Rebirth begins with an arranged marriage

Chapter 42 Everything is Good

After finishing classes in the morning and leaving school, I followed Song Siyuan's carriage to the intersection of Tangmaji Village, and it was already past noon.

It took even longer to walk all the way to Lijia Gou.

Tang Huaiyi, Li Xiufang, and Li Xiujuan didn't have watches to check the time. They walked along the country path, and occasionally Li Xiufang would ask Tang Huaiyi about their studies and life at school.

After Tang Huaiyi answered, she asked Li Xiujuan again.

Li Xiujuan didn't talk much; she mostly just said, "I'm about the same."

As they approached Lijia Gou, Li Xiufang stopped and warned the two men with a stern face: "I'm telling you two, you're not allowed to tell your families that Tang Huaiyi sold silver dollars to improve his meals and that he has money in his hands."

"Do you understand?"

"The little money Tang Huaiyi has is just enough for the two of you to spend. Don't even think about saving it to help your family."

"You're used to eating and drinking at home. You can stay home for a year or two without any problems. But if you two run out of money during this crucial time of your schooling, you'll be back to your old ways."

"You understand this principle, and I understand it too, but not everyone else does."

"If you tell your family, they might be short of money and ask you for more, which would delay your schooling and that wouldn't be a good thing."

Tang Huaiyi didn't really feel that his family was in such a dire situation. The reason they arranged for him to be married off was because his maternal grandfather's family and his third uncle were in dire need of money, and his family really couldn't afford to send him to school. They also saw that their children couldn't get married, so they arranged for him to be married off.

Later, Tang Huaiyi managed to turn the situation around. Although his father was angry, he didn't push all the responsibility onto him. Instead, he said that the two of them had discussed it with the Li family together. Although his mother was not satisfied, she still squeezed out a bag of grain from the family's food supplies and gave it to Tang Huaiyi to exchange for food coupons to go to school.

It's clear that the family wasn't unreasonable; they were just too poor. At the time, there was only one way to solve the marriage problems of their two sons at once, which led to that decision.

However, Li Xiufang's statement is not entirely wrong.

It's better to avoid trouble... It's not too late to help your family when you have enough money.

The biggest help to the family right now is that we don't have to carry food from home to school for the time being.

"Okay, I understand, Sister Xiufang."

After Tang Huaiyi responded, Li Xiujuan quickly nodded in agreement, indicating that she wouldn't say anything either.

Seeing that the instructions had been given, Li Xiufang felt relieved, and the three of them walked together toward the Li family home.

As Tang Huaiyi passed the toilet in Lijia Gou Village, he paused slightly, the image of that day, as white as snow, flashing before his eyes.

Li Xiufang glanced back as if she had sensed something, and her face immediately burned as if she had been whipped.

He walked away silently with his head down.

He hasn't forgotten... he hasn't forgotten yet...

Upon arriving at the Li family's house, they opened the door and went inside. Li Xiujuan's father called from the main room, "Da Ni? Er Ni?"

"Hmm." Li Xiufang responded, taking three green duck eggs as she walked into the smoke-filled, blackened kitchen of the low, mud-brick house.

"What a waste of time! Erni goes to and from school so many times already, do you still need to pick her up? You haven't even made her lunch—"

Li Xiujuan's father came out and saw Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan standing in the yard. He was immediately surprised: "What brings you here?"

Li Xiufang was busy in the kitchen, cleaning the pots and preparing to fry duck eggs, saying, "This is our son-in-law. We're all family now, why can't he come?"

These words immediately made Li Xiujuan's father very happy.

He thought to himself that Tang Huaiyi's willingness to come to their door at this time meant that he was not lying and was really prepared to become the Li family's son-in-law. He was thinking about going to university and moving up in the ranks. If he could get into university, it would be a great thing for the Li family.

His glaring expression instantly transformed into a smile, and he laughed heartily, "Come, come, it's a good thing the son-in-law is visiting! Come inside and let's talk!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Li Xiufang squatted in front of the stove, striking a match and lighting the kindling with a "whoosh." Li Xiujuan's father asked in surprise, "What are you doing lighting the stove at this hour?"

"Tang Huaiyi came to our house with us after school this morning, and he hasn't eaten a single bite yet," Li Xiufang said. "I'll cook him something to fill his stomach."

"Okay, then you do it..."

Li Xiujuan's father then beckoned Tang Huaiyi to come inside.

Sanni Li Xiuzhi stood at the doorway, called out "Second Sister" to Li Xiujuan, and nodded to Tang Huaiyi as a greeting.

Tang Huaiyi entered the house and sat down. Before he could say much, the aroma of fried duck eggs wafted out from the kitchen.

Then Li Xiufang brought out scrambled duck eggs and two cornbread buns and handed them to Tang Huaiyi.

"Are you starving? Eat up."

Li Xiujuan's father glanced at it and felt a little sorry for her—why did she fry the eggs?

However, considering that this was her own son-in-law, she didn't say anything more.

Eat up, eat up, eat until you're strong and healthy so you can have children soon, and then our Li family will have male heirs...

Tang Huaiyi, of course, had no idea that his father-in-law viewed him as a "stud." He made a few polite remarks, but when he saw that Li Xiufang insisted on eating by herself, he got up, took the chopsticks, and handed them to Li Xiufang and Li Xiujuan.

"None of you have eaten either, so have some with us to tide you over."

"It wouldn't look right for me to eat alone."

"No need, you eat it." Li Xiujuan shook her head.

Li Xiufang took the chopsticks, picked up a piece of fried duck egg crumbs, and put it in her mouth: "Okay, I've eaten, you eat now."

"Make yourself at home here, no need to be shy."

Tang Huaiyi smiled, handed the chopsticks to Li Xiujuan, and also stuffed a cornbread into her hand.

"Eat with me, I feel uncomfortable eating alone."

Li Xiujuan couldn't refuse, so she blushed, lowered her head, and ate fried duck eggs and cornbread with Tang Huaiyi.

Li Xiufang watched the two of them from the side, her eyes glazed over, and she didn't say a word.

Li Xiujuan's father quietly got up and walked outside with a happy expression.

Sanni Li Xiuzhi tugged at Li Xiufang's arm, signaling her to walk outside as well.

The three of them entered the courtyard, and Li Xiujuan's father was overjoyed: "This son-in-law is good; he treats Erni very well! Now I believe it. By this time next year, regardless of whether she takes the college entrance exam or not, they'll definitely get married."

Li Xiuzhi nodded in agreement: "Yes, I think so too."

Li Xiufang just smiled and didn't say anything.

"Da Ni, what do you think?" her father asked again.

"I think it looks good," Li Xiufang said.

"Where is it good?"

"Anywhere is fine." As Li Xiufang said this, her heart ached.

"What you're saying is as good as saying nothing at all."

Li Xiujuan's father said something, and then beamed with joy again. This son-in-law seems to be a responsible and conscientious man, a good man indeed.

After finishing the plate of scrambled eggs, gnawing on a cornbread, and drinking a bowl of water, Tang Huaiyi exchanged a few words with Li Xiujuan's father, glanced at the sky, and got up to take his leave.

"Uncle, it's getting late, I have to go home."

"Okay, be careful on the road!"

Li Xiujuan and her family escorted Tang Huaiyi to the entrance of the alley.

Tang Huaiyi turned around, waved goodbye to them, and returned to his home in Tangmaji Village.