The next morning, after Song Yinhua finished washing up and sat down to eat breakfast, her father, Song Erzhuang, told her to give the money from selling the old hen to Qiao Guilan.
“What do you need so much money for, you young lady? Your brother has a girlfriend and wants to get married right away. The family is really worried about how to pay for his bride price. As the eldest sister, you can’t make things difficult for your own brother.”
"Dad, if you leave this money with Mom, she'll just take it and use it to help others. If you leave it with me, I'll take it out once Baogen's marriage is settled."
Song Erzhuang knew that his daughter was right, but she never cared about the family's things, let alone kept money on her and refused to hand it over.
He then recalled that when he returned home last night, he overheard a group of villagers cooling off under the old locust tree at the village entrance discussing how their eldest daughter had taken a kitchen knife and brought all of their pigs and more than a dozen old hens home.
Actually, the night before last, he and his son came back and bumped into Xie Daguang. The young woman hit Xie Daguang with her basket, leaving him with a black eye and a swollen face. He was quite surprised at the time.
My eldest daughter is quiet and reserved; she works without speaking and never gets into conflicts with anyone.
Even if she suffers injustice, she keeps it to herself and digests it all by herself.
He's never even argued with anyone, let alone fought with them.
She beat Xie Daguang so badly, and at the time, I thought it was normal for a young girl to do something outrageous because she was frightened, so I didn't think much of it.
He knew what kind of person his wife was.
In the past, when the young woman saw her mother being taken advantage of, she would only offer a few words of comfort. This was the first time she had ever directly used a knife to protect her own chickens and pigs.
"Yinhua, is something wrong?" Song Erzhuang asked worriedly. "If something happened, tell Dad. Don't keep it to yourself."
Song Yinhua was puzzled as to why her father asked that question.
“Dad heard about what happened yesterday,” Song Erzhuang said. “You’ve always been calm and collected; this is the first time you’ve ever fought someone with a knife.”
Song Yinhua realized that her behavior had been unusual these past few days. She explained, "A few days ago, the matchmaker Wang came to my door to arrange a marriage for me. She wanted to marry me off to Han Zhiyuan in the next village so I could be a free nanny, take care of his paralyzed father, and look after his three crying children. I was a little traumatized, which is why I acted that way."
"When did this happen? How come Dad doesn't know?"
“Just a few days ago, you and Baogen took Qiuxue to the provincial capital.” Song Yinhua gave a brief account of what happened that day, which angered Song Erzhuang so much that he slammed his fist on the table, called Qiao Guilan over, and lashed out at her.
"Why didn't you tell me about something so important?"
Song Erzhuang felt even more frustrated when he thought about his wife's tendency to side with outsiders.
"Is your own daughter's marriage less important than an outsider's? You should have refused when the matchmaker, Wang, brought the person home. How can you be a mother like that?"
Qiao Guilan was also unhappy after being scolded by her husband.
“Matchmaker Wang came to my door in person, and I felt embarrassed to refuse her. Besides, she meant well.”
Song Erzhuang lost his temper, "Switching someone else's daughter to that kind of family as a free maid is considered kind? Why doesn't she marry her own daughter off to that family?"
“Honey, don’t worry. I told Yinhua about Han Youcai’s family situation beforehand,” Qiao Guilan explained. “I… I also wanted to refuse Matchmaker Wang directly, but there are some rumors in the village saying that we deliberately kept Yinhua at home as free labor, pocketed her wages to help Baogen get married, and wouldn’t let Yinhua get married…”
"What utter bullshit!" Song Erzhuang roared, slamming his fist on the table, nearly shattering the bowl of porridge in front of him.
Qiao Guilan continued, "That's why I agreed to let Matchmaker Wang bring people over to arrange a blind date with Yinhua. If I had refused directly, I don't know what kind of rumors Matchmaker Wang would have spread about our family! We're all from the same town, so I thought I'd give her face and let her meet us once. If I refused her in person, the matter would be over. Otherwise, it would be awkward for everyone."
At this moment, Song Baogen came out of the house and said, "I will earn my own dowry money for my wife. I don't need my elder sister's money. You should return my elder sister's salary to her."
Neither Song Erzhuang nor Qiao Guilan said a word; both of them felt a little guilty.
Getting married will cost a lot of money. My son only graduated from high school last summer and was assigned to work as an apprentice in a factory. He only finished his apprenticeship at the beginning of this year and has only been earning money for half a year. When will he be able to earn enough money to get married?
“Mom and Dad, you don’t need to worry about me. I earn more than fifty yuan a month now. My boyfriend said that the dowry is just a token amount and won’t cost much.”
"You silly child!" Qiao Guilan said to him affectionately, "The Fang family just said it casually, how can we just casually say something like that?"
"My partner said..."
Qiao Guilan interrupted, "What your boyfriend said is useless!"
"I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm going to work." Song Baogen turned and went into the kitchen.
Qiao Guilan called to him, "Have breakfast before you leave."
"I'm not eating, I'm going to be late. There are steamed buns near the factory, I'll just grab a couple for breakfast." Song Baogen's voice came from the kitchen. "Mom, have you prepared my lunchbox?"
"Everything is prepared for you." Qiao Guilan quickly went to the kitchen to take out the lunchbox she had hidden. She secretly opened the lunchbox and found rice, scrambled eggs with chives, and braised pork inside.
My daughter bought this pork at the market yesterday, and she secretly kept it. She salted it and it didn't spoil overnight.
Qiao Guilan closed the lunchbox and put it in her son Baogen's bag, then happily saw him off.
Song Erzhuang had just finished breakfast and was getting ready to go out to work. There were people in town building houses, and he was going to help.
Qiao Guilan quietly nudged his arm and gave him a wink. Song Erzhuang knew what she meant and looked at Song Yinhua, who was eating breakfast. "Yinhua, your mother and I are really worried about Baogen's dowry money. We're just trying to raise some by selling the chickens and pigs. You can put the money from selling the old hens with your father."
Qiao Guilan chimed in, "Yes, yes, Yinhua, you're a girl and you don't know how to manage money. If you get scammed again, no one can take it away from your dad."
After finishing her breakfast, Song Yinhua put down her chopsticks and said, "Mom and Dad, I told you that I would take out the money once Baogen's marriage is settled."
"Why are you becoming more and more irresponsible? Not only do you not hand over a single penny, but you're even eyeing the money we'd saved from selling the old hen to pay for your brother's wedding!"
Qiao Guilan complained with dissatisfaction.
Song Yinhua looked into her mother's eyes and said, "Mom, I gave up my job to Baogen last year, and now I'm unemployed. I help with farm work at home every day, and you haven't paid me a salary. What am I supposed to give you? You gave that old hen away to someone else, so just pretend I didn't ask for it back."
Qiao Guilan felt a little embarrassed by her daughter's words. Seeing Song Yinhua carrying a basket on her back and about to leave, she quickly called out to her, "Where are you going? There's a ton of work waiting for you to do at home..."
"I'm going to the back mountain to pick some wild fruits and herbs to exchange for money at the market so I can help your son get a wife!" Song Yinhua said before leaving.
Song Erzhuang complained to his wife, "Why are you bringing up this issue of handing over the money now? You old woman, if Yinhua and Baogen don't get along in the future, it'll all be your fault!"
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