The first time in history

"Old man" Qian Mingduo picked up the wine bowl and said slowly, "You gave birth to a good daughter. I... Zhou Jun can marry your daughter. It is not a blessing in three lifetimes, but a blessing in thirty or three hundred lifetimes!"

"Zhou Jun." The old man burst into tears. "It is a blessing for Hongchang to marry you!"

Qian Mingduo clinked his wine bowl with the old man and drank it all in one gulp. "Don't worry, we will still respect you as much as we do now. No, we will respect you even more than we do now."

"I know you two are both good kids." The old man looked up at the bright moon and sighed, "Hongchang's mother, our daughter has found a good family. She will have someone to rely on for the rest of her life. I, your wife, have also found a good son-in-law who can take care of me in my old age."

"Daddy!" Diao Chan subconsciously picked up the rag on the table, stood up, and wiped her father's tears.

"Son!" The old man seemed to smell something sour on his face. He wiped his face with his hand and then put it to his nose and sniffed. "What kind of cloth are you using to wipe your father's face? Why is there a strange smell?"

"This is..." Diao Chan sniffed the rag and smiled embarrassedly, "Dad, this is the cloth used to clean the stove in the kitchen. No wonder it smells."

"Ha, ha, ha" the old man laughed loudly. Diao Chan and Qian Mingduo also laughed loudly, and the courtyard was filled with a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere.

The next morning, Qian Mingduo finished washing up and opened the gate early. Then he picked up the broom and started cleaning the yard.

The courtyard door creaked open, and Qian Mingduo knew without turning back that it was Diao Chan watering the vegetables again. He quickly put down the broom in his hand and took the bucket Diao Chan was carrying. She held his hand and whispered, "Don't rush to water the vegetables yet, go inside, I'll show you something."

"Yeah!" Diao Chan followed behind Qian Mingduo with a blushing face.

"I bought it for you in the city." Qian Mingduo picked up a pearl flower from the desk and placed it in Diao Chan's hand. "I actually forgot to give it to you yesterday."

This is a flower with a gold and silver thread frame, inlaid with several dazzling rubies around it, with a fingertip-sized pearl in the middle, and tassels made of three strings of small pearls, which makes it more lively and beautiful.

Diao Chan carefully held the exquisite pearl flower in her hand, her eyes sparkling with surprise and emotion. This was the first time in her life that she had such an exquisite ornament.

For Diao Chan, this is not just a piece of jewelry, but also a precious expression of love.

"Do you remember this silk scarf?" Diao Chan took out a snow-white silk scarf from her chest. "This is what you bought for me when you came to the city last time!" She carefully wrapped the pearl flower in the silk scarf, and then carefully put it back on her chest.

"What's this for?" Qian Mingduo asked in confusion, "Why don't you put it on and take a look?"

"I will not wear it until the day you marry me!" Diao Chan said shyly.

"How much did you pay for it?" Diao Chan pouted and asked, "Tell the truth!"

"Eight cents of silver."

"What?" Diao Chan said distressedly, "Eight coins of silver is enough for our food expenses for several months. Why did you buy me such expensive jewelry?"

"Although you don't wear makeup, you can make all the women in the world pale in comparison." Qian Mingduo embraced Diao Chan in his arms. "All the ornaments in this world, no matter how valuable, are not worthy of you. No matter what kind of ornament you wear, it will only double the value of the ornament."

"Why?" Diao Chan stroked Qian Mingduo's back. "Why does the value of the jewelry I wear double?"

"Because you are Diao Chan, and just because it was worn by Diao Chan, its value has doubled!"

"Is Diao Chan so powerful?"

"Thousands of years later, our descendants will list you as one of the four great beauties in ancient times," Qian Mingduo said with infinite emotion, "Now you know how powerful Diao Chan is, right?"

"How do you know what will happen thousands of years later?" Diao Chan raised her head, wrinkled her cute nose, and asked in a cute voice.

"Because I come from thousands of years later!"

"You're just lying to me." Diao Chan quickly kissed Qian Mingduo on the face. "I'm not going to pay attention to you. I'm going to water the vegetables."

Qian Mingduo asked Aunt Wu to go to the Ren family to act as a matchmaker. When Aunt Wu understood Qian Mingduo's intention, she couldn't believe it was true.

"Sir," Aunt Wu said, eyes wide open, shaking her head, "you have to think carefully. Although the girl from the Ren family is somewhat pretty, you are no match for a fallen phoenix... No, no. Your Zhou family is considered a well-known family in our area, how can you marry a tenant farmer's daughter as your principal wife? It is already a blessing for her to be your concubine. You have to think carefully!"

"Just go ahead and tell them." Qian Mingduo put a red paper package on Aunt Wu's table. "Don't worry about anything else."

Although Diao Chan and her father asked Qian Mingduo to keep things simple, Qian Mingduo thought that he was going to marry Diao Chan, one of the four great beauties, and that keeping things simple was a bit unfair to her.

Therefore, Qian Mingduo completed the whole process from "Naji", "Nazheng" to "Qingqi" in strict accordance with local customs.

The date set for the "asking for a date" is the second day of the next month.

Since the day when Aunt Wu went to Diao Chan's house to propose marriage, Qian Mingduo has never gone to her house for dinner. This is not only a custom in ancient society, but also the minimum respect that Qian Mingduo has for Diao Chan.

Diao Chan, who was distressed by him, gave Aunt Wu a few pieces of silver and asked her to deliver meals to Qian Mingduo every day. Aunt Wu was also a warm-hearted person, and she wanted to be more attentive to Mr. Zhou. When her family rented the land from Zhou's family the next year, she asked Mr. Zhou if he could give her a little less of the regular fee.

"There are still eleven days left." After dinner, Qian Mingduo sat on the stone steps outside the house, looking at the bright red sunset in the sky, silently calculating the day to marry Diao Chan.

A breeze suddenly blew, making Qian Mingduo feel a little cooler. He was about to go back to his room to sleep when he heard a gentle knock on the door.

Qian Mingduo's heart began to beat wildly, and he had a premonition that the person knocking on the door must be Diao Chan.

The moment the gate was opened, Diao Chan, wearing a pure white robe, looked back and looked around. When she saw Qian Mingduo, she smiled sweetly.

"Why are you here so late?" Qian Mingduo took Diao Chan's hand and gently closed the gate.

"I missed you!" Diao Chan said softly, "I came to see you."

"Is the old man asleep?" Qian Mingduo pulled Diao Chan and slowly walked into the house.

"Go to bed." Diao Chan followed Qian Mingduo closely like a child who had done something wrong.

After entering the house, Qian Mingduo wanted to light the candles, but Diao Chan stopped him.

"I miss you so much that I can't sleep!" Diao Chan stood in front of the bedroom window and said softly.

The new moon shone brightly into the room, and Diao Chan looked particularly beautiful in the silver moonlight. She exuded a faint fragrance all over her body, which made people intoxicated and unable to extricate themselves.

Her beauty is not only in her appearance, but also in her kindness and gentleness. At this moment, she is like a fairy from the Moon Palace, so beautiful that it is breathtaking.

"Do you want me?"

Diao Chan quietly took off her robe, which was not just the removal of clothes, but more like a quiet ritual deep in her heart, a most honest embrace of herself. Under the robe, she was not empty, but in the most authentic manner, she exposed her love for Qian Mingduo.

"I give you!"

She stood there, without any decoration, she was already the most beautiful scenery. She made Qian Mingduo feel the real beauty - unadorned, yet breathtaking?

Diao Chan left. She came under the moonlight and left under the moonlight.

Diao Chan is still here, and the fragrance that fills the bed is the tenderness she left behind.

Qian Mingduo looked at the red dots on the Yuanpa in the bright moonlight.

His tears flowed silently.