Chapter 11: Marriage Exchange
When the visitor saw Zhou Xian was also there, he looked a little uncomfortable.
Although Zhou Xian was the director of the Women's Federation of Taohua Brigade, she couldn't really call her Director Zhou in front of her.
Zhou Jiefang didn't notice his discomfort, and asked the person as he walked outside, "What happened to Sangen's family?"
The visitor came back to his senses, slapped his thigh and said, "Uncle San's family is looking for a wife for their eldest grandson, but the girl's family has a lame brother who can't find a wife, so they want to marry Xiaocao off to him in exchange for marriage. Xiaocao didn't want to, so Aunt San got angry and chased Xiaocao with a broom. Xiaocao fell to the ground and hit her head, and a large pool of blood oozed out."
Their pace was not slow. Zhou Xian followed behind them, listening and walking along with them.
After hearing the whole story, they arrived at Zhou Sangen's house.
A crowd of people gathered outside the yard to watch the fun.
There was a crowd at the entrance and they couldn't see clearly what was going on in the yard.
But miserable cries could be heard.
"My little grass, what will I do if you die? Please don't scare me."
Hearing the crying and shouting, Zhou Jiefang's face turned black.
"Everyone get out of the way." This was not the first time he had seen such a situation. He frowned and shouted again, and the members who were originally watching the fun immediately made way.
Zhou Xian followed his father into the yard.
Zhou Xiaocao lay motionless on the ground with a pale face, her head held in the arms of her mother Zhao Chunxia.
There was an old lady in the yard. When she saw Zhou Jiefang looking over, she immediately straightened her back and looked very confident.
It seems that he doesn't feel that he has done anything wrong.
There were a few people standing next to Zhao Chunxia, and they were obviously there to help stop the fight.
Seeing Zhou Jiefang coming over from the crowd, Zhao Chunxia's eyes lit up, "Captain, you have to take care of our Xiaocao. Poor little girl, look at what has become of my Xiaocao. Is this still her real grandmother?"
The person who came to report the news did not finish his words. When Zhou Xiaocao's grandmother was chasing and beating her, her aunt pulled her, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head.
Seeing that Zhou Xiaocao's head in Zhao Chunxia's arms was covered in blood, Zhou Jiefang's face turned black.
"Why are you crying? Crying is useless at this time. Jinbao, go call Yongzi over to see the child."
Zhou Jiefang was so angry, all of them were useless. All the children are like this. They just watch the fun and don’t even know to call a doctor for their children.
Zhou Jinbao, who was called, responded and turned and ran away.
Zhou Yong is the barefoot doctor in the team. There is a small clinic in the team and he is usually the only one there. When he heard Zhou Jinbao calling him, he immediately picked up his small medicine box and came over.
When he came over, he was shocked to see Zhou Xiaocao with blood all over his head. He quickly checked her, applied medicine on the wound and bandaged it.
Seeing that the man was still not awake, he frowned and said, "Captain, I think we should send him to the commune clinic for a checkup."
He had no idea what was wrong with the child, and he couldn't tell anything just by looking at him. The main thing was that his face was extremely pale, which looked scary. He did not dare to make any conclusion rashly for fear of causing death.
Zhou Jiefang called a few more people to lift Zhou Xiaocao onto a cart and prepare to send him to the commune clinic.
In the end, the person was carried up, but Zhao Chunxia did not move. She looked at her mother-in-law and said, "Mom, give me some money. It will cost money for the eldest girl to go to the clinic."
The small clinic in the brigade is free, but if you go to the commune health center, you have to pay. My mother-in-law holds all the money in the family, so how can I take the child to see a doctor without money?
"What are you looking at? Go and take the money to take the child to the doctor." Seeing that Ma Erya obviously didn't want to take the money, Zhou Jiefang said in a deep voice.
His brows knitted together, but Ma Erya still didn't move, and even stiffened her neck to say that the family had no money. Zhou Jiefang looked directly at the man, Zhou Sangen, and said, "What are you still standing there for? Go get money for the child to see a doctor."
Zhou Sangen naturally didn't dare to refute and could only wink at his wife. Ma Erya still gave face to her husband, so she reluctantly went into the house and took out fifty cents to give to Zhao Chunxia.
After receiving the money, Zhao Chunxia asked someone to take her daughter to the commune clinic.
After the others left, Zhou Jiefang stayed to find out what had happened.
To put it bluntly, Zhou Sangen's eldest grandson Jianguo was getting ready to get married. He fell in love with the girl at first sight and stubbornly insisted on having her. There was nothing wrong with it, but the girl's family had a brother who had a lame leg and couldn't find a wife.
The girl's parents said that if they wanted her to marry them, they had to find a wife for her brother.
It just so happened that Zhou Jianguo had a younger sister, so the idea of a marriage exchange came up.
The original bride was not Zhou Xiaocao, but Zhou Jianguo's younger sister Zhou Xiaohua. However, when the girl's elder brother came to see her, he did not like Zhou Xiaohua, but instead liked Zhou Xiaocao, the eldest daughter of the second wife.
Originally, Zhou Xiaocao is one year younger than Zhou Jianguo, and they were planning to get married recently, but this happened.
Ma Erya was biased to begin with, especially towards her eldest grandson Zhou Jianguo, she was extremely biased.
Especially since the second wife gave birth to three girls in a row, and Xiao Cao hoped for a younger brother before finally giving birth to a boy, which made Old Lady Ma dislike the second wife from the bottom of her heart.
Now that her eldest grandson is getting married, it makes no difference to Ma Erya whether she chooses her biological sister or her cousin.
Originally, Ma Erya had agreed to it, and it was just a matter of informing the second wife.
As a result, the confident Ma Erya really didn't expect that the second house would actually disagree.
Zhao Chunxia was the first to jump out and oppose, followed by the girl Xiaocao.
Ma Erya was used to being the boss, so she became furious when she was refuted like this. She picked up a broom and rushed towards the mother and daughter, as if she was going to beat them until they agreed. Who would have thought that in the chaos, Xiaocao would fall to the ground and break her head.
Anyway, Ma Erya didn't think she was wrong. She was the elder, and whatever she said was the truth. There was no room for them to refute.
Zhou Jiefang didn't know what expression to use to face Ma Erya, and he knew he couldn't communicate with her, so he went straight to find Zhou Sangen.
He is not only the team leader, but also Zhou Sangen's elder. According to seniority, Zhou Sangen has to call him uncle.
But this is not the time to get close to him. If he were not the team leader, he really would not bother to take care of the mess in his family.
Thinking of this, Zhou Jiefang also glanced at his daughter who had been following him.
If this were to turn out to be his daughter, I wouldn’t know how to resolve the issue.
Ever since his daughter became the director of the Women's Federation, Zhou Jiefang has been worried to death.
Zhou Xian didn’t know what her father was thinking. She was just trying to figure out what happened.
To put it bluntly, the old lady of this family was used to being the boss, and she felt that she could easily arrange her granddaughter's marriage, so she agreed to the marriage exchange without hesitation.
And judging from his appearance, it seems that he hasn't calmed down yet. If Zhou Xiaocao is not in any serious condition, the marriage exchange will probably continue.
Although arranged marriages are no longer a thing nowadays, this is the countryside and the rules are not that strict.
But no matter what, it's wrong.
As the director of the Women's Federation, she has to take care of the persecution of female comrades.
So when Ma Erya came over to talk to Zhou Jiefang, Zhou Xian said directly, "Arranged marriage is illegal. The higher-ups are catching examples now. If you get caught, you will definitely go to labor camp. Auntie, you know that, don't you?"
When Zhou Xian opened his mouth, he immediately shut up Ma Erya and began to look hesitant.
Seeing that Ma Erya didn't say anything, the eldest daughter-in-law, Sun Meifeng, immediately became anxious, "Sister, what do you know as an unmarried girl? Marriage is a big deal. As a grandmother, can you really cheat your own child?"
"That's not necessarily true. The grandson is definitely protected, but it's hard to say for the granddaughter."
Sun Meifeng was also choked by Zhou Xian's words.
But she still didn't care in her heart. To put it bluntly, even if Zhou Xian was the director of the Women's Federation, so what? She would not be afraid of a teenage girl.
But now that the captain was here, she didn't dare to go too far and could only smile awkwardly, "We are all family. Besides, Jianguo married their daughter, and Xiaocao married into their family. We are even closer to the Tao family. It's just that they didn't like my daughter, otherwise how could this good thing happen to that damn girl Xiaocao."
While Sun Meifeng was speaking, Zhou Xian looked towards the other side of the house. There was a girl hiding behind the door. When she saw her looking over, she stepped back a little.
After a while, he stuck his head out again and looked outside timidly.
Even though only the side profile was shown, Zhou Xian recognized that person as Sun Meifeng's biological daughter, Zhou Xiaohua.
Sun Meifeng also followed Zhou Xian's gaze and saw Zhou Xiaohua peeking out. She immediately rushed over, pulled Zhou Xiaohua out, poked her forehead and scolded her.
"You silly girl, why are you hiding? It's because you are useless. If the Tao family had taken a fancy to you, there wouldn't be any such trouble. I tell you, if your brother's marriage fails, I will beat you to death."
While speaking, Sun Meifeng glanced at Zhou Xian and pretended to raise her hand to slap Zhou Xiaohua.
Zhou Xian knew what she meant, which was probably: I can't hit you, and I can't hit my own child.
She just put her hands behind her back, walked towards her slowly, and said, "Sister-in-law, even if Xiaohua is your biological daughter, you will be held legally responsible if you beat her to death. I see that you and aunt have a good relationship on weekdays. This is perfect. Aunt violated the regulations and arranged a marriage for her granddaughter. You want to beat the child to death. Then I will talk to the superiors and send you two to the same farm for labor reform. There, you can support each other, how great it is."
Sun Meifeng's hand stopped in mid-air. She looked at Zhou Xiaohua, who was holding her head with a resigned look and waiting for her to hit her. She didn't know whether to hit her or not.
After holding it in for a long time, Sun Meifeng finally managed to say, "Don't scare me. I'm not scared."
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