Should they cry themselves to death or drink themselves to death?
Li Fengmei couldn’t quite understand Liu Yong and Tang Hong’en’s emotional state. Her generation typically had many siblings, and rural child-rearing was particularly rough. Parents exhausted all their energy just trying to feed their children – where would they find the emotional capacity to feel sad about their daughter’s marriage?
At least when Li Fengmei first got married, her father wasn’t sad at all. He was probably even happy – with her married off, there would be one less mouth to feed, reducing his burden! When she married Liu Yong the second time, her father had already passed away, so he couldn’t express any opinion.
That’s why Li Fengmei couldn’t personally relate to why Liu Yong and Tang Hong’en were drinking themselves drunk.
“Is it necessary? Xiaolan just received a ring from Zhou Cheng, they haven’t even gotten their marriage certificate yet!” Li Fengmei muttered.
Even if they had gotten their marriage certificate, it wouldn’t be anything special. Don’t all girls get married when they grow up? Xiaolan was born in ’65, turning 22 this year. It was only because she was ambitious enough to attend university and start a business. If she were still in the countryside, a 22-year-old woman would have been married long ago, probably with children running around already.
Li Fengmei didn’t dare mock her brother-in-law the mayor. She could only carry Liu Yong back home and wait until he sobered up the next day to tease him properly.
Liu Yong responded with embarrassed anger: “You don’t understand anything!”
“Oh, so you understand everything…” Li Fengmei tried to find an ally, turning to look at her son on the sofa. “Taotao, tell me, isn’t your father being ridiculous? Just hearing that your Cousin Xiaolan might get married, he went and got himself drunk from distress!”
Liu Zitao jumped up from the sofa in shock, no longer interested in watching TV: “Sister Xiaolan is getting married? To whom? To Brother-in-law Zhou?”
“Silly child, of course, it’s to Zhou Cheng, but they’re not married yet!”
Liu Zitao breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good, you scared me.”
Li Fengmei was puzzled. “Don’t you really like Zhou Cheng? You used to insist on writing him letters, and he even gave you that bullet shell toy gun that you showed off at school for so long.”
He used to call him brother-in-law so readily, why the long face now? Men’s hearts were hard to guess, and children’s thoughts weren’t any easier to understand.
“That’s different… anyway, it’s better not to get married.”
A 10-year-old child was different from a 6-year-old. While he still liked the bullet shell toy gun, he wasn’t as obsessed with it as before. He still liked Brother-in-law Zhou, but wasn’t it fine for him to just date Sister Xiaolan? Why did they need to get married?
Unable to handle her husband, Li Fengmei tried to get answers from Liu Zitao. After promising numerous toys, Liu Zitao finally opened up to his mother: “My classmate said when his sister got married, she went to live in someone else’s house and became part of their family. I don’t want Sister Xiaolan to go live with Brother-in-law Zhou… what if his family doesn’t feed her and beats her?”
So that was what he was thinking.
Li Fengmei thought to herself, not feeding Xiaolan and beating her. How could the Zhou family possibly do such things? No matter who Xiaolan married, she wouldn’t end up living such a life.
But seeing Liu Zitao hanging his head with reddened eyes, Li Fengmei couldn’t bring herself to say those words. She hugged her son, her heart melting: “Silly child, your cousin is so capable. Besides, she’s not even married yet. You’re worried about everything.”
Though Xia Xiaolan didn’t spend much time with Liu Zitao, in his heart, he and Sister Xiaolan were family. They didn’t see each other often because he had to go to school, and Sister Xiaolan had her studies too.
But marrying Zhou Cheng meant becoming part of someone else’s family. What if someone bullied Sister Xiaolan? Would she come back to tell him? His classmate’s sister got married and would cry secretly when she came home.
Liu Zitao didn’t want to see Sister Xiaolan cry secretly.
He looked down at his arms and legs. His classmate said he couldn’t beat up his sister’s husband, and Liu Zitao felt he couldn’t beat up Brother-in-law Zhou either.
Ah, couldn’t Sister Xiaolan wait for him? Wait until he grew up to get married? He would drink more milk and eat more food to grow big and strong.
What started as just Liu Yong sighing turned into father and son both sitting on the sofa sighing together.
Li Fengmei was at her wit’s end. This wouldn’t do, she couldn’t handle this. Ah Fen was right to call Xiaolan back!
…
When Xia Xiaolan returned to Pengcheng from Beijing, nothing had changed except for the diamond ring on her finger.
She couldn’t stop admiring it but didn’t realize that Liu Yong, who came to pick her up at the airport, found it irritating no matter how he looked at it.
Even her cousin came to pick her up.
Liu Zitao hung onto Xia Xiaolan’s arm, also staring at the ring.
His mother had told him it was an engagement ring.
It was pretty sparkly indeed.
But glass marbles were sparkly too, and even bigger than this! If Sister Xiaolan liked sparkly things, he could give her a whole bunch of marbles!
Liu Zitao wanted to slip the diamond ring off Xia Xiaolan’s finger. Without the ring, would Sister Xiaolan not have to get married?
“You like this thing?” Xia Xiaolan extended her hand, but Liu Zitao shook his head vigorously.
This child was really strange – if he didn’t like it, why did he keep looking at it?
Because Xia Xiaolan kept such a close eye on her ring, the little would-be ring thief never found his opportunity. Liu Zitao remained gloomy the entire way.
Back in Pengcheng, Xia Xiaolan faced a three-way interrogation.
Tang Hong’en and Liu Fen hadn’t come to pick her up; they were at home preparing dinner.
“It’s just Zhou Cheng proposing, Uncle, you don’t need to be so serious, right?” Xia Xiaolan felt a bit nervous.
Liu Yong chuckled, “You can go tell that to your Uncle Tang.”
Ugh—
She was wrong, she should have brought Zhou Cheng back to Pengcheng with her!
When they arrived at the family quarters, Liu Fen and Tang Hong’en had already prepared all the dishes.
Liu Yong and Tang Hong’en were clearly on the same side. He even gave Tang Hong’en a meaningful look, as if to say, “I’ve brought her back, the rest is up to you.”
Tang Hong’en was too composed. From when Xia Xiaolan entered until they finished dinner, he didn’t say a single word about it.
He acted as if he hadn’t even noticed the diamond ring on Xia Xiaolan’s finger, which only made her feel more guilty.
After dinner, everyone sat on the sofa watching TV. Xia Xiaolan obediently washed some fruit and brought it out: “Mom, Uncle Tang, Uncle, Aunt, I have something to tell you. Zhou Cheng proposed to me.”
She confidently displayed the ring on her hand: “This is the engagement ring he put on my finger.”
Tang Hong’en glanced at her.
“So you just accepted it? Did you discuss when to get married?”
Don’t say yes!
Li Fengmei frantically winked, warning Xia Xiaolan not to admit to anything.
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t stupid.
Liu Fen had already told her secretly in the kitchen that after learning about Zhou Cheng’s proposal, Old Tang and Liu Yong had gotten drunk together.
Xia Xiaolan felt her heart fill with warmth.
The most fortunate thing about her second life wasn’t catching opportunities to make money, but having so many caring family members!
“We haven’t discussed that yet. We need to wait for you and Mom to meet with Zhou Cheng’s family to discuss it.”
No matter how free-spirited and willful Xia Xiaolan lived her life, she knew how to compromise when it came to family members who cared about her.
Tang Hong’en and Liu Yong exchanged glances, both visibly relieved.
“So it’s still early then.”
“That’s right, Xiaolan should focus on her studies now. Besides studies, she has business matters to handle – what’s the rush to get married?”
“Does Zhou Cheng have leave during Spring Festival this year?”
Tang Hong’en and Liu Yong had developed some unexplained tacit understanding. Xia Xiaolan secretly felt nervous for Zhou Cheng – by accepting this ring, she had stirred up a hornet’s nest!