They would never allow someone like that to marry into their family.
The two girls exchanged a glance and curled their lips into a smile.“Big Brother, we think Sister Jiang is much better. Sister Jiang is an educated youth, she’s cultured, and she’s pretty.”
“How could that Lu Wanqing compare? We don’t like Lu Wanqing at all. Just looking at her annoys us. We’re all from the same village—why does she get to live like a pampered young lady? Our family is marrying a wife, not inviting an ancestor into the house. Big Brother, no matter what, we won’t let someone like that become our sister-in-law.”
Xu Xiuying was finally satisfied. In truth, she hadn’t approved of this engagement either.
Her son deserved the best—how could that girl from the Lu family be worthy of him?
So everyone agreed: at noon tomorrow, they would return the engagement.
No matter what, this marriage had to be called off.
From the way her son spoke, he had already done that with the educated youth Jiang.
If her belly grew, it would be troublesome.
Young men were full of passion—it was hard to restrain oneself.
And if it turned out to be a boy, that would be the Lin family’s eldest grandson.
They absolutely could not allow their eldest grandson to be left outside.
Thinking of that seductive sensation, Lin Yuchuan felt a sudden change somewhere in his body.
Hmph. Lu Wanqing—call it bad luck for you.
You weren’t an educated youth from the city.
You didn’t know how to be alluring—she wouldn’t even let him hold her hand.
But when he thought about having to give up one hundred jin of grain to break off the engagement, the Lin family felt as though a chunk of flesh had been cut from them.
No, no—that wouldn’t do.
They had to think of a way to make the Lu family give up those one hundred jin of grain.
In these famine years, who had one hundred jin of grain?
If anyone did, they wouldn’t be going hungry.
Everyone was sallow and thin.
The boys in the family were slightly better off—once in a while they could secretly eat an egg.
But the girls were truly starving—yellow-faced and skinny, their chests nearly touching their backs.
Even the wild vegetables dug from the mountains couldn’t fill them up, because the laborers needed to eat more.
At the Lu family home
Everyone was especially happy that night.
They had finally eaten meat.
And not just a little—there was plenty.
It was so fragrant.
How long had it been since they’d tasted meat?
Who would have thought that their sister, their aunt, their daughter could be so capable—bringing back so much wild game?
Wild chickens, wild rabbits—and even a wild goat.
If they could sell a bit of it on the black market, they could improve the family’s situation.
They could buy matches, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar.
But this was their precious daughter’s hard-earned catch.
They had to ask her opinion first.
Xu Mengyi put down her chopsticks.“Daughter, there’s something Mother wants to discuss with you. Is that okay?”
Lu Wanqing also set down her chopsticks.“Mother, just say it. If it’s something I can do, of course I won’t refuse. But if you’re planning to persuade me to get back together with Lin Yuchuan, then forget it. A scumbag like that—I wouldn’t touch him now. He’s indecent, unclear in his relationships, fooling around with an educated youth. Yet he still wants to marry me? Damn it—I’m not a trash collector.”
“And his family isn’t a good place either. Just look at his mother—beady eyes, big mouth, sharp, flirtatious gaze. One look and you know she’s hard to get along with. I don’t want to marry over there and fight with my mother-in-law every day. People who know the truth would say the mother-in-law is difficult. Those who don’t would say I’m unfilial.”
“Besides, I don’t have the energy to deal with petty nonsense all day. I’m someone who wants to do big things. Father, Mother, Big Brother, Sister-in-law, Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law, Third Brother, Third Sister-in-law—this isn’t just talk.”
“But don’t spread this around yet. There aren’t many people who truly want you to do well. They’ll grow jealous and try every way to sabotage us. We need to keep our heads down and quietly make money. As long as you listen to me in the future, I guarantee you’ll eat well and live well.”
“Even though you’re all my family, there are things I need to make clear in advance. After falling into the water, I finally understood. In the end, you can only rely on yourself. No one can be depended on forever.”
“Daughter, you’ve suffered,” Xu Mengyi said softly.
“Don’t worry—if you don’t want to marry, as your mother, I will never force you. That family still owes us one hundred jin of grain. We must get it back. Before, we let it go because he was our future son-in-law.”
“But now—if they dare not return the grain, I’ll break his legs.”
“That Lin boy looks refined, like a scholar. But what he does isn’t human at all. He wants to be both the whore and the chaste monument—having everything both ways.”
“He wants benefits from our family while fooling around with others. And he still wants to marry my daughter? Bah! What kind of thing is he? I really want to beat him up.”
The head of the household, Lu Zhiguo, tried to calm her down.
“Enough, don’t get so worked up. Getting angry over trash like that isn’t worth harming your health. Our daughter is right here under our eyes. If he dares bully her— Even if I have to risk my life, I’ll beat him senseless.”
Lu Wanqing felt that she had truly融入 this family at last.
Though the family was poor and life was hard, she believed that with her own hands, better days would come soon.
Once the college entrance exam was restored in ’77 and the spring winds of reform began to blow, she would have room to shine.
Leading everyone to wealth wouldn’t be a dream.
But there was one prerequisite—
This family’s hearts had to be on her side.
Parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces—it didn’t matter.
Even with the greatest abilities, she would never help an ungrateful wolf.
Not even if they were her parents.
As the saying goes, kind parents raise filial children.
Only when parents are fair can there be family harmony.
Some people simply can’t see clearly.
They think daughters are just “girls.”
That they’ll marry out sooner or later—mere goods or bargaining chips.
Whether they can be sold for a good price is all that matters.
Such people don’t deserve to be parents.
As if daughters weren’t human beings.
Did daughters spring from cracks in the stone?
The most disgusting thing is that some of these people later shamelessly crawl back, asking their daughters to support them in old age.
If the original owner’s parents had been like that, she would have cut ties with them completely.
For now, things were still acceptable.
There were some minor flaws—but nothing unfixable.
“Father, Mother, leave the beating to me. You’re old—don’t strain your backs. Let me tell you, during the time I was in the water, I learned quite a few techniques from immortals. Now even ten Lin Yuchuans wouldn’t be my match. With just a flick of my finger, I could knock his teeth all over the ground.”
Xu Mengyi reached out and touched Lu Wanqing’s forehead.
This girl was talking nonsense again—but she didn’t have a fever.
“Daughter, don’t ever say things like that in front of outsiders.”