"Hey, I saw Li Danyang and her mother arguing again today. They were arguing so fiercely that I thought they were going to fight..." said an aunt who was pulling weeds to a woman next to her.
"Are they arguing about Li Danyang and Zhou Weiguo again? What does Li Danyang like about Zhou Weiguo? I really can't understand..." Mrs. Wu gossiped to Aunt Ying.
Aunt Ying smiled meaningfully and said, "Zhou Weiguo is at least a strong man. It's not impossible for Li Danyang to fall in love with him..."
Mrs. Wu saw her suggestive smile and understood instantly, but she still didn't quite believe it:
"Is Li Danyang so courageous? There are young men in our village who are stronger than Zhou Weiguo. Didn't she have high standards before? She only had a good attitude towards those male educated youth from the city. Can Zhou Weiguo, a big and strong man, really charm her?"
"Tsk tsk, as a man, isn't it enough to just tame a woman on the kang? Haven't you seen how Li Danyang blushes when he talks about Zhou Weiguo? I think he has already become a man of another family!" Aunt Ying said with a pout.
"Don't talk nonsense!" Mrs. Wu scolded her, "Be careful not to be heard by Li Danyang's family. Her family is not easy to mess with."
"Hmph, Li Danyang is not afraid of doing such a shameless thing. Am I wrong? Isn't she eager to marry a widower with four children? She is really willing to lower herself to a low level!" Aunt Ying rolled her eyes.
"That's someone else's family business. What's it to you if Li Danyang is willing to do it? I think Li Danyang's mother will have to agree soon. Otherwise, if something really embarrassing happens, it will be a huge shame. Li Danyang will not let it go." Another sister-in-law who was working nearby came over quietly and gossiped.
Gu Shichu pricked up his ears to listen to the women discussing Li Danyang. They had already speculated that Li Danyang and Zhou Weiguo were secretly having an affair. Maybe Li Danyang was pregnant, so Li Danyang was so determined to marry Zhou Weiguo...
They spoke so coherently, as if they had seen Li Danyang and Zhou Weiguo having an affair with their own eyes. They made up a story about what happened between them that sounded so real and plausible that if you had not seen with your own eyes that they were making it up, you would easily believe what they said.
Gu Shichu was stunned as he witnessed the creation of a rural scandal, which was caused by a few gossipy women in the village.
Several women talked about Zhou Weiguo's "ability to do things". They were impressed by his ability. He made his first wife give birth to four children in a few years. After his wife died, he was able to fall in love with a virgin girl and insisted on marrying him. They said that his penis was like a donkey's, which could make women happy like gods. Maybe his first wife died because she couldn't stand his abuse...
Gu Shichu wanted to wash his ears after listening to the obscene words these women said. These people were too unrestrained. He didn't know whether to say they were conservative or open-minded.
What is conservative is that they have to get married and have children with the permission of their parents and matchmakers just like in ancient times. But once they are married and have children, they start to let themselves go. They can discuss anything that happens on the bedside or in their crotch. Even in this era when human nature is most repressed, these village women still discuss the most primitive activities of mankind from time to time.
Fortunately, Gu Shichu was not a real 18-year-old girl, otherwise she would be embarrassed to death after hearing what they said. But it was also possible that she didn't understand - this was probably why these aunties could speak so brazenly here.
They talked about Li Danyang and Zhou Weiguo with great interest for a long time before moving on to the next topic.
Suddenly, Mrs. Wu saw Gu Shichu quietly pulling peanut grass and asked Aunt Liu next to her: "Gu Shichu is already 18 years old, right? There is no one in her family to arrange a marriage for her now, right?"
Aunt Liu glanced at Gu Shichu, who was working very efficiently, and said, "I haven't heard who she is engaged to, but she seems to be very good at work, so she would be a good wife."
Mrs. Wu nodded: "I just don't know if others will think that she is unlucky because she has no relatives. I think she is unlucky. Why didn't her father hold on for a few more years? At least he waited until she got married before dying so that she wouldn't be so pitiful."
Aunt Liu said, "Life and death are determined by fate. Can he decide when he will die? Although this girl from the Gu family cannot marry into a good family, she can still marry into an ordinary family or one with less favorable conditions. Don't you see how pretty she is? She is very attractive!"
Mrs. Wu looked at Gu Shichu's face, who also had to work in the fields almost every day. She was fair and delicate, and did not look like a country girl at all. People would believe her if she said she was a city girl. Unfortunately, she had a bad fate. The villagers thought she was an unlucky star and would bring bad luck to her parents. Therefore, even though many young men liked her, almost no one came to propose marriage to her.
"How pitiful. Hey, Aunt Liu, don't you have a nephew from your mother's side whose wife has died and you want to marry a new one? See how Gu Shichu is doing?" Sister-in-law Wu suddenly said.
Aunt Liu shook her head and said, "My nephew's mother won't agree. She wants to find a daughter-in-law who has everything. It's impossible for her to be interested in Gu Shichu, whose entire family has died and only one person is left."
"But my neighbor has a man who is over 30 years old. His ex-wife died in childbirth, leaving behind a three-year-old daughter. I wonder if he would like Gu Shichu?" Aunt Liu said.
"Another widower with children? Gu Shichu is such a lovely and beautiful girl, she shouldn't end up marrying such a man, right?" Mrs. Wu said with a frown.
"Who knows? There's no harm in asking first." Aunt Liu said, "The man's family is pretty good. He knows carpentry and usually works with others to earn some food. He also works hard in the fields and earns a lot of work points. He won't let Gu Shichu down."
As she spoke, she could not wait to move to Gu Shichu's side and really asked her: "Gu family girl, auntie is looking for a marriage for you, do you think it's feasible?"
Gu Shichu was very sharp-eyed and had heard what she said before, so he knew exactly what she was talking about, but he still asked, "What marriage?"
"He's my neighbor from my mother's side. He has a three-year-old daughter and wants to find a virtuous and capable wife. Don't worry, he's a capable man. His family conditions are better than those of ordinary families, and they can even eat white rice from time to time! Although he has a bad temper, he's not too feminine and is very family-oriented. What do you think?" Aunt Liu strongly recommended.
Gu Shichu shook her head and said, "Not really. I don't want to be a stepmother. I'm not virtuous enough to treat other people's children as my own. So Aunt, you should introduce someone else."
Aunt Liu immediately frowned when she heard this: "You don't even like that kind of person, what else do you want to like? Not a stepmother? Then you can marry an old man in his 50s or 60s or a lazy second-rate gangster! You are so shameless, let's see who dares to marry you, the lonely star that brings death to the whole family..."