Xu Huaiqian didn’t agree, but he honestly picked up the purse on the table.

Chen Liejiu smiled happily: “You made a wise choice. Don’t worry, follow me, I won’t let you suffer.”

Xu Huaiqian looked at his bright smile, and his body and mind, tortured by illness, felt much better. He believed him and said “mm”.

Suddenly crossing here, he was unfamiliar with everything here. His property was taken away, and his health was not good. If he wanted to live independently, it would be like beginning on hell mode with many difficulties.

At this time, there was a beautiful and rich woman who was willing to take him in, and directly turned his hell into simple mode.

He didn’t know whether he would suffer or not, but he wouldn’t suffer too much. 

Chen Liejiu, who had finalized his lifelong event and solved some minor troubles, felt relieved. Even the skinny, pale-faced Xu Huaiqian, who didn’t look like a living person, felt clear-eyed and particularly comfortable.

 He did not hesitate. He stood up, took Xu Huaiqian’s hand, and led him out the door: “Since we are a family from now on, I will take you to meet my family.”

Xu Huaiqian, who had been single for 27 years, was held by his wife as soon as he got married. He looked down at the warm fingers covering his hand, and his fingertips curled up slightly.

In the yard, Chen Xiaomei lowered her head and played with the palm leaves in her hand while thinking. After Xu Huaiqian made it clear to her elder brother that he was leaving, where should she go to find a man for her elder brother.

It would definitely not work in the village. Those people in the village would hide when they saw her brother, as if her brother had some plague and her brother’s younger brothers(workers) would not work either. They all obeyed her brother’s orders and nodded and bowed without any manliness. They were not worthy of her elder brother at all.

In Chen Xiaomei’s heart, her elder brother was the best elder brother in the world, and her elder brother deserved the best man in the world.

She thought about it and picked and chose, but she couldn’t find a man to be her brother-in-law.

When Chen Liejiu pulled Xu Huaiqian to her, she was frowning, and her small face was full of sorrow.

“Xiaomei” Chen Liejiu called her, and pointed at Xu Huaiqian, “Come here and greet second brother.”

Chen Xiaomei, who was immersed in her own world, was awakened by Chen Liejiu. She raised her face and looked confused: “What?”

“Greet second brother,” Chen Liejiu thought she didn’t understand yet. He bent down and pinched the two little tufts on her head, and said: “Greet second brother. Second brother will be our family from now on.”

The original owner’s name “Xu Huaiqian” was given by the school teacher. His original name was Xu Erlang, which was arranged after Xu Dalang.

 There were not many educated people in this era, and the country folk thought that giving children a cheap name would make them easier to raise, so few people would spend money to name their children. Most children were randomly given names like Goudan and Erya when they were born, but there were also some families who were more particular and did not want to give their children such rustic names, so they named them according to the order of birth, such as Dalang and Erlang.

Although Xu Huaiqian married Chen Liejiu, Chen Liejiu did not want to let his family call him sister-in-law in order to show his status like other people did.

Thinking that Xu Huaiqian was the second child in the family and was a few years younger than him, it was appropriate to call him second brother.

 Chen Xiaomei didn’t understand Chen Liejiu’s thoughts, but she understood “Greet second brother. Second brother will be our family from now on.”

Her eyes widened and looked at Xu Huaiqian without understanding the situation: “What do you mean?”

The moment he saw Chen Xiaomei, Xu Huaiqian also remembered that he had promised Chen Xiaomei that he would leave on his own. He had forgotten it completely after he met Chen Liejiu and was slapped with money.

Now he has promised both Chen Liejiu and Chen Xiaomei, and one of them will be disappointed.

Xu Huaiqian felt the warm palm holding his fingers, met Chen Xiaomei’s clear eyes full of curiosity, coughed awkwardly, and chose to bully the child.

“Sorry, I changed my mind.”

In an instant, Xu Huaiqian saw the trust in Chen Xiaomei’s eyes collapsed instantly and turned into anger.

 “How can you change your mind just like that!”

“Aren’t you going to chase some horse? Why don’t you chase it again?!”

“You liar!”

Chen Xiaomei became more and more angry. When she thought of what the villagers said that if Xu Huaiqian became her sister-in-law, her brother would be dragged to death sooner or later, she felt scared.

Elder brother is kind and treats his family very well. Xu Huaiqian is sick, and it’s not a light illness. If Xu Huaiqian became her sister-in-law, even if her elder brother encountered many difficulties and dangers, he will get the ginseng and bird’s nest that Doctor Sun mentioned. 

Elder brother has suffered for many years for his brothers and sisters, and he is about to suffer more. Now he is going to beat him back to the past, or even live a harder life than before. Chen Xiaomei is very angry with Xu Huaiqian.

She thought Xu Huaiqian was a good person, but she didn’t expect him to be a complete liar!

 Facing Chen Xiaomei’s anger, Xu Huaiqian did not expect that she would react so strongly. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Chen Xiaomei, who was extremely angry, kept saying “liar” and pushed her two tufts of hair towards him with.

Chen Liejiu stood in front of Xu Huaiqian and pulled away Chen Xiaomei who wanted to push Xu Huaiqian with her head. He said in a somewhat reproachful tone: “Xiaomei! Can’t you talk about it nicely?”

Chen Xiaomei, who was angry, was pulled by her brother and looked at him in disbelief: “Brother, you are so mean to me!”

After saying that, tears fell down in grievance.

Her brother had never been mean to her! Never!

It was all because of this Xu Huaiqian, all because of him!

“I hate you!” Chen Xiaomei had never hated someone so much. She said this to Xu Huaiqian, and then ran away crying without looking back.

“I…” As soon as Chen Xiaomei left, Xu Huaiqian was a little at a loss.

 “It’s okay,” Chen Liejiu picked up all the palm leaves that Chen Xiaomei had scattered on the ground while looking at her running away. He comforted Xu Huaiqian and said, “My little sister has become a little arrogant because of me. She may not be able to accept you for a while. It will be fine once she comes to her senses.”

Xu Huaiqian felt a little guilty for making someone’s sister cry and asking her to comfort him.

He saw that some of the palm leaves picked up by Chen Liejiu had traces of weaving. The craftsmanship was too rough so it was impossible to tell what was woven. Xu Huaiqian thought for a while and said, “Why don’t you give me these palm leaves? I’ll try to weave something she likes, apologize to her and comfort her.”

Xu Huaiqian had never coaxed a child, but when he went to the countryside to inspect, he learned a little straw weaving from some old people in the village. Although it was not as good as professionals, it was definitely better than Chen Xiaomei’s.

“Okay.”

Although it was unclear why Xiaomei was so resistant to Xu Huaiqian, Chen Liejiu was still very relieved to see that Xu Huaiqian was willing to humble himself to apologize to Xiaomei and comfort her.

This proved that Xu Huaiqian really accepted the marriage to him and began to worry about his family.

 Xinghua Village is not big, but it is not small either. There are more than 100 households. Usually, people can hear about quarrels among neighbors. Not to mention the fact that Xu Huaiqian agreed to marry Chen Liejiu, it spread throughout the village in no time.

 “He jumped into the river. I thought he was ambitious and would rather die than surrender. I didn’t expect him to compromise so quickly.”

“What can he do if he doesn’t compromise? He can’t farm and can’t keep the family business. When he encounters problems, he will just try to kill himself like a girl or a ger. He hasn’t even tried to kill himself yet. What can we expect from him?”

“This Chen Liejiu is really something. There are plenty of men in the world. Why does he have to grab a sickly man as a husband?”

“Even if it’s for the hot flashes, he should find a healthy one. Xu Huaiqian is so sick that he has only one breath left. He can’t even handle the his parent’s funeral. If he dies in a few days, I wonder how he will find the another one.”

The reason why men don’t like to marry gers is not only because gers are not as charming as women and are not good at giving birth, but more because gers have hot flashes.

Once a man goes out for something and doesn’t come back for three or five years, or unfortunately dies, the gers will be sad for a few days. When the hot flashes come, he will immediately look for the next one.

 Which man can endure such a thing?

But it is even harder for a man to find a wife to marry again. He can only look for a wife who is worse than the others. Many men are burned alive because they cannot find a wife.

 “If he wants to find one, he has to find a good one.”

“Who would dare to marry a bully who has been escorting people since he was ten years old, grew up among men, and makes a living by collecting debts?”

“That’s right. People from the escort agency still visit Chen’s house from time to time. Chen Liejiu’s younger brother Chen Jinhu was arranged by him to be an escort in the escort agency. It’s hard for those of us with healthy hands and feet to get into the escort agency, but his Jinhu got in easily. Who knows what Chen Liejiu and the people from the escort agency have done——”

Before the man finished speaking, a gentle girl holding a washing basin passed by her door: “Aunt Li, you’d better be careful when you speak. Be careful that the ancestors of the Chen family will knock on your door in the middle of the night.”

Chen Liejiu, that is, the Chen family, has been rooted here for many years. Half of the mountain behind the village is buried with the ancestors of the Chen family.

 This is why Chen Liejiu can walk around the village like a man.

His family is big, and there are many of his relatives in the village, county and nearby villages.

In this era, the imperial power does not extend below the county, and the county is under the clan. If you want to touch Chen Liejiu, you must first think about whether your clan can beat the Chen clan.

When Aunt Li heard the words of the gentle girl, her face froze, and then she said awkwardly: “Wanwan is back from washing clothes. Oh, look at Aunt Li’s stinky mouth. The old problem comes back again. She always can’t help but say nonsense. She deserves to be beaten, she deserves to be beaten.”

Aunt Li pretended to slap herself on the mouth twice, and she cried out in pain twice.

Wang Wanwan was too lazy to waste words with the famous gossipy woman in the village. Seeing that she dared not say anything more, she walked through the crowd with the basin of washed clothes. When she left, she glanced at other people, scaring them so much that they dared not breathe.

 Aunt Li saw Wang Wanwan walking over, and pretended to spit at her back. She rolled her eyes, as if she had thought of something, and walked forward to talk to Wang Wanwan with a warm-hearted look: “Wanwan, you have a brother-in-law now, so you have to be more careful. Your brother-in-law is weak and fragile, and I’m afraid it will cost a lot of money to raise him. Be careful not to let your eldest brother take all the money from your family’s Jinhu to treat your sick brother-in-law.”

“You are still young, and Jinhu is working hard outside as an escort. You have to hold on to the money, so that you can have something in the future–“

Wang Wanwan was annoyed: “Aunt Li, you are too nosy.”

Aunt Li laughed dryly: “Aunt is saying this for your own good.”

She didn’t believe that Wang Wanwan, who was beautiful, capable and virtuous, had no selfish motives in the Chen family, and was willing to be the wife of the lame Chen Jinhu for life.

 “I don’t need Aunt to do good for me. If you have time, please worry more about your own family’s affairs instead of staring at other people’s families all day long.”

Wang Wanwan replied rudely and returned home with the basin. As soon as she entered the house, she was called by Chen Liejiu: “Wanwan, come here and greet second brother.”

She put down the basin, walked over, looked up and down at Xu Huaiqian, and called him obediently: “Second brother.”

Chen Liejiu also introduced Xu Huaiqian: “This is my sister-in-law, Wang Wanwan.”

“Hello.” Xu Huaiqian greeted her and looked at the only one in front of him. He was surprised to see a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. He knew that people in ancient times got married early, but he didn’t expect that they would get married at such a young age…

Chen Liejiu realised what Xu Huaiqian was thinking, and explained softly in his ear: “Wanwan was picked up by me. She and Xiaohu only worshipped heaven and earth, and they haven’t consummated their marriage yet.”

Xu Huaiqian was relieved. Fortunately, people here are not so perverted as to get married at the age of twelve or thirteen. As a modern person, if he had to watch some girls who just graduated from elementary school or just entered junior high school get married and have children every day, it would be very torturous.

“I have a younger brother named Chen Jinhu, who is working as an escort with the escort agency. It is estimated that he will be back next month…”

After Wang Wanwan said hello, she went back to hang her clothes, leaving Chen Liejiu to continue introducing Xu Huaiqian to the family situation.

She had heard a lot of gossip about Xu Huaiqian’s poor health on the way back. She was prepared, but when she saw Xu Huaiqian’s skinny and frail appearance, she still felt a little uneasy.

“Cough cough cough cough——”

As she was thinking about it, Xu Huaiqian’s cough came to her ears uncomfortably.

Wang Wanwan glanced and saw Xu Huaiqian clenched his fist against his lips, lowered his head and coughed. He was coughing so much that the veins in his neck bulged. Her eyelids twitched, and she hurriedly moved to the kitchen.

When she took some wheat to make wheat rice for dinner, she thought of Xu Huaiqian coughing outside. She was cruel and scooped a large spoonful of rice directly from the rice jar next to her.

She washed the rice and put it in the pot.

 Somehow, she remembered what the villagers said about Xu Huaiqian’s death. She gritted her teeth, and took a piece of meat from the beam. She washed and cut it, and fried it with some vegetables.

She didn’t believe that Xu Huaiqian’s health could not be restored by taking good care of him every day.

Aunt Li also told her to be careful of her eldest brother.

Bah!

Her life was saved by her eldest brother. What’s wrong with her eldest brother marrying a sickly man as his husband? As long as her eldest brother likes him, she, Wang Wanwan, will sell everything she has to cure him!

In the evening, when having dinner, Xu Huaiqian saw that Chen Xiaomei had not come back yet, and said worriedly: “Do you want to go out and look for her?”

“No need,” Chen Liejiu looked at the back of the kitchen and said louder, “With one less person, we can eat more.”

Chen Xiaomei, who had smelled the smell and came back earlier, almost pulled out all the grass growing behind the kitchen when she heard this. She held her breath and refused to come out. 

After they finished their meal, Wang Wanwan cleaned up the kitchen, and everyone turned off the lights. She came out, rubbing her hungry stomach and walked into the kitchen.

In the past, if she came back late or didn’t have dinner, Wang Wanwan would leave food for her.

She had the mentality that if her brother didn’t give her food, someone else would give her food. When she opened the kitchen door, she was so angry that she cried again when she didn’t find any food in the kitchen.

Sure enough, men are the kind of people who marry “daughters-in-law” and throw their sisters into the ditch.

Before, saying that she wouldn’t eat was to scare him, but now saying that she wouldn’t eat, she really couldn’t eat!

Chen Xiaomei returned to her room sadly.

But the crying stopped the moment she opened the door.

She saw that the small table in front of her bed was neatly arranged with food and bowls and chopsticks, as well as many dragonflies and butterflies made of palm leaves.

 Each one is so delicate and lifelike, and more beautiful than any leaf weaving she has ever seen.

The author has something to say:

The first lesson Qianqian taught his sister: A man’s mouth always lies.