“How did they end up getting married so quickly? I thought she mistook him for someone else?”
Xu Jianbei hadn’t expected that after being away for just one day, he’d come back to hear such a bizarre story from Bai Lan. The story itself was already shocking enough. But the ending had caught everyone off guard.
Bai Lan shrugged. “Exactly! That day nothing much happened. The Gao family just ate at the Hu’s and left quietly. Someone asked Widow Hu what was going to happen — since mistaking someone like that was pretty ridiculous. But Widow Hu was all mysterious about it. Then out of nowhere today, she announced that Hu Aimin and Gao Qingqing are going to get their marriage license.”
At noon on Thursday, Bai Lan and Xu Jianbei were eating lunch together in the textile factory’s big cafeteria. She was also sharing what had happened in the courtyard that morning.
She really hadn’t expected the story to have a sequel. When the Gao family left that day, they hadn’t been frowning, but Widow Hu hadn’t seemed happy either. Bai Lan had assumed they’d cleared up the misunderstanding, eaten a meal, and gone home with no hard feelings.
But just a few days later, the two families were getting a marriage license. The direction of this whole thing… tsk tsk. It left Bai Lan completely bewildered.
“I figure when I get home from work, the courtyard will be absolutely buzzing.”
Xu Jianbei thought about how strange the whole situation was and nodded in full agreement.
“How about I come back with you after work?”
Bai Lan laughed. “It’ll be too late by then — the excitement will probably have died down.”
As it turned out, Bai Lan was wrong this time. Because even by evening, the excitement hadn’t died down one bit. On the contrary, with everyone home from work, it only got livelier.
—
“Prepare a feast?”
That evening, everyone was getting dinner ready. Father Bai had gotten off work early and was about to head into the kitchen to show off his skills when Widow Hu came hurrying over. She invited Father Bai to help prepare the feast for her son’s wedding that weekend.
“Yeah, we got the marriage license today, but the girl is still going to be married in properly — it’s only right to go pick her up. I was thinking since weekends are busy, we’ll have a small feast this weekend. We’ll invite some familiar families from the alley and people from our courtyard, and we’ll all celebrate together.”
Bai Lan was so shocked by Widow Hu’s unusually articulate speech that she pinched Xu Jianbei, who was standing next to her.
He was having dinner at her place tonight.
Xu Jianbei found it amusing and gently rubbed her fingertips to tell her to stop being mischievous.
Father Bai, meanwhile, hadn’t noticed their little interaction. He was stuck on Widow Hu’s request. Logically, a neighbor asking him to prepare a feast wasn’t a big deal. But everyone was saying that Widow Hu hadn’t gotten this daughter-in-law honorably — that she might have even deceived the girl.
He wasn’t keen on helping with the feast because he was worried Widow Hu really had tricked the girl. After all, everyone had seen with their own eyes that the girl had mistaken the person.
Several households had even said privately that they should report this to the street committee. Investigate it and make sure the girl wasn’t being deceived.
“Don’t worry, the compensation for your trouble…” Widow Hu quickly added when she saw Father Bai wasn’t responding.
But Father Bai waved his hands repeatedly.
Mother Bai cut in at that moment: “Our family actually has something going on that day. Relatives from my family are coming over. My husband won’t have time to prepare the feast.”
It sounded like an excuse. Widow Hu’s face instantly fell. But she couldn’t afford to make enemies of the Bai family.
The family didn’t have any sons, but their four daughters were no pushovers. Especially Bai Lan, who had the Xu family’s youngest son watching her back like a hawk.
Widow Hu could only pull a long face and go next door.
—
Soon, Liu Zhaodi’s ambiguous response echoed from next door. This time, Widow Hu had come specifically to talk about the feast, only to be treated like this by Liu Zhaodi — a woman who hadn’t even borne a son. It made her liver ache with anger. And next door beyond that was Old Lady Wang, a formidable woman she dared not provoke.
Then Widow Hu ran to the Xu family in the west wing, then to several households in the front courtyard. She even went to familiar families in several nearby alleys.
By the time dinner was ready, Bai Lan heard that Widow Hu had barely managed to invite anyone at all to the feast.
Apparently, everyone was worried Widow Hu was pulling some kind of marriage fraud. They simply refused to attend the feast. But they’d definitely be dragging their chairs over early that day to watch the spectacle from the back courtyard.
Widow Hu, of course, knew exactly what people were thinking. That’s why she was so angry.
“Hmph! Fine, if no one’s coming to the feast, I won’t throw one. Saves me the trouble of gathering ingredients and saves me money and ration tickets too! Aimin, with the money we save, Mama will buy you a radio.”
Hu Aimin nodded absentmindedly and shoved another bite of scrambled eggs into his mouth. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t have to do anything for the wedding — just show up. His mother would handle all the arrangements.
Widow Hu watched her son being so obedient and nodded approvingly. “Once those people find out how you ended up with this wife, I guarantee their eyes will pop right out of their heads. Hmph, I can’t wait to see the stupid looks on their faces that day!”
—
Meanwhile, Gao Qingqing returned home with her freshly printed marriage license — and was not greeted by her parents’ smiling faces.
The Gao couple looked at their daughter with worried, furrowed brows and tried to reason with her again: “Weren’t you the one who said you needed time to think it over? How did you suddenly go and get the marriage license just like that? I thought you said Hu Aimin was ugly to look at?”
The Gao couple truly couldn’t understand their daughter’s thinking anymore.
Originally, when someone introduced Hu Aimin, they’d all been tempted by the family’s excellent circumstances and agreed to let her meet him. But their daughter insisted that before the formal meeting, she had to see him for herself first. Otherwise, she might end up marrying a pumpkin.
Although the couple felt their daughter’s request was a bit unconventional for someone from the countryside, they agreed to it. Soon enough, the matchmaker arranged for them to meet from a distance. The daughter came back very satisfied, so the couple figured this was great. The young man seemed quite presentable, and his family circumstances were excellent. If she married into that family, their daughter would be living the good life.
They’d barely been happy for a few days when the home visit happened. Oh dear — their supposedly clever daughter had mistaken her match entirely.
How utterly embarrassing!
Just thinking back to that moment made the couple want to cover their faces and flee. But they couldn’t bear to give up on the Hu family’s great conditions. They wanted to persuade their daughter, but she was still unhappy. Only after that Hu woman offered an exceptionally generous condition did their daughter finally change her mind.
But she hadn’t agreed on the spot either — only said she’d think it over seriously.
When the couple got home, they thought it over carefully. Maybe it was better if their daughter didn’t agree. After all, marriage was a lifelong commitment. If she found Hu Aimin ugly, she’d be miserable for the rest of her life.
But just as they were coming around to that way of thinking, their daughter suddenly lost her mind.
She came running home in the afternoon and threw a marriage license down in front of them.
Good heavens! Few people in their village had ever bothered getting an official marriage license. Their daughter’s license was the first one they’d ever seen. But they didn’t want to see this particular rarity!
—
Gao Qingqing waved her hand impatiently. “Before, at the Hu family’s place, you two were also urging me to think it over carefully. You said the Hu family’s circumstances were genuinely good — that I could run the household as soon as I walked through the door. Now that I’ve actually gone and married him, you’ve both changed your tune?”
Thinking about the past few days, Gao Qingqing’s expression was very unpleasant.
The Gao couple were not good with words. They didn’t know how to answer their daughter. Yes, they’d been tempted by the Hu family’s advantages. But they also didn’t want their daughter to have a miserable life.
Gao Qingqing obviously knew what her parents were thinking. She forced a smile and lowered her voice. “I’m marrying into the city to enjoy a good life. Besides, with a city son-in-law, you’ll have face in the village. And you won’t be short of money either. You’ll have money for your medicine. My little brothers won’t have to go hungry. With all these benefits, you should be happy…”
Hearing their daughter lay it out like that, the couple realized it really did make sense. So they finally smiled and started discussing how to get their daughter ready so she wouldn’t look too shabby at the wedding.
Gao Qingqing clutched the five hundred yuan in bride price she’d just received. Seeing her parents relax, she sat down to rest as well. But only she knew why she’d chosen to marry Hu Aimin.
—
Amid everyone’s eager anticipation, the weekend arrived in no time.
That morning, the Hu family was bustling with activity before 4 AM. Rumor had it they had to get up early to go pick up the bride from the village. For this, Widow Hu had used her considerable connections to borrow a beat-up old truck.
There was a small episode with the borrowing. Widow Hu had initially asked Xu Jiannan for help, since he knew people at the transportation company. But Xu Jiannan refused. Everyone was afraid Widow Hu had deceived this daughter-in-law, so no one wanted to get involved.
Word had it that the street office had received a report and had come by to talk to Widow Hu several times to talk some sense into her. It made her absolutely livid.
But none of these issues stopped Widow Hu from getting her daughter-in-law.
So that morning, when that beat-up old truck, still faintly smelling of pig manure, appeared at the mouth of the alley, everyone was stunned.
A vehicle was rare in those days! No one minded that the truck was usually used to haul live pigs. If anything, everyone was a bit envious. They all asked Widow Hu where she’d borrowed it from.
But Widow Hu, hands on her hips and looking enormously pleased with herself, just yelled at her son and the few specially invited helpers to hurry up and get in.
The truck sped off in a cloud of dust. Those left behind in the courtyard gave up on sleeping and started discussing where Widow Hu had managed to borrow a truck. The Qin family’s home was especially lively at the moment.
Qin Yan had been woken up by the Hu family’s commotion and immediately wanted to get up early to watch the excitement.
But she’d barely washed up and hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet when she heard her mother complaining to her father: “Thank goodness that Hu family has some sense left and didn’t ask our Qin Tang to go pick up the bride.”
The truck had left with Hu Aimin, the matchmaker, and two other young men — all relatives on the Hu side. None of the neighbor’s kids had been asked to accompany them.
Uncle Qin sighed. “Enough, enough. The girl just made one mistake. It’s not like they’re going to pretend each other doesn’t exist for the rest of their lives. After they’re married, if Aimin wants to hang out with our eldest, don’t stop them. They’re adults. Don’t make things awkward.”
Qin Yan was just about to argue with her father — because she felt someone as shady as Hu Aimin wasn’t suitable as a friend — when she saw her eldest brother standing at the door looking embarrassed.
“Big brother, what are you doing, just standing there like a fool?”
Qin Tang gave an awkward laugh. “Nothing, nothing…”
But Qin Yan, who knew her brother very well, immediately sensed something was off. She narrowed her eyes and shouted, “Mom, Dad, big brother has something going on!”
And so, at five in the morning, Bai Lan welcomed a shocked Qin Yan into her bed.
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