Zhou Zhongwen felt as if he had been struck by lightning upon hearing these words. The chicken claw he hadn’t yet swallowed shot right out of his mouth and splattered all over Wang Xiu’e’s face.  

Wang Xiu’e wiped her face expressionlessly. “Auntie is serious. My daughter is beautiful, has a good temperament, and her backside is destined to bear sons. If you marry her, you’ll be laughing yourself to sleep under the covers.”  

Whether he’d be laughing or not, Zhou Zhongwen didn’t know. What he did know was that Lin Wanwan, that damned fatso, could crush him to death in bed.  

Wanting him to marry that fatso as his wife? Not even in the next three lifetimes.  

That’s what he thought in his heart, but how he phrased it was another matter entirely.  

After all, given how fiercely Wang Xiu’e doted on her daughter, if he said even one wrong word, wouldn’t this shrew tear him apart?  

Zhou Zhongwen thought for a moment and said, “Auntie, in my heart, I’ve always treated Miss Lin like a sister. I can’t marry her.”  

“Besides, before I came here, my mother made it clear that she’d handle my marriage arrangements once I return to the city.”  

All this nonsense was just his way of saying he didn’t fancy her daughter and didn’t want to marry her.  

“What a blind, good-for-nothing dog,” Wang Xiu’e cursed inwardly.  

The meat had been eaten, and as Wang Xiu’e’s face grew darker by the second, Zhou Zhongwen sensed danger and quickly added, “Auntie, since we have to work early tomorrow, I won’t disturb your rest any longer. I have things to do, so I’ll take my leave now.”  

Seeing him about to bolt, Wang Xiu’e immediately stepped forward to block him. “Zhou Zhongwen, what do I have to do to make you marry my daughter?”  

Looking at Wang Xiu’e blocking his way, Zhou Zhongwen’s eyes were full of impatience.  

“Auntie, this is a new society that values freedom in marriage. Marriage is a matter of mutual consent. It’s not something you can decide with just a word. She’s a good girl, but I don’t like her.”  

“Three hundred yuan, plus a Phoenix-brand bicycle.”  

“What?” Zhou Zhongwen wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.  

Wang Xiu’e patiently repeated herself: “As long as you agree to marry my daughter, I’ll buy you a Phoenix-brand bicycle and give you three hundred yuan as a dowry.”  

Zhou Zhongwen was one hundred percent certain he hadn’t misheard this time.  

Wang Xiu’e, this shrew, had just said that if he married Lin Wanwan, she’d give him three hundred yuan plus a Phoenix-brand bicycle.  

A brand-new Phoenix bicycle would cost at least a hundred and fifty or sixty yuan. Add the promised three hundred yuan, and that was easily close to five hundred.  

Over the years, not even the brigade leader’s family—let alone his own—could earn that much unless his parents worked nonstop at the factory for a year.  

Dazed by this enormous windfall, Zhou Zhongwen suddenly felt that marrying Lin Wanwan, that fatso, might not be such a bad idea.  

But then he thought of Bai Wenwen, who had given him her body, and his mind cleared instantly.  

Bai Wenwen’s father was the director of the Revolutionary Committee. If he could climb the high branch of the Bai family, he’d never have to worry about food or drink for the rest of his life.  

So, he couldn’t abandon Bai Wenwen, that lofty branch, for the sake of this temporary temptation.  

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhou Zhongwen forced a fake smile onto his face. “Auntie, money may be powerful, but some things can’t be solved with money. I truly don’t like Miss Lin, so I can’t agree to this.”  

Seeing that Zhou Zhongwen wasn’t biting, Wang Xiu’e had no choice but to sweeten the deal further: “Haven’t you always wanted to return to the city? As long as you marry my daughter, I’ll have the brigade leader give you next year’s Worker-Peasant-Soldier student quota. After you’re married, the family will also provide you two with eighty catties of grain every month.”  

At the mention of the Worker-Peasant-Soldier quota, Zhou Zhongwen’s previously calm heart began pounding uncontrollably. His voice hoarse, he asked, “Auntie, can you really get me that spot?”

With the Worker-Peasant-Soldier recommendation from the brigade, he could go to the city to study.  

Once in university, with the handsome face his parents had given him, he was sure to thrive there. Who knows—he might even land a female classmate with better looks and family background than Bai Wenwen.  

Seeing his hesitation, Wang Xiu’e finally relaxed a little. She patted her chest and assured him:  

“The brigade leader is my elder brother. Getting him to do something for me is as easy as saying the word. As long as you agree to marry my daughter, I’ll make sure he gives you the Worker-Peasant-Soldier recommendation.”  

Zhou Zhongwen was thoroughly tempted by Wang Xiu’e’s promises.  

After all, a marriage could always end in divorce—but if he missed this Worker-Peasant-Soldier quota, he might never get another chance.  

The county only allocated two such recommendations to the commune each year, and the commune had dozens of brigades under it. When there weren’t enough spots to go around, they had to take turns.  

Next year, it just so happened to be their brigade’s turn.  

But the brigade members were clannish, so the quota usually went to one of their own. As for outsiders like the educated youth? They shouldn’t even dream of it.  

Yet now, with Wang Xiu’e’s help, his name might actually appear on next year’s Worker-Peasant-Soldier recommendation list.  

“Auntie, this is a big decision. Let me go back and think it over. I’ll give you an answer once I’ve made up my mind.”  

No sooner had Zhou Zhongwen finished speaking than a furious voice roared from the doorway:  

“Think it over, my ass! This lady would sooner marry a chicken or a dog than a scumbag like you who sweet-talks girls with nothing but his face!”  

Wang Xiu’e panicked when she saw her daughter storming in. She quickly stood up and hurried over.  

“Sweetheart, weren’t you sleeping? How are you awake already?”  

She had wanted to surprise her daughter, but not only had she messed things up—her daughter now looked furious.  

In the end, it was all her fault for being useless.  

Lin Wanwan said, “Mom, if I hadn’t come, were you and Dad planning to keep this from me forever?”  

Originally, she had been lying in bed asleep, but the system woke her up, insisting something was happening and urging her to come over.  

Thank goodness she did.  

Lin Wanwan was both furious and heartbroken—furious that Zhou Zhongwen, this scumbag who had caused the original host’s death, dared to come over for a meal, and heartbroken that Wang Xiu’e and her husband would go to such lengths for their daughter.  

She wasn’t entirely sure about the purchasing power of money in this era, but she knew three hundred yuan was a fortune in the 1970s.  

Not to mention the Phoenix-brand bicycle Wang Xiu’e had promised that scumbag.  

The old couple had scrimped and saved their whole lives, and now they were probably digging out their life savings for their daughter, with no thought for their own future.  

They were so foolish it was almost endearing. Lin Wanwan’s eyes reddened at the thought.  

Wang Xiu’e gently ruffled Lin Wanwan’s hair and said softly, “Sweetheart, haven’t you always wanted to marry Zhou Zhongwen? Your father and I had no other choice. But he’s already agreed to marry you. In a few days, I’ll ask someone to pick an auspicious date so we can hold the wedding.”  

“Mom, I don’t want to marry someone like him!”