When the pears are green

Chapter 241 Marry

Wu Mingde turned a deaf ear to the suggestions of Li Yun'an and Hu Zhining, picked up a pen and wrote on the paper: I was drunk all night and mistook snowflakes for apricot blossoms.

"Minghui, please take it to Xiaoyue." Wu Mingde said, and handed the note and five copper coins to Wu Minghui.

Wu Minghui happily accepted it, put his hands on his head and prepared to rush into the snow, but Wu Mingde grabbed him by the collar.

"Cough, cough, cough... Third brother, if you don't let go, I won't be able to run errands for you." Wu Minghui shouted in a hoarse voice to Wu Mingde behind him.

Wu Mingde quickly let go, and Wu Minghui fell forward into the arms of Hu Linglong who had just entered the study.

Hu Linglong patted Wu Minghui on the back and asked, "Little sister, has anyone bullied you? Your face has turned blue with anger."

Wu Minghui smelled the fragrance coming from Hu Linglong's clothes, and with red ears she retreated to Wu Mingde's side.

Wu Mingde quickly explained to Wu Minghui: "Minghui, I didn't mean it. I was afraid you would get gonorrhea, so I wanted you to go with an umbrella."

Wu Minghui cleared her throat, took Wu Mingde's oil-paper umbrella with a smile, and ran towards the Song family on the snow on the ground.

Hu Zhining glanced at Hu Linglong who was standing at the door, stood up and asked, "Old Four, why did you come here alone instead of staying with Sister-in-law Li?"

Hu Linglong sighed as she sat next to Hu Zhining and said, "Sisters-in-law Li and Yang are both busy, and many people are asking about my marriage situation. I feel so bored and uninteresting, so I don't want to stay there. Also, Lao Wu, I'm your fourth sister. If you keep calling me Lao Si, I'll let you know how powerful my fists are."

Hu Zhining pretended to be scared and rolled his eyes at Hu Linglong, saying with a look of dissatisfaction on his face: "You are only a quarter of an hour older than me. If my mother had not had a difficult labor when giving birth to me, I might have been the fourth child. I didn't let you come, but you insisted on coming. You might as well stay at home with my second sister-in-law, who is about to give birth."

After hearing this, Hu Linglong frowned and muttered softly, "How dare I accompany my second sister-in-law? Hong Tao has been driven out by my second brother. Wouldn't it be exciting for me to go there?"

"I never thought that my second brother, this playboy, would turn over a new leaf. My second sister-in-law can be said to have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel." Hu Zhining couldn't help but sigh.

Hu Linglong said disdainfully, "Second brother is afraid that eldest brother will ask second sister-in-law to divorce him. In eldest brother's mind, second brother is a rival for the family property, but second sister-in-law is sister Ruxuan's sister and second brother's wife in eldest brother's mind, which is equivalent to his own sister. So, even if second brother doesn't come back, it won't have much impact on second sister-in-law. Even though eldest brother only has a restaurant now, the three farms and a mulberry field in the family are all under eldest brother's control, so the Hu family still belongs to eldest brother. I want to hold on to my future sister-in-law's thigh and ask eldest brother to find me a good husband who is gentle, wealthy, mild-tempered, and not a playboy."

Hu Zhining immediately hugged Li Yun'an and said, "Then I will cling to my future brother-in-law and ask him to find me a good wife who has a good family background, is gentle, beautiful, and considerate."

Li Yun'an pushed Hu Zhining away with a look of disgust, picked up the oil-paper umbrella placed by the window, rushed into the snow, humming a little tune as he went to find Yang Jing.

Hu Linglong and Hu Zhining smiled at each other, then ran out after Li Yun'an, leaving Wu Mingde alone in the study waiting for Wu Minghui.

Song Yue took the note from Wu Minghui and asked with a frown, "Minghui, did Mingde drink last night?"

"Yes, my eldest sister and brother-in-law, Fifth Brother Hu and the beautiful sister of the Hu family, Big Brother Li and Sister Yang Jing, all came together yesterday. My father was so happy that he moved out all the wine in the house. Except for my brother-in-law, my second brother, third brother, Big Brother Li and Fifth Brother Hu were all drunk. There was no moon last night, and the drunk third brother asked the confused second brother to take a broom to sweep away the dark clouds..." Wu Minghui couldn't help laughing before she finished speaking.

Song Yue and Song Li both laughed quietly.

"You're so silly and cute." Song Yue said as she frowned and thought about how to reply.

There was a commotion in the yard. Song Li, Song Yue and Wu Minghui leaned over the window and looked out. It turned out that Jiang Shi, Zhang Peng, Zhang Jixiang, Zhang Pingan, Ruyi and Chen Yuan had arrived.

"Minghui, please help me look after Huaner. Yueyue and I will go say hello to my uncle and the others." Song Li said to Wu Minghui as she opened the door.

Wu Minghui readily agreed, moved a stool and sat beside the bed, watching the sleeping Jiang Huan.

As the noise in the yard faded away, Song Li and Song Yue returned.

Song Yue walked to the table and wrote on a blank space on the paper: The wedding day has come, don't drink too much, or you may miss the light of the red candles.

Wu Minghui picked up the paper and hurried to the Wu family's new house. His originally clean new shoes were now covered in mud and water.

After Wu Mingde received the note, he continued writing after Song Yue's words: I will keep in mind my wife's teachings.

Wu Minghui looked at the note Wu Mingde handed over with a tearful face, raised her foot and said aggrievedly: "Second brother, my shoes are dirty. If mother knows, she will scold me."

"Then Minghui, take a rest first. I will buy you a new pair of shoes when we get to town. I will go find my elder sister and ask her to deliver it for me once." Wu Mingde rubbed Wu Minghui's little head soothingly, stood up and prepared to find Wu Mingshu.

Wu Minghui quickly grabbed Wu Mingde's sleeve and said, "Third brother, let me go. Your shoes are already dirty, so don't let your eldest sister run away again."

After Wu Minghui finished speaking, she took the note from Wu Mingde and hurried to the Song family. She happened to meet Song Xing and Song Hui standing in front of the courtyard gate looking at the words on the wedding couplets.

Song Xing lifted the oil-paper umbrella a little, and asked Wu Minghui, who had a blank expression, with a smile: "Minghui, what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Sister Xiaoyue. I'll go over first." After Wu Minghui said this, she stepped into the Song family's courtyard holding an oil-paper umbrella.

Wu Minghui handed the note to Song Yue, who took a look at it and put it into her bag.

"Minghui, please tell Mingde that I have kept the note. You have run so many times in the snow. I have some ready-tied knots here and I'll give you a few." Song Yue blushed and took out a handful of knots from the sewing basket and stuffed them into Wu Minghui's hand.

Wu Minghui has always liked these things. She happily stuffed them into her bag, preparing to take a closer look at them one by one when she got home.

After saying goodbye to Song Yue, Wu Minghui skipped out of the Song family's courtyard, with only snowflakes falling on his footprints not far away.

Wu Minghui looked up at the large wedding couplets on both sides of the door frame and whispered: "I am so happy to meet a talented man and a beautiful woman, and our relationship will last forever."

The north wind blew in gusts, and Wu Minghui couldn't help shivering.

"Ah, it's so cold." Wu Minghui shouted while looking at the footprints that were almost covered by snow, and continued walking towards the Wu family's new house.

Wu Minghui conveyed Song Yue's words to Wu Mingde truthfully, and Wu Mingde took out twenty copper coins from his purse and stuffed them into Wu Minghui's hand.

Wu Minghui counted them happily again and again, then went home with a smile to change her shoes and clothes.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, and the sky gradually darkened.

The Wu family sent someone to discuss with the Song family, wanting to pick up the bride first and then hold the wedding ceremony at the appointed time.

After discussing with Jiang, Song Changhe nodded in agreement. Although the two families were in the same village, if the snow continued to fall heavily, the road would be difficult to travel on, not to mention that Jiang Qingzhou and the others had to go back today.

Because "jie" and "jie" have the same pronunciation, Song Li, as Song Yue's elder sister, could not attend the wedding and could only watch Song Yue being carried by Song Xing into the sedan chair hired by the Wu family.

The sounds of gongs and drums and the cheers of the crowd became increasingly distant. Zhang and Song Changhe supported each other as they returned to the main hall, both of them looking desolate.

Zhang picked up Jiang Huan, who was lying in Song Li's arms playing with his hands, and couldn't help but sigh that time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, her two daughters were married, and her son went to study in town, leaving only herself and Song Changhe at home.

Song Changhe, who was always good at coaxing Zhang, could not utter a word. He lowered his head and warmed himself by the fire in silence.