At this time, the Zhu family had just finished breakfast. Old Master Zhu sat in the yard, smoking a pipe. He was wearing a coarse blue shirt and frowning as he looked at the clothes hanging on the ropes in the yard. The blue shirt that he often wore a few days ago was washed by the third daughter-in-law at the instigation of Old Lady Liu yesterday. It is still not dry.
"Old woman, who asked you to wash it? If someone comes, what will you let me wear?" Old man Zhu took a few puffs of his pipe, but still couldn't help turning his head to complain to old lady Zhu who was touching the chicken's butt.
A few days ago, Mrs. Zhu felt that her chickens did not lay enough eggs, and suspected that her greedy daughter-in-law had stolen them, so she came to touch the chickens' butts early in the morning. In fact, she did not touch the chickens' butts, but used her hands to test the area between the chickens' abdomens and butts, and gently pinched them to see if there was any hard object. If there was an obvious hard object, it meant that they were about to lay eggs. Mrs. Zhu was an old hand at this. Just by touching them, she could tell how many chickens would lay eggs tomorrow, with an accuracy rate of 99.9%. If the number was wrong tomorrow, Mrs. Zhu would get angry with her daughters-in-law.
"You've been wearing it for more than half a month. If you don't wash it, you won't be able to tell what color it is. Besides, who is coming? I haven't seen you for more than half a month. You're going to work in the fields today, so why are you wearing such formal clothes?"
Old Mrs. Zhu was busy counting. When she heard Old Mr. Zhu talking, she raised her head and said something.
"What's wrong, mother? Are there not enough eggs again?" Auntie Xiao Si came out of the room and saw Old Lady Zhu touching the chicken's butt. She asked in a fuss, and then quickly distanced herself from the matter, "It's not me, mother. I have a sore throat recently and can't eat eggs."
"Hey, sister-in-law, mother didn't say it was you. Why are you so nervous?" The voice came out before the eldest aunt came out of the main room.
"Oh, sister-in-law, you are the one who is nervous. I am not nervous." Aunt Xiao Si covered her mouth and smiled.
In just a moment, the yard became lively. When Aunt Zhu Ping'an came out of her room, the yard was like a pot of porridge, boiling and almost drying up.
"That's enough. An egg is not a big deal. Where is the fourth child? The third child has been working in the field for a while, why is the fourth child still not moving?" Mr. Zhu couldn't stand it anymore. He knocked the pipe against the chair leg and glared at Mrs. Zhu. Really, this old woman can't even manage these daughters-in-law.
"It's Lao Si's family. I asked you to call Lao Si. Why did it take so long?"
Old Mrs. Zhu was glared at by Old Mr. Zhu. She didn't dare to vent her anger on him, so she had to grab the fourth son's wife to practice her anger on.
"Mother..." Aunt Xiao Si smiled awkwardly, "Keep your word... He wanted to lie down for a while after dinner to get enough rest before getting up, but he hit his head. I'm afraid he can't get up..."
When Mr. Zhu heard this, his face darkened, thinking that his fourth son was useless.
"You hit your head, is it serious? It's amazing that you are so careless. Just take a rest." Old Mrs. Zhu was very concerned.
“He kowtowed, why doesn’t he…” Old Master Zhu’s face darkened. Before he could finish the rest of the words, he saw the door of his house being pushed open.
"Uncle Zhu, good news, good news, hurry up and clean up the yard, good news is coming." The first person to run over was the man who was scolded by the old farmer. He ran out of breath and panted.
"What's the matter?" Mr. Zhu and the others asked quickly.
Before the man could say anything, he heard an old farmer's voice coming from the door, and then saw the old farmer walking towards him, panting.
"What's the matter, Brother Zhu, I am the first one to know this good news. Your boss..."
The old farmer came in and didn't even bother to thank me. He just started talking breathlessly.
However, before he could finish saying the key information, the words were taken over by the aunties or grannies who came in from behind.
"Your eldest son passed the imperial examination and became a scholar."
“Still number one.”
"They were so arrogant that the county officials started setting off firecrackers before they even entered the village. They didn't even dare to ride horses and had to walk over with music and drums, and no one could stop them."
Aunts and uncles came in one after another and added their voices at once. Their voices were full of emotion and the scene was blended together, as if they were there at the time.
"Really?" Mr. Zhu, who was angry and had a gloomy face, was overjoyed. His anger turned into joy all of a sudden, and his old face was full of smiles.
"It's true. The official from the county who's bringing the good news is setting off firecrackers at the entrance of the village. The person bringing the good news will be here soon." People spoke in unison, unwilling to be outdone.
After getting an affirmative answer, Mr. Zhu dropped the pipe that he treasured like a treasure in his hand, jumped three feet high with a nimble body as if he was more than 30 years younger, and quickly picked up the wet green cloth hanging on the rope, then ran straight to the room... to change clothes.
Old Mrs. Zhu didn't care to touch the chicken's butt anymore. She threw the old hen, which was almost rolling its eyes, aside and stood up with a flushed face. It was as if time had gone back to the moment when she was a girl and the matchmaker brought Mr. Zhu, who was still a young man, into the house...
Got it
The eldest aunt, who was arguing with the fourth and third aunts, heard this and it was as if a god had descended from heaven in the game. Her health and spirit were instantly full, and her fighting power increased a hundred times. She looked at her two sisters-in-law with disdain: You two have a combined fighting power of only five, you are not worthy to be my opponent...
"Oh, I almost forgot. Shouyi hit his head yesterday, and I boiled an egg for Lao Si to reduce the swelling. Haha, I almost wrongly blamed my eldest sister-in-law. Damn it, haha... Really, my eldest sister-in-law is magnanimous, please forgive my younger sister-in-law. When my eldest brother left, I had a dream that a golden toad jumped into your room. I asked someone to tell my fortune and it said that my eldest brother would definitely pass the imperial examination. Sure enough, my eldest brother passed the imperial examination as he said."
At this moment, Fourth Aunt covered her mouth with her hands and apologized to Eldest Aunt repeatedly, even taking on all the things she didn't do yesterday. She was eager to take the responsibility, fearing that Third Sister-in-law would take it first, as if this was such an honorable thing.
"Congratulations, sister-in-law." Third Aunt was not a flatterer, but she couldn't help but say a word of congratulations.
"That's right, congratulations, old man. I've felt that you are blessed for a long time."
"That's right. In all these years, our village has only produced one scholar, your Shouren."
"The only person in our village who got the upper hand was your family's Shouren."
The villagers who arrived at the Zhu family compound one after another began to compliment the aunt.
“No, no, come and sit down, we are all from the same village. Oh, by the way, the second son’s son, Zhuer, took the exam with his father. I wonder if Zhuer passed as well.” The eldest aunt was smiling from ear to ear, and like a lady from a wealthy family, she asked everyone to find a seat, even though there were only two stools in the yard... And at the end, she did not forget to mention Zhu Pingan, even though she had just heard that there was only one person in the village who passed, but she just wanted to mention him.
"No, it was your Shouren who won." The villagers said in unison, full of compliments.
So the smile on my aunt's face became more like that of a lady from a noble family, and her laughter became more heartfelt and cheerful.
If it were modern times, music would probably play at this time: I finally waited for you, luckily I didn’t give up… (To be continued.)
I am at work during lunch break so please forgive me for the late code.