Chapter 4

Marriage

"Dad, you are not going to find a stepmother for us, are you?" At Old Nie's house, Nie Bozhao was washing the feet of his three children.

Under the light, a pair of deep eyes appeared. He raised his head and frowned, "Nonsense, Dad is just looking for a babysitter for you."

"You promised my mother that you would not marry a stepmother and would wait until we grow up. Besides, if you want to find a stepmother, my grandmother will definitely not agree. She will cry and make a fuss at the base, and then everyone will laugh at us." Nie Weimin said.

"Okay, after you wash up, get on the bed and go to bed early."

Although they looked neatly dressed, when they took off their shoes, their feet were covered with large cracks. Nie Bozhao searched for soap for a long time but could not find it. He only found a box of clam oil and applied a little on each of the three children.

"Dad, I'm hungry." The second son Erdan rubbed his empty belly, pretended to be a chicken drumstick with his fist on the kang, and gnawed on it with a loud slurp.

"There's no food at home. Be patient. Dad will take you to the state-owned hotel in the village for a meal tomorrow morning," said Nie Bozhao.

The three children were all too skinny, which made him feel distressed. He gave his biological mother 80 yuan a month, but she still raised his sons like this.

"I want to eat big chicken legs, big spare ribs, and White Rabbit milk candy..." The little guy was drooling and still racking his brains.

As he was talking, the eldest daughter of Nie Laoer's family ran in and said, "Uncle, there is a young lady outside looking for you."

When Nie Bozhao heard the name of the girl, he secretly guessed that it was Chen Lili from the other side of the river. Just now, his mother kept scolding her and said that she must send Chen Lili to the police station.

He didn't dare to impress his biological mother, so he came out alone.

…

Chen Lina herself did not show up, but stood in the dark, but she sent Chen Lili out to question people on her behalf.

Why?

There is actually a clever trick here.

In his previous life, Nie Bozhao was first a senior engineer at an oil base, and later he started his own business and became the president of Zhao Real Estate. He was rich, handsome, gentle and elegant. Of course he had many suitors, but he never remarried until he met her fifteen years later.

When they first got married, Chen Lina was quite happy. After all, Nie Bozhao was considered a golden bachelor at that time, and she thought she was good enough to make him give up his plan to be single and marry her.

However, after the marriage, Nie Bozhao's youngest son once said something that made Chen Lina unhappy.

He said, Mom, my dad only married you because you met him at the right time. If you had met him a few years earlier, he would definitely not marry you.

Chen Lina asked why.

The child smiled and shook his head, saying firmly that he didn't love you either, he just met you at the right time, and you happened to be a suitable marriage partner.

On what basis?

Chen Lina was unhappy because of this. No matter how much Ren Nie Bozhao loved her, and no matter how she went against him, it was not until he was about to die that she realized that he really loved her. But it was too late to cherish her by then.

But what about this life? It has been so many years, will it really be like what his youngest son said, that he will always be single and unwilling to marry me?

In order to figure this out, Chen Lina sent Chen Lili out to inquire about the situation for her.

"Comrade Lao Nie, you just want to find a nanny and have no plans to remarry?" Chen Lili asked directly.

By this time it was already dark, with only moonlight on the riverside.

The man in the dark paused for a moment, and then he said, "Comrade Xiao Chen, I just want to find a hardworking nanny. If you want to talk about marriage, I'm sorry, I really don't have such plans."

In an instant, the man straightened his back even more, with an air of coldness that kept people at a distance.

"Why? Can you tell me?" Chen Lili asked again. After all, her sister had said it, so she asked her two questions. First, did Nie Bozhao plan to remarry? Second, if he did not plan to remarry, what was the reason.

Under the moonlight, the man frowned slightly, and it was obvious that he was also thinking carefully about how to answer.

After a while, he said, "The child is still young, and it's hard to be a stepmother. Now I just want to raise the child safely. I have no intention of remarrying at all."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

"Sister, look, I told you this guy has no plans to remarry, what do you think I should do? I think it would be a waste of energy to marry him."

Chen Lina walked out from behind a birch tree, looked at her man's receding back, and smiled, "Sister, I'm afraid you have to go to Nie's Manor again with a thick face. Remember to ask him to come to our house early tomorrow morning. I think I found the crux of the problem."

Well, the man is still the same man, but fifteen years earlier, and his children haven't grown up yet.

It's not that he doesn't want to get married, but he is afraid that if he marries a stepmother, she will abuse his children.

Isn't this easy?

Chen Lina thought to herself, then I will act a little silly, be honest and hardworking, pretend to be a silly woman, and not be any harm to his children. This way, I can get married.

After getting married, she didn't believe that she couldn't conquer this man.

For the sake of twenty dollars, Chen Lili had no choice but to shamelessly go to Nie's Zhuang again.

Early the next morning, Chen Lina got up early, swept the front yard and the backyard. After sweeping the backyard, she looked again and saw that it was just dawn. She leaned against the doorstep, racking her brains to think.

Last night, when Chen Lili went back to see the man again, he agreed, saying that he was going to take a few children to a state-owned hotel for dinner today and would stop by by.

The children are coming, isn't this a good opportunity for her to show off?

However, there were only five kilograms of fine noodles at home, which her mother had saved for the New Year. What should she use to treat the children?

Just as she was thinking about it, she saw her aunt He Chuner walking towards her from a distance, carrying a small basket.

"Auntie, come in and sit down?"

"Why are you sitting here? I'm not going to sit down anymore. Your mother gave your aunt a lot of cooking oil, rice, and flour for your marriage with Guozhu. Your aunt is not such a bad person. Now that the marriage is called off, I hear your mother complaining everywhere, saying that I eat her food and use her things. You can take these food back and we'll be even. My family will have to eat military rations in the future, so we don't need your rice, flour, and cooking oil."

This means that Nie Guozhu found someone with a job in the army, and Gao Chenlina is the one waiting for him?

The rations for the troops are fresh. It is estimated that the person that Nie Guozhu has just negotiated with will have to deliver oil, rice and noodles to He Chuner from now on.

"Okay, my family is about to run out of food recently. Since auntie sent it to me, I will accept it. Thank you, auntie." Chen Lina answered straightforwardly. After all, she was worried about food at the moment, and she grabbed the bag of flour.

"From now on, it will be hard for you to find a partner."

After all, He Chun'er was stingy. He Lan'er brought her oil by the pound and flour by the bag. But she only brought two pounds of flour and a piece of bacon, and declared that all favors were settled between them.

Chen Lina smiled and said, "It is hard to find, but it is not impossible to find. Auntie, take care."

He Chun'er was also in no hurry to run away. After all, they were sisters. If He Lan'er caught her, she would definitely cry again.

The divorce was called off in a very decisive manner.

Taking advantage of the early frost in late autumn, Chen Lina first went to her own private plot to cut a crop of dewy cabbages, and started chopping them as soon as she entered the house.

"My dear girl, what are you doing?" He Laner went to the production team early in the morning and was busy all morning. When she entered the door, she smelled the aroma of oil.

I was surprised to see the girl making dumplings with thin white bread when I entered the kitchen.

"Lina, now is not the time to waste. Mom is saving these five pounds of fine flour for the New Year. Why are you making dumplings now?"

There was also a piece of greasy salted meat, which Chen Lina also chopped into stuffing and added with green cabbage to make a great pot of dumpling stuffing.

"Mom, this white flour and pickled meat were brought back to us by my aunt's family in order to cancel the engagement. Since the engagement has been cancelled, it would be a waste if we don't eat them. We can make dumplings with them." Chen Lina said while kneading the dough.

When Chen's mother heard that her elder sister was willing to give her white flour in order to break off the engagement, she became so angry that she felt dizzy and ran out of the kitchen.

"Hello, Auntie. I'm Nie Bozhao." A man came to shake Mother Chen's hand with a smile. She stared at him for a long time. He was wearing a woolen coat, had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his chest was straight. He looked very handsome and heroic, just like the boy in the movie. She was stunned for a long time and asked, "Who are you?"

"Comrade Nie Bozhao, come in quickly, would you like some tea?"

Chen Lili came out as she spoke. Of course there was no tea at home, but there were stools placed under the grape trellis in the yard for Nie Bozhao to sit on.

He was followed by a long line of at least 10 children. The three boys were his, and the remaining girls belonged to Nie Laoer's family.

"We are going to the state-owned hotel in the village to eat delicious food. We don't want to sit down." The big girl said loudly.

"I'm making dumplings at home too, with pickled meat filling. They smell so good. There's a state-owned hotel eight miles away. Why don't you just eat at my house?" Chen Lili said with a smile.

Nie Bozhao had not yet decided on a nanny. If he hadn't gotten up early, Huang Guilan would have rushed to the house with Nie Laoer to ask for money.

If the Chen family didn't give them the dumplings, Huang Guilan was ready to report the case to the police. It was Nie Bozhao who managed to stop her. Of course, he didn't want to eat other people's dumplings, so he said, "No need for dumplings. I'll just meet the man and leave."

The three Nie Weimin brothers were very greedy, especially the second oldest, Erdan, who had been eating mixed noodles and sauerkraut soup in his hometown for a year and had no more food in his stomach.

At this time, when I smelled the aroma of dumplings in the kitchen, my stomach started to growl, and I immediately started shouting, "Dad, I don't want to go to the state-owned restaurant, I want to eat here."

Chen Lili quickly said, "The person is in the kitchen. Comrade Nie, why don't you go in and take a look yourself?"

Then, she began to greet the children, "Sit down, sit down, today an auntie will make dumplings for you, everyone will have a share, ah!"

In the kitchen was the quiet and gentle girl. When Nie Bozhao entered, she was rolling out dumpling skins with two rolling pins in her hands.

Oh, it was so fast, the thin dough was moved up to as high as a mountain in a short while.

However, this girl seemed to be a little ignorant of etiquette. She didn't ask or say a word when someone came in. She just used chopsticks to pick up the meat fillings, pinched one in each hand, and threw the dumplings onto the chopping board.

He just took a look and since the other person didn't say anything, Nie Bozhao came out.

"Wei Min, take Erdan and Sandan with you, let's go to the state-owned hotel." Nie Bozhao still maintained a clear distinction between public and private affairs.

"No, I want to eat dumplings." Erdan was very stubborn and refused to leave.

"Dad, we want to eat dumplings too." The six daughters of Nie Laoer's family chattered like a group of ducks, "We want to eat dumplings here." The state-owned hotel was eight miles away, and for the children, nothing could compare to the delicious dumplings in front of them.

The second girl in the kitchen was really efficient. While she was talking, plates of thin-skinned and large-filled dumplings were brought out and placed on the table next to the fence.

The nine children were just like nine hungry wolves. After all, the three Nie Weimin brothers came from the city and knew to wait for chopsticks, but the girls from Nie Laoer's family just grabbed the food and started putting it into their mouths.

Mother Chen looked at the white, sheep-like dumplings being chewed and swallowed by the children. She felt sorry for both the hungry children and her dumplings. But she consoled herself by saying, "Eat, eat. It's okay. Let's have a full meal."

After a full meal, the marriage she had been striving for for years was gone, and her heart was dead.

Nie Bozhao turned into the kitchen again and saw the second girl scrubbing and cleaning the stove, wiping it with a rag again and again. She seemed to be a good hand at the job.

"Comrade, can you please introduce yourself?" Nie Bozhao then asked, "Have you ever been educated, or have you always been working in the countryside?"

"Ah?" The girl's skin looked very white, as white as milk. She was also very young, and had a gentle manner like a student, but her face looked a little dull.

Nie Bozhao thought to himself, you are going to be my nanny, why do you have such an attitude?

"What is your name?"

"Ah? Me, Lina, my name is Chen Lina." She said this, but her hands showed no intention of stopping and continued to wipe the stove.

Although she was hiding her face, Chen Lina was actually very emotional. After his death, she cried day and night, and she didn't know how long she had been crying. When she saw him again, she was so excited that she couldn't even speak.

However, she knew in her heart that Nie's mother looked very strong, and she could not just rush up to him and say ridiculous things to him. She had to conquer him first according to the standards of the nanny he wanted, marry him, and then slowly tell him about their past lives.

Nie Bozhao thought that the names of these two girls were quite fashionable. Of course, her father was an elementary school teacher, so he was somewhat cultured.

Nie Bozhao said, "Maybe he has studied?"

"My father is the principal, the principal of our Chenjiahe Primary School." Her voice was still very loud. She turned her head, glanced at Nie Bozhao, and smiled.

There seemed to be tears in his eyes. Was he crying?

Nie Bozhao didn't know why, but he felt that this girl was a little silly. Her silly look was quite cute, but he also felt that there was probably something wrong with her brain.

So he patiently asked, "The border, the Umayyad Desert, have you heard of it? Do you want to go there?"

"Where are you going? I can't hear you!" The voice was very loud, it seemed like he was half deaf.

Nie Bozhao couldn't continue talking to her, so he changed the subject and asked Chen Lili, "Is there anything wrong with your second daughter?"

"No, he's a college student, but he's very smart. He can speak not only Mandarin but also Russian. He's really a great person," said Chen Lili.

Nie Bozhao felt that there was something wrong with the person, but he was also really shocked by Chen Lina's diligence and ability, so he said, "She doesn't seem to understand what I'm saying. How about you call her out and explain it to her so that I can talk to her for a few more words?"

At this time, Erdan finished eating the dumplings and ran to the kitchen. "Auntie, do you have any more dumplings?"

Chen Lina wiped her tears and took a handful of candy. "The dumplings are gone, but I have candy. Come, baby, I'll give you some candy."

"No, we can't take other people's candy." The eldest son Nie Weimin also ran in and saw a tall, white-skinned aunt putting candy in her brother's pocket. He immediately said, "We can't take it."

He suddenly saw that Chen Lina was the one who had helped him fight by the river. His face immediately turned red, and he stood up straight and called out "Hello, Auntie."

Chen Lina said, "My dear, your head is so swollen. I'm afraid the swelling from the beating you got yesterday hasn't healed yet."

"Thank you, Auntie, but it doesn't hurt anymore," said Nie Weimin.

"How about a candy?" she said again.

Nie Weimin was a smart kid. He had heard that his father wanted to find a nanny for them. This time, he came to see the nanny. Although he was tempted by the scent of the fruit candy in her hand, he shook his head and said, "No."

However, he whispered, "Auntie, can you come and be our nanny? I don't want my grandma to follow us to Umayyad."

Grandma went with her, and so did a long list of maids from the second room. Each of them had a big mouthful like a bottomless pit. When they were eating dumplings together just now, they were all like tigers. He was the slowest and only grabbed three dumplings. Erdan, the slowest one, grabbed seven or eight dumplings, and Sandan only ate one.

Moreover, his mother-in-law loves to scold people, and Nie Weimin has really had enough of her.

Two pitiful eyes, full of tears, looked really pitiful. Chen Lina didn't like children, but when this little guy looked at her with a pair of confused eyes, her heart softened and she was also excited and incoherent, "Auntie, I want to go. Good boy, have some candy from me?"

Nie Weimin stood there for a while with his lips pursed, tears welling up in his eyes. Suddenly he turned around, grabbed Erdan and ran away.

Meanwhile, Chen Lili came in and asked, "Lina, what's wrong with you? Didn't you ask me to call him over? Why are you silent now that he's here?"

Chen Lina said, "Sister, didn't you see that he brought a bunch of kids today? How can we talk about marriage? Let's make an appointment and I will talk to him alone tomorrow."

The three children are still so young, especially the eldest. Although he is stubborn, it is really pitiful to see his hands and feet frozen.

Her guess was correct, he would agree to marry her tomorrow.