Chapter 8 Unable to Get Married "The shrew gave birth to a jinx, and..."
"Can't you be separated from your dog even for a moment?"
The veins on Deng Xia's forehead throbbed as she squeezed out these words through gritted teeth.
Her daughter has been acting strangely these past few days, showering the dog with affection, letting it sleep in her room at night, and taking it everywhere she goes during the day.
Zhong Cheng only has two days left of his family visit leave. He hasn't been home for four years, and now that he's finally back, he naturally wants to visit his mother-in-law and help her out. He's leaving tomorrow, so today Zhong Cheng took his wife and child to visit his mother-in-law's family.
Zhong Ying has been resting at home for so many days, it's time for her to go and earn work points.
With most of the wheat harvested, Deng Xia specially asked Captain Li to help her daughter find a relatively easy job—working at the threshing ground, earning seven work points a day.
Zhong Ying had long known that living in this era meant she would inevitably have to get used to labor, and she was mentally prepared for it. She agreed without any objection, with only one request: she had to bring brown sugar with her to work.
"As long as the dog is there, I'm safe." Zhong Ying was telling the truth. She dared not be alone now. Without Hongtang by her side, Zhong Ying really didn't know if she would have a chance to go home again. Who knew when that deadbeat would show up again and start yelling that he wanted to "marry" her.
Hearing this, Deng Xia almost fainted from anger. "How come you're getting more and more backward as you get older? You're even going back to how your brother was when he was a child!"
When Zhong Cheng was around ten years old, he would often wander around with his dog Xiangchun. Some boys saw how imposing he looked with his big yellow dog, which was half his height, and they would all follow him to play, surrounding him like a mountain king. Deng Xia was so angry that she had to break a broom to knock the boy's arrogant tail down.
Looking at her beautiful daughter in front of her, Deng Xia was filled with worry. Would she become a female bandit like her brother? Boys are tough and can be hit a couple of times without getting hurt, but this girl has delicate skin. Deng Xia had never been able to bear to hit Zhong Ying since she was a child. The most serious thing she did was to glare at her and pretend to pat her arm like this.
Its power is clearly insufficient.
"Oh, Mom, I'm not going to talk to you anymore. What time is it? We need to hurry up and get to work. I know where the threshing ground is, I'll just go there." Zhong Ying said in one breath, not giving Deng Xia a chance to speak. After she finished speaking, she took the big black dog and ran out the door in a flash.
As soon as Zhong Ying stepped outside, she felt a chilling and sinister gaze, as if it were about to pierce the back of her head. She endured the chill that crept up her neck and turned her head to look. In the distance, she saw a dark figure on the shady hillside of Ying Mountain. Although she still couldn't see the person clearly this time, she knew exactly who he was.
When Hongtang saw Zhong Ying suddenly stop, she circled around her strangely twice and made a urging sound.
Zhong Ying looked away and glanced at the big black dog circling around her, immediately feeling a sense of security again. "I'm leaving now, Brown Sugar."
Deng Xia and Zhong Chunsheng left the house one step behind, and their youngest son, Zhong Xin, was the last to come out, closing and locking the courtyard gate.
"Look at you," Deng Xia said, watching her daughter walk away with the dog, complaining to Zhong Chunsheng with a worried expression, "It's all your eldest son's fault!"
"Achoo—"
Miao Laohan immediately looked at Zhong Cheng with concern, as if he had just coughed up blood instead of just sneezed. "What happened? Did you catch a cold? Even in the middle of summer, it's easy to catch a cold if you're not careful!"
"It's nothing, Dad," Zhong Cheng said nonchalantly, as no one knows a mother better than her son. "My mother is scolding me."
His mother-in-law, Dai Fudi, immediately looked over upon hearing this.
Zhong Cheng added, "My own mother."
Before dawn, Zhong Cheng and Miao Suyun took their son and went to his mother-in-law's house in the Liwangou production team. They wanted to make it to the day's work, so Zhong Cheng couldn't sit still for long. "Dad, I'll go to the fields with you today so that Mom can rest and enjoy the happiness of having her daughter and grandson by her side."
Old Miao was beaming from ear to ear, his teeth were dry, and he kept saying, "Good, good, good, have your mother catch one of the chickens and kill it. It's not easy for her to come back once in all these years, how can she not have a good meal when she comes home..."
“There’s no need to kill a chicken. Just make something simple to eat. I remember when Yunyun first married me, my mother went to see the flower cakes her daughter brought, and they were delicious. Just eat those.” Zhong Cheng declined, saying, “Let’s keep the chickens to lay eggs.”
"Make it all! If you want to eat it, just ask your mother to make it for you! Just wait for lunch!" Old Miao said with a wave of his hand, and then he put his arm around his son-in-law and walked out. "Let's go to work in the fields, and let the production team see that my promising son-in-law, who's a soldier, has come to visit his father-in-law..."
After all the men in the house left, Miao Suyun's mother dared to speak. Dai Fudi pouted and muttered, "She really doesn't go into the kitchen. All she talks about is food. Is killing a chicken easier or steaming flower cakes easier? She acts like she can eat anything with just a few words."
Despite her complaints, Dai Fudi did as she was told and went to the chicken coop to catch chickens.
Now, when they were "cutting off the capitalist tail," they only managed to find a production team leader who was easy to talk to and didn't manage things too much, allowing each family to raise two or three chickens. The Miao family's chicken coop only had three chickens in total, which was fewer than the number of children Dai Fudi had.
Dai Fudi looked at the proud red-crested rooster and said, "We should keep it to crow; we can't kill it."
She then looked at the hen, its yellowish-brown plumage interspersed with some dark brown feathers, and said, "This is a master egg-laying hen; it lays one egg every day without fail."
Dai Fudi's gaze then fell on another hen with lighter plumage. "Although this one doesn't lay eggs as frequently, it's been raised to be so fat, it would be such a waste to kill it."
Miao Suyun came over to help, and seeing her mother's indecisive look, she said, "Then let's not kill any of them. It's not like we have to eat the chicken."
“How can that be? Your father already said so.” Dai Fudi hesitated for a long time, suppressing her heartache, and finally picked up the plump hen. “Let’s kill this one.”
Miao Suyun just tugged at the corner of her mouth and didn't say anything more, as she always did.
Just like her marriage back then, when her father heard the matchmaker gossip that Zhong Cheng had been selected to join the army, he immediately agreed. But her mother could only sigh behind her back, saying that Miao Suyun would suffer after marrying into the family. Her mother-in-law was a notorious shrew in the surrounding area, and her sister-in-law was no better. Her poor daughter was quiet and honest, how could she possibly fight against such two people?
Miao Suyun didn't have much affection for this marriage at the time; she had disliked Zhong Cheng since she was a child.
Zhong Cheng's mother and Aunt Yang from Lawangou were from the same place. They grew up together and were as close as sisters. Even after one married into Tonggan Village and the other into Lawangou, they never lost touch. Visiting each other during the off-season was a common occurrence. So, Miao Suyun, who was also from Lawangou, would often see Zhong Cheng, who came to visit with Deng Xia.
Who knows why he was grinning like an idiot every time he saw her? Miao Suyun suspected that the young man was stupid, so she always avoided him.
She didn't like this person to begin with, and when her mother told her that her future mother-in-law and sister-in-law were also terrible in their own way, Miao Suyun begged her mother to talk to her father and cancel the marriage.
Her mother is the same way now, only talking but not resisting at all. She just hugs her and cries that her daughter is like a rapeseed, destined to fall into someone else's home sooner or later. It doesn't matter where she falls, women are born with a hard life and can only endure it until the children are grown up and she becomes a mother-in-law.
Disheartened, on her wedding day, Miao Suyun felt little of the joy and trepidation of a new bride, only coldly observing everything around her.
Her father, Miao Laohan, was so happy that his face was flushed. He didn't think about what kind of life his daughter might have in the future. He was just overjoyed to have a successful son-in-law who brought him honor.
Miao Suyun knew that the tears her mother, Dai Fudi, shed at that moment were genuinely for her daughter, but then what? Nothing more.
Just when nineteen-year-old Miao Suyun had resigned herself to the hardships that awaited her for the next few decades, she discovered that things were not as she had imagined.
A wife can raise her voice at her husband and speak her mind.
Daughters don't need to think of themselves as outsiders who will eventually get married. They can ask for whatever they want to eat or desire.
She wasn't just a seed that fell into the Zhong family's hands; she was a daughter-in-law who married into the Zhong family, a new member of the family, and the Zhong family treated her like a human being.
Dai Fudi held the chicken's neck firmly with one hand and a cleaver in the other. With swift and skillful strokes, she slit the hen's throat, catching every drop of blood in a porcelain bowl. She then used the scalded feathers to make a shuttlecock for her grandson.
Zhong Guoqiang was happily playing with his new toy, a shuttlecock, in the yard.
After cleaning and gutting the hen, Dai Fudi chopped it into pieces and placed them on the cutting board. Then she started making flower cakes.
First, knead a dough ball about a foot in size and place it in a steamer. Then, pinch off a piece of dough the size of an egg. Although Dai Fudi's large, calloused hands looked rough, she skillfully shaped the dough into the shape of a tiger and decorated the large dough ball with it.
Put the chicken into the pot, then stack the steamer basket on top.
Once the flower cake is steamed and the chicken is cooked until tender, the chicken will also be cooked until very soft.
Dai Fudi moved the steamer aside, added some salt to the chicken soup in the pot, and put the lid back on.
Miao Suyun, who had been tending to the fire, got up and took out red paint from the cupboard. She watched as her mother added a few red dots to the flower cake, making it look like the finishing touch on a painting.
"What are you going to do about your sister-in-law?" After finishing cooking, Dai Fudi took a breather and started talking about other things.
"What do you mean, what should we do?" Miao Suyun sat back down on the small wooden stool in front of the stove and stuffed firewood into the firebox.
Dai Fudi clicked her tongue, looking at her daughter as if she were some kind of mindless fool. "Who in Liwangou doesn't know what happened a while ago? The body... was pulled up from the lower reaches of the river here. Now, who doesn't know that it was Li's son who risked his life to save your sister-in-law, but lost his own life in the process?"
“Our family went to the Li family to express our gratitude,” Miao Suyun said. “We also gave them an apology and helped with the funeral arrangements. We also gave them half of the work points that Zhong Cheng had earned these days. That’s the end of it.”
"What do you mean 'finished'?" Dai Fudi hurriedly interrupted her daughter. "Didn't anyone in the Zhong family think of this? Your sister-in-law is going to be a liability!"
Miao Suyun frowned. After being treated like a human being by the Zhong family for the past four years, she had grown tired of her mother's tone, which treated her daughter like merchandise. "What do you mean by 'stuck in our hands'? Mother, please stop talking like that."
"Tsk tsk," Dai Fudi pouted unhappily, "No wonder people say that a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl, now she's even taking sides with other families."
Miao Suyun just frowned as she looked at her.
Dai Suyun put away her strange expression and got back to the "business," earnestly saying, "If I weren't your own mother, I wouldn't bother with this! Haven't you thought about it? Your sister-in-law's temperament is already hard to find a husband, and now the production team leader's youngest son has lost his life to save her. Which family would dare to take her in?"
"Their son was a perfectly healthy college student, just over twenty years old, and he's gone just like that. And then they watch as the girl their son risked his life to save gets married again, has children, and marries someone else?"
Dai Fudi became more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, "Okay, even if your production team leader is broad-minded and tolerant, there are still families who are bold enough not to be retaliated against. What about the young men? Which young man would be willing to marry a girl who already has someone else in her heart?"
“If it were a normal marriage proposal, the matchmaker would say that if the engagement didn’t go through, they could find another young man. But in your sister-in-law’s case, that young man risked his life to save her. Wouldn’t she remember that for the rest of her life? What man could tolerate that?”
In the end, Dai Fudi sighed and shook her head, "Your sister-in-law will probably never get married in this lifetime."
After working all morning, Zhong Cheng, who wanted to see his wife and help her out, stood outside the kitchen and stopped in his tracks when he heard these words.
He thought the matter was settled and life would continue as usual. But it turns out that wasn't the case; the effects of the incident still lingered.
"Mother, what nonsense are you spouting?" Miao Suyun scolded in a low voice, "How can you curse someone like that!"
"What do you mean I'm talking nonsense!" Dai Fudi's eyes widened, making them appear even rounder. "What did I say wrong? Just wait and see, your sister-in-law will be unwanted!"
Miao Suyun also lost her temper, angrily saying, "She's not some cheap commodity, what do you mean no one wants her! She's a living, breathing person, do you think our whole family would kick her out?"
Dai Fudi choked, then raised her voice, "I'm only saying this for your own good! Don't you want to plan ahead? Do you really want to support your old maid for the rest of your life? What will happen when your in-laws pass away? Are you going to raise your sister-in-law too? Are you stupid? You're willing to support someone like that for nothing? Why don't you hurry up and persuade your mother-in-law to marry her off to anyone? Isn't there another bachelor in your production team? Don't be picky, it's good enough if someone wants her! I'm really ungrateful—"
As she continued, she habitually became aggrieved.
Miao Suyun was so angry that she couldn't stay any longer as her mother's words became increasingly absurd. "Save your 'kindness'! I'm too stupid to accept this 'kindness'!"
How could Dai Fudi let her daughter leave like this? What about her son-in-law? Wouldn't he have to go with her? What kind of behavior would that be! She hadn't even mentioned asking Miao Suyun to ask Zhong Cheng to put in a good word for her, so that her youngest son, Miao Shide, could also join the army!
She dared not raise her voice in front of men, but dared to throw a tantrum and act spoiled with her own daughter. She clung tightly to Miao Suyun, refusing to let her leave, crying loudly without any real emotion, and wailing, "My sensible and obedient daughter! She's only been married to that Zhong family for a few years and she already dares to glare at her mother! That shrew gave birth to a jinx and corrupted my daughter—"
The sudden sound of the door hitting the wall startled Dai Fudi, leaving her words stuck in her throat.
Zhong Cheng, with a cold and stern face, forcefully grabbed Miao Suyun's arm and pulled her to his side. He didn't want to call her "mother" anymore, and only politely said to Dai Fudi, "We're going home now, we won't be eating."
After saying that, Zhong Cheng pulled Miao Suyun and walked out. When they got to the yard, he picked up his son, who was still playing with a shuttlecock, and carried him to his arms. They left the place almost without stopping.
Miao Laohan, who returned a step later, looked at his daughter, son-in-law, and eldest grandson who rushed out, as well as Dai Fudi who chased after them. He was puzzled. "What's going on?"
"We're going back." Zhong Cheng uttered a few words stiffly, his cold and stern face looking somewhat intimidating.
Miao Laohan stood in front of them, not daring to block them directly. He smiled and spoke gently, "Did your mother say something unpleasant? We men shouldn't argue with women. They can't keep their mouths shut and they believe everything they say. Don't take it seriously."
Zhong Cheng couldn't leave, so he had to make things clear: "My mother is a shrew, and my sister is a jinx who can't get married. What kind of man am I? According to this logic, I should be a jinx, and I'm the one who deserves to be in the same family as my mother and sister. I won't eat this meal, lest I ruin your family's reputation."
After saying that, Zhong Cheng walked past Miao Laohan, grabbed his wife and child, and left on his own.
Miao Laohan stared at the three people's backs, dumbfounded. After a long while, he turned around, glared at Dai Fudi, and said, "You think you're so capable!"
Just moments ago, Dai Fudi had been throwing a tantrum, but now she was only left with a feeling of grievance. "I didn't say anything wrong. Her sister-in-law is just destined to never get married..."
A note from the author:
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A female demon, a jinx, a jinx—the underworld is on earth (not really).
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