vrcanaries Chapter 105 I Don't Want This Face
Chapter 105 I Don't Want This Face
As soon as Cheng Yue and the others arrived at the door of the headman's house, they heard Feng's dissatisfied voice, "Aunt Xiaoyan, this marriage was already agreed upon before, why are you making trouble now?
If you have something to say, go inside and talk. It's not nice to yell here!"
Marriage? Cheng Yue and Chen An looked at each other, both confused.
The village head got off the ox cart with a gloomy face, squeezed through the crowd into the yard, his brows twitching.
"Why? I came here today just to clarify this matter, and I have to save face for you? If you have something to say, just say it here, are you afraid that others will see it?"
"What's the matter?" The village head walked into the yard and frowned deeply when he saw the person coming.
As the head of the village, he had to mediate many conflicts in the village. He thought his family was harmonious, but he didn't expect that he would become the laughing stock of others.
Seeing the head of the village coming back, Feng, Zhang Dashan and Zhang Dajiang and his wife all felt relieved and signaled with their eyes.
"Hey, Uncle Lizheng, you're finally back! Shao Wen is here too, so let's talk about this marriage."
The woman who was speaking had a thin face and two deep nasolabial lines. She looked about the same age as Qian Yulan.
Cheng Yue glanced over and saw a thin, dark, timid little girl standing next to her.
It turns out that they were talking about Zhang Shaowen's marriage. This must be the one called Xiaoyan. This woman is an aunt. Why would an aunt come to talk about marriage?
Qian Yulan held her breath and said, "Liang Damei, don't push your luck! What you just said is impossible! Even if my father comes back, don't even think about saying anything!"
If it weren't for the fact that her father-in-law owed Zhou Xiaoyan's grandfather a favor, and Shaowen and Xiaoyan also had feelings for each other, she would never have agreed to this marriage just for this weird pair of uncle and aunt.
Liang Damei had just failed to reach an agreement with Feng and the others, and she was already furious. Now Qian Yulan accused her of being too demanding in front of everyone, which was even more outrageous.
"I am pushing my luck? Do you have any conscience? Uncle Village Chief, tell me yourself, when you went to Bear Ridge, you were bitten by a snake. If my father-in-law hadn't saved you, would you still be alive?
When my father-in-law died, he entrusted Xiaoyan to you. You agreed to it yourself, right? Your whole family agreed to this marriage.
Now that your family is rich and Shaowen has a good job, what's wrong with asking you to increase the betrothal money?
Xiaoyan's parents died early. If it weren't for me and her uncle, she wouldn't be alive. I worked so hard to help you raise your daughter-in-law, how come you can't even afford the 15 taels betrothal gift?"
As he said this, he pushed Zhou Xiaoyan in front of everyone and said, "Come, come, take a look, is there a piece of her meat missing? You have raised her so well, how can she not be worth fifteen taels?"
Zhou Xiaoyan's face flushed, tears welled up in her eyes. She pushed Liang Damei against her body and whispered, "Aunt San, please stop talking..."
Third Aunt heard some nonsense from somewhere, saying that Zhang Shaowen got a good job and insisted on bringing her to his house to lower the price.
She didn't want to come, but her third aunt pinched her hard, and her third uncle thought she was ignorant of the current situation and scolded her for a long time, saying that she was an ungrateful person.
But even if the Zhang family became rich, what would it have to do with them? The marriage had been discussed long ago, and the betrothal gifts and silver were also agreed upon. Why would they raise the price just because they made money?
But she couldn't resist, and was being pulled out by Liang Damei like a commodity. She wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Wang Chunmei couldn't stand it anymore and said angrily: "Isn't this your niece? What do you mean by raising her for us? What do you think Xiaoyan is? Are you selling your niece?"
"She's not my biological mother, so how good can an aunt be? She just bullies someone because her parents are gone!"
"That's not what I meant. We are all aunts. Who would go so far? So this is why people are bad. What does it have to do with whether you are an aunt or not?"
"That's right, how can people be so mean! If she hadn't been engaged to the head of the village, it would be hard to say that this girl was sold!"
When Liang Damei heard people say that she had a bad heart, she glared at her fiercely, "I am being too much? As her aunt, I don't owe her anything. I have done my best to raise her to this age with good food and drink!
Food and clothing are all expensive. It is only right that you give us a betrothal gift to repay our kindness in raising us!"
"How much money can you spend on a child? You have the nerve to say that you are raising him well. Look at how skinny he is."
"Of course, don't even mention how much money you spent. Didn't the child help you with any work? The fact that he ate a bite of your food has already offset it!"
"I say, my dear sister, marriage is a happy event, but you can't make such a fuss. It's really too much. We are all ordinary farmers. Who can afford fifteen taels?"
The more the woman outside the courtyard listened, the more she looked down upon Liang Damei. She was not a rich lady, nor was she beautiful, but she asked for fifteen taels of silver.
Fifteen taels, what does that mean? The best they can get in a whole year is two taels.
Zhang Shaowen did go to Cheng Yue's shop, but the wages were certainly not high. The headman's family was not doing well, so how could he afford fifteen taels?
Liang Damei turned her head and glanced at everyone, sneering:
"Ha! Just because you can't afford it doesn't mean others can't. Shao Wen has made it big. Look at how well he's dressed. What's fifteen taels of silver to him?
Uncle Lizheng, given your status, isn't it giving you face if we ask for fifteen taels?"
The head of the village glanced at Liang Damei and said calmly, "We can't afford it, we can't give you this face, and we don't want this face.
Don't try to threaten me with favors. Brother Zhou did save my life, but he had been ill for so many years before he died, and my family paid for his medicine.
We have also helped to cultivate a lot of pears from your land, and we have already repaid the favor!
We got married because we felt sorry for Xiaoyan and we were told to do so by Brother Zhou. Otherwise, we would never have gotten married to a family like yours!"
In the past few years, during the busy farming season, they would go to Gouxiongling to help. As time went by, Zhang Shaowen and Zhou Xiaoyan developed some feelings for each other.
If it weren't for this, even if Brother Zhou had instructed him to do so, he would never have involved his grandson.
Of course, I can't say this to Liang Damei, lest she take advantage of me.
Zhou Xiaoyan clenched her fists and tears fell from her eyes. She felt so ashamed. Even if the marriage went through, how could she have the face to marry into the Zhang family?
Liang Damei originally wanted to take some benefits back, but the head of the village and his family refused to listen and humiliated her instead. She became angry and embarrassed.
If she had not given the engagement documents and money, she really wanted to sell Zhou Xiaoyan to a city dweller as a maid, as she would earn more than marrying her off.
Under the current circumstances, she couldn't sell it. She didn't have the courage to do anything illegal, but she absolutely couldn't go back empty-handed.
Liang Damei suppressed her anger and thought, yes, there is a better way!
Doesn’t Zhang Shaowen work in Cheng Yue’s shop? If she brings her youngest son in, wouldn’t her family have a steady source of income?
This is the long-term solution!
In this way, not only will you have income, but you will also have face when you talk about it to others, and your marriage will also be able to be taken to the next level.