Chapter 572: The Hammer Bird

Lin Xiangxue has two older brothers and a younger brother. She is the only girl in the family. Her parents love her, her older brother spoils her, and her younger brother gives in to her.

Besides, the Lin family lives a good life. Although the delicatessen business is not big, they make a lot of money.

The Lin family did not expect to make any money from their daughter's marriage. They don't sell their daughter.

Lin Xiangxue's parents said directly that they have no requirements and everything depends on the Sheng family's wishes.

With the woman's words, generally sensible men will give more.

With the conditions of the Sheng family, can the old man get the money for marriage? Sheng Xiping said directly that he would cover all the furniture and appliances, which must be the best at the moment.

As for the betrothal gift, Sheng Xian and Sheng Xikang gave 1,001 yuan when they got engaged.

It has been many years, and the betrothal gift has increased a lot now, so the Sheng family said that they can give 6,600 yuan, which is a lucky number.

Otherwise, 8,800 yuan is also acceptable, which is a lucky number.

The Lin family could see the sincerity of the Sheng family, and immediately said that 6,600 would be enough, no more.

Anyway, no matter how much they gave, they would not take a penny, and leave it all for their daughter to live in the future.

Both parents were reasonable. Since the two children got along well and were both aiming to get married and live together, they should not make it difficult for anyone. It was better to discuss and make the marriage a success than anything else.

Other aspects were discussed well, but the date of the engagement was a little uncertain.

Logically, the Sheng family was far from the capital, and since they came here, they should take the opportunity to settle the marriage.

But now it was the seventh month of the lunar calendar. According to folk sayings, the seventh month of the lunar calendar was the ghost month, and marriage was a happy event, so it was generally avoided in this month.

Sheng Xiping discussed with his parents and decided that since they were here, they didn't care about those few days.

They would stay for a few more days, and after the seventh month of the lunar calendar, they would find a good day to get Sheng Xitai and Lin Xiangxue engaged, and then go back after the engagement.

As for Zhou Qinglan and the children, there was nothing they could do if they couldn't make it in time for the engagement, so they just had to go back early.

Sheng Liancheng and his wife thought about it and decided that this was the only way.

So, the two sides agreed to get engaged on the sixth day of the eighth lunar month, and then discuss the wedding date, which would be before or after the New Year.

After the wedding was settled, the Sheng family was about to leave, but how could the Lin family let them go? They had to let them stay for a meal.

At noon, the Lin family prepared a very sumptuous meal, and Lin Xiangxue's father and brother accompanied Sheng Liancheng and his son to drink some wine.

In the afternoon, Sheng Xiping and his friends set off to return to the capital.

It was just August, the beginning of the seventh lunar month, and it was still early for Sheng Xitai's engagement, so it was boring to stay in the capital all the time.

Sheng Xinhua and his friends were clamoring to go to the beach to play, they wanted to pick up shells and catch crabs.

Sheng Xiping thought that he hadn't seen his fourth sister's family since he came back, so he might as well go to Shanghai.

This proposal was unanimously approved by everyone, so after staying in the capital for two days, everyone took a bus to Shanghai.

Knowing that her parents and brother and sister-in-law were coming, Sheng Yunfang was very happy, and she took a special leave to go to the station with Jiang Yanbin to meet them.

"Dad, Mom, big brother and sister-in-law, this way."

The couple looked forward to it at the exit, and finally saw someone, and hurriedly moved forward and shouted inside.

Sheng Liancheng and others followed the crowd and finally squeezed out of the station and came to Jiang Yanbin and Sheng Yunfang.

"You two are here? Where is my granddaughter? Who will take care of the child?" Zhang Shuzhen asked hurriedly when she saw her daughter and son-in-law.

"Oh, my father and mother are here. They are at home to take care of the child. We are here to meet them." Jiang Yanbin hurriedly explained when he heard it.

Sheng Yunfang gave birth to a girl at the end of May 1990 and named her Jiang Luwen.

Jiang Yanbin's brothers and sisters all have boys, and they finally saw a girl, and the Jiang family was very happy.

Jiang Yanbin's mother, Cao Yuqin, simply applied for early retirement from her work unit and went to Shanghai to take care of her daughter-in-law during her confinement.

After this service, she never returned to Shencheng and always took care of her granddaughter in Shanghai.

Last autumn, after Jiang Guozhong retired, he also went to Shanghai, and the old couple took care of their granddaughter together.

"Oh, yes, your father has retired too, that's good, with the elderly around to help, you two can relax a little."

Sheng Liancheng nodded when he heard this. His daughter and son-in-law both have jobs, and the child is too young to be taken care of. It's great that the elderly can help.

While Jiang Yanbin was talking to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Sheng Yunfang was crying while holding Sheng Xiping.

Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei have been following their brother since they were young, and their feelings for their eldest brother are deeper than their parents.

During the Spring Festival of 1990, Sheng Yunfang was unable to return to the Northeast because she was pregnant. When she gave birth, Sheng Xiping was busy going to Maozi. Calculating, the brother and sister had not seen each other for more than three years.

Especially in the past two years, Sheng Xiping was away from home, and there was only occasional news, so the family was very worried.

Now that she saw her brother, how could Sheng Yunfang control herself? She hugged her elder brother and started crying.

Sheng Xiping was at a loss for what to do when his sister cried, and could only wink at his own daughter.

The two girls were both smart, and when they saw this, they hurried forward to hug their aunt.

"Fourth aunt, you only miss my dad, don't you?

We all miss you, and we miss our little sister. How is the little sister now? Is she getting prettier? Is she fun?"

How could Sheng Yunfang keep crying in front of her two nieces?

She had to wipe her tears, pull her two nieces' hands, one on the left and one on the right, and talk to them.

"Fourth Aunt misses you too. Wenwen is so naughty now. Her grandma can't catch up even if she runs everywhere all day long."

"Dad, Mom, brothers and sisters-in-law, let's go home, everyone is waiting at home." Sheng Yunfang adjusted her mood and smiled at everyone.

In this way, the group of people drove straight to Sheng Yunfang's residence.

After Sheng Yunfang and Jiang Yanbin got married, the young couple did not live in that bungalow at first. They thought it was too big and too much trouble to clean, and both of them had no time to go to work.

After Jiang Luwen leaves, the house with two bedrooms and one living room will no longer be able to deal with this girl.

It happened that Jiang Guozhong also came to Shanghai after his retirement. Sheng Yunfang discussed with Jiang Yanbin and they simply moved to a more spacious house.

There is also a garden outside the bungalow here, with enough space for Jiang Luwen to run wild.

Before Sheng Yunfang and Jiang Yanbin got married, they had two properties in their names. At that time, the Sheng family said that there was no need for the Jiang family to prepare a house.

But the Jiang family always felt that something was wrong.

When Jiang Yanbin's unit built a fund-raising building, the old couple of the Jiang family, plus Jiang Yanbin's brother and sister, all pulled out the family's assets, and Jiang Yanbin also bought one.

Now that the building has been built and divided, I simply cleaned it up and rented it out directly.

They have also rented out the house they lived in before. The monthly rent alone is quite a lot, which is enough for daily living expenses.

Jiang Guozhong and Cao Yuqin both have pensions. The younger couple does not have to pay for the children, and the older couple only buys food.

Sheng Yunfang and Jiang Yanbin basically couldn't use their salaries and bonuses, so they saved them all and lived a comfortable life.

Jiang Guozhong and his wife were particularly happy to see the Sheng family. The little girl Jiang Luwen was crazy about being alone, so she was very happy to see someone from the family.

Under the guidance of grandma, grandma, grandpa, uncles, aunts, and cousins ​​called in a circle.

Zhang Shuzhen hugged her granddaughter tightly and never let go. Sheng Xinyue and Sheng Xinqi also liked their little cousin very much and gathered around her to play with her.

Sheng Liancheng and Jiang Guozhong may not have seen each other for a long time, but they got together and chatted affectionately.

In the evening, Jiang Yanbin booked a table at a nearby restaurant and treated his family to a meal out.

Originally, Sheng Xiping planned to stay in a hotel. It was not convenient for the eight of them to stay at Sheng Yunfang's place.

But the Jiang family disagreed with everything they said. There were plenty of rooms in the house, so there was no need to live outside.

Northeastern people are very particular about this, and there is absolutely no reason to let guests live outside. Besides, this house is the dowry of the Sheng family. If they come here occasionally, how can they live outside?

There was no way, Sheng Xiping and others could only live in Sheng Yunfang's house.

The Sheng family and the others stayed in Shanghai for a few days and visited the Bund, Yuyuan Garden, Huangpu River, City God Temple, Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, and Chongming Island.

Zhang Shuzhen bought things for everyone, many of which were prepared for Sheng Xitai's engagement.

Sheng Xiping also took the time to take the children to visit Sister Hui. Sister Hui's man was also transferred from Northern Xinjiang to Shanghai. Weiwei was admitted to college and graduated in two years.

After that, the family went to Suzhou, Wuxi and other places and looked around.

In a blink of an eye, it was already August 16th, just a few days before the start of school. Although the children had not had enough shopping, they had to make their way back.

Zhou Qinglan took her four children by plane to Shencheng, and then took a train from Shencheng directly back to Songjianghe.

Sheng Xiping accompanied his parents and took the train north to the capital.

On September 2nd, Sheng Xitai and Lin Xiangxue got engaged in the presence of their relatives, friends and work leaders.

In addition to the normal engagement ceremony, the Sheng family gave a bride price of 6,600 yuan, plus a gold necklace, gold earrings, and a gold ring.

When toasting and changing her tune, Zhang Shuzhen gave Lin Xiangxue a big red envelope.

The Lin family was not stingy either. They prepared a return gift worth one thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars, and also gave Sheng Xitai a big red envelope.

Both parties gave enough face, and the engagement went very smoothly.

At the engagement banquet, the two parties agreed to get married on the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month of the previous year.

The wedding was held in the capital. Three days after the wedding, the young couple returned to the Northeast together. They also had to hold a banquet at home to entertain relatives and friends.

After the engagement, Zhang Shuzhen gave her old son 20,000 yuan and asked them to buy some things for the wedding.

Sheng Xiping had already said that he had finished all the household appliances and furniture, and the rest were just bits and pieces that the young couple could buy after discussion.

Seeing that the autumn harvest was not far away, Sheng Liancheng felt grass growing in his heart and had no intention of playing outside.

So on September 4th, the family of three started walking back, arriving at Songjiang River on the 5th. On the 6th, Sheng Xiping accompanied his parents back to the forest farm.

"Dad, it's still early to harvest the land. How about you and I go into the mountains tomorrow? Let's go see the old farm again?"

Sheng Xiping also had a restless personality. After returning to the forest farm, he suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen the ginseng field in several years.

Anyway, I have nothing to do at home, so I might as well go over and have a look. If there is a big product, take it. If there is no big product, take it down.

"Okay, let's go then." After being reminded by his son, Sheng Liancheng also remembered it, didn't he? I haven’t visited it in several years.

It was too early that year when they went there. They only carried one ginseng seedling in Qinglangtou Market, which was not too big.

At this time, it's not too late, you can go and have a look.

The two men agreed and got up early the next morning, took all kinds of belongings for the mountains, left home and went straight to Laotunzi.

Qianchuan Forest Farm is close to the main peak of Changbai Mountain. Even though it is only early September, some leaves have already begun to change color.

The autumn wind is bleak, and after a gust of wind, many leaves rustle down.

It has been five years since the last time I came here, and the mountain has changed a lot.

Fortunately, both of them are old mountain hikers, and they are very familiar with the terrain and routes. The father and son walked for several hours according to the route they remembered, and finally found the old sign that they had cut.

The father and son did not hesitate to find the fault zone directly, tied a rope, and went down along the rope.

At this time of year, the ginseng seeds have already turned red and are very conspicuous in the grass.

The father and son just arrived at the bottom of the cliff, and before they took a few steps, they found several red ginseng seeds not far away.

"Bangchui." Sheng Liancheng cheered happily. "The whole mountain is full of them."

The father and son were very excited and hurried forward to identify them, but there were only a few seedlings of five-grade leaves in front of them, and the rest were four-grade leaves, and there were also lamp stands and two-jiazi, but no six-grade leaves.

"Here, there is really not a single six-grade leaf?" Sheng Liancheng was stunned, not knowing what to do.

"So, should we carry the ginseng or not?"

"Dad, otherwise don't carry it. We just came here to take a look. It would be great if there is any, but it doesn't matter if there is none.

As long as this place is still there, it's fine. I'll come back when I have a chance." Sheng Xiping walked around, but he couldn't see any ginseng seedlings that looked like they had big stuff underneath.

The last time I carried the seedlings with six-grade leaves, they were not very big. These five-grade and four-grade leaves in front of me probably don't have big hammers. It's useless to carry them back. It's a waste.

"Well, okay, I'll listen to you."

Sheng Liancheng was right. This thing is too small to be useful to carry out. Instead, it will be a disaster.

Why not leave it here and come back when we have time in a few years.

"Then let's pull off all the ginseng seeds. When I have time, I'll clear a small area at the end of Hulin Park and try to spread the ginseng seeds there."

Sheng Liancheng's addiction to this kind of land came up again. He planned to sow the wild ginseng seeds in the wild to see if wild ginseng can grow.

Sheng Xiping did not object to his father's whimsical idea. He just treated it as a game. If it worked, it would be the best. If it didn't, it would just be a little bit of work.

So, the father and son carefully pulled off all the ginseng seeds they could find and put them in a small cloth bag.

Then the two climbed up again, untied the rope and put them in, ready to go home.

Just as the father and son walked a short distance forward, Sheng Xiping suddenly heard a series of cooing and chirping sounds.

It seemed to be a bird's call, but it was different from the usual bird calls. It sounded vaguely like someone was saying, where is Brother Bangchui, come and save me.

"Dad, listen, it seems to be a Bangchui bird."

Sheng Xiping stopped and listened carefully. The more he listened, the more he felt that the bird's call was like calling Brother Bangchui.

There is such a legend in the Changbai Mountain forest area that there is a bird in the forest that does not call until the beginning of autumn.

As long as this bird starts to call, it means that there is wild ginseng nearby and the seeds of the ginseng are red.

Therefore, people call this bird "bangchui bird".

Sheng Xiping had never seen a bangchui bird, but he had only heard his master and his mistress talk about it. They said that the call of the bangchui bird seemed to be saying, "Where is brother bangchui? Come and save me."