Second Marriage in the 1970s
Second Marriage in the 1970s Chapter 31

Chapter 31

“Huaishan, what about the matter I told you about last time?”

Zhang Qiaoer went to work, and after meeting the captain, Ding Huaishan, on the field, she dragged him to the willow tree by the river, asking about the work for her daughter-in-law, Dong Jiahui.

“It’s not that Auntie was deliberately looking for trouble. It’s just that my daughter-in-law is really weak; her arms are not as thick as chopsticks, so I’m afraid she can’t do the work in the field, but she’s good at fine work, so let’s make the best use of her. “

Ding Huaishan was in his forties, a strong man with a 1-inch haircut. From his youth, he has always been particularly thoughtful. A few years ago, after competing to become a captain, he had made a lot of contributions to the production team, and at the end of the year, there were cash dividends, which was a good income.

Zhang Qiaoer has a large generation gap. Ding Huaishan has to call her aunt when he meets her. There is also a relationship between them. When she was young, Ding Huaishan’s mother was Zhang Qiaoer’s father’s little wife. She married Ding Huaishan’s father only after the liberation.

“There is no easy work in our team now, so why not let her go to the warehouse as a custodian?”

The easiest jobs on the team were the scorekeeper and accountant, but both of these positions were already occupied, and he, as the captain, couldn’t remove other people from their jobs, and the team was full of relatives who are related to each other.

As for the warehouse custodian, Ding Zhiyong, the son of Ding Huaishan, used to hold this position, and because Ding Zhiyong was the tractor driver in the team, they left the warehouse key with him.

It is Ding Huaishan’s idea to let Dong Jiahui be the custodian, which not only does not infringe on the interests of others but can also win the favour of Zhang Qiaoer here. This is what Ding Huaishan came up with after thinking over this matter for the whole night.

Zhang Qiaoer’s request was to keep the Jiahui working in the field. She was satisfied after her request had been accepted.

“Sure, just go to the warehouse. She’ll come back to her natal house tomorrow. I’ll let her find you the key the day after tomorrow. “

“Aunt Qiao, you treat this new daughter-in-law of yours really well. You especially looked for an easy job for her. Not only was she divorced, but she was unable to give birth. Why do you still treat her so well? “

Huishan’s wife, Dabing, was mixing wild vegetable seedlings while chattering with her husband.

“About this matter… I don’t know. Maybe she really liked her or maybe she liked her to give face for Donglin. “

“Indeed, if not for Donglin, their family could not live such a good life. Donglin chose this wife himself, so it is normal to treat her better. “

The Zhao family was not significant in the village before. It was only after Donglin went to the army that they gradually became rich people in the village.

The new wife needs to return home on the third day of their marriage. Zhang Qiaoer helped him prepare the return gift early in the morning. A hen raised by their family, five kilograms of pork that was cut at the village meat stall in the morning. In addition to that, there were 20 eggs and a packet of shortbread, which were rich and a lot.

“Mom, I don’t want to take this old hen; it can still lay eggs at home.”

The value of an old hen cannot be measured by the value of meat. It is an old hen that lays eggs every day, and the eggs are still five cents each.

“No, you can take it with you. I’ve saved eggs and will go to Aunt Mu’s house tomorrow to let them hatch into chicks. I think the commune doesn’t care much about this year. This time, I’m going to hatch more.

The investigation was strict a few years ago. Every family was not allowed to raise more chickens. This year, the upper policy was loose, and no one in the commune often comes down to see who violates the policy. Zhang Qiaoer has the courage to raise eight or ten.

“Then …… thanks, mom.”

Since the mother-in-law sincerely wanted to give it, Dong Jiahui also did not refuse. Whether the return gift is thick or not is directly related to her status in her mother-in-law’s family. The more things she brings back, the more assured her family is about her married life.

“Hey, we are family. What are you thanking me for? Go back and bring the good things to your parents, as well as your brother and sisters-in-law, so that they can have time to play at home.

Dong Jiahui smiled in response.

Dong Jiahui wanted to take Heidan and Yingbao with her when she returned to her mother’s house, and when she asked Heidan for his opinion, he didn’t quite want to go.

Zhao Donglin took Heidan to the room to talk with him.

“Why don’t you want to go? Daddy is married to your new mother. This is your mother, and your mother’s maiden house is your grandmother’s house.”

Three days had passed, and Zhao Donglin thought that both he and Jiahui had given Heidan enough patience.

Heidan’s tears burst out, and he wiped them away from himself with the back of his hand.

Zhao Donglin frowned and sighed. He reached out and pulled Heidan to his side, and he took a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe Heidan’s little face clean.

“What are you crying for? I didn’t scold you or hit you; I just wanted to have a good talk with you. “

After saying that, Zhao Donglin lowered the volume and asked again, “So do you want to go or not?”

Heidan shook his head, his eyes once again filled with tears.

Zhao Donglin nodded his head and continued to be patient, “Why? Tell me the reason. If this reason can convince me, then I will respect your opinion. “

Heidan continued to be silent and did not speak, Zhao Donglin was not in a hurry. He just sat on the stool and waited for him to speak.

He even disciplined so many soldiers. It’s unreasonable that he can’t discipline his son.

After two or three minutes of silence, Heidan finally spoke up.

“Aunt said that if I recognize my new mother, my mother will never come back.”

Heidan’s voice had a clear crying accent, and after he finished, his tears fell straight down and he sobbed.

Zhao Donglin patted Heidan on the back and felt very uncomfortable.

“Which aunt said that?”

Heidan hiccupped and said, “Sec.. second, my second aunt.”

Only Zheng Yuefen who Heidan calls as his second aunt. Zhao Donglin frowned when he heard that his sister-in-law did this.

“Heidan, your mom will always be your mom. But she is now separated from her dad and has returned to the place she is familiar with. Your new mother is your father’s wife. She will take care of you instead of your mom. She washes your clothes, cooks you good meals, and takes care of you. You can’t treat her with this attitude. You should learn to respect her and appreciate her.”

Zhao Donglin was also hesitant. The reason why he did not want to talk more about Wang Mei’s betrayal and abandonment was that he did not want his son’s heart to be filled with hatred.

“Your mother doesn’t want you anymore,” such words are very cruel to be said to a child.

Ten minutes or so later, when Zhao Donglin came out with a trembling Heidan, Dong Jiahui had already changed Yingbao’s clothes.

“Is he going?”

“Yes.”

“Then Heidan should also change his clothes. Let’s go visit my family. We have to dress clean and neat.”

After changing Heidan into the new clothes Jiahui made for him, the family of four went to Daewoo Village.

“I saw your new sister-in-law today. Was she going to take your nephew and niece back to her mother’s house with her? “

At the last working hour, Zhang Yulan and Zheng Yuefen talked together.

“Yes.”

“I saw them bring a lot of things; a chicken hanging on the head of the bicycle, and they also hung a basket full of vegetables. You can vaguely see that there is meat and pastry in there. “

But after looking at it from a long distance, Zhang Yulan still saw it so clearly. If Dong Jiahui heard it, she must really admire Zhang Yulan.

Zheng Yuefen was angry when she mentioned this. This morning, she was dissatisfied when she saw her mother-in-law preparing a return ceremony for her new sister-in-law. When she married Donghe, her mother-in-law didn’t prepare so many things for her, but only eggs and meat.

When she joked with mother-in-law about it, the mother-in-law said that her sister-in-law’s family had given her a sewing machine, so she should prepare a thicker return gift.

One sentence choked Zheng Yuefen.

‘What do you mean? Are you blaming my mother’s family for not bringing along a sewing machine?’

Zheng Yuefen also knew that it was not appropriate to make a big deal out of this matter. Just like what her mother-in-law said, the dowry from her new sister-in-law’s natal family was indeed thicker than her own. It was not only a sewing machine but also a bed and bedding. The bride price money from the Zhao family was also brought back. When she married Donghe, her mother’s family not only didn’t prepare any dowry but the bride price money was not given to her, leaving it for her brother to marry a wife.

Zhang Yulan saw that Zheng Yuefen was just upset but didn’t speak. She was surprised at how she was so calm today. She lit the fire again and said, “Oh, by the way, there’s another thing I wanted to say, but I don’t know if you already know about it.”

“What is it?”

“Your mother-in-law talked with the captain. She let the captain arrange some light work for your sister-in-law. Your mother-in-law said that your sister-in-law was weak and delicate. She can only do light work; she can’t handle working on the field. With this, the captain arranged a job for your sister-in-law to be the warehouse custodian.”

When Zhang Yulan finished talking, Zheng Yuefen was about to blow up. This time, she was really angry.

They are both daughters-in-law, but the mother-in-law was biased towards her. She joined the family before Dong Jiahui and gave birth to a big, chubby grandson for the Zhao’s. Dong Jiahui was married for the second time, and yet, her mother-in-law treated her so well!


On the other hand, Zhao Donglin rode for about 30 minutes to the head of Dayu village, where he met several villagers on the way.

“Hey, isn’t that Dagui’s daughter?”

“Yes, the one who just got married into the Zhao family in Shanghe village two days ago.”

“Is that man on the bike her husband? I heard he is the village secretary of Shanghe village. “

“She came back to visit her natal family and also brought the children back.”

“The children were left by the man’s former wife. That wife is an educated young woman in the city. She divorced and went back to the city. “

“Aigoo, both of them are divorced.”

Chuizi was sent to the entrance of the village by his grandma to wait for them. As soon as he saw Zhao Donglin’s bicycle, he ran there in a hurry.

“Auntie, auntie, you’re here. Grandma has been waiting all morning.”

Heidan sat on the front bar and looked at Chuizi, who had run over. He was obviously quite curious about him.

Dong Jiahui jumped down from the back seat with Yingbao in her arms and said with a smile, “Grandma sent you over to wait, didn’t she?”

“Yes. I’m on a mission.”

Dong Jiahui scolded with a smile, “You little smartass, you must have known there was something good to eat if you waited for me.”

She took some candies from her satchel and handed them to Chuizi, and said, “Okay, here you go, run back and tell Grandma that we’ll be there soon.”

Chuzi received the task and ran away again.

Zhao Donglin laughed, “Chuize is quite interesting.”

“He’s too naughty. He has to be taught properly. “

Dong Jiahui had already gotten off and hugged Yingbao, and Zhao Donglin also got off and pushed his bike to accompany Dong Jiahui.

“Boys have to be naughty. The naughtier they are, the better. “

When he was a child, although he studied well, he didn’t do fewer naughty things. He was really happy at that time.

This kind of pleasure continued until he entered the barracks. Through his day-to-day training, he honed his calm and steady temperament. He was also enlightened. That year, during the new year’s Eve dinner in the military camp, their recruits gathered together and sighed at the changes in the people. However, in a few months, everyone had undergone earth-shaking changes and grew up in an instant. It is no longer a young man who swam and fished that summer and went up the mountain to catch pheasants in winter.

Besides his son, Heidan, when he came back and found that Heidan didn’t like to talk. He went down to the field with his grandma every day and didn’t find little partners of the same age to play with. Zhao Donglin sometimes felt that this was bad. Heidan should be livelier. Even if he was naughty, it doesn’t matter, as long as he was not in danger.

Dong Jiahui glanced at Zhao Donglin and said, “The naughtier, the better. There is no scientific evidence at all. “

“Oh, you still want to talk about science?”

“What? Do you think because I am a woman from a rural area, I am not worthy of talking science with you? Am I right, village secretary? “

“That’s not true. I just think what you said makes sense. You shouldn’t be buried at home as a housewife.”

Dong Jiahui hummed, “That’s right.”

In modern times, she was also a graduate student of moral, intellectual, physical, and artistic development.

The two of them arrived at Dong’s house while talking. Dong Jiahui was holding Yingbao in her hand, Zhao Donglin was carrying Heidan on his bicycle, and the four of them entered the courtyard.

“Sister, your brother-in-law is here.”

“Donglin is here.”

The family welcomed them, and the four were instantly surrounded.

“This is Heidan, and this is Yingbao, right? How much do the two children grow? They are pretty and neat. “

Zhao Donglin took Heidan off the bicycle and put him on the ground. Heidan was leaning on Zhao Donglin’s leg, looking at the ground and not talking, but Yingbao, with her round eyes, was looking at everyone and did not recognize them at all.

Chen Guixiang, like the little girl, took Yingbao from Dong Jiahui’s grip and hugged her.

“This little girl was so good-looking. She looked like Tianniu’s sister “

“No, I think Yingbao and Tianniu were quite similar; they both look adorable.”

Zhou Yindi took Heidan’s hand, stroked his head, and said, “Heidan is about the same age as Xiao Man. Come in; Auntie will bring you some good food. “

Heidan was a little hesitant. He turned his head to look at Zhao Donglin, and only when he saw Zhao Donglin nodding at him did he follow Zhou Yindi.

Jiahui’s three brothers accompanied Zhao Donglin to chat. On the other hand, Chen Guixiang took Dong Jiahui back to the house, still holding Yingbao in her arms.

“How was it? Did the Zhao family treat you well? “

In fact, Chen Guixiang almost knew when she saw the return ceremony gift. It was not a light ceremony gift. She heard that Dong Jiahui’s mother-in-law personally prepared it.

“It’s good.”

Dong Jiahui told Chen Guixiang about her life in the Zhao family, and Chen Guixiang nodded with satisfaction after listening.

“As long as they are good to you, I don’t think that your mother-in-law was the unreasonable type. I have visited her before; she is not bad with her family’s daughter-in-law. Otherwise, even if you agree, I will not dare to marry you. “

Dong Jiahui wanted to say something but did not know whether to tell Chen Guixiang that thing. Although it is very personal, Chen Guixiang was the original owner’s mother. She was also entitled to know the truth. After all, the original owner jumped into the river to end her life. Although she came here later, the original owner was gone after all.

“Why? What’s the matter? Do not hide it. “

Chen Guixiang thought there was something wrong with the Zhao family when she saw her daughter acting like this, so she quickly asked.

“It’s not about the Zhao family. That is, when I did it with Donglin, it was my first time. I didn’t understand it before. I didn’t do anything with Lu. “

“What?!”

Chen Guixiang’s voice directly soared to an octave. Yingbao, who was in her arms, was startled. She patted Yingbao’s back, and she asked anxiously, “What do you mean by what you just said? You haven’t slept with Lu? “

Chen Guixiang embarrassed Dong Jiahui with the word “sleep”. She nodded awkwardly. Chen Guixiang got up quickly, and Yingbao was frightened again. When Dong Jiahui saw her act like this, she took Yingbao and held her instead.

That is to say, if you are not pregnant, it’s not that you have any problem. It’s that Lu didn’t touch you at all! “

Dong Jiahui nodded. It should be, otherwise, she couldn’t explain this phenomenon.

“This is surnamed, Lu. throwing dirty water on you. Bah! When I see him, I will really kill him to death. “

Mom, I told you not because I wanted you to go see him. To tell you the truth, I don’t want to be involved with that kind of family at all. I’m living well with Donglin now. I don’t want to cause extra trouble.

Chen Guixiang choked and sighed.

“That’s right.”

She took Dong Jiahui’s hand. Her heart was full of mixed emotions. Her eyes were hot again.

“I’ve been worrying these days, afraid that you’re not doing well. If you have another accident, it will really kill me.”

She watched her daughter. Her hair was black, her eyes were shining, her skin was moist and glowing, and she had a smile at the corners of her mouth, so she was doing extremely well.

“I am finally relieved.”

Knowing this, in addition to hating the Lu family, she couldn’t help being happy for her daughter. She knows that men, no matter how indifferent they are, must still have some thorns in their hearts. The thorns in her son-in-law’s heart have been eliminated.

“You said you didn’t understand anything? Blame me, I did not teach you properly, so you did not know anything when you got married. “

Her daughter was also too young. She was eighteen years old when she married into the Lu family.

Chen Guixiang went back to the kitchen with a smile on her face, and several sisters-in-law teased Dong Jiahui, “It seems that Jiahui and her brother-in-law had a good time after the marriage, otherwise Mom could not be happy like this.”

“She brought a hen, five pounds of pork, eggs, and pancakes.”

“Our family was not bad at all. For the sake of my brother-in-law’s face, we began to get busy with food early in the morning, for the sake of brother-in-law’s face.

Zhou Yindi smiled and cut a piece of marinated pork heart and put it in Yingbao’s mouth, “How about these two children? I see that the boy was a little less talkative.”

She just took Heidan to Xiao Man, and let the children at home take Heidan to play together, and took some food for him.

“As a whole, it’s okay. Maybe he can’t accept it at once. After all, he still has a lot of feelings for his mother.”

“Hey, it’s not easy to be a stepmother. When you bring them up well, no one says good things about you. But if you don’t, you’ll be scolded. “

“I’m not sure. I’m used to being talked about anyway.”

Who does not talk about people behind their backs? Who does not get talked about behind their backs?

Isn’t life like that? Dong Jiahui has long figured out a set of her own rules of life. That is, living her own life and letting others say whatever they want to say. If you have a good life, no matter what other people say, you won’t lose a piece of meat anyway.

Several sisters-in-law remembered Jiahui’s previous events and did not dare go on. They immediately changed to other topics, but Chen Guixiang was sighing in her heart, sighing at her fate.

Who would have thought that Jiahui’s failure to give birth to a child was because of such a thing? If she had known, she should have taken a hoe to raze the Lu family’s house so that their family could not live in peace.

stillnotlucia[Translator]

( •̀ ω •́ )✧ Hi~ Lucia here~ I love translating 60s-90s and Ancient Times themed novels! If you have any recommendations for me to translate or pick up, feel free to comment below~ Oh, If you like my translation, please consider buying me a coffee 🍵☕

6 Comments
  1. Devi Shapfitri has spoken 1 year ago

    “I think that Jiahu and HER brother-in-law HAD a good life after the marriage. Otherwise, mother…”

    I think it should be “our” instead of “her”, assuming this line was spoken by DJH’s sister in-laws of her natal family (implied in the lines before it). If it’s “her”, it’s either DJH has a good life with ZDL’s brother (DJH’s brother in-law) or with her paternal uncle (CGX’s brother in-law).

    As an advice, you can change the “her”, “his”, “my”, “your” from the MTL in similar cases according to the context. Such as, who’s saying the line(s) (or who the most possible speaker is). You can even delete it in some case. Such as, when a mother talked to her children about her willingness to take care of her children and said “you should know my mother, I still can do this little things for my children.” You can change “my mother, I” directly to “I”, “Mother”, or “your mother”.

    The “had” should also be “have”. Grammatically, it’s a perfect present tense, expressing something that happened and was still happening when the speaker/narrator spoke the line/sentence. If it’s “had”, it’s a perfect past tense. So, it’s something that happened in the past and has also stopped happening since long ago.

    Reply
  2. Chie has spoken 2 years ago

    I can understand that the SIL is unhappy with the unequal treatment from the MIL. But … they are all benefitting from Donglin’s work and while he may be required to take care of his parents it’s not the same for the second branch. And she clearly instigated Heidan long before the MIL showed any signs of bias. So no pity here.

    Reply
  3. chi has spoken 2 years ago

    you know I was tolerant of the third sister-in-law but now she’s using a child now she just became a villain Why use a child in your schemes?

    Reply
  4. daedae has spoken 3 years ago

    wow…it’s so awful using a child for your own petty scheme.

    Reply
  5. chinesefanreader has spoken 3 years ago

    Wow that sil is a worse b*tch than I thought 👿 Even her family doesn’t care about her with such a poor dowry 😈 Hahahahaha mom got a shocker and lost her mind🤯 but she can be very happy now and even happier when a new grand baby smacks that Lu family in the face😁

    Thanks for the chapter

    Reply
    • notlucia has spoken 3 years ago

      I’m also looking forward for that time to come…it would be chaotic

      Reply

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