Not only did Mother Gu show no sympathy after hearing this, she instead slammed her chopsticks onto the table with a loud smack and burst into a furious tirade.
“What woman doesn’t have children after getting married? If Third Brother’s wife is in poor health, that’s because her family didn’t take proper care of her before she married. If I’d known earlier, I never should’ve let Third Brother marry her.”
Eldest Sister-in-law Wang Lihua secretly rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “A perfectly fine young woman married into this family and worked herself to the bone for nearly two years for nothing. Now that she’s finally pregnant and her body’s been worn down like this, you still blame her maiden family for it.”
So in the eyes of the old Gu family, every daughter-in-law except Fourth Brother’s wife had married above her station and was just a worthless burden.
Not wanting to provoke public outrage again, Mother Gu shot her eldest daughter-in-law with a vicious glare, signaling that she would let the matter slide for now.
With the entire Gu family not present today, there was naturally no way to continue discussing the bride price issue.
Meanwhile, the very couple being criticized by the Gu family, Gu Shiye and Li Wenxiu, were currently eating at a restaurant in the commune.
Ever since last night, Li Wenxiu had drunk quite a bit of spiritual spring water. Today, after the doctor examined her, he said there was no major problem with her health anymore, though because she was still too thin, he advised her to nourish herself properly.
Gu Shiye had advanced all of next month’s wages and subsidies today, so naturally he wanted to bring his thin and petite wife out for a good meal.
After eating, Gu Shiye took Li Wenxiu around the commune to buy brown sugar, malted milk, and egg cakes, then purchased all kinds of grain and vegetable seeds as well.
Since his wife loved fruit, they wandered around the streets for quite a while before finally finding several fruit tree saplings.
By the end of it all, the money Gu Shiye had advanced today was almost completely spent.
Looking at the pouch that only had one yuan and fifty cents left, Li Wenxiu felt troubled. The last time she had been this poor was when she had been very, very young in her previous life.
Gu Shiye knew what she was worried about. Raising his hand, he gently rubbed between her brows and comforted her softly, “Don’t worry. When we get back today, I’ll plant all these grains, vegetables, and fruit trees. As for the old Gu family, it’ll soon be their turn to panic about splitting the household.”
Sure enough, burdened by enormous gambling debts, the Lin family could only force Lin Baozhu to marry Gu Shicheng as quickly as possible.
They needed money to cover Lin Dabao’s gambling debt. If creditors came knocking at their door, Father Lin’s job at the commune might not even survive.
After lunch, Lin Baozhu could no longer sit still at home and personally made a trip to the Qingshan Production Brigade.
Too embarrassed to let people know she had taken the initiative to come looking for a man in the village herself, she did not even dare enter the Gu family home. Instead, she asked one of her students from the village to call Gu Shicheng out for her.
The two secretly met in the small grove behind the village where nobody usually went.
“Acheng, how did the discussion with your family go?”
Gu Shicheng looked embarrassed. “Baozhu, I’m sorry. It’s not that I’m not taking our marriage seriously. It’s just that my Third Sister-in-law went to the hospital because her pregnancy is affecting her health. Since my Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law didn’t come back at noon, we couldn’t discuss our marriage.”
After hearing this, Lin Baozhu impatiently replied, “Isn’t it enough for you to discuss your marriage with your parents? Why does every single member of your family need to be involved?”
Only after speaking did she realize her tone had been too harsh. Letting out a sigh, she continued, “You don’t know this, but my younger brother was tricked by someone. My parents want us to get married as soon as possible.”
Otherwise, their marriage might really fall apart.
Gu Shicheng also knew his future father-in-law and mother-in-law were not easy people to deal with. If the Gu family truly could not produce the eight hundred yuan bride price, there was a real possibility they would marry Lin Baozhu off to someone else.
Just then, when he lifted his head, he spotted several sneaky children peeking at them from inside the grove.
Gritting his teeth, Gu Shicheng stepped forward and pulled Lin Baozhu into his arms. Secretly calculating his own dark little schemes in his heart, he still said aloud, “Baozhu, don’t worry. I’ll definitely marry you.”
Lin Baozhu wrapped her arms around him as well. “Acheng, don’t worry. I only like you, and you’re the only one I want to marry.”
“I’ll go back and beg my parents to give us a little more time.”
What Gu Shicheng was really thinking was that there was clearly no room left to negotiate that eight hundred yuan bride price.
That future brother-in-law of his was truly no easy person to deal with.
At that moment, one of the more sensible older children ran over kindly to warn them, “Teacher Lin, Teacher Gu, this is bad. Everyone in the village is already spreading rumors that the two of you were secretly meeting in the grove.”
Lin Baozhu and Gu Shicheng immediately separated in fright.
“Acheng, what should we do now?” Lin Baozhu looked at the man before her in panic.
Gu Shicheng replied with a grave expression, “Baozhu, the two of us have to get married as soon as possible now.”
Deep down, Lin Baozhu thought the same thing, because ever since last night she had constantly felt uneasy.
Meanwhile, after Gu Shiye brought Li Wenxiu back, they also heard the gossip about Lin Baozhu coming to their village to secretly meet Gu Shicheng in the grove. Gu Shiye took out several fruit candies and handed them to a few children, telling them to quickly spread the story to the commune as well.
By evening, when Lin Baozhu finally returned to the commune, she felt as though the sky had collapsed.
The rumors about her meeting Gu Shicheng in the grove had somehow reached the commune before she did.
Only then did she truly experience how quickly bad news spread.
Father Lin and Mother Lin shut the doors and scolded her for being shameless. Now that her reputation had become so terrible, who besides the Gu family would still marry her?
Yet inwardly, Lin Baozhu secretly felt delighted, because she vaguely sensed that in this lifetime she was destined to marry Gu Shicheng. As long as she married into the Gu family, she believed she would definitely live a good life.
No matter what happened now, she could only marry Gu Shicheng.
Back at the Gu family home, the entire family finally gathered together at the dinner table.
Gu Shicheng finally stepped forward shamelessly and said, “Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, Second Sister-in-law, Third Sister-in-law, my marriage with Baozhu can’t be delayed any longer. We need to arrange it as soon as possible. I’m begging all of you to come up with a solution tonight, otherwise I might even lose my job.”
The moment Mother Gu heard that her precious youngest son’s job might be at risk, she became frantic with worry.
Unable to hold herself back, Wang Lihua directly mocked him, “Who told the two of you to lose control of yourselves? Broad daylight and you still dared to sneak into the grove.”
Anxious and furious, Mother Gu shot to her feet and roared, “Can’t the eldest branch control that loose mouth of your wife? If my youngest son loses his job because of this, I won’t let any of you unfilial brats off!”
Father Gu also spoke up. “Enough with the gloating. Tonight, we absolutely must settle the issue of the bride price.”
Li Wenxiu glanced at the silenced Eldest Sister-in-law before stepping forward and calmly saying, “Fifty yuan as bride price plus two jars of pickled vegetables. Considering Fourth Sister-in-law is a commune resident and also a teacher, we can compromise and raise it to seventy yuan. Anything beyond that is out of the question.”