Back to 1978

Chapter 77 No Way

Yang Liming quietly slipped away the next day, and by the time the other members of Team 3 found out, they had already returned to work.

His departure made the young and old men of Team 3 reluctant to part with him for two days.

Maybe they knew that young guys like Xie Hushan would have to work as river diggers and that the work ahead of them would be difficult, so in previous years it was Xie Hushan and a group of young men who lined up to transport grain to the granary. This year, Han Laogou, Ma Laowu and others also arranged other people.

At home, grandma began to pack clothes and bedding for Xie Hushan to take to work as a river excavator.

The old man's attitude towards Xie Hushan's river digging work was consistent with that of Han Laogou and others. It was the slack season for farming when there was nothing to do and a waste of grain. The three meals a day that a group of young men had at home would make their parents feel uneasy, and the family's food rations could be visibly reduced.

It's good to work as a river dredger. You can earn work points and get food. A twenty-year-old guy is not afraid of tiredness. He is at the age when he can be used as a donkey. He can rest after a day's work by taking a good sleep.

The reason why the brigade and the county do not allow people in their thirties and forties to work on river digging is that they know that these people will not be able to rest after finishing the work, and if they really fail, it will affect the spring ploughing next year.

The only thing that made the grandmother feel bad was that her grandson would not be able to have much contact with Taozi in the short term. After all, she would be away for three months.

"Don't worry about me. Your aunt and Daxiu come to see me every evening. Besides, Taozi's mother said before she left that after your second wife Meng helps to release Xiaoding in the next two days, she and Taozi's father will send Taozi to live with me for a while during the slack season. She will keep me company." Grandma helped Xie Hushan pack and check some clothes, and looked through his cloth shoes, and said to her grandson who was concerned about what she was doing during this period.

River repair work is different from farm work. The clothes my grandson wears need to be altered, and some parts that are prone to wear and tear need thick patches added in advance. I also need to see if I can modify my grandson's shoes, as ordinary cloth shoes will rot after three days of work.

She was rummaging through the scraps of cloth she had collected on the kang, while Xie Hushan was helping her identify the needles:
"Grandma, what if, I mean what if in the next two years, I suddenly become rich, or Miss Taozi becomes rich, and our social statuses are no longer suitable, then it would be inappropriate for us to get married?"

"Your second wife Meng will go to the cliff to place a small betrothal gift for you tomorrow. Wait two years before you are old enough to get married, and then place the big betrothal gift. After the small betrothal gift is placed, Taozi will have to tie her braids with red roots. Didn't you see that when Taozi came that day, she didn't have her two braids tied at the roots?" Grandma said as she kept searching.

Xie Hushan was a little confused: "What do you mean, grandma? I was talking about whether we are suitable for marriage in the future. Why did you bring up combing hair again?"

"After the engagement, Taozi should tie her hair into a braid, and use the red hairband that your second wife Meng gave you when the engagement was announced. This way, if a matchmaker wants to help her find a partner, they don't need to come to her house to ask for help. They just need to see that her braid is red, and they will know that she has a partner, and there is no need to ask for help to find a partner for her." Grandma glanced at Xie Hushan:

"After she wears your red hairband, she and you are from the same family, both members of the Xie family. How can we not be a good match? Whether she becomes rich or you become rich, it will all belong to you two."

Xie Hushan sighed: "She wants to dig out a box of gold ingots. If she has the money, she won't want this marriage?"

Grandma stopped what she was doing and looked at Xie Hushan, who quickly said, "I was just making an analogy. I didn't dig out any gold ingots."

"Why before a man and a woman get married, after the engagement is made, the woman will be asked to live with the man's mother or grandmother for a period of time in the name of visiting relatives, so that both sides can see if the character is as good as the matchmaker said. Taozi lives with me in our house. If I think she is a lazy girl who knows nothing, I will find a way to postpone the marriage without you saying anything. On the other hand, if you are a second-rate person who does not work properly and your family is different from what the matchmaker said, then Taozi can go home and discuss with her parents to cancel the engagement." Grandma found a piece of cloth, measured the size on the clothes and said:

"But it's settled. If Taozi is innocent and you want to break off the engagement, you will ruin her reputation and make her family enemies with you."

If he wasn't playing a second-rate guy who could easily make his grandmother angry and sick, Xie Hushan really wouldn't mind using his acting skills again to trick the other party into backing out.

The young girl was good in every way, and Xie Hushan had no intention of looking down on country girls. It was just that he really had never thought about getting married. As a time traveler, he had a nonchalant attitude towards marriage. He did not need to use this thing to restrain himself, nor did he want others to be responsible for his so-called family life.

Otherwise, he cannot live freely and indulge in wine and women with a clear conscience. You cannot have a woman at home who is impeccable and works hard every day to do housework, take care of the elderly, wash clothes and cook for you, while you, as a man, a nominal husband, hide things from her or ignore her, and have affairs with other men and women all over the world.

Anyone would think that Xie Hushan is mentally ill. He has a wife at home who has all the necessary parts, so why does he go around the world looking for famous bitches to exchange sex skills with every day? Is he addicted?

Can’t eat the refined rice and white flour at home, so you like the rotten vegetables and bran eaten outside?
And if you have a little conscience, you have to think about it. You can ignore your own reputation, but at least don't hurt the girl's dignity.

She has done nothing wrong to Xie Hushan, and she has worked hard to help take care of his grandmother and the family.

Xie Hushan understood all these problems. The only thing that made him uncomfortable was that Xie Hushan did not ask her for help in taking care of the child. It was his grandmother who made the arrangements for him.

He was not used to the feeling of having his fate arranged by others. He was furious but had no place to vent his anger, so he went to wrestle and fight with other militiamen to vent his anger.

The kind of relationship Xie Hushan wants between men and women is one of just buying and selling, without any harm.

We can talk about anything except feelings. It’s a fair deal, no delays or debts.

When a man and a woman are attracted to each other, they can lie down and enjoy the pleasure, and when they are done, they can get up and leave without any hesitation.

But the current situation is that if this girl named Taozi really comes into the family, regardless of whether there are any feelings for him or not, his grandmother will be imposing a layer of family responsibilities on him. At the level of moral conscience, this will block his path to engaging in promiscuous relationships between men and women without restraint.

The girl took it seriously. The sewing machine lady was so generous that she asked him to move out on the day of the blind date. This attitude was enough for Taozi's mother to go around in their Yakou Brigade and brag about how her daughter had found a good marriage that did not treat her daughter-in-law harshly.

Xie Hushan handed the needle and thread to his grandmother and asked, "Do you need to buy a gift for Xiao Ding?"

Grandma thought Xie Hushan was reluctant to spend money, so she said to her grandson earnestly:

"Of course I have to buy it. No matter how poor I am, I can't save this money. My grandson is marrying a girl from a respectable family. I'm not buying someone's daughter as a child bride. The betrothal gift can't be less. This is to make Taozi proud. I can't fool her just because her family is not well off."

"You don't even have a new house, but she is willing to live with you. We can't treat her badly in terms of etiquette. This kind of thing only happens once in a lifetime. If the husband's family doesn't do it decently, the woman will suffer for the rest of her life. You let her have this glorious day, and she will be devoted to this family for the rest of her life."

What else is there to say? Seeing grandma's attitude, Xie Hushan felt that even if he were that girl named Taozi, he would never back out. Maybe he could live with grandma for the rest of her life, so it wouldn't matter whether she had a husband or not.

"Sixth Aunt!" Accountant Zhao's voice rang out from outside the courtyard gate, "Is Hu San'er home?"

"Grandma, don't move. I'll go. It must be Ma Laowu who wants to talk to me about something." Xie Hushan let his grandmother continue to work and walked out:
"Uncle Zhao, I'm at home."

"Let's go to the team headquarters later. Your fifth uncle wants to talk to you about leading the team to repair the reservoir." Accountant Zhao smiled as he rode on his bicycle. Perhaps he was worried that Xie Hushan would ask him to carry him again, so he pedaled away immediately.

Seeing the accountant's face smiling like a rotten persimmon, Xie Hushan snorted:
"Let's talk about the reservoir repair. Bullshit! How could I not know what you two are up to? I've been on guard against you two for a long time! You want me to hand over the money to the team before I leave? No way!"

(End of this chapter)