Once Tang Cuihua understood what Huang Hua was planning, she rejected the idea before Huang Hua could even speak.
"Alright, you don't need to say anything more. I know what you're trying to do. Just pretend I never mentioned this. I won't agree to anything you're saying."
Huang Hua stared wide-eyed at Tang Cuihua: "Sister Cuihua, do you... do you know what I'm going to say?"
"Of course, I have my reasons for taking in a son-in-law, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to be sisters-in-law with my sisters. Not only would the relationship be difficult to manage in the future, but it could also cause conflicts and damage our sisterly relationship. Of course, if both of your brothers are willing to be live-in sons-in-law, then I have no problem with it."
Huang Hua was furious when she heard this. "You, you," she said, "shameless."
But she couldn't bring herself to yell. She gritted her teeth, stomped her foot, and stormed off, her face flushed with anger.
Cuiju, still looking bewildered, tilted her head to look at Cuihua, "Sister, wouldn't it be nice if we sisters were sisters-in-law?"
Cuihua shook her head. "My brain is too small to handle this. Do you think the child will call you aunt or maternal aunt? Even brothers have to keep clear accounts. If we end up living as two separate families, who knows if it won't cause some discord? I can't marry him like this. If Huang Xin is willing to come to my door, I'll take him in. If he's not willing, then forget it!"
Seeing Cuihua's confident demeanor, Cuiju couldn't help but sigh, "Elder sister is so thoughtful!"
“That Huang Xin…”
"Is there anyone more suitable for him than me? Does he think he's still the same person he was when he was in the army? To be honest, if his parents hadn't died, do you think I would have jumped into this fire pit!"
"I only considered him because his parents are gone, he's decent-looking, and not short, which means he has good genes. Plus, he can separate from the family right after marriage, so his future children won't be too ugly. Otherwise, do you think I'd even bother with someone like him?"
Cuiju couldn't help but frown: "I heard their family is still burdened with hundreds of dollars in debt. Sister, are you really going to marry him? If you're going to choose, you should choose someone with all their might and good health."
Tang Cuihua shook her head. "Huang Jin won't do. He's just a brute. Huang Xin, on the other hand, was trained in the military, and he's crippled. He can only rely on me from now on. I'll be in charge of the household before and after we get married."
If he proves useful in the future, I'll live well with him. If he doesn't, I'll divorce him, take the child with me, and make sure our family has a son to establish a household. As for love and affection, I don't care about any of that!
Relying on a man is worse than relying on yourself. I've never even considered relying on a man! And you all remember this: from now on, we can only count on ourselves. Don't even think about relying on men; they're the most useless thing ever.
Tang Cuihua lived out their entire life in her dream. She knew that women in this era were blinded by the illusion that "divorce is shameful," so they drove themselves into a dead end, preferring to die from resentment and grievance rather than get a divorce.
From now on, she will never be that kind of woman again. If she's unhappy, she'll just leave. So what if her reputation is bad? It's not like she hasn't had bad reputations before. When she closes the door, she still lives her own life.
They were already used to hearing their eldest sister's thoughts.
But she still twitched her lips slightly, "So, isn't Huang Xin just a tool to you?"
Tang Cuihua said matter-of-factly, "Otherwise, what else do you expect a cripple like him to do for me?"
Hmm... what the older sister said makes sense.
A few days later, Huang Hua returned. The introverted girl twisted her patched clothes, looked at the sisters of the Tang family, blushed, and made a new request.
“My older brother said he could be a live-in son-in-law, but since your family is all girls, it wouldn't be convenient for him, a man, to come over. So, after the wedding, he wants you to live with us first. Also, as the eldest brother, he'll take full responsibility for any family difficulties. If you agree, then we'll get our marriage certificate, without a ceremony. In other words, we…”
"So you mean you don't bring anything, and we don't need to bring anything either, is that right?"
Huang Hua blushed and nodded. "Yes, that's right."
How much debt does your family owe?
My parents were both sickly, so although they weren't buried wrapped in a tattered mat, they still received the proper rites.
“My brother has already calculated that after exchanging the grain for money, it will be about fifty-eight yuan.”
This does not match the rumors circulating that it costs over a hundred yuan.
"Do you have any food at home right now?"
Huang Hua lowered her head, looking even more embarrassed: "No, no, we didn't have many work points to begin with. If it weren't for my brother using his subsidies to pay off most of the famine and leaving money to buy food every month, we might have starved to death long ago."
Nowadays, almost every household is like this. Those who don't have enough food are trying to find ways to exchange for it. It's nothing new.
Players like Huang Xin, who retired due to injury, earn no more than ten yuan a month.
However, he does enjoy full reimbursement when he goes to the hospital for treatment.
Because of his situation, it's impossible to arrange work for him, and without work, it's impossible to arrange housing.
He most likely switched from a one-time subsidy to a monthly subsidy.
Of course, she didn't care about Huang Xin's so-called pension or subsidy at all.
Tang Cuihua was a top performer in the production team. She didn't work the full work points every day, but she did it for half the month. Her second son was in a similar situation, and her fourth son worked the full work points every day. How many people in the production team could match the competence of their daughters?
Therefore, Tang Cuihua readily agreed to the Huang family's request.
But there is one thing she still needs to mention.
Are you observing mourning?
Upon hearing this, Huang Hua immediately nodded, "Yes, that's why I came here. My brother originally said he would observe three years of mourning, but our elders said that because he was in the army, he was already quite old, so they only allowed him to observe one year."
Cuihua didn't have any objections after hearing this.
"Okay, one year it is. So, should we get engaged first or wait a year?"
Huang Hua immediately said, "We can get engaged first, and then have the ceremony and get the marriage certificate a year later."
Upon hearing this, Cuihua had even less objection.
“Okay, this arrangement is good. Go back and tell your brother that I have agreed to everything you proposed. Now it’s my turn to make my request.”
First, your second brother will immediately separate the family property after getting married. Your family's homestead isn't small. Even if your brother is a son-in-law who moved in with his wife's family, he's not allowed to have any objections before we redefine the homestead and build a house. Otherwise, we're done.
"Secondly, before getting married, you should ask the brigade leader and the village party secretary to write down these details clearly and make them public to the whole village, so that your second brother won't renege on the agreement later."
Furthermore, to put it bluntly, your eldest brother took on all the famine relief so that your second brother could get married. Your second brother can't be so heartless. Think about how much your eldest brother has sacrificed for this family over the years.
Now that he's disabled, if the second brother starts to despise him, that's heartless. If your eldest brother ever has a hard time in the future, you can't rely on our women's army, so your second brother has to lend a hand too.
Huang Hua quickly explained, "Sister Cuihua, don't worry about that. My second brother isn't that kind of person. Yesterday, because of the famine, he even told my eldest brother that he wanted to share half with him."
I know that Sister Cuihua is a really good person for thinking of these things, but my second brother isn't the kind of person who would turn his back on someone after using them. Even I haven't forgotten that if it weren't for my eldest brother, our parents would probably be gone long ago, and neither of us would have grown up healthy.”
Tang Cuihua waved her hand, saying that was enough, and she had no intention of digging deeper into their family's affairs.
"Have you remembered everything I said? Go back and tell your two older brothers. If they both agree, I'll find someone to speak on our behalf. The house we're living in now isn't ours; we're just temporarily staying at the Zhou family's house."
As for where I'll live a year from now, we'll talk about that then. If you really want me to live at your house, you have to explain that to everyone else, otherwise I won't acknowledge it."
The Huang family's house is in a terrible state. The reason they have such a large plot of land is because every household is like that. Otherwise, given their circumstances, their house would probably be less than half the size of the Zhou family's house. How could they have a main hall and east and west wings?
Even if Huang Xin becomes a live-in son-in-law, he is still the eldest son of the Huang family and should live in the east wing.
Tang Cuihua is the eldest, so she knows how difficult it is to be the eldest. She didn't stop Huang Xin from being filial and protective of his own. This is because she has been through it all, and besides, she understands him. In the future, it should be his turn to understand her, after all, she has eight younger sisters to raise!
Even if the third, fifth, sixth, and ninth sons don't need her to manage them now, aren't there still a few others?
How could she be content without sending all her younger sisters out of the house?
After Huanghua left, Cuiju became anxious, "Sister, are you really... going to leave us like this?"
"There's still a year left, isn't there? A year is enough for you to process and accept this news. Besides, we're only temporarily staying at the Zhou family's house. How can we get married on their turf?"
Besides, this guy's situation is awkward. Since ancient times, sons-in-law who marry into their wives' families have been looked down upon. Huang Xin is a grown man, and a retired soldier at that. It's already quite remarkable that he has this kind of awareness. Why should I be pretentious?"
"Besides, their parents passed away within a year, and observing a year of mourning is already a consideration from their elders."
I don't care. Since we're saying we should settle this now, let's settle it first and shut those gossipy women up.
As for what happens after I get married, it's not a bad idea to make arrangements now. You can take care of everything at home then. I won't let the Huang family take advantage of our situation. If they want to take advantage, I'll come and take it myself! Haha.
But you should hurry up and find someone for yourself. After twenty-five, you'll be a widower, and I don't want you to marry someone so old.
At this point, Tang Cuihua chuckled to herself. Seeing Tang Cuiju looking at her with concern, Cuihua patted her shoulder.
"Alright, this was something we agreed on a long time ago, so why be so sentimental? It's not that it's not a good time to build a house, or that he, as a man, shouldn't be involved with us. We sisters still need to live in the same courtyard!"
"Sister, shouldn't we start preparing everything you need for your wedding now?"
Tang Cuihua shook her head, "No need, it's too early to go to their house. Even if it's only a year of mourning, I can just pack a few clothes and go. We can earn money for bedding, trunks and cabinets later. We'll save our money for you, no need to set aside my share."
Tang Cuiju's eyes widened: "How can that be?"
“Yes, eldest sister, how can this be?” The seventh and eighth brothers hurriedly tried to persuade her, but Tang Cuihua insisted.
"Logically speaking, when a son-in-law comes to visit, we should give him something. But he came with his own debts, so I have to make sure he receives something. I won't bring anything, which is fair enough. It's not that I'm stingy or arguing with him, but that's just how things are these days!"
Just hang in there a little longer. Once the famine is over, things will get better.
"I'll use this time of mourning to test him, to see how his three children will manage in the coming year, and whether he's worth me marrying into the family."
Tang Cuihua comforted her sisters in this way.
Meanwhile, in the Huang family, the three siblings were also devastated because Huang Xin was going to become their son-in-law.
Hearing the news Huang Hua brought back, Huang Xin could understand her thoughts to some extent. They were both the eldest children in their families, and who wouldn't think about themselves?
But Huang Jinhua was worried that her elder brother would have a hard time in the future.
Huang Xin initially thought Tang Cuihua was there to insult him, but after calmly considering it, he realized that one of them had a bad reputation and the other was a disabled person who had been responsible for so much famine relief; they were really evenly matched, and neither of them should look down on the other.
"Her bad reputation is due to the troubles between her sisters and the family. As for her character, you live in the same village as them, so how could you not know whether she is suitable to be my wife?"
I'm not young anymore, and given our family's situation, it's already a blessing to have a wife. Why should I care if she's a son-in-law who lives with his wife's family?
It doesn't matter. As long as I'm still living in this village and keeping this home, and you won't look down on me in the future, everything will be fine.
Golden's dark face was full of displeasure. "Brother, what are you saying? How could I possibly despise you? If it weren't for this family, you wouldn't go to those dangerous places every day. Otherwise, how could your leg be lame?"
Huang Xin was both amused and exasperated. "Going on missions is an order from above. It's not like I can take on more missions just to get more mission pay. You can't calculate it like that."
“I’ll just say it like this: anyway, we all know that if it weren’t for you, this family would have fallen apart long ago. Now, in order for us to find good partners, you’ve taken on the remaining burden of poverty. Brother, don’t worry, even if you get married in the future, I won’t abandon you.”
"I believe you!" Huang Xin patted Huang Jin's head, then turned to look at his younger sister: "Don't worry, once your brother's situation is settled, I'll be rid of this burden, and I'll have someone find you a husband."
Huang Hua blushed and said, "No need, brother. There's still my second brother. Although I'm already eighteen, I'm not that old."
...
And so, when Xiao Jiu received the letter from Sister Cuihua, the two had already gotten engaged on this year's National Day.
Did the eldest sister just "marry" herself off like that?
Although Xiaojiu was disappointed, she could tell from her older sister's letter that this was someone she had been looking for for a long time and who was suitable for her situation.
Ordinary families wouldn't want to be a live-in son-in-law, but Huang Xin, if he weren't disabled, would have plenty of girls vying for him. That's why she said she didn't lose out; she got a lucky break.
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