Chapter 6: A Marriage Not Without Lin Xiangyi

“Ah Xiao, you’re not joking, are you?” Xie’s mother asked.

“Why would I be joking?” Xie Qingxiao frowned, “I’m serious. The sooner the better.”

Xie’s mother and Xie’s father, who had just come back carrying a hoe, looked at each other in disbelief.

“Who is this girl? What’s her name?” Xie’s father asked in a deep voice.

“She lives in the county, her name is Lin Xiangyi. She was my high school classmate,” Xie Qingxiao explained. Fearing his parents’ disapproval, he confessed, “I really like her, and I won’t marry anyone else but her in this life.”

“Hey, you child, how can you say that?” Xie’s mother exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, she’s a great girl. She will definitely not disappoint you as your daughter-in-law! You can trust my judgment,” Xie Qingxiao said.

It’s precisely because it’s your judgment that we don’t trust it!

Father and Xie’s mother thought to themselves.

Xie Qingxiao was their son, and they protected him in front of others. But they knew deep down that Xie Qingxiao had been spoiled by his grandmother.

He did things on a whim and was very willful, never considering the consequences.

How could they trust his judgment?

However, the fact that he was willing to get married was good news.

“But going to propose tomorrow, isn’t that too rushed?” Xie’s mother still felt it was too sudden. She had never heard of this girl before, and suddenly he was talking about getting married, and the proposal was so rushed, they didn’t even have time to prepare.

“It is a bit rushed,” Xie Qingxiao said, “But if I don’t hurry, I’m afraid someone else will snatch her away.”

“This girl is so sought after?” Xie’s mother was immediately distracted.

“Yeah,” Xie Qingxiao was very straightforward, “I’ve been waiting for her for so long, and she finally agreed to me!”

Xie’s mother was anxious when she heard this, “But we haven’t prepared anything for the proposal.”

“What needs to be prepared?” Xie Qingxiao hurriedly said, “I’ll go prepare! I’ll make sure everything is perfect!”

Xie’s mother choked. She could tell that her son wasn’t lying, he was indeed in a hurry, as if he was afraid that if he waited any longer, the girl wouldn’t marry him.

“You can’t go empty-handed to propose, you have to bring some pork, fruit, biscuits, etc. And the dowry, you have to prepare that too, right?”

“That’s easy! Her family is in the county, we can buy the pork, biscuits, and stuff like that in the county. As for the dowry, I have it!”

“You have money?” Xie’s mother was surprised. Xie Qingxiao had been out of school for two years and hadn’t found a decent job. He spent his days hanging out with his friends.

Of course, he didn’t ask for money from home, and he wouldn’t take it if they gave it to him.

They didn’t know what he was doing outside, and whenever they asked, he would always give vague answers. If they asked too much, he would get impatient.

Xie’s mother and Xie’s father were very tired, and they were afraid that if they interfered too much, he would distance himself from them. Seeing that he wasn’t doing anything that would get people to come knocking on their door, they simply left him alone.

So he actually had money? Did his grandmother hide some money for him when she passed away?

“How much money do you have?” Xie’s mother asked.

“One thousand,” Xie Qingxiao went straight into the house to get the money.

Xie’s mother and Xie’s father looked at each other, one thousand? That much?

“Where did you get so much money?” Xie’s mother hurriedly followed him, asking. Even if his grandmother loved him the most, she couldn’t have hidden that much money.

Xie Qingxiao pulled out one thousand yuan from under his pillow and stuffed it into Xie’s mother’s hand, answering a different question, “This money is all for my wife’s dowry. If it’s not enough, I’ll borrow some more!”

Xie’s mother didn’t have time to ask him where he got so much money, she was surprised and asked, “The dowry is this much?”

Although most places now had land allocated to households, living conditions were much better than before, and it wasn’t like you could marry a wife with just a basket of rice. But most of the time, it was just two or three hundred yuan.

The highest dowry in their village was the five hundred yuan that the village chief’s family gave when their son married last year.

That was because the girl was beautiful, her family was well-off, and she had a job in the county.

Their family… one thousand yuan was too much.

“It’s not too much,” Xie Qingxiao said, “I even think it’s too little. It’s just that I don’t have that much money now, otherwise I would give more. My wife is worth more than that!”

Xie’s mother almost fainted. This prodigal son!

Other people say “a daughter is not to be kept long,” but their family was like, “a son is not to be kept long!”

She wanted to say something, but seeing Xie Qingxiao’s happy expression, she swallowed her words.

After leaving Xie Qingxiao’s room, Xie’s mother and Xie’s father looked at each other. Xie’s mother sighed and said, “This is so sudden. Why is he suddenly getting married? We haven’t even met this girl, we don’t know if she’s reliable.”

“What’s unreliable about it? The way Ah Xiao looks, he’s already set his mind on this girl. Didn’t you hear him say, he won’t marry anyone else but her!” Xie’s father complained, “It’s all because of his grandmother spoiling him!”

“You dare to blame the old lady? At least she raised a son for you. Otherwise, why didn’t you raise him yourself back then?” Xie’s mother glared at Xie’s father.

She and Xie’s father had five children, one died in infancy, and the remaining two sons and two daughters.

Xie Qingxiao was the youngest, with the smallest age gap between him and his older siblings, five years.

She was quite old when she gave birth to Xie Qingxiao, and they were in the era of communal living, where they had to earn work points every day. After getting off work, she had to take care of baby Xie Qingxiao and serve the whole family, her energy simply couldn’t keep up.

Her mother-in-law found out and took Xie Qingxiao to raise.

At that time, they had already separated from the old lady, although they didn’t live far apart, they were not under the same roof. When they were busy, they often didn’t go to see Xie Qingxiao for days.

The old lady doted on Xie Qingxiao very much. Although she spoiled his character to the point of being lawless, at least she raised Xie Qingxiao.

For this, Xie’s mother was very grateful to the old lady.

“Alright alright, it’s all our fault,” Xie’s father sighed, “Go cook. We’ll see what this girl is like tomorrow.”

Xie’s mother thought about it, and went to the kitchen to cook.

But Father and Xie’s mother never expected that Xie Qingxiao would be so enthusiastic. The next morning, he woke them up early, and his whole person was visibly happy.

Father and Xie’s mother couldn’t help but feel nervous. They put on what they considered their best clothes and grabbed the two fattest chickens they raised.

They rode their bicycles to the county.

Longjing Village was not far from the county, and it took half an hour to get there on a bicycle if you rode fast.

When they arrived in the county, they first went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things.

They bought five pounds of loose biscuits and candy, two boxes of rice cakes, two packs of two-pound red dates, several cakes of tea, two packs of China cigarettes, and before leaving, Xie Qingxiao saw that they were selling Moutai on the counter, so he bought two bottles of Maotai.

They carried their bags and went to the Lin family’s house.