Chapter 2 Beaten as soon as you walk through the door
Yao Cuihua was furious.
Although Lin Mai didn't have a dowry, the first meal her new daughter-in-law had at her house was sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves, and the villagers had to break her backbone.
Her youngest son is already sixteen years old, and they are going to marry her in a few years. If she is notorious, who would marry their daughter to her youngest son?
Yao Cuihua was so angry that she roared at Wu Xiaoyu: "Why don't you quickly bring back the Sangmenxing you insist on marrying back to me!"
Wu Xiaoyu slammed her chopsticks on the dining table and said with a ferocious expression: "You bitch, you just wanted to be beaten when you got married, right?"
As he spoke, he got up and went to catch Lin Mai.
Lin Mai had already stepped out of his yard and shouted in a tearful tone: "Hit people! Beat people!"
It's not cold at all in Lake Province in October, and it's still a little hot at noon.
In addition, during the festival, the villagers are very free, sitting in groups under the jujube trees and doing household chores.
Lin Mai's voice immediately attracted the attention of many villagers. Everyone looked at her gossiping, and Wu Xiaoyu, who had already chased out of the courtyard with his fists raised and was about to beat her.
An elder shouted angrily: "Xiao Yu, why do you hit someone as soon as you marry him into your home?"
Although Wu Xiaoyu looked unwilling, she could only lower her raised fist.
Two aunties came over and asked Lin Mai, "What's going on? Why did they hit you as soon as they entered the door?"
Although domestic violence against rural women was common in the 1980s, it was rare for women to be beaten on the first day after they got married.
Lin Mai stretched out his rice bowl in front of the two aunts and sobbed: "I saw that my father-in-law and mother-in-law were eating differently from me. They all had rice and boiled eggs. I was the only one eating sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves.
Said I also want to eat rice,
My mother-in-law started scolding me, saying that after receiving such a high betrothal gift from her family and not even a penny in dowry, she still wanted to eat rice and eggs, and then Xiaoyu would beat me."
After saying that, he started crying bitterly.
The two aunties and the villagers who gathered around her did not speak to her.
Instead, they unanimously accused her family of demanding too high a dowry, and she had no dowry. Her parents-in-law were unbalanced and scolded her, which was normal, and they even advised her to endure it.
In rural areas of this era, few people gave betrothal gifts, and even if they did, they would only cost two or three yuan.
Generally, a bag of rice and two pieces of home-woven homespun cloth are all you need to get a betrothal gift. How can you go to a supply and marketing cooperative to get cloth as a betrothal gift?
It is difficult for farmers to get just this cloth ticket, so they can only buy it at a high price on the black market.
Who within ten miles has ever given a betrothal gift as generous as that of the Wu family?
If it were them, it would be difficult for them to have a good look on their new daughter-in-law who has no dowry.
Lin Mai cried and cried: "But I didn't ask for that betrothal gift. Xiao Yu and her father-in-law and mother-in-law asked for it, just so that my sister could have money to study and have beautiful clothes to wear."
She tugged at her new clothes made of homespun cloth and said aggrievedly: "Uncles and aunties, look at what I'm wearing, and what my sister was wearing just now.
Those betrothal gifts and fabrics didn’t cost a penny, and a piece of yarn was used on my head.”
Wu Xiaoyu was arguing with his parents about betrothal gifts and cloth, and no one in the village knew about it.
They also talked behind the scenes that Lin Mai was a vixen, who had obsessed Wu Xiaoyu, who had always been sensible, and made a betrothal gift to her family for her sake.
But after listening to Lin Mai's words, I suddenly realized that the vixen was not Lin Mai, but her sister Lin Bei.
If it was Lin Mai, Wu Xiaoyu would not be willing to use his fists when his beloved wife got married, but just now he wanted to hit Lin Mai, but they all saw it.
Besides, Lin Bei was wearing clothes made of materials bought by the Wu family from the supply and marketing cooperative, and they all saw it.
It can be seen that what Lin Mai said is true, all the betrothal gifts from the Wu family were spent on her sister.
The betrothal gift from the younger sister was given to the older sister, which is intriguing.
When Wu Xiaoyu saw Lin Mai mentioning his relationship with Lin Bei, he became angry and shouted: "Maizi, if you talk nonsense again, I'll beat you up!"
"How dare you!" Yao Cuihua shouted at Wu Xiaoyu and asked Lin Mai with a dark face, "Since Xiaoyu's betrothal gifts are all for your sister, why did he name you as the person he wanted to marry?"
If it were Lin Mai's sister, she would not be so resistant to spending so much as a betrothal gift.
After all, Lin Bei is a high school student. Even if he doesn't go to college, it will be easy for him to work as an accountant in the village or as a worker in the county town after graduation.
What is lacking in this era is educated people. If you are educated, you are not afraid of not having a good job.
If you get into college, you will become a factory cadre. Who wouldn’t want a daughter-in-law with such conditions?
"Because my sister thinks your family is poor and won't marry her, and Xiao Shu doesn't want her to marry into your family and suffer hardships, so she married me just so that she can use the gift to help my sister study."
Yao Cuihua was so angry that she scolded Wu Xiaoyu in public and asked him to go to her mother-in-law's house tomorrow to get back the ten yuan betrothal gift and forget about the other betrothal gifts.
But Lin Mai knew that she was just yelling like that. She was already married and brought home, so how could she get back the bride price?
Unless the Lin family deliberately replaced Li Jiang, they might want her back, but the problem is that they don't have it, so the Wu family can only suffer the loss of being dumb.
Despite all the fuss, Lin Mai still had sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves for lunch.
Yao Cuihua will not sympathize with her and treat her well just because she is a victim. She is a very capable woman.
After the 1980s, the spring breeze of reform blew across the country, and many rural people's lives became better and better. However, only the Wu family became poorer and poorer, and Yao Cuihua was indispensable.
Moreover, in Yao Cuihua's eyes, Lin Mai was a member of the Lin family and participated in defrauding her family of high betrothal gifts and clothing materials, so she would not treat her well.
Lin Mai didn't care what she had for lunch. Anyway, her goal was achieved: to let the villagers in Wujiacun know about the ambiguous relationship between Wu Xiaoyu and Lin Bei.
Lin Bei and her brother-in-law don't know. In the future, it will be difficult for a good family to reach the sky. After all, the reputation has been ruined, and in the 1980s, reputation was still very important.
Let Wu Xiaoyu's parents know who their eldest son loves and for whom he asks for such a generous betrothal gift from them as if his life is at stake.
In the future, Lin Bei will be in despair and will marry Wu Xiaoyu.
Yao Cuihua thought about how Lin Bei used her son to get such a generous betrothal gift, and she had to go all out to abuse her!
When the time comes, Wu Xiaoyu will have a conflict with Yao Cuihua because of Lin Bei, and Yao Cuihua will be so angry with his son every day that she can avenge her for abusing her in her previous life.
After lunch, Yao Cuihua was so angry that she actually stayed in bed.
The dinner was cooked by Wu Xiaoyu. As usual, the whole family ate rice and Lin Mai had sweet potatoes.
In the 1980s, there was no electricity in the countryside, so kerosene lamps were used for lighting at night.
But there was nothing to do after lighting the lamp. Yao Cuihua got up from the bed angrily, blew out the kerosene lamp, and told everyone to go to sleep.