Chapter 19 Wang Yuqing went fishing by the river to eat.

Wang Yuqing smiled awkwardly. The matter was still far from being settled, yet Grandma Ji wanted her to have a child with Ji Xuening. Leaving aside whether she wanted to have a child or not, Ji Xuening might not even want to.

She didn't want to be idle afterward, and just then she saw a fishing rod in the corner of the main room. The fishing gear was complete, simple and rough, but she could understand it, since it was all made from local materials.

She only needed to dig up some earthworms as bait. In fact, she used to love fishing. She was good at it and had a lot of patience. On her way from the Wang family to the Ji family, she passed many small rivers, streams and ditches and saw many big fish, small shrimp and loaches in them.

These are all wild; they must taste amazing.

In this day and age, it's not that people don't eat fish, but rather that fish can't be eaten raw or cold-dressed. If there's not enough oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, it will have a fishy smell, so people might as well dig up wild vegetables to eat.

In addition, everyone does physical labor every day and doesn't have the time or energy to go fishing, except for the children.

Wang Yuqing bought salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and MSG for this reason. Although cooking fish requires oil, and she didn't have any oil coupons to buy oil, adding the other seasonings wouldn't make it taste so bad.

She took a fishing rod, asked Grandma Ji for a net and a bucket, and led Ji Meimei to the small river in front of the door.

Upon arriving at the riverbank, Ji Meimei said, "Mom, my older brother said we can't afford fish. Last time Dad cooked a few fish, and they tasted worse than bran."

Wang Yuqing watched the groups of little fish swimming in the clear, babbling river. They were so cute! But they would definitely be even cuter when they matured. She swallowed hard and said, "I'll make them for you tonight. I promise they'll be delicious."

She didn't call herself "Mom," which made me feel a little ashamed.

Ji Meimei asked again, "Mom, can you catch any? My second brother can never catch any."

Wang Yuqing was full of confidence: "It's definitely possible."

She could see the fish in the stream with her naked eye. The fish were all natural, but so natural that it was hard for people of this era to accept. After all, they could afford to eat fish, but not oil. So if they wanted to eat fish, they had to consider their financial situation.

Wang Yuqing found a good spot to sit on a rock, put an earthworm on her hook, and started fishing. Ji Meimei sat next to her quietly watching, not daring to speak loudly.

Soon, she caught a small whitebait. Ji Meimei, who was standing next to her, clapped excitedly and praised, "Mom, you're so amazing!"

Then she caught a silver carp, followed by several crucian carp, and most of them small carp. In two hours, she caught more than 20 kilograms of fish, thanks to her good technique and good luck.

Ji Meimei stared at the full bucket of water, her mouth agape but unable to speak. All she knew was that her mother was amazing!

Wang Yuqing wanted to fish for a while longer, but many commune members had already come to work in the wheat fields above the river. They were all wearing straw hats and carrying sickles to start cutting wheat.

Ji Meimei also spotted Ji Daming and excitedly shouted, "Big brother, we're fishing..." Then she added proudly, "Mom caught a lot of fish, we're having fish for dinner."

Wang Yuqing tried to stop her from shouting, but it was too late.

Ji Daming heard it, and so did the other villagers around him.

The news of Wang Yuqing's visit to the Ji family today has spread among the locals, mostly among the children and elderly. At noon, a few curious people even came to see what was going on.

A few days ago, Chen E agreed to propose marriage to the Wang family on behalf of Grandma Ji. When she told everyone about it, they laughed and said, "No matter how good your mouth is, you can't out-argue Lin Xuemei. Lin Xuemei is a city person, an employee, and has a stable job. How could she possibly agree to marry her daughter to Ji Laosi, unless the Ji family doesn't have an old man or three young children?"

Everyone was pessimistic and waiting to laugh at the Ji family. After all, given the state of the Ji family, how could Grandma Ji still have the nerve to send a matchmaker to propose marriage?

A woman in her thirties deliberately teased the woman next to her: "Aunt Yuan, it seems your mute niece has no chance. The woman's family has already come to your door, so it's probably all settled."

Yuan Fang, who was in her fifties and quite robust, got angry as soon as she heard this and snorted, "So that's why you look down on my niece. Turns out you've always been trying to get married to the family in the county town."

After saying that, she said to the woman, "Liu Li, your sister-in-law who was so eager to marry Lao Si, didn't she also have no chance? I heard her crying when I passed by your door. I'm afraid she was crying because of Lao Si, wasn't she?"

Liu Li rolled her eyes, gave a few dry laughs, and didn't reply.

Everyone looked down at the ditch below the wheat field and began to discuss it.

"That's Ji Laosi's new wife. Look at her, she's not very pretty."

"Didn't they say the Wang family looked down on Ji Laosi? I figured they definitely wouldn't agree, so why did the woman come to their door?"

"It was disdain. Several times when I came to visit relatives, I asked a few questions, and Lin Xuemei, with her nose in the air, clearly disagreed and looked down on the Ji family for being poor."

"Didn't this person come? He even took Meimei fishing in the ditch."

Yuan Fang said loudly, "That Chen E is quite capable; she actually managed to persuade Lin Xuemei to agree to the marriage between the two families. Let her help Liu Li's sister-in-law find a husband tomorrow..."

Liu Li chuckled, "Tell one to your mute niece as well."

Someone shook their head: "I still don't believe it. There must be something going on. Otherwise, why would the Wang family let the woman come to their house? Besides, I went to her house at noon today and I didn't see the woman's parents either. How can the woman only come to their house alone?"

“The Ji family is so poor, and they have three children. The Wang family isn’t stupid.”

Later, someone asked Ji Daming, and Ji Daming said he didn't know, he wasn't sure, and continued to bury himself in harvesting wheat. He knew these people were sharp-tongued, and he dared not or did not want to say anything.

At first, everyone's discussion was quite normal, mostly expressing surprise and curiosity. No one made any slanderous remarks; at most, they mocked Ji Xuening for climbing the social ladder.

It wasn't until Hua Gui, the head of the women's brigade, arrived and told everyone about Wang Yuqing's shopping trip to Shuangdai Store that morning—of course, she only mentioned things that were good for her daughter—that everyone found out.

After saying that, she clicked her tongue and said, "It's one thing to be stingy and petty, but that mouth of hers is really something else, so filthy. She even cursed at me. She's supposed to be a city person who's been educated, how come she has no manners at all?"

She was He Ruhua's mother, and He Ruhua told Hua Gui everything.

Then most people started to complain and criticize, thinking that once she entered the Ji family, she would definitely bully the elderly and the young, and the couple would quarrel every now and then.

Ji Daming said angrily, "She's not stingy. I like the things she buys for our family, and my grandma likes them too. You can't talk about her behind her back."

Yuan Fang mocked him: "Tsk, she's only just entered the family and you're already protecting her? She's not your biological mother. Besides, buying a few pens and some salt isn't stingy, is it? She's a city girl, and this is her first time visiting her boyfriend's family. What kind of behavior is this?"

“Our whole family doesn’t mind.”

Ji Daming, usually shy and refined, was now glaring at Yuan Fang with his sickle gripped tightly.

Hua Gui scoffed: "What do you know, you little kid? You'll have your share of troubles later."

"The new bride is willing to buy it, and the Ji family doesn't mind. The whole family is happy. I just don't understand why you all keep gossiping and saying they're stingy?"