Qin Xiangju is three years older than Xiao, and she is the daughter-in-law chosen by Grandma Xiao. First, because the Qin family has many sons, Grandma Xiao thinks that Qin Xiangju will be as fertile as her mother. The second reason is that Qin Xiangju has a cheerful personality, and Xiao Daqiang has no direct brothers and sisters, so he needs a daughter-in-law with a cheerful personality to head the family. The third reason is that Qin Xiangju has many brothers in her family, so if the Xiao family needs help, they can help. The fourth reason is because of an old saying, female college students hold gold bricks.

After Qin Xiangju got married, she lived up to Grandma Xiao's expectations and gave birth to three sons and one daughter. One of the sons and one daughter were dragon and phoenix twins. Dragon and phoenix twins have always been a symbol of good fortune and blessing since ancient times, so Grandma Xiao was even more satisfied with this daughter-in-law.

When Xiao Yu was eight years old, he fell ill with a strange disease. The Xiao family followed Blind Zhang's instructions and found Lin Daya, and the two of them got married.

For this reason, the Xiao family has always been very grateful to Daya. Moreover, as Daya grew up, Lin's parents sent Daya to school. Daya herself was also a hardworking girl, so the Xiao family was even more satisfied with this marriage. But now... Lin's parents passed away in the famine.

Qin Xiangju is a shrewd person. Thinking of the current situation of the Lin family, she had an idea: "Mom, Xiaoyuer, let me tell you an idea." In fact, Qin Xiangju has been thinking about this idea in her heart for a long time, but she has never said it out loud. Today Xiao Yu came back, and it happened to be an opportunity.

Grandma Xiao and Xiao Yu followed Qin Xiangju into the house. Qin Xiangju said, "Mother, Xiaoyu'er, the Lin family is in such a situation. Our Xiaoyu'er and Daya are already engaged. If we don't help, we will feel bad to see the children unable to make ends meet, and gossip will spread. But if we help, we can only help in times of emergency, not in poverty. Nowadays, every family is having a hard time."

Grandma Xiao: "That's right. How come this happy couple is gone?"

Xiao Yu said bluntly: "What does mother want to say?"

Qin Xiangju: "Xiao Yu'er, what mother means is that you and Daya get married directly, and we will give the Lin family 50 kilograms of grain as a betrothal gift. This way, the Lin family's food problem can be temporarily solved, and we don't have to give them extra grain to help them." If her son and Daya don't get married, then they will definitely have to give out extra grain to help the Lin family. By then, when her son and Daya get married, they will have to give out the betrothal gift again, so it is better to get married now, so that the grain can be used as a betrothal gift, and the food for relief can be saved. "With 50 kilograms of grain as a betrothal gift, we don't want Daya's dowry. This grain can be left for the Lin family's children to eat. If we save it, it can last for two months."

Xiao Yu was silent. Intellectually, he knew he should agree. Every household was having a food shortage. His mother said this for the sake of the family and the Lin family. However, when he thought of the thin little girl, her pale face leaning on his arms, and her dark and lively eyes when she talked to him, he didn't want to let her suffer.

In that period, it was not a good idea to tell others that you had married a daughter-in-law with fifty kilograms of grain.

Grandma Xiao also looked at Xiao Yu: "Xiao Yu'er, what do you think?"

Xiao Yu said: "Fifty kilograms of food is required, but other wedding candies and betrothal gifts are also required."

Qin Xiangju was silent. She was partial to this son, but partiality was one thing, and that was private. On the surface, she wanted to treat everyone equally. When the younger son got married, he used 50 kilograms of food. If the second son had something else besides 50 kilograms of food, the younger daughter-in-law would definitely be uncomfortable, which would be detrimental to the unity of the family in the future. However, she didn't want the second son's marriage to go on like this. Qin Xiangju thought for a while: "50 kilograms of food, two kilograms of wedding candy, and six yuan of betrothal money, but you can tell others that you prepared it yourself, and don't let your younger brother know."

Xiao Yu knew that his mother was good to him, but he couldn't make things difficult for her, so he said, "Don't use the public treasury's money. I will prepare everything except food."

Qin Xiangju had no objection to her son's words. Since the matter had been discussed, she rarely teased her son: "Why did you agree to get married as soon as I mentioned it? Before, when I mentioned Daya, you were too embarrassed to listen?"

Xiao Yu: "...How old was I before?" He was told since he was a child that he had a fiancée who was seven years younger than him. Doesn't he have any face?

Qin Xiangju: "Ah, you've grown up now? Do you miss your wife?"

Xiao Yu said expressionlessly: "I'm going out."

Grandma Xiao: "How can you be a mother like that? You always tease your son."

Qin Xiangju said, "I just want to see him lose his face. Mother, wait until Daya wakes up, and I'll go talk to her."

Grandma Xiao: "Yeah, okay." She was happy to think that her favorite grandson was getting married. She quickly returned to her room, took out a key from the cupboard, then opened the old box and rummaged through it. She found the things she had treasured for decades, and then touched them with care.

Lin Family

"Wa...Wuwa..." The child's crying voice became hoarse.

"Don't cry, little brother. Let me hold you..." The ten-year-old Lin Sijun held the two-year-old child in his arms and coaxed him, "Be good, little brother, don't cry." A ten-year-old child is considered a little adult in the countryside. He was very skilled in holding his younger brother, and his posture was also very correct, which showed that he held the child a lot.

Lin Sijun did hold Lin Wudi in his arms a lot. He was eight years older than Lin Wudi. His eldest sister and his eldest, second, and third brothers all had to go to school, so he was the one who brought up Lin Wudi when he was just born. Because he had to take care of Lin Wudi, he didn’t go to school when he was already ten years old, but his parents had promised him that they would send him to school when he turned ten, because his eldest sister also went to school at the age of ten. His eldest and second brothers went to school at the age of eight because there was no one to take care of them when his eldest sister went to school. His third brother also went to school when he was ten years old, and he was brought up by his third brother.

But this year, my parents passed away.

Lin Sijun held Lin Wudi in his arms and walked around the room, thinking about his schooling. Now that his parents were dead, could he still go to school?

“Wuwaa…Wuwaa…” Lin Wudi continued to cry.

Lin Sijun couldn't coax his little brother any more, so he had to go find Lin Dajun and Lin Erjun. The Lin brothers were sitting in the yard, and they were annoyed by hearing Lin Wudi's crying.

Lin Sijun: "Big brother, second brother, third brother, fifth brother must be hungry. If you don't give him food, he will keep crying. What should we do?"

Lin Sanjun remained silent. Among the brothers, he was usually the most taciturn. It was always Lin Erjun who made the decisions.

Lin Erjun: "I don't have anything to eat, what can I do? Let him cry."

Lin Dajun: "I'd rather cry myself to death." "I'd rather cry myself to death" is not an insult, but a dialect habit here. For example, if a child says he is hungry, an adult will reply, "I'd rather be hungry to death." In fact, there is no offensive intention.

Lin Sijun was a little worried: "Fifth brother is still young, it's not a good idea for him to keep crying like this."

Lin Erjun rolled his eyes and said, "I have a solution. Let's go to Brother Yu's house."

Lin Dajun was a little scared: "Didn't Brother Yu tell us not to go?" Although Lin Dajun and Lin Erjun are twins, he is still the eldest brother, but most of the time, he still listens to Lin Erjun.

Lin Erjun: "It's the fifth brother who wants to go. He's crying like this. What can we do? The eldest sister is the eldest sister. Doesn't she care?"

Lin Dajun thought: "That's right. When my parents were around, they always gave the best food to my eldest sister. She's just a little girl, but my parents are so partial to her."

The Lin family is different from many other families. In other families, a daughter-in-law is not valuable in this era, but the Lin family has five sons, which symbolizes blooming and bearing fruit, so the flower that blooms first is particularly "delicate". However, the Lin family's parents don't know this, because they take better care of their daughters, and the two sons who are two years younger than their daughters remember it in their hearts.

The Lin family didn't have any particularly good relatives. Father Lin was a local, but his parents had gone to look for him, and he didn't have any brothers or sisters. Mother Lin was a refugee, and was saved by Father Lin. At the time, they were both in their early teens, so Mother Lin lived in Father Lin's house. When they grew up a little, they became husband and wife. Therefore, when the Lin family's parents passed away, the Xiao family helped with the funeral. Since they really had no relatives or elders, the Qin family was indirectly considered a relative.

It takes about 40 minutes to walk from Shanglin Production Brigade to Datang Production Brigade, which is relatively close. There is a small hill in between, and there are no big wild animals on the hill. Because it is not a deep mountain, it is safer to walk on the mountain road. Because people often walk on the mountain, the mountain road is very flat. After passing the mountain road, you will see a pond, which is very large. This is how Datang Production Brigade came about. Fish are raised in the pond, which is also one of the assets of the production brigade. Every harvest season, the non-staple food purchasing station will come to buy big fish. Of course, not all of them will be bought away. A few will be left and then distributed to the villagers as welfare according to work points. In addition to big fish, there are also small fish. The small fish can be caught at will when the water in the big pond dries up, but they can only be caught for half a year. The rest will be used as fry. Therefore, every time at this time, the people of the Datang Production Team are particularly happy.

The Lin brothers walked along the bank of the pond, carrying a basket in which was placed the fifth brother Lin. The fifth brother was still crying, but his voice had become hoarse.

At the Xiao family, Lin Yiyi had already woken up. Because the Chinese medicine was ready and had been cooled for a while, the temperature was just right, so Xiao Yu woke her up.

At this moment, Lin Yiyi was drinking Chinese medicine while listening to Qin Xiangju talking about the betrothal: "Daya, what do you think? We will give you 50 kilograms of food, 2 kilograms of wedding candy, and 6 yuan of betrothal money as betrothal money, and you can choose a date to marry. Daya, it's not that your aunt is taking advantage of your betrothal money. You should know that at present, you can't buy food even if you have money, and your family is in a difficult situation now. If you take these 50 kilograms of food, it will just be left for your family. We don't need your dowry."