Chapter 212: Arranging the Second Brother's Marriage
After hearing this, Zhao Qiao'e herself was shocked.
"What are you talking about, little girl? We are all human beings. I treat your elder brother and second brother the same. How could I suppress them? As for marrying a wife, our family really doesn't have the conditions."
"Is it really the same?"
The corners of Song Yuntang's lips curled up into an ambiguous smile.
"When my eldest brother got married, you had just separated from grandpa and grandma. After marrying my eldest sister-in-law, I only had 100 or 200 coins left. For a long time afterwards, we had rice soup for three meals a day. Everyone in the family was starving. During that time, I sold almost half of my jewelry and brought back some meat and fish from town from time to time, so that the family would not starve to death."
"The conditions nowadays should be more than enough compared to that time. Why is it that when it comes to my second brother, mother is reluctant to pay even five taels of silver as a betrothal gift? Didn't he pay you some time ago?"
"Although my second brother has never complained, he must have felt wronged in his heart. Mother, put yourself in his shoes and think about it. Have you really treated my eldest and second brothers fairly over the years?"
Zhao Qiao'e was a little surprised.
In the past, Song Yuntang was unwilling to communicate with them. Every time he brought something back silently, they thought she wanted to eat it herself.
It turned out that she was thinking about her family.
She couldn't help feeling a little guilty, as she didn't understand her daughter's thoughts at the time. Not only that, when she brought the things back, she always blamed her for spending money indiscriminately.
From then on, her daughter was even less willing to communicate with her.
I thought carefully about the second brother's situation over the years.
It turned out that what she thought was fair was not fair at all to the second child.
The eldest child was her first child, so she was inevitably more concerned about him. After giving birth to the second child, she gave birth to a daughter and two younger sons.
The daughter was the only girl in the family. Since she was born, Song Jinsheng was often neglected by her. Most of the time, it was the eldest brother who helped take care of her. She naturally felt that she owed the eldest brother. He was just a child at the time and had to take care of a younger brother who was two years younger than him.
But the second child could only watch helplessly as his mother cared for his younger sister and younger brother since he was two years old.
She didn't have any good food, she gave it all to her younger siblings. She didn't even have any good clothes, she had to wear her brother's clothes for so many years. Even the new clothes that she made for the second child when the eldest child got married last year, she finally gave it to the eldest child.
This year, Song Yuntang bought him two new sets of clothes and a pair of new shoes. One of the sets, which was worn less frequently, has been given to the eldest son.
She also often told him that he was not as good as his brother.
Thinking of this, Zhao Qiao'e suddenly felt sorry for Song Jinsheng.
"Tang'er, are you coming back today to lobby for your second brother?"
Song Yuntang said calmly, "Second brother doesn't know that I have inquired about Xia's affairs, nor does he know that I will tell you this today. If he really didn't want this marriage, he wouldn't have moved to my manor before his injury was fully healed."
Zhao sighed.
"Before your eldest brother got married, our family didn't have anything special to save money for during that period. Now your eldest sister-in-law is going to give birth at the end of the year, and mother is worried that she will run into trouble and have no money to use. You know, giving birth is like going through the gates of hell."
Song Yuntang was certainly aware of this.
"In that case, there is no need to rush Second Brother's marriage."
Zhao said embarrassedly, "Didn't I become interested because I saw that matchmaker Zhou had finally found a cheap girl and your second brother was of marriageable age?"
"What if Xia doesn't want to marry my second brother and wants to commit suicide after coming to our house? Then the wedding will turn into a funeral, and the Liu family won't care whether you live or die. In the end, my second brother will still be the one who suffers."
After hearing what Song Yuntang said, Zhao thought about it for a moment and felt a little scared.
"Tang'er is right. We have to ask Xia's wishes about this matter. If she doesn't agree, our three taels of silver will be wasted."
Song Yuntang raised his eyebrows, "Are you still thinking about telling my second brother about this marriage?"
Seeing Song Yuntang angry, Zhao felt a little scared. She was really worried that the relationship between mother and daughter would become strained again, so her tone softened.
"Mom really thinks it's pretty good."
Song Yuntang took a deep breath. Today was the day she was going back to her parents' home, and she really didn't want to quarrel with her mother who had lost her mind.
"Mother, please stop interfering in my second brother's marriage. Can I find him a second sister-in-law? You won't need to pay for the bride price. I will prepare it for my second brother. Mother and father will only need to prepare a decent banquet."
Previously, the Huang family paid thirty taels of silver to the second brother for medical expenses, and now there are still twenty taels kept by her.
Twenty taels is enough to find a second sister-in-law for my second brother.
When Zhao Qiao'e heard this, she felt it was inappropriate, "How can a brother ask his sister to prepare a gift for his wedding?"
Song Yuntang speaks fast.
"If you were reliable, I wouldn't want to take the lead."
After hearing her words, Zhao Qiao'e looked aggrieved.
"If our family was well off, I wouldn't have thought of moving on to Xia's. You don't know how difficult our family is."
Song Yuntang waved his hand impatiently.
"Okay, just do as I say. Leave the second brother's affairs to me, and keep the money for the eldest sister-in-law to have a child. As for the stakes and pillars, if you are really not cut out for it, there is no need to waste money on both of you. With your conditions, you can't afford to support two people to study."
It is just a private school now. When I go to a college next year, the expenses will only be higher.
If he is a good student, it would be fine. If not, he can just go to a private school for a few years to learn how to read. But by then, you will have spent a lot of money and get no return at all.
Zhao nodded.
"Hey, mother knows about it. I will discuss it with your father when the time comes."
Having said this, Song Yuntang had said everything he needed to say, and he didn't say anything more.
Liu Xiangyun, who was sitting under the eaves of the main hall near the kitchen, had been listening to the two people talking. When she heard Song Yuntang say that she was preparing a betrothal gift for Song Jinsheng and asked Zhao to leave the family's money for her to have children, she was deeply moved.
She was no longer so angry about the fact that Zhao gave Song Yuntang five taels of silver as a dowry.
Song Jinyuan came out of the main room and saw Liu sitting there alone with red eyes. He quickly stepped forward and squatted in front of her, asking distressedly, "What's wrong? Who bullied you?"
Liu shook her head and whispered, "Although Tang'er was a little cold to us before, she still cared about us."
Song Jinyuan smiled and squeezed her hand.
"Blood is thicker than water. How could she really not care about our family?"
Mrs. Liu nodded. "We have to treat her better in the future. Maybe you can work on her farm like Jinsheng did. You can earn as much as selling bean sprouts."
"Although the bean sprout business is not as good as it was at the beginning, I can still make fifty or sixty cents a day. Let's wait until I really can't sell it anymore," said Song Jinyuan.
Mrs. Liu had a different idea. "Every household is growing vegetables now, and some are already eating vegetable sprout soup. I'm afraid our bean sprout business won't last long. Why don't we hand it over to Dad and do something else? My belly is getting bigger and bigger, and I'm going to give birth in a few months. By then, I'm bound to spend some money."
Song Jinyuan pondered.
"That makes sense. I'll talk to dad about it later. If he agrees, I'll look for a job."
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