Cuihua thought about it carefully and it seemed that there really was no such person. Even her own two daughters, the older one was very timid and the younger one was a spoiled brat, not even half as good as Li Le.
"What did the educated youth Zhang say?"
"I said I would give her a dowry similar to Cheng Zhiqing's, but she refused, saying that her family was poor and she had no dowry, so..."
Damao recalled how quickly Zhang Yuefang turned around and left, and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.
"That's a good one."
Cuihua was actually happy when she heard this. She would have been worried if the other party was so happy to hear that there was so much betrothal gifts. But Zhang Zhiqing's first thought was whether he had enough dowry.
"Mom, you agreed."
"Well, I remember asking Cheng Qiao to buy some khaki cloth last time. I originally wanted to make a set of clothes for the little girl. You can give it to Zhang Zhiqing first, and tell her what I mean."
Damao's eyes were sparkling, making Cuihua want to bite him. You stupid boy, you forgot about your mother when you had a little girl, and now you haven't even got your little girl yet, but you're already obsessed with her.
Damao returned to the house and changed into a set of clothes without patches. After thinking about it, he changed back into his original tattered clothes. Zhang Zhiqing had little money, so he couldn't provoke her.
Then he took the cloth and walked out of the yard, but he didn't notice at all that a small figure at the door of the woodshed was staring at the cloth in his hand with hatred in his eyes.
The little girl turned around and went back to the house. There were four rooms in the house. Originally, she and the older girl shared a room, but now the older girl was married, so she slept in a room by herself. This was a very good condition in Xiangyang Village.
She begged her mother for a long time before she agreed to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy cloth for her to make new clothes. However, they had no cloth coupons, and her eldest sister also said that the supply and marketing cooperative had no defective cloth at that time.
So they turned to Cheng Qiao for help. Cheng Qiao had a lot of defective cloth. Qiu Min was the middleman. When Cui Jiemin, the director of the supply and marketing department of the textile factory, needed soap, he exchanged the defective cloth for soap tickets.
Cheng Qiao pretended to be in pain and took out two pieces of khaki cloth from the cupboard, in maroon and black. Cuihua liked them at first sight. The maroon color for the jacket and the black for the pants were such a good combination.
The little girl was very happy about it and was waiting for the weather to get warmer. She wanted to take off her cotton-padded jacket and ask her mother to make her spring clothes. But who knew that her eldest brother would take the cloth away.
Zhang Yuefang looked a little haggard during this period. There were always two little minds fighting in her heart. One said, "Just get married. Damao will be a college student in the future and will definitely have good conditions."
One said that you can't get married. She is a college student. Why should you marry a college student? What if Damao looks down on you in the future? You can't be like Xu Laidi, who agreed to everything at the beginning, but things changed after the marriage.
"Zhang Zhiqing, the New Year is coming soon. This is given to you by my mother."
"What, your mother."
Zhang Yuefang looked at Chen Damao, whose face had turned red because he walked too fast, and she suddenly felt a little relieved. Since it was Damao's mother who asked him to send the child here, didn't it mean that he didn't despise her
Looking at the dark maroon fabric, I couldn't help but feel happy. This color is good and festive, but not as flashy as bright red.
Her hand stretched out unconsciously, and when Damao put the cloth in Zhang Yuefang's hand, he quickly grabbed her hand. Zhang Yuefang was startled and wanted to pull it back, but she couldn't.
"You, you are a hooligan."
"Yes, I am a hooligan, but I am only being a hooligan to you."
Zhang Damao heard Li Huan talking to Cheng Qiao like this at that time, and he learned this sentence naturally. However, he was too nervous, and it did not sound as romantic as when Li Huan said it.
But Zhang Yuefang felt sweet in her heart. Her family should have given up on her, so she had to live a decent life to show them the consequences of giving up on herself.
Han Chunmei and others came out clapping their hands. They had seen how Zhang Yuefang had been trapped in her own web for some time, and they knew that persuasion was useless and that she could only get out of it on her own. Now she finally understood.
Zhang Yuefang blushed and broke free from Chen Damao's hand, not knowing where to go for a moment. Chen Damao was also smart. He bowed to Han Chunmei and the others to express his gratitude. In this way, the matter between him and Zhang Yuefang was basically settled.
At the Li family, Li Huan shoveled all the burnt things in the house into a basket. Fortunately, some materials were left when the house was built, so it was not difficult to repair it.
The two Wang brothers helped Li Huan repair the kang, windows and wooden doors, and also replaced the bricks on the ground. Wang Xianghua and Li Le kept boiling water at the stove and cooking.
"Cheng Qiao, why don't we get a dog?"
Cheng Qiao nodded, but where could one get a dog now? People could not even get enough to eat, and dogs had become meat in everyone’s eyes.
"If it doesn't work, I'll go up to the mountain and catch a wolf cub in the spring."
"That won't work. Wolves hold grudges. If you catch their cubs, they will come after you by scent."
Ye Jun quickly shook his head. He remembered that most garrisons had military dogs. Why not ask Li Bing to bring a puppy over? That would be safer.
Li Huan nodded repeatedly and decided to write a letter to his elder brother after cleaning the house, asking him to keep an eye out and bring two puppies over so that the dogs would bark if a stranger appeared in the house.
The kang was rebuilt and it took two days before people could sleep on it. At night, Li Huan went to sleep with Ye Jun, while Cheng Qiao slept with Li's mother Li Le holding little Cheng Li. Li Huan tossed and turned all night and couldn't sleep, so Ye Jun kicked him hard.
"Uncle Ye, I don't know what's going on. I just feel uneasy without Cheng Qiao around."
"Get lost. If you disturb my sleep again, roll up your blanket and sleep in the living room."
Li Huan was silent. Compared to the living room, the big kang was of course more comfortable to sleep on. Under the pressure of Ye Jun, Li Huan finally fell asleep.
In the blink of an eye, it was Laba Festival and the villagers who had been repairing the river channel had all returned. Every villager was in high spirits. After more than half a month of labor, they not only received work points, but also had enough food and drink.
Of course, except for Chen Chunjian, he was escorted to repair the river as a punishment. Apart from food, he did not earn a penny, and he worked harder than ordinary people.
Since a river channel had never been built before and the intensity of work increased suddenly, he did not get enough sleep every day and could not finish the work. He was so tired that he had to stand up to work, but he suffered a lot.
So when Chen Chunjian returned home, he didn't even change his clothes and fell asleep directly on the kang. Zhaodi was so heartbroken that she started scolding him, and of course she scolded Cheng Qiao the most.
Chen Chunli frowned in annoyance. He already knew that impulse was the devil. If he was not fully prepared, he must never take action again.