Chapter 4: The Qian Family’s Lunchtime Uproar!

He was deliberately trying to disgust Zhao Qianqian.

Wasn’t this vain, status-chasing woman obsessed with money?

He had given Qian Sanya a bride price of 300 yuan but was giving her only 50.

By comparison, it would slap her face—hard!

As for the wedding banquet, he didn’t intend to spend a single extra cent either.

He would just use the few jin of meat coupons and sugar his father had mailed and casually put together a few tables.

That would make Zhao Qianqian lose face and feel utterly frustrated!

Because after being with her for nearly a year, Zeng Cheng knew all too well that Zhao Qianqian was a woman who cared desperately about appearances and show.

No extra bride price.

No additional purchases.

It would amount to him getting married without spending anything of his own.

Thinking of this, the heart that had felt stabbed in the back by Zhao Qianqian finally felt a bit better.

To be honest, in their day-to-day dealings, he did prefer the beautiful, flower-like Zhao Qianqian.

But he had truly never expressed love.

It really had been Zhao Qianqian who took the initiative to seduce him—throwing flirtatious glances from time to time, then pretending to twist her ankle and falling into his arms.

Once, she even pretended she was about to fall into the river, grabbed his pants, and touched him…

Thinking of that, Zeng Cheng still flushed to this day.

Because it was that time—when she grabbed his pants—that he had several spring dreams that very night, and the sheets weren’t clean.

Speaking of which—

The 1,000 yuan Old Qian held had been part of the assets his maternal grandfather had given him. Keeping it on himself was like holding a red-hot potato, so he’d handed it to Old Qian for safekeeping.

That way, it not only helped him transfer the assets, it also ensured Old Qian would take even better care of him during his years in the countryside.

As for the few jin of meat and sugar for the banquet, he usually had a big meal whenever his father mailed things over.

He could also eat well at his own banquet.

So he really wouldn’t lose out!

After all, his father mailed him 50 yuan and some coupons every month.

When he first came down to the countryside, besides giving Old Qian 1,000 yuan, he had brought 600 yuan on him and some coupons, and his father kept mailing things monthly.

So he currently had over a thousand yuan in cash!

But for marrying Zhao Qianqian, he wouldn’t spend a single penny.

Who told this money-grubbing woman to scheme against him?

Hearing what Zeng Cheng said, both Qian Sanya and Old Qian were very pleased, as if the breath they’d been holding down was finally let out smoothly.

No matter how much face they gave Zhao’s mother, having such a good son-in-law snatched away still felt awful!

But the fact that Zeng Cheng was willing to give Qian Sanya such a high bride price yet was unwilling to give Zhao Qianqian anything—and even handled the banquet perfunctorily—was, invisibly, a boost to the pride of that father and daughter pair.

Zhao’s mother and Zhao Qianqian’s two older brothers were immediately displeased.

It was bad enough that the bride price was so much less than Sanya’s—why was even the wedding banquet being handled so casually?

Forget that Zeng Cheng was a well-off educated youth from the city; even people from Qianjia Village wouldn’t hold a wedding so perfunctorily.

With so little time, nothing prepared, and a wedding consisting of only a few jin of meat—who exactly was he looking down on?

But before Zhao’s mother and the two older brothers could speak, Zhao Qianqian stopped them. “I agree.”

The reason she agreed so readily was that she didn’t want any more twists to arise with her marriage to Zeng Cheng.

After all, the immediate gains weren’t important; the gains to come were what truly mattered.

Besides, she had stolen her stepsister’s man—if they made the wedding too grand, Old Qian and her stepsister’s family wouldn’t be happy.

This was better.

First, it would let Old Qian and Qian Sanya feel a bit more comfortable.

Second, it would let Zeng Cheng vent his anger—after all, she had indeed dumped all the dirty water on him earlier.

Sure enough, as soon as Zhao Qianqian spoke, Zeng Cheng looked at her in disbelief, even surprised.

He had thought that this vain, status-seeking woman would surely make a fuss.

Then he could pretend to compromise a little.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have 300 yuan; he just didn’t want to give it too easily!

In short, even if he gave it, he wasn’t going to let Zhao Qianqian feel too good about it.

But seeing her swallow her grievances like this actually stirred a trace of pity in him. “It seems she’s not only after my money and house—maybe she has the tiniest bit of feeling for me.”

Since her daughter had agreed, Zhao’s mother couldn’t say much more.

With that, the matter came to a temporary close, and the onlookers dispersed.

Zeng Cheng left them with one line: “Tomorrow I’ll pick you up to get the certificate, then we’ll go pick up what my father mailed me.”

Uh…

Originally, Zeng Cheng was supposed to go to the Qian house for lunch.

But after what had happened, he really didn’t have the face to go eat there.

Whenever he met Old Qian’s and Qian Sanya’s eyes, he would feel guilty!

Luckily, he still had some wheat milk essence and biscuits at home.

He could make do.

This afternoon he would go to work and, while he was at it, ask the brigade leader for marriage leave.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that he came from the capital and didn’t really understand farm work; since coming down to the countryside, he had never taken a single day off.

At the beginning, when he was first sent down, it was also when his maternal grandfather had just been sent to the cowshed.

He was still young then and scared of being implicated.

So he worked like mad.

He wanted to show a good performance and leave a good impression among the educated youth.

Unimaginable as it might be, a young master from the capital like him could earn four to five work points a day.

Of course, five work points would be considered slacking and cheating by the men in the village.

But many city educated youths who came down with him could only earn two or three work points per day!

In comparison, Zeng Cheng was fairly diligent among the educated youths.

And that was in the early days.

Now, he could earn six to seven work points a day, and if he pushed himself, he could earn ten.

However, these days he only earned six work points daily and didn’t want to do more.

He wasn’t short of money or food.

Back then, he had worked so hard purely out of fear of being implicated by his maternal grandfather’s family.

Now that everything had settled, he felt like he didn’t have much reason to work so hard anymore!

At the Qian household—

Although matters concerning Zhao Qianqian, Zeng Cheng, and Qian Sanya had reached a conclusion in front of outsiders, they weren’t over within the Qian family.

For instance, when the family went to eat lunch, Qian Sanya looked at Zhao Qianqian with open hostility—her nose not a nose, her eyes not eyes.

When she passed by Zhao Qianqian, she deliberately bumped into her.

Zhao’s mother had quick reflexes and grabbed her, or she would have fallen again.

This move completely infuriated Zhao the Elder and Zhao the Second.

Earlier, when they were outside, it had been Zhao’s mother who kept stopping them. Plus, since their family’s Qianqian had indeed wronged Qian Sanya by snatching her fiancé, they held themselves back.

But now that the matter was settled, and they had even taken 150 yuan from their sister’s bride price to compensate Qian Sanya—what more did Qian Sanya want?

“Since my little sister has already compensated Sanya, how are we settling the score for her hitting my sister?” Zhao the Elder struck first.

“Yeah, she slammed my sister’s head against the wall—she almost died,” Zhao the Second chimed in. “If my sister hadn’t been lucky, someone would be taking a trip to the station right now.”

Hearing “the station,” Qian Sanya shivered.

She was young and inexperienced; a little scare from others was enough to frighten her.

At the time, she had truly been so enraged that she hadn’t thought about the possibility of causing a death!

Old Qian came out then to smooth things over. “It wouldn’t go as far as a life being lost. Sanya was just furious at the time. How about this—I’ll put up 20 yuan to help Qianqian recover her health.”

Zhao the Elder and Zhao the Second still wanted to say more.

But they were stopped once again by Zhao’s mother.

Seeing this, Zhao Qianqian once more concluded that Zhao’s mother was unquestionably a soft pushover.