Third Brother Zhang hated him so much that he wanted to bite Ji Changze to death.
But under his Elder Brother’s hearty smile (and strong biceps). He could only manage to leave with a dry smile that was no worse than a bitter smile, following Big Brother Zhang like a little chicken.
He left in disgrace, and the rest didn’t say anything.
Ji Changze sighed again: “Unexpectedly, the relationship between Third Brother Zhang and his brother is excellent.”
With that, he looked to An Xiaolu again, smiling and said, “But my relationship with my brothers is better. Don’t worry Xiaolu, my parents at home love me, and my Eldest Brother and Sister-in-law also love me. You would absolutely enjoy marrying me.”
An Xiaolu had been studying hard ever since she became sensible enough. She didn’t listen to things outside. When she heard such sweet words, she immediately turned red, and she nodded bashfully.
She believed that if Changze were so good, her married life would also be perfect.
And the people who heard Ji Changze say this besides them: “…”
An Xiaolu doesn’t know, but how could they not know?
For marriage, the fact that his family loves the man is not necessarily a good thing for the woman.
If nothing else, look at the men in the village who are regarded as treasured babies by their families. What’s the status of their wives at home?
Who said that when the whole family is good to the man, they will be good to his wife?
An Xiaolu is still too naïve.
They thought so, but no one dared to expose Ji Changze’s ‘clever words’.
After all, Third Brother Zhang was just taken away by his Elder Brother.
So, they could only stand there and watch as Ji Changze, the bully who had never had a good reputation in the village, left happily with the silly and sweet An Xiaolu.
One person sighed; “This is a flower stuck in cow dung.”
(TNote: A flower stuck in cow dung = a beauty marrying a scumbag.)
Several other people agreed and nodded.
Even if Ji Changze became a worker, his lazy temper would ruin his job sooner or later.
Coupled with his misdeeds, it’s a bit more exciting for An Xiaolu now that they’re not married, but they can guess what it would be like when they get married.
Poor An Xiaolu, originally a high school student with a promising future, is good-looking, filial and sensible.
Who would have thought, she would suddenly turn mute?
When An Xiaolu came home with Ji Changze, Father An Fu was cooking porridge on crutches.
He was only in his early forties this year, but his hair became white early, his face was dark because he had been working in the fields, and his body betrayed all the infirmity of an honest man.
It should be decrepit. After all, he’s been in a tight spot ever since the separation. He finally had a good daughter, was sensible and obedient, and could study well. Life was getting finally better but who would have thought that all of a sudden fate would play a game with them.
Father An had to nurse his leg properly now, but he felt sorry for his daughter who was so young and working on her own, so he helped out with his crutches as much as he could.
Hearing the movement, he looked up. After seeing Ji Changze coming in with her, his expression was stunned for the first time; then he was even more dismayed.
An Xiaolu agreed to marry Ji Changze for the sake of this family, which also made Father An feel useless.
After all, his daughter has been studying outside, and didn’t know the situation of the village, but he knew it very well. He also saw how Ji Changze was lazy and didn’t go to work with his own eyes. How old was this boy? He still had to be raised by his parents.
As a young man, he didn’t even want to work in the fields to earn, so what else can he do?
Besides, Ji Changze’s reputation wasn’t very good. He heard that he was unwilling to pour water at home, instead mooched off the old.
Father An had always regarded An Xiaolu, his only daughter, with pride. And now that An Xiaolu was going to marry Ji Changze, a worthless ruffian with a bad reputation; how could he be happy?
Knowing that An Xiaolu made a marriage agreement without telling him, he couldn’t change it; Father An was nearly out of breath with self-loathing.
He didn’t like Ji Changze, but then again, Father An is not the kind of person who didn’t know right from wrong.
He knew that if Ji Changze hadn’t given him the bride price, he might have lost his wife, and she wouldn’t be lying soundly in the house right now, even if Ji Changze was not a good person, it was still a kindness to their family.
So, Ji Changze saw that his future father-in-law was stunned for a moment after seeing him come in. Then he didn’t know what the older man thought of, with a mourning look, he squeezed a bitter smile at him.
It’s better to smile than not to laugh. Might as well write the words ‘trying hard to smile’ on his face.
If it were someone else, his heart would definitely be unhappy.
He didn’t show any expression on his face, so he went up and called, “Uncle, my Mom asked me to bring some meat to visit you.”
Father An was pounding his chest at the bottom of his heart.
Why should you marry someone like Ji Changze?!
For heaven′s sake! Why is she so blind?!
He would instead marry an old man!
He was pounding, but when he heard this. Father An nodded sadly and said dryly, “Oh, that’s right. It’s very kind. And sending meat…eh???”
Suddenly reacting to what Ji Changze had just said about ‘bringing meat’, Father An’s mourning expression turned to shock, “Meat?!?!”
Ji Changze’s reaction to him was nonchalant.
After all, firstly, meat is expensive, and not only expensive, but meat tickets are too. For rural people nowadays, if they want to eat meat, they could only wait until the end of the year to slaughter pigs and divide the meat.
Secondly, no one was cooking in the village now, so it’s hard for meat to show up.
We can say that in this period, shopping with a lump of meat in hand is the same as shopping with a stack of money in hand.
He smiled and said, “Yes, meat. I went to my Eldest Brother’s house today. My Eldest Sister-in-law asked me to bring it back for my parents to eat, so my Mom asked me to bring a bowl.”
With that said, he especially showed his bowl of meat to Father An.
Seeing the meat right under his nose, Father An was slightly surprised and at the same time settled down a bit.
After all, Mother Ji could tell Ji Changze to send such expensive meat to their home, which means that she still valued their family’s Xiaolu.
Father An was not the same as most men in the village who don’t care about a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships, because when he first married a wife, Grandma An not only targeted his wife but also targeted him.
It’s fair to say that Father An felt the blood and storm together with Mother An.
Also, he only has An Xiaolu as an only daughter. Since his daughter was very young, he was worried about what her mother-in-law would do to her when she got married.
Now that Ji Changze said Mother Ji sent the meat, Father An felt much better at heart.
What? Mother Ji doesn’t mean that?
These days, anyone with a bit of meat in their house hides it all to themselves. But Mother Ji sent Ji Changze to deliver such a big bowl of meat, so she must have valued his family’s Xiaolu.
Father An felt better at heart, his face was less depressed, and his smile became much more genuine, shrugging off:
“It’s so embarrassing, but this is what your Sister-in-law gave to your Father and Mother. How can we eat it?”
Ji Changze: “Uncle, take it. After a while, you will be my parent; it’s all the same.”
With that said, he smiled and looked at An Xiaolu.
“Xiaolu and I are getting married soon; we are all family.”
An Xiaolu blushed again at his words. Embarrassed, she stepped forward, took the bowl of meat, pointed to the cooking stove, meaning to cook the meal herself, and left with the meat.
The daughter has received the meat; Father An could no longer refuse. He was happy that ‘his daughter’s future mother-in-law thinks very highly of her’, and said to Ji Changze:
“Why don’t you eat here tonight?”
He was sincere. After all, he could no longer take the marriage back. Since they can’t go back on their words, he could only find a way to let Ji Changze and An Xiaolu cultivate more feelings.
As parents-in-law, they should be more kind to Ji Changze, trying to make him feel the warmth of his family, and making him too embarrassed to mistreat their daughter.
Generally, when people are invited to dinner, they would be embarrassed, and Father An was ready. Once Ji Changze replied, he would convince the other side nicely again.
As a result, the rather handsome future son-in-law in front of him happily agreed.
“Aye! Thank you, Uncle. Then I’ll be glad to oblige!”
He choked, and then he remembered what his future son-in-law was like in the village.
Trying to keep telling himself at the bottom of his heart that ‘We can’t avoid this marriage, Ji Changze is kind to our family.’ Father An took a deep breath and smiled:
Ji Changze: “Yeah, Uncle. Let’s go!”
“By the way, uncle, do you have any fruits or snacks at home or something?” He said with a grin as he went to assist Father An on one side, “I’m a little hungry after all this walking.”
This demeanor was like being in his own home.
Although he knew it for a long time, he still couldn’t help saying it in his heart.
When they were about to enter the house, an old lady’s voice suddenly came from the outside: “Hey, why do I seem to smell meat? Where did you get the meat from?”
Ji Changze saw that as this voice sounded, the smile that Father An had just maintained disappeared immediately, and his eyes were faint with anger and suffocation.
And An Xiaolu, who was warming up the meat, stood up, her beautiful white face full of defiance looking towards the gate, even clenching her fist.
With that reaction, he went over the memory in his mind and knew who the visitor was.
Father An’s Mother, An Xiaolu’s Grandmother.
This one’s a real piece of work too; when she gave birth to Father An, there was a famine. Father An was born small and pitiful, and she didn’t have milk to feed him, so Father An’s Grandmother went around asking for help and finally got some goat’s milk to feed her grandchildren.
Grandma An didn’t know where she heard about it at that time, saying that goat’s milk was good for women, so she wanted to drink goat’s milk every day. But she was stopped by Father An’s Grandmother, saying that there was only a little, that he was a baby and couldn’t drink anything else. Just goat’s milk is not enough for him, crying every day when he was hungry. If Grandma An wanted to replenish her body, she should eat eggs or drink rice porridge.
No one expected that Grandma An would hold a grudge against her son.
Since his grandmother raised father An until the age of five, it’s hard to say whether it’s her son or her mother-in-law that she holds a grudge against.
Later, when the elder woman died, Father An had a hard life. He suddenly changed from a child who was hungry but not wronged to a pitiful child.
Since he was a child, he was always the one who didn’t have enough to eat and was the one who worked the most among his brothers, but he was also scolded the most frequently and even beaten.
Grandpa An just enjoyed the highest authority in the house and didn’t care about this son.
When Father An married his wife, he felt the warmth of his family. But Grandma An’s bias became worse, and Mother An was scolded and bullied. When Father An defended his wife, he was called unfilial by her.