Second Marriage in the 1970s
Second Marriage in the 1970s Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The Zhao family has just left. Everyone in the Dayu village knows about Dong Jiahui’s blind date today.

The oldest son of Zhao Manzhu’s family in Shanghe Village, Zhao Donglin, is also divorced. The former wife was an educated young woman in the countryside. Somehow, she didn’t want to spend time with Zhao Donglin. She wanted to go back to the city. She ruthlessly left her two children. Zhao Donglin was also a capable master. He joined the army as a company commander when he was a teenager. A while ago, he transferred to his hometown and became their village branch secretary in Shanghe village and a monthly salary worth 62 yuan. “

Never underestimate the power of people’s gossip. The Zhao family just left Dong’s family. As soon as a person’s front foot was gone, the back foot was stripped to the bottom of the sky. They even inquired about the kind of people in their family, how much their salary was, how big their house was, and how many chickens and pigs they raised. They knew all about it.

“True or false? Can she find such a good condition even if she has been divorced? Isn’t the man hiding any hidden diseases?”

This is human nature. Most people do not want to see others doing well. Their hidden line is that divorced women can’t have such a market. Even if the man is a village party secretary, even if he gets a high salary, there must be something bad.

“I haven’t heard of the hidden disease. Just after someone passed by, I took a look at it from a distance. He was wearing a military uniform and looked very energetic. He was tall, at least six feet tall. “

A foot is thirty-three centimeters. Six feet is equivalent to a height of about 1.8 meters. This height is considered tall no matter in which era.

“Now Chen Guixiang is satisfied. After delaying up to this day, she really picked up a good one for her daughter.”

Zhao Donglin is a company level cadre in the army. He gets a salary of level 20. After he changes his job, he belongs to a township level section member. He is assigned by his superiors to Shanghe village as the village branch secretary. His job is to supervise the work of the village head and others on the village committee. He gets a salary of level 21.

The administrative salary of grade 21 is 62 yuan per month. 22 eggs and a kilogram of 72 pork can now be purchased for one yuan.

You can buy 11 catties of cornflour. You can buy 7 catties of white flour. You can buy a pound of soybeans with 4 taels. If it is white radish, you can buy more than a hundred catties.

Rural people envy the city people’s residence permits. With a city resident permit, you can go to the factory that hires workers. The most common salary of workers in the city was 36 yuan a month. The per capita living cost of urban residents was 8 yuan a month. If the cost of rural living were counted, it would be even less. Two or three yuan per capita was enough. After all, there is private land in rural areas, and vegetables and eggs can be easy to take care of. There is no need to spend extra money to buy it. The salary of 62 yuan was still available every month. No wonder many people in the village feel sour.

Since the afternoon, many people from the Dong family came to inquire about the marriage between the Dong family and the Zhao family.

“Guixiang, now you can raise your eyebrows. You found Jiahui someone who was better than the one before.”

Chen Guixiang was smiling. When she heard this, she didn’t look good. She felt that she didn’t know what to say. At this time, they still mentioned the Lu family. Isn’t this deliberately mentioning him to make her unhappy?

Before Chen Guixiang spoke, someone jumped out to change the topic and become a peacemaker.

“Hey, today is a good day. Let’s not mention the past. Let’s talk about the future.”

“That’s right, he is the village branch secretary.  He eats public food. Jiahui will follow him for the rest of her life.”

“I heard that the man has two children, how old are they?”

“A four-year-old, and a less than a year old. They are quite small.”

“Small is good. If Jiahui marries, the small can grow fond of her, but if they are big, they will remember their mother, then it will be hard. “

“This is good, regardless of whether Jiahui gives birth in the future or not. The man will not be afraid of not having any children anyway. “

Everyone said what you said and said what I said. Chen Guixiang sat with everyone and said a few words occasionally. They didn’t break up until the working time in the afternoon ended.


After Zhang Qiaoer came home, she took her son Zhao Donglin and Dong Jiahui’s birthday to calculate the date. She also asked whether they were suitable. Now the whole country is carrying out activities to break feudal superstition, so she secretly came to the door with egg white noodles.

“These two eight characters are calculated down to the top and bottom, a match made in heaven. The couple will be harmonious, everything will go smoothly. They can enjoy their life until old age, and their children and grandchildren will have great accomplishments.”

As soon as Zhang Qiaoer heard that the two people’s eight characters coincided, she was happy and couldn’t close her mouth. She didn’t pay much attention to the words “more children and more blessings” and “full house of children and grandchildren”. She returned home with a good day calculated for the wedding.

There are good days in September, October and December of the lunar calendar. because New Year’s Day is early this year. On January 30, after New Year’s Day, is New Year’s Eve. In the twelfth lunar month, she is busy celebrating the new year, and the weather is too cold. Therefore, Zhang Qiaoer first said no to the day in December of the lunar calendar, and she is struggling to choose from the other two.

“Mom, why don’t you ask my big brother’s opinion? If he wants to marry a wife early, then you’ll choose the one at the front. If he’s willing to wait for more, you’ll choose the one at the back.”

The ninth month of the lunar calendar is also known as the tenth month of the solar calendar. The weather is not too hot or too cold, it’s just the right season. It starts to get cold in November. Zhao Caixia got married in winter. That’s a pain, so she feels that if she can get married early, she will definitely marry early. The newlyweds don’t have to suffer. Those who come home to help make mats don’t have to suffer. Even the family don’t have to wash the pot and dishes with cold water.

“Ask your brother. Ask his opinion. He must be eager for his wife to come early.”

Zhao Caixia saw that her mother didn’t smile reluctantly. She peeled peanuts in her hand and asked curiously, “Mom, I think you’re very satisfied with this new wife. Why did Meixiang say you didn’t agree before?”

Zhang Qiaoer put down the red paper with the wedding date in her hand. She sighed and told her eldest daughter about her last visit to Dayu Village.

“I think this daughter has a good temperament. She doesn’t look bad; she also quite knows how to take care of children. What do you think is the reason your brother remarried? Didn’t he just want to live a good life and take care of his children? He chose the bride himself. It doesn’t matter if I stubbornly disagreed with it. In your brother’s heart, he couldn’t say to me that he really blamed me for what happened to Wang Mei.  If I don’t follow his lead this time, with his personality, it’s impossible to find another wife in this life.

Zhao Caixia crushed the peeled peanuts and fed them to Yingbao. While feeding her niece, she couldn’t help comforting her mother.

“Mom, do not think so much. Donglin can’t blame you. No one knows that Wang Mei was like that. How sweet her mouth will be when we just meet her. It’s like touching honey. Don’t say that you judged wrongly because my judgment was also wrong. People are subject to change. She lived in the city. She doesn’t want to live in the countryside. Her wanting to return to the city is normal. I have never been to the big city, but I have been to our county. I also envy the people living in the county. For people in the county, when they go out, there are highways, shops, markets and cinemas. We don’t have these when we go to the countryside. I’ve never thought of Wang Mei’s return to town. Although Donglin lost his wife, he was now going to remarry. It’s just that the poor children have become motherless. “

Caixia touched Yingbao’s head. Zhang Qiaoer and Zhao Meixiang took good care of Yingbao. Rice paste, egg soup and white flour steamed bread were soaked in sugar water. The food was definitely counted in the village. Thanks to Zhao Donglin’s high salary, otherwise she couldn’t afford to eat like this.

Zhao Donglin’s monthly salary was still given to the family. Zhao Caixia knows that her mother has a lot of money in her hand. For example, when she goes back to her mother’s house, her mother doesn’t take fewer things for her. Daya and Er Pang like to come to their grandma’s house the most. They knew that in Grandpa’s house, there was a lot of food.

Before, her mother lived quite frugal. Now I don’t know if she wants to open it. She is willing to take money out to buy food for the children.

“That’s the bride price for the Dong family?”

66 yuan. You can buy two bodies from head to toe, plus 50 pounds of cornmeal, 20 pounds of white flour, 10 pounds of brown sugar, 10 pounds of fruit sugar, five large front doors, 200 eggs, and two beds of cotton wool.

The reason for adding so much food is that the Dong family said that they would not keep the bride price money and let Dong Jiahui bring it all. In addition, the Dong family also gave Jiahui a bed, a wardrobe and a sewing machine.

The sewing machine was added by Chen Guixiang. In the past six months, Dong Jiahui earned some money by sewing and mending clothes for people, which was saved by Chen Guixiang in addition to the usual things for the family. The money was not much, but it was dozens of yuan. Chen Guixiang loves her daughter and wants to add some money to buy her a sewing machine so that he can continue to do some private work and earn some money when she comes to her mother-in-law’s house.

Only when a woman has money can she have a hardback. She is afraid that her daughter-in-law will be bullied in her mother-in-law’s house. Although the Zhao family looks good now, it will take a long time to see the hearts of the people.

For Chen Guixiang’s proposal, most of the Dong family have no opinion. Although this is her second marriage, Chen Guixiang uses her own money to buy a dowry for her daughter. On the other hand, Dong Jiahui looks for a good family. For cadres in the village, you can guarantee that when you can’t use other people’s relationships. Human relations and society, many people have many ways, and those with a clear mind won’t care about this petty profit.

“When your sister gets married, we have to paste it upside down if we don’t make any money. Is there such a girl in our countryside?”

The son of a rural family is valuable, and most of the bride price of a girl’s daughter will be deducted by her mother’s family, even if she doesn’t accompany her. It’s good to go to my sister-in-law. My mother-in-law not only said that my sister-in-law should take everything to the Zhao family, but also bought her something else: a bed, a wardrobe, and a sewing machine. Even if my sister-in-law has dozens of yuan at her mother’s, the rest will cost more than a hundred yuan, right?

Liu Xiuyun doesn’t have a problem with her sister-in-law. She’s just felt unbalanced.

“Other people’s families are other people’s families, and our families are our families. Are you happy that your daughter is not a human being? You are still a woman. Why should women make things difficult for women? “

    “The other family is someone else’s family; our family is our family. Will you be unhappy if an unmarried girl finds someone? You are still a woman. Why should women make things difficult for fellow women? “

This was said by Dong Jiahui. The Dong family thought it was quite funny and often joked about this sentence. Dong Aimin couldn’t help but laugh when he said this to Liu Xiuyun.

“What are you talking about? I just muttered, and it became difficult?”

Liu Xiuyun snorted and threw away a dress. After her husband’s interruption, most of her discomfort has dispersed, and the rest can only endure. The key is that this idea must not be known by the mother-in-law, otherwise, she has to say how she was not sensible and united.

“If you are a wife of our Dong family, you have to abide by the rules of our Dong family. We live together like a production team. We can’t have the idea that you eat more and I eat less. If you think you can’t eat enough, you can eat hard. Our whole family was not tight on food, so they ate their fill. If you’re not hungry, and you’re just unhappy from watching others eat more than yourself. That’s your own problem. You should reflect and correct yourself. “

As for such a person, how can she face the people after being reprimanded by her mother-in-law? Liu Xiuyun was quite afraid of their own Mother-in-law, although her mother-in-law looked quite amiable and didn’t have the temperament to make things difficult every day, she could make people dizzy by talking and doing things one by one.

What’s more, every time she was taught by her mother-in-law, Liu Xiuyun felt that what the mother-in-law said was particularly right and reasonable, which caused her own mental entanglement and collapse. She knew she was wrong intellectually, but she couldn’t control her thoughts. Sometimes she felt that she would get schizophrenia.

stillnotlucia[Translator]

( •̀ ω •́ )✧ Hi~ Lucia here~ I love translating 60s-90s and Ancient Times themed novels! If you have any recommendations for me to translate or pick up, feel free to comment below~ Oh, If you like my translation, please consider buying me a coffee 🍵☕

9 Comments
  1. 707 has spoken 11 months ago

    i like how the other character describe as humanly, they are not hateful and all their jealousy is understandable. Liu xiuyun is funny 😂

    Reply
  2. chi has spoken 1 year ago

    lmao she’s funny What I like about this character is she’s human She’s not overly hateful but she has her own negatives and conflicts And I can respect that this is how I want family dramas to be like not over the top soap opera

    Reply
  3. Danger.cat.strikes has spoken 2 years ago

    I don’t know. I think if I lived in a family situation where I was expected to hand over my money to the mother-in-law to go towards all the family expenses. And I saw that my sister-in-law was divorced. That my mother-in-law was spending extra money to make sure she had nice food to eat and things to do. And then my mother-in-law was spending an exorbitant amount of money to give her extra Dowry and extra furniture and stuff. Meanwhile I was just a regular working family member throwing all my money at this family unit who spent all of its funds spoiling its daughter then I would be a little bit bitter and pissed off too. LOL

    Reply
    • daereecfem has spoken 8 months ago

      exactly, she is not being unreasonable. her feelings are valid. the narrative maybe biased but the daughter in law worked hard and farming with so little tools is not easy. but the author does mention that the money is from the mother and also mc has earned a lot through sewing. hopefully that meant none of the money was from the other siblings’ families.

      Reply
  4. Miaw has spoken 2 years ago

    I have a friend like this sister-in-law. She knows her thoughts are toxic. She doesn’t do anything bad but she has a lot of complaints and always concerns about gains and losses. I told her being aware of her flaws make her better than other people who are in denial that their thoughts are wrong.

    Reply
  5. sona has spoken 3 years ago

    Glad to see the wedding rolling around soon.

    Reply
    • sona has spoken 3 years ago

      anyhoo between these two the second paragraph has the correct pronouns, I really hope you don’t mind me pointing these out

      As such an adult, how can he see the lesson of being so faced by his mother-in-law? Anyway, Liu Xiuyun is very afraid of her own mother-in-law. Although my mother-in-law looks very kind and doesn’t have the temperament to make things happen every day, she can make people dizzy by talking and doing things one by one.

      As for such a person, how can she face people after being taught so in person by her mother-in-law? Liu Xiuyun was quite afraid of their own Mother-in-law, although her mother-in-law looked quite amiable and didn’t have the temperament to make things difficult every day, she could make people dizzy by talking and doing things one by one.

      Reply
      • notlucia has spoken 3 years ago

        I really need to go back and edit everything 🤣. Thank you again for your help 💛

        Reply
  6. chinesefanreader has spoken 3 years ago

    Thanks for the chapter 🙏

    Reply

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