Shangqiaotou Village, Qiaotou Town

After ten o'clock, when the children finished paying New Year's greetings, the adults came out, mainly to say hello to the prestigious elders in the village, and Hong Sheng was no exception; Le Sheng was completely new today, with a high collar and blue blue woolen sweater, navy blue long mountaineering suit (the former mountaineering suit is similar to the down jacket now, and the inner core is cotton), black corduroy trousers, and black big-toed leather shoes, which were the most fashionable (fashionable) clothes at that time; (I only wore this scarf once, and Lesheng couldn’t bear to wear it when I came back, and I had to take it out on the New Year’s day), gray rabbit down earmuffs, no other person in the village wore it like this; look Looking at Le Sheng in front of him, Hong Sheng was happier than having eaten two catties of honey; Hong Sheng’s clothes were much simpler. The cotton coat and trousers were sewn for him by his wife in the last year, and she has been with him for the seventh year. The same goes for the trousers. The only new thing is this coat, which is still a single coat. When Hong Sheng bought it, he thought about wearing it for four seasons.

The two of them went out together and walked all the way to the ditch. On the way, they met other young daughters-in-law and said hello to each other. People looked at the pretty and handsome Le Sheng next to Hong Sheng, and both of them were dumbfounded. , someone asked,

"Which family's daughter-in-law did Hong Sheng take?"

Hong Sheng smiled and said,

"It's our Jialesheng!"

Someone asked again,

"Hong Sheng, is this your family's Lesheng?"

Hong Sheng said,

"Oh, our Jialesheng!"

"Why are you wearing a red scarf, and you look like a little daughter-in-law?"

"Does he want to see a red scarf!"

"Ah, Hong Sheng, your Jia Lesheng looks like a handsome young man (meaning youth, young man)!"

Hong Sheng just smiled and narrowed his eyes, turned his head to look at Jia Lesheng, and then looked again.

The first house I went to was the old grandma, the oldest widow in the village. She is [-] years old this year, a "big family" with four generations under the same roof. Everyone in the village, big or small, would come to say hello to the old grandma and accompany her. Talk for a while; the old grandmother has five sons and two daughters, and there are only two sons in front of her, but they are also lively; as soon as she enters the courtyard door, she hears laughter and greetings from the house, lifts the curtain and goes in. People in the house, follow the generation and say hello all the way down.Le Sheng followed behind Hong Sheng, looking at so many people, he was still a little timid and shy, but he would still say hello in a low voice; so everyone turned the topic to Le Sheng,

"Oh my god, is this Le Sheng?"

"Look at how Hong Sheng dresses up Le Sheng, like a rich young master!"

Then a young man said,

"Le Sheng, do you still recognize me?"

Le Sheng looked up, lowered his head, and grabbed Hong Sheng's arm without saying a word.

"When you first came to live in the cave, I went in to pull you, and you pushed me somersault, remember?"

Le Sheng didn't look up again, but continued to drag Hong Sheng,

Everyone laughed and talked about what Le Sheng was like when he first came. People in the village raised the topic purely for the sake of chatting, without any malice. The same topic, you listen to it every year until a new topic comes up.

At this time, the grandma's daughter-in-law grabbed a handful of candy, stuffed it into Le Sheng's hand, and said,

"Lesheng, eat candy, and there are milk candies, I picked them out for you!"

Le Sheng turned his head and glanced at the smiling Hong Sheng, but he still didn't answer. At this time, the daughter-in-law of the grandma said again,

"Take Le Sheng, today is the Chinese New Year, you should eat it!"

Hong Sheng said,

"Give it and take it!"

Le Sheng took it and put it in his pocket.

When people saw the interaction between the two, they started joking again.

"Hong Sheng really knows how to teach. If you don't let go (talk, agree), he won't take it?"

"How old is Le Sheng this year?"

Hong Sheng smiled and said,

"I do not know either!"

Everyone guessed,

"It's probably 21 or [-] years old?"

"It looks so small!"

"Hong Sheng, the Le Sheng teacher in your family might marry a daughter-in-law!"

People put their attention on Lesheng again, and someone asked,

"Lesheng, do you want to marry a wife?"

Le Sheng ignored him, and was picking out the only big white rabbit from the candy he had just packed, tore off the paper, and sent it to Hong Sheng's mouth. He leaned back, raised his hand holding the cigarette, and said softly to Le Sheng,

"I smoke, you eat it!"

I saw Lesheng put the milk candy in his mouth, bit it hard, half of himself, and the other half was put on Hongsheng's mouth, and the people laughed coaxingly.

"Looking at people's happy life, it really hurts people, and you know that you are half of one person?"

"If Le Sheng was a girl, Hong Sheng would be blessed!"

"Le grew up to be pretty, like a big girl."

Everyone, you say, I say, laugh and talk, from one house to another, one family to another, every family is like this, this is the year of the rural people, tireless topics, down-to-earth laughter.

At that time, after Le Sheng transferred to three houses, when he went out of someone else's house, he grabbed a handful of candy and showed it to Hong Sheng as if offering a treasure, which seemed to say,

"Look, I earn a lot of sugar!"

He also took Hong Sheng's hand and touched his bulging pockets. He looked naughty and proud, which made Hong Sheng feel warm in his heart. Le Sheng went home three times, putting down the things in his pockets and coming out again. Hei Bei was like a shadow, following in and out, never leaving. This morning, it seemed that everyone in the village knew that Le Sheng was not in a daze, knew how to love others, knew how to say hello, and would feed Hong Sheng milk candies and peanuts. He feeds black dates, apples and pears, anyway, he never eats alone;

"Look at our family Fuzi, I have been married for three years, not to mention milk candy, I have never been fed a single saccharin! It's still a happy life, look at Hong Sheng's kindness, I still know to keep half of my mouth !"

At this time, her man teased and stretched out his hand to pick up a candy, and said while tearing apart the paper,

"Look at you, I'll feed you a candy now, open your mouth~"

The little daughter-in-law blushed with embarrassment, smiled and cursed,

"I know it's not serious!"

"Come on, open your mouth, I, Wang Fu, know how to love my wife!"

Amidst everyone's laughter, the little daughter-in-law blushed and bit down the candy, and she didn't forget to stare at her man, but the other party smiled and said,

"Why don't you bite half of it now and feed the other half to me!"

As she said that, she moved her face closer, and the little daughter-in-law gave him a light thump, and said with a shy smile,

"You are the only one who is not serious!"

At this time, Le Sheng's gaze was on the two of them, looking back and forth, with a smile in the corner of his eyes, seeing the young daughter-in-law blushing, he also secretly glanced at Hong Sheng, and when he found that the other party was looking at him, She also blushed and lowered her head, and started playing with candy wrappers.

After paying New Year’s greetings and returning home, Hong Sheng began to prepare meals; the big dishes for the New Year in the village were all prepared years ago, and the braised pork was simmered. He took the porcelain pot and put it in the sundry cave in the west, covered it and pressed it. Serving bricks, when to eat and when to heat them up, cook these things once, and you have to eat them until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, after entertaining relatives; those with better conditions will prepare eight big bowls for the New Year, Hong Sheng can make these, and he is also considered the "big bowl" in the village. "Chef" is someone who knows how to turn the spoon, can cook big dishes, and basically asks Hong Sheng to cook the spoon at weddings and funerals in the village; , the new year will be ready; this year is different, the "four small bowls" are made: braised pork, stewed ribs, roasted pork sticks, chicken stewed with mushrooms, the same small bowl, and then stewed a hodgepodge, the year of two people and one dog , It's a happy life.Hong Sheng drank half a catty of Laobaigan, and bought Jianlibao for Le Sheng. Ever since Hong Sheng's father died of drinking fake wine, he has not drunk a drop of alcohol, but this year he is happy, how can he not drink when he is happy?So Hong Sheng drank too much at this time, lay on the kang with a smile on his face, and fell asleep after a while.

Le Sheng washed the dishes and chopsticks, climbed onto the kang and got into Hong Sheng's arms. The man opened his eyes in a daze and saw that it was him. He opened his arms and hugged him tightly. neck, chest to chest, legs to legs, and just fell asleep; before going to bed, Le Sheng asked,

"Hong Sheng, shall we go earn candy this afternoon?" (Because you can "earn" candy during the New Year greetings, Le Sheng is very willing to go.)

Hong Sheng smiled without opening his eyes, and muttered,

"You like to eat, let's go to the town to buy it after the tenth day!"

Heibei followed him for a day, and was also tired. He nestled at the foot of the kang and snored while sleeping.The two of them slept all afternoon, and they didn't wake up until dinner. Hong Sheng squinted his eyes, looked at the blushing face in his arms, and felt that he should be content with this life, but he didn't know why. Looking at Le Sheng like this, he felt empty in his heart; he sighed lightly, and a thought flashed in his mind, "It would be great if Le Sheng was really a girl!" With this thought, he felt contradictory that he was greedy , people are so greedy, for some reason, I feel that Le Sheng in front of me is more handsome, so handsome that Hong Sheng can't help but bow his head and kiss his face; At this moment, Le Sheng's eyelashes twinkled, as if he was about to wake up, Hong Sheng suddenly felt a little guilty, and felt a little dry.

After dinner, when people were not sleepy, Le Sheng "earned" candy, peanuts and the like in the morning, piled them on the dining table, and began to sort them out one by one; Hei Bei loved to eat peanuts, and Le Sheng peeled them when he was free Feed one. After the little guy finished eating, he stared straight at Le Sheng's hand again. This is the first time Hong Sheng has seen a dog that likes to eat peanuts. Maybe there were other dogs that liked to eat peanuts before, but the dogs in the village. Never raised it so finely.Years ago, someone came to their house to borrow things, and seeing that Hei Bei was in the house, he was very surprised and asked,

"Hong Sheng, why did your dog come into the house? It's not good to get used to it!"

Sometimes Hong Sheng thought that if the villagers knew that their Jialesheng was feeding peanuts to the dog at this time, they might make a fuss again, so the smile on his face became stronger.

Le Sheng picked and picked and divided, and suddenly spoke,

"Hong Sheng, they say I look like a little daughter-in-law!"

"They think you look good!"

"Hong Sheng, do you think I look like a little daughter-in-law?"

"Ha ha……"

"Hong Sheng, are you laughing too much?"

"Not even laughing!"

"Did you laugh or did you laugh?"

"Ha ha……"

"Hong Sheng, what is the little daughter-in-law doing?"

"Little daughter-in-law is a man's aunt (meaning wife!)"

"What does a man's aunt do?"

"A man's mother-in-law is the one who serves his man to eat and drink, and gives birth to babies!"

"Hong Sheng, they say I'm a little daughter-in-law, do they mean I'm also your mother-in-law?"

When Hong Sheng heard this, he smiled even more happily.

"How can a man be someone's mother-in-law? Men marry their mother-in-law!"

"Why can't a man be a mother-in-law?"

"Men can't have babies!"

"Hong Sheng, I can't have a baby either?"

"You are a man, why did you give birth to a baby?"

"Is that woman able to give birth to a baby because of it?"

This question stumped Hong Sheng, so he could only say,

"God arranged it like this, I don't know why!"

"Hong Sheng, if I can't have a baby, I can't be your mother-in-law? If I can't be your mother-in-law, then I can't be your daughter-in-law?"

As soon as these words came out, Hong Sheng suddenly felt that his heartbeat was irregular again. He looked at Le Sheng carefully and found that he was still picking up his pile of "omnivores" seriously, so he subconsciously sighed and said,

"Le Sheng, if you are a girl, I will marry you as my wife!"

"Then what should I do?"

"If it wasn't for you, we brothers would live like this for the rest of our lives! Are you willing?"

"I am willing! Hong Sheng, then you are a man, do you still want to marry a wife?"

"Me? Hey~ I won't marry anymore!"

"Then I'm a man too, and I'm going to marry a wife too?"

Hong Sheng smiled and deliberately teased him,

"You want to marry a wife?"

"In no mood!"

Hong Sheng was very satisfied with Le Sheng's answer, so he was also very happy. He waited for him to pick and sort the things, then turned off the lights, and the two of them lay on the kang, chatting and listening to the radio; it might be when they woke up this afternoon. Le Sheng felt that it was very comfortable to sleep with Hong Sheng in his arms, so at this time Hong Sheng found that Le Sheng stretched his feet into his bed. After a while, his whole leg stretched out, and after a while, his body also Here we come, Le Sheng is like an ostrich whose head is buried in the sand, his head sticks out from his own quilt, but his whole body gets into Hong Sheng's quilt,

"Le Sheng, what are you doing?"

"Nothing!"

"I didn't do anything, why did I get into bed?"

At this time, Le Sheng laughed out loud as if his little secret had been revealed.

"Hong Sheng, is your bed warmer than mine?"

"Are you cold?"

"Ok!"

"It's cold, put my cotton coat on your quilt!"

"Hong Sheng, is it too cold to put on a cotton coat?"

Hong Sheng rubbed his own feet against the other's stretched out feet, it was warm, so he purposely said angrily,

"It's all nonsense!"

Le Sheng suddenly lifted Hong Sheng's quilt, and this time even his head came over, and then he pretended to be a normal person and said,

"Hong Sheng, go to sleep!"

Hong Sheng slapped his butt lightly and said,

"Spoiled wow!"

Le Sheng reacted even more amusingly, pretending to be snoring, and said while snoring,

"Hong Sheng, I fell asleep!"