Chapter Seventy-Four Discussion

Last night's dinner at the Xiong family's house left Zhang Xiaoxin feeling uneasy. Even after returning to his own courtyard and lying down on the earthen bed, he still felt restless and unsettled.

It all started at the dinner table when Xiong Zijuan suddenly put down her chopsticks, cleared her throat, and said something.

The glow of the oil lamp danced across the dining table, illuminating everyone's faces.

Just as Song finished wiping Xiaobao's mouth, Old Man Xiong was sitting at the doorway, enjoying the cool air and puffing on his pipe, while Xiong Zixiang was eating his meal.

Xiong Zijuan told the story frankly, though her voice trembled: "Father, Mother, Zixiang, please pay attention... I have something to tell you. Wang Tiezhu and I have discussed it and decided to get married."

There was a moment of silence in the room. Old Xiong stopped smoking his pipe at his lips, stood up abruptly, and went into the inner room, no longer smoking.

Song Shi tightened her grip on Xiao Bao. Xiong Zixiang put down his chopsticks, his brows furrowing slightly. "Sister, we're not against you and Brother Tiezhu, but have you thought this through? Marriage is a big deal. What about Xiao Bao? How will you live your life? These things need to be discussed before we talk about them."

Zhang Liuyi sat next to Xiong Zixiang, and his heart skipped a beat.

She knew Wang Tiezhu; he was the widower laborer who had been introduced to the docks by the old customer. He looked quite strong, and after the misunderstanding was cleared up last time, he seemed much more agreeable. He was a genuinely helpful person to them.

How long has it been? How did they get to the point of discussing marriage?

She looked at Xiong Zijuan and saw that Sister Zijuan had a slight blush on her face, but her eyes were very firm.

Zhang Yi didn't think much of it, got up and walked over, sat down next to Xiong Zijuan, and held her hand: "That's right, sister, you also get a share of the profits from our shop, and we are all your support. If you have any difficulties, just tell us. Getting married is a big deal, you need to think it through carefully."

Xiong Zijuan patted Zhang Xiaoyi's hand to reassure her, then turned to her family and explained.

“Tiezhu… he treats Xiaobao very well, and Tiezhu and I have discussed it, and he… will be considered to be marrying into the family. After we get married, he can be a household in our village, and the land he’s allocated can also bring us some harvest. That way, Xiaobao will still be a child of our Xiong family, and since we live nearby, you can help take care of him.”

"Marry into the family." Old Man Xiong uttered these two words, tapping his large hand twice on the edge of the kang table: "That's one way, but daughter, you've already discussed it, but what about the future? What if you have your own child named Xiaobao? Have you thought about that?"

He asked directly, looking at his daughter with cloudy eyes, and expressed the old father's deep-seated worries about his daughter's remarriage.

Xiong Zijuan had clearly thought about it and answered quickly.

“Dad, we’ve discussed this too. Tiezhu said he doesn’t plan to have any more children. We only have Xiaobao, and we will treat him as our own. In the future, we will save up for Xiaobao’s wedding dowry and treat him well. Xiaobao will not abandon his stepfather in his old age.” She said firmly.

Holding Xiaobao, Madam Song asked softly, "Then... will Tiezhu's family agree to him marrying into the family? He's all alone at this dock, can we really rely on him?"

Xiong Zijuan said, "Tiezhu's parents passed away a long time ago, and there are hardly any people left in his hometown. He makes a living here by doing manual labor. You all know he's an honest person."

She paused, as if making up her mind, and took out a small cloth bag from her bosom. She opened it and found several strings of copper coins strung together with hemp rope. "This is the money he earned working at the docks these past few months... He said he trusts me and told me to keep it all. He also said that he will give all the money he earns to the family in the future."

Even Old Man Xiong looked up and examined the strings of coins closely.

For a laborer working alone far from home, entrusting his hard-earned money to a woman he hasn't married yet carries significant weight in terms of sentiment and trust.

Old Man Xiong fell silent, as if he was considering something. Song looked at the money, then at her daughter, her eyes filled with mixed emotions.

Xiong Zixiang and Zhang Yili exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes. They hadn't expected that Sister Zijuan would take out these few strings of cash to get her parents' consent. Of course, they knew that Xiong Zijuan was telling the truth, since Yili had personally witnessed Wang Tiezhu paying Xiong Zijuan's wages last time.

The dining table fell silent, with only the soft crackling of the oil lamp flame.

Xiao Bao yawned in Song's arms, which prompted Song to pat the child and hum a tune softly to lull him to sleep.

Old Man Xiong took out his cigarette and took two more puffs, exhaling a long puff of smoke. He tapped the cigarette on the table lightly: "Alright, since you've all thought it through, and Tiezhu has shown his sincerity... let's settle on this. But once it's confirmed that he's moving into our house, I won't let my daughter stay in someone else's house and suffer any more grievances."

Madam Song nodded, her eyes a little red, and reached out to touch Xiao Bao's head: "So... has the date been set?"

Xiong Zijuan was so moved by her father's words that she almost burst into tears. But when she heard her mother's question, a smile returned to her face: "It's not decided yet, Mother. We need to discuss it with you first."

Xiong Zixiang breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face: "Sister, this is a good thing, Brother Tiezhu is a nice guy." He looked at Zhang Yili.

Zhang Yili nodded with a smile: "Yes, congratulations, sister!"

Xiong Zijuan looked at her family, her eyes slightly moist: "Thank you, Dad, Mom, thank you, Zixiang, please keep an eye on things."

The atmosphere became noticeably more relaxed in the latter half of the meal.

Everyone started discussing the specifics of the wedding, what to prepare, and how many tables of food to set up.

Old Man Xiong even said, quite unusually, "When the time comes, we should invite that old customer who introduced Tiezhu to our wedding." Xiong Zijuan smiled and agreed.

After Zhang Liuyi and Xiong Zixiang finished cleaning up the dishes, they returned to their own courtyard. As soon as they closed the door to the inner room, Zhang Liuyi couldn't help but pull Xiong Zixiang aside and whisper, "Hey, you know about this... how come I haven't heard a word about it? When did my sister and Tiezhu get so close? I know about the money, but they're getting married after only a few months?" Her mind was full of questions.

Xiong Zixiang was also clearly unaware of anything: "I don't know either. When I went to the shop, my sister was helping with the work, and I didn't see Brother Tiezhu come. At most, when there were many customers, he would come in to have a bowl of soup and rest his feet after finishing his work. It seemed like we were just nodding and exchanging greetings... How did we end up talking about marriage?"

The couple lay in bed, tossing and turning for a long time, but couldn't figure it out.

Zhang Liuyi muttered to himself, "I'll ask my sister-in-law tomorrow; she's always with my sister..."

Xiong Zixiang hummed in agreement and fell asleep with his wife in his arms.

The next morning, Zhang Yi was still thinking about this matter.

While preparing ingredients in the shop, she quietly pulled Li Xiulan aside while Xiong Zijuan went to the backyard to wash vegetables.

"Sister-in-law," Zhang Liuyi lowered his voice, "I have a question for you... Do you know about Sister Zijuan and Wang Tiezhu?"

Li Xiulan's hands didn't stop kneading the dough, but a knowing smile appeared on her face. She lowered her voice and asked, "What? You know they're together too?"

"That's right!" Zhang Yili leaned closer: "We only found out last night, it really shocked us! We had no idea when they got together, and now they're getting married!"

Li Xiulan smiled and pointed to the table by the window in the shop with her flour-covered finger: "Look, it's right there."

"Huh?" Zhang Yi didn't understand.

"That Tiezhu, he's quite capable."

Li Xiulan lowered her voice even further, with a hint of excitement as she shared a secret: "During the midday break, he always comes! Everyone else goes home to rest or finds a place to nap, but he loves to sneak into our shop. And even when he comes, he doesn't just drink the soup for free; he always brings something. Sometimes it's a small packet of maltose for Xiaobao, sometimes it's a scrap of new cloth, saying it's for making a handkerchief for Sister Zijuan. The other day he even brought a silk flower, a bright pink one!"

Zhang Liuli listened in disbelief. She had been busy at the stove or taking a nap in the attic during the afternoon and hadn't paid any attention to what was going on in front of her.

Li Xiulan continued, "That day, I came down from the preparation room to get something and happened to see...the two of them over at that table, each with a bowl of soup. Tiezhu was clumsy, trying to hand Zijuan something, and their hands touched...their faces turned red, but they didn't let go, and they just...held hands and talked!"

As Li Xiulan spoke, she felt a little embarrassed and chuckled twice: "The two of them were so inseparable! I quickly shrank back, not wanting to disturb them."