Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 96 Harmonious Engagement Discussion (Subscription Request)
"Uncle, aunt, you are here."

When Zhou Yan saw Zhou Fengnian and his parents coming, she hurried forward to greet them with a smile.

"Yan'er, you must have waited for a long time. I see your face is a little red from the cold. Don't stand outside like an idiot next time."

Before Zhou Fengnian could speak, his mother stepped forward, held Zhou Yan's hand and said.

He really treats her as his own daughter!
Although she knew about Zhou Yan's family situation, Zhou's mother was not stupid. She knew after a little thought that Zhou Yan really wanted to marry Zhou Fengnian.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to go to their house before getting married, and stayed for three or four days without explaining anything to the villagers.

"Aunt, I just came out too. I'm not cold."

Zhou Yan smiled with two dimples on her pretty face, and then continued: "I'm sorry, aunt, we should have gone to your place to discuss it."

Mother Zhou said quickly, "That's nothing. We can go shopping here in Sijiu City. Fengnian just said he would take me and the old man for a walk. Girl, come with me."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Okay, Auntie, I'll accompany you to visit the city later, but let's go in first, it's too cold outside."

It was March at the time, and although it wasn't snowing, the cold wind blowing on my face was still unbearable.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhou Yan led the way.

After Zhou Fengnian followed her, Zhou Yan whispered, "Fengnian, my dad kicked Zhou Kai and Zhou Hao out today. They won't be back until the afternoon."

Zhou Fengnian nodded after hearing this. Fortunately, these two guys were not there, otherwise he would have found it a bit troublesome.

Although they had never met, Zhou Fengnian felt from what Zhou Yan said that her two brothers had a high probability of becoming street urchins.

If Zhou Xiangde doesn't care anymore.

After entering the courtyard, the aunties and grandmas who had not returned to their houses saw Zhou Yan bringing a few people into the courtyard, and immediately asked curiously:

"Hey? Zhou Yan, who are these people?"

"Aunt Zhao, Aunt Liu, this is my boyfriend Zhou Fengnian, and these are his parents. We are here for dinner today."

Zhou Yan replied with a smile, her face full of confidence when she mentioned Zhou Fengnian.

"Dating, then we should talk about marriage. The young man looks really energetic!"

"Oh, Zhou Yan has grown up too."

The neighbor aunt and aunt said a few commonplace compliments, and Zhou Yan accepted them all with a smile, and then said: "My parents are still waiting in the house, Aunt Zhao, Aunt Liu, let's stop talking for now."

"Uncle and aunt, this way."

After saying that, Zhou Yan led Zhou Fengnian and the other two and continued to walk inside.

As soon as the others left, Aunt Zhao and Aunt Liu started to murmur.

"Is this the engineer son-in-law that Lv Honghui mentioned? He looks so young."

"I heard that he is an advanced individual and model worker, and an engineer at the machinery factory. Humph, this is a great bargain for Lv Honghui."

"What's the point of taking advantage? You know how Zhou Yan is treated at home. I guess after Zhou Yan gets married, she will definitely not help the family."

Aunt Liu sneered and continued, "She, Lv Honghui, is just taking advantage of the fact that her daughter is sold. When she doesn't have a daughter anymore, what else can she take advantage of?"

The neighbors living in this courtyard all know what kind of person Lv Honghui is.

They had quarreled with their daughter Zhou Yan more than once or twice. At first, they thought it was Zhou Yan's fault, but later they gradually realized what a patriarchal woman Lv Honghui was.

In fact, every household tends to favor boys over girls. After all, men are the backbone of the family and they have to support the family in the future.

But Zhou Yan's abilities and appearance are both outstanding, and she also has a formal job. With such good conditions, their family would definitely value her very much, and she would be no different from the pillar of the family.

But Lu Honghui didn't take it seriously and kept wanting to leave Zhou Yan's job to her eldest son. She also said that she had to ask for three gifts when marrying her daughter because her daughter was worth three.

This also led to the fact that although Zhou Yan was beautiful, not many people proposed to her. After all, ordinary families would not spend hundreds of dollars to marry a wife.

Aunt Zhao and Aunt Liu chatted for a while about what Lv Honghui definitely regretted, and then left. Although they wanted to see Lv Honghui make a fool of herself, they couldn't do so for a while.

"Dad, Mom, Fengnian and my uncle and aunt are here."

After Zhou Yan entered the room, she immediately introduced her parents: "You have met Fengnian. These two are Fengnian's parents."

"My dear relatives, we finally meet. You have been taking care of my daughter for a while."

Before Zhou Fugui could speak, Zhou Xiangde greeted him with a smile.

Then he stepped aside, pulled Zhou Xiangde and said, "My dear, sit down and talk slowly. Mother, go and pour two cups of tea."

After hearing this, Lv Honghui went to pour tea reluctantly. It seemed that she had been warned in advance not to do anything naughty.

Not long after Zhou Fugui and his mother sat down, Lv Honghui brought two mugs filled with tea, forced a smile and said, "This is the only cup we have at home. I have washed it many times before. You can use it for now, my in-laws."

"It's okay, it's okay, this is already good."

Zhou Fugui quickly said that although it was just ordinary high-grade tea, it was already a pretty good tea that ordinary people could buy.

Better tea requires tea tickets, which most people cannot afford.

After Zhou Fugui sat down and took a sip of tea, he said, "My in-laws are also surnamed Zhou. It's rare that the two children like each other. Zhou Yan is really a good girl. No one in our family doesn't like her."

The two of them called each other in-laws, which was a subtle way of finalizing the matter.

Before coming, Zhou Fugui heard Zhou Fengnian say that this family favors boys over girls, and thought that the marriage would be a little difficult. He didn't expect it to be so smooth, and Zhou Xiangde's attitude was also good.

"It's indeed rare to have the same surname. I thought my in-laws would have concerns about this."

Zhou Xiangde smiled and praised Zhou Fengnian: "Fengnian is a handsome man. My daughter is marrying up."

"This is not marrying up. My family has no concerns at all."

Zhou Fugui didn't understand Zhou Xiangde's first sentence, but he waved his hand and said nothing.

People who come from rural areas seldom mind having the same surname as others. There aren’t so many etiquettes. As long as they make eye contact, it doesn’t matter if they have the same surname or not.

The conversation became more and more cheerful, and Lu Honghui also got up to prepare lunch.

Zhou's mother originally wanted to help, but was stopped by Zhou Xiangde, who said that they had guests today and it was not appropriate to let guests come to cook.

Even if Zhou Fengnian is a skilled craftsman, he would not do this, otherwise the neighbors would see him and laugh at him.

Zhou Yan did go to help, but as soon as she arrived at the toilet, she saw Lv Honghui putting away the wine and cigarettes in a greedy manner, and was planning to put away the dates and persimmons as well.

But Zhou Yan immediately stepped forward to stop her and said, "Mom, where are the things for entertaining the guests? Put these dates in the porridge at noon. Don't hide anything. This is what Dad said."

Lv Honghui was about to get angry after hearing what Zhou Yan said, but when she thought of Zhou Xiangde's warning, she said impatiently: "Alright, alright, I got it, go and light the fire."

After taking out some candies and melon seeds as a treat and passing them over, Lv Honghui started cooking with her daughter.

They chatted happily in the room. Zhou Fugui also told Zhou Xiangde about Hongjia Village. Zhou Xiangde listened with great interest and thanked Zhou Yan for bringing back the rabbit last time. Not long after, Lv Honghui and Zhou Yan prepared the meal and served it to the table.

Zhou Xiangde also opened a bottle of wine and started drinking with Zhou Fugui.

While at the dinner table, Zhou Fugui mentioned the marriage of his two children, and the topic was opened.

After discussing for a while, Zhou Xiangde agreed to almost everything.

We are planning to get married in late May or early June. Zhou Feng will turn around on the third day of the Lunar New Year. All we need is a sewing machine and a 30-yuan gift.

Zhou Fugui originally said fifty, not intentionally raising the bride price, but purely because his family valued Zhou Yan.

Besides, Zhou Fengnian only gives his family a little over a hundred yuan a year, so they can afford fifty yuan.

However, Zhou Xiangde himself said the amount was lower, saying that thirty would be enough. In their neighborhood, the dowry for marrying off a daughter is usually twenty or thirty.

After much discussion, they settled on thirty yuan.

It's quite suitable. Even if a girl with a city household registration gets married, 20 yuan is enough for the bride price. Zhou Fugui raised it a little because Zhou Yan is a worker and has good conditions.

Forget about having a wedding banquet. Food is precious nowadays, and a year's worth of food is not enough to hold a grand banquet in the countryside.

When the time comes, we'll give out some candies and melon seeds to make the news known.

Zhou Fengnian didn't expect that things would go so smoothly. He thought that Lu Honghui would do something weird, such as asking for more betrothal gifts or taking back Zhou Yan's job.

Now it seems that Zhou Xiangde warned Lu Honghui not to make trouble.

Since knowing that Zhou Fengnian was an eighth-level engineer, Zhou Xiangde also inquired about it many times in the factory and finally understood the status of an eighth-level engineer.

They are the same as the factory director. One is the heart and the other is the brain. If the brain is unhappy, you can scold the heart.

Zhou Xiangde is not a fool. With a son-in-law like this, why should he make things unhappy just for a job and a little betrothal gift?
So after Zhou Xiangde came back, he warned Lu Honghui several times, so that she would not cause trouble at the engagement dinner.

After the meal, Zhou Fugui had a pleasant chat with Zhou Xiangde. Zhou Fugui found out that Zhou Xiangde was two years older than him and directly called him Brother Zhou.

Although I didn't drink too much, I still felt comfortable drinking it.

After sitting for a while, Zhou Fugui also asked to leave. He and Zhou Fengnian had agreed to have dinner with Luo Cheng, who had always taken care of him, in the evening.

And I haven’t even visited the old city yet, and I haven’t seen the eldest, second son and fourth daughter either.

There's a lot to do in one day.

The village of Hongjia is very busy now. Basically everyone has to work. The only person in the Zhou family who does not have to earn work points is the second daughter-in-law. She stays at home to take care of the two children.

So Zhou Fugui and his mother couldn't stay in the city for long and had to go back tomorrow morning.

"Dad, Mom, I'm going to see my uncle and aunt off and take them around the city."

When Zhou Yan saw Zhou Fugui and Zhou's mother were about to leave, she stood up and said.

Zhou Xiangde didn't stop him and just nodded and agreed.

When they were leaving, the neighbors who were watching from afar out of curiosity were surprised to see Zhou Fugui coming out with a smile.

Moreover, they didn't hear Lv Honghui's cry just now, and they couldn't help but guess that Zhou Fengnian's family agreed to all of Lv Honghui's requests, so there was no quarrel.

Especially Aunt Zhao and Aunt Liu, after guessing this possibility, their jealousy towards the Zhou family suddenly emerged.

The Zhou family is so lucky that they can marry Zhou Yan off with the same request as selling their daughter.
------

At night, in the Luo family's backyard.

There were six or seven steaming delicacies on the round table, and in the middle there was a casserole of braised lamb with bubbling red soup.

All of this is the work of Zhou Fengnian. Good ingredients and great craftsmanship make people salivate at the mere smell of them.

Zhou Fengnian is now an eighth-level engineer. Although the engineer’s benefits will not be paid until next month, Deputy Director Gao has sent him a lot of tickets before that.

That's why Zhou Fengnian was able to buy enough food for the whole table, especially the mutton.

I happened to catch it. If I hadn't lined up early, I would definitely not have been able to get these two pounds of mutton.

There were six people eating here, Luo Cheng and his wife, Zhou Fugui and his wife, Zhou Fengnian and Zhou Chunhua.

His eldest brother and second brother had sent a meat dish in advance, which was enough for them to eat; there was no big table here, so it was just right for six people to sit at. If three more people were squeezed in, there would be no room.

Zhou Fugui poured a glass of wine, then raised the glass to Luo Chengjing and said, "Brother Luo, Fengnian is under your care. Without you, how could this kid make such rapid progress?
As a father, I want to thank you, and it’s all in the wine.”

"You're welcome. Fengnian is so smart that he could become an engineer even without me. To be honest, my promotion to engineer level has a lot to do with Fengnian."

"Haha, Brother Luo, don't bother to save face for this brat."

Zhou Fugui laughed, but he was really happy that his son had made progress.

Originally, his family were all farmers in the countryside. Fortunately, he had the idea of ​​sending his third child to school, and his family supported him.
At that time, it was good enough to have enough to eat, but Zhou Fugui gritted his teeth and sent Zhou Fengnian to the city.

Although Zhou Fengnian didn't contact his family much for a few years after graduation, he brought many benefits to the Zhou family later.

There are five workers in the family, and even the youngest daughter is in school. If Zhou Xiaomei goes to high school, Zhou Fengnian can arrange a job for her.

By then, Zhou Fugui will no longer have any responsibilities, his five children will all be living well, and he can enjoy his retirement in peace.

Zhou Fugui and Luo Cheng became happier and happier as they talked, and they drank a few more glasses of wine.

As a result, the meal took almost two hours, and the red-braised lamb in the casserole had to be added with water twice, turning it into braised lamb soup.

After meal.

Zhou's mother and Zhou Chunhua cleaned the table and washed the dishes. Zhou Fengnian first helped Aunt Li put Luo Cheng on the bed, and then went back to help his father away.

The two drank quite a bit, about half a bottle each.

Zhou Fengnian had cleaned up the place where he lived. The bed and bedding were new. Although there was no kang, there was a stove, so it would definitely not be cold at night.

"Fengnian, go and have a rest. I'll take care of your father. You really don't care about me and insist on urging me to drink."

After a while, Zhou's mother came back and quickly sent Zhou Fengnian away. Her son had been running for a long time today and must be exhausted.

Zhou Fengnian did not refuse. After telling his mother to pay attention to the stove, he went out of the house to wash up.

He ran a lot today, and even when he was riding a bicycle, his legs were a little sore from pedaling.

However, when Zhou Fengnian returned to his room to sleep at night, he lay on the bed and felt very at ease.

Finally, the marriage has been finalized, and one more thing in life has been solved.

(End of this chapter)