The two approached and only then heard the quarreling voices: "I’m only asking for twenty yuan as bride price, is that too much? Your family is marrying a wife, you can’t even spare twenty yuan?"
"Marrying a wife? You’ve got some nerve! I have to raise a bastard for you, and you still want bride price? Go ask the father of that kid in your belly — he didn’t spend a cent on you, and you still gave him a child, didn’t you?"
Hu Guizhen knew she was in the wrong and kept wiping her tears, but when she looked up, she met Xiao Mandong’s eyes, which were filled with a hint of amusement.
She shot a fierce glare at Xiao Mandong, said nothing more, and climbed onto the ox cart.
The aunties sitting in the cart had overheard the whole exchange and couldn’t help teasing:
"Oh my, are you two heading off to get your marriage certificate? Don’t forget to buy some wedding candy on the way back — double happiness! Let us have something sweet to taste too."
When Cripple Liu heard "double happiness," he felt a twist in his gut, but kept a smile on his face: "Don’t you worry, aunties, I’ll make sure you get some candy."
"Poor enough to piss blood, and you’re still talking about buying candy. Keep on boasting."
Hearing Hu Guizhen’s words, Cripple Liu’s smile froze on his face. That bitch — humiliating him in front of so many people.
He suppressed his fury and forced an awkward grin. After they got the certificate, he’d beat that woman into submission.
Once they entered town, Xiao Mandong headed straight for the supply and marketing cooperative. If she was late, all the good meat would be gone — people these days were starved for fat and always craved the fatty cuts.
By the time she arrived, a line had already formed at the meat stall. Fortunately, no one had much money these days, so each person only bought half a pound or a pound.
Finally, it was Xiao Mandong’s turn. Yesterday, she’d counted up the number of people: twenty-one villagers had helped search for her sister, five female educated youth at the commune, and eight male educated youth had gone to help — Fan Wenhai not included, of course — making thirty-four in total, plus the village leaders. Since she was treating everyone, she couldn’t be stingy. The main reason was that if it hadn’t been for these people searching everywhere, keeping Cripple Liu from daring to act recklessly, her sister wouldn’t have escaped unscathed. They were all her benefactors.
"Comrade, please weigh me ten pounds of skin-on pork belly with three layers of fat, one piece of leaf lard, and one set of pork offal that doesn’t require ration tickets. How much will that be?" She handed over the certificate signed by the brigade leader.
The butcher read it, tucked the certificate away, and said: "Alright — pork belly is seventy-five cents a pound, leaf lard is fifty-five cents, offal is one yuan without tickets. That’s nine yuan and five cents in total, and eleven pounds of meat coupons." He spoke while chopping, quick and nimble.
Xiao Mandong pulled out the money and coupons from her pocket and handed them to the butcher.
A harsh, biting voice came from behind: "How can you be like this? Buying up all the good meat — that’s just selfish!"
Xiao Mandong turned around and saw the woman: high cheekbones, sharp arched brows, protruding teeth — the very picture of a sharp-tongued, spiteful face.
"Ma’am, I have a certificate from the brigade, I pay my money and my coupons. Have I broken any law? If you’re so generous, then don’t buy anything and let it go to the people behind you."
"My, you sure have a sharp tongue and twist every argument."
"Oh, you’ve got some education, have you? So what if I have a sharp tongue? At least I’m not all bared teeth and pointy-face like a weasel."
"You—"
The crowd burst into laughter, and the woman was so flustered she could only point at Xiao Mandong, unable to get another word out.
Meanwhile, the butcher wrapped the meat in oil paper and tied it with twine. Xiao Mandong packed the bundles one by one into her bamboo basket and turned to leave.
"Xiao Mandong, what are you doing here?"
Xiao Mandong looked up and saw Lu Hong walking toward her. Lu Hong went over to the sharp-faced woman and took the bamboo basket from her hands: "Auntie, this woman is the ex-sister-in-law my brother divorced — her name is Xiao Mandong."
When the woman heard she was a divorced sister-in-law, contempt instantly flashed in her eyes: "No wonder she has no upbringing — turns out she’s a broken shoe."
The people queuing behind also heard the exchange and cast strange looks her way.
Lu Hong lifted her chin, looking very proud of herself: "Sister-in-law — I mean, Sister Mandong, this woman here is my future mother-in-law. She’s a city person, both husband and wife have jobs, and my fiancé works at the canning factory."
Xiao Mandong looked at the woman and could confirm she wasn’t the mother-in-law Lu Hong had in her previous life. Looks like her rebirth had brought a butterfly effect — Lu Hong’s marriage had changed too. But this mother-in-law seemed pretty good. The one from the last life had been bullied badly by Lu Hong. This one, though, didn’t look like someone easy to push around — it was hard to say who would end up bullying whom.
"Well, congratulations to you. You finally got your wish and found yourself a city man. But next time you talk about my divorce, you’d better make sure to explain the reason clearly. I don’t want to take the blame for the Lu family. A brother-in-law having an affair with his widowed sister-in-law — that’s not something just any family could pull off."
Everyone’s eyes turned to Lu Hong. Even the butcher’s hands paused mid-cut. In these times, there was no entertainment — hearing about someone’s dirty laundry was the biggest gossip going.
Lu Hong’s face darkened to the color of a pot bottom: "Xiao Mandong, what do you have to be so proud of? You’re nothing but a fallen, rich capitalist’s daughter. How’s life down in the countryside treating you?"
Xiao Mandong held up her bamboo basket full of meat for Lu Hong to see: "Take a guess — I have money and coupons, so how do you think life is treating me? When was the last time your family ate meat? Oh, by the way, when you get married, how much dowry can the Lu family give you?"
Lu Hong hadn’t even had a chance to retort when she heard the butcher say: "No more pork belly. Only two pounds of hind leg and five or six pounds of front shoulder left."
"I’ll take two pounds of hind leg and one pound of front shoulder," a big auntie said, snapping up the last two pounds of hind leg.
The sharp-faced woman had been so busy sneering at Xiao Mandong that she didn’t even realize she’d been squeezed out of the crowd. When she turned around, all the good meat was gone.
The last of the hind leg had been bought up. Her nephew on her mother’s side was having his full-month banquet tomorrow — she’d come specially to buy meat. Now there was no meat. What was she going to do? If she went home empty-handed, how could they host the banquet? Her mother would never let her hear the end of it.
Her eyes then settled on the meat in Xiao Mandong’s basket.
"Give me five pounds of what you bought. I’ll pay you eighty cents a pound."
Xiao Mandong almost laughed out of sheer disbelief: "Ma’am, are you out of your mind? You’re trying to do speculative trading right here in front of everyone? You want a trip to the Revolutionary Committee for some tea? Or maybe you don’t care about your job anymore?"
The woman’s face instantly went pale. She’d been so anxious she’d forgotten they were still at the supply store.
"I just have a family celebration tomorrow and wanted to share some meat with you — I didn’t mean anything else."
Xiao Mandong gave her a contemptuous glance, not bothering to speak to such a fool. She turned to leave. Really, rotten fish seeks out rotten shrimp — birds of a feather flock together.
As Xiao Mandong moved to go, the woman pushed Lu Hong.
Lu Hong understood and quickly grabbed hold of Xiao Mandong’s basket: "How can one person buy this much meat? That’s against the rules. Give me five pounds, and I’ll put in a good word for you with my brother when I get back."
Lu Hong figured that Xiao Mandong divorced in the heat of the moment and would eventually regret it. The female educated youth in their village had all married the local men just to get out of hard labor. Lu Hong knew that the life of an educated youth in the countryside wasn’t easy — and a capitalist’s daughter like Xiao Mandong could never handle that kind of hardship. Sooner or later, she’d come to regret it.
