“Mom, the most important thing right now isn’t settling the score with anyone. We can deal with that later. Right now, I have to take responsibility for this girl.”
What was supposed to happen between a man and a woman had already happened. He couldn’t bring himself to abandon her after sleeping with her.
“You… You’ve really thought this through? Feng Jiaojiao is not exactly a good choice for a wife. You’ve seen it yourself. She’s so delicate and doesn’t know how to do anything. How are the two of you supposed to live like this?”
Mother An was so regretful that she slapped her thigh repeatedly.
How had she been so blind as to choose Wang Xiaofang?
She had only ended up harming her own son.
The kind of daughter-in-law Mother An wanted was strong, hardworking, and capable. She didn’t have to be beautiful, but she absolutely couldn’t be some pampered little princess.
That was exactly why she had taken a liking to Wang Xiaofang in the first place.
Wang Xiaofang had a broad face, wide hips, and was tall—at least 170 centimeters. She weighed around eighty or ninety kilograms. Not only was she an excellent worker, but she also looked like the type who could give birth to plenty of sons.
Mother An had four sons.
She could proudly say that she was one of the most enviable women in the village. How many people weren’t jealous of her for giving birth to four boys in a row?
But when it came to grandchildren, things had gone completely wrong.
They were all girls.
At present, only her eldest son had a boy. All the others had daughters.
She had wanted to find a wife for her third son, but she absolutely couldn’t choose one of those skinny girls with barely any flesh on their bones.
It wasn’t that being thin meant a woman couldn’t give birth to a son.
Rather, a woman with a weak and frail body would have a harder time during childbirth. She certainly couldn’t compare with a stronger woman in terms of physical fitness.
Her eldest daughter-in-law was doing all right. She had given birth to three children—one boy and two girls. At least that meant Mother An wasn’t completely without a grandson to hold.
Her second daughter-in-law had given birth to four girls in a row, and then nothing happened afterward. Her health probably wasn’t good enough for another pregnancy.
Her fourth daughter-in-law had only recently married into the family. She had already given birth to a daughter, who wasn’t even a year old yet. The girl was still with her maternal grandparents and hadn’t been brought back.
How could Mother An not be worried?
Everywhere she went, people laughed at her.
“Oh, the An family has the Seven Fairies! You’re truly blessed!”
Hmph!
Did they really think she couldn’t tell they were mocking her?
They were all just waiting to see her become a laughingstock.
When had she, Li Guiying, ever been humiliated like this?
She refused to accept it.
She still had one unmarried son left. She refused to believe he couldn’t give her grandchildren.
That was why she had been determined to choose a good wife for her third son.
She absolutely couldn’t choose some frail, skinny woman who couldn’t do anything.
She wanted a strong daughter-in-law who could give her grandchildren.
Don’t accuse her of favoring boys over girls.
She already had seven granddaughters.
What was wrong with wanting a few grandsons to balance things out?
How could a family manage without boys to carry on the family line?
Men and women were naturally different. Women were physically weaker, while men had greater strength. That was why men worked outside while women managed the household. This division of labor had been passed down from their ancestors.
And don’t even talk about how “women can hold up half the sky.”
Just look at farm work.
No matter how capable a woman was, she still couldn’t match a man’s strength.
There were so many mouths to feed in her family. Without a few more boys to provide labor, where would they get the manpower?
Were those skinny little girls supposed to do all the work?
They might as well wait to starve.
Besides, people in the world bullied the weak and feared the strong.
If there weren’t a few boys in the family to stand up for them, what would happen when these girls reached marriageable age?
Wouldn’t they just be waiting to be bullied?
She wanted to find a strong daughter-in-law who could give the An family several more grandsons.
What was wrong with that?
But who would have thought that something completely unexpected would happen halfway through?
It had caught her off guard.
It was truly a case of getting exactly what you feared most.
Mother An was practically crying from despair.
“Mom, we can take things one step at a time. I don’t need her to do anything. As long as she can take care of herself, that’s enough. Given what happened, I have to marry her.”
“Mom, you’d better start making the arrangements. I’m going to submit the marriage application to my commanding officer.”
An Jianjun was a decisive man. Once he made a decision, he didn’t drag his feet.
Besides, he had never expected his wife to be particularly capable.
As long as she could take care of herself, that was enough.
His military allowance was more than enough to support a family. He could afford to support his wife.
Mother An also knew that after what had happened, there was no way the two of them could avoid marriage.
She was simply unwilling to accept it.
The moment she thought of Feng Jiaojiao in her son’s room, Mother An got a headache.
That girl was a pampered little princess!
Walking just a little too far made her feet hurt.
When she went into the fields to pull weeds, she had once pulled out the rice seedlings along with the weeds.
And if anyone dared speak harshly to her, her tears would immediately flow like a fountain.
What a disaster!
What kind of debt had she owed in her previous life for these daughters-in-law to come along and torment her in this one?
Complaining was one thing, but Mother An still went to the kitchen and cooked a bowl of sweetened water with eggs.
She added plenty of brown sugar and cracked two eggs into it before carrying the bowl into the room.
The young girl was sitting on the kang with an aggrieved expression.
When she saw Mother An enter, she immediately turned her body away.
Mother An took a deep breath.
She had to be gentle.
She had to be kind.
She couldn’t speak too loudly and accidentally make the girl cry.
“Um… Jiaojiao, you must be hungry, right? I made you some sweetened egg soup. Eat it while it’s still hot.”
Feng Jiaojiao glanced up at Mother An’s smile.
There was none of the mockery she had expected, and she secretly relaxed a little.
If Mother An dared accuse her of seducing her son, she was prepared to risk everything and immediately run to the police station to report it.
Hmph!
At worst, they could all go down together.
At least the An family knew better.
To be honest, Feng Jiaojiao really was hungry.
She silently took the bowl and began eating.
Seeing that she was willing to eat and wasn’t making a huge fuss, Mother An felt much more relieved.
“Jiaojiao, about what happened… My Jianjun didn’t do it intentionally. He was a victim too…”
“He was set up. Someone drugged him, and that’s how this happened. Don’t blame him.”
“Since the two of you have already become husband and wife in fact, there’s no point pretending otherwise. From now on, you’re our An family’s daughter-in-law. Jianjun will treat you well. He’s already gone to submit the marriage application to his military unit. From now on, the two of you should live a good life together.”
Seeing Feng Jiaojiao keeping her head down and remaining silent, Mother An continued.
“You’ve seen our family’s situation. We’ll do our best to prepare everything. As for the bride price… do you have any particular expectations?”
Mother An knew that Feng Jiaojiao was a girl from the city. She had heard that her father was some kind of official at a factory, but she didn’t know much beyond that.
Fortunately, her third son wasn’t bad either.
He had a promising career and a good military allowance. In that respect, the two of them were fairly well matched.
Over the years, An Jianjun had sent quite a bit of money home.
Every month, he gave the family five yuan for household expenses, while Mother An saved the rest.
As for the ration coupons and other coupons, she had used most of them. If they weren’t used, they would expire anyway, and supporting such a large family really did require a lot of coupons.
The family did owe the third son something.
However, she had never touched his other allowances.
That was money he had earned through his own hard work.
He already provided the family with some coupons and five yuan a month, which was more than enough.
Even brothers couldn’t be expected to support someone else’s children.
As they talked, Mother An secretly sized up Feng Jiaojiao’s figure.
You couldn’t exactly call her thin.
She had a full chest and wide hips.
But you couldn’t call her fat either.
Aside from her chest and hips, the rest of her body was quite slender—especially that tiny waist.
At least she had plenty of “grain storage.”
Mother An was finally able to find one advantage in the girl, which made her feel a little better.
Seeing that Mother An had brought up the subject, Feng Jiaojiao took the opportunity to state her own requirements.
“I’m not particularly concerned about the bride price. You can give whatever you think is appropriate. But…”
“After we get married, I don’t want to work in the fields for work points. You can’t force me to work.”
Since things had already turned out this way, she might as well try her best to make her life as comfortable as possible for as long as she could.
Who cared what anyone thought?
She had less than a year left to live.
There was no way she was going to spend that remaining time suffering.
She would live as comfortably as possible.
Besides, she had money.
And if she ran out, she could always ask her father for more.
She absolutely didn’t want to spend her days working under the scorching sun, laboring in the fields.
Neither version of Feng Jiaojiao had ever done heavy manual work.