Chapter 6 Ten Thousand Disagreements

“Mom, you don’t have to do that. I’ll just eat the same food as everyone else. Please don’t treat me differently tomorrow,” Jiang Peiyu said gently.

As she spoke, she turned her head and saw Jiang Qiyang, sitting next to her, staring longingly at the egg in her bowl, swallowing hard.

Smiling, Jiang Peiyu picked up one of the eggs and placed it into his bowl.
“Go ahead and eat it. Auntie can’t finish. You help me eat one, okay?”

“Thank you, Auntie!” Jiang Qiyang lowered his head happily and started gobbling it up.

Wow, this auntie was really the best! She gave him candy, and now she gave him an egg too. He had made up his mind: from now on, Auntie would rank first in his heart, Mommy second, and Grandma third.

Jiang Peiyu looked at the remaining egg in her bowl and thought to herself: Oh my god… Am I going to get struck by lightning for this? I’ve eaten five eggs in a single day!

Li Shuzhen looked at her daughter, who was so well-mannered and sensible, and couldn’t help the warm, proud smile that appeared on her face.
“Then tomorrow morning, Mama will cook you some porridge and roast a big, sweet sweet potato over the fire.”

“Okay! Thanks, Mom!” Jiang Peiyu’s eyes lit up. Roasted sweet potatoes—that’s amazing! They must be fragrant, sweet, and delicious!

Hearing the conversation between his grandma and little auntie, Jiang Qiyang quickly chimed in.
“Grandma, I want roasted sweet potato too! I want to eat the same thing as Auntie!”

His big, sparkling eyes blinked eagerly as he looked up at Li Shuzhen, full of longing.

Li Shuzhen gently patted his little head.
“Okay, Grandma will roast a big, sweet sweet potato for my precious grandson too, so you and Auntie can both eat until you’re full.”

Hearing that he could eat the same thing as his auntie, Jiang Qiyang was so excited he kicked his little legs under the table.

At that time, there weren’t really any nighttime activities—especially for those in the village who worked in the fields all day. After dinner, they would usually go to sleep early.

Before bed, Li Shuzhen heated a bucket of hot water and brought it to the small bathhouse in the backyard so Jiang Peiyu could take a bath.

The bathhouse was made from bamboo poles, one by one, and was connected to the house on one side and backed up to the mountain on the other. A ditch was dug near the mountain side to drain out the used water.

Lying in bed, Li Shuzhen couldn’t sleep. Her daughter’s question about the engagement kept playing in her mind. Next to her, Jiang Fugui had already started snoring. She instantly felt frustrated.

“Old man? Old man?” She pushed him twice, but got no response, so she slapped him.

“What, what? Huh?” Jiang Fugui jerked awake, startled, realizing his wife had woken him up. He laid back down, grumbling,
“You crazy woman, waking people up in the middle of the night. What’s wrong with you?”

“Sleep, sleep, sleep—sleep yourself to death! I’m asking you, now that that ungrateful brat ran off, what are we going to do about her engagement to the Lu family’s boy?”

At the mention of that, Jiang Fugui’s sleepiness vanished. He sighed, headache starting.

Call it off? That would be unfair to Brother Lu. But if they didn’t, the bride had run away. Sigh…

Back then, it was that ungrateful brat Xia Lizhu who took a liking to the Lu boy—tall, strong, handsome, a soldier, and a regiment commander no less. He earned over 200 yuan a month.

Sure, he had two kids, but they weren’t his biological ones. Just feeding them would be enough.

When she heard the village secretary was helping find a wife for his son, Xia Lizhu threw a tantrum at home and forced them to go propose on her behalf.

The village secretary’s wife saw that Xia Lizhu was a high school graduate and chubby. She figured in times like these, when people could barely eat, someone that fat must be lucky—surely she could bring prosperity to her husband.

And with a big butt and full chest, she looked like someone who could bear children and feed them well. After some thought, they agreed to the engagement.

The families finalized it with a generous bride price of 600 yuan. The plan was to hold the wedding when the son returned on leave in October.

It was the highest bride price in all the neighboring villages. Everyone had envied their family.

But just a few months after the engagement, that ungrateful brat stole money from the family—including the bride price—and ran away.

Now if they backed out of the engagement, they no longer had the money to repay. But if they didn’t, the wedding was only three months away, and they had no daughter to marry into the Lu family.

Suggesting that Jiang Peiyu, the recently returned and well-behaved college girl, go instead? Absolutely not. The old couple couldn’t bear the thought.

She had just returned, still soft-spoken and sweet, and everyone adored her. She was a thousand times better than that brat Xia Lizhu.

Besides, if she married over, she’d have to become a stepmother to two kids. No way. No matter how good other people’s children were, they’d never be the same as your own.

Sigh… What a mess. Whether we back out or not, our family will be disgraced in the village either way…

No matter what, Jiang Fugui felt trapped. The villagers would gossip no matter which choice they made.

“Old man, why don’t you go talk to the village secretary tomorrow? Let’s cancel the engagement. We still have over a hundred yuan. We can give an IOU for the rest.”

“You… This whole thing is already our fault. How can I face them and suggest repaying in installments?”

“Four or five hundred yuan isn’t a small amount—it’s like half a year’s salary for a city worker.”

“I don’t care! Don’t even think about sending my Peiyu to clean up after that brat’s mess! If you try, I’ll never forgive you!”

“If someone’s going to marry over there, let them find that ungrateful brat in the city. She stole the money! No way I’ll agree to let my Peiyu go!”

“She’s my daughter too! You think I’m okay with it? Who do you take me for?”

“Fine, fine, sleep. Tomorrow I’ll go talk to Brother Lu and see what they plan to do.”

A hundred meters away at the Lu family home, the old couple was also lying awake, worried sick.

They had finally arranged a marriage for their son, and with a decent family too. Even though their son was already a regiment commander and earned a good wage, it was still hard to find a match.

When the local girls heard he had two kids, they weren’t willing—even if the kids weren’t his. The rest were either divorced, widowed, or… less attractive.

Some even said they’d marry him—but only if he sent the kids away. Like their son would ever agree to that?

So when the Jiang family’s daughter said she was willing to marry him, they were delighted. They settled the engagement, even though the girl was chubby, lazy, and didn’t do much housework.

Still, she was a virgin, never married, which was better than marrying a widow.

But now, just two or three months before the wedding, the girl had run off—without a word—and even stole money from the family.

Lu Dacheng sighed heavily.
“If it doesn’t work out, maybe we should just cancel it. She ran off. There’s no point keeping the engagement.”

Wang Juying immediately objected.
“No! We can’t cancel! That’d be humiliating. It’s already hard enough for our son to find a wife. If we cancel this one, it’ll only get harder.”

“You want your son to end up marrying a widow? I’m not having that! No way we’re calling this off.”

“Besides, we didn’t do anything wrong. Why should we be the ones to cancel it?”

No matter what her husband said, Wang Juying firmly disagreed. In her mind, her son had to marry this wife—no matter what.