Chapter 661: The '50s Mother-in-law System (18)

"Oh, I'm not asking you to agree right now, just go and take a look, what if you happen to like each other, don't you think?"

Tian Qisao enthusiastically grabbed Xie Yang's hand and urged her repeatedly:

"Even if you don't fancy him, there's no loss. Look, you've just finished the spring plowing, so you have time to go on a blind date without delaying the work in the fields. If you really do like each other, that's fate! If you don't go, you'll miss out on the fate arranged by the Heavens."

"..."

Tian Qisao really can talk.

But she truly had no intention of finding a partner. Since she didn't intend to find one, she had better not go to the blind date. To avoid other aunties and matrons thinking she had the idea of finding a partner and coming one after another to play matchmaker for her, would her future days ever be peaceful?

Xie Yang got a headache just thinking about it.

"Sister-in-law, you know what kind of life I lived in the Zhuang family for the past ten years; I am truly terrified. I really have no thoughts of getting married at the moment."

Tian Qisao slapped her thigh: "Oh my, the family I want to introduce to you is absolutely a good family, not at all like the Old Zhuang Family. And didn't I say? The Xu family only has this one son who isn't married. Once you two get married, his family will split the household. After the split, won't the small family be up to you to decide? So, the things that happened in the Zhuang family will absolutely not occur."

Xie Yang shook her head: "Still no, I still have trauma in my heart even now; I still have nightmares when I sleep at night."

"..."

Tian Qisao ultimately failed to persuade her, so she had to sigh with regret and walked home, looking back every few steps.

In her opinion, what great conditions the Xu family had! Although Xujiasen was still just an Apprentice Worker, the apprentices at the Gad Steel Factory usually get promoted to regular status, and by then, he would be a city dweller eating commodity grain!

Moreover, Xujiasen was the youngest son in the family, with two older brothers above him. Even if his parents didn't live with the eldest when they got old, wasn't there still the second one? It certainly wouldn't fall to the youngest.

If Xie Yang married over, she wouldn't even have to serve her parents-in-law; how leisurely that would be!

If she thought the Xu family's house was too small, at worst, the young couple could live back in Shili Village after getting married.

Anyway, Xie Yang was the only one left in the Xie Family, so it would be such a waste to leave the newly built house empty. And this was one of the reasons why the Xu family agreed to let her have a blind date.

That's right, Xulaotai had also heard about the Old Zhuang Family's affairs. This matter had even been published in the newspaper; how could the surrounding villages not know?

Although she was a bit concerned that Xie Yang had once been Zhuang Mingcheng's Child Bride, she thought about the compensation she took when she left the Zhuang family, as well as the house she built and the land she was allocated. If they married her, it would mean all these would belong to the Xu family's descendants in the future. That was why she sought out Tian Qisao, entrusted her to introduce them, and was willing to arrange for her youngest son to have a blind date with Xie Yang.

If the matter succeeded, Tian Qisao, the matchmaker, would definitely get a matchmaking gift from the Xu family; it might even be a big pig's trotter.

Never did she expect that Xie Yang would actually refuse.

With such good conditions, she actually refused!

Tian Qisao thought about it from every angle and couldn't figure it out; she was still puzzled when she got home.

Tian Qisao's mother-in-law saw things more clearly than she did: "Once bitten by a snake, one is afraid of a well rope for ten years. That girl is probably still not over it, worried about getting another mother-in-law who is sweet-talking but cruel-hearted like Qiu Caohua."

"She said the exact same thing herself." Tian Qisao sighed, "I originally thought I could get a big pig's trotter, but now it seems there's no hope. It's all Qiu Caohua's fault! A perfectly good girl was harmed by her to the point that she doesn't even want to find a partner anymore. What a sin!"

The big pig's trotter that was almost in her mouth had flown away just like that, and Tian Qisao angrily scolded Qiu Caohua.

Qiu Caohua, who hadn't worked in the fields for many years, was lying on the bed groaning about her aching back and waist when she suddenly sneezed twice, nearly twisting her waist.

"Ouch—Old man, why don't we send a letter to Mingcheng and ask him to come back for a few days during the summer harvest."

"If you want to send one, send it yourself."

Zhuang Laotou was also exhausted.

In previous years, there was a daughter-in-law to shoulder the heavy burden; he would help out a bit, and while he was tired, he wasn't like this year, where he was so tired he saw stars and was about to collapse.

The key was that after working for a day, he couldn't even eat a ready-made meal when he got home.

The old woman had only worked in the fields for two days before she started groaning about her aching back and waist, and she would slack off on housework whenever she could—

Clothes piled up in a big basin unwashed, and one couldn't even pick out clean ones to change into, so they could only pick up the ones they had already worn and continue wearing them; the bowls and chopsticks were also left in the water basin after eating, and only hurriedly washed when the next meal came.

The two married daughters had their in-laws' fields to farm and couldn't find the time to come back, so the old couple had to fend for themselves.

So their original idea was right: keep it from the daughter-in-law and firmly refuse to tell her the news of Mingcheng getting married in Beijing! It was just to prevent the current situation from happening.

But in the end, she still found out...

Sigh...

I don't know which bastard with no conscience reported our Old Zhuang Family, causing my son to lose his position, and even the usually obedient daughter-in-law dared to defy us and cut ties to run away.

During the slack farming season, they at most felt the house was a bit messy, clean clothes were always in short supply, and the food the old woman cooked wasn't as delicious as what the daughter-in-law made, but they didn't notice anything else.

It wasn't until the spring plowing arrived that Zhuang Laotou realized that there was one less person in the house, and the one missing was the capable and virtuous daughter-in-law; the difference was too great!

Zhuang Laotou lay on the bed feeling dejected, very annoyed at the old woman's suggestion.

The son didn't even come back for the New Year; could they still count on him to come back for the summer harvest?

Anyway, he felt that this son was raised for nothing; it would have been better if he hadn't written back! At least the daughter-in-law wouldn't have run away.

Qiu Caohua, however, felt that the reason her son didn't come back for the New Year must have been the city wife's instigation; she wanted to go back to her maiden home for the New Year and stubbornly dragged her son to stay in Beijing.

But the summer harvest was truly too hard; at her age, how could she endure such suffering?

"No! We must send a letter to our son. Even if he doesn't come back himself, he can at least mail some nutritional supplements back."

As Qiu Caohua said this, she held her waist and groaned as she sat up, slipped on her shoes, and went to find someone literate to write a family letter on her behalf.

A week later, Zhuang Mingcheng, who was far away in Beijing, received a letter from his hometown.

He frowned as he read it; his parents were truly senile! Where would one get leave for farming season while working at a unit? It wasn't a rural unit that would grant a few days off during the busy farming season to go back and help with the summer or autumn harvest. In a big city unit, who would grant farming leave?

Even if he could get leave, he wouldn't want to go back; the round-trip travel expenses were dozens of yuan. Besides, his wife was pregnant, and in order to save money for milk powder, his salary was now collected by his wife, who would give him at most two yuan for pocket money.

He couldn't hold his head high either in front of his wife or his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

With his wife controlling the family's salary, he couldn't act tough either.

And all of this was caused by his parents back home! If they had listened to him back then and let Xie Yang leave when they received his letter, instead of doing those petty things behind his back, even if someone reported them later, they could have said they had already realized their mistake and changed. Perhaps he wouldn't have been stripped of his Cadre position; if he hadn't been stripped of his position, his salary wouldn't have been lowered, and he wouldn't be so strapped for cash now.

Thinking of all this, Zhuang Mingcheng got angry, folded the letter paper directly, and shoved it into the drawer, acting as if he hadn't received this family letter.

?? Sorry, I've had some things to deal with at home these past few days and really couldn't rush out an update, so there's only one chapter.

? (＞人＜；)