Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

In the dim kitchen, the surrounding walls had long been blackened by wood smoke, and the heat made visibility very poor even in broad daylight.

In the kitchen, Miyali was sitting on the stove making a fire.

The aunt was kneading dough, while Tuo Runxiu was sitting on a small stool picking leeks.

"It just so happens that I still have half a pound of tofu from the last episode, and I laid a few eggs these past two days. They'll be perfect for making some long noodles."

Tuo Runxiu said with a smile.

Today someone came to propose marriage to my daughter. It is not a rare thing. Since three years ago, someone has come to propose marriage almost every few days.

Who says our girl is pretty?

The strange thing is that the girl didn't like any of them, because she wanted to stay at home and take care of her mother and younger siblings for a few more years.

But in reality, it is not easy for a mother to ask what her daughter is thinking, because when her daughter grows up, she will have her own thoughts.

Their family is different from other families. Perhaps influenced by their husbands, they are very lenient with their children. As long as it is not a serious matter, they will basically follow the children's ideas and respect their wishes.

Since her daughter said she didn't want to get married for the time being and wanted to stay with her and her children, brothers and sisters, she didn't take it to heart if she stayed with them for a few years.

But as my daughter grew up, girls of the same age have already started families, and many of them already have two children.

Whenever she saw other children being well-behaved, she felt very happy and thought how great it would be if she could also have a grandson or a granddaughter-in-law.

But now the eldest son is in this situation, and I don’t know if he can find a wife. The daughter is not in a hurry to get married, so living together with three generations is just a fantasy.

On the one hand, I don’t want to interfere too much with my children.

On the other hand, she feels regretful for not having grandchildren. This is the complex psychology of an ordinary old woman.

I was worried about this a few days ago, but I didn’t expect that there would be a new breakthrough when winter was approaching and there were less than two months left before the Chinese New Year.

Someone actually came to propose marriage, and my daughter agreed.

This was simply the best news she had heard this year. Although she appeared to be doing well on the surface, she was actually already beaming with joy in her heart.

"I see you are very concerned about it, Runxiu, are you confused? Look at your neighbors, who talks about marriage with their daughters like you do?

Others are eager to ask the man for more things, but you, on the other hand, act as if our Lili is too poor to get married and you are forcing her to marry someone else.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop you. You were the good guy everywhere, and you made me, your aunt, look like the bad guy. "

With complaints in her heart, my aunt started kneading the dough so quickly that the chopping board made a whirring sound.

Tuo Runxiu smiled helplessly and said, "Sister-in-law, I know what you are thinking, but I think this way, after all, living together is a long-term thing.

You said you wanted something, so what?
If the people there are not good and their lives are not going well, then relying on you for these little things won't solve any problems.

Besides, I heard from Big Wa that Qiutang is really good and very popular in the village.

Well, we just saw that the child has an honest face, a straight body, and the ability to make money. That's all.

We are just an ordinary family, we can't expect too much from others, right? The son of the emperor has good conditions, but he is not the one we can marry. "

"You, what can I say about you? Your daughter hasn't even married yet, how can you think about other people? Even if our family conditions are average, we can't let others look down on us. If you think this way, then who will care about our daughter?"

"I keep it in mind, not that I'll give you anything in return," Tuo Runxiu disagreed in her heart, but she wasn't particularly excited and continued to explain gently.

"To keep it in mind is to look at the little things in life, to take care of each other and be considerate of each other. Without these things as a foundation, even if there is a mountain of gold in front of you, it will be useless."

"You can't say that. You have a mountain of gold and silver. Even if your man doesn't work out, at least you still have a mountain of gold and silver at home, right? If you don't have this man, then you'll have nothing, right?"

Tuo Runxiu had no choice but to smile bitterly.

"Anyway, it's like this. When the baby's father left, he specifically told me to help your family take care of the children.

Your kid's father is a man who doesn't care about things, and you are such an easy-going person. But in today's world, just being nice isn't enough.

If you are easy to talk to, will others be easy to talk to? In the end, it is us, the easy-to-talk and honest people, who are bullied. "

"That's right. I know my sister-in-law is doing this for our own good."

"That's good to know," sighed the aunt, "You can tell me that I am doing such a thankless job. It makes me feel good. Who doesn't want to be a good person?
Didn't you see the way they looked at me just now? They wanted to eat me up, right? If I didn't ask this question, how could I know the character of that child? Do you think I asked it casually? "

The eldest aunt said to Miyali through the smoke, "I asked about his mother to see if the child is filial. You can tell a man's character by looking at whether he treats his mother well, regardless of other things.

If he treats his mother indifferently, it is wishful thinking to expect him to be nice to other women.

I asked his sister again, just to see how he treats his brothers and sisters, especially his sister who is in poor health. If he directly ignores his sisters in order to leave a good impression on us, it means that this person has character problems.

If you have a bad character, I will sentence you to death directly, and there is no need to talk about anything else.

What do people look for in a blind date? Many people say it's about family background, appearance, betrothal gifts, etc. But I think this way, I just look at a person's character.

Character is the foundation. Without it, everything is superficial. He may say such words for you, but he may also do something unfavorable to you because of other things. People who are so swaying and two-faced are not suitable to be men.

Look at our Mi family, none of our baby’s uncles have bad character. I can’t find a son-in-law who is unreliable at the last minute. If I do that, our baby’s father will not forgive me even if he comes to my dreams.”

Listening to her mother and aunt talking, Miali felt very uncomfortable sitting in front of the stove. Although everything they were talking about was about her, it was not good for her to join in the conversation, nor was it good for her not to join in the conversation, as she would have become an outsider.

Compared with her mother and aunt, she actually knows Yu Qiutang better.

In other words, she believed in her own judgment.

But now, after all, they are not married yet and have not yet entered the family. It would be embarrassing and awkward, and not in accordance with the rules, to keep praising Yu Qiutang in front of the two elders.

In the past, when it came to blind dates like this, younger generations like them had no say at all. It was just that the atmosphere in their family was relatively relaxed, so their parents still asked for their children's opinions.

Anyway, things were basically developing in a good direction, so she tried to remain silent and not say anything in particular, so as not to overdo it.

However, the tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop.

Li Yali wanted to take it easy. After her aunt scolded her mother, she successfully shifted her target to him. "Lili, why don't you say a word? I've been talking to your mother for a long time. What do you think? Tell me."

"what?"

Miyali was suddenly called, and she was not mentally prepared, so she subconsciously said, "I'm fine."

"What do you mean by no problem? Look at what you said. Blind dates are small matters, and marriage is small matters. Child, I usually think you are quite smart, but at this critical juncture, you are as confused as your mother."

Miali has reacted now.

She smiled and said, "Auntie, I know you are worried about me, but I think Yu Qiutang is fine. He has been working there for more than a month, not too long or too short. We have basically seen him very well, and he is fine."

"Oh," the aunt sneered, "You can see clearly in just over a month. You have sharp eyes. How come you are the same as your mother? It really makes me worried."

Miyali pursed her lips, "That's better than having so many people only meet once or twice and just living together. Auntie, I think you should stop worrying and just work hard on your dough. If you scare him away..."

Miyali suddenly realized that something was too ambiguous, so she immediately shut up, added some firewood, and started to pull the bellows vigorously.

The aunt was both amused and confused.

He smiled helplessly: "Hey, you two, what can I say to you two? Just do it like this. If you get cheated, it will be your business.

As for people, even though life seems long, the key moments are just a few steps. Otherwise, why do they say men are afraid of choosing the wrong career and women are afraid of marrying the wrong man.

If you ask me, men who choose the wrong career still have a chance to change, but what about women? If you find a bad partner, your whole life will be ruined.

Look at our village, there are so many people living a miserable life just because they can’t find a good partner.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about me, your aunt. Your father was a good man in every way, but he died young and left me a mess.

I have to take care of my own family and worry about you. No other woman has such a hard life like me, taking care of everything inside and outside.

Do you think I am a bad person? If I were like you, how could I survive? I would have been eaten until there was no trace of bones left.

Well, since you two have no objection, I won’t say anything. I still hope you will live a good life in the future.”

"I understand. Don't worry, Auntie. I will definitely live a good life and won't make you and my parents worry."

"This kid."

At this point, the aunt said nothing more. Just as the dough was almost kneaded, she started rolling the dough with the rolling pin.

What she wants to make is the long noodles on this side.

Basically, a piece of noodle is the length of the chopping board. The longest one can be rolled out to 1.8 meters, and the thinnest one is less than one millimeter. However, the thickness of the noodle must be even so that it will not break when put into the pot.

The most taboo thing about rolling long noodles is that they look fine, but break into pieces once they are put into the pot. This is not only unlucky, but also shows that your cooking skills are too poor and you will be laughed at by everyone.

On this basis, people who can roll out long noodles well are highly respected by the villagers, and are often even asked to help roll out noodles at critical moments.

My aunt happens to be such a powerful person. Her confidence and pickiness also come from her strong abilities.

Otherwise, Tuo Runxiu would not have kept her here specifically to roll out long noodles. Tuo Runxiu could also roll noodles herself, but her skills were far inferior to those of her aunt.

If you want to knead the dough well, you must control every step from the beginning, including how much water to add, how much flour to put, how much alkali to put, how much salt to put, how long to let it rest, how long to knead it, and how to roll it. There are tricks to all of these.

If any link is not done well, it is impossible to make good noodles.

Therefore, the ability to roll out long noodles is only possessed by the older generation. After the 80s, people gradually lost this ability.

They were considered good if they could roll out the noodles, not to mention rolling out long noodles, which gradually became a delicacy that lived in memory and was associated with mothers.
.
Yu Qiutang sat under the walnut tree for a while and found a group of people parked next to his motorcycle, all of them looked like children.

They range from seven or eight years old to teenagers.

He immediately saw two familiar figures among them, namely Mi Yali's younger sister and brother, Mi Yahong and Mi Wenren.

When they came just now, the two children were not at home. Maybe they went to play at the neighbor's house and came back just now.

Because the motorcycle was parked right outside their house, they and their friends had never had much contact with it. They had only seen it occasionally on the road before, and the car would whiz past, which made them feel very magical.

They thought it must be beautiful to sit on it, but it was definitely not something they could touch.

Right now, such a nice motorcycle is parked at your doorstep. It would be wrong not to touch it.

"Sister Yahong, is this your motorcycle?"

"How is that possible? How can Miahong's family afford a motorcycle?"

"Oh, that's true. Why is the motorcycle parked here?"

Several children were talking about the car, some were envious, and of course some were jealous.

The world of children is often much simpler than that of adults. Adults also involve interests. Even if they are unhappy or envious of each other, they will not say it to each other's face and are still willing to give each other face.

Therefore, relationships among adults are basically based on face. If you don't give others face, even if you are a good person and do the right thing, you may be isolated by everyone.

This is not the world of children.

They do exactly what they feel like doing.

If he is unhappy, dislikes, or is jealous of someone, he will show it on his face, or express it with harsh words, and his main goal is to engage in close combat and cause direct harm to the other person.

"Who said my family can't afford a motorcycle? This is ours. Otherwise, why would he park it in front of our house instead of yours?"

Suddenly, someone in the group of children shouted loudly.

The children were startled, but soon burst into laughter.

"Miyahong, you have no shame, you don't say nice things but just brag, you marry a big monkey, the monkey has no head..."

Children's malice is always so direct. When Miahong said that the motorcycle was hers, she naturally didn't think about it. Her impulse did not bring her face, but a greater humiliation. (End of this chapter)