Yao Xiujuan, "Meiling, do you have something to talk to me about?"
Li Meiling looked around, "Are Xiuli and Xinxin not here?"
Yao Xiujuan smiled and said, "It should be in the backyard, right? What happened?"
Li Meiling sat down with her son in her arms. "Nothing. Didn't I see goji berries growing on the wild goji berries trees near the west canal yesterday? A lot of them are turning red. Lifang and I have an appointment to go pick them together. I wanted to ask Xiuli if she wanted to go too..."
Yao Xiujuan blinked, thinking back to the place she mentioned. She remembered that there seemed to be a patch of wild wolfberries, so she nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll go take a look too."
Li Meiling put her son on the ground and said with a smile, "The wild wolfberries in that patch are growing very well this year. They are all big. Let's pick them and dry them. Every time we soak them in water, we can put a few of them in it. They are very sweet..."
They went as soon as they said they would. When Chu Lifang arrived, Yao Xiujuan and Yao Xiuli took their two children and asked Zhang Ping and others to go to the west canal together...
Yao Xiujuan watched Chu Lifang carry Huanhuan on her back, thought for a moment, and suggested, "Lifang, why don't you put Huanhuan on the grass over there and let Si Ya and Xin Xin look after her?"
Chu Lifang nodded, took out a piece of cloth from the basket in her hand and spread it on the ground, then she untied the cloth tied around her body, put the child flat on the sheet, looked at the children who followed, smiled and said to her eldest brother's little daughter.
"Aixing, you are the oldest here, you have to look after your brothers and sisters, understand?"
Chu Aixing, who is only two years older than Xinxin and less than eight years old this year, nodded obediently and said, "Aunt, I will take good care of my younger brothers and sisters."
Chu Lifang patted her head and said, "Be good, when you go to school, I will make you a nice school bag."
Chu Aixing's eyes lit up, "Thank you, aunt."
Yao Xiujuan walked around the wolfberries and finally chose to pick them by the canal where the reddest ones were. Because she was by the canal, and the reddest places were high up, Yao Xiujuan stood carefully on tiptoe by the canal, and reached out tremblingly to pick the bright red wolfberries high up.
Chu Min's wife looked at Yao Xiuli who was not far away and asked Yao Xiujuan with a smile, "Xiujuan, is your sister not engaged yet?"
Yao Xiujuan also glanced at her younger sister and shook her head, "No, she has her own ideas and doesn't want my parents to arrange a blind date for her."
Chu Wei's wife smiled and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Isn't she only eighteen this year?"
"Girls nowadays don't get married as early as they did in previous years. It's okay to wait two years to get married..."
Li Meiling smiled, "I agree with what Sister Chu Wei said."
Yao Xiujuan smiled and said, "I also advised my parents in the same way, but they still think that girls should get engaged as soon as possible. I have no choice..."
Chu Lifang blinked when she heard that, glanced at Yao Xiuli who was diligently picking wolfberries, thought for a moment, and leaned over to Yao Xiujuan and the others and whispered, "Sister-in-law Xiaoshi, my Jianjun's younger brother is still unengaged, you see..."
Yao Xiujuan was surprised, "Jianjun's younger brother? Is that Jianguo?"
Chu Lifang nodded, "Well, Jianguo is twenty years old this year, two years older than Xiuli, so the age is just right..."
Zhang Ping asked in surprise, "But, Lifang, I remember Jianguo was engaged, wasn't he? Also, my Chumin heard your eldest uncle say a while ago that Jianguo was going to marry the girl from the neighboring brigade, Old Wang, after the autumn harvest."
Yao Xiujuan was also surprised. "Really? The girl from Old Wang's family? Is it the youngest one? What's her name? Is she the one who came to see me? I heard she's the most beautiful girl in Old Wang's family!"
Zhang Ping nodded. "Yes, that one. His family is famous for the five golden flowers, each one more beautiful than the other. Unfortunately, in his family, no matter how beautiful a child is, it is not as important as having a boy. So after giving birth to five daughters in a row, he gave birth to the sixth child, Laibao, and spoiled him beyond measure..."
"He's already seventeen or eighteen years old, and he's never been to the fields. He's just like the hooligans from a few years ago, just wandering around all day!"
"Oh, by the way, I also heard that the first four daughters of the Wang family were all pretty, so in order to save money for their son, the couple chose the family that offered the highest betrothal gift..."
Yao Xiujuan opened her mouth in shock. "Oh my God, why would Jianguo choose a girl from a family like that..."
Zhang Ping shook her head, "I don't know..."
Chu Wei's wife didn't know who it was, so she just listened with her eyes open in confusion.
After a moment's silence, Yao Xiujuan opened her eyes wide and looked at Chu Lifang, "Lifang, he's already engaged, why are you..."
Chu Lifang listened to what they said and said "Hi", waved her hand and said, "Don't mention that family anymore, the engagement has already been cancelled. You don't know that they are almost pissing my parents-in-law off to death."
Yao Xiujuan was a little confused, "What's wrong?"
"My parents-in-law weren't happy with his family to begin with, but my brother-in-law fell in love with their daughter. They begged them to propose last year, and they were willing to marry their daughter to my family, but they asked for a 500 yuan betrothal gift! And a bicycle!"
Yao Xiujuan exclaimed, "They want so much? What gives them the right? Did your parents-in-law agree?"
Yao Xiujuan thought to herself, looking at it this way, her younger brother's future father-in-law actually doesn't ask for much. At least his parents are sensible, and his daughter is educated and has a job...
Moreover, the girl's parents said that they were not selling their daughter. What they wanted was for the young couple to use in the future, and they would also give it as a dowry. So, after all was said and done, in the end, it was all given to my younger brother and his wife.
Chu Lifang shook her head. "Of course they wouldn't agree. My parents-in-law were immediately displeased when they heard that. Who in our brigade asks for so much for a girl's wedding these days? Even the family in front of our brigade, who married a teacher at our company's elementary school and is a well-educated person, only asked for fifty yuan in betrothal gifts and a bicycle."
"And the daughter of the Wang family can't read a single word. Besides having a pretty face, she has nothing else... And even if they ask for these, they won't be given as a dowry. It's like my parents-in-law are giving their family 600 or 700 yuan for nothing."
Yao Xiujuan looked at Chu Lifang in shock. After a long pause, she asked again, "So what happened in the end? Just now, my second sister-in-law said that they were engaged. Is that true?"
Chu Lifang stopped what she was doing and nodded. "It's settled. In the end, my parents-in-law couldn't stand Jianguo's pleas, so they discussed it with the Wang family. They agreed to give him 100 yuan and a bicycle..."
Zhang Ping shook her head in disbelief, "That's not a small amount. But why did you break off the engagement after getting engaged?"
Chu Lifang sighed, "That family has changed their minds again and is demanding a betrothal gift of 200 yuan, a bicycle, and a watch."
Yao Xiujuan and the others looked at each other in shock. "This is a planned marriage, how can it be changed so suddenly?"
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