before Gu Xicheng could speak, he heard Cheng Wei say: "I live in my father and my younger father's old house, even if there is a new house, I am reluctant to move."

As soon as Cheng Wei finished speaking, the whole room fell into dullness again.Cheng Da got up and left old Huang Li aside, and went straight back to his back room.

His uncle was left alone watching the two of them in the main room, finally he sighed, went to the room to pick up ten eggs, put a handful of beans in it, and returned the small basket to Cheng Wei.

"Don't blame him, his temper is just like that." His uncle sent the two of them to the door, said something in a low voice, then turned and went back.

The meeting this time was really not happy, and Cheng Wei seemed a little dull. He returned home and sat in the main room for a while, before he woke up.

"Gu Xichao, let's not go up the mountain today, let's go get half a bag of rice, let's grind some rice."

"Ah."

Gu Xizhen knew that Cheng Wei was not in a good mood, and to be honest, the reactions of the two people he just met were a little strange.

According to what Cheng Wei said before, his uncle desperately hoped that he would get married soon, in order to occupy his two houses and use them to marry his son.

But the two people just now had absolutely no malice towards Cheng Wei. Under the seemingly indifferent expression and tone, even others could see their concern at a glance.

It was precisely because of this that Cheng Wei felt uncomfortable.

The stone mills in the village are under the banyan tree next to the bridge head. There are two stone mills and a stone mill there, and they have been used for many years.Cheng Wei purposely brought a small reed broom, and then a sieve, and only after the items were ready did Gu Xizheng carry the rice over there.

Most of the rice in the first season is reserved for sale, because the taste is hard and it doesn’t taste that good.But it is also for this reason that the price of early rice is always lower when the officials come to harvest rice every year.

Life in Tonghua Village is not much better than other villages, so many people in the village keep the early rice for themselves, and then sell the second season rice that can be sold for a price.

Before Cheng arrived, a person was using a roller, but fortunately, there was another empty roller next to him.

"Brother Wei, are you coming to mill the rice too?" When the visitor saw him, he stopped to wipe off his sweat and called him.But it was none other than the man from the Jiang family who killed the pig, named Jiang Hao.

"Uncle Jiang." Cheng Wei greeted him, and then said, "Why are you free today?"

Most people in the village look for him when they go to the town to buy meat. Don't look at this man's vicious face. After selling meat for so many years, he has never seen him cheat anyone.

"The official's house is resting, and I happened to hear that there were wild animals in the village, so I came back to watch it for two days. I didn't hear that the official's house was here today, so I will follow it later." Jiang Hao is a very talkative person, Although Cheng Wei is a generation younger than him and he is a brother, there is nothing to talk about, but he can talk for a whole day even by himself.

"The official came so soon?" Cheng Wei paused, a little surprised.

"That's not it," Jiang Hao nodded. He glanced at Gu Xizheng and said, "The boy you begged for looks pretty solid. I heard that he hunted to the mountain yesterday. If there is nothing else, you can go to Liu's house in the afternoon." Go, go up the mountain with the officials to have a look."

It's not a secret that Gu Xijiao hunted down the mountain. If anyone in the village had a quarrel last night, the whole village would know as long as they gathered by the river to wash clothes the next day.

What's more, when Gu Xizheng carried such a big object down the mountain, someone would always see it.

"This also makes it possible." Cheng Wei responded, but felt inexplicably uneasy in his heart, he glanced worriedly at Gu Xizhen who was pushing the roller.

Gu Xijiao didn't show any expression. He didn't know how to use this roller. If he used too much strength, some rice would fly out, and it was very labor-intensive.