Chentan's Memories

No.20 Back to Diao matchmaker lost to Diao shopkeeper, idiot soldier, hard to coax idiot master

The winter in Jiangnan is similar to that in Chengdu - it is generally cold and humid.

The girl hiding behind the matchmaker was wrapped in a thick cotton coat to keep out the cold, and her fair neck was hugged by a dark black collar. Although she was dressed in a rough attire, she looked even smaller.

"The daughter of the Liu family in the west of the city came with me by herself—her mother left early, and her father asked me to interrogate this son-in-law on his behalf." The matchmaker covered her mouth and laughed.

Lin Lang felt disgusted at being made such a joke by the glib matchmaker.Take your eyes away from the matchmaker's face, and look back over her shoulders—the girl couldn't stand Lin Lang's direct gaze, lowered her head, shrugged her shoulders forward, and nestled her body together.

"What a generous girl..." Lin Lang secretly evaluated in his heart, and suddenly he could understand why those famous families in Jinling City preferred girls like Hua Liangxu.

"Where is your lord?" Lin Lang crossed his arms and raised his chin high: "You don't want to come for your daughter's marriage? ——Since we are a small family, why bother?"

Having experienced Lin Lang's sharp teeth and sharp mouth, the matchmaker had lingering fears about this noble young master, so she just repeated Lin Lang's "our family" and muttered in a low voice with a sneer: "You are not related to the shopkeeper Tang, and you still 'our family'." Home'..." He raised his head and shouted into the room: "Master Tang——Master Tang——"

Hearing this muttering made Lin Lang furious, but he couldn't fight back when he thought about it—you just said that you are Tang Yushu's friend, but what can you do?What position do you have to keep meddling in other people's marriage?After thinking about it, she became even angrier, frowning and staring at the matchmaker.

Tang Yushu heard someone call behind him, because his leg injury was not healed, so when he got up, he didn't move smoothly, and fell with an "oops"; in exchange for Lin Lang's sarcasm: "Look, you are in a hurry!"

Tang Yushu didn't know how to respond to Lin Lang's bitterness, so he just looked at him with a look that was like begging for mercy.That look made Lin Lang feel uncomfortable - he really knew that he was too sharp, but he just couldn't figure out why he did it.

Sighing, Lin Lang restrained his hostility a bit, and changed his tone a little calmly: "What's your name?"

"This girl's name is—"

"I'm asking her." Lin Lang realized that even if he tried to restrain himself, he was still easily irritated.Rolling his eyes impatiently, he cursed from the bottom of his heart: No matter how much the client wants to play the role of the charming Xiaojiabiyu, he won't have to ask others to introduce his name for him.

The girl whispered: "Single name Yao, Liu Yao."

Seeing that the girl was frightened by his own air pressure, and then felt that he was overdoing it, Lin Lang suppressed his anger again as he rubbed his swollen temples: "Then...how is the family condition?——We have this property under the name of shopkeeper Tang, And this hot pot restaurant is not considered prestigious, but it is also a good condition-the family doesn't care about us, but it must not be too far behind."

The matchmaker said: "Old Liu's family used to have an old house in the west of the city. It was requisitioned to build a temple the year before last, and they paid 300 taels for the demolition... Since then, I have rented out a few mu of land to others for planting."

"So much money in savings, why don't you want to buy a good dress for the girl?" Lin Lang bit his nails, his critical eyes wandered over the woman's frayed cuffs; the girl quickly put her hands behind her back, showing a little embarrassment. comfortable.

"Oh—it turns out that there is a younger brother in the family, who is fourteen or fifteen years old, and went to Jinling as an apprentice to learn crafts. Naturally, the cost is more..."

"Oh..." Lin Lang nodded: "How old is your father? Is he in good health?"

"It's almost forty... There's nothing wrong with it, don't worry about it!" The matchmaker thought that Lin Lang's wife was afraid that the girl's father would be sick, so she married into a oil bottle to burn medical money all day long.

Unexpectedly, Lin Lang asked back: "Claim to be old before you reach forty? ——Then since you are not sick, why don't you want to farm the land?"

"This……"

"I don't need to go into details." Lin Lang interrupted the matchmaker's hesitation, "We, Tang Yushu, are tall and dignified, so naturally we are a little stricter when it comes to marrying a wife—here we can get a bride price 1000 taels, how much is the dowry from your father?"

The matchmaker said: "The dowry... In fact, marrying a daughter-in-law is all about making money, that is, adding an extra pair of chopsticks, which will be more useful! You open your mouth for a gift of 1000 taels. Will deduct the dowry between the teeth."

"Grandma, you have the mentality of 'a daughter-in-law becomes a mother-in-law'." Lin Lang sneered: "20 years ago, you were expected to be a big girl, and you were sold by your natal family with such careful calculations. ?"

The matchmaker didn't understand for a while.

"Our Tang Yushu wants to marry a daughter-in-law to pamper us, not to buy an animal for labor. Since he is not born very beautiful, don't cheat out of money—please go back."

After being picked on by Lin Lang, the order to evict the guest was issued, and the matchmaker's face turned blue and purple.The girl standing behind the matchmaker just lowered her head and began to cry.

The matchmaker was annoyed by Lin Lang's words, she stood at a loss for a while, and said: "Master Lin, what you said is really bad!" Then she took the girl and left.

Watching the two of them turn out of the door, Lin Lang suddenly felt a force coming from his shoulder, and he was forced to turn around, facing Tang Yushu with a rare angry expression.

"Lin Lang." Tang Yushu seemed to restrain his anger, but the pimples on his brows did not calm down: "I didn't plan to go on a blind date and marry a wife—if you don't like it, you understand Tell me, when will I not listen to you? But no matter what, you shouldn't say that about others, you are humiliating someone's daughter who has not left the court with words, if this matter gets out, what will you ask the girl to do?"

It was obvious that Lin Lang's mood was not much better. He pushed away Tang Yushu's hand supporting his shoulder, and immediately put on the most common mean attitude: "Do you feel sorry for her?"

"Yes!...No, it's not about whether you feel sorry for her. Lin Lang, you are so self-willed in front of me. I will let you go, but you can't treat others like this!"

"Okay. I'm self-willed, she is pitiful and helpless." Lin Lang nodded calmly, and even smiled: "You can go with her." After finishing speaking, he went straight back to his wing.

Leaving Tang Yushu standing there, he turned his head and looked at Chen Ni, who had been silently hiding aside just now, for a moment: "Why is his mouth so loud?"

Chen Ni nodded firmly in agreement.

Lin Lang came back from outside to work around the time when the evening guests came to the restaurant one after another.Tang Yushu secretly looked at him several times, but he didn't speak.Tang Yushu didn't dare to ask, because he was in a bad mood in the afternoon, so he should go out to relax.

But at least it's much better than before—if I lost my temper before, I would lock myself in the room in nine out of ten cases.

The business on this day was pretty good, but there was a sporadic light rain at Haishi, and people withdrew early.Therefore, there was not much work to wipe and tidy up, and it took less than half an hour to finish it.

When he was out on the street to pour out the slop, Tang Yushu bumped into the matchmaker who came over.

The matchmaker looked around and made sure that Lin Lang was not there. She immediately grabbed Tang Yushu's arm and said, "Tang shopkeeper, let me tell you: The Liu family said that the dowry would cost one mu of land—the most! This is also very common in Chen Tan." It’s tall. Do you think it’s okay? I really don’t want to talk to that shopkeeper Lin anymore—it’s not a good thing to be too clever!”

Tang Yushu shook his head: "Grandma, I really can't afford the 1000 taels of dowry - I don't have that much money. I don't have to worry about the Liu family's dowry... I really don't have any intention of going on a blind date to marry a wife. That girl It looks honest and honest, there is no need to make such a trip... I will always meet my lover in the future, just let her wait."

The matchmaker was still fighting to the death: "Mr. Tang, the girl likes you very much. You see, you are not young... Maybe you still plan to be a bachelor for the rest of your life? You don't even know how hard it is for an old bachelor—— No one cooks for you!"

"I will do it myself."

"There's no one to do your laundry either."

"Lin Lang will."

"Then... no one will beat your legs and shoulders for you!"

"I have practiced martial arts, and I can open my muscles with a single set of punches!"

"No one to talk to you to amuse yourself."

"Lin Lang has a great mouth—you know that too."

Seeing that Tang Yushu didn't eat oil and salt, he simply tilted his head and spit out a mouthful of phlegm: "Then he can't give birth to your baby!"

"..." Tang Yushu was on the verge of death when he was asked, and couldn't cope for a while, so he blushed and ran back to the restaurant with a bucket in his hand.

When he ran back to the restaurant recklessly, Lin Lang was stepping on a tall ladder under the eaves, restraining his trembling legs while struggling to reach for his clothes.

In the evening at Chentan, there was a breeze and light rain, which wet the hot pot restaurant.

Putting down the bucket, Tang Yushu yelled, "Don't move, I'll get it!"

Lin Lang stopped what he was doing, turned his head and saw Tang Yushu looking away step by step.Can't bear to be anxious for a while: "It's already wet, it's not too late, you should slow down!"

Changed Tang Yushu to step on the ladder and put away his clothes: "Why didn't Chen Ni do it? Are you afraid of heights?"

"He just asked for leave and left, saying that he was thinking about his mother's tomb. Seeing that the weather is turning cloudy, it won't be able to open for a while, and it should be idle tomorrow, so I took the opportunity to go back to Yantang."

"Oh." Tang Yushu nodded: "Don't be angry."

After being reminded by Tang Yushu, Lin Lang remembered what happened during the day: "I went to inquire in the afternoon, and sure enough—then Liu Yao's father, since the house was demolished and the money was divided, he settled the account and said: 300 taels Enough to feed for a lifetime. Since then, I have refused to farm. As a result, I have been lying in bed for a year or two, and I have a problem with congestion. In the end, I lost so much that I even bet the house to others.”

Tang Yushu didn't say anything.

"If things were handled the way you did—without the ugliness and whitewashing the peace, then nothing would ever get better, and no victim would be saved. I didn't have to hurt that girl, I felt sorry for her All the sharp-tongued words are for the matchmaker to hear-it is not difficult to make a living with land and money; but he does not, it is fine for his son to learn crafts in Jinling City, but his daughter's cuffs are worn out But they refused to buy a new dress for you. You didn’t see it—they sold that girl for a bride price, and they will blackmail you endlessly in the future. I’m going to tell you through the mouth of the matchmaker In their family, this method will not work.”

After listening to Lin Lang's words, Tang Yushu said: "I didn't expect this... just looking at her is pitiful."

"Looking pitiful, I have to help her." Lin Lang said, "I went to see Fat Gut in the afternoon, and Fat Gut told me that Liu Yao was actually in panic all day long, for fear of being mortgaged by his father as a bet. I wanted to leave that house. So I bought Pang Gu’s 20 taels of roasted fish. The money was used to pay Liu Yao——Pang Gu and Liu Yao are friends, and they made a deal: I’ll let Pang Gu play it some other day. Under the guise of "Liu Yao bought roasted fish and damaged the stall", he extorted 20 taels of silver from Liu Yao, and the Liu family couldn't afford the money anyway, so Liu Yao came out to pay Fat Gu's job for a year; Wake up, it will always be useful in the future."

After finishing speaking, Lin Lang raised his face and was proud of his cleverness and chivalry.The rain was pattering in the dark courtyard, but it didn't feel cold.

Tang Yushu suddenly remembered that when Qingyang was still there, he had mentioned: young people from the south of the Yangtze River, all of them are handsome and gentle.

Through the dim light and shadow, Tang Yushu looked at Lin Lang's cheek.

——Gentle and pleasant.

Tang Yushu felt that this evaluation was not pertinent, but it was not far from it.