The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1619: The dispute over the witness of Zhao Jun's wedding

Chapter 1619: The dispute over the witness of Zhao Jun's wedding

On March 1988, 3, there were only four days left before Zhao Jun was to get married.

Zhao Youcai was still in the stage of recuperation, so Zhao Jun got up in the morning and took Zhao Jinhui out to feed the dogs and pigs.

Zhao Youcai didn't work, and Li Dayong didn't come to help as usual. But he didn't come, so his son came. Li Baoyu climbed over the wall from the west yard and helped Zhao Jun wash and boil potatoes.

After feeding the pigs and dogs, Wang Meilan had already prepared the meal. After Zhao Jun had eaten and drunk his fill, he went to the east room to check on Zhao Youcai's injuries.

The swelling on Zhao Youcai's wound began to subside and slowly scab over, and he looked less listless.

It was only half past seven when Zhao Chun and Zhou Jianjun came again.

The forest farm has not been in operation these days. As long as nothing is happening at home, Zhou Jianjun will bring Zhao Chun over.

The Zhao family had almost finished cleaning up, so there was nothing for him to do. But this was out of concern for his wife's family, and if anything happened here, he could help.

After breakfast, Zhao Weipeng took Zhao Jinhui out to look at his homestead. It was extremely difficult to buy a house in Yongantun, so Zhao Weipeng decided to build a few houses himself.

Thirty years later, the land in the forest area will not be valuable, but it will not be easy to get land for building houses at that time.

Now it was easy, Zhao Weipeng had talked it over with Zhao Guofeng. For this reason, the big deer spear that Zhao Youcai killed was given to Zhao Guofeng. Otherwise, Zhao Weipeng was going to keep it for himself.

Xing San and Zhao Jun stayed in the west room. The way the old and the young got along with each other was quite simple. They talked when they had something to say, and did their own things when they didn't.

At this moment, Zhao Jun was lying on the kang, looking at the shed, while Xing San was sitting on the kang, looking out the window and smoking.

After Zhao Chun arrived home, he glanced at Zhao Youcai and then helped Wang Meilan clean up the house.

After Zhou Jianjun took care of Zhao Youcai's wound, he asked him, "Dad, do I have to go to Old Ma's house today?"

The Ma family will hold a banquet tomorrow, and according to social etiquette, two people from the Zhao family must go today. This is just like when the Zhao family built a house and Ma Sheng and his wife came to see it, to show their concern and courtesy.

"Go and have a look. You can go with Chun'er or with your uncle. It's all fine." Zhao Youcai replied, then raised his hand to signal Zhou Jianjun.

Zhou Jianjun was slightly startled, then he realized what Zhao Youcai meant and quickly reached out to hold Zhao Youcai's arm.

Zhao Youcai stood up with difficulty with the help of Zhou Jianjun.

"Dad." Seeing Zhao Youcai's state, Zhou Jianjun couldn't help but frown and asked, "Can you... make it tomorrow?"

"Yes." Zhao Youcai sighed and said, "What if I don't go? If I don't go, will your brother still have face in the old Ma family?"

Wang Meilan, who was cleaning up in the outer room, heard everything Zhao Youcai said clearly.

Wang Meilan deliberately put down the bowl in her hand, took a big step back, so that she appeared at the door of the east room, and then glared at Zhao Youcai fiercely.

Zhou Jianjun, who originally wanted to flatter Zhao Youcai's fatherly heart, swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth when he saw that his mother-in-law's face looked unhappy.

"Hey?" Suddenly, Zhao Youcai nudged Zhou Jianjun and asked, "Jianjun, how are Huang Laopizi and the others doing these past two days?"

Zhao Youcai also knew that his only opponent in this Yong'an Spring Hunt would be Huang Gui and his gang.

"I don't know." Zhou Jianjun said: "I don't care about that."

Everyone has their own hobbies. If someone told Zhou Jianjun that someone had caught a 20-jin grass carp, Zhou Jianjun would definitely go over to take a look.

As for hunting, Zhou Jianjun was only interested in eating the prey.

Zhao Youcai's face immediately turned bad when he heard this: "Didn't I let you ask?"

In the outer room, Zhao Chun, regardless of the water on his hands, grabbed Wang Meilan who was about to rush into the east room.

"I know, Dad." Zhou Jianjun has always been a filial son-in-law. When he saw that his father-in-law was unhappy, he quickly agreed: "I will ask you when I get home tonight."

It's not that Zhou Jianjun didn't help him ask, but Zhou Jianjun came back quite late yesterday. He left early today, so how could he have time to ask him about that trivial matter?

"Yes." Zhao Youcai urged, "Go back and do something for me."

"Hey." Zhou Jianjun nodded, and heard Zhao Youcai muttering quietly: "It's fixed. I can still go on stage to receive the award the day after tomorrow."

The day after tomorrow, February 1st, is the day when Yong'an Spring Hunting ends. That morning, the forest farm held a meeting to announce the results of the Spring Hunting, and then the farm leaders awarded bonuses and certificates to the top three.

Zhao Youcai had been looking forward to this for a long time, and he had dreamed several times of the glory he would feel after winning the first place.

He spoke softly just now, so Wang Meilan, who was working in the outer room, didn't hear him. Zhou Jianjun heard it clearly, but he didn't dare to say anything.

At this moment, two dogs barked outside the house. Zhao Youcai, who was sitting on the kang, looked outside and couldn't help but wonder, "Why did the father and son come back so soon?"

"Yeah." Zhou Jianjun looked up at the clock on the wall and wondered, "How long will it take to be out for ten minutes?"

Hearing them talking, Wang Meilan, who was in the outer room, looked out the window curiously.

After taking a look, she asked in confusion, "Why is Lao Liu here so early?"

Hearing this, Zhao Youcai in the room stretched his neck with great effort and looked outside again.

It was true, Li Dazhi was here too. But he was blocked by Zhao Weipeng's big body just now, so Zhao Youcai didn't see him.

The three of them entered the house quickly, and Wang Meilan asked Li Dazhi directly, "Sixth Brother, why did you come here alone? Where are Xue and Xiaoyun?"

Li Dazhi and his family of three come to the Zhao family every day, especially in the past two days, Lin Xue needs to give Zhao Youcai an intravenous drip to reduce inflammation, so she comes early every day.

But no matter how early he comes, it will be around nine or ten o'clock, not eight o'clock.

Moreover, the family of three always came together, but today only Li Dazhi came. Wang Meilan wondered if he had quarreled with his wife.

As soon as Wang Meilan finished speaking, before Li Dazhi could say anything, Zhao Weipeng laughed and said, "I ran into him arguing with someone, so I dragged him here."

"Oh my!" Wang Meilan heard this and immediately said, "Sixth Brother, if there is anything wrong between the couple, they can't go outside to argue. That would make people laugh."

Li Dazhi was stunned by Wang Meilan's words, and then he said, "What couple? Miss, what are you talking about?"

"Hmm?" Wang Meilan was startled, and then she heard Li Dazhi continue, "I had a few words with Zhao Guofeng."

"Zhao Guofeng?" Wang Meilan asked in confusion, "What are you talking about with him?"

After hearing what Li Dazhi said, Zhao Jun came out of the west room, and even Zhao Youcai got up and went downstairs with the help of Zhou Jianjun.

"Miss, do you think I'm right?" Li Dazhi asked Wang Meilan, "On the day of our wedding, the host should be Brother Zhou, right?"

"Ah!" Wang Meilan nodded without hesitation and said, "It's him. What's the matter?"

Wang Meilan thought Li Dazhi was going to be the best man at Zhao Jun's wedding, but then she heard Li Dazhi ask, "Then I have to be the best man, right?"

Every place has its own customs. In Zhao Jun's family, marriages must have a master of ceremonies and witnesses.

Simply put, the host will express some blessings to the newlyweds, welcome and thank the guests on behalf of the groom's family, and finally say a few words before the banquet begins.

This is similar to the emcee you often see at weddings in the future, but without the emcee's wisecracks and so on.

On Zhao Jun's side, the master of ceremonies is usually the leader.

Leaders are still approachable these days, especially in this forest area, where people are from the same village, like Yang Shuqiu, the gatekeeper. Zhou Chunming has to call him "big brother" when he sees him.

Therefore, over the years, Zhou Chunming has been the officiant at weddings for forestry workers and their children.

The role of the witness is to prove the validity of the couple's marriage according to local customs at the wedding.

Compared to the master of ceremonies, the witnesses do not play a big role in the wedding. But these days, or even earlier, many people got married without a marriage certificate.

In the rural areas or forest areas where the Zhao family lives, even ten or twenty years later, the basis for judging whether a man and a woman are a couple is not whether they have a marriage certificate, but whether they have held a wedding banquet in their hometown.

After the wedding, the villagers would consider them a couple. This custom was not ended until the popularity of smartphones, when relationships between men and women became too chaotic.

At this moment, the witness is still very important.

Generally speaking, the witnesses are people with high prestige and social status among the couple's relatives, friends, or unit leaders.

Normally, when workers or their children in the Yong'an Forest District get married, Zhou Chunming is the master of ceremonies, and the witness is the village head of the family quarters where the wedding is held.

If nothing unexpected happens, the master of ceremonies at Zhao Jun's wedding will be Zhou Chunming, and the witness should be Zhao Guofeng.

But not long ago, Li Dazhi went out to buy cigarettes and ran into Zhao Guofeng. Li Dazhi also grew up in this village, and he had to call Zhao Guofeng "brother".

The two were chatting happily, but suddenly Li Dazhi said that the master of ceremonies and witnesses for Zhao Jun's wedding had not been decided yet, and he had to talk to Wang Meilan about it, and let him be the witness.

Li Dazhi's reason was that he was the third in command at the forest farm. The first in command was the master of ceremonies for Zhao Jun, and the second in command was not that close to the Zhao family, so he, the third in command, was the right person to take over.

Zhao Guofeng was not happy at the time. Did he not treat the village chief as a cadre? Although the village chief's rank was not as high as his forestry farm chief, you, Li Dazhi, couldn't be so blatant, right?

You call Wang Meilan "Miss", but I'm still talking about brothers with Zhao Youcai.

Of course, this cannot be used as an excuse.

However, Zhao Guofeng had good reasons to be the witness.

Zhao Guofeng said that this has been the custom among forest workers and their children for many years. Zhao Jun lives in Yong'an Village, so he should be the witness. Tomorrow, when the Ma family holds the wedding, he will still be the witness.

Moreover, the friendship between the two Zhao families has been going on for generations, starting from Zhao Jun's grandfather and Zhao Guofeng's father, they have been sworn brothers.

Another thing is that Zhao Jun and Ma Ling were both children he watched grow up, but Li Dazhi left halfway through their lives and did not see the couple's growth and progress over the years.

Therefore, Zhao Guofeng should be the witness.

Then, the two of them started arguing based on these reasons.

Li Dazhi had just told Wang Meilan the reason for his quarrel with Zhao Guofeng when Zhao Guofeng came after him.

Although the rank of village chief is not as high as that of forestry farm chief, Zhao Guofeng is not afraid of him as long as Li Dazhi and his family live in Yong'an Village.

Zhao Guofeng did not come empty-handed. He was holding a can of peaches and a butter paper bag of pastries.

It can be seen that Zhao Guofeng was really anxious. He did not wait outside the yard for the Zhao family to come out to greet him as usual, but came to the door of the Zhao family amid the barking of dogs.

As soon as he entered the room, Zhao Guofeng saw Zhao Youcai being supported by Zhou Jianjun, and said, "Youcai, how are you? I saw you were here."

Zhao Guofeng played the emotional card right from the start, catching everyone in the room off guard.

"I... I'm fine." Zhao Youcai didn't react for a while. When he finally reacted, he hurriedly called Zhao Guofeng and said, "Guofeng, come in quickly and get on the kang."

Zhao Guofeng followed Zhao Youcai into the house, Zhou Jianjun supported Zhao Youcai, and Li Dazhi hurriedly followed.

Zhao Jun had to go too, and Zhao Weipeng and Zhao Jinhui followed Zhao Jun. The two of them wanted to join in the fun.

Not only the two of them, but even Xing San came out from the west room. But the old man didn't move forward, but took a small stool and sat on the ground outside the room.

Wang Meilan and Zhao Chun looked at Xing San, then the two of them looked at each other and then found a stool to sit on.

Seeing that Wang Meilan and Zhao Chun did not come in, Zhao Jun went to get the thermos and teacup on the table against the wall to pour water for Zhao Guofeng.

At this time, Zhao Youcai said to Zhao Guofeng with a hint of complaint: "You came here, what else did you buy?"

"I have to buy it, this is for you." Zhao Guofeng said to Zhao Youcai with concern: "How are you? Does it hurt a lot?"

"It's okay." Zhao Youcai smiled and said, "It's just a flesh wound. You don't know, I felt something was wrong at the time, and I reacted. If it wasn't for Dayong and Xiaochen pushing me out, I would have been able to dodge it."

"Yeah." Zhao Guofeng nodded and said, "You are amazing. You are the only one who has hunted in our village in recent years."

"Haha..." Zhao Youcai's little eyes lit up with joy after hearing what Zhao Guofeng said.

"Look at you. You shot eleven pigs with ten shots last winter." Zhao Guofeng talked about Zhao Youcai's proud deeds and said, "And that time, you shot three roe deer with one shot. Who can do that?"

“Hahaha... Ouch!” Zhao Youcai laughed so wildly that he stopped only when his wound was affected.

"Brother Feng." Li Dazhi knew that he couldn't let Zhao Guofeng continue talking, so he quickly interrupted him and said, "Don't fool my brother-in-law. It doesn't matter what the witness says. It has to be me."

"Why is it you?" Zhao Guofeng was holding the Shilin cigarette Zhao Youcai gave him, but he didn't use the cigarette to hit the match Zhao Youcai was holding out to him. He just said to Li Dazhi, "Just do what you need to do. Have you ever been a witness?"

"Oh my!" Li Dazhi said, "You've never eaten pork, but you've seen a pig run. My eloquence is better than any of you."

"Come on!" Zhao Guofeng curled his lips and said, "Don't I know you? There was a meeting and I asked you to say a few words, but you kept talking for half an hour. This Xiaojun got married and asked you to be the witness, but by the time you finished talking, the food was cold."

After hearing the first half of Zhao Guofeng's words, everyone in the room except Zhao Guofeng smiled. But when Zhao Guofeng finished speaking, the smiles on everyone's faces disappeared.

Yes, Li Dazhi cannot be the witness.

"I...you..." Li Dazhi was choked by Zhao Guofeng and couldn't speak. He knew his problem, but he just couldn't control it.

Just like the four words "killing with excitement" always appear in novels, Li Dazhi always says killing with excitement.

Seeing that Li Dazhi was speechless, Zhao Guofeng smiled slightly and prepared to pursue the victory.

"Boss Zhao." At this time, Zhao Guofeng looked at Zhao Weipeng and said, "I've been doing a lot of work recently, and you know who I am. Do you think it's right for me to be the witness of Zhao Jun's wedding?"

The "many favors" Zhao Guofeng mentioned were the land he granted to Zhao Weipeng to build a house. Zhao Guofeng thought that if he brought up the matter himself, Zhao Weipeng would definitely return the favor.

But he overlooked one point, that is, there were no normal people who could play with Zhao Jun's family.

At this time, Zhao Weipeng blinked his eyes and asked Zhao Guofeng, "Captain Zhao, the other day outside, I heard you say that when people in this village get married, you are the witness, right?"

"Yes!" When Zhao Guofeng heard this, he felt that Zhao Weipeng was speaking in Te's favor, so he quickly responded.

But then, Zhao Weipeng waved his fat hand and said with a smile: "Then you can take a break this time."

"Hmm?" Zhao Guofeng was stunned, and then he saw Zhao Weipeng tapping his chest with his fat hand and said, "Let me be the witness for Zhao Jun."

"You?" Zhao Guofeng stared at Zhao Weipeng, and so did Li Dazhi.

Under the gaze of the two, Zhao Weipeng smiled and said, "Although Zhao Jun and I have only known each other for a short time, we have a good relationship. Besides..."

Zhao Weipeng looked at Zhao Youcai and said, "My elder brother and I have a special relationship..."

Hearing his words, for some reason, Zhao Youcai remembered the time when the two of them beat Lao Niu, and he couldn't help feeling uncomfortable.

At this time, Zhao Weipeng looked at Li Dazhi and said, "I was invited by your forest district. You have to let me integrate into the big family of Yongan Forest District as soon as possible."

Li Dazhi: "..."

Li Dazhi was speechless. He knew that this fat man could eat a lot, but he didn't expect that he could talk so much. In order to be a witness, he even acted so high-profile.

Seeing that Li Dazhi and Zhao Guofeng did not refute him, Zhao Weipeng looked at Zhao Youcai and smiled, saying: "Brother, then it's settled, Xiaojun's witness..."

"Wait a minute!" Zhao Guofeng suddenly spoke up, stopping Zhao Weipeng and saying, "What the hell is this? Just say it. Do you understand the customs and practices of Yong'an? Do you want to be the witness?"

"What's there to not understand?" Zhao Weipeng said, "I'll ask Ru Hai later, and then I'll know everything, right?"

Zhao Guofeng: “…”

"Uncle, have some water." Seeing that Zhao Guofeng was at a disadvantage, Zhao Jun hurriedly brought him the brewed tea.

"Xiaojun!" Zhao Guofeng took the teacup and put it on the table without even looking at it. Then he asked Zhao Jun, "You want to get married? Tell me, who among us will be your witness."

"Brother Feng, aren't you embarrassing the child?" Just as Zhao Guofeng finished speaking, before Zhao Jun could say anything, Li Dazhi shouted, "If that's the case, let Xiaojun choose you. I won't compete with you. I can't embarrass the child!"

“I…” Zhao Guofeng was also very angry just now. Now he reacted and said to Zhao Jun: “Jun, uncle didn’t mean that. They are too…”

"It's okay, uncle." Zhao Jun said with a smile, "If you ask me, you guys should stop fighting over who will be the best man for the wedding."

"Huh?" Zhao Guofeng, Zhao Weipeng, and Li Dazhi all looked at Zhao Jun when they heard this.

Before they could ask, Zhao Jun said, "Let Uncle Zhou be the witness."

"Your Uncle Zhou..." Zhao Guofeng frowned and asked tentatively, "Secretary Zhou?"

"Yes!" Zhao Jun nodded, and saw Zhao Weipeng's eyes light up. He said, "Then he can be the witness and I can be the master of ceremonies."

"Haha..." Zhao Jun was amused by Zhao Weipeng. He just heard him laugh and said, "Uncle, someone has been chosen to officiate the wedding."

"Who is it?" Zhao Weipeng, Zhao Guofeng, and Li Dazhi asked in unison. Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Director Chu."

Zhao Weipeng, Zhao Guofeng, Li Dazhi: "..."

(End of this chapter)