After passing Yinma Town and heading eastward, the next town is Nanqiao Town.
Nanqiao Town is older and has a longer history. There are nine villages of different sizes nearby, which is twice as big as Yinma Town.
The town is lively at the moment, and people are everywhere coming to shop with their families. It is customary to watch the Yangtze River on the 26th day of the year. On the 26th day of the year, filial daughters and sons-in-law go back to their parents’ homes and give New Year gifts. They all buy meat, sugar, and wine on this day. Go back to your parents’ home.
Early in the morning, the streets were bustling with people buying New Year gifts and returning to their parents' homes.
Lu Qing had not experienced such peaceful excitement in many years. He was walking empty-handed on the street and was out of tune with his surroundings. He didn't know how to integrate into such an atmosphere.
After a while, a child running around bumped into his leg.
He lowered his head, and the child looked up at him timidly, a little scared.
The child's father and mother hurriedly ran from the side carrying large and small bags, "You little brat! I told you not to run around when there are many people, but you just don't listen!"
The child's mother caught him, with an anxious look on her face, and slapped him on the butt first, and then she and the child's father thanked Lu Qing sincerely.
Lu Qing bent down and picked up the bamboo dragonfly on the ground and handed it to the child, "Are you from Nanqiao Town?"
"yes."
"I would like to ask where is the porcelain shop in town?"
"porcelain?"
"I want to buy an ornament."
"Oh, then you should go to Wu Ji. Walk north along the street, turn right after the second alley, and you will see it." The child's father gave Lu Qing directions.
"Thank you."
Lu Qing walked slowly, crossed the main street, passed the alley, and saw the old signboard that had been hanging for many years - Porcelain Wu from a distance.
He didn't go in, but ordered a bowl of plain noodles from the restaurant opposite. While waiting, he looked into the porcelain shop.
There were a few customers in the store, two clerks were showing people the decorations, and two women in their thirties were chatting with a female customer on the other side. They seemed to have returned to their mother's house today. Behind the counter, an old man wiped a large plate about two feet wide with a handkerchief.
"Your face."
"Thanks."
"You want to buy ornaments?"
"Let me take a look. I heard that Wu Ji's decorations are good."
"That's an old shop. We have Wu Ji in Nanqiao. If you want to see a better one, you have to go to the county seat."
"You still care about introducing customers?"
The noodle shop boy smiled and said, "We are all old neighbors."
"It sounds like Wu Ji is very popular."
"When I hear that you are an outsider, we are from all over the country. Who doesn't know that Mr. Wu is charitable?" He looked around and whispered in Lu Qing's ear: "When Mr. Wu was young, he couldn't have children. Later, he had a child. The master taught him to do more good deeds, and within two years, he was born! Look, now, he has five daughters and one son, all of whom are filial and capable. If you ask me, people still have to do good deeds."
Lu Qing smiled and said, "Which one is his son?"
"Those two are friends. My son took his wife back to her parents' house to visit relatives."
"So early?"
"I heard that my daughter-in-law lives far away and is not from our town. Do you have anything to do with Xiao Wu?"
"I heard he burns big ornaments well."
"That's nonsense. You must have heard wrong. His son-in-law took over the craftsmanship of large ornaments. Boss Xiao Wu only makes small ornaments!"
"Then I must have misheard..."
Lu Qing ate the noodles, asked questions slowly, and observed the Wu family's business. He saw that they were in harmony with their neighbors, their daughter was straightforward and friendly, and Boss Wu and his wife were also very kind. After finishing the noodles, he paid the bill and slowly walked towards Go back.
"Hey, guest, you don't want to buy any more ornaments?"
"I'll go shopping again."
Lu Qing walked down the street and saw the old lady of the Wu family coming out, looking at the sky worriedly, "Looking at the sky, I don't know if Huixiang and the others are home yet."
Lu Qing's footsteps suddenly stopped.
"They set off early in the morning, and the appointment has arrived!" Her daughter helped the old lady back to the store.
The old lady muttered as she walked: "Huixiang's natal family is far away! They are carrying such heavy things..."
"I'll be back soon. Come in quickly. If you get cold, they will have to take care of you when you come back..."
Lu Qing looked at the Wu family's mother and daughter, and the corners of his mouth slowly turned up. Presumably, Huixiang's mother-in-law, eldest sister-in-law, and sister-in-law also liked her very much.
yes……
With such a good character, who wouldn't like her?
In Lujia Village, Lu Wuzhu was loading eggs into a basket when he heard a child shouting, "Mom, I want candy!"
The shadow at the door flashed, and a guest came in. Lu Wuzhu heard the child's accent, turned his head, and saw Zhao Huixiang holding the child.
"uncle."
"Huixiang, I'm back to visit relatives."
"Hey, give my mother some New Year's goods."
They looked at each other across half the shop, one wanted to ask, the other wanted to ask, but neither of them spoke, and the grocery store was strangely silent.
Until the little girl with pigtails asked, "Mom, can I have this candy?"
Lu Wuzhu came to his senses and grabbed a handful of oil paper for the child.
"How much?"
"No money, just give it to the children to eat."
"How can this be done..."
"Nothing is wrong." Lu Wuzhu knelt down and touched the little girl's head, "Nao Nao, do you still remember grandpa?"
The little girl shook her head shyly.
"It's better to be a girl, gentle and quiet, like you were when you were a child." Lu Wuzhu smiled and mixed the syrup for her, "Here, the little girls in the village love it."
Nao Nao shook her head shyly and hid behind Huixiang, unable to help but look up at her mother. Lu Wuzhu handed over the number again, and Huixiang let her out, "Grandpa gave it to me, take it."
Only then did Nao Nao catch it and looked at Lu Wuzhu timidly.
Huixiang looked into the house and saw that Lu Wuzhu was the only one in the shop, "Uncle, I'm leaving."
"Why."
Huixiang led her daughter away, and Lu Wuzhu sent her out. The mother and daughter had already turned the corner. He sighed, turned around and walked back, and saw a handful of money on the shelf at the door.
Huixiang led Nao Nao home, where her son and husband were repairing chairs.
"Come on, grandma, it's strong now. You won't be swaying when you sit down again."
Grandma Zhao smiled and stuffed bacon into their bags.
"Did you see it?" her husband asked.
Huixiang shook her head.
"not at home?"
"Seems to be."
"It's okay. Maybe I'll see you when I come back for the second year of junior high school."
"Um."
"Looking at the Spring Festival couplets, they are so well written. I bought several pairs. The big ones are hung in stores and these are hung at home." Wu Baolai changed the subject and explained the meaning of the couplets he had just asked about.
After lunch, they were about to set off. It would be difficult to travel long distances when it got dark.
Huixiang tied up her bundle and told her mother to take good care of herself. After leaving her parents' house, Wu Baolai asked her, "Are you still going to take a look?"
Huixiang shook her head, "Let's go."
Ahead is Yinma Town. Wu Baolai met a fellow villager from Nanqiao Town on the road. The two families happened to be walking together. Nao Nao couldn't walk anymore and wanted her father to carry her. Huixiang was coaxing her to go to the town ahead to rest for a while. Suddenly I saw a person coming towards me in front of me.
They all froze.
Many words rolled up and down her throat, but Huixiang just smiled softly like she did when she was a teenager and called "Second brother."
Lu Qing's eyes suddenly became wet. He was no longer as frivolous as he was when he was a boy. He would run to her side when no one saw anyone and ask her to call again. Instead, he said "Hey" dullly and awkwardly, with a polite and jerky voice. , "Going back to your parents' home?"
"Yes. I heard that you are back..."
"Well, I'm back."
Huixiang stared at him. When the teenagers separated, they had many fantasies. She had spent all night worrying whether Lu Qing would not recognize her after two years of absence. Lu Qing said, "I came back from the battlefield and was exposed to wind and sun every day. You will definitely not recognize me by then!"
Huixiang was so annoyed with him that she lost her temper and ran away.
At night, Lu Qing came to apologize and asked Huixiang to embroider herself onto the veil, "I wear it every day."
Huixiang was embarrassed to listen and closed the window.
She was about to set off, so she had no time to embroider any portraits. She only had time to stay up all night and embroider a peace charm under an oil lamp.
In the few years since Lu Qingcai left, she missed him every night, wanted to see him in her dreams, and wondered if he had grown taller again, lost weight or gained weight. It was cold in the north, and she wondered if he would freeze... …
But the worries of youth are so unnecessary. Even if some people are separated by more than ten years, their appearance and personality have been changed by the years, they can still be recognized at a glance when they meet again.
Huixiang slowly looked away and stared at the snow at his feet.
The snow that had just fallen a few days ago was already covered with mud after three or two days of trampling, and it was frozen again at night, turning it into black and slippery ice.
Wu Baolai asked Nao Nao in a low voice, "Nao Nao, would you like to come over there with dad and sit for a while?"
Nao Nao pouted and shook his head, grabbed Huixiang's lapel, and said aggrievedly: "It's all snow over there!"
Lu Qing laughed, "Your daughter?"
"Yeah." Huixiang fussed, "Call me uncle."
Nao Nao grabbed her clothes and whispered to her uncle.
Lu Qing knelt down and said, "Are you shouting?"
Nao Nao said: "My nickname is Nao Nao, and my elder name is Wu Aixiang."
Huixiang's fingertips curled slightly.
Lu Qing smiled, took out a round jade stone from his arms and handed it to her, "This is my first time seeing you, so I will give it to you."
Nao Nao took it. This was the first time she had seen a green stone. She was only six or seven years old and didn't understand the value of jade. She just treated it like pebbles by the river. She played with it novelly: "It's so beautiful. This Did you pick it up by the river too?"
Lu Qing said: "No, I picked it up on a deserted beach far away."
"What is the deserted beach? Are there pebbles there too?"
"...Maybe a river flowed there a long time ago, but then it dried up and turned into a desert."
Nao Nao seems to understand but can't think of what desert is.
"Return the trouble to uncle, let's go pick up other stones and play, okay?" Huixiang whispered: "This is too expensive."
Nao Nuo said "Oh" and reluctantly returned the stone to Lu Qing. Lu Qing didn't want it and stuffed it into her hand again. "It's not expensive. I just picked it up on the roadside. I picked up a lot."
Nao Nao held it and looked at Huixiang with big eyes.
Lu Qing smiled at her, showing the childish smile of his youth again, "If the child likes it, make her a pendant. This is the only gift I can give."
Huixiang's eyes suddenly turned red, and she said in a hoarse voice, "Okay, Nao Nao, thank you, uncle."
Nao Nao looked at her mother strangely, then at her somewhat scary uncle, and said timidly: "I don't want it anymore..."
Huixiang picked her up and said, "Uncle gave it to you, take it. Second brother, we have a long way home, so we have to leave first."
"Well, I'm going back too." He picked up the things he bought on the ground and cupped his hands towards Wu Baolai.
Wu Baolai subconsciously raised his hand and said, "Come home for a drink when you have time."
"Okay!" Lu Qing smiled heartily at them, took long strides, and never looked back.
Wu Baolai looked at his back, and Lu Qing's bold, straightforward and free smile could not be removed from his mind.
He suddenly felt inferior. From beginning to end, he was no match for Lu Qing.
Even if he fell in love with Huixiang earlier than Lu Qing.
"Axiang, I thought he wouldn't come back at that time. Did I...did I miss you?"
Huixiang let out a "huh" and laughed, moistening her eyes and making them brighter than usual. She picked up Nao Nao and put her daughter into her husband's arms. "What are you talking about? Let's go. The child is tired. Let's go to the town to rest early." After a rest, let’s go home quickly.”
Her son carried the package on his back and ran after his parents. He asked for the stone from his sister's hand and said, "No, show it to your brother."
"Um."
"Uncle Liu, look at what kind of stone this is?"
The fellow villager took it and took a closer look, "It's jade."
"Jade! Is it expensive?"
"It shouldn't be too expensive, and I don't know much about it, but the color is good. It would be good to make a pendant for Nao Nao, or a pair of earrings."
"Why don't I have a gift?" Wu Dabao took the jade, muttered, and asked excitedly, "Mom, is that uncle the one who originally engaged you?"
"cough!"
"Dad, what are you talking about? Who in the family doesn't know? Mom, you are indeed a better-raised person than my father. No wonder you were attracted to him back then!"
The family talked and laughed, and traveled farther and farther away from Lujia Village...
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