They had come here with the intention of mooching some benefits and currying favor.
Zhou Ping was reluctant to spend the money. Her mother had promised her today that she would buy her a new set of clothes.
She was the youngest daughter in the family and the prettiest. At her age, it was time to arrange a marriage. Her mother had said she would find her a good match.
After all, if she married into a good family, her brother would have the money to get a wife later.
She immediately looked at her mother now. They weren't really going to give money, were they?
Give nothing! Zhou Ping was glared at by her mother. "Aunt Suisui, what are you saying? That matter was so long ago, giving money now is meaningless. How about this, when your brother gets married later, we'll definitely make time to come for the banquet."
Si Nian said, "One thing is one thing. My brother's marriage is the Lin family's affair. My marriage was the Zhou family's affair. How can they be lumped together?"
Her brother was only in elementary school. By the time he got married, who knows how far in the future that would be.
How nicely put.
Zhou's Mother was left speechless, forcing a dry laugh. "With the relationship our two families have, are we still so formal about this? Hehe."
Si Nian couldn't stand this kind of person the most—wanting to climb the social ladder, yet unwilling to open their wallets, and insincere to boot.
What made them think others would want to be close to them?
They claimed to have come with the Lin family to visit them, but compared to the Lin family's armfuls of gifts, the mother and daughter came empty-handed.
"It's precisely because the relationship is good that it gets recorded. Those with a poor relationship don't make it into this book of mine."
Zhou's Mother was seething inside: "That may be so, but you're a teacher, and your husband runs a pig farm. Surely you can't be short of this little money?"
"Auntie, that's not the right way to think," Si Nian closed the book and handed it to Zhou Zedong. "Having money is one thing, ceremonial gifts are another. It's a matter of reciprocity. You come to my house with a gift, another day when your family hosts a banquet, I'll have to return the favor. As for how much you give, that's determined by how good the relationship between our two families is."
"If you don't give a gift to my house, when your family holds a banquet in the future, I wouldn't feel right going, would I?"
To put it bluntly, if you give little, it means the relationship between the two families is poor, and I have no need to bother with you.
Zhou's Mother flushed red.
Just then, Grandma Jiang led Jiang Jiu over.
She said she was going out to play mahjong with her old friends and asked Si Nian to keep an eye on him for a while.
She hadn't expected so many people in the Zhou house.
She immediately felt embarrassed.
Si Nian smiled and invited little Jiang Jiu into the house.
Grandma Jiang was very apologetic, but she had already made plans with her old friends to play mahjong, and she couldn't just not go.
Mainly, her grandson wasn't willing to go with her either.
He had been clamoring to come here.
Si Nian said it was no trouble at all.
After seeing off the opulently dressed Grandma Jiang, as soon as they re-entered the house, everyone else's eyes went wide.
They had never seen an old lady dressed so finely—wearing little leather boots, carrying a leather handbag.
The clothes she wore were patterned silk, her hair was meticulously combed, and she wore such large jade bracelets on her ears, neck, and hands—
It was obvious at a glance that she was very wealthy.
She exuded an aura of money.
"Nian Nian, who was that? You know her?" Zhou's Mother hurriedly asked.
Si Nian led Jiang Jiu into the house, telling him to go play with Second Child. "He's the grandson of my next-door neighbor. That was his grandmother just now. She said she was going out to play mahjong and asked me to watch him for a bit."
She glanced at the other's glittering, avaricious eyes—they might as well have written their thoughts on their faces.
Si Nian suppressed a laugh, pointing at the even more luxurious big house across the way and said, "That's the family. They're locals here."
Zhou's Mother and Zhou Ping's eyes instantly went straight.
"Locals! Such a big house, they must be very rich then."
"That's not just rich..." Si Nian said, deliberately pausing here. "Auntie, are you still going to give the ceremonial gift or not? If not, I'll put the account book away."
"Give, give, of course give." Zhou's Mother quickly nodded, her thoughts already completely drawn away by the wealthy family next door.
Her soul was gone.
Si Nian actually knew such a rich family.
Then her daughter, couldn't she—
Si Nian curled her lips. "How much will you give, Auntie?"
"Give one... no, five dollars!" Zhou's Mother hurriedly took out the money.
Usually in the village, when they visited others, they gave one or two dollars.
But the situation was different now. To build a good relationship with Si Nian, they definitely had to give more.
That way, people would think their relationship was better.
Si Nian nodded and told Eldest Child to record it for her.
Zhou Ping saw her mother taking out all the money and grew anxious, hurriedly tugging at her mother's sleeve.
Wasn't this money supposed to be for buying her clothes?
To buy this one set of clothes, she had followed her mother up the mountain to gather many mushrooms and dig up a lot of codonopsis roots.
She had gotten up early and worked late for months to earn this one chance.
And it was rare to come into the city; she had already told her friends in the village that she was going into the city today to buy new clothes.
She was waiting to show off when she went back.
But she never expected her mother to take out all the money at once.
Her mother was notoriously careful with money; she only brought exactly what she said she would.
She had brought these five dollars out, not a single cent more.
Afraid that if she brought more, it might get stolen.
But now she was so willing—giving five dollars!
Even to her own maternal family, her mother only gave two dollars.
Zhou Ping was glared at fiercely by her mother.
What do you know?
Then, watching Si Nian record the name, she quickly smiled and probed, "Aunt Suisui, how many people are in your neighbor's family?"
Si Nian pretended innocence. "Five people. Why do you ask, Auntie?"
"Oh, just curious about city folk. It's our first time here, you should introduce us to more things." Zhou's Mother smiled ingratiatingly. "Five people, that's quite a few. How many sons, how many daughters? Are they married?"
She sighed and said, "To be honest with you, my Xiao Ping is already eighteen. Lots of people have been coming to propose lately, but I keep thinking, she's at least educated, an intellectual. What future is there in the village?"
"You're right here in the city, you know lots of people. Help introduce her to someone. In the future, she could also help support you here. Taking care of so many children must be quite hard for you."
The meaning was clear enough now.
Even the entire Lin family understood what she meant.
They had thought the Zhou family tagging along probably meant no good.
But they never expected the other party to have such an outrageous idea.
Wasn't this putting Si Nian in a difficult position?
No matter how good the relationship, one couldn't just play matchmaker for someone's daughter like that.
Didn't they have any sense of what kind of family that was?
"Oh, an intellectual. What's her education level?" Si Nian asked with feigned surprise.
"She studied up to the third grade of elementary school! There are only a few girls in our village who go to school. Being able to graduate from the third grade is already very good. I asked her teacher; this girl Xiao Ping is smart, talented!" Zhou's Mother said proudly.
Zhou Ping couldn't help but straighten her back.
In the remote countryside of the 1980s, few people indeed went to school.
Not to mention that many places favored sons over daughters, making them even less willing to spend money on sending children, especially girls, to school.
Most girls were considered remarkable if they attended elementary school at all.
No wonder she was so proud.
Si Nian suppressed a laugh and said, "It seems so."
"So, what do you think? My daughter's qualifications are pretty good, right? What about the son of the family next door to you?" Zhou's Mother even started getting picky.
Si Nian said, "There is a son, but he's already married and has kids."
"What?" Zhou's Mother's voice shot up, instantly performing a disappearing act with her smile.
"However—" Si Nian drew out the word.
"However?" Zhou's Mother's heart leapt into her throat. "However what?"
Si Nian continued, "They also have a grandson."
Zhou's Mother immediately let out a heavy sigh of relief. "I knew it. With so many people in the family, it's impossible they're all married."
"How old is their grandson? What does he do?"
Si Nian pointed at Jiang Jiu, who was crouching on the ground next to Second Child, engrossed in a game of marbles. "See, right there? The Jiang family's one and only little grandson, young master Jiang Jiu. He's seven years old this year. As for what he does, he's definitely in first grade."
Zhou's Mother looked over.
Zhou's Mother saw stars.
"Pfft—" Lin's father couldn't hold back a laugh.
He had been worried his daughter might get tricked, but it seemed they had overthought it.
He received a glare from Lin's mother.
Couldn't he see the in-law looked like her whole world was collapsing?
How could he have the nerve to laugh.
Though she thought this, Lin's mother also curled the corners of her mouth, a touch uncharitably.
Si Nian didn't really care about this bit of money; it was useless to her.
But people in this era treated money as their very lifeline.
Getting them to voluntarily part with it was basically impossible.
Yet, since the other party had set their sights on her, she naturally wouldn't be polite either.
In the book, this family hadn't asked her brother to introduce a man to Zhou Ping.
Instead, they had pestered her brother to introduce the boss's daughter to their son.
Firmly believing their son could pull off a rags-to-riches story.
