After Wang Guiying and her younger brother-in-law’s wife exchanged a round of sarcastic barbs, she suddenly remembered something and asked Zhou Kailian:
“Mom, I heard that you and Aunt Chunhua got into another fight this morning?”
Zhou Kailian glared at her eldest daughter-in-law. “You sure sound close to her! What kind of aunt is she to you?”
Wang Guiying choked on her words and shrank her neck.
Yu Xiu hurriedly asked: “How did it go? Did you suffer any losses?”
Several of the men, led by Tan Youliang, also turned to look at Zhou Kailian.
Only then did Zhou Kailian’s expression soften somewhat. She snorted and said: “Since when have I ever suffered a loss at her hands?!”
Tan Jinshan frowned and said awkwardly: “Mom, you’re already getting on in years. Don’t always resort to fighting people…”
Wang Guiying glanced at Tan Jinhe and echoed: “Jinshan’s right, Mom. Leaving everything else aside, Aunt Chunhua… that Wang Chunhua is a matchmaker. Our fourth brother still hasn’t arranged a marriage. Offending her isn’t a good idea.”
It would have been better if she had not mentioned it. The moment the subject was brought up, Zhou Kailian’s anger flared up again. She said resentfully: “Since when has our Lao Si ever depended on her?!”
Wang Guiying rolled her eyes and guessed roughly why her mother-in-law had fought with Wang Chunhua.
Wang Chunhua and Zhou Kailian came from the same village. They were about the same age, and it was said that they had never gotten along since childhood.
Later, after marrying into the same production brigade, they became even more competitive with each other in every aspect.
They compared husbands, compared sons, and compared whether their daughters had married well.
All along, Zhou Kailian had held the upper hand.
Half a year earlier, the neighbor of Tan Jinmei, Zhou Kailian’s daughter who had married into the county town, had accidentally met Tan Jinhe and wanted to introduce a distant niece to him.
The young woman’s family was from Hongxing Commune. They were also rural residents, and their home was only a little over twenty li away from Dongxing Commune.
However, the young woman’s personal qualifications were excellent. She had graduated from high school, worked as a teacher at the town primary school, and could be considered fairly pretty.
The neighbor had conceived the idea of introducing the girl to Tan Jinhe because he was handsome, dignified, and carried himself with an impressive bearing. His family was also considered relatively well-off by rural standards.
Zhou Kailian was very satisfied with the young woman’s qualifications. Without even asking Tan Jinhe’s opinion, she immediately arranged a meeting.
Unexpectedly, after only one meeting, before either the man or the woman had expressed any opinion, the woman’s parents first demanded a bride price of three hundred yuan and a bicycle.
Their attitude was extremely arrogant, as though the woman were the one making a tremendous sacrifice.
Zhou Kailian felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head.
She admitted that the young woman’s qualifications were excellent, and paying a higher bride price was only natural.
But it could not be that much higher! Her first two daughters-in-law had each cost only twenty yuan! Even in county households, such a bride price would have been considered exorbitant.
The Tan family, who scraped their living from the fields, simply could not afford it.
Yet the woman’s family showed no room whatsoever for negotiation.
At that moment, Tan Jinhe spoke. He said that he had never wanted to marry so early in the first place. If Zhou Kailian had not pressured him, he would not even have attended the blind date.
Even if the woman did not ask for such a large bride price, he still would not marry her.
Tan Jinhe’s attitude was firm and did not seem fake. Combined with the issue of the bride price, Zhou Kailian felt that the woman’s family lacked sincerity in forming a marriage alliance, and the match ultimately fell through.
Originally, whether the marriage succeeded or failed should have been something that could be discussed amicably.
But for some unknown reason, news of the woman’s high bride price spread.
This was also considered a taboo in the matchmaking market, because publicly announcing an excessively high bride price in advance would scare away the vast majority of people who might otherwise introduce potential matches.
If the consequences became serious, the girl might even end up missing her chances and becoming an old maid.
The woman’s family believed that the Tan family had spread the news in retaliation for the failed marriage arrangement. While defending themselves, they threw a bucket of dirty water back at the Tan family.
They claimed that the marriage had failed because the woman did not fancy Tan Jinhe. They listed a whole series of his shortcomings and painted him as an uneducated little hooligan.
Originally, all these rumors spread by the woman’s family had been confined to Hongxing Commune.
However, Wang Chunhua was a matchmaker, and she was naturally well-informed about such gossip. Once her big mouth opened, Tan Jinhe became a little hooligan who had been rejected and had his engagement canceled because the woman did not want him.
Later, Zhou Kailian took a liking to another girl from the same commune and asked a matchmaker to approach her family. As soon as the girl’s family heard Tan Jinhe’s name, they immediately shook their heads. They would not even agree to meet him.
After this incident, Wang Chunhua felt that she had finally won back a round against Zhou Kailian.
As for Zhou Kailian, she came to hate both the Li family of Hongxing Commune and Wang Chunhua.
The Li family lived too far away, so Zhou Kailian could only vent her anger on Wang Chunhua. The two women, who had never gotten along to begin with, became even more like fire and water.
However, in Wang Guiying’s opinion, her mother-in-law was simply being too unreasonable. She advised:
“Mom, they weren’t really spreading rumors. Fourth Brother’s reputation wasn’t very good to begin with. Have you forgotten that when he was in junior high school, he was disciplined for hitting a teacher? Everyone in the brigade knows about that, doesn’t they?”
“If you ask me, as long as you don’t set your standards so high, finding a wife for Fourth Brother would be easy. The colleague of my cousin from my maternal family that I mentioned is quite good. She’s even from the town, though she’s a little older.”
With a loud smack, Zhou Kailian slammed her chopsticks onto the table and glared at Wang Guiying as she shouted:
“Is that what you call a girl? A girl whose belly got big before she even married? Wang Guiying, I’m warning you. I don’t expect you to side with your own family, but don’t go and harm your own family either!”
“Do you think I don’t know what little schemes you’re carrying around in that head of yours? Every day at home, you’re competing and arguing with the second son’s wife. You’re just afraid that if Lao Si marries someone with even better conditions, she’ll overshadow you!”
Having her thoughts exposed, Wang Guiying looked at Tan Jinhe with a mixture of embarrassment and fear.
Tan Jinhe, however, put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood up, and said in a deep voice: “I’ve already said that I don’t want to get married right now. Even if you arrange introductions, I won’t go and meet anyone.”
After saying that, he left the dining table and went into the courtyard to feed the dog.
Zhou Kailian also set down her bowl and chopsticks, no longer in the mood to eat.
A young man Tan Jinhe’s age was in the prime of youth and vigor. Who would not want to marry and take a wife? In her eyes, Tan Jinhe had clearly been hurt by what happened with the Li family, which was why he claimed that he did not want to marry.
No, she still had to keep looking.
If she could not find someone nearby, then she would look farther away!
Song Ziyao had also more or less guessed the reason behind the fight between Zhou Kailian and Wang Chunhua that day.
Zhou Kailian had once told her about the matter concerning the Li family.
However, she had spoken in a relaxed tone, without any complaints. She had treated it merely as a story from the past and had even joked about how unpopular Tan Jinhe had been with girls when he was young.
But because of that delay, Tan Jinhe had failed to marry at the appropriate age.
Later, another incident occurred, and he embarked on that particular path, making him even less inclined to start a family.
Therefore, before meeting Song Ziyao, Tan Jinhe had never been married.
Because of this, Song Ziyao had been able to boldly flirt with Tan Jinhe without worrying that she might affect someone else’s marriage prospects.
As soon as Song Ziyao returned to the dormitory, Tao Chunni came to visit.
Tao Chunni pulled out a slip and handed it to her. “This is a notice that the Post Office sent to the production brigade. I brought it over for you.”
Song Ziyao accepted it and thanked her with a smile.
Tao Chunni waved her hand dismissively.
The two chatted and joked familiarly for a while before Tao Chunni finally left.
The moment Tao Chunni turned around, Song Ziyao found herself meeting Liu Qingping’s gaze.
Liu Qingping did not avoid her eyes. Instead, she openly asked: “You haven’t been sent down to the countryside for very long. Since when did you become so familiar with the accountant’s daughter?”
“Not really. We’ve only dealt with each other a few times.” Song Ziyao did not elaborate further.
Liu Qingping smiled and indicated that she had only been asking casually.