Chapter 364: The Eighties Gourmet System (2)

Should the eldest be responsible for supporting her?

Upon hearing this, Xie Laoda became unhappy: "Although Dani is my daughter, she has been working for the family all these years, and the whole family has benefited. Who was it that let her stay at home to be an old maid in the first place? In any case, it wasn't our branch that started it. Whoever started it should be responsible for Dani's retirement!"

"..."

What?

If Dani doesn't marry, they will have to support her together in the future?

Why on earth should they!

She isn't their daughter!

Consequently, the Xie Family, which had always valued harmony above all else, erupted into the most intense argument in its history.

By the end of the argument, the original body's grandfather made the final decision: he decided to marry off the eldest granddaughter, with no requirements for a bride price, as long as someone was willing to marry her.

"If you don't want a bride price, my maternal cousin's nephew should be willing," Xie Ershen said, her eyes rolling. "His family hasn't been peaceful these past few years; his father broke his leg, his mother is ill, and they need money everywhere. The marriage that was originally arranged no longer counts, as the woman's family couldn't bear to let their daughter marry into that suffering."

"That would be better than marrying into the mountains!" Xie Sanshen suggested. "The old bachelor in Shanli Village is a bit old, but his parents died early, so he doesn't have that burden. Once Dani marries over there, she just needs to serve the man well."

"How about the son of the butcher in Xiaoxi Village?" Xie Sishen thought of a win-win idea. "Although he has been to jail, he lives nearby. Once Dani marries over there, it will be very convenient for her to come back to her maiden home to help out during busy farming seasons."

"..."

The Xie Family did not avoid the original body at all when discussing this marriage.

Perhaps in their hearts, she was just a big fool who didn't understand anything.

But in fact, she was just slow to react, which did not mean she was truly stupid.

She understood everything her family was discussing.

The nephew of Ershen's maternal cousin wanted to marry her just to get a free nanny.

The thirty-five-year-old bachelor mentioned by Sanshen was fierce and strong; it was said he had beaten someone to death.

Sishen wanted her to marry the son of the Xiaoxi Village butcher who had stolen things and been to jail. Xiaoxi Village and the upper village were only separated by a small grove, less than five miles apart. It was indeed close to her maiden home, but after marrying over there, she might end up doing two sets of housework.

But she, Xie Dani, had hands and feet and a good amount of strength; she wasn't incapable of supporting herself, so why must she choose from these rotten apples?

After pondering for two nights, Xie Dani straightened out her slow-moving train of thought. On a dark and windy night, she packed a small bundle and resolutely left the Xie Family.

However, in this era, one needed an introduction letter to go anywhere.

Without an introduction letter, she hid and ran all the way, sleeping in the open and dressed in rags, until she finally arrived in Mingjiang City, a place where she knew no one.

Whenever asked, she claimed she had escaped from a human trafficker's den, that she had been very young when abducted, had long forgotten the way home, and did not remember the county or city where her hometown was located.

"But I have strength, I can do anything, as long as you give me a bite to eat."

Zhang Pozi felt sorry for her, and since she had recently found a job as a Temporary Worker and really wanted to hire someone to look after her two grandsons, she brought Xie Dani home.

Seeing that someone had taken her in, the original body was incredibly moved. In the morning, without waiting for Zhang Pozi to call her, she nimbly got up to wash the pot, rinse the rice, and cook porridge. After the porridge was steamed, she went on to wipe the windows, sweep the floor, and wash clothes... She could be said to have taken on all the housework of the Zhang family.

Compared to the chores the Xie Family had assigned her, this bit of housework was really nothing.

After finishing nimbly, it was still very early, so she dug out the children's old clothes with holes to mend, even embroidering little flowers or animals on the patches.

Zhang Pozi was incredibly satisfied. Seeing that Xie Dani didn't look bad after washing up—though not beautiful, she was delicate and pleasant to look at—she couldn't help but feel a stir in her heart.

Her husband had died early, and she had only one son. She had originally counted on her son to carry on the Zhang family line, but who would have expected that two years ago, as the sent-down educated youth returned to the city one after another, her daughter-in-law, having just finished her postpartum recovery after giving birth to the second child, met her first love who had returned to the city. She went crazy and insisted on a divorce, not even wanting the children.

She said that marrying Zhang Li in the first place was purely to avoid being sent to the countryside and that she had no feelings for Zhang Li at all.

She even said that by giving birth to two grandsons for the Zhang family, she had done enough to make up for this debt, and even if she divorced, she didn't owe the Zhang family anything.

Zhang Pozi was so angry she almost fainted.

After recovering, she held onto a fire of resentment and wanted to find her son someone better than his ex-wife.

Unfortunately, her son had been dejected ever since; two years had passed, and he still hadn't walked out of that failed marriage.

During this period, it wasn't as if she hadn't entrusted a matchmaker.

On the contrary, she had scouted several suitable candidates for her son.

But every time after the blind date, there was no follow-up from the women's side.

The reason was that her son would say during the date: "Sorry, I haven't walked out of the shadow of my previous marriage yet."

This made Zhang Pozi look bad both inside and out, and she was so angry she wanted to beat her son to death.

Your wife ran off with her first love long ago, not even wanting the children, and you're still here wallowing in sentimentality?

But what could she do? He was her only biological son!

This stubborn mule temperament was completely inherited from her late husband.

Unless he walked out of it himself, no one could persuade him.

Zhang Pozi had given up on the idea of finding a new wife for her son.

Until she picked up Xie Dani and brought her home this day...

Zhang Pozi's eyes shot out a glimmer of hope: it didn't matter that her son couldn't walk out of the shadow of his previous marriage for now; she had taken in Dani, and since the man was unmarried and the woman was unmarried, living under the same roof, she didn't believe they wouldn't develop feelings over time.

Once feelings developed, wouldn't marriage be a natural outcome?

Although Dani's conditions were a bit poor—having been abducted to another place by traffickers since childhood meant she had no maternal family to help her, and she didn't know if it was because the traffickers had used some kind of drug on her, but her reaction was unusually slow; when you said something to her, you had to wait a long time for her answer.

But fortunately, she was diligent, capable, and had exceptional strength. The Coal Ball baskets that previously required neighbors to help move, Dani could lift with one hand.

With her in charge, Zhang Pozi no longer felt worried or afraid on the days her son worked the night shift and didn't come home, and she slept with the two children with complete peace of mind.

Although she was a bit slow of speech...

That's right, Zhang Pozi had noticed the way Xie Dani was different from ordinary people.

But she didn't know that Xie Dani had only scored 8 points after half a year of school, nor did she know that everyone in the upper and lower Xiaoxi villages called Xie Dani a fool.

She thought this girl was just slow of speech and that she was smart; otherwise, how could she have tidied up the house so cleanly? And she could even embroider such exquisite patches when mending the children's clothes!

Besides, being slow of speech had its advantages; the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law wouldn't be able to argue.

Unlike the former daughter-in-law, who would retort ten times for every one thing you said, turning the house upside down.

As for the point about having no maternal family to help... that conversely meant that after marrying in, she would be wholeheartedly devoted to her husband's family.

After a few days of self-persuasion, Zhang Pozi settled on Xie Dani as her daughter-in-law.

Thus, she secretly began to play matchmaker between her son and Dani.

Zhang Li was tall and sturdy, had a decent appearance, and was a skilled worker at the Gad Steel Factory; having lived under the same roof for a long time, it was hard for Xie Dani, who had never had a partner, not to develop feelings for him.

And when Zhang Li once fell ill with a fever, he received such thoughtful and meticulous care from Dani that he finally saw this girl who gave silently and worked without complaint, and he completely walked out of the shadows of his past.

Zhang Pozi joyfully busied herself arranging the wedding for the two, and even had the two children change how they addressed Dani to "Mom."

Because Xie Dani had run away, she could not produce a letter of introduction, nor did she have household registration papers; it was only because Zhang Pozi pulled strings everywhere that she managed to get her a proof of identity.

Unexpectedly, just that morning after they received their marriage certificate, before the wedding banquet could be held or the bridal chamber entered, a power outage in the Tube Building occurred, and Zhang Li was accidentally electrocuted to death while checking the circuit breaker.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Pozi could not catch her breath and followed him in death.

The original owner, suffering a double blow, forced herself to finish handling the funeral arrangements before her vision went black and she fainted.

When she opened her eyes again, she was Xie Yang.

Xie Yang: "..."

A newlywed widow with two ready-made sons?

What kind of dramatic start is this?