With everything settled, the Zhao family prepared to leave.
Zhao Ziming looked at Zhou Rulan with affection in his eyes and said, “Rulan, wait for me to prepare the bride price and marry you properly. This time, I’ll make sure you enter the Zhao family in style. Everyone will envy you!”
Blushing shyly, Zhou Rulan replied, “I believe you.”
Seeing this, Zhou Dajun and Li Juying couldn’t stop smiling. They quickly urged Zhou Rulan to walk them a little farther as they left.
Behind them, Zhou Yu rolled her eyes.
Go ahead and laugh. Enjoy it while you can.
In a little while, she’d make sure none of them had anything to smile about.
Turning around, Zhou Yu went back to the woodshed and began packing the few belongings she had accumulated over the years, preparing to move into the Zhao family home.
Once she had settled there, she planned to find a way to separate from the Zhao family and leave with Zhao Yunzheng.
She had already spent one lifetime serving the Zhao family, working herself to exhaustion and waiting on them hand and foot.
She would never live that life again.
And she certainly wouldn’t give them another chance to exploit Zhao Yunzheng’s military status.
Meanwhile, after seeing the Zhao family off, Zhou Dajun and Li Juying returned home and took a drink of the sugar water.
The sweetness was so overwhelming that they nearly choked.
Li Juying was shocked.
“Zhou Yu, you dead girl, get out here right now! Why did you put so much sugar in it? Do you think sugar grows on trees? Don’t you know how precious it is?”
Zhou Dajun immediately rushed to the kitchen and checked the sugar jar.
It was completely empty.
The sight made both of them furious and heartbroken.
Without changing her expression, Zhou Yu said, “What’s wrong with adding more sugar? That drink was for the Zhao family. If we didn’t show enough sincerity, would they have agreed so quickly to give Zhou Rulan such a generous bride price?”
Zhou Dajun scolded her.
“Even so, you didn’t need to use all of it! You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”
Putting down what she was packing, Zhou Yu replied,
“If you’re unhappy about it, that’s fine. I’ll go chase after Zhao Changdong right now and ask him to return every bit of sugar they drank.”
“You… you little wretch! You’ve learned to talk back now!” Li Juying shouted angrily, grabbing a piece of firewood nearby.
But before she could approach, Zhou Yu looked at them coldly.
“Think carefully. In two days, I’ll be marrying into the Zhao family first. If I show up there covered in injuries, the people who’ll lose face are you. And don’t expect either me or Zhou Rulan to have peaceful lives in the Zhao family after that.”
Zhou Dajun and Li Juying’s fingers trembled as they pointed at her.
The timid daughter who used to shrink before them had suddenly become sharp-tongued and impossible to bully.
Just then, Zhou Rulan returned.
Seeing the situation, she pretended to mediate.
“Dad, Mom, calm down. Sister is probably still upset that Ziming only wants to marry me. Once she marries into the Zhao family, she’ll be fine.”
“Rulan, you’re the sensible one,” Zhou Dajun said.
“Unlike certain people. Raising her was like raising a white-eyed wolf,” Li Juying added pointedly.
Zhou Yu couldn’t be bothered responding and simply returned to packing.
That only made the couple angrier, but after Zhou Rulan soothed them a few more times, they eventually left while muttering curses.
Once they were gone, Zhou Rulan walked over to the wooden bed.
“Sister, I know the truth. Marrying Brother Zhao is just your way of acting out. But no matter what, the person with Ziming now is me. I’m the one worthy of such a large bride price. No matter how angry you are, it won’t change anything.”
Zhou Yu looked up in confusion.
“Where’s that dog barking? If you’re going to bark, at least sound convincing. Oh right, Auntie San next door has a big yellow dog. Maybe you should go learn from it.”
The smile instantly disappeared from Zhou Rulan’s face.
She snorted coldly.
“Brother Ziming just said he’ll take me to the county this afternoon to pick out fabric and buy me new clothes. You don’t get any. You can stay here and keep sorting through your old rags.”
Zhou Yu immediately pointed toward the door.
“Take care. No need for me to see you out. And don’t forget to stop by next door and learn how to bark properly.”
Zhou Rulan’s face darkened.
After shooting Zhou Yu a resentful glare, she lifted her chin proudly and stormed out.
Only then did Zhou Yu snort.
Buying clothes was good.
The more Zhao Ziming spent, the better.
If she remembered correctly, Zhao Ziming only had a little over ten yuan to his name at this point.
Once he spent it all, and she took away the compensation money later, she’d love to see where he planned to find the money for a bride price and wedding at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, the Zhao family had returned home.
Now that the engagement was settled, preparations needed to begin.
But even without providing a bride price or wedding banquet for Zhou Yu, arranging everything for Zhou Rulan alone was already difficult.
Thinking about it gave Zhao Changdong and Wang Hongmei headaches.
“Third Son, maybe you should reconsider the bride price for Rulan.”
“That’s right. The Zhou family knows our situation. If we explain it to them, they’ll understand.”
Zhao Ziming shook his head decisively.
“No. Since I’m marrying Rulan, I’m going to give her the best.”
“But where is our family supposed to get that kind of money? We’ll support you in everything else, but this bride-price business is impossible,” the couple said earnestly.
Yet Zhao Ziming remained completely confident.
“Dad, Mom, don’t worry. I really have a way.”
“What way?”
The two were puzzled.
They knew exactly how much money their youngest son had.
There was no way he could afford such an expensive bride price.
A smile appeared on Zhao Ziming’s face.
“Actually, Big Brother can solve the problem.”
The couple froze.
“Your eldest brother? But he’s seriously injured and never going to wake up. The military already sent him home. Doesn’t that mean he’s useless to them now? He probably won’t even receive an allowance anymore. What use can he possibly be?”
Zhao Ziming explained,
“No matter what, Big Brother is still a military officer. He was injured while carrying out a mission. The military won’t simply abandon him.”
“I estimate that within another half month, the military will issue compensation money. Then we can explain our difficulties and hardships, and they’ll probably arrange jobs and support for us as his family members too.”
Zhao Changdong and Wang Hongmei’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Really?”
“Of course it’s true!”
Zhao Ziming thought to himself that he had personally witnessed it happen in his previous life.
How could it be false?
Of course, he couldn’t explain it that way.
So he merely said,
“I heard that’s how other military families were treated.”
“Third Son, how much compensation do you think your eldest brother will get?” Wang Hongmei asked eagerly.
Zhao Ziming held up five fingers.
“Five hundred yuan? That’s so much!” Zhao Changdong exclaimed, almost out of breath.
Zhao Ziming shook his head.
“No. Five thousand.”
The couple froze.
“Five thousand?!”
“Are you serious? The military would really give that much? You’re not making this up, are you?” Zhao Changdong asked, completely forgetting about the tobacco pipe in his hand.
Truthfully, Zhao Ziming didn’t know why the military had given Zhao Yunzheng so much money in his previous life.
But he had seen it with his own eyes.
There was no mistake.
“Whether it’s true or not, we’ll find out in half a month. The military wouldn’t lie.”
“That’s true. Then we’ll wait and see. If there’s really that much money, our family will strike it rich! And the bride price won’t be a problem at all.”
Just imagining it made Zhao Changdong and Wang Hongmei beam with excitement.
Zhao Ziming curled his lips slightly.
In his previous life, the benefits had been far greater than just the money.
After finishing the conversation with his parents, Zhao Ziming thought for a moment before heading to the smallest room next door.
Inside lay Zhao Yunzheng, who had been sent home after his injury. He remained motionless on the bed.