The children also listened with gusto.
On the way home, Sanwang couldn’t help but reminisce and review the highlights for everyone.
Lin Mei’s family returned home and the couple went to the kang in the evening. Zheng Yaozu couldn’t help but mutter to her, “Lin Mei, isn’t it strange? My Third Sister-in-law almost seemed to have changed her entire character. You see, she looks so much younger than how she looked in the previous couple of years and she’s as pretty as a flower.”
Lin Lan was now calm and optimistic, smiling all day long. When Zheng Yaozu glanced at her like that, why did he feel like she looked the same as she did when he dated Lin Mei?
She was still beautiful, but there was a tinge of maturity and serenity.
Lin Mei glared at him and said, “You better shut up. My sister’s beauty is only for my brother-in-law to see, what’s it to you?”
Zheng Yaozu, “Isn’t that what I’m saying? Then Han Qingsong looks quite impressive as well. Do you not have the slightest hint of jealousy? If you had fought with my sister-in-law and not given him up to her, you could have been the wife of the Director.”
Lin Mei spat at him, “Alright that’s it, you are just coveting my sister’s beauty, but I advise you to not think about it. Why would she want to marry a scrawny pretty face like you, knowing that she’d have to take over the role of being the man in the household? If my sister had married into your family, she would have become Gan Huahua(2) in no time instead of the beauty you see today.”
(T/N: Lin Lan’s birth name is Lan Huahua, which literally translates to ‘Orchid Flower’. The pun here is using Gan, which means dry, and emphasising that Lin Lan would have become a dry flower)
In the past few years, Han Qingsong was never at home, so Lin Mei didn’t know what Lin Lan had done to herself back then. But she knew that if the roles were reversed and she married Zheng Yaozu, the couple would have done nothing but rot and wait for death to claim them.
At that time, the twin sisters went on dates together. One was the third son from the Old Man Han’s family from Shanzui Village, Han Qingsong, who was away from home all year round due to his responsibilities as a soldier. The other was Zheng Yaozu, a fairly well-educated and handsome man from the Zheng Family Village who could not do hard labour.
Lin Lan first set her sights on the soldier, thinking that with his allowances and cash, she might have the opportunity to join the Brigade and become an officer’s wife.
Lin Mei also wanted to marry a soldier at first as her thoughts were similar to Lin Lan’s.
However, Han Qingsong was never really home, so there wasn’t a chance for the dates to happen.
On the other hand, Zheng Yaozu followed his mother to the Lin Family Village. Lin Lan said that the pretty boy was not worthy of food and looked down on him for being useless, but Lin Mei took a fancy to him.
Although the two were twins, Lin Lan was beautiful while Lin Mei was more ordinary-looking.
If you were short, you would inevitably want to find someone taller. If you were average-looking, you would want to find someone handsome. These were just examples of human nature.
What’s more was the fact that at the time, Lin Mei was a young maiden while Zheng Yaozu didn’t do any work and tidied himself up like a young master all day long. He was clean, handsome and polite, which was something that was considered to be really rare.