The elderly couple, one tending the fire and the other frying meat, both wore solemn expressions and remained silent.
Wei Mingyue came over from her room, looked at the old couple, and asked, "Dad, Mom, why are you making dried meat so late at night? Do you have things to do tomorrow?"
Cao Maizi was afraid she would talk nonsense, so he chased her away, saying, "Little girl, don't ask questions. Go out, go out."
Wei Mingyue walked to the kitchen doorway, her mouth watering as she looked at the fried, reddish-brown meat. She said ingratiatingly, "Mom, can you cut me a piece of meat to try?"
Cao Maizi was so angry her mouth twisted into a crook, and she blurted out, "Hey, you greedy little brat, if you dare to talk nonsense again I'll beat you to death! I blew this up to worship the gods, how could I let you eat it first? Gods, please don't treat me like a child, I don't know any better, please don't blame me..."
Upon hearing that it was about worshipping gods, Wei Mingyue adopted a haughty "civilized" attitude, saying, "Hmph, you're engaging in feudal superstition. There are no ghosts or gods here. Have you seen any? Have any ghosts or gods given you money or food? That's all made up to deceive people..."
"You bastard, I'll beat you to death!" Cao Maizi grabbed a fire stick and chased after her.
Wei Mingyue scurried away, saying defiantly as she ran, "I'm telling the truth! We should believe in science; that's what the books say!"
After she was chased away, Cao Maizi returned to the kitchen, panting, and muttered a few curses at her. She then prayed to all the gods not to blame the child, saying that the child just had a loose tongue...
Wei Tiezhu, who had been silent all along, spoke up, "This girl is getting older every day. Look at all the girls in our village who are older or younger than her, they all have husbands. She's the only one who doesn't. We need to hurry her up."
Cao Maizi poked the meat with her chopsticks and saw that it was cooked, then scooped it out, saying with a wry smile, "Listen to what you're saying, as if I don't want her to find a husband. You know she's been on several blind dates, but none of them liked her, and even if they did like her, she wouldn't like them."
Wei Tiezhu's face darkened. "We can't let her have her way. She'll be even harder to find someone when she gets older. People can just introduce her to divorced men or women with widows. She'll have to marry into their family and become a stepmother. With her temper, can she be a good stepmother? Can she even stand the mistreatment from her in-laws?"
Cao Maizi looked at him with a worried expression and asked, "Then what do you suggest we do?"
After pondering for a moment, Wei Tiezhu said, "When we went on blind dates before, neither of us had met the other. It was just our parents looking at each other and that was it. We've been doing just fine ever since."
Cao Maizi got angry and said angrily, "I was ruined by my parents back then. If I met you, I would never marry a stubborn and ugly bastard like you. Look at the daughter you gave birth to, she's just as ugly and stubborn as you."
This barrage of questions left Wei Tiezhu completely bewildered.
He looked at his wife and asked, "Wheat, you've been with me for decades, and you still hold a grudge about this?"
Cao Maizi said, "What's wrong with decades? I'll regret marrying you until I die. You're as stubborn as a donkey, your words are as harsh as a donkey's braying, and you have a donkey-like face..."
“Hey, honey, our donkey didn’t do anything to you. Besides, aren’t our eldest daughter and son quite good-looking? Look at our son, I dare say he can outdo all the other guys around here.” Wei Tiezhu became assertive again when he mentioned his son.
Cao Maizi's anger had completely subsided. "You still have the nerve to talk about our son? He just inherited the good genes of the Cao family. If I hadn't married an ugly woman like you, all three of my children would be as beautiful as angels..."
"Then why don't you make Erni look like you? You gave birth to Da Ni and your son, both of whom are good-looking. Why did you give birth to Erni, who is so ugly?" Wei Tiezhu was also annoyed.
Cao Maizi was furious: "That's all because of you! If you were even slightly better looking, Erni wouldn't be so ugly!"
“I’m ugly, I’m ugly, but no one else says I’m ugly. You parents keep saying I’m ugly. Are you really my parents?” Wei Mingyue ran over and shouted at the two of them in a panic.
This choked his parents so much that they stopped talking.
Wei Mingyue pressed on relentlessly, "If you ask me, you just think I'm ugly, that's why you don't take me seriously. You know I want to be a teacher, but you don't care at all and you keep putting me down, saying I'm not good enough."
Bah! You just don't want to spend any money or effort. I finally met a benefactor who wanted to fulfill my dream, but you all interfered and prevented me from getting close to her..."
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