Zhou Qi nodded coldly. There was nothing he could do; things had escalated to this point, and it would be difficult to resolve the situation without marriage.
These days, if you hold hands with someone outside, the disciplinary committee will take care of you. Today, this incident has become common knowledge. He may be good at building relationships, but he can't silence public opinion.
"Since it's already happened, let's get married."
Li Mei disagreed, but Zhou Qi's expression was unusually cold today, and he glared at her fiercely. She was a little scared and dared not disobey the man again.
"If we're going to get married, we should do it quickly. It would be even more embarrassing if you were pregnant. Let's make it clear that our family won't give any dowry."
Nowadays, in addition to the "three turns and one sound" (referring to a house, a bicycle, a sewing machine, and a radio), people also give a bride price when they get married. Most of these are auspicious numbers like 68 or 88, and some wealthy families will give 100 or 200 yuan.
Most families would return the betrothal gifts, and sometimes even add a small dowry. If a family kept their daughter's betrothal gifts, they would be the subject of gossip.
Li Mei's statement clearly indicates that her family is unwilling to contribute anything.
She's already done enough by letting her son marry Chen Hongxia's daughter; she shouldn't even think about anything else.
"We don't..."
Bai Rongjun listened to those contemptuous and hurtful words, tears streaming down her face. But now, who would believe that nothing had happened between them?
She only agreed to let Zhou Han touch her; her bottom line was still untouchable.
Chen Hongxia was so angry she was panting. Li Mei's words were too harsh. What did she mean by "kissed in the belly"? It was clearly her son who was deceiving her daughter.
Watch your mouth!
"Who wants to listen to your nonsense? Hurry up and pay me back, or I'll report them both."
Zhou Chunyan got impatient after watching the show for a while and quickly gave her the money back. Zhou Qi originally wanted to scold his daughter for being greedy for money, but Zhou Chunyan was not afraid of him.
After another big argument, Zhou Chunyan demanded 1,000 yuan, but they eventually gave her 900.
Li Mei felt as if her heart was being cut by a knife. She glared at Zhou Chunyan with hatred, her heart filled with venomous resentment towards this stepdaughter.
Old Zhou felt that the money was going to his daughter anyway, so he gave it to her. But everything in the Zhou family in the future would belong to her son. Her dilapidated house wasn't a golden palace; it wouldn't even sell for nine hundred yuan now.
Zhou Han didn't care. He had just made money on the black market not long ago, and he was fine as long as his sister didn't go around talking about it.
However, the two families still disagreed on the matter of marriage, and after much discussion, they still couldn't reach a decision.
————
While the Zhou and Bai families were in chaos, Yanghe Village also received some big news.
"What? More educated youth coming? Haven't we stopped assigning educated youth here for several years?" Yanghe Village has two production brigades, and the leader of the first brigade is strongly opposed to the educated youth coming.
These educated youths are all city kids, they can't carry heavy loads, and if we have to distribute grain to them, then the village's grain supply will be reduced.
A group of educated youth came to their village a few years ago, and several of them have returned to the city over the years. The remaining ones are slow workers, and he looks down on them.
"It's freezing cold here, and people who come here don't get used to it."
"That's right, and there's also our former educated youth settlement. It was just right for a dozen or so people to live there, but now that more people have come, where are they going to stay?"
It's no wonder these people opposed the educated youth coming here; they were all city kids, how could they stand rural life? Some of them needed more than a year to adapt.
However, the village had to distribute food to them from the moment they arrived, because you can't let them starve to death.
The grain they received in the first year was said to be borrowed, to be repaid when work points were tallied the following year. However, the few work points they earned in the first year were often not enough to support them in the second year.
So, not only did they have to return the grain, but the village also had to continue providing subsidies the following year.
Their work progress was slow and their enthusiasm was not high. No team from any brigade wanted to get close to them, for fear of being slowed down.
Some educated youth looked down on the villagers when they came, and they were arrogant and looked down on them. The villagers didn't owe them anything, and after a few years, the villagers really disliked the educated youth.
Now those educated youths are saying that the villagers are ostracizing them.
Anyway, the two sides lived their lives in such a clear-cut way. The educated youth could not find a sense of belonging in the countryside and would make a fuss about leaving after a few years.
If you have connections to go back, of course you can go back, and the village won't deliberately make things difficult for you. But if you don't have connections and keep asking the village chief to apply for a quota to return to the city and recommend college students, the village chief will have no way to complain.
The neighboring commune had more slots for returning to the city this year because they performed well, and the commune leaders specifically applied for them.
"There's nothing we can do. This is a task assigned by the county, and every commune has to complete it. No one has come to our village for several years, and this time there are probably even more people to be assigned to."
Several leaders sighed, wondering how they were going to explain this to the villagers, who were all very capable people.
"Alright, stop complaining. Since there are arrangements, let's do them." The village chief slammed his hand on the table and first arranged for people to pick up the educated youth from the train station when they arrived.
"This year, people from our village will go to the train station to send people to the commune, and the commune will then make the assignments."
In recent years, educated youth have come over one after another, but Yanghe Village has always managed to escape, so this time only they can go.
"There are many educated youth coming this year, so our people should pay more attention when they go to pick them up." They should quickly inquire on the way and choose some quick and efficient young people who won't hold them back.
"These days are the busy spring planting season, and there's no one to help them."
“Those who go this way will earn full work points, and the village will also provide lunch.”
After the village chief made all the arrangements, he called over Uncle Lao Gen and the others.
“Old Gen, take some people and expand the educated youth settlement these next few days. We need at least a dozen people to come this time.”
"So many?" Their village had only had a dozen or so educated youths in the past few years. They hadn't expected that after several years without any people being assigned here, they would suddenly receive more than a dozen.
Uncle Lao Gen wasn't very willing. Doing work in the village meant no wages, only work points. Since that was the case, he might as well work in the fields, since field work was easier than building houses.
The news quickly spread throughout the village, and no one was too happy about it.
The older educated youth were even more unwilling. They had finally managed to improve their relationship with the village in recent years, and if the new educated youth didn't know what was good for them, the relationship would become even more strained in the future.
What are these villagers saying?
"It's just village stuff anyway." Zhou Lian came here with a few neighbors to dig for wild vegetables. Now that the weather is warmer, the wild vegetables are sprouting up.
A woman quickly scooped out a brain and said, "There aren't many wild vegetables now, but in another ten days or so, we won't be able to eat them all."
"Oh my, your belly is so big, why are you digging?" Zhou Lian's belly was unusually large, which looked strange on her thin body.
"I guess I ate better when I was pregnant with this child," Zhou Lian said, touching her belly without any apparent concern.
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