Chapter 25 Eyes on Her Money

“Captain, isn’t getting the marriage certificate tomorrow a bit too rushed?” Shen Meifang said. “And the date hasn’t even been picked yet, it’s still—”

Liu Daocheng cut her off: “We don’t practice feudal superstition anymore. Any day set by the Party is an auspicious day. In a few days it’ll be the anniversary of the May 30th Anti-Imperialist Movement. I think holding the wedding on that day would be perfect.”

Ji Tangtang said, “Alright, then Comrade Gu Shiyu and I will hold our wedding on May 30th. I hope everyone will give us the honor of coming to our home as guests.”

The villagers all offered their congratulations, saying they would definitely attend.

Shen Meifang, unable to stop them, nearly got herself labeled as superstitious. She was furious and could no longer maintain her composure.

“Since you’re marrying my son, the proper bride price shouldn’t be missing. Before, I pitied your family’s hardships, so I didn’t ask for it. But now that you’ve made money selling herbs, you can’t still give my son nothing, right?”

Ji Tangtang replied, “Of course a bride price is necessary. Since we’ve decided to have Comrade Gu Shiyu marry into my family, naturally I’ll do my best to treat him well. The whole reason I worked in town today was to prepare the bride price for Comrade Gu Shiyu.”

Shen Meifang didn’t hear her mention money directly, and a bad feeling rose in her heart. Sure enough, Ji Tangtang continued:

“I found out about a type of medicine that can help Comrade Gu recover. So after I sold the herbs today, I hurried to buy medicine that could help him. I believe before long, Comrade Gu will be able to stand again.”

Shen Meifang nearly fainted from anger. She didn’t care whether Gu Shiyu could walk again—what she cared about was the money. Losing control of her voice, she shrieked:

“You spent all that money on medicine?”

Her reaction was as if Ji Tangtang had spent her money, and several villagers gave her strange looks.

Ji Tingting quietly grabbed her arm, and Shen Meifang realized she had accidentally revealed her true thoughts. She quickly tried to cover up: “I didn’t mean anything else—I was just worried you might have been cheated.”

Ji Tangtang gave her a faint smile: “Is that so? Well, you don’t need to worry. I asked a very skilled doctor in the city. It won’t be wrong.”

Shen Meifang thought to herself, “Not wrong, my foot. She’s just using this as an excuse to avoid giving a bride price. No way would she really spend all that money on medicine for that cripple.”

Ji Tangtang went on: “Of course, I didn’t spend all the money on medicine. After buying medicine for Comrade Gu and for my father, I also bought a wristwatch.”

She stretched out her fair wrist for Shen Meifang to see: “The industrial coupon for the watch was given to me by Comrade Gu’s comrade-in-arms. The watch cost over 200 yuan. After that, there wasn’t much left. I bought fabric for our wedding and some daily necessities. Now I only have a few dozen yuan left, which I plan to use to repair our house and to provide food and drink when we host the wedding feast.”

Shen Meifang nearly leapt forward to snatch the watch from her wrist. Many villagers, too, showed expressions of envy.

That was a wristwatch! Even Gu Hongwen, who worked in a factory, hadn’t been able to afford one. This was the first watch in the whole village!

Even though it didn’t belong to them, everyone was curious, and many crowded around to get a look at Ji Tangtang’s watch.

Ji Tangtang generously let them look, then said to Liu Daocheng:

“Captain, I’d like to ask the villagers, after finishing the production team’s tasks, to help me repair the house in their spare time. Otherwise, after Comrade Gu and I marry, we really won’t have a place to live.

“I won’t ask everyone to work for free. I’ve heard that in the neighboring village, people pay workers 0.8 yuan a day. I’ll pay the same. I’ll also do my best to provide food, though I don’t have spare grain coupons. The production team’s grain is only just enough for my family to eat. So the food I prepare may be simple, but I promise no one will go hungry, and I’ll treat everyone as best I can.”

Of course, none of the villagers were unwilling. The money Ji Tangtang earned from selling herbs was hers, and they couldn’t force her to give it away.

Even though many had wanted to ask her what herbs she had dug up and begged her to teach them, everyone knew—even if they recognized them, finding them wasn’t guaranteed. They had lived at the foot of the mountains for years, and they all knew that sometimes a family might strike it lucky and dig up rare herbs worth a fortune. But that sort of thing came down to luck.

Helping build Ji Tangtang’s house, on the other hand, was guaranteed money. 0.8 yuan a day and meals—it was a solid deal.

Even without meals, they wouldn’t lose out. That wage was high. In the neighboring village, 0.8 yuan was what carpenters and masons made. Ordinary laborers usually only got 0.4–0.5 yuan a day. Ji Tangtang was offering the craftsman’s rate and meals on top of that.

It was clear she had earned money and wanted to share some benefit with the villagers.

People’s impression of Ji Tangtang changed instantly. The faint jealousy they had felt when she showed her watch melted away. Many now thought she was a kind-hearted, good comrade.

By contrast, their impression of Shen Meifang worsened. Everyone had long seen how the Gu family treated Gu Shiyu. In the past, people had been too busy just filling their bellies to care, but that didn’t mean they didn’t notice.

Everyone knew Shen Meifang and her husband favored the second son and looked down on Gu Shiyu. Only later, when Gu Shiyu joined the army and sent money home regularly, did their attitude improve a little.

But after Gu Shiyu was injured in the army and became paralyzed, sent back home, Shen Meifang and her husband’s attitude toward him reverted to what it had been before.

Now that the Gu family had agreed to let Gu Shiyu marry into the Ji family as a live-in son-in-law, who didn’t understand what was going on? Wasn’t it just that they wanted to dump the burden onto the Ji family? And wasn’t dumping the burden enough? They even wanted to use Gu Shiyu’s marriage as a way to make a big profit?

Seeing Shen Meifang glaring at Ji Tangtang as if she wanted to skin her alive, a villager spoke up disapprovingly:

“Meifang, don’t be so biased. Ji Tangtang agreeing to take your eldest as a live-in son-in-law is out of pure kindness. She couldn’t bear to see a soldier who sacrificed for the country being mistreated, so she wanted to bring him close and take care of him herself. The Ji family’s situation has never been good. It’s only that Ji Tangtang was lucky enough to dig up some medicinal herbs and sell them at the supply and marketing cooperative for money. But herbs aren’t something you can find every day. Their family already has one cripple, now they’re taking in another paralyzed person—their life won’t be easy. And you’re still making things difficult for them. How are the young couple supposed to live in the future?”

A moment ago, when they first heard that Ji Tangtang had earned more than four hundred yuan, some villagers had felt unbalanced. But now, thinking carefully about the Ji family’s situation, they nodded in agreement.

Shen Meifang was so angry her temples throbbed, and she stomped and cursed:

“Sun Lijuan, who are you saying mistreated a national soldier? Don’t go splashing dirty water on me.”

Sun Lijuan pouted and said:

“How not? You often don’t give him food. Just because he’s paralyzed and can’t walk out the door, you think no one will know?”

Immediately, other villagers chimed in:

“That’s right, the other day I went to the Gu house and saw it too. Gu Shiyu was practically skin and bones.”

…

Sun Lijuan added:

“You starved him into that state. If the army leaders were to see it, do you think you could escape? That’s abusing a national soldier who shed blood for the country.”

Shen Meifang instantly felt guilty. When Gu Shiyu was injured, the army comrades who brought him back had given them money and ration tickets. The production team had also distributed grain to him. But Shen Meifang felt that since Gu Shiyu was lying in bed and doing no work, why should he eat? So basically she only gave him one meal a day, just enough to keep him from starving to death. As for the money and tickets the army gave Gu Shiyu, she had taken them all to give to Gu Hongwen.

If the army found out about this, not only would they be criticized, it would also affect Hongwen’s work. More importantly, if the army people became suspicious because of this and launched an investigation—if the truth of what happened back then was discovered…

Her face turned pale. She hurriedly covered her face and cried:

“He’s thin because he was injured, his body hasn’t recovered yet. He’s flesh of my flesh, how could I not feel heartache for him? Yet all of you keep pouring dirty water on me, bullying me. Is this fair to my son who sacrificed his health for the country?”