Deng Xingming's questions were tricky one after another, and Gu Jiabei went from being calm and composed to being sweating profusely.
Just when he thought it was finally over, Deng Xingming asked the most crucial question, "Who will be the head of your family from now on?"
Gu Jiabei wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "We have discussed it. We will discuss the big things together, and Yunping will make the decision on the small things."
Deng Xingming was quite satisfied and asked again, "Who is in charge of the money?"
Qian Shulan and Deng Yunping had never seen Deng Xingming so nagging before. Both of them were holding back smiles. Deng Yunping even felt a little more grateful. Once upon a time, had her brother ever really considered her? Everything now seemed more like a dream.
Maybe the two of them had discussed this before, so after a moment of hesitation, Gu Jiabei replied, "I heard from Yunping that women are the ones who manage the money here. When we get married in the future, we will follow the local customs."
Deng Yunping nodded a little embarrassedly.
"That's fine!"
Qian Shulan suddenly asked, "Yun Ping was married once before, did you know about this?"
Gu Jiabei nodded, a touch of pity rising in his heart, "When I was pursuing Yunping, she told me about this. I don't care about it, and I was engaged before I got married, but the other party saw that I was in the army and was worried that I couldn't take care of the family, so she withdrew."
Qian Shulan breathed a sigh of relief. Yun Ping had been married before, so Qian Shulan was not worried that she would hide something before marriage. However, Qian Shulan was really worried that the man might say that he didn't mind, but he still cared about it in his heart. Now that she saw Gu Jiabei's eyes were firm and sincere, she finally put down the big stone in her heart.
That's right! It's still easy for a widow to marry these days, but it's still a bit difficult to marry a first-time bride. But Yun Ping is pretty and literate, so it's normal for Gu Jiabei to like her.
Qian Shulan was quite satisfied with Gu Jiabei. People these days were conservative, and he must have had some ideological struggles to accept Yun Ping's second marriage. But this didn't mean that Yun Ping had to be inferior to Gu Jiabei. In her heart, Yun Ping was worthy of Gu Jiabei's love.
If both sets of parents are satisfied, the next step is for the parents to meet and discuss the marriage.
Gu Jiabei had already sent a telegram to his parents. He and Yunping decided to buy a house in the provincial capital before his parents arrived.
Deng Xingming went along, saying that he was there to serve as a reference for them. Qian Shulan felt that he was probably afraid that his sister would be cheated.
In his words, buying a house is a man's job. Gu Jiabei doesn't even have the money to buy a house, so he is no different from a gigolo.
That night, Qian Shulan sat by the fire sewing shoe soles.
The teacher is giving a lecture to Xiao Min.
After finishing the lecture, he said, "I asked you to draw ten identical pictures of garlic sprouts. Tell me which one you are most satisfied with?"
Xiao Min picked out the one that she thought was the best from the ten paintings.
The teacher nodded, reviewed them again and again, and finally pointed out the shortcomings of each painting. The one that Xiao Min was most satisfied with was the best except for some minor flaws.
Xiao Min secretly kept the teacher's comments in mind.
The teacher walked over to Qian Shulan and asked, "Sister, can you lend me your coal stove?"
"Okay!" Qian Shulan thought he was cold, so she agreed without thinking too much and continued to sew shoe soles.
"Teacher? Why did you burn my painting?" Xiao Min's exclamation suddenly sounded, which seemed particularly abrupt in the quiet night. Fortunately, they lived at the end of the village, and there were several familiar families here, so it didn't matter.
Qian Shulan looked up suddenly and saw two teachers holding several paintings and lighting them on the coal stove. Two of the paintings were already half engulfed by the flames.
"If it is a low-quality painting, how can it remain in the world? If you want to make progress, you cannot look at these defective products that will affect you." The teacher patiently explained to her, but although his words were gentle, his attitude was still firm.
Xiao Min looked at the results of her hard work for several days being destroyed. Her eyes turned red and tears fell down.
Instead of trying to persuade her, the two teachers continued to ask her, "If you want to keep your paintings, you have to work harder! Otherwise, you are just wasting your grandmother's money and painting a bunch of useless rubbish."
After being stunned for a moment, Qian Shulan lowered her head and continued to work.
Perhaps because she couldn't bear to see her work burned again, Xiao Min painted more seriously than before. In the past, she was in a state of selflessness when painting, and her attitude was good. But it lacked a little spirit and artistic conception.
In the teacher's words, she used to copy others and her paintings were very similar, but that was all. Now her paintings have vitality and soul. This is a great improvement! Some people can never take this step in their entire lives, and in the end they can only become unknown people.
After burning more than a dozen paintings, one day, one of her paintings was finally allowed to be kept by two teachers.
Xiao Min was so excited that tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't wait to give her recognized painting to her grandmother, "Grandma, my teacher said that if I become famous, this painting can be sold for a lot of money. This one is for you."
Qian Shulan was very happy. If Xiao Min really became a master of calligraphy and painting, her future would be limitless.
She treasured the painting carefully. This was the first honor.
Gradually, more and more paintings were left to Xiao Min, but she collected them all by herself, and gradually figured out the shortcomings of them.
A few days later, Gu Jiabei brought his parents to pay a formal visit.
Gu's father and mother were genuine country people, and they looked like good people, not the kind of old men and women who liked to take advantage of others. This made Qian Shulan very satisfied.
The two parties agreed on the wedding date, and then discussed the dowry and gift.
The wedding date is set on February 2, the day when the dragon raises its head, which is definitely a good day.
However, when discussing dowry and bride price, the gap between the two families became apparent.
Although Mr. and Mother Gu were illiterate, they could see that they were nervous when they saw Qian Shulan give them such a long list.
Qian Shulan handed the list to Gu Jiabei and said with a smile, "In my family, I set the standard for dowry for boys and girls to get married at 200 yuan. But Yunping is the last one to get married, so her brothers and sisters-in-law each gave 50 yuan as gifts. In addition, she saved a lot in the past few years, so her dowry is larger. The in-laws and mother-in-law don't have to think too much. I am doing this for the good of the two children. I hope they can live happily and not worry about the daily necessities."
When Gu's father and mother heard this, they looked at each other in bewilderment. She meant that this long list of things was a dowry, not something they had to prepare for their two children. While they were relieved, they couldn't help but wonder in their hearts. Why did this family love their daughter so much
Just thinking about what his son said, that this family is almost all workers, he felt admiration in his heart. A widowed mother raised several children to adulthood, and was able to train all her sons and grandchildren to be talents. But they only have three children, and the burden on them has crushed them. People are really incomparable. The two of them felt respect in their hearts, and did not refute Qian Shulan's words at all, as if everything she said was right.
Qian Shulan had long seen that both men were honest people who didn't have many ulterior motives. When she heard they wanted a betrothal gift of fifty yuan, she didn't bargain with them.
But she didn't say anything, and the others were surprised.
In the past, Sun Daqin might have started to yell, but this time she didn't say a word.
Deng Xingming smiled and said, "The customs in each place are different. Although the betrothal gifts here are all over a hundred yuan, our family is not after the betrothal money. As long as the two of them can live a good life in the future, we will be satisfied."
A hundred or so? Gu's parents were so shocked that they felt sick. Even Gu Jiabei was stunned. He subconsciously looked at Deng Xingming and saw that he looked calm, as if it was normal.
Qian Shulan patted the back of Gu's mother's hand and glared at Deng Xingming, "Why are you saying this? Parents should give a betrothal gift according to their means. You can't raise a child with so much hardship that it drives you to death."
Deng Xingming hurriedly apologized to the two of them, "Uncle Gu and Aunt Gu, I am the one who didn't know how to speak. Please forgive me."
Gu's father and mother came back to their senses from the shock and waved their hands to say no. But they felt a little unhappy. They looked at their son with some worry. This family was so capable, would his second son lose control of his family
But the situation in their family was just like that. Even if the second son really wanted to give in to the girl in every way, they could only accept it. But they made a decision silently in their hearts that they would never cause trouble for the second son in the future, otherwise his status would be even lower.
After the discussion, Qian Shulan took the two of them on a tour around their production team. Only then did Gu's father and mother realize that everyone in this production team was rich, and they were very envious.
"It would be great if our production team could have so many chickens." Father Gu sighed as he watched the truck carry away so many eggs at once.
Qian Shulan smiled and said, "As long as you can convince your team leader to come and order chicks, of course you can have so many chicken farms."
Gu's father and mother were moved. Looking at the red brick and tile houses in Wangjia Village, they secretly made up their minds to go back and persuade the team leader.
The two asked about raising chickens. Although they didn't remember everything, they remembered how much the chicks cost, that they eat earthworms, and what kind of fertilizer was needed to raise earthworms.
After seeing off Gu's father and mother, Qian Shulan took Yunping to the county town to buy things. As early as when she received the letter from Yunping, Qian Shulan asked her sons to leave the cloth coupons and other bills issued today to her.
So new clothes, new quilt covers, as well as enamel basins, thermoses and other things were all bought.
After buying everything, they put everything in the room. Qian Shulan helped Yunping put on the quilt.
Soon the day for the two to get married arrived.
Old Wang's family held a banquet again, and the dishes were similar to last time, neither luxurious nor shabby.
All the people in Old Wang's family came back and gathered together to see Deng Yunping off the house in a lively manner.
After the wedding, everyone went back to work one after another, and Qian Shulan felt a little disappointed.
Deng Xingming was the same, always worried that his sister would not have a good life. Fortunately, after a few days, his sister wrote a letter to Wang Shouyi and sent it to him.
The letter told them not to worry, that she was happy, her work was going well, and she had a good relationship with her colleagues.
This made Qian Shulan and Deng Xingming feel relieved.
After she returned to normal, Xiao Min was sad about the departure of her good friend.
Ma Yunhao finally left home and officially became a soldier defending his country.
Qian Shulan did not comfort her. If Xiao Min could not get through this kind of separation alone, would she collapse when Qian Shulan left her in the future
Fortunately, Xiao Min is very strong. As time goes by, she becomes less sad and more cheerful.