Chapter 63

Fearing that they might not be comfortable sleeping, Guo Yumei specially offered her own room. She laid down thick layers of straw under the mat and took out clean bedding. Worried about mosquitoes, she even fumigated with mugwort twice before they went to sleep.

However, neither Xia Qingning nor Lu Jingzhe slept well that night.

It’s unclear if it was because they were in a new place or because they both had things on their minds.

They had to catch the bus back to the city, so Xia Qingning and Lu Jingzhe woke up early. But when they got up, they found everyone in the family was already awake and Guo Yumei had even prepared breakfast for them.

Xia Qingning finished packing and went out. As she walked through the main room, she saw a basket of loquats on the table. From the size of the fruit, she knew they were picked from the top of the tree.

She was about to go to the kitchen when she heard a strange woman’s voice coming from inside:

“Yumei, about your son Qing Shu’s marriage, I went to talk to the other side again yesterday. You won’t believe this, haha… They agreed!”

“Really?” Guo Yumei’s voice was full of joy. A moment later, she asked in confusion:

“Didn’t they say it was off yesterday?”

“It was off, but you know Qing Shu’s situation. I told them your daughter is doing well in the city.

She bought rice and noodles yesterday, and even gave away sugar by the handful. She’ll definitely help her family in the future. If their daughter marries into your family, she’ll have a good life. They thought about it and thought it was okay, so they agreed.”

This woman was the matchmaker from yesterday. She had introduced a girl to Xia Qing Shu who had suffered from smallpox as a child and had a face full of pockmarks.

Guo Yumei thought the girl was not even 5 feet tall and didn’t look good. She wouldn’t be picky about Xia Qing Shu, who was handsome but had a bad leg. But when she went to talk to the other side, they still rejected him because he was lame.

After all, in this era where people lived by work points, a lame man had difficulty supporting himself, let alone a wife and children.

She was originally there to reject Xia’s family, but she unexpectedly met Xia Qingning who was returning to her mother’s house. Seeing Xia Qingning well-dressed and generous, and the man who came back with her buying all kinds of food and necessities for Xia’s family, she became interested.

She then inquired around, learned about their family situation, and went to the other side’s house again. With her silver tongue, she finally persuaded them.

Guo Yumei’s smile froze for a moment when she heard this. She wanted to explain that they didn’t expect their daughter to help, and she had no obligation to do so. But thinking about how this marriage had finally turned around, she was afraid that if she said anything, it would be over.

Qing Shu was already past the age for marriage. If he didn’t get married and have children, he would be alone and helpless when he got old and couldn’t move. Thinking about this, she didn’t refute.

She thought that when the girl married into their family, she would treat her well, do more of the dirty and tiring work, and prevent her from suffering.

The matchmaker, seeing that she didn’t deny it, put on a smile and said:

“Since the other side agreed, you should show some sincerity. As the saying goes, a woman marries for clothes and food. If you want to marry a wife, you can’t be stingy. If you are, you’ll lose your wife.”

Guo Yumei naturally understood what she meant and quickly said:

“Okay, okay. We’ll do as we originally agreed. We’ll buy a bicycle and give 120 yuan as a dowry.”

Although Xia’s family had no external debts, they had no head of the household for years and had only relied on a widow and her daughter to earn work points. Their finances were very tight. This was all they could afford.

“Yumei, I told you, you can’t be stingy when marrying a wife. Buying a bicycle is fine, but the dowry needs to be increased.” The matchmaker grabbed Guo Yumei’s hand and blinked her sharp eyes.

Guo Yumei knew this marriage was hard-won. If it didn’t work out this time, Qing Shu might have to wait a long time to get married. She forced a smile and asked:

“How much do you think is appropriate?”

The matchmaker raised her hand, placed it in front of Guo Yumei, and spread out her five fingers, smiling:

“This much will do.”

Guo Yumei looked at her spread-out fingers, thinking it was an extra 50 yuan. She gritted her teeth in her heart. 50 yuan was 50 yuan. She nodded:

“Okay, we’ll add another 50 yuan.”

“What do you mean another 50 yuan? It’s 500 yuan in total.” The matchmaker, seeing that she had misunderstood, immediately shouted.

Guo Yumei suspected that she had heard wrong. In their village, the highest marriage dowry was only 200 or 300 yuan. She had never heard of anyone asking for 500 yuan as a dowry. She asked in confusion:

“Sister, don’t joke with me. Look at our family, how could we afford 500 yuan? Even if I sold my old bones, it wouldn’t be enough. You’re asking too much!”

“Well, if you don’t have it, find a way. A living person can’t be suffocated by urine, can they?” The matchmaker said.

“What can I do? Even if our whole family went to sell blood, we couldn’t raise 500 yuan!” Guo Yumei said dejectedly.

“Sell blood? Look at you, your whole family is so thin, you wouldn’t even get two ounces of oil if you threw you all in a pot…” The matchmaker said, her eyes suddenly turning, the word “sharp” was practically written on her face. She lowered her voice and whispered:

“Your son-in-law bought you a lot of things yesterday, right? They’re worth a lot of money. 500 yuan might be a lot for you, but it’s nothing to those rich people. Rich people care about face. As long as you ask him, he’ll definitely give it to you.”

Hearing this, Xia Qingning hesitated, turned around and went back to her room. She took the 500 yuan Lu Jingzhe had given her yesterday and put it together with the 400 yuan of the original owner, ready to give it to Guo Yumei.

She was supposed to give it to her yesterday, but she forgot after talking to Xia Qingcao and Xia Qingning last night. Her mood was complicated.

Xia Qingning still didn’t know Xia Qing Shu’s current relationship situation. She only knew from the original owner’s memories that her brother Xia Qing Shu had a childhood sweetheart he truly loved. She thought that if this money could help him marry his beloved, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

But when she went back to the kitchen with the money, she found that Guo Yumei and the matchmaker were gone. She searched everywhere but couldn’t find them. She was puzzled when she heard Guo Yumei’s hesitant voice coming from behind the yard:

“Jingzhe, there’s something I want to tell you… Mom, Mom wants to talk to you…”

She couldn’t be asking Lu Jingzhe for money, could she? Didn’t she know that if she did this, not only her daughter, but the whole Xia family would be looked down upon?

Xia Qingning’s emotions were complicated. The family bond she had just built seemed to be collapsing.

Perhaps Guo Yumei loved the original owner, but her son’s marriage was more important than her daughter.

Xia Qingning unconsciously frowned and quickly walked over.

She reached the entrance to the backyard and was about to speak, but she suddenly stopped. She heard Guo Yumei say to Lu Jingzhe in a very humble voice:

“I know you’ve been upset about what Qingning did, but it wasn’t her fault…” She paused for a moment and then continued:

“I told her to do it.”