The endless stream of carriages in Xiahe Village lasted for more than ten days before gradually quieting down. Zhu Ping'an's mother, Chen, had only had time to leave the house until this time. In the past few days, there was an endless stream of carriages and people coming and going, and Chen could not leave home.
Chen is in her forties this year, but looks like she is in her thirties, especially as she has been in a good mood recently, her complexion and face are round and healthy, making her look even younger.
The women in the village who are of the same age as Chen have now almost all been eroded by the butcher knife of time and turned into middle-aged women. Whenever these people see Chen, they can't help but look at her with envy and praise her endlessly.
Every time this happened, Chen would always shake her head and laugh, saying "no way", but she couldn't hide the joy and pride on her face.
Chen's life was very comfortable these days. After Zhu Ping'an passed the imperial examination, the Zhu family's life changed day by day. Now the Zhu family has 100 acres of fertile land, and more than 60 acres of good paddy fields, and this is not counting the land donated. If you count those, it will be even more. In addition to the fields, the house has been renovated and looks much better than the number one landlord in the village.
Because there were so many fields, although there were people who invested in the land and tenants to take care of it, someone still had to watch over it. Zhu's father himself liked farming, so he stopped driving the ox cart and instead took care of the family's fields.
The job of driving the cart to the town now falls on Zhu Ping'an's elder brother Zhu Pingchuan. This is also a profitable job, and Chen is reluctant to hand it over to others.
The eldest son successfully got married. Although the couple was always together, he had not forgotten his mother.
Especially when she heard the news that her youngest son had won the first place in the imperial examination a few days ago, Chen's sense of happiness was overwhelming.
Apart from worrying about whether her youngest son was doing well in the capital, Chen could be said to be happy all day long.
"Juan'er, please look after the house for us. I'm going out for a walk." Chen took a shoe sole in her hand, took some needle and thread, and stood at the door and instructed her eldest daughter-in-law.
"Okay, mother, please take this small stool with you. You will get tired if you stand for a long time." The eldest daughter-in-law brought a small stool made of bamboo and caught up with Chen and said.
"Okay, take a rest in your room. Don't make any more clothes. You've already made two sets for me, your father, and Dachuan. Don't strain your eyes."
Chen was very satisfied with her eldest daughter-in-law. She had a big butt and was easy to bear. She was efficient and capable, unlike Dachuan who was as dumb as a log.
"It's okay, I'm not tired, mother." The eldest daughter-in-law smiled and shook her head.
"You girl, you don't even know how to enjoy the blessing you have. Listen to your mother. You can do the work anytime. There's no rush." Chen said angrily.
"Why."
The eldest daughter-in-law nodded and smiled shyly.
After giving instructions to her eldest daughter-in-law, Chen was satisfied and went out with a small bamboo stool, shoe soles, needle and thread, to the place where a few familiar women usually gathered.
Sure enough, when Chen arrived, there were already seven or eight familiar women sitting there, some sewing shoe soles, some spinning, some sifting rice in a large basket, in short, everyone was sitting together, chatting while working, having a great time.
"Oh, Ping'an mother, you finally dared to come out." An aunt saw Chen coming and greeted her.
"I was busy at home a few days ago." Chen said with a smile.
"Look, I'm not kidding, don't you think Ping An Niang looks younger again?" Another aunt looked at Chen and said to a sister-in-law beside her.
"That's right. Ping'an's mother is about the same age as me. I have become a yellow-faced woman, but Ping'an's mother doesn't look her age at all. She looks like a young wife in her early thirties." The eldest sister-in-law glanced at Chen and couldn't help but click her tongue.
"How could that be? Look at what you are talking about. I'm already over 40." Chen's face was full of joy, but she shook her head repeatedly and denied it with a smile.
"I'm not talking nonsense. Ping'an mother, no matter who you ask, they have to say it this way." The eldest sister-in-law said solemnly.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Just work together to deceive me." Although Chen refused again and again, she couldn't hide the joy on her face.
Chen sat down to sew shoe soles, and everyone started chatting again. Although it was a small mountain village, there was a lot of gossip about the neighborhood, such as the wild boar that broke into the neighboring Wangjia Village a few days ago, the daughter-in-law of a certain family in the village had a quarrel with her mother-in-law, the big dog of Mrs. Li Er gave birth to a litter of puppies, and so on. Any topic could keep everyone talking for a long time.
Chen was sitting there sewing shoe soles and listening to people chatting. After listening for a while, Chen did not hear what she wanted to hear. She did not hear people talking about Zhu Ping'an winning the first place in the imperial examination. This made Chen, who had prepared a lot of speeches, feel like he had mastered the dragon-slaying magic and had acquired the ability to slay dragons, but unfortunately there was no dragon.
But it doesn’t matter, Chen has special chatting skills.
For example, now, during the break when everyone was chatting, Chen spoke.
"Aunt, you see, the weather is quite nice today." Chen said quietly as she looked at the people who were busy working.
"Yeah, it's good."
"Yeah, it's fine."
Everyone looked up at the sky, nodded and said.
After hearing what everyone said, Chen spoke again, her voice full and clear.
“Look at that cloud.”
Chen put down the sole of his shoe, pointed to a white cloud in the sky, and asked in a full and clear voice:
"Look at that cloud
Doesn't he look like my youngest son who passed the imperial examination and won the first place?"
All the aunts
The white cloud in the sky that Chen pointed out was embarrassed. I just stretched it casually and it didn't have any shape yet.
Look at that cloud, does it look like my youngest son who passed the imperial examination? This sentence seemed casual, but it was very effective and hit the nail on the head. Chen's question successfully led the topic to Zhu Ping'an's passing the imperial examination, and everyone's conversation began to revolve around Zhu Ping'an.
"Yeah, yes. By the way, Ping'an, when did your Ping'an pass the exam?"
"I've seen a lot of carriages coming to your house these days, all of them delivering things to you. Look at how nicely they're dressed. What are they for?"
"What is the purpose of this session of Ping An Lang?"
"Ping An Niang, you are so blessed. Ping An Lang is going to be an official, right?"
Seeing everyone asking questions at once, Chen had a smile on her face all the time. She answered everyone one by one, and she was in high spirits and very enthusiastic.
In the following time, everyone's topic was fixed on Huiyuan + Zhu Ping'an. As long as everyone changed the subject, Chen could always use a similar method to turn the topic back, and she never got tired of it.
ps: Although I feel a little embarrassed, I still want to ask for the next monthly ticket. It is almost the end of the month and everyone can vote for the poor family if they have monthly tickets. Seeing that the monthly tickets were left behind, the tigress was a little unhappy. (To be continued.)
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