Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

The Tang family had no idea about Anshi's customs, but they knew that the Xu family was very sincere, so they became polite to Lin Ying instead.

Lin Ying didn't argue with them, and the matter of the bride price was settled.

After having a sumptuous lunch at the Tang family's home, they politely saw Lin Ying and the other two off.

As soon as the door closed, Tang's mother excitedly grasped Tang Jing's hand, tears welling in her eyes. "That's wonderful, wonderful! You've found yourself a good family!"

According to Lin Ying, the Xu family gave 300,000 yuan in betrothal gifts and money for gifts.

Three hundred thousand is not a small amount for an ordinary family.

Tang's father smiled and reminded her, "We need to inform Xiao Wu's older brothers and sisters about her wedding and ask them if they want to come and join in the fun."

The Tang family are outsiders and don't have many relatives or friends in the area. For such an important event as their daughter's wedding, they need to find some relatives to help them make an appearance.

Tang's mother nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, I'll go make the call right now. Should we inform the second son?"

Upon hearing this, both Tang Jing and Tang Yu's expressions changed.

Ding Ruman quickly carried her son back to the room.

Seeing the children's reaction, Tang's mother sighed inwardly and shook her head, "Fine, fine, since you don't want to, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Tang Jing didn't want her mother to be sad, but she couldn't stand her mother's soft heart, so she coldly reminded her, "Mom, if my second brother had any conscience, he wouldn't have disappeared for so many years and made everyone worry. If something really happened to him, that would be one thing, but he's making money outside and is afraid we'll find out, so he's living a carefree life on his own."

If it weren't for my younger brother coming to Guangdong to ask around, we would still be worried about him. Is this reasonable? Later, when my younger brother exposed him, he got angry and broke off relations with us. Why would you still care about a son like that?
If you ask me, you've already had so many children, one more ungrateful brat won't make a difference!

She was polite and tolerant to everyone, but she couldn't forgive her second brother in this matter.

Tang's mother nodded obediently, her eyes reddening as she tried to comfort the siblings, "If you don't want to call, then don't. Don't be angry on such a joyous occasion. I'll call your older siblings and tell them to come and join in the fun. By the way, have you been to Xiao Xu's house in Guangdong Province?"

Everyone turned to look at Tang Jing.

Tang Jing nodded honestly, "It's in the city, a private villa, several floors combined. I didn't dare tell you before I came here, so I stayed there."

Mr. and Mrs. Tang exchanged a glance, gaining a deeper understanding of their daughter's unauthorized decision.

The elderly couple didn't say anything, but immediately went to call their relatives back home.

It’s the end of the year in a blink of an eye.

As Xu Jian's wedding date drew closer, Lin Ying and Xu Dahai returned to their village early to inform relatives and friends to come and celebrate the wedding, and also to give out wedding candy.

When Wang Ximei went out for a stroll, she saw several families in the village eating wedding candy and asked curiously, "Who's getting married?"

The wedding favors given when a daughter marries off her husband are different from those given when a daughter marries off her husband. A wedding is a more elaborate affair, usually involving a large bag full of cookies, chocolates, drinks, and various snacks. The old men and women talking at the village entrance, upon recognizing Wang Ximei as the one asking the question, had incredibly interesting expressions.

Wang Ximei, her sister-in-law, quickly stepped forward, took her hand, and whispered, "Xu Jian from Dahai's family is getting married, didn't you know?"

Wang Ximei's expression immediately changed, and she gave a haughty snort, "It has nothing to do with me, why would I do this!"

With that, she leaned on her cane and walked away without looking back.

He only got angry at Old Master Xu after getting home, asking, "Did you know Xu Jian got married?"

Old Xu sullenly smoked his cigarette and grunted, "I've heard about it."

Wang Ximei was furious, "Do you know why you didn't tell me? You made me lose face just now!"

Old Xu looked completely innocent. "We haven't had any contact for so many years. We haven't gotten involved in anything that's happened over there, and they haven't cared about anything that's happened to us. Why are you bringing this up?"

Wang Ximei stomped her foot in anger, "Can't you just make me miserable? I'm telling you, you're really heartless, you don't have any thoughts at all! I heard that my grandson and his wife are fighting again, I don't even know what happened! What's the use of marrying a barren hen? Just make him divorce her and find someone else! We can't let that brat Xu Jian have a child before him."

Over the years, she had been holding back her anger, wanting her eldest son's family to live a better life and suppress her second son's family, so that her second son would regret severing ties with them.

Unfortunately, her ideals were beautiful, but reality was harsh. Her eldest son's family did not become rich as she had hoped. Instead, their lives became more and more ordinary. Her eldest grandson, whom the whole family had raised with all their might, was only of average ability. It was only after her eldest son and his wife went through many connections that they were able to get him a job in a state-owned enterprise in town.

The job is quite respectable, but the salary is low. It's enough to support myself, but it's a struggle to support a family.

The only redeeming quality of the eldest grandson is that he started dating early, and his girlfriend is a teacher at a local school, which is quite respectable.

Wang Ximei was originally quite satisfied with this marriage and eagerly awaited holding her great-grandson. However, year after year passed, and her eldest granddaughter-in-law's belly showed no signs of pregnancy. The couple often argued about having a child, and the arguments were particularly fierce in the past two years, and the situation has not improved.

Wang Ximei's initial expectations gradually turned into disappointment. Now she complains that her eldest son and his wife found such a useless wife for their grandson, and she often speaks ill of her granddaughter-in-law at home.

The elderly couple also live in the village. If they lived with their grandson, Wang Ximei would definitely cause her eldest grandson to get a divorce.

Old Xu didn't like what she was saying, so he turned away and ignored her. After a long while, he slowly said, "Doesn't a dowry need to be paid for a divorce and remarriage? The eldest son and his wife spent tens of thousands of yuan to marry this daughter-in-law, plus the cost of the banquet, it cost them over a hundred thousand yuan in total."

"Then she should return the bride price to me!" Wang Ximei blurted out without thinking. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she couldn't let that woman get away with it, so she quickly called Xu Jie and asked him to consider divorce and getting the bride price back.

Just then, Wang Fengying was right next to Xu Jie, applying medicine to him. Hearing her mother-in-law's words, she immediately had an excuse and chimed in, "Son, I think your grandma is right. Xu Fangfang is a woman who, apart from having a bad temper and a respectable job, has absolutely nothing to offer."

Most importantly, she can't have children and has a terrible temper. If we argue, she'll threaten to kill me and beat me to death. A woman like that is like a queen; we can't afford to keep her!"

Xu Jie gasped in pain, closing his eyes impatiently. "Easy for you to say. What will happen to the property if we really get divorced? She'll have to share the house with me!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Fengying immediately became agitated, "Why should she? We gave tens of thousands of yuan in betrothal gifts, and your father and I bought the house. She hasn't even laid an egg, yet she has the nerve to claim our house? Dream on!" (End of Chapter)