"Grandma, my stomach hurt, so I was in the outhouse a bit longer," Feng Yuanchun explained. "Grandma, if we can't finish the work on the private plot today, I'll come do it all by myself tomorrow."
Yuanchun had also grown up in the countryside and had often followed her parents to work in the fields when she was little. After graduating from college and starting work, she always returned home to do farmwork during the May Day and National Day holidays.
Combined with the original owner's memories, this bit of farmwork was as easy as could be in her eyes.
"Making you carry nightsoil and getting yourself stinking all over, aren't you afraid people will look down on you?" Her eldest granddaughter was someone who was going to be betrothed soon; she couldn't let her become unappealing to others.
After scolding her eldest granddaughter, Grandma Feng went back to weeding with her head down.
This patch of land consisted of the private plots of the Fengjia Village residents, and quite a few people were working in the fields. Someone laughed and said, "Goodwife Ding, even if your Yuanchun carries nightsoil, there will still be people scrambling and fighting to take her home as a bride. How could anyone look down on her?"
Grandma Feng's maiden surname was Ding, and the younger generation in the village all called her Goodwife Ding.
Feng Third Aunt Ding Xiaotao and Ding Chunli were both from Grandma Feng's home village.
Grandma Feng smiled and replied, "That's right. You couldn't find a prettier girl than my Yuanchun anywhere in these parts, and she's also one of the hardest workers. Whoever marries my Yuanchun will be blessed."
"A blessing is a blessing, but the bride price your family is asking for is way too much. In the countryside, which family can pull out a hundred yuan for a bride price? She's not a city girl who draws a salary every month."
The person speaking had a sour tone in her voice.
One daughter, traded for a hundred yuan.
Quite a tidy sum.
Liu Qingqiu raised her head to glance at the woman and retorted, "Gousheng's Mother, when city lads take a wife, a hundred yuan isn't nearly enough. They care about the 'three turns and one sound,' the 'twenty-four legs,' and a bride price of two or three hundred yuan—that's what's expensive! My Yuanchun is only asking for a hundred yuan."
After a slight pause, Liu Qingqiu twisted the knife deeper into the other woman's heart: "My Yuanchun isn't some illiterate girl either; she has a high school education. Marrying a high school graduate for a hundred yuan, how is that expensive?"
Gousheng's Mother: "......"
Gousheng's illiterate sister: "......" She suspected Yuanchun's mother was insulting her.
Yet she couldn't scold her back.
So infuriating.
Still, she was so envious that Feng Yuanchun had an educated youth for a mother who could teach her to read and write.
"You good-for-nothing money-loser, slacking off on a little work! Get to work right now, don't you see it's getting dark?" Having lost the verbal sparring match, Gousheng's Mother held a bellyful of anger. When she turned back and saw her daughter zoning out, a burst of rage instantly directed itself at the girl.
She grabbed her daughter by the hair and landed a few slaps.
The beating made Feng Zhaodi cry out.
The Feng family members all kept their heads down and worked, as if they hadn't heard a thing.
...
As soon as Chen Shengjun arrived home, Mother Chen let out a shrill cry and rushed over. "You murderous wretch, Shengjun, which short-lived bastard hit you? You're bleeding! Shengjun, hurry and tell your mother, I'm going to settle scores with them."
"Ma, nobody hit me. I was just walking and accidentally bumped into a tree trunk." Chen Shengjun had no face to admit he had been beaten by a woman.
Mother Chen glared fiercely and slapped her son on the back. "You stinky brat, do you want to piss your old mother off? People have beaten your face until it's swollen, and you're still covering for the other person? Can a tree trunk give you a five-fingered handprint? Hurry up and tell me who hit you! Don't think that just because our Chen family is poor, people can bully us. Let me tell you, your old mother is not someone to be bullied!"
"Ma, I'm hurting to death, can you stop asking?" Chen Shengjun gloomily walked into the small thatched room on the east side.