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Chapter 67 Looking at each other
The grandmother, with neatly combed silver hair and well-dressed clothes, rarely got angry with her grandson. At this moment, she stood at the door of the main hall with a stern face and a cane, staring at Xie Hushan washing his hair and face in front of the water pump:

"Wash it thoroughly for me! Do you hear me? Don't fool me. If you do, I'll be really angry."

"I've washed it twice, breast, it's almost done, clean enough. No matter what the woman's conditions are, I don't need to wash my face specially when talking to county leaders of Lao Yang's level." Xie Hushan said as he wiped the water stains on his face with his hand.

"Brush your teeth carefully again with tooth powder! Go home and peel two cloves of garlic and chew them. Do you think I can't see?" Grandma was so angry that her chest heaved. If it was Daxiu, he would have been beaten with a cane. After all, he was her grandson, so she didn't bear to hit him. She just scolded him angrily:
"You think it's easy for me to ask someone to find a wife for you, huh? They spent so much time and effort to find a girl who has the right conditions and is willing to listen to our conditions. If you make a fool of yourself like this, who will dare to introduce you to a wife in the future?"

The more grandma spoke, the angrier she became. This little bastard, when he heard that he was going to meet the girl, coaxed her into thinking he was filial and promised to be obedient, but when she wasn't paying attention, he turned around and ran to the main room, peeled two cloves of garlic, and stuffed them into his mouth to chew.

Moreover, when he came back, his clothes and head were covered with straw, as if he had crawled into a straw stack. How could this be the behavior of a good person?
What kind of good people in the countryside would go to the straw stack during the slack season? They are either fools or people with bad conduct!
It was obvious that he was unwilling and deliberately wanted the girl to look down on him. He sincerely didn't want him to have a great-grandson and didn't want to have the face to see his sister after his death.

Even if you don't want to, you still have to take a look at the girl to see whether she is beautiful, ugly, fat or thin before you say you don't want to. You haven't even met the person yet, and seeing this look, what else could it be other than doing it to make yourself mad?
Xie Hushan brushed his teeth with tooth powder that smelled like mothballs and did not forget to smile in a flattering way at his grandmother. In those days, basically no one in the countryside used toothpaste. In fact, few families were willing to buy this stinky tooth powder, and they all rinsed their mouths with coarse salt.

"Grandma, why don't we go and take a look first? Don't make the matchmaker wait anxiously." After brushing his teeth, Xie Hushan spit out the mouthwash and went over to help his grandmother.

Grandma shook her arms and stood at the door of the main hall. "Don't worry, clean yourself up first. The introducer is your second wife Meng. She said yes and will definitely wait for me. Go back to your room, change into clean clothes, and put on the new cloth shoes I made for you."

Xie Hushan sighed, turned around and went back to the house to change his clothes and shoes according to his grandmother's instructions. Well, no wonder his grandmother was not in a hurry at all. The introducer was Ma San's biological grandmother, who was almost a close friend of his grandmother.

Old Mrs. Meng is also free. You see, this old lady, last time she took Auntie and Daxiu to the mountain to burn incense in the middle of the night to act as a fortune teller, and this time she took grandma and herself to go see a date to act as a matchmaker. She really has nothing to do.

Ma San's grandfather tells stories, and his grandmother is a fortune teller and matchmaker. They both travel around the country to make a living, so they are a perfect match.

While changing his clothes, he shouted to the main room, "Grandma, let me tell you, my sideline group is doing very well now, I'm making a lot of money, and my standards are very high. Let's raise the standards a bit and look for someone slowly. I'm just 18."

"No matter how good the side job is, it's public property. No matter how much you earn, it has nothing to do with you. You're not young anymore at 18. Your family conditions are so poor. If you don't reserve a seat now, you won't be able to find a suitable one when you're 20. Then we can only find you someone like Zhu Bajie's second aunt." Grandma said unhappily.

"Then let's wait until I'm twenty before looking for someone. Who knows, I might like someone like Zhu Bajie's second aunt." Xie Hushan put on the new cloth shoes that his grandmother had made for him, walked out and said with a smile. Grandma Wei Guijin carefully looked at her grandson's clothes, helped Xie Hushan spread out the hem of his sweatshirt, and started to play the emotional card with her grandson:

"Hu San'er, you have been wild since you were little. Good thing, grandma doesn't ask for anything else, and I don't want to marry you off to a rich family's daughter, but I have to find you a wife who can take care of the family and live a down-to-earth life. If you are capable, she can enjoy the good life with you and be able to treat people well. If you are not capable, she can accompany you through hardships and take care of the family affairs for you."

"I, your grandma, am already 70 years old this year. I am at an age where I can die at any time. If one day I really die, you will be tired outside all day and come home without anyone to hold the door open for you or to heat up the meal. If there is no one at home, you will come home in winter and the kang will be cold. You won't even have a drink of hot water. How miserable will it be for you to live alone at that time?"

"Grandma, let me tell you, I've thought about it a long time ago, you don't have to worry. If I go home and have no food, I will go to the widows' house and eat with them. Today I'll go to Widow Wang, tomorrow I'll go to Widow Li, and then I'll go to the widows from all over the village to eat together. A month will be enough, and I'll start all over again next month." When Xie Hushan saw that the old lady was about to reminisce about her childhood and the rhythm of the piano she was playing, he immediately interrupted the rhythm with a word.

The grandmother coughed twice in anger, raised her hand and patted her grandson on the back twice: "You little bastard, you have grown up and dared to deliberately irritate your grandmother!"

"Besides, since you are too ashamed to see your sister and your grandmother, you have to live well. In this way, you can cook for me for another ten years. When you are eighty years old, I will let you hold your great-grandson. After that, you can take care of him for another ten years. When you are ninetieth birthday, I will call everyone in the family to hold a seminar to study whether you have been worthy of your sister in the past twenty years. If everyone agrees that you have been sorry, you can continue to live and take care of your Tira grandson and Dara grandson." Xie Hushan patted his grandmother on the back and joked with a smile.

Grandma's anger was immediately dispelled, and she couldn't help but smile:
"I'm already ninety years old, and I still have to work as a farmhand for your Xie family and be a servant. I won't do that."

"Okay, then let our grandchildren, great-grandchildren, Tira's grandchildren, and Dara's grandchildren all stand in front of you to serve you. You can order us around." Xie Hushan took his grandmother's arm:
"Aren't you looking for a wife? Come on, I'll support you and you go ahead. The girl will definitely agree. Just based on your temperament, even if the girl doesn't like me, she will have to nod on the spot to live with you. Then she can move into our house tonight."

Xie Hushan coaxed the old woman into a beaming smile, and the grandfather and grandson walked out of the house. The grandmother had bound feet, so she had to use a cane to go out, and she couldn't walk fast. Fortunately, Xie Hushan was not in a hurry and walked slowly with the grandmother. While walking, the grandmother introduced to Xie Hushan the information about the woman that she had learned from Old Lady Meng.

There is not much information available. All we know is that she is seventeen years old this year and that her family lives in a poor brigade in Bingyang County. After listening to Old Lady Meng's introduction to Xie Hushan's family situation, she was able to accept it and was willing to get engaged first. They will register for marriage when Xie Hushan turns twenty. Before the marriage, the two families can get to know each other as relatives.

"You don't even know her last name, name or where she lives. What kind of matchmaker is Meng Ernai? How do you do it?" Xie Hushan frowned as he listened. There was no specific information at all, and it sounded like a marriage scam.

(End of this chapter)