Ba Zong's rural life [farming]

It is customary for the village to hold a wedding, and it is customary to go to the home of the person hosting the wedding at noon the day before to have dinner, help out, etc., the village was extremely lively that day, and the whole village went to Zhao's house, happily.

Ruan Xishi fed the chickens, ducks and puppies, changed his clothes and was ready to go. Seeing that his hands were empty, Lu Ze asked, "Don't we need to bring any gifts?"

Ruan Xishi explained: "We only need to bring congratulatory gifts tomorrow, and there is no special person to help register when we bring them over today. Today, the meal is an advance thank you from the host's family. We have to help their family in these two days."

On the way to Zhao's house, Ruan Xishi met many acquaintances in the village. When they met each other, they had to say hello, and most of the time they invited them to drink together.

Zhao Sijia is a small single-family house, a large self-built house in the countryside, decorated with cement tiles on the outside, with a large yard attached, it looks very foreign, and it is one of the few beautiful houses in the village.

Going to Zhao's house, Ruan Xishi immediately saw Zhao Si who was standing at the door to welcome visitors. He had a cigarette on his ear, and he handed cigarettes and candy to everyone, his face was full of red.

When he saw Ruan Xishi, Zhao Si came over and patted him on the shoulder, and said hello to him. Seeing the strange man beside Ruan Xishi, he also readily asked: "Shizi, this is the one you rescued." Man, looks very handsome."

Zhao Si does transportation all the year round and rarely stays at home. He only heard from family members that Ruan Xishi saved a man, but he never saw what that man looked like. When he saw him today, he really felt that this man was not simple.

Lu Ze also generously introduced himself to Zhao Si: "Hi, my name is Lu Ze."

Seeing that the other party stretched out his hand to him in such a friendly and polite manner, Zhao Si quickly put the cigarette case in his pocket back into his pocket, freed one hand to shake hands with Lu Ze, then took out another cigarette and handed it over, saying enthusiastically : "Come on, smoke a cigarette."

Lu Ze seldom smoked, and he had never touched a cigarette since he came to Ruan Xishi's house. He subconsciously wanted to decline, but Ruan Xishi uttered faster than him.

"Fourth Brother Zhao, don't give him a cigarette, Brother Lu Ze doesn't smoke."

Lu Ze added: "Yes, I'd better leave it to you to smoke, it's a waste to give it to me, such a good smoke."

Zhao Si didn't force it, put the cigarette back in his pocket, and said to Lu Ze with a smile: "I didn't expect Brother Lu to be a good man who doesn't smoke."

Obviously these words were pure praises of Lu Ze, but Ruan Xishi felt a little proud, as if Lu Ze's non-smoking made him look good.

After exchanging greetings with Zhao Si, Zhao Si was going to entertain other guests again, Ruan Xishi brought Lu Ze into the house, and the inside was very busy.There were several large pots in the yard, and there were four or five cooks just cooking. There were pots filled with ingredients on the ground, and several women sat beside them to wash the vegetables.

The people in the house were not idle either, they walked up and down with decorations, arranging the wedding room, Zhao's mother hurriedly directed her relatives to do this and that, she was so busy that she only had time when she saw Ruan Xi Let them sit in the hall and drink tea.

Ruan Xishi took Lu Ze to find a relatively clean place to sit down, poured him a cup of tea from a disposable cup, and told Lu Ze some wedding customs in the village.

"It's not the busiest time yet. Tonight the gong and drum team will come to beat gongs and drums, and then decorate the new house. It will take until midnight. The next morning, we will leave the bride's house to pick up the bride and dowry, and have lunch at the bride's house. Come back to eat again in the evening, and the wedding wine will be finished."

Lu Ze looked at everyone who was busy outside, and felt that the banquets in the countryside were quite lively.

Ruan Xishi sat with Lu Ze for a while, and then saw an acquaintance, Zhang Zhichao standing in the corridor foolishly by himself, and sometimes he was scolded when he blocked someone, which scared him so much that he didn't care about it. It's good to know where to go.

He should have come here with his family, but he didn't know where his family is now, so he was left alone. Ruan Xishi was worried that he would be bullied, so she went over and brought him back to sit with him.

Zhang Zhichao was obviously very happy when he saw Ruan Xishi, he smiled foolishly at Ruan Xishi, and stammered, "Shi, Shizi! You're coming too, for a wedding?"

Ruan Xishi nodded, poured him a cup of tea, and asked, "Did you come alone, where is Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang?"

Zhang Zhichao replied: "Mom, I went to help wash the vegetables, and Dad, I don't know where I went."

Ruan Xishi said: "Then follow us first, there are many people outside, don't hinder them."

Zhang Zhichao nodded obediently.

Because everyone is very busy, lunch is casual, the cook made a few simple dishes, and everyone can find a table to sit down and start eating. Because Zhang Zhichao and Ruan Xishi are together, Aunt Zhang and his family simply eat with Ruan Xishi They are at the same table.

After dinner, Ruan Xishi and Lu Ze were also asked by the Zhao family to post couplets. Ruan Xishi held a stack of red paper and a bottle of paste, and Lu Ze followed him. After a while, Ruan Xishi was in charge of the paste, and Lu Ze was in charge of posting—— His height advantage is reflected now, and he doesn't even need to move a ladder.

After posting the couplets, Zhao Si came over and dragged Ruan Xishi to a quiet place, saying that he had something to discuss with him.

Ruan Xishi had no choice but to let Lu Ze wait for him where he was, and he followed Zhao Si to the balcony.

Zhao Si said to him: "Shizi, I want you to be my best man tomorrow, would you like it?"

Ruan Xishi waved her hands in panic when she heard it, and quickly declined: "I can't, I have no experience, and I don't know how to drink or say good things, and I will embarrass you when the time comes."

Zhao Si: "Hi! What experience do you need to be a best man? Then you can do whatever others ask you to do. Don't worry, it's my first time being a groom too?"

Ruan Xi was in a hurry, his heart was beating wildly, he said to Zhao Si: "It's really not possible, Brother Zhao, I brought Lu Ze with me, if I were to be the best man, he would not be familiar with each other. Yes, how can I rest assured?"

Zhao Si: "Hey, Brother Lu is such an adult, what if he is afraid that he doesn't know the way home? Shizi, don't you care too much about him?"

Ruan Xishi quibbled: "After all, I brought him back, so I must be responsible for him."

Zhao Si then thought of a compromise, and he said to Ruan Xishi: "How about this, since you don't trust him alone, then tomorrow you two will join brother's best man group together, and follow brother to the bride's house to pick up the bride, so that's good for you." Brother, think of a way to deal with the bridesmaid on the bride's side."

Ruan Xishi had already refused to be the best man, if he refused again, it would be very unreasonable, so he could only bite the bullet and agree: "Then I will talk to brother Lu Ze later."

Seeing that the matter was settled, Zhao Si patted him on the shoulder and said, "Then brother, thank you in advance."

When Lu Ze heard Ruan Xishi say that Zhao Si wanted to invite him to join the best man group, he thought it was a novelty, so he agreed.

The meal in the evening was much busier than that at noon. Aunt Zhang had to set up a wedding room. There was a dressing table in the wedding room. There was a cup of rice on the dressing table. On top of the rice were peanuts and cypress leaves, which symbolized the early birth of a baby.

These are usually helped by married women in the village. There are opinions on how to arrange them and how much to use. If they are done in accordance with the rules, the couple can have a happy marriage for a hundred years and have many children and grandchildren.

Ruan Xishi took Lu Ze to a look at the wedding room which was being decorated. Inside, the big wooden bed was covered with a bright red embroidered gold dragon and phoenix quilt, with the Chinese character "囍" pasted on the head of the bed, and many balloons hung on it.

He said to Lu Ze: "There is also particularity in laying out the marriage bed. The aunt who has the most children in the village and has a harmonious family should be allowed to make the bed. This way, she can share some of her good luck with the new daughter-in-law of the master's family. It is necessary to arrange for a clever boy from the relatives of the groom’s family to sleep on the marriage bed for one night, so that the couple can give birth to a boy who is also smart.”

There were more and more people in the wedding room, Ruan Xishi took a look at Lu Ze and left, and walked to a place where there were fewer people, Ruan Xishi said: "Actually, these are some feudal superstitions. It is not necessary to give birth to a boy. I personally do not agree with this practice. There are rules for having boys and girls, and girls are no worse than boys. It is a pity that the village is too poor, and the villagers' education level is not high. When they grow up, they belong to someone else’s family, and only boys can take care of them, many people have three or four girls in their families, and they insist on having a boy, livelihood is a problem, and it’s hard for the children.”

Lu Ze has lived in the village for such a long time, and he has also heard about what Ruan Xishi said. He used to live in a big city, and the people he met did not have patriarchal thoughts. Most of the girls were brought up pampered. Some even took over the family business from their parents, and they are still doing very well.

There were many more people coming to Zhao's house for dinner at night than at noon, and there were many people in the room. Ruan Xishi pulled Lu Ze to stand in the corner to make way for the workers, and didn't know where to sit for a while.

Fortunately, they met Aunt Li's family. The five members of Aunt Li's family plus him and Lu Ze made seven people, and the table could be filled with just one more.

Aunt Li's grandson was hungry and made a lot of noise, so Aunt Li didn't care so much, and ate the meal first. In fact, it was not strictly necessary to seat eight people, and it was almost the same for two families to sit at a table.

Ruan Xishi was afraid that it would be inconvenient for Lu Ze to walk around, so she took Lu Ze's bowl and served him rice.The rice is cooked in a large pot and scooped into large pots, and one pot is placed in one place for the guests to serve by themselves.

The rice bowl closest to Ruan Xishi was in the yard outside. Ruan Xishi walked out of the patio door and saw Zhang Zhichao sitting beside the table outside the kitchen shed.

Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang are busy, so naturally there is no one to take care of Zhang Zhichao. Aunt Zhang arranges the wedding room upstairs, and Uncle Zhang serves dishes, so Zhang Zhichao is placed here to wait. I don't care if my son has eaten.

But a certain aunt at the next table couldn't bear to see a fool sitting and starving, so she enthusiastically took a large plate of vegetables, scooped up half of the plate of rice, and picked some vegetables, chicken, and duck from her own table. Put the meat, squid, white radish and so on on the rice, took a pair of chopsticks and walked to Zhang Zhichao, put the rice in front of Zhang Zhichao, and called him to eat.

Zhang Zhichao's brain is burning, and he can't eat easily. He eats whatever other people give him. Although the aunt is kind enough to serve him, the dishes for him are not the most skinny parts, but fatty meat and vegetarian dishes. And calamari and meatballs that few people like to eat.

Ruan Xishi watched Zhang Zhichao ignorantly stuffing the fat into his mouth, and felt sour in his heart. When Zhang Zhichao was not stupid before, Ruan Xishi remembered that he hated eating fatty meat the most. I heard Aunt Zhang scold him for being a picky eater, and he would not eat fatty meat.

He still remembers that Zhang Zhichao likes fried pork ribs and fried peanuts the most. This dish is the favorite of the children in the village, but because the village is poor, even if there is wine, the ribs allocated to each table are only one or two yuan per person.

The aunt must not be willing to share the ribs with him. Ruan Xishi didn't blame the aunt for being selfish. After all, it was not her duty to take care of Zhang Zhichao. He went to Zhang Zhichao's side and called out to Zhang Zhichao.

Zhang Zhichao was busy gnawing the meat on the neck of the chicken, and when he saw Ruan Xishi, he could only show a silly smile. Although he looked happy, Ruan Xishi still felt sorry for him.

Ruan Xishi said to him: "A Chao, go and have dinner with us, it's really lonely sitting here by yourself."

The aunt next to him knew Ruan Xishi, and the grandson of Mr. Ruan's family didn't know anyone in these villages. Not only did she know her, but she was also very polite to Ruan Xishi. When she saw Ruan Xishi wanted to bring a fool to dinner, the aunt felt troubled for Ruan Xishi, and said: " Hey, Shi Tsai, let him eat here by himself, his father will come over to take care of him after serving the dishes, he is here, so my aunts and sisters can watch him, go back and eat."

Ruan Xishi stubbornly pulled Zhang Zhichao up, and he asked Zhang Zhichao to spit out the chicken bone in his mouth, pulled a tissue to wipe his hands, and said to the aunt beside him: "Don't bother you, we still need someone at the table, let's go to the table. It’s just right for Ah Chao to sit there, and we also sat at the same table this morning. Ah Chao, would you like to sit at the same table with me?”

Zhang Zhichao was very happy when he saw Ruan Xi, and when he heard that he was going to have dinner together, he was so happy that he didn't want the plate, clapped his hands and said happily: "Okay, okay, let's eat with Shizai."

The aunt had no choice but to click her tongue and said, "Then you guys go, and it will save us from worrying about him."

Ruan Xishi gave Zhang Zhichao a pair of bowls and chopsticks, served him a meal, and went back to their table together.

When Lu Ze saw Ruan Xishi came back, he brought Zhang Zhichao with him, took his job without surprise, and thanked Ruan Xishi.

Seeing so many people sitting at this table, Zhang Zhichao laughed cheerfully. He likes lively places, and although everyone rejects him most of the time, he still wants to get close without fear.

The Li family has some friendship with the Zhang family, and feels sorry for Zhang Zhichao's good boy who has become what he is now, so he doesn't mind him joining the table, but the grandson of the Li family sees Zhang Zhichao staring at the braised pork ribs obsessively. He yelled unhappily: "The ribs are mine, Zhang Dasha, don't snatch them!"

Sitting next to him, his father heard that a chopstick hit his hand grasping the ribs, and shouted: "Why are you talking to the elders, this is your Uncle Zhang!"

Brother Li and Zhang Zhichao belong to the same generation, a few years older than Zhang Zhichao. They played together when they were young and took good care of Zhang Zhichao and Ruan Xishi. Now that they have grown up, they still haven't forgotten their responsibilities as a big brother.

Although Aunt Li felt sorry for her grandson being beaten, she also knew that he did something wrong, and she didn't do anything for the tiger. She took a piece of ribs for her grandson, and another piece for Zhang Zhichao, and coaxed: "Okay, okay, one piece for each of us." , don’t earn and don’t grab.”

The atmosphere here is obviously better than the one outside just now, Ruan Xishi curled up her lips in relief when she saw the Li family's tolerance for Zhang Zhichao.

Even Zhang Zhichao felt the difference in other people's attitudes towards him. When Aunt Li wanted to pick up the chicken legs for him, he quickly picked up his bowl, shook his head and said, "Give the chicken legs to Pangpanghe and Shizai!"

Seeing that he insisted on not wanting it, Aunt Li put the chicken legs in her grandson's bowl. When Aunt Li saw it, she said to Pangpang, "What do you want to tell others when they give you chicken legs?"

Fat Pang, with a chicken leg in his mouth, mumbled but loudly said to Zhang Zhichao: "Thank you, Uncle Zhang!"

Hearing this, Zhang Zhichao was so happy that the corners of his mouth reached to his ears, and he was giggling while he was grilling the rice.

Ruan Xishi saw that Zhang Zhichao had something to eat, so he had time to care about Lu Ze. He whispered to Lu Ze which dish was more delicious on the table, and asked Lu Ze if he was used to it.

There are a lot of banquet dishes in the village, but because of the large portions, the color and aroma of the cooked ones are much worse. It is not as good as the few home-cooked dishes at noon. Ruan Xishi was afraid that Lu Ze would not like it, so she said to Lu Ze: "If you eat If you don’t want to eat, you won’t eat, and I’ll cook you a supper when you get home in the evening.”

Lu Ze didn't think the food was bad. On the contrary, he thought it tasted good. It was completely different from the banquets prepared by big hotels in the city. It had a little more rustic taste.

He likes to eat shredded squid. There are lemon, plum, sour garlic and sour pepper in it. It is very flavorful and served with rice. The plate of dried bamboo shoots should be made from the bamboo shoots chopped by the Zhao family on the bamboo mountain, similar to the ones that Ruan Xishi dried.

When Lu Ze replied to Ruan Xi, he said, "I think it's delicious, you should eat more, you see you are so thin."

Ruan Xishi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him pick up vegetables again and again, and began to eat seriously.

The author has something to say:

This is probably the way to run wine in the village. To be fair, some dishes are quite delicious_(:з)∠)_