“Bang!”
When the manure bucket was slammed down in front of them, Yao Yulan screamed in terror.
“Cheng Yuanche, Yuanche, I was wrong! I won’t break off the engagement anymore! I won’t ask for a higher bride price! I don’t want the thirty-two legs anymore! I’ll go change clothes right now—I’ll marry you immediately! Please let me go!”
“A woman like you? I wouldn’t want you even if you were free. Just looking at you disgusts me.”
Cheng Yuanche deeply regretted not seeing her true nature earlier. If he had known she was such a morally rotten person, he would rather have died than become engaged to her.
“Yuanche, stop wasting words on her. Take your future wife and move aside a little.”
“You two are the groom and bride today. Don’t dirty your hands with this filth. We’ll do the splashing.”
Cheng Yuanyuan was fierce and fiery. Completely unbothered by the smell, she grabbed the manure ladle, scooped up a full dipper, and without hesitation flung it toward the Yao mother and daughter’s faces.
“Splash!”
The ladleful landed perfectly across both their faces.
The Yao mother and daughter didn’t even dare open their mouths. Their eyes and lips were tightly shut. The manure splashed onto them smelled unbelievably foul. They frantically wiped at themselves before collapsing onto the ground and vomiting wildly.
Earlier, the crowd had all been squeezing forward to watch, but now they retreated in a swarm, everyone covering their noses and holding their breath. Yet their eyes remained glued to the spectacle, shining like light bulbs.
“Comrade Qiu, it smells terrible here. Stand farther back.”
Cheng Yuanche’s attention was entirely on Qiu Yinong. Seeing her covering her nose and mouth, he immediately shielded her and guided her a few steps backward.
Qiu Yinong moved back with him, but her bright lively eyes were still fixed on the scene. Watching his sister throw ladle after ladle, even tossing a large lump right onto Mother Yao’s head, she burst out laughing.
“Your sisters are amazing. They’re doing a great job.”
Seeing her laugh so happily, her beautiful eyes curving into crescents, Cheng Yuanche’s gaze flickered slightly. Gathering his courage, he asked:
“Shall we hold the wedding ceremony later?”
“Sure.”
Qiu Yinong had made the marriage decision on impulse and had no requirements for the wedding.
“Everything can follow your family’s arrangements. I have no objections.”
“Qiu…” Cheng Yuanche wanted to call her by name, but changed midway. “Can I call you Yinong?”
“It’s just a name. Call me whatever you like.”
“How do your family elders address you?”
What Cheng Yuanche knew about her so far had all come from listening to her earlier conversation with the Huang elders. What he was certain of now was that her grandparents and father had all passed away. She could practically be considered an orphan.
“In our family, everyone just uses names directly.”
Speaking of this, Qiu Yinong realized she still hadn’t properly introduced herself. She now seriously brought up the important point.
“Deputy Battalion Commander Cheng, I’m not Han Chinese. I belong to an ethnic minority—the Miao people. Are soldiers allowed to marry ethnic minorities?”
“Ah? Little Qiu, you’re not Han? You’re Miao?” Cheng Guangrong hurried over from the side.
Qiu Yinong treated her future father-in-law politely and respectfully. Seeing the nearby relatives all pricking up their ears to listen, she answered generously:
“My hometown is a Miao community. Most of us marry within the ethnic group, though some do marry outsiders. The Qiu family has been Miao for generations, but my mother is Han.”
“Yuanche, Little Qiu isn’t Han Chinese. Is marriage allowed?” Cheng family’s eldest uncle had been delighted moments ago, but now looked worried.
“Uncle, it’s allowed.”
Cheng Yuanche answered firmly, then explained further:
“There’s also a military wife from an ethnic minority in our unit—a Zhuang woman. The law permits soldiers to marry comrades from minority groups, but their ethnic customs and traditions must be respected.”
Only then did Cheng Guangrong relax.
“As long as marriage is allowed, that’s good.”
Then he quickly made arrangements.
“Little Qiu, your aunt is the only elder left in your family. Such a major matter as marriage must be reported to her. I’ll send someone to bring the couple back immediately.”
“Alright, Uncle. Please arrange it however you see fit.” Qiu Yinong had no objections.
His son getting married was a major event, and now they had gained an even better daughter-in-law. Cheng Guangrong felt refreshed all over. No longer wanting to waste time here, he immediately instructed everyone:
“Xiuhua, that’s enough. Don’t waste any more time on this bunch of filthy trash. Let’s head home and hurry to prepare the wedding and banquet.”
“Alright, alright, let’s go home!”
Mother Cheng had finally vented all the anger in her stomach, and now her energy was fully restored. She loudly commanded:
“Yuanfeng, you brothers carry everything back home. Everyone get to your positions and start cleaning up quickly. Don’t miss the auspicious hour for the wedding ceremony.”
Then she ordered her daughters and daughters-in-law:
“Yuanyuan, Yuanshu, stay with Little Qiu. If she needs anything, go buy it immediately. Shuangmei, Miaozi, you sisters-in-law hurry back and start preparing the food. Your aunts will come over to help.”
“Got it!”
The younger generation all responded and instantly sprang into action.
The Cheng family straightened their backs proudly and left filled with joy. The neighboring spectators also gradually dispersed, leaving only the six members of the Yao family collapsed at the entrance, vomiting and wailing miserably.
The Yao mother and daughter had been splashed the worst. Some of the filthy liquid had inevitably gotten into their mouths. They were now so filthy it was unbearable to look at, and the stench was so awful no one dared approach them. Yao Daqiang and his sons were slightly better off, but they too had been splashed with plenty of urine and filth.
The Yao relatives all wore expressions of disgust and bad luck. The daughters-in-law hid far away at first, only to be shouted back by their husbands to help fetch water. Each of them cursed unhappily while working.
“She’s just a sales clerk at a supply and marketing cooperative, yet she really thought she was something special. Now she’s utterly disgraced. Let’s see who still dares marry you.”
“If you looked down on Cheng Yuanche and didn’t want to marry him anymore, you should’ve said so earlier. He wouldn’t have clung to you. But you insisted on scheming against and humiliating him, driving things to the extreme.”
“Go ask yourselves—which man could tolerate this?”
“You think his deputy battalion commander rank fell from the sky? If he weren’t wearing that military uniform today, one man alone could cripple every single one of you idiots.”
“You deserved today’s beating. A whole nest of fools—idiots so stupid it shows right on your faces.”
“It’s one thing for you to disgrace yourselves, but you even dragged all our families’ children into this mess. If my daughter can’t get married in the future because of this, don’t blame me for being merciless.”
One of the Yao daughters-in-law, furious beyond measure, carried over a bucket of water and dumped it over Yao Yulan without the slightest pity. Then she shot a glance at Yao Daqiang and his wife.
“When the beam above isn’t straight, the beam below grows crooked. Two worthless parents could only raise this kind of brainless idiot. Being related to people like you really is eight lifetimes of bad luck.”
“Enough already. Say less.”
Her husband was equally irritated. Once she finished dumping the bucket, he called to the children standing farther away.
“Let’s go home.”
After splashing several buckets of water over them and roughly washing away some of the filth, the Yao relatives all left in anger, abandoning the family to lie there on the ground vomiting, crying, and howling miserably.