Chapter 42
This is what happened. In October, the autumn wind was bleak and the golden autumn colors enveloped the entire Yunshui County.
The old Gu family began to wash and unpack their old cotton shirts, cotton pants and mattresses. They also took the old cotton mattresses used in winter to Bali Hutong to fluff the cotton. The fluffed cotton was used to cover the quilt, which was sewn stitch by stitch. After drying in the yard for a day or two, it smelled like the sun. The
family depended on these quilts for the whole winter. The daughter-in-law was about to get married, and Zhang Cuilan and her husband were busy all day long.
Last week, the old couple of the Xu family brought four gifts to the old Gu family to formally propose marriage.
The so-called four gifts were a pound of sugar, two bottles of sorghum wine, two packs of snacks and two pounds of top-quality pork belly.
This is an old tradition in Yunshui County. When a family holds a wedding, it is a big wedding that only happens once in a lifetime, so respectable families will not be stingy.
Besides, the Xu family has two full-time employees. Xu Xiangqian has been working for two or three years. Xu's mother is not in good health and retired early due to illness. In these days, there is no pension for retirement due to illness, but the factory compensated Xu's mother according to her seniority.
In this way, the Xu family father and son earn about 100 yuan a month. This salary is more than enough to support a family of three in the county. Xu's mother is a famous money-maker in the neighborhood. When she was a girl, she went to the country to pick lotus leaves, carry river mud, and sell lotus roots, saving every penny for herself as a dowry.
While doing housework at the playground, Xu's mother was not idle. She also made paper boxes and folded paper boards at home. She earned more than ten yuan a month. It was enough to feed herself and give Chunmei some pocket money. Moreover, the Xu family had spread the word that after the daughter-in-law got married, the couple would live a closed-door life. Xiangqian's salary would not have to be handed over, but would be kept for the two children.
The Xu family was sincere, and the Gu family could not take advantage of it. The family tried their best to prepare for the marriage of the daughter.
It was different from when Gu Shi'an and his family got married. At
that time, children's weddings were still very particular. They would set up several tables of banquets at home to entertain relatives and friends.
Since the Lushan Conference, the political wind has suddenly changed. Now, if a family in the county holds a lavish wedding, they will be associated with the tail of the bourgeoisie if things go wrong.
The Wu family in Qiantou County was sent to a farm in Xinjiang because of their lifestyle problems.
When this happened, the people of Yunshui County were in a panic.
The parents of the two families agreed that after the children got married and obtained the marriage certificate, the whole family would have a reunion dinner, and then buy some fruit candies, melon seeds, etc., and share them with the neighbors.
Xu Xiangqian had been looking forward to marrying Chunmei home. Seeing Old Gu being affectionate in front of him all day long, he had become so jealous. It was
enough to marry his daughter-in-law home. Big Head Brother had no objection.
Gu Chunmei also had no objection.
When you get married and live your life, there is no need for so many romantic things. It is the right thing to live your life down to earth.
At the old Gu family, the dowry camphorwood box, wedding quilt, bed sheet, pillow, hot water bottle, enamel basin and grandson bucket were almost ready. Zhang Cuilan took the time to ask her son to go to Sishui Hutong to buy dried straw.
There is a family in Sishui Hutong who specializes in buying straw from the countryside. They buy straw for one dime a cart, bring it to the county, dry it thoroughly, and then resell it to the people in the county.
The people in the county buy straw and take it home, cover it with a coarse cloth cover and put it on the bed frame, then put a layer of mattress on it, sleep on it, smell the natural fragrance of straw, fall asleep warmly and comfortably.
This is also the wisdom of the common people. Lin Yao was not used to sleeping on a hardwood bed before, but after a long time without sleeping for a day, she got used to it.
Dongzi went to Sishui Hutong to buy straw, and she picked vegetables in the garden at home. She harvested the last crop of tomatoes this year, and pulled out the tomato seedlings before the frost, and turned over the vegetable field to plant radishes and cabbages.
Lin Yao planned to make tomato sauce with a basket full of tomatoes, which would be perfect for dipping steamed buns in the future.
The old Gu family was large, with four rooms and four wooden beds for six people. Ten bundles of straw were needed, two cents for one bundle, and twenty cents for ten bundles.
Zhang Cuilan gave her son three cents, two cents for the straw, and the remaining ten cents as errand fee.
Gu Shidong smiled and said, "Comrade Cuilan is really generous today!"
The little boy walked quickly. He first went to Sishui Hutong to order ten bundles of straw, paid the money and told the people his home address, and then walked straight to the supply and marketing cooperative.
On the three-foot counter of the supply and marketing cooperative, there were all kinds of snacks, such as egg cakes, fruit hard candies, maltose, raisins and golden chicken biscuits.
The little boy used to run to the supply and marketing cooperative when he had nothing to do. He walked around with his hands behind his back. He didn't have a penny in his pocket, and no salesperson rolled his eyes at him. Who made the child sweet-mouthed and talkative? He called this aunt sister and that uncle brother, and coaxed several salespeople to dress up and smile. They wished that the little boy would come every day.
At this moment, Gu Shidong licked the milk candy he bought for two cents, and walked out of the supply and marketing cooperative with satisfaction, with a defective pencil case that did not require a receipt stuffed in his pocket.
This was an internal product kept by the supply and marketing cooperative. If it weren't for the fact that the aunt had a good relationship with him, she would not have sold it to him at a low price.
The brat strolled for a few minutes and his stomach started to growl.
Oh no, it must be because he ate melon this morning.
Gu Shidong covered his stomach and buttocks and rushed into the toilet on the side of the road.
At that time, the toilets were all dry toilets, with a row of squat toilets, and a half-person-high wall separating every two pits. After
Gu Shidong had taken care of his physiological needs and had just pulled up his pants, he heard a rustling sound from the corner of the toilet wall behind him, as if a man and a woman were talking there.
The boy said "huh", thinking that it was probably a pair of wild birds who had gone to the back of the manure pit for a date, and he was about to leave with his pants pulled up.
The voices coming from behind the wall were actually those of Li Aifeng and Lin Daguo!
The boy quickly hugged her waist, tiptoed back, pinched his nose to endure the stench, and pricked up his ears to eavesdrop.
Lin Daguo was also dizzy from the stench of the toilet, and Li Aifeng even pulled him to the back.
He was so angry that he covered his nose and cursed, "Don't go, it's suffocating me."
Li Aifeng was also not in a good mood, and she stiffened her neck and cursed, "Do you think I am willing to come to this place where there are no dogs shitting? There are people everywhere on the street. How can I not find a quiet place?"
Lin Daguo kept nagging like a woman. Li Aifeng pinched him and told him to stop talking.
"What if that little bitch Lin Yao heard it?"
Speaking of Lin Yao, Lin Daguo's eyes were full of anger. At that time, the daughter made a fuss and didn't want to marry into the Gu family. As an uncle, he had no choice but to marry his niece to the old Gu family.
Anyway, the niece didn't have a partner, so it didn't matter who she married?
Who would have thought that this matter of marrying for someone else would cause such a big trouble for the family.
Everyone in the village was behind his back, scolding him for being black-hearted and rotten-hearted, sucking his own niece's blood to do so many immoral things, pushing his niece into the fire pit, and saying that he would not have a good ending in the future!
What do these bastards know? Look at the life my niece is living now. She is not in a fire pit, but in a honey pot!
When Li Aifeng thought of Lin Yao, she kept saying dirty words, calling her a little bitch. She said that Lin Yao was just like her mother, born with a vixen spirit, and that the mother and daughter looked coquettish and only knew how to seduce men. If she had known, she would have sold her to a kiln as a □□...
After all, Lin Yao was a member of the Lin family. Li Aifeng even cursed the ancestors of the Lin family. Lin Daguo was furious and waved his fist to tell her to shut up, otherwise he would beat her.
Li Aifeng shut her mouth in hatred and dared not say anything. To be honest, she didn't like Lin Yao. In addition to her good life, there was another reason.
When the matchmaker was looking for a matchmaker for the Li family, Li Aifeng had her eyes on Lin Weiguo, Lin Yao's father. However, Lin Weiguo didn't like her and rejected Li Aifeng, marrying Lin Yao's mother instead.
Li Aifeng couldn't get over it, so she married the idle Lin Daguo out of spite. She did it
for no other reason than to make Lin Weiguo regret it.
However, Lin Weiguo didn't regret it and lived happily with that jerk, while she had a miserable life.
Later, Lin Weiguo and his wife returned to the west. Lin Yao was timid at that time. She didn't say a word at home all day long. She either lowered her head to work or hid in the house. Li Aifeng would beat and scold her to vent her anger. The little girl had bruises all over her body, but she didn't dare to tell others and could only cry secretly in the house.
Life was so good at that time that Li Aifeng would even wake up laughing in her dreams.
Now!
Li Aifeng gritted her teeth and lowered her voice to discuss with Lin Daguo, "Hongna said that now that little bitch has become rich, her husband is the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, and there must be a lot of people asking him to do things for them. It's useless for her to have such good things in her hands. We are Lin Yao's elders, and she should show her filial piety."
The naturally timid Lin Daguo was still a little hesitant.
The Gu family is not easy to mess with. If they knew about this...
Li Aifeng hated to see him like this. She rushed over and spat, "Look at you, Lin Yao is your niece. You can't carry her on your shoulders or lift her up. You are a grown man, what are you afraid of? If the little bitch gives you a hard time, slap her in the face!"
Lin Daguo was sprayed in the face by Li Aifeng's spit, and his eyes became vicious.
"Okay, I'll do as you say."
Li Aifeng had a good face. She wanted to extort 500 yuan from Lin Yao, half of which would be used to pay off Hongwu's gambling debts and the other half for her own spending.
Now it is popular to wear leather shoes in the city, and a pair of shoes costs five yuan. She has money in her hand but she doesn't buy a pair to show off. Oh, by the way, the peony head scarf used by the village magpie is very beautiful, so she bought it for one piece. Then she will take out another twenty yuan to help her mother's family...
If the little bitch Lin Yao doesn't give money, she will let her nephew from her mother's family abuse the little bitch. Even if the Gu family likes Lin Yao, which man would want a pair of shoes that have been abused by others!
Maybe Nana can marry into the old Gu family, and she will be the mother-in-law of the deputy director.
As for Lin Yao, marrying her nephew from her mother's family can also solve the problem of the old Li family's inheritance.
Li Aifeng's family was extremely poor, lazy and greedy, and didn't like to work. Her nephew was a mean-looking man, and no girl would be willing to marry him.
Nana was right. Lin Yao didn't deserve to live the good life now. If she married her nephew, that little bitch would get all the money.
Thinking of this, Li Aifeng felt relieved. She didn't know that Gu Shidong had already run home.
Gu Shidong ran home with all his might.
No wonder he felt someone was following him when he and his sister-in-law went outside to pick up coal.
It turned out to be Lin Daguo's two turtle eggs!
They also want to harm my sister-in-law and blackmail her. Go home and tell my eldest brother, and let him arrest these two bastards and put them in jail!
*
In the big compound, Lin Yao washed the tomatoes she picked and put them in a basket to drain the water. She will call Sister Chunmei in the afternoon and cut the tomatoes to make ketchup.
Yesterday, the textile factory had good news. Lin Yao passed the exam successfully and was accepted by the textile factory together with Zhou Xiaoxue and another girl.
The textile factory is recruiting this time. There are two positions in the logistics department of the textile factory, and the accounting department is also short of a cashier.
The leader of the textile factory wants Lin Yao and Zhou Xiaoxue to go to the logistics department, and the other girl to go to the accounting department.
I heard that the girl's mother is an old accountant. The girl can use an abacus and do accounting. She is indeed more suitable for the accounting department than Lin Yao and the others.
Zhang Cuilan and her husband heard the good news and couldn't suppress the smile on their faces. Even when Dongzi, the bastard, ran away for a long time, Comrade Cuilan didn't scold him at home .
Not only did she not scold him, but when Deputy Director Gu came home, his mother smiled for the first time.
"Oh, our eldest son is back?"
Gu Shian had a serious face as always, but his mother didn't scold him, and even personally sent him to the house.
"Yaoyao is in the house. She picked a basket of tomatoes this morning, but she is tired. Go back and massage Yaoyao's shoulders. She will feel better."
Gu Shian nodded naturally. Anyway, he would massage the girl's back and wash her feet at home.
Lin Yao was in the house, lying on the bed reading a book. Gu Shian cut a plate of watermelon and fed her one bite at a time.
Lin Yao was leaning in the arms of Deputy Director Gu, feeling comfortable, when Dongzi rushed in.
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