The moment Cheng Yan entered the door, He Zhou immediately rushed over.
“How did it go? Did you manage to borrow the money?”
Cheng Yan had endured the cold and hunger of the trip, only to be infuriated by both Cheng Yu and Xing Yanheng. Overwhelmed with grievance, she burst into tears.
“No. My classmate is strapped for cash too and couldn’t lend us any.”
“What are we going to do?” He Zhou paced anxiously around the room. “There’s not a single grain of rice left in our jar. Within two days, we’ll starve to death in this house.”
Hearing this, Cheng Yan hurried over to check the rice jar.
Sure enough, it was completely empty—even the rats wouldn’t give it a second glance.
“I saw a handful of rice in there last night. I cooked porridge this morning—what happened to the rest?” She looked at He Zhou in confusion.
He Zhou’s face showed shame as he stammered an explanation: “I saw you weren’t coming back, and I got hungry. I thought I’d cook some porridge, but I added too little water and burned the rice.”
Cheng Yan: “…”
She ran to the kitchen to check, thinking maybe there was still time to salvage something.
She lifted the pot lid and saw a black, charred crust inside, emitting a pungent, acrid smell.
“He Zhou!” Cheng Yan’s emotions collapsed in an instant. She threw down the pot lid and shouted, “I told you not to touch things you don’t know how to handle! Why didn’t you listen? Now look—there’s nothing to eat in this house. We’ll have to live on air!”
“I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to help…” He Zhou muttered quietly from the doorway.
Cheng Yan looked at He Zhou’s guilty expression and suppressed the frustration in her chest.
She could not give up. If she endured this temporary hardship, she would return to the city with He Zhou and live as an official’s wife.
“I’ll go back to my mother’s place and figure something out. Don’t just sit around at home—contact your relatives in the city as soon as possible. We’ll still need to rely on them when we go back!”
…
Xing Yanheng had been home for two days and three nights on this trip. Before dawn, while the sky was still dark, he packed his things and set out again.
Cheng Yu was not indifferent to his safety—she had asked him several times what he was doing and whether it involved any danger.
But that rascal Xing Yanheng had a hundred tricks up his sleeve and always changed the subject at critical moments.
In her interactions with him, it seemed like Xing Yanheng was completely subservient to her, never daring to go against her wishes. In reality, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, with a mind of his own!
Of the 3,900 yuan Xing Yanheng had brought back, they each deposited 1,800 under their own names. Of the remaining 300, she had given Xing Yanheng 200 for his travels, given Ren Caifeng 20 from the leftover 100, and kept 80 in her pocket.
The next thing Cheng Yu needed to do was clear the Xing family’s debts.
She went to Ren Caifeng’s room to verify the accounts. When the latter heard she wanted to settle the debts, she was moved but disapproved.
“Xiaoyu, you’ve only just joined our family, and the New Year hasn’t even passed yet. If you dig into your dowry to pay off the debts, people outside will start gossiping.”
“Mother, we live our own lives. Why should we care what others say? It’s better to clear the debts sooner rather than later. I want to pay them off before the New Year so we can have a peaceful holiday.”
Cheng Yu took out all the money—80 yuan plus what remained of her dowry, coming to just under 400 yuan.
Ren Caifeng argued for a long time, but Cheng Yu insisted. Finally, holding back tears, she went through the list of debts.
For the next two full days, Cheng Yu spent her time repaying the Xing family’s debts. At the same time, she got a good read on the relatives and neighbors of the Xing family, learning who would make up her social circle from now on.
The Xing family was a complicated bunch. You could say they were cold and lacked the warmth of family, yet they had helped Xing Yanheng when he needed money.
Take Old Mrs. Xing, for example. Though nearly eighty, she was still sharp-minded and eloquent. People around said that Xing Yanheng’s father had been her favorite youngest son when he was alive.
But toward Xing Yanheng, she showed no such favor.
As the old saying goes: “The youngest son and the eldest grandson are the old lady’s lifeline.”
After Xing Yanheng’s father passed away, the old lady’s attention gradually shifted toward the other branch of the family she favored.
When his cousin Xing Manzhou got married, the old lady contributed 20 yuan. But when it came to Xing Yanheng, she just clicked her tongue and told the family to contribute what money they could and what effort they could.
Xing Yanheng’s eldest uncle, eldest aunt, and youngest aunt all contributed money—but in the form of loans, with IOUs that had to be repaid.
It was actually the neighbors in the village who voluntarily gave Xing Yanheng money and supplies. Though the amounts were small, they never expected repayment.
So when Cheng Yu repaid the Xing family members, she let the debts of gratitude go along with the money.
As for the neighbors who had helped Xing Yanheng, when they refused to accept repayment, she converted the amounts into gifts instead, maintaining proper reciprocity.
…
In just a few short days since marrying Xing Yanheng, Cheng Yu had made herself known throughout the village.
One can never have too many courtesies, and people’s opinions of her were largely unanimous—all singing her praises.
Whenever Cheng Yu went out and ran into people, most would take the initiative to greet her and then casually compliment her, saying she was virtuous and sensible, and that Xing Yanheng was lucky to have her, and so on.
Of course, there were also those who mocked Cheng Yu behind her back for being a fool—throwing herself at Xing Yanheng and using her bride price to pay off the Xing family’s debts, essentially giving herself away to the Xings for nothing!
Xing Yanheng’s family was so poor, and he still had a sick old mother. If she took out the money early and spent it all on appearances, would the whole family have to drink the northwest wind later?
“That foolish good-for-nothing who doesn’t know how to run a household!” When Old Mrs. Xing heard about this, she was so furious she sat on the kang and cursed loudly.
Beside her, her daughter-in-law Xing Xiaocui also sighed: “I originally thought that once Yanheng married a wife, the two of them could support the family and he’d have an easier time. Who would’ve thought she’d be such a muddlehead? Yanheng has already been dragged down by Second Sister-in-law all these years, unable to straighten his back. Now there’s another one—what are we going to do?”
Old Mrs. Xing’s worried brows knitted tightly at the words.
Xing Xiaocui’s eyes flickered, and she continued: “I’ve always advised against fulfilling the marriage contract Grandfather set up, but none of you would listen. Now look what happened? With Yanheng’s face, every unmarried girl in our village has her eye on him. He could easily marry a city girl! Take our factory director’s daughter, for example—she’s an only child, both parents are leading cadres with jobs, and they have more money than they can spend. If Yanheng married her, why would he have to live such a bitter, hard life like now?”
Old Mrs. Xing shook her head: “You mean that one who’s two hundred pounds heavier… Didn’t Yanheng reject her because he thought she was ugly?”
“Then he could keep looking until he found someone satisfactory—anything would be better than this one.” Xing Xiaocui was stirring the pot, and naturally she had her own selfish motives.
Back then, the factory director’s daughter had met Xing Yanheng and fallen for him at first sight, crying and making a fuss to marry him.
The factory director had no choice but to ask her to act as a matchmaker, promising that if she succeeded, she’d be made a team leader with at least double her current salary!
But Xing Yanheng only met the girl once, didn’t even give her a chance, and instead took a liking to Cheng Yu and held the wedding. When the factory director’s daughter heard the news, she was throwing tantrums at home, threatening to die.
Last night after work, the factory director helplessly found her and asked her to think of another way, to see if she could…