Chapter 5 Ji Xuening, the matchmaker, comes to propose marriage.

In those days, 'Dacron' was supplied without cloth ration coupons and could be bought in state-run department stores.

If someone owns one, it represents being fashionable and trendy, and they will attract a lot of envy when they walk down the street.

Wang Yuyan, who loves beauty and is vain, naturally wanted a Dacron floral dress. She had finally saved up more than twenty yuan, but now it was all gone. She hated Wang Yuqing to the core.

She cried and said, "Silly Er is lying. I didn't ask her to cut her braids yesterday, and she didn't put any money in. I already had twenty yuan in there."

Wang Yuqing said, "Yuyan, it's come to this point, why won't you admit it? You not only made me cut my braids, but you also frequently asked me for the money Mom gave you for groceries..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xuemei hit her on the back with a broom again. She was very against hiding money. Years ago, when Wang Jiandong secretly hid a few yuan, she caught him and scolded him, "If you dare to hide money today, you'll dare to hide a woman tomorrow!" They almost got divorced afterward.

She is the mistress of this house, and everyone must obey her without question; no selfishness is allowed!

She called Wang Yuyan a "rat that bites the bag," and after a final beating and scolding, she punished her by making her wash dishes and clothes, confiscated her money, and ordered her to hand over all her future wages without giving her a single penny of pocket money.

Wang Yuyan glared at Wang Yuqing with hatred: "You idiot, you're something else. Just you wait, you'll never have a good life again."

Wang Yuqing was terrified. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be staying in this house anymore. She knew that Lin Xuemei had gone easy on her. If it were the original owner of this body, she would probably have been slapped and forced to kneel for a whole night.

Lin Xuemei didn't entirely believe Wang Yuqing's words. She was shrewd and suspicious, and she even searched Wang Yuqing's entire body but didn't find a single penny.

Wang Yuqing had expected this, and she openly let her search, saying, "I really gave it to Yuyan."

Lin Xuemei couldn't find any evidence, and she was still angry because Wang Yuyan had hidden money. Compared to hiding money, her hair was nothing.

However, because of what happened during the day, Wang Yuqing was punished by not being allowed to eat dinner.

Of course, her changes were noticed by the sharp-eyed Wang Yulan and Lin Xuemei. In particular, the fourth sister, Wang Yujuan, said, "Silly Second Sister is no longer silly, and she has even become prettier than Third Sister."

Wang Yuqing wasn't alarmed. After all, in this era, the concepts of 'rebirth' and 'time travel' didn't exist in their minds. At most, they would feel like they had fainted and woke up with a clear mind, or that they had been possessed.

Wang Yulan looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze: "You used to be so timid, not daring to even breathe loudly. How come you dare to speak today?"

Wang Yuqing's words carried a hidden meaning: "You've read a lot of books, you're an intellectual, you must know the saying, 'Even a rabbit will bite when cornered.'"

Wang Yulan looked down at her condescendingly: "That's ridiculous. Who forced you? It was all your own choice."

Wang Yuqing didn't say much to her, but glanced at the bags on the chair in the corner: "Oh, you haven't moved your things back to your room yet? Are you waiting for me to come back and pack them? I'm not doing this willingly."

He left after saying that.

Wang Yulan deliberately left her things here, waiting for this fool to come back and tidy them up. Now she's furious. She's been wronged at her husband's house and wanted to go back to her parents' house to assert herself, but she's still being bullied!

Watching Wang Yuqing's departing figure, Lin Xuemei pondered various things and said to Wang Jiandong, who was smoking next to her, "Did you notice? I noticed early this morning that she was different from usual."

Wang Jiandong snorted, "It's different now, they've grown wings."

Lin Xuemei said fiercely, "No matter how tough it is, I can break its wings!"

Wang Yuqing quickly closed the door as soon as she returned to her room, then took off her shoes and took out a one-yuan coin. She couldn't help but sigh that nowadays even a one-yuan coin is treated like a treasure.

She took advantage of the fact that the whole family had finished showering, and then went to take a shower herself, carrying a simple paint-chipped basin, a tattered towel, and a set of clothes covered in patches.

Although I remember that the original owner was often beaten and pinched, when I took off my clothes, there were large and small bruises, dark purple, bluish-purple, and yellow, which were obviously new injuries plus old injuries.

Even as she lay in bed, her heart ached. How heartless her parents must have been! If things had been any better, perhaps things would have been different if her parents had been paralyzed in a work accident or died of a serious illness a few years later.

The next day, she got up early and, as the original owner did, went to Lin Xuemei's window to get the key. She received four eggs, some cornmeal, and a little wheat flour.

There were four eggs, one for the eldest Wang Yulan, one for the fifth Wang Yubao, one for Lin Xuemei and Wang Yujuan, and one for Xia Jiandong and Wang Yuyan.

She wasn't included.

Wheat flour and corn flour are used together to make dumpling soup. You can also add Chinese cabbage and dried sweet potatoes if you have them in the kitchen.

The Wang family has some wealth, but Lin Xuemei is the kind of person who can be incredibly stingy, even with just a penny in her hand. She goes out to visit relatives empty-handed and is quite cunning.

Wang Yuqing asked for an extra egg, using Wang Yulan's name as an excuse. Lin Xuemei felt bad but gave it to her anyway, since her eldest daughter had brought back a lot of things from home yesterday.

Lin Xuemei was never worried about Wang Yuqing cheating. She had the original owner figured out perfectly. Although something happened yesterday and she felt that Sha Er had changed a bit, she saw him still obediently getting up early this morning to get the keys from the window. She yawned and said to her husband next to her, "I thought he had become shrewd. Look, he's still honestly making breakfast for the whole family."

Even Wang Yulan peeked out the window a few times and sneered, "A maid's fate for life."

Wang Yuqing was busy in the kitchen, looking dizzy and covered in soot. Cooking was easy, but starting a fire was a bit difficult. First, she struck a match to light the fire, then lit the pine needles, then quickly broke off some thin twigs, and finally threw in some thick firewood.

After about ten attempts, I finally managed to light the fire, using up a whole box of matches. Well, not bad.

She was a little proud, and being proud made her happy. Being happy made her have a good appetite, and with a good appetite, she finished all five eggs. After finishing them, she felt a little full, so she also finished the dumpling soup.

After we had eaten and drunk our fill, it started getting noisy outside.

She knew Ji Xuening and the matchmaker were coming today, but she didn't know the exact time. Their timing was perfect. She quickly went back to her room, packed everything into a snakeskin bag, and then ran to the yard with the bag on her back.

Everyone inside crowded at the doorway to watch the matchmaker and Ji Xuening outside; no one noticed her.

Lin Xuemei stood on the threshold, holding a white enamel basin with red lettering in her hand. Obviously, the water had already been spilled. She was talking to the matchmaker, but because she was speaking in dialect, Wang Yuqing couldn't understand her very well.

I understood one sentence: "We rely on government-supplied grain for food, on relief funds for money, and on loans for production. I'd be too ashamed to marry into your production brigade."

The others probably openly or secretly looked down on the Ji family for being poor, and wanted to climb the social ladder, feeling they were not good enough for the Wang family.

She wasn't afraid of losing face, since she felt she was in the right, and she also wanted to show off her silly daughter, who had someone eagerly begging to marry her.

Wang Yuqing peeked out through the crack in the door and secretly sized up Ji Xuening, whose trouser legs were wet. Her memory of his appearance was vague. Although she had seen him once or twice in 2023 when she was squeezed behind her colleagues, he was already an old man in his seventies.