CH 1

Qingxi Village was very close to the mountain, and was named after the Qingxi River next to the village. 

The second room of the Shen family on the west side of the village was very lively today. 

Shen Shunfu had been gone two years earlier. Under the help of his wife, Wei Lanxiang, he found a marriage for his second son, Shen Xuanqing, and married Lu Wen from Anjia village, three villages apart. 

Lu Wen, the shuang'er child of the Lu family, was notoriously good-looking, and had attended school for a few days in the town. No matter how he spoke or dressed, it was different. 

He looked good and could read. In Wei Lanxiang's opinion, he was naturally compatible with her second child, and she asked Shen Xuanqing what he meant. Seeing that her son was willing, she was resolute and promised a dowry of 20 taels of silver. The marriage was given, and today was finally the time to get married. 

The gongs and drums were beaten, the suona was played, and the welcoming team came back. As soon as they stopped, they were surrounded by people for money, and the shouts and music was mixed together, making it extremely lively. 

The more people who came to the wedding, the happier the host would be. The Shen family was naturally not stingy with throwing money for the happy event. Someone took out a lot of copper coins from the red cloth and sprinkled it into the crowd. For a time it became more lively, everyone rushed to grab it . 

Amidst the sound of firecrackers and joyous music, the tall Shen Xuanqing, dressed in a red cloth, took out the bridegroom with a red veil from the sedan chair, walked all the way across the courtyard into the main room, crossed the brazier and worshipped, and led  the people go to the new house. 

He was usually not too expressive. Today was the big day to marry a fulang. Amidst the booing of the young men, Shen Xuanqing's eyes were full of satisfied smiles. 

In the new room, Shen Xuanqing led Lu Wen to sit beside the bed, and then went over to close the door. 

According to their rules here, he couldn't take off his veil yet, and he couldn't come in until after toasting to the guests outside. 

The person beside the bed kept clutching the fabric on his lap after he sat down. Shen Xuanqing didn't think much about it, thinking that Lu Wen was too nervous. Looking at the thin hands, he thought that Lu Wen was really working at home, and there were old scars on his hands, which should have been scratched. 

After the marriage was made, someone told him how to marry a young master who couldn't even work. Wasn't this nonsense? 

When looking for a matchmaker to discuss a marriage, the other party said that Lu family's Lu Wen was indeed a little more delicate. Although he couldn't do heavy work, he was diligent and quick. He was good at cooking and laundry. The bags of medicine sachets he made was sold in the town, either to earn a little for himself, or to subsidize the family. 

Shen Xuanqing never thought of letting his fulang do heavy work to earn money to support the family. He even knew how to cook and do laundry. In order to hunt, he often lived alone in a wooden house in the mountains for ten days or half a month. If he couldn't cook, he could only eat dry food.    

After he came in, he stood beside the bed for a while and didn't know what to do, as if he was made nervous by his own fulang. He walked a few steps on the spot, and he didn't know where to put his hands and feet. If others saw this look, It was necessary to laugh at him a few times.     

"I'll go out to toast first." At the end, Shen Xuanqing remembered that there was still this matter, so he raised his feet and went out.     

As soon as he opened the door, he stopped again, turned around and said to the person beside the bed, "I'll ask Shen Yan to get you something to eat, so let's make it for cushion first."

Shen Xuanqing saw that he heard it, maybe he was too shy to speak, so he didn't do what he thought, and closed the door smoothly.

After he went out, the people in the room sat stiffly, and when he was the only one left, he seemed to take a breath and bent his back slightly. Not long after, the door was pushed open again, and a girl in a new cyan cloth walked in with the noodle soup. It was Shen Yan, the younger sister of Shen Xuanqing and Shen Yaoqing.

She looked more than twelve years old, with a round face and almond eyes. She smiled when she saw the newlyweds sitting beside the bed. She was still a little curious about this fulang who she had only met two or three times. He was the best looking. Her brother Lu Wen was already good-looking, and she didn't know what it would be like today. 

"Brother Wen, I brought you noodle soup, and my mother asked my aunt who helped the cook to add eggs in it. Eat it while it's hot." 

Shen Yan said, and put the bowl and chopsticks into Lu Wen's hands. No one moved, her hand holding the chopsticks tightened. She smiled and said, "Brother Wen, I'll go out first. You can just put it on the table after you finish eating."

It was not the time yet, and Lu Wen couldn't show his face in front of outsiders. 

Shen Yan was young, so she didn't think too much, so she also closed the door and went out. 

After there was no one else in the room, the person beside the bed carefully placed the bowl and chopsticks on the edge of the bed, then lifted the corner of the veil and quietly looked around the room. 

If Shen Yan was present, she would definitely recognize that the person in the room was not the Lu Wen she had seen before. 

Compared to Lu Wen's literacy aura, Lu Gu looked very thin and frail because he couldn't eat enough to work all day. 

The window of this room was opened to the front yard. Fortunately, in order to prevent the bride and groom from being seen by others, the window was closed, and the window bolt was bolted from the inside. 

It was very lively outside. Someone was comparing wine with Shen Xuanqing. It should be Shen Xuanqing who finished drinking first, and the crowd burst into cheers. 

The liveliness of others was terrifying to Lu Gu. He felt uneasy, and when he thought that he was really put into the sedan chair and brought to Shen's house, his face became even paler. 

He didn't know how the Shen family was, but he knew about Shen Xuanqing. Last year, he and several other went to the tofu shop to buy tofu. On the way, there was a fight. Among them was Shen Xuanqing, tall and strong, with a fist in the face, the other person fell down. 

Lu Gu, who was beaten every three or five minutes, took a step back at that time. If it hit him, it would be much more powerful than his stepmother's stick and rattan. Maybe he could go to see his mother directly.     

Someone told him that the man was the hunter of Qingxi Village, and Lu Gu remembered it from then on. Anjia Village and Qingxi Village were not close, but they were not too far. Fortunately, he didn't encounter them again after two or three quarters of an hour. 

For Shen Xuanqing, he had few contacts, and he didn't dare to take a second glance at such a vicious man, but three months ago, the matchmaker told his elder brother Lu Wen about the marriage, and it was Shen Xuanqing.     

Lu Wen was born to his stepmother Du Hehua and the first man. After the man died, he brought Lu Wen to the Lu family.    

Lu Gu felt a little startled when he thought of Shen Xuanqing, but when he thought about it, it had nothing to do with him. It was for Lu Wen. What's more, at home, the stepmother would call him when she instructed him to work, and even his own father didn't pay much attention to him. He was looking for something, and the work was still good. He was most afraid of starvation and beatings.   

Lu Wen's marriage was only known from others. But even if he knew about it, he didn't even ask a single word when he got home, lowered his head to work and didn't speak, and tried to keep his movements light as much as possible, otherwise if he was noticed by his stepmother, he would be able to give himself more nitpicking.   

In the area of ​​Fenggu Town, after the matchmaker and the parents of both parties agreed on something, they would also let the two young people meet.    

There were also rules for seeing each other. You had to meet in another family with a daughter or a Shuang'er. Most of the daughter or  Shuang'er was sitting by the window and the other was working. Stayed for a while, so that you could see each other without causing gossip.    

Logically speaking, how could Shuang'er go to the Hanzi's village, so when the two saw each other, it was Shen Xuanqing who came to Anjia Village.

[Hanzi: the man, husband]

That day, Lu Gu was stuffed with dirty clothes by his stepmother. On the way to the river, he saw the tall figure in the distance, so he went around from the other side. 

The stepmother often scolded him that he was an unlucky ghost. Lu Gu sometimes thought to himself, as if he really had no luck. He was afraid that bad luck would happen to him. If he accidentally angered Shen Xuanqing, he would be beaten. It was miserable, so avoid it if you could. 

Now, he really was an unlucky person, even the absurd thing of marrying for his brother fell on him, and the stepmother even coaxed him to say that she was kind enough to find a good marriage for him. 

If it was a good thing, how could it be his turn. 

He didn't know what his stepmother was thinking. Although he didn't know how to read, he also knew that Lu Wen and Shen Xuanqing had asked someone to write a marriage contract. It was Lu Wen's name, not his, so how dare you made such a mess. 

It was not that he didn't understand that the stepmother was just coveting the 20 tasks dowry and didn't want to return it to the Shen family. 

It was said that the Shen family gave so much dowry money, and it was a heavy gift in any village, which showed that the family was not thin, and everyone thought that it was a good marriage, but Lu Wen wanted to regret the marriage. 

Others didn't know, but Lu Gu knew a little. He overheard the conversation between Lu Wen and his stepmother six or seven days ago. 

Lu Wen seemed to be in close contact with people in the town. Lu Wen was already engaged. He was really unlucky, and the stepmother discovered this by accident. 

He thought he was going to be beaten, but when he squinted at his stepmother, she smiled at him and grabbed his hand gently. With a motherly appearance, made Lu Gu terrified.     

When he heard that he was going to give him Lu Wen's marriage to the hunter in Qingxi Village, Lu Gu shook his head at that time. The stepmother looked at him, gnashing her teeth and scolding him for not knowing what to do, and she squeezed the flesh on his arm hard, it hurt and made him wanted to pull back, and he didn't dare to say that he didn't want to.

Since that day, the stepmother stopped letting him go out to wash the clothes and changed things, and he could only stay in the yard to do needlework. The stepmother was still watching him all the time, obviously afraid that he would run away or to tell other people. 

It was still lively outside. 

Lu Gu sat on the edge of the bed and didn't dare to move, but his stomach didn't live up to his expectations, and was seduced by the smell of meat outside. 

Early in the morning, he was dragged by his stepmother to wash and put on makeup. He just put on his wedding dress and put him on the sedan chair, without even giving him a stutter.

It was not that he didn't resist, he even jumped over the wall at night the day before yesterday, so as not to be found and beaten to death by Shen Xuanqing after the incident was revealed, but he couldn't run away. As soon as he ran out of the village in the dark, he was caught by his stepmother and father. 

In the woodshed, he was gagged with rags, and his cries were gagged in his throat. Fear and despair made him tremble all over, but he was beaten badly. For two days after that, he could only eat rough food every day. He didn't even have the strength to run far. 

The noodle soup was hot, with oil and chopped green onions floating in the air. The less onion was just to give a taste, but there was a lot of oil. Shen Yan also said that there was a poached egg lying underneath. 

Lu Gu looked at the bowl of noodles. He hadn't eaten such hot noodles for a long time. It was made of fine white flour and even had eggs. 

He picked up the bowl and took a sip of the hot soup first. The oil, chives and shallots fragrantly entered his mouth. He had only tasted such a good taste when he was a child. 

There weren't many noodles, but it was just a pad for his stomach. After the noodles and eggs were in his stomach, Lu Gu held the bowl and was reluctant to put it down so he drank the soup. 

He was the only one in the room now, no one would take the bowl from him, and no stick would fall, so he sipped such a fragrant green onion  soup, trying to remember the taste. 

With a drip, water fell into the soup, he wiped his tears, thinking that it would be good to eat a bowl of hot noodle soup before he died, at least he wouldn't be a starving ghost. 

The one who should in the Shen family was Lu Wen. Once it found out that he was not Lu Wen, they would definitely not give up. 

Lu Gu had heard more than once that someone beat his wife or fulang to death. In his opinion, Shen Xuanqing was fierce and vicious, and today may really be his death. 

No matter how much noodle soup was over, Lu Gu felt a little reluctant when he put down the bowl. Hearing that someone outside was making a noise about the bridal chamber, his face turned pale, and he quickly sat back on the bed and covered his head. 

He clenched the fabric on his leg tightly, panicked and lost, so scared that his body was shaking slightly, but fortunately, the noise outside was suppressed by Shen Xuanqing and a few others laughing and persuading him, saying that the groom was timid and shameless. Boo, his body was not good, he still ate and drank good food and wine outside, everyone fought and drank together, it was lively, and the bridal room gradually subsided, and Lu Gu had a kind of escape from death feeling. 

But as the guests dispersed after the banquet, the shadow of death enveloped him again. 

The door was opened and closed, and someone walked towards the bed. Soon, in Lu Gu's low vision, a pair of boots that were not often worn by farmers appeared. The new boots were large and obviously men's, enough to see opponent's physique. 

Lu Gu was trembling, the knuckles of his fingers clutching the clothes turned white, and the moment the red veil was lifted, his blood seemed to be frozen, and his mind went blank. 

And Shen Xuanqing, who took off the veil, saw the appearance of the fresh fulang, the smile on his face disappeared, and he suddenly became stiff.