Chapter 5
Wei Haibo thought Lin Xiujuan had lost her mind. Suggesting his mother marry Old Niu the Third? His mother wasn’t single.
“Why not? To put it bluntly, your father-in-law isn’t your real dad. Marrying him was a marriage, and marrying Old Niu would be a marriage too. If we marry Ye Qingzhi off to him, how much benefit can Old Niu give us? Half a catty of meat? One catty? Two catties at the most. But if our Ma marries him, with her skills, forget meat—wouldn’t Old Niu’s entire salary end up in her hands? You’re her biological son, and the baby in my belly is her biological grandchild. Even the scraps that fall through her fingers would be enough to make our mouths drip with oil.” The more Lin Xiujuan spoke, the more sense it made.
Wei Haibo didn’t say anything, but Lin Xiujuan, who knew him well, could tell he was tempted.
“Haibo, what do you think? Neither Wei Youliang nor Old Niu is your real dad. What’s the difference who you call ‘Dad’?” Lin Xiujuan nudged his arm.
Her eyes darted around, and she decided to add more fuel to the fire. “Old Niu is about to retire. What if Ma coaxes him into giving his job to you…”
Wei Haibo took a deep breath. “Has Ma gone home to cook? I still have a little bit of this plot left to dig. You’ll have to work a bit harder. I’m going home for a bit.”
In the past, if Wei Haibo had dared to make her do extra work while she was pregnant, Lin Xiujuan would have definitely refused. But today was different. She even urged him to hurry back.
From the plot of land above them, Ye Qingzhi watched Wei Haibo leave and sneered inwardly. Now there’s going to be a good show.
When work ended that morning, Ye Qingzhi dragged her exhausted body home. Seeing that Wei Anmin had already cooked, she patted his head, not bothering with any pretense of telling him not to do it.
After a morning of labor, she was completely drained and had no energy to cook. Besides, the two brothers were more skilled at starting a fire and cooking than she was.
As soon as she put down her bowl, Ye Qingzhi told Wei Anjie to put the dishes in a bucket to be washed together in the evening. Right now, all she wanted to do was lie down for a while.
“Qingzhi! Is Qingzhi home?”
Hearing someone call her name, Ye Qingzhi took a deep breath, suppressed her irritation, and got up to go outside with as gentle an expression as she could manage.
“Yes, I’m here. Who is it?” Ye Qingzhi saw Old Mrs. Zhang walk in and stepped aside to let her in. “Auntie Zhang, what can I do for you?”
“Oh, Anmin and Anjie are here too?” Seeing the two children, Old Mrs. Zhang pulled Ye Qingzhi into the backyard and lowered her voice. “Qingzhi, now that Jiancheng has found another woman, haven’t you thought about finding someone else?”
Ye Qingzhi was taken aback. So, she was here to play matchmaker.
She sighed softly and said with a sad expression, “The children’s father just passed. I don’t want to think about that right now.”
Doesn’t want to think about it right now? That meant she had considered remarrying.
That was enough. It wasn’t like she had to marry immediately. They could make a private arrangement first and get married after the hundred-day mourning period. Three months wasn’t a long time to wait.
“Qingzhi, you’re still young, and you have a long life ahead of you. You should find a man to rely on.” Old Mrs. Zhang took Ye Qingzhi’s hand and patted it gently. “Auntie has found a match for you. He’s from my home village. He’s honest and hardworking. After you get married, he’ll definitely listen to you and won’t mistreat Anmin and the others. What do you think? Do you want to meet him?”
The only description was “honest and hardworking,” which meant the man had no other redeeming qualities.
“Auntie, I’m really not looking right now. Let’s talk about this later,” Ye Qingzhi said, shaking her head.
Besides suspecting the man had no other merits, there was another important reason: Old Mrs. Zhang’s home village was too remote. From where they were, one had to cross two mountains to get there. The land was scarce and the soil was poor, so few women from outside were willing to marry into that village.
Old Mrs. Zhang knew the reason at once but held onto Ye Qingzhi’s hand, refusing to let go.
“Qingzhi, the person I’m introducing you to is my nephew. He’s really capable. He earns ten work-points every day, and during the slack season, he works on road repairs. Oh, and he can hunt! Rabbits, pheasants, muntjacs… I can’t say you’ll have meat every day, but once or twice a month is definitely not a problem.”
“Auntie, I’m really not planning to look so soon. Let’s talk about it later,” Ye Qingzhi politely refused again.
No matter how good he sounded, it didn’t change the fact that the place was remote and poor. If she were to remarry, her life should at least be better than it was now. If it was going to be even harder, what was the point of marrying?
Old Mrs. Zhang was a little angry, feeling that Ye Qingzhi was ungrateful. Her nephew had never been married before. He was willing to take a widow with two children; she should be thankful.
“Qingzhi! Is Qingzhi home?” Auntie Ye’s voice came from inside the house.
“Auntie, Auntie Ye is calling me. I’ll go see what she wants.” Ye Qingzhi nodded at her, pulled her hand away, and went back inside.
“Qingzhi! Oh, Auntie Zhang, you’re here too. What did you need Qingzhi for?” Auntie Ye greeted her with a smile.
“Oh, nothing. Qingzhi, you think about it. I’ll be going now,” Old Mrs. Zhang said with a broad smile.
As soon as Old Mrs. Zhang left, Auntie Ye immediately lowered her voice and asked, “What did she want?”
“She wanted to set me up with her nephew from her home village. Auntie, do you know him?” Ye Qingzhi didn’t hide it from her.
Since coming to this world, Auntie Ye had helped her a lot. Combined with the original owner’s memories, Auntie Ye was indeed a good person, someone she could trust to some extent.
“Her nephew? He’s thirty-five and still can’t find a wife. Besides the place being remote and poor, the main reason is that he’s short. He’s not even 1.6 meters tall, shorter than a winter melon. Qingzhi, don’t let her fool you,” Auntie Ye said nervously, gripping Ye Qingzhi’s hand.
“I’ve already turned her down.” Ye Qingzhi thought to herself, That was a close call. 1.6 meters was shorter than her. Absolutely not.
Auntie Ye observed Ye Qingzhi carefully. Seeing that she wasn’t completely opposed to remarrying, and thinking about how Wei Jiancheng had another woman and had given all his wages to her, she could understand Ye Qingzhi’s thoughts.
It made sense. Wei Jiancheng had been gone for so many years; even the best feelings would have faded. Plus, he had found another woman and was now dead. It was perfectly normal for Ye Qingzhi to want to remarry.
Besides, it wasn’t easy for a single woman to raise two children. After all the hardships Ye Qingzhi had endured for the past six years, it was time she found a man to rely on.
“Qingzhi, I came to see you about a match too. He’s a relative of mine, from Dayang Village. It’s not far from town, the fields are flat, and the families there are all doing quite well. This man is a widower. His first wife died of an illness. He has two daughters. Although he’s a few years older than you, older men know how to dote on their wives. If you’re willing, Auntie can arrange for you to meet him sometime. Don’t worry about his character or looks; Auntie would never set you up with someone bad,” Auntie Ye said in a low voice, glancing at the two boys busy in the kitchen.
Compared to Old Mrs. Zhang, Auntie Ye was naturally more trustworthy. A widower was fine; she was a widow now. Two daughters were not a problem; she had two sons. But how much older was he? And what did he look like?
Ye Qingzhi had to admit, she was a bit of a looks-con. If his appearance was too poor, she really couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“How old is he?” Ye Qingzhi asked directly.
“Thirty-two. Seven years older than you. I know his parents well; they’re very good people. If you marry into his family, life definitely won’t be hard,” Auntie Ye said, genuinely believing they were a good match.
“Auntie, next market day, why don’t you point him out to me first?” Ye Qingzhi didn’t refuse outright.
Auntie Ye was delighted and agreed readily. She then pulled Ye Qingzhi aside to curse Wei Jiancheng for a while and share some village gossip before hurrying off.
Once they were sure Auntie Ye was gone, Wei Anmin and Wei Anjie hesitantly came out. “Ma, were Granny Zhang and the others trying to introduce you to someone?”
Ye Qingzhi pulled them to her side and asked gently, “When you went to cut pig feed this morning, did anyone bully you?”
After finding the two boys that day, Ye Qingzhi had gone with them the next morning to cut pig feed. She had stared down the other children and announced loudly that if anyone dared to bully her sons, she would go to their house with a bottle of pesticide. If they didn’t die, their family would have to support her. If they did die, their whole family would go to jail.
“No, they don’t dare bully us anymore,” Wei Anmin said, shaking his head.
“That’s good.” Ye Qingzhi ruffled their hair and sighed. “Yes, they were introducing me to someone. But no matter who I marry, I’ll let you two approve him first. If you don’t think he’s suitable, as long as your reason is valid, Mama definitely won’t marry him.”
She couldn’t just not marry because the children disagreed, so she added the condition of a valid reason.
The two boys nodded sensibly. As long as their mother wanted them, they were fine with her remarrying. In fact, they also wanted a father.
After entertaining Old Mrs. Zhang and Auntie Ye, there was no time left to rest. Ye Qingzhi washed her face, planning to sit for a bit before heading back to work.
Just as she sat down, Fang Xiaomei stormed in.
“Ye Qingzhi, was this your rotten idea? How could you even think of it? Your father-in-law is still alive, and you’re trying to set me up with someone? What kind of daughter-in-law finds a man for her mother-in-law?”
Ye Qingzhi raised an eyebrow and retorted, “And what kind of mother-in-law finds a man for her newly widowed daughter-in-law? If we both told our stories, who do you think people would laugh at more?”
Fang Xiaomei’s anger subsided considerably, but she quickly became righteous again. “I was doing it for your own good! Old Niu may be a bit old, but he has a job, a good monthly salary, and can eat meat often. With such good conditions, I was afraid he wouldn’t even want you.”
“That’s right. The conditions are so good, why don’t you marry him yourself?” Ye Qingzhi looked Fang Xiaomei up and down.
She had to admit, Fang Xiaomei was quite good-looking. At forty-eight, she still had a certain charm and was an excellent cook.
Ye Qingzhi’s voice was laced with temptation. “Auntie Fang, marrying Wei Youliang was a marriage, and marrying Old Niu would be a marriage. But marrying Wei Youliang means you have to do laundry, cook, and work in the fields. Marrying Old Niu is different. You wouldn’t have to work in the fields anymore, just do some laundry and cooking at home. You wouldn’t even get tanned by the sun, and you could eat meat often. If you can coax Old Niu into giving you his salary… my goodness, thirty to fifty yuan a month, you wouldn’t even be able to spend it all. Tsk, tsk, that would be a life as sweet as honey.”
Fang Xiaomei clutched her pounding heart and looked at Ye Qingzhi suspiciously. “If it’s so good, why don’t you marry him?”
“Old Niu is a good catch, but he’s just too old. I’m only twenty-five. But you’re different, Auntie Fang. Your ages are compatible. Isn’t this a match made in heaven?” Seeing the flicker in her eyes, Ye Qingzhi added more fuel to the fire. “Auntie Fang, you were able to coax my father-in-law into abandoning his own son. You can definitely coax Old Niu into giving his job to your son. It’s just a change of surname. Wei Haibo’s original surname wasn’t Wei anyway.”
Fang Xiaomei left, deep in thought. A wide smile spread across Ye Qingzhi’s face. Success.