When the pears are green

Wu Mingshu opened the gate and asked the obviously confused Su Wangyue with a smile: "Whose child are you from? Did you get lost here?"

Su Wangyue glanced at the loom spinning in the yard and asked Wu Mingshu in a low voice: "Aunt, is this my fourth uncle's house?"

"Fourth uncle? What's your fourth uncle's name?" Wu Mingshu squatted in front of Su Wangyue and asked patiently.

Su Wangyue wrinkled his cute nose, turned his head to look at the woman who was about to approach, and continued to talk to Wu Mingshu calmly: "My mother's name is Chen...Shu, I don't know what my fourth uncle's name is."

"Your surname is Chen? Then you've come to the wrong place. Our surname is Yang, but our neighbor to the west is surnamed Chen, and there is a big tung tree in his yard." Wu Mingshu stood up and said, wanting to take Su Wangyue to Chen Yuan's house to ask.

Su Wangyue said thank you to his aunt, and hurried to Chen Shu who was walking slowly. Then he raised his little face, put his hands on his hips and told Chen Shu that the address was wrong.

Chen Shu pinched Su Wangyue's pink cheek with one hand and patted his forehead with the other hand and said, "The house was bought two years ago. It's normal that I remembered the address wrong."

Su Wangyue angrily hugged Chen Shu's arm and continued to walk forward. When they passed the Yang family again, Chen Shu smiled and nodded to Wu Mingshu who was closing the door. Su Wangyue secretly glanced at Wu Mingshu as he walked, and only withdrew his gaze after the gate was closed.

Seeing this, Chen Shu rubbed Su Wangyue’s little head. Children aged four or five are very curious and always like to stare at people or things they meet for half a day.

"Mom, my aunt said that this family's surname is Chen. Is it here?" Su Wangyue asked a little worriedly.

Chen Shu looked at the gate of the courtyard carefully. She had only been here once when she bought the courtyard, so she couldn't remember clearly.

"That's right. Doesn't Yue'er like knocking on the door? Yue'er, try it again. Knock three times!" Chen Shu coaxed Su Wangyue. Su Wangyue walked to the gate of the courtyard with full confidence. The knocking sounds of "dong, dong, dong" rang out again.

The brother and sister, who had not seen each other for two years, looked at each other. Cui'er hurriedly stopped the carriage, fearing that the "clattering" sound of horse hooves would disturb the joy of being reunited again.

Chen Yuan lowered his head and rubbed his sore eyes. He first bent down and picked up Su Wangyue who was at the door, then pushed open the courtyard door with one hand, asking Chen Shu and Cui'er to come in quickly.

Su Wangyue had long forgotten Chen Yuan and was struggling to get out of Chen Yuan's arms.

"Yue'er, he is your fourth uncle. You liked him to hold you in his arms the most when you were little." Chen Shu patted Su Wangyue's arm gently, asking him to be more obedient.

Chen Yuan remembered that Su Wangyue was more fond of crying than the little girl. He was afraid of making Su Wangyue cry, so he quickly put Su Wangyue on the ground.

After regaining his freedom, Su Wangyue hugged Chen Shu's arm with a look of grievance. Chen Shu patted Su Wangyue on the back and asked Chen Yuan what he was busy with recently.

"Sister, I want to open a martial arts school to make a living after I get married. I'm renting a house recently, but the space here is too small to practice my skills." Chen Yuan replied with a smile.

"Has Lao Si found a suitable place?" Chen Shu asked.

Chen Yuan shook his head, smiled and asked Chen Shu to take Su Wangyue to the prepared east wing to rest.

After sitting in the carriage for three days, Chen Shu felt that her waist was about to collapse, so she picked up the still aggrieved Su Wangyue and went back to the room. Anyway, there were still five or six days before Chen Yuan got married, which was enough time for the two siblings to reminisce about the past.

Chen Yuan first helped Cui'er separate the carriage from the horse, and then took out the prepared grass to feed the horse that had traveled four hundred miles.

Cui'er was Chen Shu's personal maid and was very familiar with Chen Yuan. While feeding the horse with grass and water, she told Chen Yuan about what happened on the road.

After Chen Yuan listened carefully, he asked Cui Er to go to the west wing to rest. He had already left that home and was no longer used to acting like a master and servant.

The yard became quiet again. Chen Yuan glanced at the sun which was almost at noon and hurried into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Wisps of smoke rose from the courtyard, and a layer of lavender paulownia flowers fell in the yard.

Chen Shu woke up from her dream. She glanced at the simple room and Su Wangyue who was counting his fingers beside her. Tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes.

Su Wangyue lay on Chen Shu's shoulder, wiping her cheek with his sleeve and asked, "Mom, why are you crying? Did Dad bully you in the dream?"

"No, mother just dreamed about the past." Chen Shu said while hugging Su Wangyue sideways.

Su Wangyue raised his little head and asked in confusion: "Before? When was that?"

"That was when mom hadn't married your dad yet. At that time, mom would play with your uncles every day. We would catch butterflies and fly kites together. Sometimes we would go to the garden to fish for the fish your grandfather kept in the pond. Your grandfather would chase us from behind, and we would run in front. In the end, we would all kneel in the ancestral hall together. In the blink of an eye, we all grew up, but we no longer had the intimacy we had in childhood. That home is still there, but everything and the people have changed." Chen Shu chattered on and on. Although she knew that Su Wangyue couldn't understand, she still wanted to pour out her inner feelings.

Su Wangyue stretched out his little hand and patted Chen Shu's back while whispering to her, "Mom, Yue'er will accompany you from now on. I won't go anywhere and will always be with you."

Chen Shu smiled and hugged Su Wangyue. At this moment, her childish words could best soothe the gap in her heart.

In the next few days, Chen Yuan took Chen Shu, Su Wangyue and Cui'er to walk all over Heihe Town. He took them to Jiang Qingzhou's house to buy tofu, go fishing in the river, rent a yard, and go to the restaurant to eat Chen Shu's favorite mutton biscuits, eight-treasure cake, sweet and sour spare ribs, etc.

The day before Chen Yuan's wedding, the three brothers of the Chen family rushed over from Yingzhou. As there were limited rooms at home, Chen Yuan arranged for them to stay at Hu's Restaurant.

Chen Shu sat in the yard and directed the Chen brothers to hang red silk and post wedding couplets.

"The wedding couplet is a good sign of good fortune, and the twin flowers are in bloom for a happy marriage. The writing is good, Old Five. Study hard when you go home and strive to pass the examination to become a scholar. This way, Su Zhao won't always laugh at you brothers for not being good at studying." Chen Shu pointed at the wedding couplet posted on the door of the main hall and praised the tall young man in a sky-blue gown who was playing with Su Wangyue.

Su Wangyue rolled his eyes at Chen Shu, then explained to the young man, "Fifth Uncle, don't listen to my mother's nonsense. My father has never laughed at you."

"Don't worry, Yue'er. I still understand my elder sister. It's not that my brother-in-law dislikes us for not being able to read, it's my elder sister dislikes us for not being able to save face for her in front of my brother-in-law." The young man picked up Su Wangyue and went to the inner room to watch Chen Yuan try on the wedding dress.

Chen Shu didn't take this to heart. She smiled and shouted at the young man's back: "Chen Ting, when I get home, I will ask Dad to let you go to Bianzhou with me to study."

"Thank you so much, big sister. I was just thinking about seeing the prosperity of Bianzhou." Chen Ting turned his head to look at Chen Shu, the black mole at the corner of his eye smiling charmingly.

At 11:00 p.m. the next day, Chen Yuan took his three brothers as well as Li Sheng and Yang Yu to Zhang's house to welcome the bride.

Chen Yuan was wearing a red wedding gown with a red flower hanging loosely on his chest, and he was riding on a tall horse with a high spirit.

The children who came to join in the fun followed the wedding procession from the village entrance to the Zhang family’s door. Amid the sound of gongs and drums, Zhang Pingan got into the carriage carrying Ruyi on his back.

Since there were no elders in Chen Yuan's family, the wedding was a simple formality. Under Chen Ting's instigation, Chen Yuan left everyone early and entered the bridal chamber.

Hearing the sound of the door being pushed open, Ruyi, who was sitting on the bed, clenched her hands nervously and lowered her head to stare at the embroidered shoes with mandarin ducks playing in the water.

Chen Yuan walked quickly to Ruyi's side, slowly lifted the red veil, revealing Ruyi with a blushing face.

"It's not like I've seen you before. Why are you always staring at me?" Ruyi asked in a low voice to Chen Yuan who was standing there in a daze.

Chen Yuan squatted down and held Ruyi's right hand and replied: "You look really good today."

Ruyi blushed and was speechless. She clenched her left fist and punched Chen Yuan a few times.

Chen Yuan pulled Ruyi to the table and drank the wedding wine. Just as he lay under the bed to look at the cups, his eyes met with Su Wangyue who was hiding under the bed.

"Yue'er, come out quickly." Chen Yuan frowned and urged Su Wangyue.

Su Wangyue quickly crawled out from under the bed. Chen Yuan patted the dust off his body and asked, "Yue'er, tell your fourth uncle, who told you to hide down there?"

Seeing that Su Wangyue covered his mouth and didn't say anything, Chen Yuan ordered Ruyi to take a piece of maltose from the table and put it in front of Su Wangyue.

"Tell your fourth uncle that he will not only give you candy but also keep it a secret for you. Your mother probably doesn't let you eat candy very often." Chen Yuan continued to coax Su Wangyue.

Su Wangyue's eyes followed the maltose in Chen Yuan's hand. After swallowing it in one gulp, he betrayed Chen Ting neatly.

Chen Yuan carried Su Wangyue out of the room and threw him to Chen Ting who was talking to Yang Yu. Then he patted Chen Ting's shoulder and whispered, "Old Five, just wait for me. I don't believe you won't get married."

"Fourth brother is so stingy." After watching Chen Yuan walk away, Chen Ting hugged Su Wangyue and picked up some food on the table for him.

After Chen Yuan returned to the new house, he opened all the cabinets and wooden boxes and checked them again. He was completely relieved when he saw that there was no one inside.

As the night deepened, the full moon quietly crept to the window, listening to the spring love in the room.

In the second half of the night, a spring rain came suddenly.

After several days of continuous spring rain, Ruyi and Chen Yuan went to Yingzhou with Chen Shu and others.

The sky cleared up again, and the originally comfortable spring feeling was replaced by the scorching hot summer sun. It is really true that only when the weather clears up can you feel the depth of summer.