Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Then I’m Not Getting Married When I Grow Up
Due to her fourth older brother Yun Chenbei’s slightly socially anxious personality, and with no one else at home to help, Yun Jiao’s money-making plan was temporarily put on hold.
The plan to go out to sea the next day also fell through.
Because the weather was bad, the trip was postponed.
That’s how it was when you lived by the sea. Whether you could go out depended entirely on the weather, and whether you could catch anything good was purely a matter of luck.
But how many people could really be that lucky?
For people like them, discovering abalone and shrimp on a small island on their very first trip was already a case of heaven-defying luck.
"Why is the village so lively today?"
Even if they didn’t go out to sea, there was still a pile of chores waiting at home, so there was never a moment to be idle.
Shen Yunlian and the others sat at home weaving nets and making ground traps.
The men, meanwhile, continued to work on the new house.
Yun Jiao was also at home helping out.
The sound of gongs and drums came from outside, and only then did Granny Yun remember.
"Cai Jinhua’s eldest daughter is getting married."
Yun Xiaowu ran in. "Jiaojiao, the groom outside is handing out wedding candy! Let’s go join the fun."
Weddings were very simple these days. Poorer families would just hold a small banquet with a few tables for close friends and family, and that would be it.
"Grandma, are you going to the feast?"
Granny Yun said, "I have to."
So Yun Jiao ran off with her Fifth Brother. She was curious. It wasn’t that no one in the village had gotten married before, but she had always been too young to go.
Outside Cai Jinhua’s courtyard, Yun Jiao saw a man with a smile on his face. He was average-looking, a little on the short side, and walked with a limp. He was holding a handful of candy and handing it out to the children gathered around him.
It was the cheapest kind of candy. Who in this day and age would be willing to buy expensive candy to hand out to other people’s kids? It was just to share in the good fortune.
But the children didn’t care. They were happy just to get some candy.
Yun Xiaowu pulled her over by the hand.
"Mr. Groom, can my sister and I have a piece of wedding candy too?"
The groom saw the two of them, and his gaze lingered on Yun Jiao for a few extra seconds.
It couldn’t be helped. Among the crowd of children, Yun Jiao, with her fair, clean skin and delicate features like a porcelain doll, was too eye-catching.
The groom gave Yun Jiao two extra pieces of candy.
Yun Jiao held the candy in her small hands and thanked him in a sweet, soft voice.
"Thank you. I wish you a long and happy marriage."
Having received a gift, she was happy to say something sweet in return.
As for this man being the brother-in-law of that annoying brat Yun Zhuangzhuang? ’Yun Zhuangzhuang is Yun Zhuangzhuang, and his sister is his sister,’ Yun Jiao reasoned.
Yun Jiao had a good impression of Cai Daya as a person.
She was skinny and looked a bit malnourished, but it would have been a miracle if she’d grown up well, being raised like a maidservant by Cai Jinhua.
But she was a very responsible and gentle big sister.
She worked hard without complaint, not only toiling all day without rest but also taking care of the entire family, young and old.
’Hopefully, her life will be a little easier after she gets married.’
"The bride is coming out~"
Cai Daya came out, wearing an ill-fitting red outfit. Her makeup, whoever had done it, made her look like a ghost.
Her whole face was painted stark white, with glaringly conspicuous blush on her cheeks. The sight made Yun Jiao, who had a normal sense of aesthetics, feel her vision go black.
Yun Jiao grabbed her Fifth Brother’s hand.
"Brother, do all brides have to be painted like that?" she asked Yun Xiaowu in a small, nervous voice.
Yun Xiaowu scratched his head. "I guess so. I’ve seen a few other brides who looked like that."
Yun Jiao’s childish voice suddenly turned serious. "Then I’m not getting married when I grow up."
’Whoever wants to look that ugly can get married for all I care.’
"No problem! Your brother can support you for the rest of your life!" Yun Xiaowu promised, patting his chest.
"I can support myself, you know," Yun Jiao said.
The wedding feast at Cai Jinhua’s house... it was better not to eat it at all!
Yun Jiao never expected that for such a joyous occasion, the spread of food at their feast would be so shabby it was worse than what her own family ate on a normal day!
There was only one meat dish, and it was just a clear broth with the tiniest hint of meat flavor. You had to search through it again and again just to find one minuscule piece of meat.
The rest were all vegetable dishes, as bland as boiled greens, and they didn’t even taste good.
One look was enough to make Yun Jiao want to go home.
She heard many people complaining.
"Didn’t they say the bride price was over a hundred yuan? How could they make the food like this? They’re way too stingy! How is anyone supposed to eat this?"
"It’s one thing for it to be disgusting, but there’s barely any of it."
"Who did Cai Jinhua even hire to cook?"
"Someone from her mother’s side of the family. They didn’t ask for money, just some food in return."
The meal left everyone with expressions uglier than the last. Yun Jiao saw that even the groom could no longer maintain the smile on his face.
Yun Jiao said, "Grandma, let’s go home."
Granny Yun’s heart ached for the thirty cents she had given as a wedding gift.
’This meal wasn’t even worth thirty cents!’
Yun Jiao pulled Granny Yun by the hand and ran home. It was better not to eat that meal anyway; she was afraid that at her grandmother’s age, the food might make her sick.
Back home, while they were eating, Granny Yun was sighing nonstop.
"Oh, my thirty cents."
It was breaking her heart.
Yun Xiaowu said while shoveling rice into his mouth, "Grandma, you should stop worrying about the money. I saw the table in front of us find a big worm in their food. The vegetables weren’t even washed properly!"
Granny Yun shook her head. "Cai Jinhua’s family went too far. On such a happy day, they upset the groom’s family and all the guests. Now Cai Daya won’t be able to hold her head high in her new home."
Wang Mei snorted. "Cai Jinhua and her family don’t care about that. For them, taking money out of their own pockets to prepare a decent feast is no different from taking their lives. That whole family is shameless."
After dinner, Yun Jiao, as usual, strolled with her grandma and mother to the big pagoda tree at the village entrance, carrying their small stools to "eat melon seeds" and gossip.
A big yellow dog came over, wagging its tail. Its eyes lit up when it saw Yun Jiao, and it wriggled its tail and hindquarters as it sidled up and lay down at her feet.
Yun Jiao’s hand reached out to stroke its head.
’So fluffy and soft to the touch. I like it.’
But as much as she liked dogs, Yun Jiao preferred cats.
Cats were even softer to the touch, especially a big, fat orange one in the village.
’When we move into the new house, I’m going to get a dog and a cat, too.’
Unsurprisingly, the center of conversation today was the Cai Jinhua family.
When a group of old grannies and aunties, their hands busy with chores, saw Granny Yun and the others arrive, the first thing they asked was:
"Did you all go to the feast at Cai Jinhua’s place?"
Granny Yun said, "We went, but we didn’t eat."
The others immediately burst into lively chatter.
"Who hosts a wedding feast like that? Even when Er-gouzi, the poorest man in our village, got married, he had three meat dishes! Even if you’re trying to skimp, there are tons of small, cheap fish around here that only cost a few cents a pound. They couldn’t even bear to buy those! The groom’s family gave a bride price of over a hundred yuan, for crying out loud. Isn’t this a disgrace to Cai Daya and the groom’s family? It’s a disgrace to our whole village!"
In the future, when people talk about how stingy and shameless Cai Jinhua’s family is, they’ll probably lump in "that family from Bailong Village."
"That groom seems like a decent guy, if you ask me. A bit short, and with a limp, yes, but he’s the only son in his family. Otherwise, his parents wouldn’t have paid such a high bride price."
"You guys think Cai Jinhua will try to sponge off her eldest daughter’s new family in the future?"
"With the character of Cai Jinhua and her lot? It’s more than possible!"
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