My delicate husband

Lan'an hadn't slept so deeply for a long time. In a trance, Lan'an felt a brief suffocation and woke up suddenly.

This feeling was unpleasant, and it reminded him of the time when he jumped into the sea to commit suicide in his previous life. The sea water slowly entered his mouth and nose, and the air gradually became thinner. Lan An thought he had returned to his previous life.

The darkness and madness in his eyes could not be hidden no matter what. Perhaps his expression was too fierce and ferocious. Zhang Xiaomo smiled and quickly loosened his hand that had been pinching his nose. The smile on his face disappeared. A moment of shock, confusion and doubt flashed across his face, but he quickly regained his composure.

"An An, get up."

"Brother Xiaomo, I had a nightmare~"

Lan An was very sensitive to emotions. He knew that he might have scared Zhang Xiaomo, but now was not the time to explain. Zhang Xiaomo gave him a way out and did not ask any further questions. Lan An was relieved. Now, apart from pretending to be good and acting coquettish, he could not think of any other way.

"It's okay, just pet the fur, it won't scare you."

Zhang Xiaomo touched Lan'an's hair. It was soft and felt good. When he was a child, his mother touched his hair like this when he was scared, so Zhang Xiaomo instinctively did the same. After all, he felt that Lan'an was also a child.

"Brother Xiaomo, you pinched my nose, you are murdering your husband."

"No, I told the piglet to get up, but the piglet wouldn't wake up."

"Humph, not only did you murder your husband, but you also fell in love with someone else."

"An An, only piglets like to grunt."

"I'll bite you to death, you're so mean."

Lan An reached out to pull at Zhang Xiaomo's underwear, leaving a shallow tooth mark on his collarbone. Zhang Xiaomo was very indulgent. He felt Lan An's unhappiness and wanted to coax him. In fact, during this time together, he found that Lan An liked physical contact with him very much, and of course, he liked it too.

She reached out and pinched Lan'an's earlobe. It was small, white, and pink, very cute. It was a pity that there was no ear hole. But it didn't matter. When Lan'an grew up, Zhang Xiaomo would personally pierce his ears and wear earrings that were specially made for him.

"An An, get up quickly, it's too late."

Lan Euan was still biting and licking Zhang Xiaomo's collarbone. Not only that, she was also humming in his arms. Zhang Xiaomo felt a little irritable recently. He enjoyed Lan Euan's intimacy, but he was not a saint. Looking at the beauty in his arms, he was really afraid that he could not control himself.

"Don't get up, husband."

"Be good, didn't you make an appointment with Aunt Wang to go to Granny Tang's funeral today? You should get up now, or you'll be late."

Lan An suddenly felt irritated when he thought of this. He scratched his hair in dissatisfaction and reluctantly left Zhang Xiaomo's arms. If Zhang Xiaomo hadn't reminded him, he might have been busy. He didn't take it seriously at first.

"Brother Xiaomo, why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"I called her, but An An stayed in bed for more than half an hour."

Lan An looked at Zhang Xiaomo's teasing and felt a little embarrassed. He couldn't bear to look at Zhang Xiaomo's collarbone, which was a large area of ​​bruises, especially the collarbone, which was even more unbearable to look at. He was too much. It was the first time he felt pampered by his cat.

"Then I don't have time to prepare breakfast. Wait until Guo Geer wakes up and ask him to make some porridge for you."

"Don't worry, Guo Ge'er and I can take care of ourselves."

Lan An quickly washed up, and before she had time to give any more instructions, Aunt Wang's voice was heard outside the yard.

"I heard Aunt Wang calling me, Brother Xiaomo, I'm leaving."

“Remember to bring good things.”

"it is good."

Lan An took out a cloth bag filled with five pounds of coarse grains, picked two radishes and two cabbages from the yard, picked up five eggs, put them in a basket, and hurried out the door.

Lan Euan ran out of the yard in a panic, the hair on his head stood up due to running so fast, and his hairband was tied crookedly. Fortunately, Lan Euan's good looks were there, otherwise he would look like a little lunatic.

Aunt Wang couldn't help laughing when she saw him so panicked, and said to him comfortingly:

"Ang'er, don't be anxious. It won't take a moment. Be careful, don't fall. The road is very slippery! Walk slowly. Safety first."

"Well, I'm afraid you've been waiting for a long time."

"Squat down and I'll help you tie your hair."

"Okay, thank you, ma'am."

"You, even your brother Guo can tie his hair better than you."

Lan An took a few deep breaths, and in a moment, Aunt Wang's hair was tied up. Lan An liked Aunt Wang very much. She reminded her of the wet nurse who had been with him for more than ten years.

The two of them talked as they walked, and a quarter of an hour passed quickly, and they arrived at Grandma Tang's house.

When we arrived at the Tang family's house, the first thing we saw was a dilapidated yard. The thatched house was almost collapsed. No wonder the old man froze to death. It was lucky that he was not crushed to death. The villagers came one after another, and the village chief and the village chief were in charge of the affairs.

Lan An walked into the yard, which was quite clean. In the main room, there was the old man's coffin, a very ordinary pinewood coffin without any carvings or decorations. It was surrounded by wreaths, incense sticks, and smoke.

The villagers all wore plain clothes, their faces heavy and sorrowful. Some young men were kneeling and burning paper money.

Under the guidance of Aunt Wang, Lan An lit a stick of incense and bowed three times, and that was it. Boys and girls were not qualified to burn paper.

The things brought had to be recorded with Muramasa. Most of the people brought radishes and cabbages from home. A few brought eggs, but no more than two. The small basket full of blue gums was particularly eye-catching, and some whispers were inevitable.

"Look, that's Zhang Xiaomo's new wife. She's so rare, and I didn't expect her to be so fair and tender. The clothes he's wearing are pretty good, without any patches on them."

"Zhang Dapeng and his wife are both capable people, otherwise Zhang Xiaomo wouldn't be the only scholar in the village. It's just that he has bad luck, alas."

"So what if I'm a scholar? I'm no better than a farmer. Don't you know that I have to spend hundreds of coins on medicine every month? Didn't I borrow money from your family to pay for my treatment?"

"That's right. I haven't asked for interest yet because his family is so poor."

"I don't look like I'm broke. I was even riding in a carriage to the market a few days ago."

"I don't know where the money came from, and I don't know what's in his basket."

"Oh wow, you're so generous! Besides radish and cabbage, five catties of brown rice, there are also five eggs."

"Five eggs, that's a lot of money. Could he be doing some shady business out there? He's been to the county town quite a lot lately."

"If nothing else, five kilograms of brown rice can feed my family of five for a week. This guy is really not good at making a living."

"You know, the man from the Zhang family is in poor health and definitely can't have sex. Who knows how many times he's been cuckolded."

Lan Euan didn't want to respond at first, but the more he talked, the more he went on. The most important thing was that he was talking so loudly. He really thought he was a pushover, or that he was deaf. Actually, it didn't matter what he said to him, he didn't care, but calling him a cat was not an option.

"Aunts, you need to have evidence when you speak. I am not considered an outsider daughter-in-law. You are making up stories about me and taking advantage of the fact that there is no one in my family."

Aunt Wang, who was standing by, couldn't stand it any longer and started yelling at the people.

"That's right, you guys are all in your thirties or forties, and you're slandering kids here. You're disrespectful to your elders. I hope An Ge'er didn't offend you. You get up early in the morning without rinsing your mouths, spewing shit. The couple has a good relationship. Or maybe one of you didn't have an egg, and you're all jealous. The kids are so grateful, you really think you're worthless. Besides, they don't steal or rob, so you're just annoying."

"We are just talking about this, Aunt Wang. If you continue to be so aggressive, no one will marry your An Ge'er."

"Tsk, I only have one precious son, at worst I can find a son-in-law."

Lan An looked at Aunt Wang with gratitude. Aunt Wang was famous for her fierceness and integrity. Most people in the village obeyed her, and even the second-rate people in the village were afraid of her.

At the beginning, Lai Zi from the village teased her daughter Lin Ge'er because she saw that Lin Ge'er was pretty. When she found out, she chased him with a knife across half the village. That's how Aunt Wang became famous in the village. However, she was also capable and her needlework skills were really amazing.

Seeing the noise getting louder, Muramasa cleared his throat and started to scold.

"Don't you have anything to do? Anyone who keeps gossiping will be sent to the village ancestral hall."

There was an instant silence. Everyone looked at each other and automatically found something to do. When it came to giving copper coins, Lan An originally prepared 13 cents, but seeing that everyone gave 9 cents, Lan An also took out 9 cents.

Muramasa collected the silver and money, found Zhang Tiezhu, and asked him to take the money to Sun the butcher's house to sell meat. Everyone was very happy to hear that there was meat to eat. After all, every household had spent a lot of money and had not seen meat for a long time. They wanted to make up for their money by eating at the banquet, and no one wanted to suffer a loss.

The grains and vegetables for the banquet were also arranged, and the village chief began to assign tasks. Lan An and Aunt Wang washed the vegetables together. The weather was too cold, so they boiled hot water. The vegetables were mainly radishes and cabbages, which were not difficult to wash. The main problem was that there were a lot of them, so it was still very tiring to wash all the vegetables. Fortunately, Aunt Wang worked quickly, and Lan An only had to lend a hand. The two chatted while working, and time passed quickly.

The meal was prepared quickly. Before noon (1 p.m.), the staple food included brown rice porridge and mixed flour steamed buns. The steamed buns looked okay, but the porridge really tasted like hot pot water. Everyone brought large bowls of porridge from home, and Lan An took half a steamed bun.

"Anger, don't you want to drink porridge?"

"Auntie Wang, I'm not hungry."

"Okay, eat more food later."

A lot of porridge in a large wooden barrel was distributed quickly, and another full barrel of porridge was poured. Steamed buns were for sale, half for brothers and half for sisters, and one for men. You can get as much porridge as you want.

Lan An looked at a large group of ragged old people and children gathered around the porridge bucket, drinking porridge bowl after bowl. They all had messy hair and were skinny.

The children had runny noses and their faces were red from the cold. Some of them had dead skin on their faces. The elderly were also dry and their hands were like chicken claws, covered with cracks and black, with dirt in the cracks of their nails.

For the first time, Lan An truly felt the poverty of Lianhua Village. He was shocked, but not much. He took a few glances and then looked away.

"Alas, they are pitiful. They have no men at home, no one to work, and they don't have enough food to eat for a long time."

"Auntie, are there many people like this in our village?"

"Many, dozens of households."

The dishes were served, and the portions were quite generous. The blue eucalyptus looked unappetizing, and the braised pork was mostly fat, a white lump, mostly radish, very fishy. When it was served, everyone rushed to grab it, and it was gone within a minute, without even any soup left.

Stir-fried cabbage, or to be more precise, boiled cabbage, felt like it was pig food to Lan An. It seemed like the cabbage was cooked until soft without any oil. Everyone didn't hesitate and quickly snatched it up.

There was only a little bit of egg crumbs in the scrambled eggs with green onions. The villagers kept searching in the plate with their saliva-soaked chopsticks just for that little bit of egg. Lan An didn't move his chopsticks and just ate the steamed bun.

There was also a pickle with all kinds of pickles mixed together. As expected, it was eaten up too. It was really like a swarm of locusts, with not a single drop left.

The last dish was radish soup. Most people poured a big bowl. A large wooden basin of radish soup was not enough for the whole table. Lan An admired these villagers very much. He thought his family was a big eater, but compared with the villagers, they were nothing.

"Anger, you are so gentle. Are you full?"

"I'm full, ma'am."

Most of the villagers were still hungry after eating. It was a rare opportunity to have a full meal, so everyone ate as much as possible, as if they would be missing out if they ate a bite less.

After dinner, Grandma Tang was going to be buried. The village chief found a few young and strong men and dug a hole in the public cemetery. Grandma Tang was going to be buried there. It should be said that all the lonely elderly people in the village were buried there. When the time comes, the village chief will arrange people to sweep the graves, and each family will take turns.

Lan'an feels that Lotus Village is quite humane and humane in some aspects.

The funeral procession was quite long, but only men were allowed to enter the cemetery. Women and boys were not eligible and could only march half a mile.

Cleaning up the table was the job of the brothers and sisters. Actually, there was nothing to clean up because everyone had eaten very cleanly, but there would always be some leftover soup, which would be scrambled to share.

The table and dishes are cleaned up, and each family recognizes their own and usually marks them so they won't make a mess. They just wait for the man to take them back.

After finishing his work, Lan An said goodbye to Aunt Wang and went home first. He was really hungry and wanted to see Zhang Xiaomo very much.

After Granny Tang arrived at the cemetery, the village chief performed a simple burial ceremony, reading a few inscriptions, pouring some white wine, and then buried Granny Tang's coffin. Thus ended the life of an old woman.

At 3:30 pm, the sun was setting and Lan An returned home. Walking into the courtyard, Lan An's tense nerves relaxed and his pace slowed down.

"Ang'er, you're back? Are there a lot of delicious food on the table?"

Guo Ge'er also likes to eat banquet noodles. It should be said that everyone in the village likes to eat banquet noodles. After all, it is very difficult to have enough to eat in this era.

"It's okay, I didn't really like it. Have you guys eaten yet?"

"I had porridge this morning."

"Okay, I'll cook right away."

Zhang Xiaomo was reading in the room with his back straight. The warm yellow light of the fire shone on his face, adding a touch of tenderness to his cold features.

"An An, I'm back."

Lan An walked closer to Zhang Xiaomo and buried his head in his chest. He had been wronged today and needed to cuddle with a cat to feel better.

"But I'm not happy anymore."

"A little."

Zhang Xiaomo touched Lan'an's hair, his eyes fell on Lan'an's hairband, and a look of unhappiness flashed across his face.

"An An, who tied your hair?"

"Auntie Wang, she said my binding looked too ugly."

"It's okay, I'll help An An tie it up next time."

"it is good."