Reborn in the 60s, I hunt to support my family and even seduce the village beauty.

Qin Jianren took off his straw sandals, about to administer family punishment to Shi Zhenxiang, when Qin Meiru shouted from the side.

"Father, Mother, I haven't finished speaking yet, can you please listen to me first?!"

Shi Zhenxiang quickly pressed, "Daughter, what did Xiao Lü say? How did he know about our family increasing the bride price before?"

Qin Meiru rolled her eyes at her mother: "If someone wants to marry into our family, of course they'll have to ask around. Everyone in the village knows about your previous increase in the bride price, so they can easily find out."

"Oh dear! I should have known better than to argue and fight with those women and old ladies in the village. They would definitely say all sorts of bad things about our family!" Shi Zhenxiang regretted it deeply. She had argued with most of the women in the village, so it was no wonder they wouldn't say anything good about her family.

"Ugh! You're really... Damn it! You're making me so angry!" Qin Jianren held his head and squatted down on the ground.

What are we going to do now? It looks like our son-in-law from the city is going to fly away like this.

"When Lü Jiawei asked me about the extra dowry, I blamed it all on my mother," Qin Meiru said softly.

Shi Zhenxiang was taken aback for a moment, then realized what she meant and exclaimed, "Good! Daughter, you're right. This was all my idea, it has nothing to do with you!"

It's okay if my reputation is bad, but if my daughter has a bad reputation, she won't be able to get married.

Qin Jianren squatted on the ground, rolling a cigarette, and sighed deeply: "It's no use saying that! We're family. How could I, as her daughter, not know what my mother did?"

"Father is right. I noticed that Lü Jiawei was still worried, so I said, I said..." Qin Meiru hesitated, unsure how to continue.

"What are you saying! You little brat, are you trying to drive your old mother crazy with worry?!"

Qin Meiru secretly glanced at her parents and muttered softly, "Just tell him our family doesn't want a bride price, so he can rest assured..."

"What did you say?" Shi Zhenxiang picked at her ear, as if she hadn't heard clearly. "Say it again?!"

"I said!" Qin Meiru closed her eyes and said loudly, "Our family doesn't want a bride price, so he can rest assured!!"

"You dare!!" Shi Zhenxiang grabbed the broom handle from the kang (heated brick bed), raising it to strike. "Whether or not there's a bride price, you're telling me?! You've gone too far!!"

Qin Jianren snatched the broom handle from Shi Zhenxiang and glared at her fiercely: "What's your hurry? Let your daughter finish speaking!!"

Qin Meiru felt wronged, and tears streamed down her face: "I didn't want to either! Mother, everyone knew you increased the bride price before. What are they supposed to think? How can they dare to marry into our family?!"

"But...but we can't just not ask for a bride price!" Shi Zhenxiang jumped up and down in a panic, pointing outside the door. "Go and ask around, in all these villages and towns, which family doesn't ask for a bride price?! I can't afford to lose face like that!!"

Most importantly, if the daughter doesn't accept a bride price when she gets married, then the family won't have the money to pay a bride price when the son gets married. Are they going to let the son remain a bachelor?

At this thought, Shi Zhenxiang shuddered and gritted her teeth, saying, "I don't agree. Don't even think about marrying my daughter without a bride price!!"

"Mother!" Qin Meiru cried, tears streaming down her face. "If I hadn't said those words back then, Lü Jiawei and I would never have been able to continue. Did you even want a son-in-law from the city?!"

"I...I want a son-in-law from the city too, and I want the bride price, I can't have it all!!" Shi Zhenxiang acted like a rogue, "Anyway, I don't care, daughter, you're beautiful, you're not afraid of not finding a husband. If there's no one surnamed Lü, there are always people surnamed Fang or Yuan, we'll always find a good family..."

"Mom! Look how old I am! Other people my age are already having babies! If I delay any longer, I'll become an old maid!" Qin Meiru gritted her teeth and pointed outside.

"Do you really want me to hang myself from a tree? Or are you willing to give up my daughter for the bride price?! Where else can you find a family like Lü Jiawei if you miss this opportunity?!"

Seeing her daughter's fierce expression, Shi Zhenxiang was also a little scared and lowered her head: "But... without a bride price, people will laugh at us for the rest of our lives!"

Qin Meiru wiped away her tears and turned to look at her parents: "I've thought it all out. I told Lü Jiawei that I don't want a bride price. When we really get married, his family can't just not give anything. Otherwise, they'll lose face."

Qin Jianren and Shi Zhenxiang's eyes lit up.

Yes!

If the groom doesn't give a bride price at the wedding, not only will the bride lose face, but the groom will also look bad.

If others find out, they might say hurtful things like the man's family is stingy.

"She's still my daughter, she's so thoughtful!" Shi Zhenxiang smiled and stepped forward to hug Qin Meiru's arm.

"You're right. Even if we don't ask for a bride price, his family will feel awkward not giving one... They should at least give the standard amount for a wedding in the city, right?"

Qin Jianren grinned foolishly. He thought his chances of becoming a son-in-law in the city were over, but things took an unexpected turn and everything returned to normal.

"Daughter, regarding the bride price, we'll do it your way. We'll accept whatever they offer. You're going to see Xiao Lü tomorrow, so bring some cornbread with you. We can't just eat their braised pork; we need to be generous too."

Qin Meiru nodded with a smile: "I gave the matchmaker, Aunt Wang, two cornbreads yesterday, so we can't be stingy with Lü Jiawei."

……

Chang Kun led Cheng Min and Xiu'er to a stream in the mountain valley.

"Brother, can there be fish in such shallow water?"

Xiuer sat on a large rock by the stream, splashing the clear water with her bare feet.

Cheng Min had already gone into the water, and the deepest part of the water only reached her calves.

They lifted stone after stone, trying to find any small crabs, but found nothing.

"You two be careful, there are leeches in this stream. Don't cry if you get bitten!"

"Ah! Leeches?" Xiu'er quickly lifted her little feet out of the water. She wasn't very afraid of snakes, but leeches, those dark, slippery, wriggling insects, really scared her.

From a young age, my mother told me stories to scare her, saying that leeches in the water love to crawl into people's toes.

It bites a small hole in a toe, and it will crawl into a person's body through the hole, from the toe to the calf, then slowly upwards, climbing up the waist to the chest, and finally crawling into the nostril and out of the nostril.

Every time Xiuer hears this story, she feels an itch in her nose, as if something inside is trying to pop out.

When her older brother told her there were leeches in the water, she turned pale with fright.

"Quick! Pull me up!" Cheng Min had grown up hearing stories like this since she was little, and her legs were so scared that they went weak.

Chang Kun walked into the water, scooped up Cheng Min by the legs, and lifted her into his arms, teasing, "Look how scared you are! You're a grown-up, yet you act like a little Xiuer!"

"No matter how old a girl is, she's afraid of leeches!" Cheng Min didn't care about being shy. She hugged Chang Kun's neck tightly and carefully checked her calves and feet to see if she had been bitten by leeches.

"Pshaw! What's there to be afraid of? Today I'll teach you a trick to kill leeches on the spot!"

Chang Kun flipped over a small stone on the shore and scooped up a small leech from the back of the stone, showing it to the two men.

"Ugh! That's disgusting!"

"Ah! Big brother, throw it away quickly!"