Chapter 74: Engagement

Seeing Jiang Liyun and the others approaching, the Jiang Lame couple was very happy, and Feng Yi also smiled, saying, “Liyun, sister!”

“What are we having for lunch today?” Jiang Liyun asked.

Feng Yi replied, “Braised pork ribs, stir-fried vegetables, and seaweed bone soup.”

Jiang Liyun glanced and noticed a pot of ribs, apparently from the neck of a pig, including some rib bones.

Twenty or thirty years later, rib bones from pork ribs became more expensive than pork meat. However, at this time, it was the opposite, and the ribs from the pig’s neck were even cheaper.

The bones in the seaweed soup were flat bones with no meat on them, something nobody would buy, often given away as extras by meat vendors.

Although rib bones were cheap, the taste after braising was still excellent!

In the past, during meals, Jiang Liping would definitely pick the meatier pieces, but today, with Sun Jinshan present, she didn’t do that. Instead, Feng Yi picked some meatier pieces and handed them to Jiang Liyun.

Sun Jinshan immediately followed suit, then asked Jiang Liyun, “Liyun, how do you know English?”

These were words spoken by a foreigner, and Jiang Liyun actually understood them?

Jiang Liping also looked at Jiang Liyun immediately.

Before, when Jiang Liyun was negotiating the contract with Director Wang, she was truly amazed.

She thought Jiang Liyun’s performance at the feed mill was already good enough, but today, Jiang Liyun’s performance was even better than when she worked at the feed mill!

And English… When she was in junior high school, they didn’t teach English, and she didn’t know it at all. How did Jiang Liyun learn?

“I borrowed some books and learned a bit when I worked at the sofa factory before,” Jiang Liyun said.

During the years she worked at the sofa factory, Jiang Liping and Jiang Lihai rarely came home, so they didn’t know the specifics of her situation.

“Do you need someone to teach you this?” Jiang Lihai asked.

“For speaking English, yes, you need someone to teach. For just recognition, memorising the words is enough,” Jiang Liyun explained.

She had very few occasions of conversing in English in her past life, mainly using English for online communication, so she wasn’t good at speaking, only writing.

Of course, learning English in the present era was much better, with various resources available, making it possible for her to understand.

Jiang Lihai found it somewhat unbelievable to learn directly without someone teaching, but then he thought of Feng Yi.

He was well aware of Feng Yi’s learning speed. Those lessons, Feng Yi could read a few times and memorise them!

His sister has been more talented than Feng Yi since childhood, with a stronger learning ability. Is this normal?

He always thought of himself as very intelligent, believing that if he were born into a good family, he would have limitless prospects. But now, looking at it, he’s actually quite ordinary…

As Jiang Lihai thought this way, Jiang Liping also began to question life.

She had always been unwilling. She was beautiful and intelligent, and very few people in their village could make it to junior high school, but she did.

When she attended junior high school in town, she always felt she was smarter than the other girls in her class. It was just that she didn’t have as good study conditions.

All of this made her very dissatisfied with her family.

But now… She felt she couldn’t surpass her sister, who was even smarter than her.

As for Sun Jinshan… He used to have the idea of breaking off from Jiang Liyun to do business alone, but now he no longer thinks about that.

How should he put it? He really didn’t understand these things.

After having dinner, the group returned to Hongxing Township and signed contracts with some chicken farmers.

The chicken farmers bought chicks and fed them, raised the chickens, and then sold them back. They didn’t have to worry about finding buyers. This was a good deal, and almost all the chicken farmers were willing to do it.

However, they didn’t personally approach each household. In the end, they just spread the word. If anyone wanted to raise chickens, they could go to the Jiang family and find Jiang Liyun.

On January 29th, Jiang Liyun stopped going out and instead helped Jiang Lihai pack up the new house.

The house hadn’t been painted yet, but the doors and windows were ready, making it liveable.

In this era, many people who built houses didn’t have money to paint them. In the countryside, you could often see houses with unpainted red bricks.

This time, both she and Jiang Lihai were engaged. They planned to hold the engagement banquet in the new house because their old house was too rundown.

“After the banquet is set up tomorrow, Feng Yi and I will come to stay here!” Jiang Lihai really liked this new house and couldn’t wait to kiss the walls.

“It’s nice,” Jiang Liyun said.

The house wasn’t dirty; it just needed a simple cleaning, but they had to purchase some things.

Cookware, seasonings, peanuts, and melon seeds… Jiang Liyun made a list for Jiang Lihai to buy in town.

As for her marriage to Feng Yi, Jiang Liyun had already discussed it with him. Feng Yi’s intention was to marry into her family.

Feng Yi had no emotional attachment to his own family.

Naturally, Jiang Liyun wouldn’t object. In fact, the entire engagement was organized by their family, and in the eyes of others, it was more like Feng Yi marrying into the family.

The news about Jiang Lihai and Jiang Liyun’s engagement had long been known in the village. As for Feng Yi marrying into the family, the villagers also knew.

The villagers always thought that Feng Yi was going to be a son-in-law—tthe Feng family wouldn’t spend money to find a wife for Feng Yi. If Feng Yi wanted to get married, he could only marry into another family.

Even some families with only daughters had considered proposing a marriage alliance with Feng Yi. However, when they approached the Feng family, they were declined; at that time, the Feng family wanted Feng Yi to work for them for a few more years.

“Feng Yi is making money now, right? I thought he would build his own house and marry Jiang Liyun, but he’s still marrying into her family.”

“Why would Feng Yi marry into the Jiang family when they’re so poor?”

“The Jiang family used to be poor, but aren’t they better off now? Jiang Liyun can earn money.”

“That’s true, but don’t they still not have a house after getting married?”

…

The villagers discussed it, but as Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi had been a couple for a long time, there wasn’t much to say.

However, some well-meaning individuals went to talk to Zhou Qiaoxia and said, “Your son Feng Yi is getting married tomorrow. Are you going to the Feng family for the banquet?”

Zhou Qiaoxia remained silent with a cold face. They had learned about Feng Yi’s engagement with Jiang Liyun from the villagers, not from their own family. The Jiang family hadn’t informed them about it in the first place!

This was simply too much!

“Earlier, the Li family wanted to bring Feng Yi in as a son-in-law. You should have agreed. If you agreed, you could have gotten a decent dowry. Now, it seems you’ve gained nothing,” the person continued.

She came specifically to enjoy watching Zhou Qiaoxia’s misfortune.

Zhou Qiaoxia’s expression became even more unpleasant.

“If I were you, I’d definitely go to the Jiang family and demand an explanation!” the person instigated. “Jiang Liyun is over there in the new house. You can go find her.”

“Get out of my house if you’re just a stray chicken making noise!” Zhou Qiaoxia finally got angry and drove the person away.

Jiang Liyun didn’t take her seriously, but Zhou Qiaoxia was indeed upset. Originally, she planned to cause some trouble.

However, the day before yesterday, Jiang Liyun came to see her and brought the contracts for the chicken farmers to sign.

If they didn’t cause trouble, Jiang Liyun would treat them equally and sign contracts with them. If they caused trouble, Jiang Liyun wouldn’t sign the contracts with them.

They still had over a hundred chickens, and they had bought so many things for chicken farming. Naturally, they wanted to continue raising chickens to recover their losses.

Even if they didn’t sign, if they caused trouble and went to the Jiang family, there were so many people with the surname Jiang in the village, and many were waiting to sell their chickens to Jiang Liyun. They wouldn’t benefit from causing trouble!

They could only admit defeat and pretend that Feng Yi had nothing to do with them.

Jiang Liyun even told them that she would move Feng Yi’s household registration away after some time!

Thinking about this, Zhou Qiaoxia felt uncomfortable.

Old man Feng, on the other hand, had already figured it out.

The wages Feng Yi turned in for the past few years were enough to offset the cost of his upbringing in the Feng family when he was young.

Back then, Feng Yi also helped with the household chores.

So, he wasn’t actually at a loss. It’s better to consider Feng Yi as if he never existed.

If they really caused trouble, they wouldn’t gain anything.

The Feng family’s affairs were quite manageable for Jiang Liyun.

In fact, cutting ties with Feng Yi and the Feng family was the best outcome.

Feng Yi did experience a lot of grievances in the Feng family, primarily because of Zhou Qiaoxia. The old man and even the elder and second elder of the Feng family had no blood relationship with Feng Yi, so they had no obligation to treat him well.

But Zhou Qiaoxia, no matter what, was Feng Yi’s mother.

Since Feng Yi had no intention of seeking revenge, it was best to leave things as they were and treat Zhou Qiaoxia as an ordinary woman in the village.

Jiang Liyun had made many preparations that day, and the next day was her engagement day.

Normally, engagements are arranged by parents, and the couple just needs to show up, but Jiang’s parents were unreliable.

Moreover, their dumpling shop was open as usual that day.

Early in the morning, Jiang Liyun went to town with Jiang Lihai.

They had bought some things yesterday but not everything, so today they needed to complete the purchases.

After returning from town, they went to borrow tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks, and they organised the ingredients needed for the banquet later.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to handle everything themselves—Jiang Xiaogu, Jiang Ershu, and Jiang Eryi came to help.

Since Jiang Liyun opened the shop and didn’t invite Jiang Ershu’s son and daughter-in-law, Jiang Eryi has been holding a grudge against Jiang Liyun. Every time she saw Jiang Liyun, her eyes and nose seemed off, and she would make some sarcastic remarks.

Even Jiang Ershu wasn’t very happy and complained to Jiang Qiazi a few times.

However, despite all this, when Jiang Liyun got engaged, both of them still came to help.