Eating big melon is so refreshing

Qinghe County is divided into four districts: east, south, west and north. Each district is divided into four main streets and eight alleys, making it very convenient to find your way around.

Wu Biao's house is on North First Street. It is also a two-story house, but its area is twice as large as Zhao Erlang's current one. There are seven main rooms, seven side rooms, and four ear rooms. There is a sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the yard, and a sweet water well.

Wu Biao and his wife Hong had a son and two daughters. The eldest daughter was already married. The son was eleven years old this year, and the youngest daughter was only seven years old. In fact, he didn't want to find a husband for the youngest daughter so soon, but the eldest daughter was looking for a husband when she was twelve years old. After choosing and choosing, it seemed that they were just picking the leftovers from others. The current son-in-law was not satisfactory. In order to avoid repeating the same mistake, he wanted to find a good husband for the youngest daughter in advance.

living room

Mrs. Wu kept promoting her son, a naughty child with no good looks, no talent, and no family background.

There was already a lot of impatience in Hong's eyes. This poor girl from the side branch, who was five generations distant from the head of the family, acted like an elder sister-in-law as soon as she came to the door. She didn't know how to read people's faces at all. She drank three bowls of tea, ate three large pieces of cake, and went to the toilet twice, but she was reluctant to leave and stayed here stubbornly.

"Master is back."

Wu Biao's parents died early, but he had an uncle who was a prison warden in the government, a ninth-rank official. This uncle had a cousin who loved him very much and was a big shot in the army. His uncle's only son liked this cousin very much too, and wrote to him several times wanting to bring his cousin to the imperial capital to take up the post with him. He knew that Wu Biao did not want to go to the imperial capital and was now clamoring to be transferred back.

The reason Wu Biao went to Huangyang County to work as a yamen runner was that he felt that the father and son were competing too fiercely for favor, and he couldn't treat them equally, so he ran away.

As a result, he came back when he couldn't make it there. Then, when he could just lie back and relax, he formed the Flying Tigers and went into the mountains to hunt. You can imagine what a mess that was going on in the old house!

Hong was depressed. She had been married to Wu Biao for 17 years, had children, managed the household affairs in an orderly manner, and the restaurant business was also booming. However, Wu Biao's uncle and brother ignored her existence for more than ten years, and did not care about his children.

In the hearts of the father and son, Hong was an outsider who had taken away their nephew and brother, and was even more hateful than an ordinary passerby.

What Hong wanted most was to marry her youngest daughter back to her parents' home, but she also knew that the children born to her brother in her mother's family were not outstanding. Forget about her daughter, but her son was already ten years old and couldn't even recite the Thousand Character Classic.

"Brother is back." When Mrs. Wu saw Wu Biao coming back, her voice dropped a few notches. She pinched her son hard and said, "Call someone!"

"Uncle." The naughty kid was a little afraid of his uncle. He once saw his uncle slap someone and send him flying. His father said that his uncle had even killed someone.

The naughty boy had never seen anyone being killed, but he had seen pigs being killed. The pigs screamed miserably when they died, and after they died, they were cut into pieces and cooked in a pot.

Wu Biao had no impression of this cousin who was several cousins ​​away from him. He only heard that there were a lot of messy things in his brother-in-law's family.

"I have a lot to do today, so I won't invite you to dinner. I'll invite you to come over for your birthday party in a few days."

Mrs. Wu felt sorry for the money she had spent on gifts, and she didn't really want to attend her cousin's birthday party. The more she thought about it, the less cost-effective it seemed, so in the end she decided not to come.

Wu Biao said, "Today I went to Erlang's house and saw his nephew Zhao Ming, the one who passed the examination. He has an older son who is the same age as our little girl but three months older. He has a good appearance and a good temper. He has been studying with his father since he was a child and is now reading the Four Books. He can also make elixirs. I saw him make a furnace of genuine "Da Li Wan" with my own eyes!"

Mrs. Hong's eyes lit up. The son of a student was so talented at such a young age. Even if he did not pass the imperial examination, he could become a pharmacist and would never have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life.

"Master, this marriage is a good one."

"I think he's good too, but we've only just met once so I can't say anything. He's studying at the government school this month and will take the college entrance examination in April this year. If he passes, he'll be a scholar."

"Master, I think this marriage should be arranged sooner rather than later. When Zhao Ming passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar, his status and position will rise, and then there will be many people who would like to arrange a marriage with him."

"Don't worry. Zhao Ming and Erlang have a very good relationship. I found that Zhao Ming and his son both dote on Erlang's fat daughter. I will definitely invite Erlang and his brothers to the birthday party. Then my wife can get closer to this little fat girl."

Wu Biao said, "Let Lizhi meet Zhao Ming's son first. If neither of them likes her, everything will be in vain." He was already annoyed by the fact that his eldest daughter had to write a letter home every month, and he couldn't let this happen to his youngest daughter again.

Mrs. Hong really wanted to talk about her children's marriage, which is a matter of parents' decisions and matchmaker's words. However, thinking about her eldest daughter's poor marriage situation, she decided to let the two children meet each other.

"Boss, you just said that Zhao Ming's son can make the "Power Pill"?" Hong said in disbelief, "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"Yes, the one who lives next door to Erlang is Master Mingyue, and he is accompanied by a doctor named Zhang. The doctor said that the furnace of "Da Li Wan" is genuine and can be sold directly."

"Is it that easy to make medicine?" Hong said in a daze, "My brother-in-law makes medicine, and it's a legacy from our ancestors. It took him three or four years to learn the "Dali Pill" before he succeeded."

"Making medicine depends on talent, just like studying. Anyway, this is a very profound subject, and I don't know the mysteries behind it."

Wu Biao thought of something and stood up. "Someone from the old house came over and said that my uncle is not feeling well. I'm going to go over to see him. He may leave lunch there, so I won't be back for lunch."

When Mrs. Hong heard the word "old house", her good mood disappeared immediately. Old man Wu Changsheng was still able to go up the mountain to hunt tigers. Why was he not feeling well?

Wu Biao walked out of the house and went to the end of the street, which was his uncle's house. He walked in through the side door as if he was familiar with the place and found his uncle under the peach tree in the front yard.

"Uncle, you are drinking cold wine here again."

"When the wine is cold, the heart is even colder." Wu Changsheng was thin and small, like a poor old man, with a pair of small green eyes that looked very aggrieved.

"Uncle, today I went to Brother Erlang's house and finally saw his fat daughter. Oh, she's really tough."

Wu Biao said, "Erlang has a nephew named Zhao Ming. Zhao Ming has a son who is the same age as Lizhi. I like him very much and want him to be Lizhi's husband. What do you think?"

Wu Changsheng leaned over and said, "Ajiu, did you hear what the little girl was saying?"

This sentence almost scared Wu Biao to death. He stammered, "You...what are you..."