FTS Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Bitterness

At the same time, the families of the two girls favored by Wang Guifang and Song Dezhu were also discussing the matter.

In the countryside, when arranging a marriage, the man's family usually makes private inquiries through others about the girl's situation. If they feel everything is satisfactory, they drop a hint to the girl's family, and then the two families arrange a 'mutual look.'

If both sides find each other suitable, only then will the man's family invite a matchmaker to make a formal proposal.

Of course, these private inquiries are never truly secret. 

After all, the man's family has to go through mutual acquaintances to get information, otherwise, they couldn't understand the girl's family situation.

While Wang Guifang and Song Dezhu were making inquiries through various roundabout connections to find a suitable girl, the girls' families had naturally received word as well.

In the Zhang family of Shuisha Village, the situation was similar to the Songs: few daughters and many sons. The eldest daughter was already married, and the second daughter, Zhang Lanfen, was twenty this year. 

In the countryside, a girl of this age would usually have been married long ago. Zhang Lanfen had a good appearance and was very capable, yet she remained unmarried to this day.

The root cause was that the Zhang family was too poor. The several sons beneath her were waiting for her bride-price to marry their own wives, so the family demanded an exceptionally high dowry. Zhang Lanfen herself was not opposed to this.

She felt that as the elder sister, her parents had raised her, so she naturally ought to contribute to the family. Her parents often said that as she was a girl, only her brothers could carry on the Zhang family line, and even after she married, she should still support them.

Having been raised with this education since childhood, Zhang Lanfen saw nothing wrong with it. However, the men who came to propose clearly did not accept her way of thinking. 

Often, talks would proceed smoothly in the early stages, but as soon as they learned of her intentions, the marriage prospects would instantly collapse.

Zhang Lanfen was very indignant. Her strength was greater than that of an average man, and she excelled at hard labor and earning work points. 

Yet, just because she showed a slight intention of helping her brothers after marriage, those men would run away one faster than the other.

Her marriage prospects had dwindled from a constant stream of proposals to a deserted doorstep. The Zhang parents were also anxious, but lowering the bride-price was impossible for them. 

They had raised their several sons to be spoiled, the boys couldn't do heavy labor. If they lost their daughter's contribution, how would they ever afford wives for them?

Now, hearing that the Song family from the neighboring Xiangfu Village was inquiring about their daughter, Mother Zhang was immediately excited. 

She grabbed Zhang Lanfen, who had just returned from carrying water: "The Song family from Xiangfu Village is asking about you. I reckon they intend to propose. Their family just received a reward of over two hundred yuan from the County Magistrate; they certainly won't complain about our high bride-price. I heard the Magistrate even gave their youngest daughter a great deal of praise. If they've built a relationship with the Magistrate, and one of those brothers manages to become a worker or get a government job in the future, we'll follow them to prosperity! Besides, they have five sons, each one tall and sturdy, earning plenty of work points. If you marry over there, you'll have money to bring back to your natal home for your brothers."

The moment Zhang Lanfen heard of the Song family of Xiangfu Village, Song Zhinan’s appearance immediately surfaced in her mind. 

Previously, when Song Baozhu had come to the Shuisha Village primary school with the village children to play, Song Zhinan had come to pick her up, and Zhang Lanfen had run into him. 

Song Zhinan was tall with handsome features; he had left a deep impression on her back then.

Usually frank and outspoken, she actually felt a bit shy upon hearing this. Fearing this marriage prospect would fall through like the others, she said to her mother, "Mom, if the Song family really comes to propose, don't reveal the intention that I must support my brothers after the wedding."

Upon hearing this, Mother Zhang’s face immediately fell: "What? You want to cast aside your brothers and go off to live a good life on your own?"

Zhang Lanfen hurriedly shook her head. Mother Zhang was in poor health, and she had practically raised her brothers herself, of course she cared for them. 

"Of course not. You know that previous prospects failed because we spoke that way. Now that the Song family's conditions are good, let's get married first. Once Zhinan and I have deep feelings for each other later, are you afraid he won't listen to me?"

Mother Zhang finally turned her anger into joy and patted Zhang Lanfen’s hand. 

"Mom knew you were capable, you’ve had a head on your shoulders since you were little. However, I’ve heard that Wang Guifang of the Song family is quite a feisty one. If you really marry into the Songs, that mother-in-law of yours won't be so easy to fool. And those two specifically dote on that youngest daughter of theirs." 

Mother Zhang paused, a look of disapproval on her face. "Spoiling a little slip of a girl like she's some treasure, no matter how much you love a daughter, she’ll belong to another family sooner or later. I don’t understand their thinking." 

Even though she had just mentioned the Song family received the County Magistrate's praise because of Song Baozhu, she still didn't think a mere girl deserved such treatment.

Zhang Lanfen didn't find anything unusual in these words. The general environment was like this, everyone believed only boys could carry on the family line. In their house, it was even more extreme, and Zhang Lanfen’s own thoughts were highly aligned with her mother’s.

However, it was still too early to say anything. The mother and daughter discussed it and decided to privately find someone to inquire about the Song family while waiting for Song Zhinan to come for a formal "look" and proposal.

As luck would have happened, the family of Li Erzhu in Wang Guifang’s natal village, Houtu Village, was also discussing the same thing. The Li family's daughter, Li Mei, was eighteen this year and had a sweet appearance, the people coming to propose every day could practically break down the doorstep.

The Li parents doted on their daughter and were extremely strict in screening the men who proposed. Hearing that the Song family might come to propose didn't strike them as odd.

Mother Li and Father Li kept it from Li Mei and discussed it privately: "We know Wang Guifang. Her personality is feisty, but she’s reasonable. Their doting on their daughter is famous, so they should be able to understand our feelings. If Mei’er marries over there, she certainly won't be mistreated."

Father Li nodded. "That couple are good people. I’ve seen the Song brothers as well, they’re all very spirited and would be a perfect match for Mei’er. I’ve seen their daughter, too—fed exceptionally well. That girl is a lucky one, she even solved the pest crisis this time. Based on that alone, the Song family can’t be bad. I heard Wang Guifang treats her eldest daughter-in-law very well. But they haven't come to ask for a 'look' yet, so let’s do our own inquiring. We’ll talk when they actually want to arrange a meeting. 

As long as the boy is capable, has good character, and can be good to Mei’er, it doesn't matter to us whether we receive a bride-price or not."

Mother Li was very moved by this. The more she thought about it, the better she felt the Song family was. She sped up her actions, privately entrusting someone to inquire about the Song family's situation.

Although Wang Guifang only favored the Zhang and Li families for the time being, in matters like this, it was always better to have contact with more families. 

She wasn't in a hurry to propose a meeting, busy feeding pigs at the production team while constantly scouting for girls from other households.

Song Zhinan was even less in a hurry. He seemed to have no particular thoughts about getting married. Among the brothers, he was the one who liked following Song Baozhu to read and recognize characters the most.

Back then, conditions didn't allow for it, he had attended primary school for two years but had forgotten almost everything. Now, following Song Baozhu to learn characters, his progress was actually quite fast.

Song Baozhu was a total 'praise machine.' Her mouth was incredibly sweet. Even though Song Zhinan’s learning progress was nowhere near hers, she sincerely felt he was amazing. 

Every time Song Zhinan learned a bit of knowledge, she would praise him with all her might: "Second Brother, you're so amazing! Second Brother, how are you so smart, wow..."

Praise like this poured out like a constant tide. The system understood the gap between the two of them better than anyone. Song Baozhu’s brainwave power—that is, her mental strength, which could be called IQ in this era, was exceptionally high, even comparable to some of the geniuses in the Interstellar era. 

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been bound by Song Baozhu’s strong brainwaves upon drifting into this space-time. A person like her would be an outstanding existence in any era or environment.

Song Zhinan was slightly better than the average person, but he was still far from being noticed by the system. Therefore, it couldn't bear to look at Song Baozhu’s "eyes closed" praise that went against her conscience.

This host seemed to really enjoy praising people. It quietly asked Song Baozhu, "Host, you clearly know that your second brother is far inferior to you. Why do you keep praising him like this?"

Song Baozhu said, "I like Second Brother, so of course I want to praise him! I personally love it when people praise me. Besides, since I've been praising Second Brother, he’s been studying even harder."

Indeed, Song Zhinan’s ambitions had been ignited by Song Baozhu’s constant stream of compliments. Recently, Song Baozhu had unlocked the study of basic physical sciences. 

For Song Zhinan, this knowledge was clearly beyond his current level, but since he had no time during the day while working, he would study by the kerosene lamp at night.

After dinner, Song Baozhu would sit by the kerosene lamp teaching Song Zhinan. Late at night, she would stay in the Learning Space until the early hours, and during the day, she would go find Wang Guifang once she woke up.

Because of her obsession with eating meat, she had recently set her sights on the production team’s pigs.

Wang Guifang, Ma Xianglan, and several other women had been assigned the task of feeding the pigs. These days, there was no grain or commercial feed for pigs, one had to roam the hills and fields to cut wild hogweed, bring it back, chop it up, and boil it. 

It was exhausting work. The reason Wang Guifang took this job was that the people in charge of feeding the production team’s pigs could get an extra small piece of pigskin when the pigs were slaughtered at the end of the year.

Due to the extreme lack of meat, most people in Xiangfu Village used a piece of pigskin to grease the wok when stir-frying; that counted as adding oil. Wang Guifang wanted more pigskin so she could give Song Baozhu a little something extra.

The production team raised six pigs in total. 

They were already skinny because of the poor quality of their food, and during the recent pest outbreak in the fields, the pig-feeding team had been distracted. 

Consequently, the six pigs had starved until they were even thinner; it would be lucky if they reached a hundred pounds by the end of the year.

Moreover, the procurement station would eventually take away two of the pigs as part of the quota. The remaining four hundred pounds of meat would be divided among more than two thousand villagers. 

Each person would get about two ounces, barely enough to make a batch of dumplings for the New Year before it was all gone.

There were quite a few children like Song Baozhu who were eyeing these pigs. Many kids would circle the pigpen whenever they had free time, staring at the scrawny pigs and drooling while imagining the scene of eating meat during the New Year.

Song Baozhu shook her head at the sight. How could pigs like these satisfy her wish to eat meat freely? 

Besides, it wasn't good for her to eat meat alone, she hoped her family and the villagers could have meat to eat, too.

If only I could cultivate the Five-Footed Bugs, Song Baozhu thought, secretly wiping away her drool. 

Pigs that eat Five-Footed Bugs would definitely grow fat and huge.

The system sensed Song Baozhu’s thoughts and felt a quiet twinge of bitterness for her, and for itself: The hosts bound to other systems were all doing scientific research, building time machines, or establishing their own technological planets—all very grand and high-end. 

Its host, however, wanted to use the knowledge she had learned to feed pigs, unambitiously drooling over scrawny, low-nutrition pork.

The author has something to say:

Baozhu's goals might be humble, but her methods are high-tech!