Chapter 170 Pan Tiefeng Marries Herself
Perhaps Yao Xiaoyu's luck finally turned around as the New Year approached. After signing a contract with Aunt Pang, many people looking for work appeared on the middleman's side. Yao Xiaoyu ran around for a few days without much hope and actually found a suitable employee. After a little assessment, she signed the contract.
Yao Xiaoyu did not regret her quick action. As everyone knows, good housekeeping jobs are in high demand. Pan Tiefeng, whom she signed, had a clean and honest appearance and did not talk much. She was efficient when cleaning and, most importantly, she was a bit of a clean freak. Such a combination of being able to work and being a clean freak is rare even in modern times. How could Yao Xiaoyu let her go when she encountered such a job!
Even if the family situation is unclear due to the short time spent here, the middleman assured that they are not a particularly wicked family, which is enough. Yao Xiaoyu has gone through a lot of trouble in choosing people, but as long as Pan Tiefeng herself is upright, no matter how difficult the situation is, it is nothing. She is not a delicate girl; she has plenty of strength and means!
"Work will officially begin on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. Don't be late."
Hearing the exact work date, Pan Tiefeng finally breathed a sigh of relief. She carefully folded the contract, the only document she recognized, and tucked it into her bosom. Carrying her vegetable basket, she went home. Her mother was untying the threads on the quilt cover; seeing her daughter return, she eagerly waved to her.
Nowadays, people use duvet covers to extend the life of their quilts. However, to prevent the quilt from shifting, they usually sew a long thread around the duvet cover and the quilt. They then remove the thread when it's time to wash the quilt. Poor families have to be careful with their money. What Pan's mother is doing is taking apart the long thread used to sew the quilt back on after the quilt is washed.
"Your Aunt Cypress has agreed to find you a husband..."
When Pan Tiefeng heard about Aunt Baishu, her brows furrowed and she interrupted her mother.
"Why are you going to see Aunt Cypress again? Didn't I tell you that I haven't been thinking about getting married for the past few years?"
Aunt Cypress is a well-known matchmaker in this area. Her original name wasn't this. When she was a child, she fell ill and adopted a cypress tree as her godmother. After growing up, she started a matchmaking business and somehow got the nickname "Cypress Girl." Now that she's older, she's called "Aunt."
Pan Tiefeng didn't have any ill feelings towards Aunt Baishu. Mainly, unlike other matchmakers who didn't even have a conscience and could exaggerate the one-eyed man into someone who had taken a liking to a woman at first sight, she was always straightforward and had an excellent reputation. Moreover, it seemed that she had drunk the water of the Peach Blossom Goddess, so even the most difficult person could always find a suitable match in her hands.
Just like a few years ago, an old woman came to Aunt Cypress Tree's door crying and begging, saying that her son really didn't like to work and she was worried that he would starve to death after she left. She wanted to ask Aunt Cypress Tree to match her with a suitable woman.
After some thought, Aunt Cypress went out and ran around for a few days. She then brought back a woman with a gold hairpin in her hair and married her son to her. The woman with the gold hairpin was the only daughter of a merchant who wanted to find someone to marry into the family and take over the business. Although the old woman's son was unwilling to work, he was naturally handsome and his easygoing nature suited the merchant's taste perfectly.
The old woman was initially unwilling, but after being persuaded by Aunt Baishu, she nodded. The merchant girl was not a stingy person; she took care of the old woman as well after marrying her husband. Two years ago, Pan Tiefeng saw her on the street. The old woman, who looked five or six years younger, was wearing silver lilacs, holding the hand of a beautiful little girl, and had a smile on her face.
Having witnessed Aunt Baishu act as matchmaker, Pan Tiefeng had no doubt that she could find a suitable family for her. However, she genuinely had no intention of getting married, and it was rather inappropriate for her mother to make the decision on her own.
"What woman doesn't get married? It's all my fault. I should have pushed you harder back then..."
Pan's mother didn't take her daughter's words to heart and started blaming herself again, looking like she was about to burst into tears.
Her daughter is hardworking and filial. If she weren't so tall, how could she have become the troublesome child in other people's eyes, and even changed her name from Jin Feng to Tie Feng...
"Mom, if you don't take it apart and wash it soon, it won't dry tonight."
Pan Tiefeng sighed and skillfully changed the subject. Pan's mother exclaimed in surprise and immediately focused her attention on the quilt. She didn't even hear Pan Tiefeng say that she went to Aunt Baishu to tell her that she had no intention of looking at the couple. Pan Tiefeng had already anticipated this outcome and deliberately chose this moment to speak.
Aunt Baishu lived not far away, but unlike the Pan family who rented a large courtyard, her house was her own, a small, detached brick courtyard. Pan Tiefeng bought a few eggs with the money she had secretly saved on the way before knocking on Aunt Baishu's door.
The girl who opened the door was a girl with a red ribbon in her hair. She was Aunt Cypress's daughter and the successor to her mother's profession. However, she was still in the observation period. She would only be considered a true member of the family after her mother was sure that she was capable of matchmaking and she herself had successfully arranged a marriage.
Is Aunt Cypress Tree here?
Pan Tiefeng asked softly. The young girl looked up at the unfamiliar woman and nodded without any hesitation. The matchmaker said that it was common for people to come and go from all directions.
Pan Tiefeng entered smoothly without saying any empty pleasantries. She simply handed over the chicken in her hand. Because she arrived in time, Aunt Baishu hadn't started looking for her yet. After hearing the whole story, she didn't say anything harsh. She accepted the eggs and that was the end of it. She even promised that unless Pan Tiefeng came to the door in person, she would never mention her marriage.
Having exceeded her goal, Pan Tiefeng didn't linger. She went home and quickly made sure to say goodnight. When the family sat down at the table, her father brought up Pan Tiefeng's marriage again, as usual. Pan's mother, unusually, didn't shed a tear, but before she could recount her remarkable feat, Pan Tiefeng said that she had already rejected Aunt Baishu.
Pan's father's smile froze before he could even open it.
The two argued fiercely, making everyone else feel uneasy. The neighbors outside were all ears, enjoying the Pan family's affairs as if they were their daily meal.
Pan's mother's eyes reddened again. She begged her daughter to give in and pleaded with her husband to be lenient, but neither of them would back down. Pan's father had heard enough gossip and only wanted Pan Tiefeng to get married. Pan Tiefeng was compliant in every other way, but she was unwilling to get married.
The fundamental conflict between the two was irreconcilable. In the end, Pan's father lost his temper and shouted out that classic line:
"This is my home, get out!"
If Pan Tiefeng had heard this before she got a job, no matter how unwilling she was, she would have had to compromise: even if she could stay at her friend's house temporarily, she couldn't stay at another house for long without money or a job. As for sleeping on the streets... brothels weren't short of people. A woman like her was like a piece of fat meat; she wouldn't last a night before someone picked her up.
Forget about being a female factory worker. The work there is indeed tough, but you can't get in without connections. Before finding a job, unless she gets incredibly lucky, there's only one path she can take to leave her family.
But now that she has a job, has signed a contract and put her fingerprint on it, even if she is temporarily living in someone else's house, she can still pay off her debts, so why compromise?
Pan Tiefeng stood up, gave her father a cold look, and was about to turn and leave when she was stopped by a group of people.
The easing of tensions was temporary, but the conflict was permanent. The father-daughter rivalry lasted almost every day until the Lunar New Year approached. With the persuasion of other members of the Pan family, both sides finally compromised – Pan Tiefeng could still spend the New Year at home, but she could no longer stay after the New Year.
“If you don’t want to get married, then don’t stay at home eating and drinking. I won’t ask for much money. Once you’ve saved up enough dowry for a daughter’s marriage in the market and given it to your family, I’ll consider you married off.”
Father Pan said, word by word, that he valued practical benefits more than the rumors outside. He couldn't let his efforts to raise Pan Tiefeng to this age go to waste—his daughter's dowry was his son's wife; otherwise, what was the point of raising his daughter?
As long as there's money, and as long as no one knows Tie Feng isn't married, not getting married isn't a big deal—at worst, she can just be buried with those two old bones.
"good!"
Pan Tiefeng readily agreed. Her family treated her as well as her son, but compared to women who grew up in similar circumstances, her life wasn't bad. Her parents cared about her, but not much. Therefore, Pan Tiefeng simply didn't want to get married, not to sever ties with her family.
"Give me a deadline. How long do you expect to send the money?"
The father became suspicious when his daughter agreed too quickly. The bride price in their area was not high, but it was not an amount that could be easily raised.
"Let me calculate."
Pan Tiefeng paused for a moment, then remembered that she didn't have such a precious item at home. So she counted on her fingers and muttered to herself. Pan's father didn't disturb her or stop others from eavesdropping—Pan Tiefeng would push away any heads that came close to her. However, he did have more confidence in Tiefeng's ability to make money.
Only when you've actually made money will you calculate things so meticulously; otherwise, you'll just randomly pick a number.
Pan Tiefeng was unaware of her father's thoughts. She only knew addition and subtraction, not multiplication and division, and her fingers couldn't represent all the numbers, so she had to go back and recalculate frequently. After pondering for a while, she finally spoke, but she talked about something else:
"Is the bride price in our area still sixty yuan plus clothes and jewelry?"
Nowadays, marriage is almost like doing business. Other families take the bride price to marry their daughters, and their sons use the bride price obtained from their daughters to marry other families' daughters. This price is not considered high nowadays; it is generally around one hundred yuan outside.
"Um."
Pan's father wanted to quote a higher price, but as family, they knew their own situation. Pan Tiefeng was a difficult case, and the redemption price of sixty yuan was at least 30% higher than the normal marriage price. They couldn't be too greedy.
"I won't buy the clothes and jewelry. Just give me fifteen silver dollars each, making it a total of seventy-five dollars. Is that okay?"
Pan Tiefeng seemed to be calmly bargaining, but as she spoke, she started using dialect. After thinking for a while, Pan's father nodded in agreement.
"middle."
If I really get married, I'd be lucky to get fifty.
“My younger brother is twelve this year. Give me five years. When he is seventeen, I will send him seventy-five dollars.”
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The author's note: The love Tie Feng received was like a partially dried, damp cotton-padded coat—cold when taken off, and while still cold when worn, it provided warmth in certain areas.
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