Chapter 122: Really Greedy

The next day, Liu Xiangqin got up very early and washed and dressed.

The matchmaker, Aunt Xue, brought six pounds of noodles and two pounds of sugar to the Liu family, handed the things to Liu Xiangqin's sister-in-law Zhao Hong, and said with a smile:

"Oh my! If your sister-in-law marries Mr. Hu, she will have a wonderful life in the future!"

Zhao glanced at the noodles and sugar on the table with red eyes and said with a smile: "Her brother and I are looking forward to them and their daughter living a good life."

"After all, they are my mother's family! Hu Laosan went to town to buy some things yesterday and cleaned up the house, waiting for the mother and son to visit the house! When his sister-in-law heard about this, she insisted on helping to prepare breakfast, so you don't have to wait for the mother and son to come back for dinner."

"This Hu Laosan is so thoughtful! If everyone is as particular as Hu Laosan, what would our family worry about? I hope his aunt can marry into a good family." Zhao Hong happily accepted the gift from Hu Laosan from the neighboring village.

"Sister, the Hu family said that if the two of them fall in love today, they will immediately discuss getting married."

"Well! The sooner the better! So that useless guy from the Zhai family won't have the nerve to come to the Liu family and ask us for a wife!" Zhao Hong immediately spat on the ground. "However, as for the betrothal gift, Aunt Xue must explain it clearly to Hu Lao San. You all know that we only give 200 yuan for the betrothal gift when we get married."

Aunt Xue laughed, "Why is the betrothal gift so expensive..."

"Let's not make it difficult for him. Let him give us 100 yuan as a betrothal gift." Zhao Hong looked as if it was his due to receive the betrothal gift.

Without waiting for Aunt Xue to bargain for Hu Lao San, she turned around and went into the house to urge Liu Xiangqin and her daughter to go to the Hu family quickly.

After dressing up, Liu Xiangqin, who is not yet thirty, looks quite pretty. She has two broom-like hairstyles on her head, and the fine bangs on her forehead are pinned on top of her head with two thin black clips, revealing a pair of round eyes.

He is as strong and sturdy as a cow, and you can tell at first glance that he is a good worker.

Liu Xiangqin took Zhaodi and went to the next village with Aunt Xue.

After watching the three of them walk towards the entrance of Hulu Village, Zhao Hong turned back to the main hall and said to her husband, "If I hadn't reacted quickly just now, I'm afraid Hu Lao San would not have planned to give us the betrothal money."

"Huh, Xue Daju didn't mention the bride price just now, right?" Liu Fugui asked.

"It looks like she wants to bargain. Can Hu Lao San still agree to this? That dead bachelor thinks that just because your sister is divorced, he can pick up a woman for free. How shameless! There is no such good thing in the world." Zhao Hong's saliva was splattered everywhere.

Liu Xiangqin couldn't tell how she felt. With anticipation, she listened to the matchmaker Xue Daju saying many good things about Hu Laosan along the way, and the three of them arrived at Hu's house.

Hu Laosan has an older brother and an older sister.

When his sister-in-law heard that someone had found a matchmaker for her brother-in-law, she thought that he could finally find a wife, so she got up before dawn and came to help him prepare breakfast.

"Come in, come in and sit down." When Hu Laosan saw the matchmaker leading the mother and son to the Hu family, he was so excited that he didn't know what to say.

He quickly invited the guest into the house and asked him to sit down.

His sister-in-law also hurried out of the kitchen. Seeing that Liu Xiangqin was still quite young and brought a daughter with her, she greeted her warmly, "Thank you for your hard work, Sister-in-law Xue. Come on, have some tea."

"Why should I bother? It's just a short walk. Oh, I'll go to your house to relieve myself and let them talk it out."

Xue Daju knew the most about blind dates between men and women, so she immediately took Hu Laosan's sister-in-law to the Hu family's main residence.

Sitting in the main room, Liu Xiangqin held the enamel pot handed to her by Hu Laosan and looked around with her cow-like eyes.

Although Hu Laosan was a bachelor, he was capable. He separated from his brother and lived on his own. He had three houses with mud walls and tiles. On the mottled and yellowed mud walls were posters that had been put up there during the Spring Festival in an unknown year. There was some dust on the posters.

The main room was fairly clean and tidy, with a few chairs and a table for dining.

"Drink, drink tea... Oh, Zhaodi, eat some fruit candies, they are delicious. When Sister Xue comes back from the toilet, we will have dinner."

Hu Laosan sat opposite Liu Xiangqin, secretly looking at the woman opposite him. This woman was strong and must like to have sex with her husband frequently. She was the type he liked.

Liu Xiangqin blushed slightly when she was stared at by the bachelor opposite her.

The bachelor opposite looked like a bamboo pole, tall and big, but very thin. He was very good at talking and was more eloquent than Zhai Qingsong, a dull guy.

He even went to the supply and marketing cooperative in town and bought a pound of fruit candy and two canned oranges, and gave them to Zhai Zhaodi, telling her to eat as much as she wanted.

Zhaodi had never eaten such delicious food since she was born. She couldn't move her eyes away greedily. When she heard the man say that he could eat as much as he wanted, she pulled her mother's hand and said, "I want to eat canned oranges."

The man enthusiastically found a pair of scissors, cracked the lid of the can, took a small spoon and stuffed it into Zhaodi's hand, touching her two braids, "Eat it, it's all yours."

Zhaodi was extremely happy. She held a small spoon in her hand and ate the canned oranges in big mouthfuls. She didn't know that from the moment she took the small spoon from the man's hand, her mother had already made a decision in her heart: to marry the man in front of her.

"I..." Liu Xiangqin glanced at Zhaodi. She didn't say in front of the child that she was adopted, but the matchmaker must have told Hu Laosan about it. "Zhaodi has to live with me."

At first, the man was very anxious when he saw Liu Xiangqin remained silent. After hearing what Liu Xiangqin said, he promised her in person, "In the future, I will definitely let you and your daughter live a good life, and I will never let you suffer the kind of humiliation that the Zhai family has suffered."

I don’t know if their marriage was destined in their previous life, but they fell in love with each other at first sight.

Liu Xiangqin also pretended to get up and go outside, saying that she was going to relieve herself, and then went to find Xue Daju and told her that she could marry Hu Laosan, "but I will be the head of the family from now on, and I will be in charge of all the big and small things in the family."

"My dear sister, it's great that you think this way. This is the best plan for you and your daughter. Not to mention letting you be the head of the family, even if you become the living Bodhisattva of the Hu family, Hu Lao San will not hesitate at all." Xue Daju held Liu Xiangqin's hand and laughed until her eyes narrowed into slits.

When the matchmaker came back and told Hu Laosan, Liu Xiangqin agreed to the marriage.

Hu Laosan handed the enamelware pot to the matchmaker with trembling hands, and tried to calm his voice which was trembling slightly due to excitement: "Sister-in-law, drink, drink tea."

"Since you two are destined to be together, go to the commune and get the marriage certificate immediately. However," Xue Daju held the enamel pot in both hands, drank a few sips of hot tea, and said, "Her sister-in-law said that we have to give 100 yuan to her parents as a betrothal gift. This money, you see, should you discuss with your brother to borrow some first?"

"100 yuan..." Hu Laosan gritted his teeth and said, "I still have some money, I'll ask my brother and sister-in-law for help with the rest!"

"Yes! Let's get married first, and then we can plan other things later."

After the two of them stood at the door of the main room and discussed this, Hu Laosan's sister-in-law brought Liu Xiangqin back from the toilet.

While going to the kitchen to help serve the dishes, Hu Laosan told his sister-in-law about borrowing money.

His sister-in-law also hoped that her brother-in-law could start a family, so she immediately agreed to help him borrow money so that he could get married first.

After the matchmaker had settled the matter, he went home.

Hu Laosan, with 100 yuan of betrothal money in his pocket, went with Liu Xiangqin to her parents' home in Hulu Village.

The Liu family was eager to get Liu Xiangqin, this old bitch, married off quickly so that they could get a dowry from the man. Zhao Hong was very happy and readily agreed to the marriage.

"Sister-in-law, tomorrow is a good day. I plan to take Xiangqin to the commune to get the certificate. After we get the certificate, we will be married..." Hu Laosan said nervously.

Zhao Hong could see that Hu Laosan had been single for many years and couldn't wait to get married. The idle guys in the village were all the same, always eager to get married when they saw a woman.

As the bride's family, Zhao Hong accepted the betrothal money from the Hu family and promised them to go to the commune to get the marriage certificate the next day.

…

Behind Zhai’s house.

When he got up in the morning, Zhai Ximo took his son to wash up.

The father and son were squatting on the grass next to the chicken coop behind the house, holding their mouthwash cups and brushing their teeth. They heard the two hens in the chicken coop calling "cluck, cluck, cluck".

"We may have to go back to the army soon, Ziru, is there anything else we need to do at home?"

"You don't have to go into town today, so kill a hen."

"Why, aren't you in such a hurry to get back to the troops even though we haven't been notified yet?" Wang Ziru walked out of the side room, combing her hair slowly with a wooden comb in her hand.

Her waist-length black hair became smooth after being combed by her, giving her a unique feminine charm.

"I have a feeling I'll probably go back early. I'll kill the chicken after breakfast."

Wang Ziru also knew that the man was considering that he might have to return to the army soon, so he held her hand tightly the night before, as if he was afraid that they would be separated again.

"I just happened to have some wild mushrooms that I brought back from my mother's house a while ago. I'll braise them with chicken for lunch."

Nodding, Zhai Ximo asked tentatively: "Big brother is alone now, let's ask him to have lunch with us at noon."

"It's up to you."

After breakfast, Zhai Ximo took the children for a walk outside the fenced yard to bask in the sun.

Actually, I just wanted to take a look at what Big Brother was doing.

He felt that after his eldest brother got divorced, he rarely went out and locked himself in the house.

Or he would sit in the newly built stove, feeling depressed and daydreaming.

Zhai Ximo basked in the sun for a while, then led the child back to the yard. He saw that the door of his eldest brother's stove was open. He walked to the door and took a look inside. He saw that his eldest brother, such a big man, was sitting on a small stool by the stove, staring at the ground in a daze.

“Brother!”

After a long while, Zhai Qingsong finally responded and slowly turned his head to ask, "What's wrong?"

"We still have two hens. I'll kill one later. Have lunch with us at noon, and you can also recuperate." Zhai Ximo stood at the door of the stove room and explained his purpose.

Zhai Qingsong seemed to have woken up suddenly, and he came back to his senses. He quickly put down the fire tongs in his hand and stood up, "It just so happens that I need to find you guys for something."

"Looking for us?"

"Well, are you going into the city tomorrow? If so, I would like to go to the county town with you. You accompany me to the hospital to check my hand. I can't be disabled for the rest of my life." Zhuang Jiahan, who was usually taciturn, had a tearful face.

Zhai Ximo nodded, and knowing that his elder brother was suffering from an injured left arm, he agreed to take him to the city to the hospital for a check-up the next day.

He turned around and went into the house, went to the chicken coop, caught a hen and slaughtered it.

In less than an hour, he skillfully prepared a chicken and chopped it into small pieces.

"The chicken is already chopped, go ahead and cook." Zhai Ximo prepared the chicken and put it in a bowl. He turned and walked into the side room, where he saw his wife opening the only small cabinet in their house and counting the food coupons. "We still have some food at home, so you don't have to go buy more for now."

What if I suddenly have to return to the army?

Wang Ziru turned around and realized that the man was looking at her. "Well, keep it for now. You can't use it at home, and it may not be enough when you get to the army."

When the family arrived at the army and lived in the family compound, it was like starting a new home for them. There were many things they needed to spend money and coupons to buy basic necessities such as pots, bowls, pans, and utensils.

At that time, they can use food coupons to exchange with others for the tickets they need.

Wang Ziru counted a handful of grain coupons, wrapped them in a handkerchief, put them in the cabinet and locked them.

As soon as I turned around, I suddenly saw my mother-in-law standing outside the door.

Mrs. Liu looked greedily at the cabinet with a brass lock and asked, "Old Third, are you going back to the army? Since you don't need these food coupons, give them all to me."