Old Zhou Tou said: "If you don't let him come, who else can you let him come? He is the most knowledgeable person in the whole village. In Qili Village, who doesn't have a relationship with my family? If you want to talk about favoritism, it's not appropriate for anyone to come. I can go to the Yamen now."
When I heard about going to the yamen, not to mention the members of the Zhang family, the Zhou family was not very happy. Who would like to go to the yamen if they have nothing to do
Both sides fell silent, and the old Zhou Tou decided directly: "Let my uncle be the host."
Bai Shan waited for a while, and seeing no objection, he smiled and said, "Since both sides agree, I will ask you to be a big boy."
Zhou Man and Yin Or quietly stood behind the crowd of Zhou's family, Batou took two wooden blocks for them, and whispered: "There are no more stools and chairs."
Zhou Man didn't dislike it either, and sat on the wooden pier.
Yin or looked down for a while before carefully sitting down.
Bai Shan stood at the head of the two families, and said, "The Zhou and Zhang families are relatives by marriage and blood. Normally, they should watch over and help each other. Mutual help and mutual benefit is the way to go."
"That's right, that's the truth," Zhang Sanlang responded immediately, "But their family doesn't know this truth, so the rich and the rich forget about us poor relatives, and they just refuse to come to ask for a favor, and even beat them!"
The surrounding villagers groaned, and someone leaned on the fence and said, "Zhang Sanlang, who said that Uncle Jin's family has forgotten the poor relatives? We are all poor relatives, so we have not been forgotten."
The surrounding echoed, Bai Shan stretched out his hand to stop their words, and asked: "I don't know what you want the Zhou family to do for you?"
Thinking of what he confessed yesterday, Zhang Sanlang swallowed his saliva, and said bravely, "That's right, I just want to ask for an errand with Zhou Zhoulang. Doesn't he have a caravan going out to do business?"
Bai Shan asked: "Is there anything else?"
Zhang Sanlang swallowed and did not speak.
Bai Shan asked: "I remember that the Zhou and Zhang families have not been in touch for more than ten years, right? The last time was when we were only seven or eight years old? Was there any etiquette communication during this time?"
Zhou Dalang replied on behalf of the Zhou family: "No."
He said: "For more than ten years, the Zhang family has never invited our Zhou family for weddings and funerals, and our Zhou family has never invited the Zhang family."
Bai Shan: "For the relatives who came to visit once in more than ten years, I don't know how many people from Zhang's family came to the door yesterday, and what gifts did they bring?"
Zhou Dalang replied: "Eight people are all here, come to the door empty-handed."
"Nonsense, nonsense, we mentioned the ceremony."
"Oh," Zhou Dalang seemed to have just remembered, turned around and went into the kitchen, took out a small bag and threw it on the ground, "I brought this bag, but it was left at our house, and it was tied up so we couldn't open it, so not sure what it is."
"Could this be the gift you brought to the door?" Zhou Zhou Lang rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll open it and have a look."
So he opened the bag in front of everyone, and showed it to everyone, "What a great gift."
There was a piece of millet in it, and Zhou Zhoulang said, "This is a welcome meal for my family, and the millet must be ground into rice first."
Zhou Zhou Lang glared at him, and reprimanded: "What nonsense, whose welcome meal is made with the millet brought by the guests? No matter how poor our family is, we still have rice for welcoming guests."
The faces of Zhang's family turned red, and the clan elders couldn't help smoothing things over: "It's true that they are ignorant. A few young people made jokes because they didn't know how to be polite, but we are all relatives, so please be tolerant."
Zhou Zhoulang opened his mouth to refute, but Bai Shan stared at him, so he could only hold back.
Bai Shan nodded slightly to the elders of the Zhang family, and continued to ask: "What did the guests say when they came?"
He laughed and said, "I asked several cousins and nephews of the Zhang family when they were fighting yesterday, and I asked someone to record it."
He took out a few pieces of paper from his pocket, unfolded them for everyone to read, and then divided them into two for the people on both sides to read, "But their memory may not be as good as Brother Zhou's, and there may be mistakes and omissions, why don't you ask Brother Zhou to recall it again?" some time?"
Zhou Zhoulang became excited. He has a good eloquence, travels all over the world, and when he comes back, he needs to teach his children outside knowledge. He is very familiar with such things.
The members of the Zhang family were interrogated yesterday, and the questions were answered dryly. How could it compare to Zhou Zhoulang's vivid narration last week
He even got started with acting, making the eight people come alive.
The onlookers watched with relish, but Zhang's family members, including the clan elders, were all blue.
This was really embarrassing, even Zhang Sanlang, who had always been confident and confident that he was right, blushed a little.
"You, you are slandering!"
"Yes, it's slander, we didn't do that yesterday."
"It's not slander, I saw it yesterday," said a person lying on the wall, "I just came back from harvesting rice yesterday, and I saw it when I passed by Uncle Jin's house. That's how they are."
"You are from Qili Village, so you naturally go to the Zhou family, and your surname is Zhou."
Bai Shan raised his hand to stop their quarrel, not serious about whether this matter is right or wrong, "Although one family is named Zhou and the other is Zhang, their family is the same as yours. They are both relatives of father-in-law's family. Do the relatives of my family have a completely different understanding of my father-in-law's family?"
"There are more than two families. This is because all the relatives in our Qili Village are different from Zhang's."
Bai Shan looked at the elders of the Zhang family, "Elders, the relationship between the two families is well known to each other, and everyone has heard about what happened yesterday. I don't know how the elders judge?"
"How else can it be broken?" One person said: "It's just some quarrels between relatives. Everyone goes back to their respective homes and finds their own mothers."
The elders of the Zhang family got up to leave, but Zhang Sanlang was not happy, and shouted: "Then we will be beaten for nothing? We were locked up all night yesterday."
"Then what else do you want? Seeing that you are clean and uninjured, I pushed you twice yesterday, and you fought back a lot."
Bai Shan also stopped the elders of the Zhang family, "The Zhou family also has something to say."
He said: "Ordinarily, the relationship between the Zhou family and the Zhang family has become much weaker in this generation. Relatives, unlike close relatives like parents and brothers, break the bones and connect the tendons. They move less and the relationship weakens." .”
"But the Zhou family still has to say clearly, the Zhou family and the Zhang family should break off."
"What did you say?" The old Zhang family's eyes widened, and his face sank, "What does this mean? The two families are breaking up for such a small matter?"
The elder of the Zhou family said: "The two families did not communicate for more than ten years, and it is no different from breaking up the relationship."
"Since you think there is no difference, then you will not have any contact with each other from now on as before, just treat it as a divorce. Why, now your Zhou family still wants to write it down in black and white?" The old Zhang family said angrily: "Don't go too far."