Chapter 36: Eating Melon, Educated Youth Runs Away
In Yun Jiao’s heart, now that they had money to build a house and the family had bought a boat, they were even more willing to keep some delicious food.
As for the money needed to buy other things, they could save up slowly; with a house and a boat, they weren’t in a hurry anymore.
Although having a small boat made them want a large boat.
Yun Xiao Wu and the others also looked at Granny Yun.
“Grandma, my sister wants to eat,” Yun Xiao Liu stared at the morel mushrooms and spoke first.
Yun Jiao glared at him, clearly Sixth Brother himself also wanted to eat.
However, with her delicate and refined demeanor, that glare looked more like she was acting cute.
Granny Yun happily patted their heads.
“You all are so greedy, alright, we’ll keep these morel mushrooms and cook them in the Dragon Phoenix Soup; it’s incredibly flavorful.”
And it’s also very nourishing.
Their family members had all suffered too much before, and the boys were all dark and thin, so nourishing their bodies would be good.
Old Madam Yun was busy in the kitchen; she was used to the work there and finished preparing the meal not long after.
Yun Xiao Wu ran out wild to call Old Master Yun and the others back for a meal.
As soon as Old Master Yun and the others returned, they smelled the strong aroma.
The children next door were so tempted they were crying out, wanting to eat chicken meat.
“It smells so good, Mother, what dish did you make today?”
“Why do I smell chicken meat?”
Yun Xiao Qi proudly lifted his chin: “Today we went to the mountains and caught a large snake and a wild chicken; our sister caught them both!”
Yun Xiao Ba and Yun Xiao Jiu stared at the fragrant Dragon Phoenix Soup on the table and nodded as if in a comedic duo.
“Yes!”
Yun Jiao was also tempted, but she hugged her small bowl and little wooden spoon, sitting obediently until everyone in the family was seated before starting.
“Jiaojiao, eat more.”
Eldest Brother Yun beside her scooped a lot of meat for her.
The snake meat was tender, but there were quite a few bones, so they had to eat it slowly.
“Jiaojiao encountered a snake? Are you all useless? What are you people eating?”
Everyone was concerned if Yun Jiao had been bitten by the snake; she was so young, and it would be terrible if she encountered a venomous snake.
“It was a black-striped snake.”
Since black-striped snakes aren’t venomous, that was good.
“How could Jiaojiao be bitten? She’s amazing; she even smashed the snake’s head flat.”
Yun Jiao, with a greasy mouth, explained: “Its head was flattened by hitting a rock!”
Her strength wasn’t that great yet.
The adults all watched her and smiled: “Our Jiaojiao can catch snakes now, so isn’t that amazing?”
Yun Jiao felt there was no problem with that statement.
Her short legs happily swayed.
Old Madam Yun, thinking about hatching eggs, went for a stroll in the village after eating.
The two women in the family sat at the doorway making fishing nets; since the family had bought a boat, the fishing nets would be used.
The men continued to work on the new house, striving for early completion so the family could live in it.
Yun Jiao strolled along beside Granny Yun and then came to a house and knocked on the door.
The person who opened the door was an old woman about Granny Yun’s age.
“Cui Fen, do you have any eggs for hatching chicks?”
Yun Jiao poked her little head out from behind Granny Yun: “Hello, Grandma Wu.”
The old woman, who was about Granny Yun’s age, immediately smiled broadly upon seeing Yun Jiao.
“Good, good, good… Jiaojiao is here too, come in and sit.”
“Are you hatching chicks? I have some, but only ten.”
“That’s enough, that’s enough.”
After receiving the eggs, Grandma Wu also grabbed a handful of raw peanuts from her home and handed them to Yun Jiao.
“Thank you, Grandma Wu.”
Yun Jiao thanked her in a childish voice, then consciously found a small stool and sat down to seriously peel peanuts.
She already had experience; Grandma wouldn’t leave for a while yet.
Every time they visited someone else’s house, no matter the reason, familiar people would always sit down and chat for a while before leaving.
“Da Ya is getting married the day after tomorrow, who from your family is going to the wedding feast?”
“I’ll go. All the men in the family are too busy to get away.”
“Then Cai Jinhua is too much of a mother. Da Ya isn’t even married yet, and she’s already impatiently spreading the news that her second son is more handsome and capable than her eldest, and wants two hundred yuan in betrothal gifts for him.”
Granny Yun frowned: “Isn’t she selling her daughter? Which of those girls hasn’t she raised to be thin and bony, with hardly any flesh on their faces? How can anyone tell they’re beautiful.
And asking for such a high betrothal gift, everyone in the surrounding villages knows what kind of character their family has, who would dare to marry them? Wouldn’t that delay the girls’ marriages.”
Even if Cai Jinhua’s second son were the best, with such a family holding them back and such a high betrothal gift, people would be deterred.
It’s estimated that only someone like the man her sister married, who has a physical defect, or character issues, or someone who is divorced and looking for a stepmother to raise their child, and no one is willing to marry them, would they spend money to ‘marry’ a wife.
How could Cai Jinhua not know these things, but she simply didn’t care if her daughters had a good life in the future.
In the eyes of that couple, all their daughters combined were not as good as a single finger of their son.
Old Madam Wu also said: “She’s blinded by the betrothal gift from Da Ya’s marriage.”
Old Madam Wu suddenly leaned closer and whispered: “Speaking of them, do you know that Xiu Yun’s husband ran away.”
Granny Yun’s eyes widened immediately: “Ran away? He ran away after they already had two children? Didn’t the Third Brigade leader’s family look for him?”
“Of course they looked! Lin Zhiqing ran away overnight, and they only discovered he was gone the next day. It’s been so long, who knows where he’s gone by now.”
“Could he have gone home? Do they know where his family lives?”
“That’s the problem. Not a single one of them knows where Lin Zhiqing’s family lives.”
“Then what should they do? Those two children will be without a father! Lin Zhiqing is truly cunning. I always said that whether marrying a Zhiqing or being married by a Zhiqing is unreliable. The Third Brigade leader’s family used to show off, but what about now?”
During the wave of educated youth going down to the countryside in the past, many urban educated youths were assigned to various places.
Some educated youths were good-looking and talented, attracting the pursuit of many young men and women in the village.
Some female educated youths married village men, and some male educated youths married village girls.
But that situation was actually similar to becoming a son-in-law who lives with the wife’s family.
The result was, after the college entrance examination was reinstated, most educated youths took the exam, but very few were admitted to university.
The educated youths who were not admitted continued to stay, but soon, even without the college entrance examination, they could leave without a letter of introduction from the village, and those still in the countryside became restless.
Some female educated youths abandoned their husbands and children and ran away, and male educated youths did the same.
In their village, or more accurately, their brigade, this was already the third instance.
Previously, two female educated youths had run away together, and the families of those two children felt like the sky had fallen.
Since then, those in the brigade who married educated youths, or were married by educated youths, became nervous and watched them even more closely.
Unexpectedly, another one ran away now, and it was the son-in-law of the former team leader of the third team in the brigade.
