Lin Weisen wanted to do business, and he moved fast. The first thing was to buy a tricycle; he couldn’t keep hitching a ride on his older brother’s cart every day.
So, early in the morning, he went to find his older brother, asking him to go pick one out with him. With an acquaintance along, they could bargain.
Lin Weimu was idle at home anyway, so he agreed immediately.
He rode his tricycle with Lin Weisen sitting in the back cart. The speed wasn’t fast, and the two chatted idly.
Lin Weimu mentioned yesterday’s interesting event to his third brother, “Matchmaker Jiang came to talk to me yesterday, saying an out-of-town youth wants to enter into a matrilocal marriage. Your sister-in-law probably can’t give birth at her age anymore, and even if she could, it might not be a son. I think bringing in a matrilocal son-in-law is better.”
Lin Weisen frowned, “An out-of-town youth? From which city? How is his character?”
Lin Weimu had seen him, “He looks very talented and is quite tall. He’s a good match for my Xinghua.”
Lin Weisen felt there was no rush, “Take it slow. Wait until Xinghua returns and let her have a look. Keep the man around for now and evaluate him first. If his character is good, then you can bring them together in marriage.”
Lin Weimu nodded. He was quite happy. Ever since the relocation started, Matchmaker Jiang’s threshold had been worn down by visitors; the village’s girls and boys had no trouble finding marriages. But because his family wanted a matrilocal son-in-law, they had been ignored instead. He hadn’t expected someone to come along so quickly.
“Where is he staying?” Lin Weisen pressed.
Lin Weimu didn’t dare arrange for him to stay at his house. Things hadn’t even begun yet, and if he moved in, people would gossip. He still had an unmarried daughter at home. Although she was a bit simple-minded, she was still an unmarried, pure maiden.
“For now, he’s staying at the brigade headquarters. Since the village is being relocated anyway, that place isn’t being used anymore. He’ll stay there for half a year first, and we’ll see when Xinghua comes back. If it works out, I’ll hold a wedding for them; if not, I’ll have him move out. Either way, he doesn’t lose out.”
The village was letting him stay for free without charging rent.
Lin Weisen thought this was very good, “Tomorrow is market day. I think you can ask him to go along; it’s a good chance to see if he’s the type who knows how to manage a household.”
Lin Weimu nodded, “Alright!”
Song Lanfang and her daughter were staying at home. Lin Qionghua helped pack the finished hair accessories, while Song Lanfang was responsible for making them. Over the course of the morning, the mother and daughter made over forty of them.
Just as Song Lanfang stretched from exhaustion, Lin Weisen finally returned, pushing the tricycle.
Lin Qionghua immediately went forward, wanting to try riding it.
Lin Weisen handed the tricycle over to her and returned the remaining money to his wife.
Watching her daughter ride quite well, Song Lanfang asked Lin Weisen how much it cost.
Lin Weisen stated the price, and Song Lanfang nodded, “Dong Liang just came by to invite us. The wedding will be held in three days.”
Lin Weisen thought that was fine, as it happened not to fall on a market day.
He didn’t care about Dong Liang’s business, but instead mentioned that his older brother and sister-in-law wanted to bring in a matrilocal husband for Xinghua.
Song Lanfang frowned, “A matrilocal marriage? How many matrilocal sons-in-law are actually any good? Our village used to have a matrilocal son-in-law who was lazy, gluttonous, and a domestic tyrant. As soon as his father-in-law died, he changed the children’s surnames. In the end, everything was completely ruined!”
Lin Weisen had also heard of such things, but he felt that until his older brother passed away, he wouldn’t hand over his money to anyone else. And even upon death, his older brother would only give the money to Xinghua, never to the son-in-law. He sighed, “My older brother wants to keep Xinghua by his side. If he brings in a son-in-law, no one will call him an heirless household anymore. He’s fixated on this. If I stop him, he will be unhappy.”
Song Lanfang glanced at him. In fact, this was probably his own thought too, right? Every time he was called an heirless household, he would come home in a terrible mood. She said coolly, “I definitely don’t want to bring in a matrilocal son-in-law.”
How many men who married into the bride’s family were actually good? They were deceitful, lazy, greedy, and slick, without a shred of trustworthiness, acting like an ancestor at home. She wasn’t short of an ancestor to serve.
Lin Weisen really hadn’t connected it to himself. Hearing that his wife’s tone was off and meeting her sharp gaze, he hurriedly raised his hands to guarantee, “Rest assured, I have no such thoughts. We’ll let our daughter make her own decisions regarding her lifelong happiness.”
He held his wife’s hand, “Our family is in better circumstances now, and we are still young. Let’s have another one; perhaps this pregnancy will be a son.”
Lin Qionghua had no idea her parents were discussing baby-making matters. She kept riding along the village road and met Qingqing halfway.
Qingqing immediately hopped into her rear cart, “Where did this tricycle come from?”
“Newly bought,” Lin Qionghua smiled joyfully, “It looks good, right?”
“It looks good,” Qingqing asked about the price.
Lin Qionghua told her, and Qingqing nodded, “I’ll ask my dad to buy one later too. This is too convenient.”
After riding for a while, Lin Qionghua was dripping with sweat from the heat and wanted to turn around. Qingqing tugged at her arm and told her, “Let me tell you, Uncle Dong Liang is getting married and invited my dad to his house to cook the banquet.”
Lin Qionghua knew about this and pulled a long face, “Who cares about him. Let him marry if he wants to. It’d be best if he gets married eight times and has all his money swindled away.”
Qingqing knew that Dong Liang had a conflict with their family, and Qionghua wished the man would get divorced every single day. She reached out, leaned close to Lin Qionghua’s ear, and whispered, “Let me tell you, I saw Auntie Wang dating someone.”
Lin Qionghua turned her head to look at her, “Ah?! So fast?!”
Hadn’t Wang Caixia moved away after divorcing Dong Liang? How would Qingqing know?
She was a bit skeptical, “Who did you hear that from?”
Seeing that she didn’t believe her, Qingqing grew anxious, “It’s true. I’m not lying to you. I went to the market with my dad to buy vegetables and saw her picking out clothes with Gu Laoqi. If they weren’t dating, why would Gu Laoqi buy clothes for her?”
Gu Laoqi was from the Gu family; he was dirt poor, but one thing was that the Gu family had an exceptionally large population.
Gu De’s family belonged to the second branch. His father’s generation had five brothers and two sisters, and the youngest was Gu Laoqi. In order to get wives for all their sons, the parents literally worked themselves to death.
After his parents passed away, he lived alone, guarding the old ancestral house. Because he was too poor to afford a wife, he had remained single until now. He was forty this year.
Although they lived in the same village, these two had never had any intersection before.
With the two of them going to the market together to buy clothes, it really was possible they were dating.
Hearing this shocking piece of gossip, Lin Qionghua immediately turned around to head home. Qingqing hopped off the cart at her doorstep, “I’m leaving first.”
Lin Qionghua nodded.
“Dad, Mom!”
Lin Qionghua braked, got down from the tricycle, and immediately rushed into the yard, calling out in quick succession.
Once they came out, she immediately told her parents, “Auntie Wang is dating someone, did you know?”
There were several daughters-in-law in the village with the surname Wang. Fearing they might get confused, she added, “Dong Liang’s ex-wife.”
Lin Weisen revealed a strange expression, “Is this couple competing? One moment Dong Liang gets married, and the next, Wang Caixia finds a partner.”
He wouldn’t even believe it if someone said Wang Caixia didn’t do it on purpose.
Song Lanfang glanced at him, “What nonsense are you talking about? I heard Wang Caixia mention before that her maiden family treats her poorly. She probably couldn’t stand staying with her maiden family, which is why she’s remarrying.”
She asked her daughter, “How do you know?”
Lin Qionghua repeated what Qingqing had said, “Mom, they are dating, right?”
Song Lanfang was amused, “Maybe it really is true. My, my, Wang Caixia is quite something, to actually marry a pure bachelor.”
Lin Weisen was amused by this term, “What are you talking about in front of the child?”
“Just a joke,” Song Lanfang giggled happily.
Lin Weisen couldn’t hold back his laughter either, though his sense of humor was different from Song Lanfang’s, “If Dong Liang finds out his wife found Gu Laoqi, he will be infuriated to death.”
Men understood men best. Even after a divorce, some men would implicitly expect their ex-wives to remain chaste for them. If the other party remarried, they would feel the other party was unfaithful.
The moment he thought of Dong Liang’s face turning as black as the bottom of a pot, he couldn’t wait to see him become a laughingstock. He eagerly walked outward, “No way! I’m going to tell him right now, let’s see if he still dares to show off!”
Song Lanfang stopped him, “Don’t go. Things haven’t even begun yet. In case your jinx of a mouth ruins Gu Laoqi’s marriage prospects, Dong Liang would be delighted instead. It’s better to wait until they’ve settled things before you go mock him.”
This would take several days, and Lin Weisen was eager to slap Dong Liang in the face, finding it too slow.
Song Lanfang, on the contrary, felt that a few days later would be better, “How happy he is when he marries his pretty wife is how angry he will be when he hears about this! Doesn’t that slap him in the face even harder!”
Lin Weisen thought about it and agreed, “You really understand these things best!”
Lin Qionghua seeing her parents only caring about gossiping and forgetting to make the accessories, hurriedly urged them, “Hurry up and make them.”
She then begged her father to get a wooden board. She wanted to display all the accessories out in the open to make it convenient for customers to choose and buy.
Lin Weisen found a wooden board for her, cut it to half a person’s height, and then found an old piece of clothing to wrap around it.
He went into the room to select one, but Song Lanfang, afraid he would rummage around haphazardly, went inside to find an old dress. It was dark green velour, and using it as a display cloth gave the hair accessories a higher-quality look.
A few nails and strings were set up on it to make it easy to hang the accessories.
After everything was properly prepared, Lin Weisen took his daughter to the market the next day.
Because Lin Weimu had to take his future matrilocal son-in-law to set up a stall, the two parties went separately.
Lin Weimu only sold popsicles and starch jelly, while Lin Weisen still sold four items: popsicles, starch jelly, cold dishes, and accessories.
This time, Lin Qionghua separated from her father; she went to the street specifically dedicated to selling accessories.
Lin Weisen still stayed at his previous location.
Lin Qionghua was slightly worried about her father, fearing he wouldn’t know how to hawk his wares. But she was a student and couldn’t keep accompanying her father to the market forever, so she had to let him stand on his own feet and be his own boss.
Suppressing the anxiety in her heart, she stayed peacefully at her own stall.
Today there were many types and styles of accessories. Perhaps because it was summer, or perhaps because the spending capacity of the townspeople was right there, by the end of the morning, she had sold thirty-two items.
It wasn’t a small amount, but it wasn’t a lot either. Lin Qionghua wasn’t very satisfied, but Lin Weisen felt his daughter did exceptionally well, “The accessories your mom made have no labor costs. Selling one makes a profit of half the price; that’s very good. Don’t be discouraged.”
Lin Qionghua cupped her chin, “It’s the off-season now. When school is about to start, business will get better. I’ll ask Mom to make some more.”
“It’s good that you think this way.”
Lin Qionghua asked her father, “How did your sales go?”
“The popsicles and starch jelly are all sold out. I prepared quite a lot of cold dishes this time, and there are still five bags left. The weather is hot, and the ice in the box has melted, so let’s just eat them ourselves to avoid them spoiling.”
Lin Qionghua nodded in agreement.
Lin Weisen moved quickly, soon mixing the cold dishes, and the father and daughter took bite after bite until they finished all the remaining cold dishes.
Although they weren’t completely full, the flavor was truly excellent. Lin Qionghua gave her father a thumbs-up, “So delicious.”
Lin Weisen asked his daughter, “Did you see your uncle?”
Lin Qionghua nodded, “I saw him, and I also saw that matrilocal son-in-law. He’s really fair-skinned and quite good-looking.”
This man had delicate features, which wasn’t in the same track as the rugged men currently in fashion.
Lin Weisen frowned, “A grown man being so fair-skinned, he might well be a pampered young master at home. What’s the difference between bringing in this kind of matrilocal husband and welcoming an ancestor to serve?”
“Maybe he’s just naturally like that,” Lin Qionghua cupped her chin, “Dad, will Sister Xinghua fancy him?”
She remembered that Sister Xinghua actually had a partner at this time, who was a city person. However, the two had only been dating for a month, so their relationship wasn’t stable yet, and Sister Xinghua hadn’t brought him back to let her uncle and aunt have a look. But she remembered that the man’s appearance was of the rugged type, which wasn’t the same type as this man at all.
How would Lin Weisen know? “Your uncle wants to bring in a matrilocal husband, so he can only choose Xinghua. Your eldest cousin is already married, and your second cousin is simple-minded. He has no choice.”
Lihua wasn’t the completely oblivious kind of simple-minded; she could carry out basic communication, didn’t require daily care, and could help out with chores at home or harvest wheat in the fields. The only impact was that she couldn’t work a job to earn money.
Lin Qionghua thought about it seriously, “Actually, I think it’s quite good for Sister Xinghua to stay at home. At least there won’t be any mother-in-law troubles, and all the family property will be hers in the future. She won’t be kicked out by a husband.”
If it were her, she definitely wouldn’t marry out. How wonderful a matrilocal marriage was; her dad would be hers, her mom would be hers, and the children would be hers, with no outsiders to bully her.
Lin Weisen looked at his daughter with a face full of astonishment.