Chapter 18: The Day of the Wedding

“How can you compare? The quality is completely different! The ones you bought were all cheap, and I saw that Dad didn’t even wear them for long before they ripped. He had so many red spots on his back, I suspect it was caused by that fabric!” Lin Xiangyi interrupted.

Chen Fengmei: “You’re full of shit! The quality of those clothes was indeed bad, but how can you blame the clothes for the old man’s red spots?”

Lin Xiangyi continued: “The clothes I bought are of excellent quality. You can feel it. They’re soft and comfortable. The saleswoman said these clothes are warm in winter and cool in summer. They’re so comfortable to wear at night!”

Lin Xiangyi boasted extravagantly. Lin Shan was stunned: “Are these clothes really that good?”

Lin Xiangyi nodded without changing her expression.

“Then I have to try them on tonight!” Lin Shan said.

“That’s right,” Lin Xiangyi said approvingly, “Dad, you work so hard, why not buy some good clothes to wear? It’s not just clothes, you should enjoy other things too!

You don’t have any sons to support, why are you so stingy and saving so much money? Is it for me? If I’m in trouble, I’ll definitely ask you for help!

But before that, I hope you spend the money on yourself. Mom is not here, you are the closest and most beloved person to me. If you are well, I can feel at ease.”

Lin Xiangyi spoke with sincerity, moving the iron-willed Lin Shan to tears.

It’s true that his own daughter is the best. She went out to buy dowry and didn’t forget to buy him clothes. Now she’s even persuading him to be good to himself…

He loved Lin Huihui so much, but she had been working and earning money for so long, and she never thought of buying him anything…

He wasn’t bad to Chen Fengmei either, but she always complained to him about how this thing needed money and that thing needed money.

She advised him not to buy so much wine and cigarettes, to save more money for retirement and to send his two daughters off…

He thought it made sense, so he quit smoking, drank less, and wore the same clothes for years.

But now that he thought about it, Chen Fengmei said she wanted to save money, and after saving for so many years, they only had two thousand yuan left when Lin Huihui bought her work clothes last year?

You know, when Chen Fengmei married him, Lin Shan already had two thousand yuan in savings, and his twelve years of salary was at least five thousand yuan!

Not to mention the occasional bonuses of ten or twenty yuan.

The meat processing factory where Lin Shan worked had good benefits. They could buy meat at a lower price than the market, and they didn’t need meat coupons. They could even exchange the remaining meat coupons for other things with neighbors and friends.

In addition, the factory would occasionally distribute welfare items like rice, oil, flour, sugar, tea, and so on.

So, according to their level of frugality, even if he had to support four people with his salary alone, it was absolutely impossible for him to spend all his salary and bonuses every month.

Where did all the money go? Did Chen Fengmei hide some private money?

Thinking about this, Lin Shan didn’t think Lin Xiangyi’s purchases were expensive anymore. He took the initiative to say: “You bought so many things today, do you have any money left?”

Lin Xiangyi just wanted to please Lin Shan, so he would give her more money to spend and she wouldn’t have to give it to Chen Fengmei and her daughter.

She didn’t expect her dad to be so understanding. She immediately said: “No, I don’t have any money left.”

“I still have fifty yuan here, take it and spend it!” Lin Shan took out a few ten-yuan bills from his pocket and handed them to Lin Xiangyi.

Chen Fengmei was dumbfounded. She shrieked: “Old Lin!”

Lin Xiangyi spent four or five months of his salary in one day, and he didn’t even scold her? He was still giving Lin Xiangyi money? Was he crazy?

“Fengmei, you’re going too far!” Lin Shan glared at her coldly.

“…” Chen Fengmei wanted to say something, but she was too scared to speak because of his cold gaze.

She had never seen him look at her like that before, as if she had committed some unforgivable sin and had exhausted his patience.

Lin Xiangyi also found it strange. Between her and Chen Fengmei and her daughter, her dad had always stood on the side of Chen Fengmei and her daughter without asking any questions. Now he was actually standing on her side?

Was the power of a vest that great?

Lin Xiangyi pretended to refuse: “Dad, do you still have money? If you don’t have any money, you should keep it for yourself, don’t give it to me.”

“Take it if I give it to you,” Lin Shan said, “Dad has money —”

Before he could finish the word “—”, Lin Xiangyi reached out to take the money: “Oh, if you have money, then I’ll take it.”

Lin Shan: “…”

Wasn’t she waiting for him to say that? Was everything she said just to coax him?

“But Dad, what I said just now is true. Money, you can’t bring it with you when you die, and you can’t take it with you when you die. You should spend it when you should, otherwise you don’t know who will benefit from it,” Lin Xiangyi wisely added and emphasized, “You really need to be good to yourself.”

Well, and be good to me too!

“I know, you don’t need to tell me!” Lin Shan said impatiently, but with a smile on his face.

Chen Fengmei watched this scene of fatherly love and daughterly affection, her hands clenched tightly!

In the following days, Chen Fengmei spoke less and her relationship with Lin Shan became very subtle.

Lin Shan didn’t go back to the bedroom to sleep either. He slept in the utility room every day.

Chen Fengmei became even more diligent, only focusing on her work, working from early morning to late at night, but she couldn’t soften Lin Shan’s heart.

Chen Fengmei was anxious. She complained to Lin Huihui, and Lin Huihui wanted to mediate, but Lin Shan’s attitude towards her was also indifferent.

Lin Huihui was very angry. She originally wanted to act cute and ask Lin Shan for some of the dowry, but now her plan had failed.

Lin Shan paid more attention to Lin Xiangyi. In addition to giving Lin Xiangyi a three-turn and one-round dowry, he got a quilt somewhere the other day and wanted to give it to Lin Xiangyi as a dowry.

Quilts were not easy to get. The cotton supply at the recycling station was limited, and each person was only allowed half a kilogram per year. The Lin family didn’t have enough every year.

Lin Shan was able to get a quilt at this time, so he must have pulled some strings.

Of course, Lin Xiangyi happily accepted it. She deliberately showed off her father-daughter affection in front of Chen Fengmei and Lin Huihui, which made Chen Fengmei and her daughter furious.

In the blink of an eye, it was July 9th.

Lin Xiangyi and Lin Huihui were getting married.

The Lin family was getting married to two daughters, so they held a banquet.

However, there were only four or five tables, inviting Lin Shan’s factory leaders, colleagues, and Chen Fengmei’s relatives.

Lin Xiangyi’s grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and all her other relatives didn’t come.

Because they weren’t in Xiangyang County.

During the Great Famine in the 1960s, many people from Linjia Village, where the Lin family lived, moved to other places with the government’s approval.

Lin Shan’s parents and brothers went to Liao Province, which was more than a thousand kilometers away from their hometown.

At that time, Lin Shan had already married and had a job in the county, so he didn’t move with them.

Over the years, due to various factors, the Lin family hadn’t come back.

Lin Shan had been there three times after they settled down, and they had always kept in touch by letter.

When Lin Huihui discussed getting married, there was plenty of time, so Lin Shan wrote to them.

Lin Huihui was not Lin Shan’s biological daughter, so the Lin family naturally wouldn’t come back.

When it came to Lin Xiangyi, Lin Shan sent them a telegram, saying that the journey was long, so the Lin family didn’t come back.

They did send back ten yuan, asking Lin Shan to help buy some dowry items.