Early in the morning, before the roosters crowed, Lin Guoqing dragged his father out of bed.
"Hey, Dad, can you please hurry up? It'll take us some time to get there!"
Old Man Lin was speechless. He had never known his son was so anxious about getting married. When he went to borrow money from his eldest daughter's house yesterday, he borrowed an extra 10 yuan, fearing that if the girl's family thought 170 yuan was not enough, they could still use money to buy him back.
Old man Lin was thinking all night last night whether he could marry his son to Chen Chunhua. With the way this prodigal is behaving now, won't his daughter-in-law be under his control after she gets married?
What if the girl also plans to follow her mother-in-law's example and not work after getting married? Then this wasteful thing will repeat her own old ways in this life? What kind of people are these people in the Lin family?
Old man Lin got up reluctantly and put on his shoes. His old wife beside him was a little woken up by the noise and was sleeping uneasily. He reached out and patted her, tucked the quilt for her, and turned around to glare at Lin Guoqing.
"Why are you in such a hurry? The person is right there! Can he run away?"
"Of course she won't run away. Didn't Chunhua say yesterday that her family wanted to marry her off to a man in his fifties? What if we're too late and she's already been tied up in the bridal sedan?"
"Tsk, this is New China, how can there still be such banditry?"
This is why Lin Guoqing’s grandmother felt uneasy when she closed her eyes. The men of these two generations in the Lin family are still too naive.
The way to understand the world around me was to sit in the brigade and listen to the literate people read the newspaper. The atmosphere in Sihe Village was not bad. The worst thing that happened was a man hitting a woman. In those days, it was not a big deal to show it to others.
If Chen Chunhua were to judge, even her father-in-law could only be matched with a daughter-in-law like Liang Shengdi. He was a bit lazy, but she was also too lazy to use her brain. If it were someone else who wanted to play tricks, Old Man Lin would be easily devoured alive.
Let's get back to the topic. Early in the morning, Lin Guoqing took his father out and went to Lin Fuqiang's house first.
Lin Fuqiang looked at Lin Guoqing standing outside the door with sleepy eyes. His mind was still a mess when he heard him say that he wanted to get a certificate for him.
"What proof? What do you want?"
"I'm going to get married." Lin Guoqing said confidently, not thinking at all that he would not be able to pick up his wife today.
In those days, to get married, you had to first get a village certificate from the brigade headquarters, proving that you were a villager of the village and unmarried. Then you could take the certificate to the township government marriage office to register your marriage.
Lin Fuqiang: “…” “Now? At this time? The roosters have just crowed???” The staff of the office are probably still in a dream. What kind of marriage are you getting into?
"Hey, Captain, can you please do me a favor? My wife's family lives in the next county, and it takes time to go back and forth. We have to go there early. I'll come back and invite you to the wedding!"
Lin Guoqing pestered Lin Fuqiang and forced him to go to the brigade office at this time to get a certificate for him.
After thanking him repeatedly, he pulled his father, who was holding money in his arms, and walked quickly towards the next county.
***
Chen Chunhua waited anxiously until dawn. Chen Xiasheng, who had been waiting outside with a sour face all night, banged on the door.
"Come out and cook! Third brother, Dad told you to wear some clean clothes today!"
Chen Chunhua and Shen Donghua shook their bodies at the same time. Chen Chunhua gritted her teeth but still got up.
He put the scissors tightly against his waist, tied it tightly with his belt, exchanged a glance with Shen Donghua, and then left the room together.
It was still early; the butcher hadn't arrived yet. As the family's two laborers, Chen Chunhua and Shen Donghua still had to light a fire and cook, even if they were to be sold today. Otherwise, they would be beaten.
Chen Chunhua wanted to sprinkle half a pound of arsenic into the porridge. Shen Donghua probably thought so too, but unfortunately she didn't do it.
The men had sweet potato porridge with some side dishes, while the women only had a dried sweet potato that was not even the size of a palm for each meal. Chen Chunhua treated it as her last meal and steamed an extra sweet potato for herself.
When Qian Lai'er came in and saw it, she frowned, but didn't say anything. Her daughter could get 170 yuan when she got married today, so she let her eat more sweet potatoes. She thought her husband probably wouldn't object.
She didn't even care about the way her two daughters looked at her. They didn't look like mother and daughter, but like enemies.
What's there to worry about? Giving birth to them and raising them is good enough. How many daughters have drowned? They haven't really been freezing or starving for so many years. Isn't it their duty to do some work for the family?
She gave them life, and they took a few beatings for her, which was fair enough. Once they got married, they would belong to other families. She should think about how to spend the rest of her life.
…
After breakfast, Shen Donghua took the initiative to do the dishes. No one in the family went out to work today, except for Chen Xia, who was giving birth to his wife. Chen Chunhua sat in the corner like a clay sculpture.
She felt the cold metal of the scissors against her waist, motionless and lifeless.
Shen Laicai stood at the door and paced back and forth, looking out from time to time to see if the person who was delivering the money had arrived.
Around 10 o'clock in the morning, a short and fat middle-aged man came over with a short and fat young man, carrying a pound of meat.
"Oh! My father-in-law is here!" Shen Laicai's wrinkled face suddenly smiled like an old chrysanthemum, and he walked towards that direction.
Several other people followed to greet them, but Chen Xiasheng only walked to the door, and from time to time he would look back at Chen Chunhua who was huddled in the corner.
Shen Donghua looked at her third sister nervously. Judging from Shen Laicai's familiar demeanor, the person who came was definitely not the Lin family that Shen Chunhua mentioned.
All the hairs on Chen Chunhua's body stood up. She put her hands on her waist, making sure that she could pull out the scissors as quickly as possible and insert them into her neck.
"Father-in-law, come in, come in and sit down!" Shen Laicai led the person in with a smile that showed his teeth. Seeing Shen Chunhua still sitting in the corner, he tutted his lips and scolded her in a fake loving tone.
"You kid! You're about to get married, but why are you still so unruly? Go say hello to your future father-in-law!"
The old butcher and the young butcher, two greasy men, opened their eyes wide and kept looking at Chen Chunhua and Shen Donghua. Well, not bad, not bad, these two girls are good-looking, no matter who they are, they are worth the 170 yuan.
Chen Chunhua's teeth were chattering, and she was already cursing in her heart, "Fuck your future father-in-law!"
Her hand had already touched the handle of the scissors. She planned to cleanse this garbage family with her own blood, making these beasts have bloodshot eyes when they open or close them, and never sleep peacefully for the rest of their lives.
A familiar loud speaker sounded from outside the door.
"Laicai! Your future son-in-law is here, why don't you go out to greet him?"
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