Rebirth begins with an arranged marriage

Chapter 5 Finding a Way to Survive

What should I do?

Tang Huaiyi didn't need to hesitate; he already had a plan in mind.

"I originally thought that I would find a way to earn my own living expenses without relying on my family, finish my senior year of high school first, and then it would be much easier to get into university."

"But after asking around my family, I found out that they had lent out all their money. It would be difficult to support them for the entire senior year of high school. My brother is even hoping that I will marry you in exchange for a marriage. I have to rely on myself for all of this."

"It's actually quite difficult to say."

"Yes, it's very difficult... I can't help it either." Li Xiujuan seemed to have found a fellow sufferer and couldn't help but whisper her own problem, "My father has wanted someone to marry into the family for a long time. My sister is not married yet because my family is poor and he keeps asking someone to marry into the family."

Tang Huaiyi listened and thought it made sense. If her family was relatively wealthy, it wouldn't be difficult for her to find a son-in-law to live with her family... But her family was poorer than most, so who would want to become a son-in-law in such a family?

That is, the Tang family was so poor that they couldn't afford to find wives for their sons.

Tang Huaiyi, who was replaced and had to go door-to-door, seemed to be in an even worse situation.

After speaking, Li Xiujuan lowered her head again: "If there's no other way, we can only accept our fate... Today is the first day of school for senior high school students, and neither of us went to school..."

"I refuse to accept my fate and I don't want my life to end like this."

Tang Huaiyi said, "It's not that marriage is bad, it's just that what kind of future can one have by getting married and staying at home to farm?"

Li Xiujuan nodded, feeling that these words had touched her heart.

"Since we both have the same idea, let's figure out a way to resolve this..." Tang Huaiyi said, seeing that Li Xiujuan was still clearly at a loss, so he simply shared his idea, "Let's just tell our families together that it's not impossible to get married, but we'll have to wait a year."

"If we can't get into university after the college entrance exam, we'll get married. For the next year, we won't need our families to support us; we can focus on our studies. What do you say?"

Li Xiujuan's eyes lit up at first, then she shook her head, looking slightly dejected: "I'm afraid that won't work... My father definitely wants you to marry into the family immediately so that our Li family can have an heir."

"If this logic could be explained, things wouldn't be like this now."

"Is your family more easy to talk to?"

"It's not easy to talk to them..." Tang Huaiyi said, "It's not just that I don't have money for school, my older brother's marriage is also tied to me."

At this point, he smiled at Li Xiujuan and said, "You were the one who specifically called me out."

Li Xiujuan's face flushed bright red instantly.

"I...I am...you..."

At the time, I thought that if I really had to get married, I would think of him...

Explaining this in detail would be quite embarrassing.

After stammering for a while, all he could say was, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that to you."

Tang Huaiyi didn't feign magnanimity: "If I had to say sorry, I would say a little. With your little trick, my family has been keeping a close eye on me, otherwise it wouldn't be so difficult."

"So you can't back down on this on your own. We both need to go to school, so we have to discuss it and agree to go together."

"Do you understand?"

He was afraid that he would make all the decisions, but Li Xiujuan might waver and compromise with her family on everything, thus undermining his stance.

If that were the case, Tang Huaiyi would be stabbed in the back and fighting alone.

"Yes, if you have a solution, I'll listen to you."

Li Xiujuan was thin and frail, her hair slightly dry and yellow due to malnutrition. She wasn't stupid; she knew Tang Huaiyi clearly had a plan, and she nodded vigorously as she spoke.

Seeing her like this, Tang Huaiyi felt relieved and continued, "It's certainly not easy for the two of us to persuade our families. Your family has its difficulties, and so does mine."

"Let's go talk to them first, and say that we've reached an agreement to see if we can postpone this for a year."

"If neither family agrees, then I'll have no choice but to leave home and go to the county to find a place to study and earn money..."

"Go to the county?" Li Xiujuan asked hesitantly. "Where will we earn money and find a place to stay? It's not that easy."

"It's not easy, but it's better than doing nothing at all."

Tang Huaiyi said, "Let's give it a try. Even if we fail, it's just that we'll come back to get married, and we'll be back to where we are now. What's there to be afraid of?"

Li Xiujuan then realized what was happening, nodded, and said worriedly, "You might have a way, but I'm afraid I can't do it myself..."

"We'll see when the time comes. I can help you out a bit, and if it really doesn't work out, we can come back."

Hearing Tang Huaiyi's words and seeing the resolute and confident expression on his face, along with his high spirits, Li Xiujuan was somewhat inspired: "Alright then, I'll listen to you."

Then another thought struck her: "If nothing I say makes sense, could I try this...?"

"What?"

Tang Huaiyi asked.

Li Xiujuan blushed and whispered, "That's right, we'll pretend to agree to get married, but we'll still try to go to school."

Tang Huaiyi thought about it carefully and felt it wasn't quite right.

"Once we agree, both families will be watching us closely to make sure we don't go back on our word, and it'll be very difficult for us to back out... Then your dad will make us live together, and I'll have to come over to your house to help with farm work and stuff. Will I still be able to study?"

Li Xiujuan originally wanted to say that it wouldn't hurt for us to pretend to live together.

But after thinking about what he said, I realized that my father would definitely not let go of his son-in-law so easily. It was almost time to harvest corn, and if he agreed, both of them would have to go to work in the fields, and neither of them would be able to go to school.

This is something that can't be easily fooled.

"Okay, then I'll do whatever you say. Whatever you say, I'll do."

The two agreed to walk along the narrow streets and alleys of Lijia Gou Village toward the Li family.

Li Xiufang was plucking feathers from a chicken. She glanced at the two of them and then continued squatting down to work.

Tang Huaiyi and Li Xiujuan went inside. Li Xiujuan's father looked over with a smile and said, "Erni, why didn't you take him for a longer walk?"

"The village is just a few steps away, there's not much to see," Li Xiujuan said, glancing at Tang Huaiyi.

Tang Huaiyi nodded, signaling her to speak—you say your share, I'll say mine, I can't speak for you.

"I discussed it with Tang Huaiyi, and we both felt that it was too hasty to get married now. Let's wait a year until we finish high school and college before we talk about it."

"If we really can't pass the exam, it's not too late for us to get married."

Li Xiujuan mustered her courage and spoke.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiujuan's father slammed his fist on the table and stood up, shouting, "What did you say! You dare!"

Tang Zhengjin glared at Tang Huaiyi: "Erwa, what did you say! Did you persuade him to do that?!"

Tang Huaiyi nodded: "Yes, it was me who persuaded him."

"It's just this one year. Li Xiujuan and I will go to school for this one year. We will find our own way to earn money to go to school. We won't ask our families for help. If we don't get into university, we'll just come back. It won't delay anything, and there's no need to rush."

"You silly child—what did I tell you when you came here!"

Tang Zhengjin was furious, not only because Tang Huaiyi was disobedient, but also because he felt that Tang Huaiyi had disgraced the family by acting on his own initiative at such an important time of marriage negotiations!

"Father, you said I had to arrange a marriage for my elder brother's sake. He worked so hard all this time," Tang Huaiyi said calmly. "Father, if that's how you calculate things, then I'll ask you how we can repay the family and repay my elder brother for this debt?"

"How about I find him a better wife in the future? How about I ensure he never has to worry about food or drink for the rest of his life?"

"You don't have those skills!" Tang Zhengjin shouted angrily. "Stop dreaming about such things, we're just farmers!"

Will you be a farmer your whole life?

Are you just going to accept your fate like this?

Tang Huaiyi couldn't tell if it was absurdity or anger, so he couldn't help but laugh, meeting his father's furious face: "Dad, you can control everything else, but you can't control what I think."

"If you insist on forcing me today, I'll leave today; let's look back in ten or eight years and see if I'm destined to only be able to farm that small plot of land!"

"Let's be frank. We'll get married a year later. If you agree, we'll go back to our respective homes and continue our studies. We can discuss anything else next August."

"If you don't agree, Li Xiujuan and I will leave today. We'll find our own way to go to school and make a living!"