Chapter 38 Even the calmest waters cannot withstand a person's provocation...

Even the calmest water surface cannot withstand human provocation.

Li Linshi could hardly believe what he had heard. He emerged from the river and stared straight at Zhong Ying, but could only see the obscure, unreadable thoughts lurking in his dark eyes in her clear gaze.

In an instant, Li Linshi realized what was happening, annoyed by the fleeting joy that had just risen in his heart, and annoyed that she was trying to use him again.

Li Linshi's face darkened, his expression turning ugly. "Do you know what you're saying? I'm already dead!"

Zhong Ying nodded lightly, "I know."

She'd rather marry a dead man than kill him herself.

Thinking this, Zhong Ying blinked. Hmm, it seemed that the male ghost in front of her was the one that the original Zhong Ying had killed.

Li Linshi was quite pitiful. He was not spared by Zhong Ying while he was alive, and he was not spared by her even after he died. Zhong Ying mourned for him, but showed no remorse.

“I’m just borrowing your name,” Zhong Ying said casually. “It’s the same as what happened to your cousin back then. The only difference is that back then we secretly established the status of husband and wife to help you two ghosts leave. Now, I’m going to do it openly in front of everyone to help me out.”

Li Linshi felt a surge of anger once again, but this time it wasn't because of what had happened to him, but because of her. How could she take things so lightly? Did she even know what it meant to marry a dead man? Had she thought about the rest of her life?

His gloomy eyes were fixed on Zhong Ying. "Do you know what it means to marry a dead person, to marry a memorial tablet? You will be a widow for the rest of your life, you will never have your own children, and you will be trapped in my Li family until you die of old age..."

Li Linshi's words were terrifying, his tone cold and horrifying, but to Zhong Ying, they automatically transformed into key phrases—no need to have children, and a place to retire in old age, great! In short, she had achieved the feat of being childless and single!

Zhong Ying nodded excitedly, patting her chest, "Don't worry, I'll definitely protect you for the rest of my life!"

She's willing to be a couch potato in the Li family for the rest of her life!

Li Linshi's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly realized that Zhong Ying didn't mean anything by saying that. She even seemed happy, so he was afraid that she had another scheme up her sleeve.

Threatening her only excited her. Li Linshi took a deep breath and tried to communicate with her calmly, "How can a woman live without children? You should marry a normal man and have three or five more children..."

Li Linshi, setting aside his own desires and speaking earnestly for Zhong Ying's sake, sounded more like a curse to her. "Marry a normal man?" And then be his nanny for life? "Have three or five more children?" Do men treat childbirth like defecating—just push and it's out? So easy to say.

Zhong Ying was furious at his "curse," but then she thought that Li Linshi was practically a grandfather, and that the old man had outdated ideas. Why should she argue with him?

Zhong Ying calmed down and only glanced at him indifferently, saying, "You're just dead."

Otherwise, she wouldn't have wanted to marry him. Sure enough, she had a bad relationship with all the men at that time.

Li Linshi felt completely bewildered and was angered by the disdain in Zhong Ying's words. What did she mean by "you're just dead"? It was so awful.

“How can a woman live without children? First of all, my existence is about ‘me,’ not about getting married and having children at a certain age,” Zhong Ying revealed some modern people’s thoughts, even though he was already dead. “A woman can have children or not; it’s just a personal choice. It doesn’t mean that a woman’s life is incomplete if she doesn’t have children…”

Looking at the silent expression on the male ghost's face in the river, Zhong Ying suddenly felt a little discouraged. "Forget it, you wouldn't understand these things anyway."

She couldn't bridge the sixty-year generation gap, and at this point, no man could either.

"Anyway, I'm just using your name for a bit," Zhong Ying advised. "You'll be reincarnated sooner or later anyway, so don't meddle in human affairs."

Zhong Ying practically said, "It's none of your business, ghosts shouldn't interfere."

Li Linshi looked at her, his eyes filled with a hint of resentment. How could he possibly reincarnate now?

However, Li Linshi recalled what Zhong Ying had just said. She did indeed have very special ideas, so special that they were... incompatible with the current era.

However, Li Linshi still couldn't agree to Zhong Ying's absurd idea. "No way."

Zhong Ying pointed to the red hair tie around his left wrist, "We've already sworn an oath to heaven and earth, what's wrong with that?"

Li Lin instinctively hid his left hand at his side. He had tried to take off the strange red ribbon before, but it seemed to be stuck to his skin. Even when he turned into scattered water droplets, he still couldn't get rid of it.

"No." Li Linshi pursed his lips and said the same thing.

Zhong Ying tried to persuade him for a long time, and even washed the clothes, but he still gave the same curt "No."

"Ha," Zhong Ying huffed and picked up the washbasin, deliberately teasing him, "You clearly had a ghost, yet you said you wanted to marry me. Men's words are just lies!"

Li Lin was somewhat embarrassed, but was that what he meant when he said that? He clearly wanted to take her life at the time.

“But you’re not the only man who’s died,” Zhong Ying said quickly, and then she thought of something else. “Your cousin has already been reincarnated, hasn’t he? If you can’t, then I’ll borrow his name.”

"Let's just say that we were originally in love, but after you graduated and went back to the production team, you came between us. I didn't have any feelings for you, but you insisted on being your cousin's substitute. Because you saved me, people misunderstood that you and I were the ones having an affair. But I still can't forget your cousin, and I want to spend the rest of my life protecting him..."

Zhong Ying had watched many TV series and read many novels. She had also played otaku games. She could quickly weave a story from a starting point into a narrative, with a beginning, development, climax, and conclusion, and return to the goal she wanted to achieve.

Li Linshi felt like he was going to be driven crazy by her.

First, she was stepped on the landmine of a man's impotence, and then she became a "substitute"? How could she dare to think that? She couldn't "marry" herself, so she wanted to "marry" Chang Gui?

The two words, almost squeezed out between clenched teeth, were chillingly etched on Li Linshi's face: "You... dare."

Seeing his expression, as if he wanted to strangle her, Zhong Ying finally behaved herself and had no choice but to give up for the time being. Carrying a basin of clothes, she turned and walked home. As she turned her back, Zhong Ying couldn't help but make a face, secretly thinking, "They really are my cousins. That deadbeat is really protective of me. He won't even let me take his place."

Back home, Zhong Ying hung her wet clothes on a rope stretched across the yard and couldn't help but sigh.

Zhong Guoqiang, with his short legs, curiously came over and asked, "Auntie, why are you sighing?"

Zhong Ying ruffled his soft, short hair vigorously. "I just think it's really hard to be a woman these days..."

In the other room, separated by only one wall, the Fan couple also felt utterly disheartened.

Nie Ying stared intently at Hu Daoting, "What did you say?"

Hu was in a difficult position. She didn't want to spread such rumors, but Zhou Changqing's family had specifically sought her out and asked her to do this, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and tell them. It was better than Zhou's family going to find someone else and spreading the word to more and more people.

"The Zhou family's intention is," Hu had to repeat himself, "to see if your eldest daughter's baby will be a boy or a girl. If it's a girl... they want to call off the engagement..."

Nie Ying listened again and realized that she hadn't misheard; it was true. She was going crazy. "What does her family mean?! What do they mean?! Do they think I only have daughters, and my eldest daughter also only has daughters, so they think my daughters can't give birth to a son?"

Hu felt a little awkward, knowing that was the other family's intention, but she really didn't know how to say it directly.

"Alright," Fan Wu said in a low voice with a stern face, "Keep your voice down. Is this something to be proud of?"

Nie Ying finally regained her senses. Her heart was heavy with sorrow and pain. "Erni has waited for almost three years. She's finally about to finish observing mourning for her grandfather in her youth. How can she go back on her word? Dani has already given birth to two daughters, but she's still young and can have more children..."

Hu inquired and comforted her, "That's what I also said to the Zhou family. How come you can't have a son when you're so young? They said they'd wait and see how Da Ni'er's baby is before deciding. I see that Da Ni'er's belly is pointed, so it's most likely a boy. As long as it's a boy, everything will be fine."

Nie Ying was not comforted and asked sharply, "So you don't want my daughter anymore just because she's a girl?"

Unable to speak freely, Hu could only respond with silence.

Fan Wu was also angry at the Zhou family's dismissive attitude, but he vented his anger on Nie Ying, saying, "Isn't it all your fault! If you had given birth to a son, it wouldn't have affected our daughter!"

These words were like a dagger to Nie Ying's heart. Her face turned pale instantly, her lips trembled, her throat tightened, and she couldn't speak for a moment. Only tears streamed down her face.

Hu frowned, looking at Fan Wu with a reproachful gaze, "How could you talk like that?!"

Fan Wu turned his head away angrily, his neck stiff, "I didn't say anything wrong. The Zhou family boy is just not like me, destined to have no descendants."

Hu held Nie Ying's trembling shoulders tightly, a feeling of shared sorrow rising in his heart. Alas, women always have such a hard life…

Nie Ying didn't reveal a word to her eldest and second daughters. Even Hu Chachao, who was usually a big mouth, kept his mouth shut this time. In fact, no one else in the entire production team knew that the Zhou family intended to break off the engagement.

Deng Xia was worried about her daughter's marriage, and so was Nie Ying. The neighbors, who bickered every now and then, strangely reached a "truce".

Under this heavy silence, the days passed by unnoticed, and it was now the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, which was January 1969 in the Gregorian calendar.

As December arrives, rural people begin preparing for the Lunar New Year, a major event that happens once a year.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhong Chunsheng and Zhong Xin stayed home to take care of the children, while Deng Xia, along with her daughter-in-law Miao Suyun and daughter Zhong Ying, set off early to go to the market.

Every year on the eighth day of the lunar calendar, the open space in front of Yuqian Mountain turns into a market. This is the only market in the area and the only legal place where farmers can freely buy and sell.

People typically sell vegetables, poultry, and fruits grown in their own private plots, or handmade items like bamboo baskets, brooms, and straw mats at the market. Direct cash purchases are rare, as this could easily become "capitalist." In most cases, it's a barter system where eggs are more like money than cash, and the term "chicken butt bank" isn't just a figure of speech.

Zhong Ying had lived in this time and space for more than half a year, and this was her first time going to a market.

One reason is that rural families live a self-sufficient life, with enough grain and vegetables at home, so they rarely need to buy anything else; another reason is the geographical location of the Tonggan production team, where going to the market required walking ten miles, which was very inconvenient.

However, once the twelfth lunar month arrives, it's time for the annual market, which is more lively than usual. Even the most reluctant people will come from their respective production teams to buy some New Year's goods, join in the fun, and exchange some anecdotes from their production teams.

The roads around Yuqianwa Production Team were bustling with people, and the market was packed with them.

The largest crowd was still gathered around the pork stall, where the Zhoujiawowo Production Brigade was selling pork after slaughtering pigs to earn some side income.

These days, who doesn't crave meat? Zhong Ying couldn't resist looking at it; she wanted to eat meat too.

Deng Xia tugged at her daughter's sleeve, saying, "Our production team will also slaughter pigs, and there will be pork to share then."

Zhong Ying finally moved, and couldn't help but ask, "When are we going to kill them?"

“In previous years it was the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month.” Deng Xia said, glancing at her daughter, “You greedy girl, didn’t we slaughter a chicken and stew it during the autumn harvest?”

Speaking of this, Deng Xia added another item to her shopping list, "I need to buy two more chicks to make up for it."

After walking past the meat stall and another ten meters or so, Zhong Ying and Miao Suyun found that their baskets now contained two more New Year pictures to be pasted on the door, more salt and other seasonings, a box of matches, a handful of vermicelli, and the eggs that were originally in the baskets had been replaced by two fluffy, tender yellow chicks.

Deng Xia stopped again in front of the firecracker stall, picking out strings of firecrackers on display. How could the New Year be complete without the lively crackling sounds of firecrackers? The old year is over amidst the sound of firecrackers.

Two middle-aged women were picking through items and chatting at the firecracker stall.

"Has Zhou Changqing's wife come to chat with you? I think she's planning to find a match for her third son again."

"Huh? Isn't her third son already engaged? I remember he was supposed to be engaged to a girl from the Tonggan production team, am I right?"

Upon hearing the name of their production team, the mother and her two children all paused. Zhong Ying and Miao Suyun exchanged a glance, wondering what was going on. Deng Xia was even more puzzled. Zhou Changqing's third son? Wasn't that the family that Erni next door had mentioned?

“No,” said the middle-aged woman with short hair, “I could tell from their words that they were complaining that the mother in the same production team only had daughters, and that her older sister also only had daughters. They were worried that the woman they were marrying would also be a girl who could only give birth to daughters, so they were thinking of breaking off the engagement… They said they would wait until her pregnant older sister gave birth to see if it was a boy or a girl, and if it was another girl, they would break off the engagement and come to her house to cancel it…”

The two women each picked out a small whip, about an inch long, and started haggling with the stall owner before ceasing their conversation.

After they left, Deng Xia frowned and whispered to her daughter and daughter-in-law, "Don't tell anyone about this. Da Ni'er is pregnant, and it will upset her if she finds out."

Miao Suyun nodded repeatedly. She and Fan Dani were close in age and both were young wives in the production team. They were usually close and would sometimes ask each other to look after their children. She also knew that Fan Dani was already under some pressure because she had given birth to two daughters. If Dani found out that her sister's marriage was also weighing on her... Miao Suyun didn't dare to think any further.

“It’s not like women hold up half the sky anymore. So what if I have a daughter? Isn’t she my own child?” Zhong Ying said indignantly.

Deng Xia glanced at her daughter and said, "Do you think every girl is like you? There are plenty of families who don't treat their daughters like human beings, let alone treat them like children."

Zhong Ying opened her mouth as if to say something, but suddenly felt unable to say anything, and a deep sense of powerlessness rose in her heart.

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The author's note: Things will change, they will all change gradually.