Since neither the couple nor their parents had any objections, their marriage was settled. The wedding banquet was scheduled for the 6th of next month, followed by the exchange of betrothal gifts on the 5th.
Then Zhang Yumei planned to help Chen Zhaodi and the others clean up the dishes, but Chen Zhaodi stopped her, saying that these chores were the responsibility of Huang Jianguo and his brother. They should just sit there.
Zhang Yumei felt embarrassed, but since Chen Zhaodi had said so, she didn't want to contradict her. So she asked Xu Junhui to help, while she chatted with Huang Qinqin and her daughter.
"Mother-in-law, don't worry. Household chores are shared in my family. Everyone in the family has to do some work. It's not like one person has to be responsible for everything. That would be too tiring!"
Zhang Yumei herself is a woman, so she knows that what every woman fears most after marriage is being mistreated by her husband's family. She herself has been tormented by her mother-in-law, and she is not willing to become a wicked mother-in-law.
She decided to just say it directly to ease Chen Zhaodi's mind. She wasn't lying; she was actually quite similar to Huang Qinqin. At home, she was mainly responsible for preparing three meals a day, and everyone else did the other chores together.
Chen Zhaodi had actually wanted to bring up this topic earlier, but she was afraid of scaring them. Since Zhang Yumei brought it up now, she went along with it.
"To be honest, my Qinqin has been spoiled since she was little. In our family, the boys do most of the work, and Qinqin and I are mainly responsible for things in the kitchen."
“She started learning to cook from me when she was six or seven years old, and her cooking skills are much better than mine now. You are easy to get along with, so I feel at ease.”
“You have no idea, the people in the family compound have been saying how lazy my daughter is, that she does nothing, but that’s not true.”
"My daughter Eryuan paid for a well at home to make things easier for me, so we don't have to share the communal water pool with other people anymore. We also don't have to go out to do things like washing clothes and dishes. Then, I don't know when it started, rumors began to circulate that she's lazy!"
Zhang Yumei patted Chen Zhaodi's hand and comforted her, "No matter what they say, we know Qinqin is a good girl. So what if she doesn't do housework? Cooking every day is already tiring enough. They're probably just jealous that Qinqin is loved by you, while they themselves have to work themselves to the bone every day."
Chen Zhaodi wholeheartedly agreed with her. She quickly looked around and found that Huang Eryuan and the others were not nearby. She leaned close to Zhang Yumei's ear and whispered, "You have no idea."
“My husband Eryuan never helped me with housework before. It was only after I got pregnant that he started to help out a bit.”
“He used to be nice to me, but he wouldn’t help me with housework. I deliberately let him get used to it while I was pregnant with our first child.”
Zhang Yumei was shocked by Chen Zhaodi's words. She had always thought that the Huang family had always been like this, but she never expected that it was Chen Zhaodi who had trained them.
She could tell from Chen Zhaodi's name that her family likely favored sons over daughters. In such families, men are often revered.
She was surprised that Chen Zhaodi was so clear-headed, because her husband, Lao Xu, would offer to help purely out of guilt.
Zhang Yumei assured Chen Zhaodi, "After Qinqin marries into our family, I will treat her like my own daughter, and our two families can visit each other more often."
"Don't ever say that a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl. You've raised Qinqin for so many years, you must really miss her. If you miss her, come and visit her more often. I'll also ask Ahui to bring Qinqin back to see you more often."
Chen Zhaodi believed that Zhang Yumei was not trying to comfort her, because she could tell that Zhang Yumei was easy to get along with and did not treat her son and daughter differently.
Although she had only met Xu Hongxia twice, she found her every move to be graceful and poised, and she exuded confidence, somewhat resembling her daughter.
Getting along with Xu Junhui felt very natural, unlike many families where there's a sense of fear towards the only older or younger brother.
This is enough to prove that she was not mistreated at home; at least her family would not make their daughter suffer in order to please their son.
As for the future, who can guarantee that things will remain the same for ten years? As long as Zhang Yumei truly loves Qinqin now, then sincerity will be reciprocated.
She definitely won't have a bad life in the future, even if the Xu family treats her badly in the future. The two families live so close together, they can always stand up for her.
"Good, good, good! My Qinqin is so lucky to have such an open-minded mother-in-law like you! Hahaha!"
Chen Zhaodi wasn't flattering her; she genuinely felt that a good mother-in-law was even rarer than a good husband.
As far as the Huang family is concerned, her marriage to Huang Eryuan was something she actively fought for, not something she had her eye on at the time.
She was interested in her mother-in-law at the time!
At the time, Chen Zhaodi's parents planned to marry her off to a divorced man. She had secretly inquired about the man's first wife and found out that she had been worked to death!
Although the man didn't hit his wife, she did all the household chores, from farming to washing clothes and cooking.
It's less about him marrying a wife and more about him hiring a farmhand. Because of his first wife, many people disapproved of him, which led to his bad reputation and prevented him from marrying a second wife.
Therefore, he said he was willing to pay a dowry of fifty yuan, and the woman would not need to provide any dowry.
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhaodi's parents immediately expressed their willingness to marry her off to their son.
Let alone twenty years ago, even now, there aren't many people in rural areas willing to offer fifty yuan as a bride price.
Chen Zhaodi immediately sensed something was wrong. After finding out the reason, she secretly went to nearby villages to inquire about suitable marriage candidates.
She ran into her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law was about to give birth, and the village's barefoot doctor said that her baby was breech and that she should go to the hospital.
The eldest sister-in-law herself was unwilling to go, but her mother-in-law persuaded her instead, saying that she shouldn't care about the money, because if the person is gone, no amount of money will be of any use.
Then she forcefully took her sister-in-law to the hospital to give birth. She also inquired around the village and found out that her sister-in-law had only become pregnant three years after getting married, but her mother-in-law had never beaten or scolded her in those three years.
Sometimes when people in the village gossip, she will defend her sister-in-law, saying that their family doesn't have money right now and doesn't plan to have children yet.
At that time, Chen Zhaodi thought that it would be great if she could marry into this family.
So when she found out that the Huang family had a young son who was unmarried and didn't have a girlfriend, she took the initiative.
At first, she pretended to bump into Huang Eryuan by chance. After knowing him for a few days, she directly asked him if he wanted to marry her.
She still remembers Huang Eryuan's expression at that time!
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