By then, she will have left Shanghai, and whether the Lin family cries or laughs will no longer be her concern.
Even if she and Lin Chengyu do end up together in the future, she will never truly become part of the Lin family.
Song Ziqing smiled and replied, "It's alright, you can help me tidy up the yard when you have time. However, I pulled up the vegetables in our backyard yesterday and replaced them with things I use when I go to the countryside, so if you want to eat vegetables, you'll have to go and tidy them up again."
Upon hearing Song Ziqing's words, Lin's mother, Liu Ying, felt a pang of heartache: "You, why did you pull up all the vegetables? You could at least leave some for us! The vegetables at the supply and marketing cooperative have been getting more and more expensive lately. You're really not good at managing the household!"
Song Ziqing retorted directly, "I'm just too good at managing a household! I'm going to Hainan soon, so I have to clean the house thoroughly before leaving it to be chewed up by rats!!"
Lin Chengyu couldn't help but laugh: "That's right, Ziqing is right too. To support a family, we have to be frugal. We should squeeze every last penny we can! Mom and Dad, I'm going to the countryside tomorrow. Aren't you going to give me the betrothal gifts we gave Ziqing in advance? I can go shopping with Ziqing at the department store today."
Lin Jie was speechless after his son's retort. "Xiao Yu, you two are so young. Why do you need to get married so young? You should go to the countryside and be educated youth for two years before getting married. We'll provide the betrothal gifts then."
Song Ziqing was surprised that Lin Jie was so stingy with his own son, and his gaze toward Lin Chengyu became filled with pity.
Lin Chengyu's eyes were so sharp that he saw through her expression at a glance. He also gave her face by pretending to be pitiful. Coupled with his handsome appearance as a pale-faced scholar, Song Ziqing felt as if she had been given a feast for the eyes.
Lin Chengyu's appearance was not in line with popular aesthetics in the 1960s, but in the eyes of modern person Song Ziqing, his appearance was really very delicate and beautiful, with a kind of masculine and feminine feel.
Many modern male celebrities can't compare to his looks. Just thinking about it, Song Ziqing thinks Lin Chengyu should take more photos in the future. When his children and grandchildren come along, everyone can compare his photos and realize how amazing genetics really is.
At this moment, Song Ziqing and Lin Chengyu stood together. Lin Jie felt that his own little courtyard was much brighter. However, one of them was his son, and he was furious. He felt that this kid was too ugly. A grown man actually had a face that was more beautiful than a woman's.
Lin Jie couldn't bear it any longer and turned to look at his eldest son, Lin Chengliang, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes. He realized that his son was his pride, unlike his younger son, whose appearance was not pleasing and who had been ridiculed by his coworkers for more than ten years. Thinking that his son would soon be able to leave home and go to the countryside, he felt relieved.
Liu Ying and her husband share the same worries, feeling that once their youngest son leaves Shanghai, she will be free.
Lin Chenghui also particularly disliked her second brother. She wished they could switch appearances, since she had heard people around her talk about her and her second brother since she was a child, saying that they looked like they were born the wrong gender.
As a girl who loves beauty and is concerned about her image, Lin Chenghui felt that as long as her second brother was in Shanghai, she would constantly hear people say that she was not as good-looking as Lin Chengyu. What she found most unacceptable was that they said she and Lin Chengyu had the opposite sexes.
Isn't this indirectly saying she looks like a man?! This is completely damaging to her love of beauty.
"What's wrong? My parents have been sent to the countryside. Do you think I would beg to marry into your Lin family? I don't think your Lin Chengyu is welcome either. You might as well let him marry into our Song family. I'm our only daughter."
Song Ziqing had only been at the Lin family's house for less than half an hour when she realized that Lin Chengyu was an outsider there, and the whole family was rejecting him. Just thinking about it made her feel sorry for him.
"Song Ziqing, you really dare to say that!"
Lin Chengyu genuinely didn't expect that Song Ziqing, this time-traveling woman, could be so explosive. Not only did she infuriate the Lin couple, but even Lin Chengyu himself was somewhat overwhelmed by the shock.
He secretly considered the idea of living off a woman, but before he could even take any action, he found himself unable to accept it.
Song Ziqing said proudly, "I not only dare to talk, but I also dare to act. Anyway, I'm going to the countryside tomorrow. If those blind fools still bully me, I'll just go to the street office and help them spread the word, so that they can come to the countryside with me too. That way, they won't have anything better to do than cause me trouble."
"I don't have time to cause you trouble. I... I just think it would be good for my second brother to marry into your Song family. That way, Mom and Dad wouldn't have to pay a dowry, and your Song family could have one more member."
Upon hearing Song Ziqing's words, Lin Chenghui felt a pang of regret. She... she wouldn't actually go to the neighborhood office to help her spread the word and get her to go to the countryside too, would she?!
Lin Chenghui, who grew up in Shanghai, couldn't accept living on an island and working in the fields every day. Just thinking about it made her feel scared.
Therefore, she quickly changed her mind and felt that sending Lin Chengyu to the Song family as a son-in-law was not a bad idea.
"You really think I don't exist?!"
Lin Chengyu realized that these people really treated him like a dead person, passing him around and pushing him back and forth right in front of him, not like a person, but just an object.
Song Ziqing then realized that she was just like the rest of the Lin family, being too unfriendly to Lin Chengyu. She readily apologized, "I'm sorry, Lin Chengyu. I was just angry and wanted to help you, but it seems I've only made things worse."
Lin Chengyu found Song Ziqing to be very straightforward and sincere in his apology, which made him both amused and exasperated. "Forget it, we are engaged after all. Whether you marry me or I move into your family is a private matter between the two of us. My parents won't care about me at all. We have to leave Shanghai tomorrow, and we can't even guess when we'll be able to come back next time."
In fact, the current situation of educated youth going to the countryside is based on the principle of voluntariness, and it has not reached the level of forced going to the countryside after 1968.
The thought that it would be more than a decade before he could return to Shanghai made Lin Chengyu feel that by then the flowers would have long since withered.
Time is a cruel butcher's knife.
The cherries have turned red, and the plantains have turned green.
In his past life, Lin Chengyu waited his entire life to return to Shanghai. Only after his death did his soul return to Shanghai. Now, thinking back, Shanghai is just a city. China has so many cities, why be so fixated on just one?
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