Chapter 174 The troublemakers arrived. The next day was New Year's Day...
The next day was the first day of the Lunar New Year. During the New Year holidays, Mingxi and Zhao Sulan went back to the compound to stay. There were quite a few people coming to pay their respects, and they couldn't very well let them come to find the gate locked up tight.
Sure enough, early on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Ming family home became lively, with neighbors from the courtyard and relatives they hadn't seen for over ten years all coming to visit.
During the Lunar New Year, no matter who it was, Zhao Sulan would greet everyone with a smile and invite them to sit down and chat.
When everyone was chatting, they inevitably talked about Mingxi.
"Hey, Mingxi, you and Weining have been dating for a while now. When are you two planning to get married?"
Someone chimed in, "Yeah, Mingxi, when are you planning to get married? Let me tell you, you should find a partner and get married as early as possible. Don't believe everyone who says late marriage and late childbirth are good. What's so good about getting married late? It's better to get married and have children as early as possible. The earlier you have children, the better your health and the faster you recover. It's good for both you and the child."
"If you had a child when you were in your thirties, you definitely wouldn't have recovered as well as you have now."
As everyone started talking at once, Mingxi paused in her shelling of melon seeds, but she quickly looked up with a smile on her face and said, "I'm only twenty-two this year, still young. Let's talk about marriage in a few years."
Several people sitting inside frowned slightly, their faces showing disapproval. A middle-aged woman with triangular eyes spoke first: "Twenty-two isn't young anymore. I gave birth to my eldest child when I was eighteen, you..."
Zhao Sulan came out with fruit and interrupted her: "When did you give birth? What time is it now? The social atmosphere is completely different. What's the point of comparing them?"
The woman with the triangular eyes turned around, looking indignant: "Hey, Zhao Sulan, how dare you talk to me like that? I'm your older sister, don't you have any respect for me?"
Zhao Sulan rolled her eyes: "Zhao Sumei, shut up. How old are you? You talk nonsense and expect people to respect you. Do you even know there's a word that describes people like you?"
Zhao Sumei was taken aback for a moment, then stared at her triangular eyes and asked, "What word?"
Zhao Sulan: "Taking advantage of one's age."
"You, you, you..." Zhao Sumei's hand trembled with anger as she pointed at Zhao Sulan, and she almost fainted from anger.
Seeing that things were not going well, the people around quickly pulled Zhao Sumei aside.
Zhao Sulan rolled her eyes and turned to Mingxi, who was watching the commotion with excitement, saying, "Don't pay any attention to your aunt, her words are just bullshit."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Sumei, who had just been pulled to sit on the sofa, struggled to come over and fight with Zhao Sulan, but was eventually held down by her daughter-in-law.
In fact, Zhao Sulan usually wouldn't say such harsh things, much less embarrass someone to their face.
But Zhao Sumei is different.
Zhao Sumei, her biological older sister, and Zhao Sulan didn't get along even when they were young. As the eldest child, Zhao Sumei enjoyed the exclusive affection of her parents. After Zhao Sulan was born, she felt that Zhao Sulan had stolen the complete love from her parents that should have been hers. So she disliked Zhao Sulan from a young age. When they were little, she even pushed Zhao Sulan into the pond when their parents weren't around. Fortunately, the pond wasn't deep, and Zhao Sulan climbed out on her own.
As they grew up, the two sisters, Zhao Sumei and Zhao Sulan, got married one after the other. Zhao Sumei's husband was arranged by her family; he was a worker at a slaughterhouse. Later, when the public and private sectors were merged, the slaughterhouse was incorporated into the meat processing plant, which was considered a good job.
Logically speaking, Zhao Sumei married well, but she was not satisfied.
Her husband does have a good job, but he's not good-looking at all. He's big and burly, with a big head, thick neck, and a face full of fat. To put it bluntly, he could stop a baby from crying at night if he came out in the middle of the night.
Especially when standing next to Ming's father, the contrast is even more striking.
Ming's father and Zhao Sulan fell in love on their own. He was good-looking, and even just looking at Mingxi, who inherited his looks, one could tell he was quite handsome. The young Ming's father was tall and had long legs. Although he worked in the workshop of the steel rolling mill, he had a good-looking face. He looked fair and clean, and when he wore a white shirt, he looked refined and cultured, like a scholar.
Standing next to Zhao Sumei's boyfriend, the contrast was too obvious.
Zhao Sumei was very unhappy about this, and she kept muttering to herself that Ming's father looked like a gigolo and could not be trusted, and she urged Zhao Sulan to break up with Ming's father.
Zhao Sulan certainly wouldn't listen to her nonsense and insisted on marrying Ming's father. After the marriage, Zhao Sulan became pregnant, and Ming's father died in a factory accident.
When the news of Ming's father's death reached Zhao Sulan's family, Zhao Sumei was not sad at all. Instead, she laughed and said that she had said long ago that Ming's father should not marry, but Zhao Sulan insisted on marrying him against her will. Now she deserves to be a widow.
Before Ming's father's funeral was even over, Zhao Sumei came to Ming's house with drums and gongs, telling Zhao Sulan to remarry while she was still young, and even introduced her to a "good match".
A man who committed domestic violence, gambled, and drank heavily, and who drove his previous wife away.
Although Zhao Sulan knew that Zhao Sumei had disliked her since childhood, she did not expect Zhao Sumei to be so ruthless as to push her into a pit of fire. Despite being pregnant, she fought with Zhao Sumei. With other neighbors in the courtyard taking sides, she scratched Zhao Sumei's face badly. The two sisters broke off their friendship and did not have any contact with each other for the next twenty years.
When Zhao Sulan's parents were still alive, they had never seen Zhao Sumei come. No one knows what's wrong with Zhao Sumei this year, but she came to visit with her son and daughter-in-law early on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Zhao Sulan didn't want to talk to her, but as the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face. If Zhao Sumei had come alone, she wouldn't have let her in. But Zhao Sumei's son and daughter-in-law were with her, weren't they? Besides, the two kids were carrying things.
If she doesn't let two more people in, it'll be a bit unreasonable.
Having no other choice, Zhao Sulan could only let the person in and sit down.
But even though she sat down, she didn't like Zhao Sumei saying those unreliable things.
Mingxi, engrossed in cracking sunflower seeds, looked left and right with a curious expression.
She knew that Zhao Sulan and Zhao Sumei didn't get along.
Although Zhao Sulan and Zhao Sumei had already broken up when she was born, the Zhao family elders were still alive at that time. In those years, other relatives thought that Zhao Sulan, being a widow, was unlucky and were afraid that she would rely on them with a sickly child, so they stopped associating with her. But the Zhao family elders still loved their daughter and often asked Zhao Sulan to take Mingxi back home during holidays.
When she went home, she would inevitably mention Zhao Sumei, so even though Mingxi had never met Zhao Sumei, her aunt, she knew that such a person existed.
Furthermore, I heard about the feud between the two from Zhao Sulan.
Zhao Sulan wondered to herself what had gotten into Zhao Sumei today. The two sisters hadn't been in touch for years, and now she'd come all this way with gifts. Mingxi was also thinking the same thing.
She had only ever heard of her aunt's name since she was a child, but had never actually met her. Why was this aunt suddenly showing up at her door today?
Her curious gaze darted back and forth between Zhao Sulan and Zhao Sumei.
Zhao Sulan really disliked Zhao Sumei and didn't even want to give her a second glance. Zhao Sumei was indignant, but her son and daughter-in-law pulled her along, and her son whispered something in her ear, which made her swallow her anger.
Zhao Sumei took a deep breath and continued craning her neck to talk to Mingxi: "Xiaoming, we've only been sitting here for a short time, and all I've heard you say is that you have a boyfriend. I've never even met him. What's his name? What does his family do? Do we know him well? Women are different from men. If a woman doesn't find a good partner, her life is ruined. Look at your mother..."
Zhao Sulan shot her a sharp look, and Zhao Sumei shut up.
She smirked, then changed the subject, saying, "So, when it comes to finding a partner, the kind of partner you find is very important. Tell us, what does your partner do?"
Mingxi smiled and said dismissively, "Ah, he works at a steel rolling mill."
Zhao Sumei pressed for details: "What are you doing at the steel rolling mill? Is it in the workshop or somewhere else?"
Before Mingxi could speak, Aunt He, who was sitting to the side, interrupted, "Hey, her older sister, you don't know, Xiaoming's boyfriend, Wei Ning, is really something. He works in the broadcasting room of our steel rolling mill's publicity department, a proper office worker. This Wei, not only has a good job, but also comes from a good family, both his parents work. He's good-looking too. When he's with Xiaoming, they're the perfect couple, a handsome man and a beautiful woman. And you don't have to worry at all, Wei is from our alley, he grew up right under our noses, he knows Xiaoming inside and out, we know his temperament perfectly."
Aunt He was very perceptive. As soon as Zhao Sumei and her family sat down, she could tell that Zhao Sumei and Zhao Sulan didn't get along.
After listening to Zhao Sumei's inquiries, I keenly sensed a provocative intent in her tone.
Although we don't know what evil schemes Zhao Sumei, that heartless old woman, is plotting, we can be sure she's not up to any good.
Aunt He had a good relationship with Zhao Sulan and Mingxi to begin with. Moreover, now that she had been recruited by Zhao Sulan to work at the matchmaking agency and was receiving a salary from Zhao Sulan and Mingxi, she naturally sided with Zhao Sulan. When she saw Zhao Sumei trying to sow discord, she immediately spoke up to help Mingxi get rid of her.
Zhao Sumei's intention to sow discord would not be deterred by a few words from Aunt He.
Hearing that Wei Ning and Ming Xi grew up in the same alley and knew each other well, he instead showed a disapproving expression: "Ming Xi, you are still too young and naive. You can't see into someone's heart. Even if you grew up together, you may not know what kind of person they are."
She pursed her lips and said, "You know, that guy surnamed Wei is good-looking, but he's probably a gigolo. Those kinds of gigolos are the most unreliable. If you ask me, the last thing you should look for in a partner is someone who's just good-looking. You should look for someone honest who can settle down and live a peaceful life."
The neighbors, including Aunt He and Aunt Ma, found these words offensive, let alone Mingxi and Zhao Sulan.
Zhao Sulan's face immediately darkened.
"Zhao Sumei, if you can't utter a single nice word from that dog's mouth, you might as well shut up and stop talking."
Zhao Sumei glared at her: "What did you say?!"
Zhao Sulan: "I'm talking about you. If you can't speak properly, then shut up."
Aunt He: "Exactly, exactly, her older sister, to be fair, you really don't know how to talk. Xiao Wei and Xiao Ming are dating and doing so well, and you just come up and say that Xiao Wei is unreliable because he's good-looking. According to you, all good-looking people are unreliable, so everyone should look for ugly partners?"
Aunt Ma laughed and said, "Isn't this a joke? Everyone looks for good-looking people when they're looking for a partner. Who would choose an ugly person as a partner? To put it bluntly, if you date a good-looking person, you'll be happy even when you're arguing, just looking at their face will make you happy. But if you date an ugly person, you'll get angrier and angrier even if you're not arguing."
Although Aunt Ma's tone sounded like she was telling a joke, the underlying meaning of her words was to belittle Zhao Sumei.
Zhao Sumei's already unpleasant complexion worsened upon hearing Aunt Ma's words, and her face even turned somewhat pale.
Actually, she wouldn't be so angry just because Aunt Ma criticized her.
The main reason she was angry was that she had indeed married an ugly man. Although she knew in her heart that Aunt Ma didn't know about this, Aunt Ma's words sounded like they were directed at her.
The more she thought about it, the angrier and more upset she became.
Before leaving the house, her son and daughter-in-law repeatedly told her to hold back her temper, but she completely forgot about it.
She suddenly clenched her fist and stood up, pointing her finger at Aunt Ma's nose and demanding, "What do you mean? Who are you implying anything about?"
Aunt Ma hadn't even realized what was going on yet; why had this person suddenly turned on her?
She turned to look at Zhao Sulan, who rolled her eyes and said, "Don't pay any attention to her. Her husband is ugly, and he's just reacting to what you're saying."
Aunt Ma touched her nose awkwardly.
Who would have thought of this?
Hearing this, Zhao Sumei became even angrier. Her eyes were filled with anger as she glared at Zhao Sulan and said, "Are you ever going to stop? We haven't seen each other for so many years. We finally meet, and you're showing me no respect like this?"
Zhao Sulan didn't want to argue with her, but since she had already said so much, Zhao Sulan couldn't be bothered to hold back anymore.
"Oh, so you know we haven't seen each other for so many years?"
Zhao Sulan: "Stop beating around the bush and just tell me straight, what brought you here today?"
Zhao Sumei: "Fine, I won't beat around the bush. I just said that I heard you opened a marriage agency and even hired an employee. You're showing off just because you have a little money. None of our own family members have jobs yet, so why did you hire an outsider?"
ha?
Everyone in the room was stunned when they heard this.
Mingxi frowned, her gaze falling on Zhao Sumei's son and daughter-in-law behind her.
Zhao Sumei turned around and pulled her daughter-in-law out: "I'm talking about my daughter-in-law. She doesn't have a job yet. Second son, you should fire the people you hired at that matchmaking agency and let my daughter-in-law get a job."
"What?!"
Upon hearing this, Aunt He immediately flew into a rage.
She thought this person was there to cause trouble, but she never expected that he was there to steal her job.
They're here to steal her job.
This won't do!
She was doing well at the matchmaking agency. It was easy work with little workload and high pay. She just sat in the office all day, gathering information, verifying details, and introducing potential partners. It was called work, but it was pretty much the same as chatting with people in the alley. The key was that she got paid.
Zhao Sulan pays her thirty yuan a month!
Such a good job, if someone else takes it away, it's no different from taking her life.
Just as Aunt He was about to say something with a dark face, she heard Zhao Sumei continue, "Second son, don't look down on my daughter-in-law just because she's thin and weak. She's capable, articulate, and knows how to handle things. We're all relatives, so I don't need anything else. Just give my daughter-in-law a salary of fifty yuan."
"Fifty yuan? You wish!" Zhao Sulan said coldly.
Zhao Sumei: "I heard you charge outsiders 20 or 30 yuan a month, but for our own people, can't you double that?"
At this moment, her daughter-in-law tugged at her arm, stepped forward, and said softly to Zhao Sulan, "Second Aunt, my mother-in-law isn't very good at speaking, so please don't take it to heart. Well, I don't have high expectations. Just pay me the same salary you pay outsiders. I'm not particularly interested in making money; I just wanted to help you out so that my cousin wouldn't be too busy with work and neglect the matchmaking agency, and you wouldn't be able to manage everything by yourself."
Mingxi gave a slight smirk.
Well, she finally understands what it means to be from the same family.
When she heard her sister-in-law, whom she had never met before, speak for the first time, she thought the other woman was reasonable. However, she didn't expect that this woman was not a good person either.
The other party spoke nicely, but in reality, just like Zhao Sumei, they still wanted Zhao Sulan to fire Aunt He and have her come to work.
Moreover, this person is far more sophisticated than Zhao Sumei. He's all teasy and pedantic, and every time he says something, it's not for making money, but rather an excuse to help Zhao Sulan.
She got the benefit, but she still wants to be a good person.
"Pah, you have such a big face."
It was Zhao Sulan who spoke. If Mingxi could understand it, how could she not?
She didn't hold back, rolling up her sleeves, hands on her hips, and started yelling: "You two have such a big face! She was doing just fine at my matchmaking agency, why should I fire her because of you? Because you're pretty, or do you think you're so great? You keep saying we're family, relatives, huh? Family? You haven't had any contact with us for over twenty years? Back then, you only contacted us because you were afraid we orphans and widows would cling to you after our old man passed away. What, now that we're doing well, you're all scrambling to get back at us? Have you no shame?"
Zhao Sumei's family's plans were exposed by these words, and they instantly blushed.
Her daughter-in-law, her face flushed and tears welling in her eyes, said, "Second Aunt, why are you saying such hurtful things?"
Zhao Sulan: "If you think my words are harsh, then don't do such ugly things! You shamelessly come to me for work, and I'm just repeating what you've done, and you think my words are harsh? Why don't you think your own actions are ugly?"
She rolled her eyes. "You shameless bastard, you're trying to turn the tables on me?"
Zhao Sulan fired off like a machine gun, leaving the three people opposite her speechless.
Zhao Sumei's son was the first to be unable to bear the humiliation. He suddenly stood up, grabbed his wife, and said in a rough voice, "Let's go. Didn't you hear that they don't like us? Why are we staying here and making ourselves disliked?"
With that, he started walking out.
His wife glanced at Zhao Sumei, then at her husband who had already walked out the door. After hesitating for a moment, she finally took a step and followed her husband out the door.
Seeing that her son and daughter-in-law had already left, Zhao Sumei hesitated for a moment and turned to chase after them. However, after taking only a few steps, she couldn't help but turn back and say fiercely to Zhao Sulan.
"You just don't appreciate my kindness! Your daughter will get married sooner or later, and your lousy matchmaking agency will eventually fall into the hands of outsiders. Let's see what you do then!"
After saying that, she quickly turned and ran towards the door.
She seemed afraid that Zhao Sulan would catch up with her and slap her.
Little did they know, Zhao Sulan and Mingxi hadn't even realized what she meant by those words.
Mingxi scratched her head: "No, what does whether I get married or not have to do with matchmaking agencies?"
Even if she gets married, the matchmaking agency will still be under her name.
Zhao Sulan suddenly realized what was going on and snorted, "Heh, I knew it. She kept nagging about you getting married early and saying that Xiao Wei is unreliable and can't be trusted. Apparently, she's thinking that after I die, the matchmaking agency will be handed over to you. You're too busy with work, and your partner is unreliable, so she wants to persuade me to hand the matchmaking agency over to her."
Although Zhao Sumei didn't say it directly, based on Zhao Sulan's understanding of her since childhood, it was obvious that she was thinking about this.
Zhao Sulan couldn't help but snort again: "She's ugly, but she dreams big."
No one in the room knew how to respond to that, except for Mingxi, who nodded in agreement.
She thought her aunt had come today simply to cause trouble.
Little did she know that the other party had a much bigger plan. They bypassed her and started scheming to take over her family's matchmaking agency.
This isn't wishful thinking; what are they trying to do?
It's not worth getting angry over such irresponsible people during the Lunar New Year. Although Zhao Sulan was angry, she just made a comment and then forgot about Zhao Sumei's family.
Turning back to the large group sitting inside, he smiled again and said, "Never mind that family from before, let's continue our conversation."
Fearing that Aunt He would be influenced by Zhao Sumei's words, she moved closer to Zhao Sulan and muttered, "Old He, don't pay attention to what that person said just now. You've done a great job here, and I'm not planning to let you go."
Aunt He: "I know..."
The two whispered to each other, and the rest of the group chatted and laughed. Just then, the door opened, and another person came in. Mingxi turned her head and her eyes lit up when she saw Wei Ning walking in.
The eyes of the middle-aged women in the room lit up instantly.
"Oh, Xiao Wei's here!"
"Xiao Wei is here rather late today. He usually comes quite early, doesn't he?"
"That's right, Xiao Wei, you usually leave home very early in the morning, right?"
Everyone joked and laughed.
They didn't mean any harm; they were just teasing each other.
Amidst the laughter of the crowd, Wei Ning also laughed and said, "Relatives came to visit this morning, so it wasn't convenient for me to come out and I was delayed for a while."
Mingxi: "Oh, what's the big deal about late? There's nothing to do anyway, it's all the same whether it's early or late."
She went up to her boyfriend, took his hand, and sat down.
"Oh my, so Mingxi is protecting him already?"
Mingxi blinked: "He's my boyfriend, of course I have to protect him."
Wei Ning, who hadn't blushed at all when a group of middle-aged women teased her, blushed instantly upon hearing this.
Pink bubbles seemed to appear in the air.
A group of middle-aged women across the way clicked their tongues in disapproval.
Oh my, look how inseparable these two are!
They couldn't help but reminisce about their youth after watching it.
Back when they were dating their own husbands...
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