“In any case, talk it over with Jinfeng again. Our family truly can’t afford a bicycle and a sewing machine. If they’re willing to negotiate, both families can sit down and discuss it properly. If they’re not willing…”
Looking at the struggle on his son’s face, Zhang Junzhong finally made a decision.
“Then you two should break it off.”
The moment those words fell, Zhang Hongwei’s face turned deathly pale. His lips trembled, but no words came out.
Originally, he had still clung to a shred of unrealistic hope. As the eldest son, getting married was an important matter tied to continuing the Zhang family line.
Even if Jinfeng’s family was asking for too much, surely there was room for compromise.
He never expected his father could truly be so ruthless as to tell him to break up with Jinfeng.
How could they possibly break up…?
As the drama came to an end, Zhang Yunqing—the spectator who had stayed silent the entire time—swallowed the last bite of pickled vegetables in her mouth and calmly set down her bowl as if nothing had happened.
In an almost casual tone, she said, “Second Brother, Little Brother graduates next year and still doesn’t have a job lined up. We can’t really just watch him get sent to the countryside, can we? Even if the family has money, it should be used for the most urgent matters first.”
She carefully avoided mentioning that the original host herself had almost been sent to the countryside because the family supposedly lacked money to buy her a job. Instead, she acted completely devoted to her younger brother’s interests.
After Zhang Yunqing reminded him, Zhang Hongbing immediately remembered this issue as well.
The moment his own interests were involved, he became even more agitated.
“Third Sister’s right! You all got to stay in the city! Why should I be the one sent to the countryside?”
As he spoke, he turned toward his parents.
“When Third Sister almost got sent away, the family couldn’t come up with money for a job. Both she and I accepted it because we were younger—fine, bad luck for us.”
“But now Second Brother wants to get married, and the things the Li family wants could buy two jobs already. If you agree to this, how are Third Sister and I supposed to feel?”
Zhang Yunqing gave him an approving look.
The kid wasn’t bad—he knew how to grasp the key issue. Much smarter than someone like Zhang Hongwei, whose scheming was written plainly across his face.
Receiving her approving glance, Zhang Hongbing subtly straightened his back, clearly very satisfied with his own performance.
In his eyes, only Third Sister and he were on the same side in this family—both pitiful little victims constantly getting bullied.
The eldest sister and second brother relied on being older to claim all the good things for themselves, taking every advantage the family could offer. By the time it came to him and Third Sister, there wasn’t even leftover soup for them.
If they wanted any benefits at all, they had to fight and snatch for them themselves.
Curling her lips into a faint smile, Zhang Yunqing continued pouring oil on the fire.
“Little Brother, don’t overthink it. I’m a girl—sooner or later I’ll get married and leave. When you’re sent to the countryside, Mom and Dad will only have Second Brother left by their side. It’s only natural for them to spend more on him since he’ll be the one supporting them in old age.”
Then she sighed casually, as if the thought had only just occurred to her.
“The only question is whether Second Sister-in-law will appreciate everything Mom and Dad do for her.”
Zhao Pinglan narrowed her eyes.
Clearly, she understood the hidden meaning behind Zhang Yunqing’s words.
Li Jinfeng had been raised by the Li family to care only about her natal family. Even before marriage, all she knew was how to drag benefits back home.
And her useless eldest son? Whatever Li Jinfeng said, he obeyed. The boy had no backbone at all.
If she and her husband became old someday and fell into the hands of that young couple, wouldn’t they be tormented to death?
Zhao Pinglan had been strong-willed her entire life. Asking her to lower herself before a daughter-in-law would be worse than killing her.
No. The youngest son absolutely could not be sent to the countryside! They had to keep him in the city!
Originally, seeing her eldest son in pain, she had still considered negotiating further with the Li family.
Now, that thought was completely gone.
She made the final decision on the spot.
“Your father and I can give at most one hundred yuan. We’ll also make two wooden trunks and a table for you. Go tell the Li family. If they agree, then fine. If they want more, there’s nothing else to discuss.”
At this point, Zhang Hongwei no longer dared to argue. Afraid his parents might truly force him to break up with Li Jinfeng, he could only nod unwillingly.
After that, everyone ate absentmindedly.
Zhang Yunqing had long since finished her vegetable bun, but she still didn’t leave the table. Leisurely nibbling at pickles and taking occasional bites, she looked perfectly relaxed.
She sincerely hoped Zhang Junzhong and Zhao Pinglan cherished this peaceful time.
With the Li family’s temperament, Zhang Hongwei’s marriage was going to be troublesome for a long while yet.
And even if Li Jinfeng really married into the family, the Zhang household would never escape constant quarrels—small fights every three days, big fights every five.
It wasn’t that Zhang Yunqing wished them ill.
Those things had genuinely happened in the original novel.
After Zhang Hongwei got married, eight out of every ten lines in Zhao Pinglan’s letters to the original host were complaints about her son and daughter-in-law. The original host had worried herself sick over it and even wrote letters scolding her second brother and sister-in-law.
When Zhang Yunqing had read the story, she only felt the original host had been hopelessly muddleheaded.
Not a single bit of family resources had ever been used on her, yet from far away she still had to absorb all the negative emotions caused by the family’s favored children.
Then again, if the original host had truly been clear-headed, she wouldn’t have ended up with such a tragic fate.
After helping Zhao Pinglan clean up the stove area, Zhang Yunqing prepared to fetch water and wash up.
There was basically no entertainment in this era. No wonder the birth rate was so high—once night fell, everyone simply prepared to crawl into bed.
The moment she stepped outside, she spotted Zhang Hongwei squatting beside the courtyard wall smoking. The glowing red ember stood out sharply in the darkness.
Zhang Yunqing merely glanced at him and said nothing. She had nothing worth discussing with him.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Hongwei crushed out the cigarette and, for once, called out to her.
“Yunqing, your second brother hasn’t really done anything to wrong you, has he?”
Zhang Yunqing paused. A fake smile appeared on her face.
“Second Brother, you’re overthinking things. We’re blood siblings—why talk about who wronged whom?”
“Then what was that earlier? Stirring up trouble between people? You can’t stand seeing me do well?”
Zhang Hongwei stared at her without blinking, afraid of missing even the slightest change in her expression.
Seeing him openly tear away the pretense, the fake smile on Zhang Yunqing’s lips slowly faded as well.
Expressionless, she replied, “Right. How could Second Brother ever be wrong? It’s all Mom and Dad’s fault for once wanting to borrow money to get me a job and delaying your marriage plans. It’s all my fault.”
Although the Zhang parents, like most people of this era, valued sons more highly, daughters were not worthless weeds in their eyes either.
Especially Zhang Junzhong. Having lost all his relatives and fled here during the famine years, his daughters were still flesh-and-blood family to him.
Back then, when the family lacked money, Zhang Junzhong had wanted to borrow some from the original host’s uncle. Even a temporary job would at least let her remain in the city.
After Zhang Hongwei found out, he cried in his parents’ room late into the night, complaining about how hard things were for him. He was about to get married, and after marriage he would need to raise children too. How could the family survive if they also carried debt?
The original host had woken up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and overheard everything.
Unwilling to put her parents in a difficult position, she had gone to register with the educated youth office the very next day.
The original host didn’t resent him.
But Zhang Yunqing certainly did.
Did Zhang Hongwei really think she couldn’t see through him?
The reason he wanted the original host sent to the countryside wasn’t only because he didn’t want their parents spending money on her.
More importantly, he coveted the room she currently slept in.
The Zhang family only had three bedrooms in total.
Zhang Junzhong and Zhao Pinglan occupied one room.
The brothers, Zhang Hongwei and Zhang Hongbing, shared another.
Zhang Yunqing and her elder sister Zhang Suqing shared the third.
After Zhang Suqing got married and moved out, Zhang Yunqing ended up with the best living arrangement in the family—she had a room all to herself.
But once Zhang Hongwei married, he obviously couldn’t continue sharing a room with Zhang Hongbing.
So he had set his sights on the original host instead.
He wanted to use “being sent to the countryside” as a way to drive her out of the house.