Shi Lian didn’t want to appear too anxious lest she was at a disadvantage.
The two of them chatted about other things for a long time before Shi Lian got to the point.
Since Duan Mei suspected her, she would release the news of the tractor driver. This would let Duan Mei know that she indeed had an advantage, but that this advantage wasn’t enough to make them raise the betrothal amount.
Shi Lian said nonchalantly, “Duan Mei, Yu Bing is lucky. She became a tractor driver not long after arriving in the countryside. Although driving is difficult, it’s better than farming. Moreover, she’s the only driver in the village. I heard from Yao Nian that the village chief values her very much.”
Shi Lian’s voice wasn’t loud, but the Yu family’s house wasn’t big either. This was explosive news to the Yu family. Mr. Yu stopped playing chess. Yu Pan immediately turned off the tap and ran out of the living room. She asked in shock, “Auntie Shi, you said that my sister became a tractor driver?”
Shi Lian was stunned for a moment. “You guys don’t know?” Then, she covered her mouth, as if she had said something wrong.
When Duan Mei came back to her senses, she resisted the urge to curse. She looked helpless as she said, “Looks like this girl is blaming me and her father. Previously, she agreed to go to the countryside to support us. She probably felt that it was too arduous and regretted it after she went there. But since she’s already gone, we don’t have the ability to find connections to get her to come back.”
Duan Mei didn’t want Shi Lian to laugh at her, so she could only push the blame on Yu Bing.
Shi Lian didn’t expose Duan Mei’s words. If not for the poor relationship between them, how could Yu Bing not tell her family about such a big matter as transferring jobs?
However, now that her son was going to marry her daughter, she had to coax Duan Mei. Hence, she said sympathetically, “Children are debtors from our previous lives. Isn’t Yao Nian the same? Since he went to the countryside, I haven’t been eating or sleeping well. I’m worried that he’ll suffer in the village!”
Then, she put on a sincere expression and sighed. “I won’t hide it from you anymore. I want them to get married mainly because Yu Bing is now in an important position in the countryside. I was just thinking that if they get married, Yu Bing will have a chance to help Yao Nian.”
Only then were Duan Mei’s doubts dispelled. She knew that Shi Lian would never do things without purpose. How could she fancy a sickly person like her daughter?
Although she didn’t know about Yu Bing’s transfer, at least Shi Lian had to humble herself for the marriage. Thinking of this, Duan Mei felt a little better.
Duan Mei looked at Shi Lian and said slowly, “Yu Bing has just gotten the job. There’s no hurry. We can talk about this in two years when the two children are older. The two of them are still children.”
Of course, this wasn’t the real reason. Duan Mei suddenly remembered that tractor drivers were paid!
It wasn’t easy for her to raise Yu Bing. If Yu Bing didn’t pay her a few years of salary, wouldn’t she have raised her for nothing? This wouldn’t do!
How could Shi Lian not know what Duan Mei was thinking? This was how she treated her daughter, Yao Ling.
Daughters were useless. If she didn’t take advantage of the time when her daughter was still in her maiden family, when she was married off, even if she wanted to subsidize her maiden family, there would be a limit.
However, things were different now. Shi Lian couldn’t let the Yu family drag on like this. After all, Yao Nian couldn’t afford to wait. He had to change his job from farming to factory management quickly!
Shi Lian didn’t look anxious at all. Instead, she smiled calmly and said to Duan Mei, “Those young people nowadays advocate free love. Aren’t you afraid that Yu Bing will take a fancy to a poor boy in the village and marry him? Her household register is already in the village and is no longer in your family. She’s far away, so you won’t be able to do anything about it.”
Only then did Duan Mei think of this problem. Yu Bing had a household register now, so she could get a marriage certificate without her family’s permission. If she was really coaxed to stay in the village and find a poor person to marry, so poor that he couldn’t even afford a betrothal gift, she would have raised Yu Bing for nothing!
Shi Lian saw the sudden change in Duan Mei’s expression and continued to add fuel to the fire. “Although our family’s conditions are indeed average, we won’t scrimp on betrothal money! Actually, driver tow trucks don’t earn much money a month. I heard that it was only about 10 yuan. Our family isn’t greedy for this money. We just hope that Yu Bing can help Yao Nian get an easy job like being a scorekeeper.”