Chapter 101 The Souls Are All Taken Away
Zhu Yan had fringe-like bangs on her forehead, and her hair was braided into two black pigtails that fell on her shoulders, which set off her thin face and made her look pretty.
Zhang Kang, who has never seriously talked about a partner, seems to have been bewitched by the girl in front of him.
"Don't look at my age. My old comrade's son can go out to buy soy sauce by himself. Haha... I'm not afraid of your laugh. Chen Pingping is the first person I dated. I've never dated other girls before."
Zhu Yan was also rejected by Wang Zonghao, and she even went to Wang's house to cancel the engagement, which made her very embarrassed, and her eyes were red again: "Wang Zonghao and I are also engaged for the first time. I have never been engaged to anyone else before."
She saw that Zhang Kang was a loyal and straightforward soldier. Just as Zhai Ximo said, they were organized and would never do anything reckless when it came to relationships between men and women.
"Don't worry! When we get married in the future, I will never mention Wang Zonghao or Chen Pingping in front of you." Zhang Kang promised immediately.
At this moment, there was a lack of a middleman to help smooth things over, which made both sides very nervous.
"But, if you want to ask me if I ever liked her..." Zhang Kang felt his face burning, his heart aching, "I did like her, but that's all in the past."
Zhu Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that Zhang Kang did not lie to her.
She was very sad about the cancellation of the engagement, but she still pretended to be that bastard Wang Zonghao in her heart, and she didn't want to lie and say that she had forgotten Wang Zonghao.
After all, they have been engaged for so long, and she has long regarded Wang Zonghao as her own man. The only thing left is to cross the line.
"It's okay, I'm just asking casually, you don't have to think too much about it." Zhu Yan smiled lightly.
Anyway, she has already taken revenge on Wang Zonghao, and now that she is engaged to someone else, she doesn't care about what others say about her previous marriage behind her back.
At some muddy intersections, villagers rushing to the town came and went with backpacks on their backs.
When passing by them, I can't help but look at them again.
Zhu Yan felt embarrassed to continue standing at the fork in the road.
Zhang Kang was at a loss in the end. Seeing that the girl did not nod in response to his proposal, but did not reject it outright, he asked cautiously, "Would you consider me?"
"Well, you and the matchmaker can come to my house this afternoon." Zhu Yan bit her lip and nodded with a red face.
“R-Really?!”
Zhang Kang was so excited that he wanted to lift the beautiful girl in front of him up high to show her off.
Now that the two of them have talked it out, Zhang Kang is not a stingy person.
The first time he discussed the marriage with the girl face to face happened to be a busy day for the town to gather. After Chen Pingping's previous cancellation of the engagement, Zhang Kang had learned a few tricks to please girls.
"You left home very early this morning. Have you not had breakfast yet? Let's go get some wontons."
He quickly took Zhu Yan to the bustling market, dragged the girl to the steamed bun shop, ordered two bowls of wontons, and let the girl eat her fill before going home.
After eating wontons, he went to the rice cake shop and bought a bag of rice cakes. He wrapped it in paper and put it in the girl's hand, "Take it with you and eat it when you get hungry on the road! This rice cake is delicious. My sister-in-law and her family all like to eat this rice cake..."
"Which sister-in-law?" Zhu Yan's eyes showed some vigilance.
"She is Lao Zhai's wife."
Zhang Kang held his head and smiled foolishly.
Zhu Yan would not have originally accepted being treated to wontons and rice cakes, but since Zhang Kang had such a kind intention, she was happy to accept it.
The two of them were walking in the crowded street, each of them feeling a little excited.
"If nothing unexpected happens, we can really get married this time!"
Zhang Kang was secretly happy in his heart, and happily sent the girl to the other intersection. He watched the girl go home with the backpack on her back, and then he hurried home.
After returning home, Zhang Kang told his parents what had happened and quickly sent someone to notify the matchmaker Aunt Li.
Aunt Li heard that Zhang Kang had met Zhu Yan alone, and when she learned that the girl had initially nodded, she said with a smile: "It seems that the Zhang family is really lucky. I heard that the girl from the Zhu family is not only beautiful, but also a good worker."
"Auntie Li, after Zhu Yan and I get married, I will take her to the army. When we get to Zhu's house later, don't brag about her ability to do housework." Zhang Kang warned.
The wives of military personnel in the military's family compound compete with each other not only in terms of housekeeping skills.
You also need to be educated and understand a lot of knowledge that he doesn't understand.
He had inquired about the location of Zhima Village where the Zhu family lived in advance, and after lunch he went to the Zhu family with the matchmaker Aunt Li.
When we arrived at Zhu's house, Zhu Yan's parents had just returned home from working in the fields after hiring a worker to plow their rice fields.
"Are you two here at our Zhu's house?" Father Zhu, with his trousers rolled up above his knees and some mud on his legs, returned home carrying a nail rake. He saw a young man carrying something in his hands and a middle-aged woman coming to the door of the Zhu's house.
Mother Zhu came back with some pig grass on a shoulder pole. When she saw the two people by her family's dam, she quickly took a look at the young men and guessed that they were from the Zhang family who were proposing marriage. "Are you from the Zhang family?"
"Yes, yes!" Zhang Kang's face showed a friendly and nervous smile, and he nodded, "Uncle, auntie, hello, I am Zhang Kang."
"Are you the old comrade that Zhai Ximo mentioned yesterday?"
Zhang Kang nodded vigorously, fearing that the Zhu couple would look down on him, "Yes!"
"Oh! I've heard for a long time that your Zhu family gave birth to a good daughter who is eloquent and talented. Just now, Zhang Kangcai came back from the army to visit his relatives. He heard about your daughter Zhu Yan and couldn't sleep." The matchmaker Aunt Li made the Zhu couple smile as soon as she opened her mouth and invited them into the house.
The Zhu family hasn't had lunch yet. At this time, Zhu Yan is cooking in the stove.
When he heard that Zhang Kang had brought a matchmaker to his house, he became very excited. He dropped his spatula and came out to greet them, "Auntie Li..."
"Oh! Zhu Yan, we meet again. Go and cook. Your parents must be hungry after coming back from farming. We only left after having lunch."
Aunt Li smiled friendly and asked Zhu Yan to prepare lunch first.
Seeing Zhu Yan, Zhang Kang smiled shyly and placed the gifts in his hand on the table in the main hall. There were six pounds of noodles, two pounds of sugar, and twenty eggs. "I didn't know what to bring, so I just bought two things..."
In the early 1980s, the gifts prepared by Zhang Kang were considered very decent.
Seeing the gift on the table, Zhu Yan lowered her head even lower and went into the stove with a red face.
After washing their hands, the Zhu couple sat down in the main hall. Both parties knew what was going on and did not beat around the bush. They asked Zhang Kang about some basic situations.
"...Uncle, aunt, my situation is relatively simple. I have parents, a brother, and a sister at home. They have been married for several years. After I joined the army, my brother and sister-in-law took care of my family."
Zhu's father sat for a moment and pondered, then asked, "If you get married, will you also follow the military rules and not give a dowry?"
"Hmm!" Zhang Kang didn't know why the bride price was always mentioned during blind dates in his hometown. He immediately sat up straight and said carefully: "There is a rule in our army that all weddings, whether they are leaders or ordinary soldiers, must be simple."
"But I can buy some gifts for the woman, like a watch or something."
"Do you have a ticket? It's hard to get tickets here." said Zhu's mother.
"This is not difficult. If I need to buy a watch, I will use my connections to get a ticket no matter what." Zhang Kang was so nervous that his neck was sweating and his collar was wet.
Aunt Li held the enamel pot, blew the tea leaves on the water, and said with a smile: "After all, he is a soldier, so there must be a connection. I think you should not mind the betrothal gift. As long as Zhu Yan marries Zhang Kang and follows him to the army, then won't all the monthly salary be given to you girls?"
These words almost touched the heart of the Zhu couple.
As rural people, they don't even know about wages. They have only heard that those who work for the government get wages.
After the blow of Wang Zonghao's breaking off the engagement, the Zhu couple had no intention of making things difficult for Zhang Kang, and both sides went straight to the topic of marriage.
"Zhang Kang, since you came to our house sincerely and want to marry my daughter, I will make it clear."
Father Zhu paused while drinking his tea and continued:
"We know that you have a special status and can only hold a simple wedding. We will not make it difficult for you in this regard. But as parents, we hope that after you two get married, you can stand in front of my daughter no matter what happens."
"Our Zhu Yan is capable and sensible. You two can discuss anything you want." Zhu's mother said with a smile. She was very satisfied with Zhang Kang. This boy didn't look like a second-rate guy like Wang Zonghao.
If you work reliably, you will definitely be able to be half as good as them in the future.
He is a cadre in the army and will definitely have a brighter future than that bastard Wang Zonghao. For some reason, Zhu's mother felt that this marriage was the right one.
Zhang Kang had not expected that this marriage would be smoother than he had imagined. He was so excited that he didn't know what to say to express his gratitude.
"Uncle, auntie, you can rest assured. If Zhu Yan marries me, I will never let her suffer the slightest bit of injustice..."
With Zhang Kang's performance, both parties started discussing the wedding date on the spot.
Zhu Yan had almost no say in anything and accepted her parents' promise of marriage with the Zhang family.
Although she still couldn't let go of Wang Zonghao in her heart, but when she thought of that scumbag and his ruthlessness, she gritted her teeth and agreed to Zhang Kang's proposal.
…
That afternoon.
In Longwang Village, Lin Xiuying took Chen Pingping and her daughter to a fortune teller's house in another village to match Chen Pingping and Wang Zonghao's horoscopes and set an engagement date.
After Tiezhu returned home from school.
Wang Ziru took Tiezhu and Baoer, and the three of them went down to the beach under the rocks and drew a bucket of clean sea water.
She found that Baoer had a mild rhinitis, so she pumped the sea water back into a clean large iron pot and boiled it. After it cooled, she used sea salt water to wash the child's nose.
After being away for about two hours, Lin Xiuying returned home with a happy face.
Seeing her daughter and eldest daughter-in-law, Lin Xiuying took out the fortune teller's writing from her pocket and said, "Zi Ru! The wedding date is set, it's the eighth of next month."
"The eighth of next month? That's only a month and a half away."
Wang Ziru took the fortune teller's prediction of the horoscope and wedding date, opened it and took a look, then handed it to Li Hui, "Sister-in-law! Zong Hao's wedding will be a big deal for you and brother."
"Why would a family talk about hard work?"
Li Hui said with a smile.
She was meticulous. If her brother-in-law got married, there would be many relatives and clansmen in the Wang family, so at least a dozen banquets would have to be prepared, and she would also have to buy a set of clothes for the bride.
In addition, the husband has to bear all the expenses for making the dowry furniture for the bride.
"By the way, Mom, didn't Pingping's mom ask us to make two quilts that day?" Wang Ziru and her sister-in-law thought of the purchase of wedding supplies at the same time.
Lin Xiuying looked back at her eldest daughter-in-law. She knew that Pingping's mother always liked to take advantage of others, and she was afraid that she remembered it wrongly. "Did Pingping's mother say two quilts of new cotton?"