Chapter 5: Is this method useful?
While Jiang Fengnian pressed Jiang Suining about how to deal with Zhou Xiaomei, Jiang's mother was filled with worry.
"Tomorrow, you and Comrade Lu will go to the commune to get your marriage certificate first thing tomorrow morning!" After much deliberation, fearing that things might change if she delayed, and even more so that Jiang Suining might not agree, Jiang's mother gently persuaded her, "You have to listen to your mother on this matter. When Comrade Lu comes back in a little while, I will talk to him."
"What does Auntie want to say to me?" Jiang's mother had barely finished speaking when Lu Ye's voice came from outside the main room. Immediately afterward, a tall, slender shadow stretched from the doorway to the octagonal table. It was Lu Ye who stepped across the threshold and walked in.
"Comrade Lu is back, come and eat." Jiang's mother smiled and nudged her daughter, "Sui Sui, go get some water for Comrade Lu to wash his hands."
"No need, I can do it myself." Lu Ye took a large red enamel basin with the character "囍" (double happiness) from the washbasin stand in the corner and walked out of the main room.
Seeing her daughter still sitting, Jiang's mother slapped her arm: "You're about to become someone's wife, and you still have no sense of propriety. Hurry up and go out to help."
"Mother, be gentle." Jiang's mother didn't hit her hard, but Jiang Suining pretended to be in a lot of pain, rubbing her arm as she obediently left the main room.
Jiang Fengnian quickly approached his mother and said, "Mother, we can't cancel this banquet."
"Don't get involved in this," Jiang's mother quickly instructed, fearing her son might lose his temper. "And don't go looking for Zhou Xiaomei. Remember, let's pretend we don't know anything about this for now! We'll deal with Zhou Xiaomei after your sister and brother-in-law return to the island!"
“But…” Jiang Fengnian became anxious.
"What?!" Jiang's mother knew her son well; he was stubborn and didn't quite have a good head. Knowing that she couldn't reason with him, she simply gave a direct order, "If you don't listen to me, I'll go to your father's grave and complain!"
"No, no, no, I'll listen to you, okay?" Jiang Fengnian was always filial, and upon hearing this, he knew that his mother was truly angry, so he immediately fell silent.
Outside the main room, Lu Ye didn't let Jiang Suining do anything; he drew water from the well himself to wash his face and hands.
"How did you convince Aunt Liu to apologize over the loudspeaker?" Jiang Suining squatted in the shade, not lifting a finger the whole time.
"You knew it was me?" Lu Ye paused in wiping his neck, turned his head to look at Jiang Suining, his eyes bright and dark.
“Of course, is it hard to guess?” Jiang Suining counted on her fingers for him, “First, no one in the brigade can make Aunt Liu give in; second, besides our own family, who else would care about this? Third, everyone in the family is here, except you.”
Are we family? Lu Ye's heart skipped a beat, his chest swelled, and even the way he wiped his neck became lighter.
“I didn’t have to say much.” Lu Ye was washing a towel in the basin. “I told her that spreading rumors would be reported to the commune, she would be sent to a study class, her family’s work points would be doubled, and if she did it again, she would be paraded through the village with a placard hanging on her head.”
"Do you think she'll fall for that?" In the original owner's memory, this Aunt Liu was a shrew and shameless person who would argue even when she was being unreasonable. Last year, she threw a tantrum and rolled around in front of the production team's tractor for half a day over a work point.
“Say it like that, of course it won’t work. I revealed my identity and said that she was spreading rumors about soldiers, which is an even more serious crime and she would have to go to jail. Only then did she get scared.” Lu Ye poured out the water in the basin. “You villagers are reluctant to say it, but I’m not afraid of being blamed. After all, he’s a son-in-law from out of town. I’m just worried that my aunt and brother-in-law won’t be able to say it.”
"What's so hard to say? It's not like we're that close. Besides, even if we were close, could it surpass the son-in-law?" Jiang Suining said dismissively, giving him a thumbs up. "You're really something! You got her nailed."
Hearing her say that, Lu Ye felt a warmth in his heart, and a smile appeared at the corners of his eyes and brows.
***
Knowing that it was Lu Ye who made Aunt Liu apologize to her daughter, Jiang's mother's eyes welled up with tears. She became even more convinced that Jiang's father had chosen a good son-in-law, and she became even more worried that Zhou Xiaomei would cause trouble: "Comrade Lu, how many days of your vacation do you have left?"
“Auntie, just call me Xiao Lu,” Lu Ye put down his chopsticks, sat up straight and replied, “I still have two days of leave left, but I can go to the commune tomorrow to send a telegram to the regiment to ask for a few more days of leave.”
“No need,” Jiang’s mother quickly stopped her. “It’s not good to delay work. Two days is enough. You and Sui Sui can go to the commune to get your marriage certificate first thing tomorrow morning and return to the island the day after tomorrow morning.”
"So rushed?" Lu Ye didn't react for a moment and looked at Jiang Suining.
"What?" Jiang Suining teased him, "You don't want to?"
“No, I’m willing,” Lu Ye was naturally willing. He also wanted to go back as soon as possible, since he still had work on the island. But he didn’t want to wrong Jiang Suining, since marriage is a lifelong matter. “Wouldn’t it be too hasty?”
“No rush,” Jiang’s mother said, afraid that Lu Ye would change his mind. “This year marks the tenth anniversary of your Uncle Jiang’s sacrifice, so it’s not appropriate to have a big celebration. Why don’t you hold the celebration when you return to the island? You can introduce Sui Sui to your comrade-in-arms then.”
Is there such a custom? Lu Ye thought about it. In his hometown, there wasn't one. Maybe the customs here are different from those back home. He could go back and do it. It wouldn't interfere with his work. He stopped worrying about it: "As long as Comrade Jiang has no objections, I agree."
Everyone looked at Jiang Suining.
Jiang Suining didn't experience much maternal love in her previous life, so after transmigrating into the book, she wanted to spend more time with her mother. However, seeing her mother's resolute attitude, she knew that objecting was useless, and felt inexplicably annoyed: "What problem could I have? I'm worried that someone will steal your boyfriend."
Her words were somewhat sarcastic, and she immediately realized how petty she had been. After all, it was the original owner who had pushed Lu Ye away, and although she was the one taking the blame, it wasn't Lu Ye's fault, so there was no need to hold a grudge.
"I, Lu Ye, swear on the honor of a soldier," Lu Ye stood up abruptly, clenched his right fist at his temple, and looked piercingly, "I will never betray my marriage or turn my back on Comrade Jiang Suining in the face of any test."
Jiang Suining was caught off guard and felt embarrassed. She tugged at Lu Ye's sleeve and said, "I was just joking. What are you doing? Sit down and eat."
"Good, good child, I have complete peace of mind entrusting Sui Sui to your aunt." Jiang's mother was very satisfied, her face beaming with joy. "Then it's settled. You two will get your marriage certificate first thing tomorrow morning."
***
After dinner, Lu Ye took a basin to wash the rain-stained sheets. Jiang's mother was inside tidying up the dowry she had prepared for Jiang Suining. Jiang Suining pulled Jiang Fengnian out of the courtyard.
Seeing that no one was around, Jiang Fengnian lowered his voice and asked, "Sui Sui, are we going to deal with Zhou Xiaomei?"
"Smart." Jiang Suining snapped her fingers, signaling him to lower his head, and whispered her plan in his ear.
"This method works?" Jiang Fengnian looked doubtful after hearing this. Even if it worked, it wouldn't count as punishing Zhou Xiaomei.
"Trust me, it will definitely work," Jiang Suining said confidently. "You know Zhou Xiaomei's father, he's a money-grubber."
"But what lesson can this teach Zhou Xiaomei?" Jiang Fengnian really couldn't understand.
“You don’t understand,” Jiang Suining thought that she couldn’t explain it to her brother, who was so dense, so she simply didn’t explain. “I’m a girl, so I naturally understand what girls are thinking. Believe me, if this works out, Zhou Xiaomei will be furious.”
Jiang Fengnian was skeptical, thinking that it was just a show anyway, and as long as Sui Sui was happy, anything was fine. At worst, he would teach Zhou Xiaomei a lesson after Sui Sui went to the island with her brother-in-law.
The two walked toward the old locust tree in the village. From afar, they could see villagers sitting and chatting in twos and threes under the lush canopy. As they got closer, they could hear laughter and chatter about this family and that family.
"Old Li, your son is secretly fetching water for Widow Wang again!" Aunt Chen tapped the bamboo stool with her palm-leaf fan. "I think it won't be long before you become a grandfather."
"That's great! We've got a free grandson!" Zhang's wife spat a mouthful of sunflower seed shells on the ground. "It'll save us food for years."
Everyone burst into laughter.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Old Li squatted by the millstone, his pipe clanging against the edge. "You two want to apologize over the loudspeaker?"
The two of them immediately fell silent.
"Hey, why didn't Aunt Liu come tonight?" Granny Zhao looked around and saw Jiang Suining and Jiang Fengnian. She quickly stood up and waved, "Suisui, come here quickly, Grandma has something to ask you."
"You're here." Jiang Suining quickly stepped forward, and Granny Zhao made way for half of the bluestone slab: "Sit down quickly and tell me what's going on between you and Comrade Lu."
The people around became interested and craned their necks to listen.
Jiang Suining saw Zhou Xiaomei's father squatting opposite her, so she sat down, pulled her waist-length hair down to her chest, and slowly combed it with her hand.
"What happened? Didn't you hear Aunt Liu's apology over the loudspeaker?" She knew these people wanted to gossip, but she wouldn't let them have their way. "Actually, when it comes to spreading rumors, Aunt Liu isn't the only one in our village."
Seeing the curiosity on everyone's faces, she continued, "Let's talk about this now. If we keep gossiping here, it might just be spreading rumors."
"Sui Sui, don't talk nonsense!"
"You silly girl, we were just joking, how did you start spreading rumors?"
The villagers quickly offered an explanation.
“Why not?” Jiang Suining smoothed her long braid hanging down her chest with both hands and said seriously, “Even if it’s true, if you tell other people’s stories and they get spread and distorted, that’s spreading rumors. The first person to say it can’t escape responsibility, and in serious cases, they can be sentenced to prison.”
Upon hearing that they would be sentenced, everyone was terrified. Aunt Liu's apology in the afternoon was truly astonishing. In particular, after Aunt Liu apologized, the Party Secretary read out several articles in the "Public Security Regulations" concerning the punishment of spreading rumors, which made many people feel uneasy. Thinking about what Jiang Suining said, it seemed to make a lot of sense. To be honest, who in the brigade hadn't gossiped about others? But whether these gossips were true or false was hard to say. If investigated thoroughly, they would probably qualify as rumors.
Why bring this up out of the blue? The crowd looked at Granny Zhao with reproach in their eyes. Granny Zhao wanted to slap herself, but she smiled awkwardly and looked at the long, dark braid in Jiang Suining's hand, praising, "Sui Sui, your hair is really long."
Jiang Suining quickly winked at Jiang Fengnian, who understood: "What's the use of long hair? Look how thin she is. All the food she eats goes into nourishing her hair. If you ask me, she should cut it off and let her body and face grow more flesh."
“That’s true.” Granny Zhao looked at Jiang Suining’s small face and agreed repeatedly.
“I also feel like the food I eat is growing on my hair,” Jiang Suining gave her brother a thumbs-up and stroked her long hair. “I’ll cut it off and take it to town; I can get three yuan and fifty cents for it.”
"How much?" Zhou Xiaomei's father stood up abruptly.
"Three yuan and fifty cents, it's free and you can even exchange it for grain coupons and meat coupons." Jiang Suining thought of Zhou Xiaomei's beautiful hair, which was about the same length as hers, black and thick, and she couldn't believe that this greedy old man Zhou wouldn't be tempted.
The original book's side story mentions that Zhou Xiaomei was of average appearance and was always jealous of the original owner's beauty. She kept her long hair with the intention of competing with the original owner, so she cherished it very much.
"Long hair is worth that much?" Mr. Zhou was skeptical, but his eyes gleamed as he imagined his daughter's beautiful hair.
“Yes, the longer and darker the hair, the more valuable it is.” Jiang Suining was afraid that Zhou’s father would be greedy and keep Zhou Xiaomei’s hair until it grew long before cutting it, so she added, “However, hair will split when it grows to a certain length, and once it splits, it will not be worth anything.”
She picked up a strand of hair and showed it to Granny Zhao: "Grandma, look, my hair has split ends. I need to cut it quickly to get some money, otherwise it won't be worth three yuan and fifty cents."
Granny Zhao leaned over to take a look and quickly nodded in agreement.
Upon seeing this, Zhou's father suddenly stood up, turned around, and headed home without looking back. Those around him, bewildered, exchanged glances.
Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Jiang Suining winked at Jiang Fengnian: "Brother, there are too many mosquitoes. Let's go home."
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