Chapter 138: Want to get married without giving a dowry?
Zhang Kang is an old comrade-in-arms and classmate of the third son of the Zhai family. He often comes to Hongmei Village to look for Zhai Ximo, and most of the villagers know him.
Recently, Zhang Kang brought his brothers to Hongmei Village to hunt. Every time, he asked the eldest brother of the Zhai family to lead them into the mountains. Everyone also knew that Zhang Kang was about to get married and hold a banquet.
But he suddenly brought a good-looking but slightly shy girl to Hongmei Village, which attracted the curious looks of many villagers.
Especially those girls who were still unmarried, could not help but stand on the village road and whisper to Zhu Yan's back.
"Yan'er, when we get to Zhai's house, don't be anxious. Just listen to me. When the couple sees that we come here to discuss things sincerely, it shouldn't be a problem for them to squeeze in with old Zhai's family." When the two of them walked outside the fenced yard of Zhai's house, Zhang Kang suddenly whispered again.
Zhu Yan's eyes were slightly red. She had not reacted so strongly to the idea of following the army at first, until she heard that there were no vacant houses in the military family compound. Then the girl became completely anxious.
"Auntie, are you home?" When Zhang Kang walked into the fenced yard, he saw Liu Xiulan sitting in the main room with her hands folded, looking at them. Zhang Kang gritted his teeth and shouted.
Liu Xiulan glanced at Zhang Kang impatiently, then cast her eyes on Zhu Yan, "Is she your girlfriend?"
"Yes." Zhang Kang naturally put his hands around Zhu Yan's waist and said softly, "Yan'er, call me auntie."
"Auntie." Zhu Yan called out obediently.
But Liu Xiuying had no intention of welcoming the guests. When she stood up from her chair, a creepy smile appeared on her ravine-like face. "I heard that your partner was originally the daughter-in-law of the Wang family?"
Zhang Kang's face darkened, and he cursed quietly, but on the surface he said nonchalantly, "This is not something shameful."
Mrs. Liu grinned and saw the two young men walking into the main hall. She sighed in a sinister tone, "Oh, our Zhai family is really lively. The kid from the Wang family just arrived and you guys are here."
The two people who just stepped through the threshold were stunned. Zhu Yan was about to turn around and leave, but Zhang Kang grabbed her and said, "We are already here. If we go back now, she will think we are afraid of that bastard."
Baoer heard Uncle Zhang Kang's voice coming from the main room. The little boy quickly broke free from his uncle's arms and went out to greet the guests.
"Uncle Zhang, are you here?"
"Yeah, what is your father doing at home? He has not been seen for several days. My uncle is getting married, and I came here today to ask him to help with the wedding." Zhang Kang raised his voice deliberately so that the people sitting in the stove room could hear him.
When he walked to the door of the stove room, he saw that bastard Wang Zonghao had also come to his sister's house.
Wang Ziru was cooking dinner. She turned around and saw two people standing outside the stove room. She said in surprise, "Zhu Yan! Is that you?"
"Why are you two here suddenly?" Zhai Ximo stood up and walked out without calling his old comrade to the stove room to sit down and talk.
"Please help me get married, what else can I do?"
Zhang Kang deliberately spoke loudly.
When love rivals meet, they are extremely jealous of each other.
Wang Zonghao had never expected that he would run into Zhang Kang when he had just taken leave from the county town to prepare for his wedding a few days later and went to his sister's house first to ask his sister to help him get married.
Wang Zonghao's eyes twitched, wondering if Zhang Kang had heard what they had just said.
He was telling his elder sister about the shameless demands of Chen Pingping's family, and he also told his sister that it was absolutely impossible for him to give a pig to the Chen family. If Zhang Kang and Zhu Yan heard this, they would definitely laugh at him behind his back.
"Sister, I'll go back first. You're going to help with the wedding, so you must wear new clothes. Go to the city tomorrow to see if the new clothes that the Yang family sent you are ready." Wang Zonghao stood up and planned to go back to Longwang Village.
Wang Ziru was about to cook in the pot, and turned around and said, "Eat dinner before going back."
"I'm not eating anymore. I can't eat when I see disgusting people." Wang Zonghao curled his lips, deliberately implying Zhang Kang and Zhu Yan.
Zhang Kang was about to go into the kitchen to beat someone up, but Zhu Yan held him back.
After watching Wang Zonghao leave, Zhang Kang and Zhu Yan walked into the stove room and sat down.
"Sister Ziru, do you want me to help you?" Zhu Yan asked with a smile while standing on the earthen stove in the mud base.
"In the evening I just stir-fried some cabbage and shredded potatoes, cooked some egg drop soup, and stewed some sweet potato rice. I didn't do anything else. I didn't know you two would be coming over so late at night, so I just had to make do with what I had."
Zhu Yan saw that Wang Ziru had already taken the fried potato shreds out of the pot and quickly reached out to take the porcelain plate.
"Just put it on a high stool. We have been eating in the stove room recently to save firewood." When Wang Ziru said this, her pretty face was not at all embarrassed. She took a few earthen bowls and placed them in front of her, and deftly served a few bowls of sweet potato rice.
After a while, a high bench was placed full, looking very abundant.
"Sister-in-law, you really know how to live. Secretary Tang sent you ten kilograms of rice that day, but you were reluctant to eat rice and ate a mixture of corn and sweet potatoes every meal?" Zhang Kang held a bowl of rice, glanced at the diced sweet potatoes, corn grits and a little rice in the bowl, and couldn't help asking.
Wang Ziru pulled Zhu Yan to sit down and said unhappily, "You can't finish the rice in just a few meals and eat steamed buns every meal in the future."
"Don't underestimate this sweet potato of mine. It was given to me by someone else."
"Mom, put some egg drop soup in my bowl." Baoer sat on the small chair, took a bite of sweet potato rice, and quickly passed the bowl over to get the soup.
Wang Ziru pushed the child's bowl back, stood up to get an earthen bowl, scooped two spoonfuls of soup and placed it on the bench in front of the child.
"Baoer is so good! Yaner, you must give me such a cute baby in the future." Zhang Kang said half-jokingly.
Zhu Yan lowered her eyelashes slightly, and her cheeks instantly felt hot, "How can I know what I will give birth to in the future..."
"It's the man who decides whether to have a boy or a girl, so Zhang Kang, if you want a son after you get married, you should try your best," said Wang Ziru.
"Why is it a man's decision? Men can't have children!" Zhang Kang saw that the time was almost right, so he hesitated and told the couple his purpose. Finally, he said embarrassedly: "I know this matter makes you a little embarrassed, Old Zhai, but you can see that Zhu Yan and I just got married, and we definitely can't separate like this."
If you are unlucky, you will end up like Zhai Ximo, who has been in the army for five years before returning home.
Leaving my wife alone at home would definitely be hard.
Zhai Ximo was surprised and looked at Zhu Yan and Zhang Kang. "You know I have to bring my elder brother with me to the army this time. Where can I find room for both of you?"
"Is your elder brother really going to join the army?"
Zhang Kang completely forgot about this matter.
Suddenly he remembered that the army had approved Zhai Ximo to take his wife, children and elder brother back with him.
The joy that just emerged in the hearts of the two newlyweds disappeared in an instant.
After a while, Zhai Ximo looked up at Zhang Kang and said, "I have a single dormitory. Do you think it's okay for you to stay in my dormitory when you arrive at the army? We can get along for a while and see how it goes."
"How can that be possible! There are only people living alone in that single dormitory building of the army. How can you let a girl like Yan'er go in and out under the noses of so many men all day long? That's ridiculous!" Zhang Kang rejected the suggestion without even thinking about it.
The army has single dormitories for officers, but...
No, no, absolutely not.
Zhang Kang was so worried that his wife couldn't accompany him to the army this time that he couldn't even eat.
Suddenly, he had an idea and pulled his old comrade's sleeve, "You still have a living room, let us stay in your small living room first, and deal with it."
Wang Ziru looked at Zhang Kang in surprise, her eyes full of disbelief, "How do you two live together in the living room as a couple?"
"Also, Uncle Baoer is a single man. If he suddenly opens the door and sees you two doing that, how would you feel about that?"
"Yes! Sister-in-law, you reminded me that Uncle Baoer can live in the living room, and Yaner and I can live in the small bedroom." Zhang Kang said with a smile.
Zhu Yan couldn't help laughing after hearing this. She decided not to embarrass her fiancé before joining the army. "Forget it, I won't go with you to the army this time. The army officers also said that there might be a vacant house in the family compound in half a year."
"Zhu Yan is still magnanimous. It doesn't matter. We will go to the army first and make some appropriate preparations. Big brother will go with us. When we arrive, we will see if there are some barren hills and slopes around that are suitable for reclamation and farming. If we can dig out a field and plant some vegetables, you will have something to eat when you arrive at the army in half a year." Wang Ziru said readily.
…
In the blink of an eye, Longwang Village became bustling and lively.
The courtyards of the Chen and Wang families were decorated with lanterns and colorful lights, and bright red couplets were posted on the door lintels.
Since the two in-laws lived diagonally across from each other, both families had to hold banquets the night before, and the villagers had to go to both houses to pay their tributes and show their gratitude.
It was a rare occasion for every household in the village to have a banquet, and almost the whole family went out. Unmarried girls or young wives went to the Chen family with their babies to attend the wedding banquet. After the banquet, the bride's relatives and friends invited some young wives or unmarried girls to set up a "singing hall" in the main hall.
Usually, two tables are put together in the main room, with melon seeds, peanuts, fruit candies on them. All the girls and wives sit together and take turns performing their talents, mostly singing.
The bride, wearing new clothes, sat in front of various dowries, and asked the girls to spend the last night with her before her wedding.
At this moment, at Chen Pingping's house, the girls were singing. A few young men from the groom's house came to Chen's house to watch the girls singing, and some even made jokes about Chen Pingping.
"Oh! After Pingping married into the Wang family, your parents will enjoy a good life. Your daughter and son-in-law will live across the street. You just need to cook a meal and stand at the gate of the yard and shout, and your parents will come to your house for dinner."
I don’t know which words touched the bride, but Chen Pingping burst into tears.
Everyone panicked immediately, and a girl who was close to Chen Pingping stood up and went over to comfort her, "Pingping, this is a new era, crying at weddings is no longer popular, why are you crying?"
At this time, a cousin of the Chen family said with a smirk, "Our Pingping is not bad. That bastard Wang Zonghao not only refused to give a dowry, but also refused to buy a fat pig for the Chen family. Pingping is married, but her parents will have to pay off her debt for a long time."
As the wedding date approached, most people in the village knew about the troubles between the Wang and Chen families.
But no one has spoken out about it.
Seeing that Chen Pingping couldn't stop crying, the young man who had been joking before left Chen's house angrily and hurried to Wang's house diagonally opposite.
That night, the Wang family finished their banquet and many young men stayed in the stone house to play cards.
Wang Zonghao was the groom. He was passing cigarettes to everyone and watching them play cards. He would even give some pointers when he was in the mood. Then he heard someone walk into the stone house and pull his sleeve: "Zonghao, you still have the mind to watch them play cards. Go check on your wife. Her eyes are swollen from crying."
"Why is she crying for no reason?"
"It's because your Wang family didn't give any betrothal gifts, so the Chen family didn't get any benefits. All the Chen family members feel sorry for Chen Pingping's parents..."
"It's already this late and why are people from the Chen family still saying this? Don't you want to get married tomorrow?" Wang Zonghao said angrily. He felt very sorry for being stared at by everyone. He threw a box of cigarettes on the card table and turned around to go to Chen's house.