CH 19

It was already noon, and every household in the village was blowing smoke, like a string of clouds, floating in the air.

After having lunch at Aunty Xie‘s house, Xu Qing went home with the newly made wedding gown.

His home is visible just after passing the end of the village; the only house at the foot of the mountain. Xu Qing opened the gate and he heard the “humming” noises coming out of the pigpen, “oh my, I have to go cut some hogweed. Otherwise, the piglet will get hungry and lose weight.”

Xu Qing placed the folded gown in the closet and touched it gently. He would be wearing it in a few days. Xu Qing closed the cabinet door, changed into patched clothes, washed the clothes he just wore, and dried them in the yard. “The sun appears to be getting bigger; It seems that the day of spring plowing is approaching.”

Xu Qing put the basket on his back, took a knife, locked the entrance gate, and went out to cut hogweed by the vegetable field. In a few days, he would have to dig the soil to plant more. Xu Qing tidied up the weeds on the ground quickly.

“The Zeng family is here to chat.”

Under a big locust tree in the village, a few middle-aged gers were sitting and chatting in a group. One of the gers, who dressed in gray, saw the middle-aged ger on the opposite side, and he hurriedly greeted.

“Hello, hello, I’m just here to join you all.” The one who was from the Zeng family raised his head and smiled in response. He came here to chat with others after encountering a major event today.

It was Zeng family wife – the one Xu Qing met in the clinic today.

Zeng family wife sat down next to Hui Yiyi, looked at the people around, and asked “have you all already eaten?”

Few people nodded politely, feeling a little irritated. The man from the Zeng family is the carpenter and has good craftsmanship. Many people would be looking for him when there is a wedding or other woodworking jobs in the village. Their lives were not the same. The Zeng family lived much more comfortably. It’s just that Zeng family wife’s mouth is broken, and he likes to twist the words.

Hui Yiyi, who was known as Sun Ama and Zeng family wife were good at gossiping. They like to snoop other people’s affairs to enrich themselves and entertain others.

(T/N: from now on, I will be using the term Ama from the raws to indicate a married ger.)

“TSK, TSK, this hair pin on your head is silver?” When Zeng Ama sat down next to Sun Ama, the other person saw that he was wearing a silver hair pin on his head, and his heart was a little sour. His own husband was only a farmer and not rich. Unlike Zeng Ama’s husband who has a craftsmanship that can support the family with plenty of food and drink.

Zeng Ama saw that the others were looking at his head with envy, twisted his waist triumphantly, and carefully stroked the silver hairpin on his head with his hand.

“Isn’t it! My husband has been busy with a lot of dowry work, so we have some spare money to buy stuff. Today, I had something to purchase at the market, so I dressed up.”

People present were choked by Zeng Ama’s words that followed.

“I say, I’m already this old, and has been married for several years. Why should I dress up. But the one in charge of me at home just wouldn’t allow it. As if I am still young, he said I should dress nicely.”

Sun Ama forced himself to withdraw his gaze from Zeng Ama’s head, “I remember. Yesterday, you said you were going to see the doctor at the clinic.” So, what if you have money if you’re not healthy.

“Hey, let me tell you, guess who I met in the clinic today? Hurry, guess.” Zeng Ama’s was red with excitement, and he no longer pretended to fiddle with the hairpin on his head. He stared at the people in front of him and couldn’t wait for them to ask for the news.

The few people who were stunned by the silver hair pin on Zeng Ama’s head did not respond as enthusiastically as expected.

“Who?”

“Who could you possibly meet at the clinic but the doctor.”

“No, there are patients who will spend money to see a doctor.” Sun Ama deliberately used the words ‘spend money, see a doctor, patient’ so strangely that the other people covered their mouths and laughed.

“No, you’re all wrong, listen carefully. I was at the clinic today and met the ugly ger of the Xu family.” Zeng Ama didn’t notice Sun Ama words at all and said loudly of whom he had met.

Everyone started talking when they heard it.

“The ugly ger?”

“Is that the child of the Xu family?”

“It’s not him. I haven’t seen him carefully for many years.”

“TSK, TSK, the poor thing, his parents both passed away, leaving such a child alone.”

“Ahem, I haven’t finished talking yet.” Zeng Ama saw that everyone had ignore him, so he coughed to get the attention back.

“The ugly ger’s face, TSK TSK, it is better than it was in the past. The red bumps seemed a little bit smaller.”

Zeng Ama used gestures to indicate the size of the pimples. He often went to the outskirts of the mounting to chop wood with his husband, so he often saw Xu Qing’s figure. Xu Qing’s face he saw this morning was the clearest he has ever seen.

“So, it’s finally healed?”

Someone asked with concern. If only the child was a man, instead of being a ger, he wouldn’t have suffered so much.

Zeng Ama patted his thigh, “it’s not only about to heal, the doctor said when Xu Qing finish all the medication he gave, his face will be fine within a few days.”

“Why didn’t the Xu family take that ugly ger to see the doctor back then? It doesn’t seem so uncurable.”

“You came to our village late, so you don’t know. That kid was reluctant to go out and meet people like life and death. And there were several fake doctors who said that they couldn’t find the root of the disease. So, they stopped trying.  When it happened back then, it caused an uproar.”

Zeng Ama waved his hands grandiosely, “This is nothing, but do you know that the ugly ger has reached the age of official match this year?” Sun Ama’s heart moved; there are no elders in this ugly ger’s home. That house, those fields, whoever marries the ugly ger will get it.

“Hey, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to do something. I’m going back first. You guys chat. You guys chat.”

Sun Ama hurriedly said goodbye to Zeng Ama and the others and rushed home.

Several other people naturally had the same idea. They also bid farewell hastily to Zeng Ama who did not know the situation.

“Hey! Where are you all going? I haven’t finished yet. Don’t you want to chat with me about what kind of person the ugly ger will be matched with?”

As soon as Liu Ama’s family finished eating, they saw uncle Xie who came to give Li Changfeng’s wedding dress. He also informed Liu Ama‘s family of the wedding date, and only then, he took the borrowed donkey cart back to his village.

Since it was Liu Ama, who went to Li Changfeng’s house as a matchmaker in the first place, he decided to send the groom’s wedding dress by himself, and then passed the good news to Li Changfeng along the way.

“28th is a good day.” Butcher Liu heard that several couples in the village also chose this day.

“If it’s not a good day, why would they choose it? Stop talking. It’s annoying when you talk.”

Liu Ama packed the things and went to the Li’s yard to look for Li Changfeng.

“Hey, you’re home.”

It was Li Changfeng who opened the door for Liu Ama. He was afraid that he would miss the message from Xu Qing, so he planned to wait a while at home when everyone else went out after dinner.

“Come in now, Liu Ama, and this is…?” Li Changfeng looked at the package Liu Ama was carrying and asked excitedly. The new couple’s wedding gowns must be made of the same batch of fabric, otherwise it would mean separation and is unlucky.

“Right, remember that 28th of this month is your wedding day. At the time, I will come to ask for a wedding drink.” Liu Ama was also happy, and after chatting with Li Changfeng, he went home.

“It’s only natural. Thank you for your hard work, Liu Ama. Please go slowly.”

Li Changfeng took the wedding gown back to his room, and he tried it on. It fit well and felt comfortable. Then he carefully took it off and put it away, for fear of accidentally ruining it.

He almost felt like he could fly now. He would get to see Xu Qing in a few days, and when they meet again this time, they will be a married couple.

Li Changfeng opened the cabinet again, took the seven taels of silver allocated to him by his mother, locked the courtyard door, and hurried out.

Chen Qi was repairing the dam at his home. It has been used for a long time, and it was always loose when digging the ground. Chen Qi didn’t dare to manhandle it very hard in fear of destroying it completely. (T/N: FYI, this paragraph was weird in the raws; I tried my best translating this part 

Chen Hong carried a wooden stool and a basket for embroidery work and sat not far from Chen Qi.

“Brother, what are you doing?”

Chen Hong lowered his head, holding the embroidered handkerchief, and said “I have something to ask you.”

“What is it? Although your brother has been doing miscellaneous work in the Army barracks in the past few years, I have also gained a lot of knowledge. Ask away.”

“It’s not about you.”

Chen Hong took the needle and embroidered the unfinished pattern skillfully. What he said broke Chen Qi’s swelling heart.

“Well then, ask whatever you want.” Chen Qi, who had originally wanted to show off, swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue regretfully.

“Do you know who the person brother Chengfeng is going to marry?” Chen Hong asked Chen Qi with a calm tone as much as possible. Chen Qi used his hammer to knock on the ground a few times, causing Chen Hong’s heart to tremble.

“I don’t know, that kid’s mouth is too tight.” Only after knocking so many times, the damn thing became a little loose.

Chen Hong bit his red lips slightly; his heart was a mess.

“Don’t talk about him anymore, when he visits me next time, we’ll know which ger he’s marrying even if he tries to hide it from me.”

Chen Hong twitched the corner of her mouth bitterly and thought that by then, it would have already been too late.

“You should also prepare for your own wedding. Zhang family ger is as old as you, and he’s getting married on the 28th of this month.” His little brother was good at embroidering, just like his wife. There are many begging their family for a marriage, but Chen Hong just wouldn’t agree to any.

“Why, is brother afraid that I won’t be able to get married?”