"Yes, not only do you have to get married, but you have to do it quickly. And you can't marry someone from a similar social class; you can only find someone from the working class. Only by finding someone like that can you easily excuse yourself with 'youthful ignorance' if someone brings it up later."

"But where can we find it during this time?" the stepmother asked.

Instead of answering Zhao's mother's question, Zhao's father said to his daughter:

"Meilan, you've been smart since you were little. I don't need to say much. Think it over carefully and give me an answer tomorrow morning. Wife, go and boil some eggs for her to apply to her face."

"Okay, I'll go right now."

"Think it over carefully." Her daughter ran home crying, and she didn't know if she had asked for leave or not. She should go to her workplace to check, just in case someone catches her doing something wrong. Sigh, children are always a burden.

Zhao Meilan was a smart woman; she knew what was in her best interest. Didn't she quickly submit her marriage application to the organization?

The man he was going to marry was a chef, a skilled person, but his parents lived in his hometown, which wasn't far away, just in the suburbs. He was the second child in his family and wasn't liked by his parents. During the off-season, he would come to the city to do odd jobs. Seeing that the young man was honest and hardworking, Zhao's father arranged for him to work in his shop.

The young man is hardworking and intelligent. More than a year ago, he kowtowed and became the head chef of a restaurant as his apprentice, and now he is learning to cook.

When the employer introduced her to a potential partner, she didn't feel embarrassed. He's already 24, and there are several kids his age who are old enough to run errands. If he didn't have a stepmother, he wouldn't be able to get married at his age.

However, upon learning that the other party was the employer's daughter, he did not immediately agree, but instead said, "I'll think about it."

The shopkeeper said,

"What's there to think about? I'm overjoyed to become the master's son-in-law!"

However, the young man Zhou Eryin refused to agree, insisting on considering it. (Indeed, this Zhou Eryin and the previous Zhou Erzhu were from the same village, and were even cousins ​​who hadn't yet left home.)

When Zhao's father heard that Zhou Eryin hadn't agreed this Tuesday but wanted to think about it, he knew that there was a plan.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Yin told a lie and secretly went to the military hospital.

He often heard the shopkeeper say that the owner's daughter worked in the surgical department of the military hospital. He inquired his way to the military hospital and found out where the surgical department was. He didn't look for a nurse or a doctor, but instead walked around and sat on a bench for the whole afternoon.

I happened to be sitting not far from the nurses' station and listened to stories about Zhao Meilan all afternoon. Only then did I understand why the employer wanted to marry his children to me.

It turns out that the landlord's daughter had fallen for a married man, and the man's wife caught her in the act. What's even more ridiculous is that the man didn't even know her and thought she was being a pervert. What's more, the man's wife happens to be a doctor at the hospital, and coincidentally, she works in the same department as the landlord's daughter. What a mess! To be honest, Zhou Eryin didn't really want to marry a woman like that.

But after thinking about his family's situation, he realized that his stepmother was in charge and his father didn't care about anything. His stepmother's children and grandchildren got married one after another, but she didn't arrange anything for him. Even when matchmakers came to his house to propose marriage, his stepmother would send them away. In addition, his stepmother was a shrew, and no one in the surrounding villages wanted their daughter to marry him.

Faced with this choice, she had no other option. After figuring it out, Zhou Eryin went home with her head hanging low.

Mr. Zhao knew all this. After he arranged for his daughter to get married, he selected several men, and among them, only Zhou Eryin this week was relatively satisfactory.

He arranged for his daughter to meet with Zhou Eryin separately, and before the meeting, he told Zhao Meilan:

"If you plan to get married and live a good life, tell the other person the truth, so that they won't have any lingering resentment later."

"I understand, Dad."

Zhao Meilan isn't stupid. She has no choice but to select from these people, and she also needs to live a good life from now on, otherwise she won't be able to stay in the hospital any longer.

After they met, Zhao Meilan and Zhou Eryin opened up to each other. Zhou Eryin was surprised by how direct the woman on the other end of the line was, which put her at ease. She also told Zhou Eryin about her family's situation.

Zhao Meilan never imagined that such a small farmhouse would be filled with so much trouble. She used to think her stepmother was always two-faced, but she never imagined there could be someone even more formidable. Little did she know that after Zhao's mother gave birth to her son, who cared about her anymore? She had really overestimated herself.

Sitting to the side, Zhao's father, after hearing Zhou Eryin's account match his own investigation, said:

"That's easy, just split up the family property."

These two people never expected that this could be done.

"Er Yin, do you want to separate from the family?"

"Of course I want to, but I'm afraid they won't agree."

You don't need to worry about that.

"After the family splits up, you won't be living in the village anymore. You can go back for holidays and festivals. As for your retirement money, that depends on what the family gives you after the split. If they give you a lot, you'll have more retirement money; if they give you a little, then they'll just give you a pittance."

So Zhao's father found someone to impersonate an old Taoist priest and go to their village. Soon Zhou Eryin was called back to the village and was taken away by his stepmother, who was penniless. She said that even if he starved to death, he should never ask her for money. As for his old age money, she didn't want it anymore, saying that she was afraid of bringing bad luck to him and that she should just pretend that her old man didn't have this son.

Even so, Zhou Eryin still asked the village chief and the elders to write a family division document, which stated that he would give his father some filial money every year, and give money during festivals instead of gifts. He would give a little money during the three important festivals of Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year, so as to maintain the relationship between father and son.

However, the receipt would not go through Zhou's mother's hands; instead, the village chief would write a receipt and then pass it on to Zhou's father. As for Zhou's father's future illnesses and hospitalizations, he would pay the same amount as the other brothers, without any extra.

So when Zhao Meilan got married, her father gave her a small courtyard from her biological mother's dowry. It was a detached house with three main rooms and two side rooms, and a well. It was located not far from her workplace.

Zhao's father replaced the rest with small yellow croakers and gave them to her and her brother, instructing her to hide them well and not to tell anyone.

Two days before the wedding, Zhao's father brought Zhao Meilan to the courtyard and whispered that this was a small box that had just been dug out of the cellar.

"Some of these things were your mother's dowry, which I replaced with small yellow croakers; the rest is part of the dowry I prepared for you."