Never in a million years did Xie Yuejin expect his family to show up at this moment.
Li Ying stood at his side, just about to say a few words of her own after Xie Yuejin finished speaking. This time, she truly felt like she had risen above it all. Even if her mother was locked up and couldn’t come out, it didn’t affect Li Ying’s mood in the slightest.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt her brothers had been right—Xie Yuejin’s conditions were practically perfect for her.
He had a respectable job, owned his own house. Though his family background was a bit lacking, he had promised that his parents would never come to burden him.
Li Ying thought, if Xie Yuejin had such a good job and his parents didn’t show up, then wouldn’t all the benefits go to her own family?
Even if he couldn’t arrange jobs for her brothers, whatever slipped through his fingers would be enough to feed them.
Honestly, it wasn’t surprising that Li Ying thought this way. Every time they ate at the restaurant before, Xie Yuejin never looked troubled or stingy about spending.
Bit by bit, Li Ying’s expectations were raised by Xie Yuejin’s behavior.
The woman’s sobbing voice at the door drew everyone’s attention in the restaurant.
Li Ying was confused. “Yuejin, who are they?”
Xie Yuejin asked in a daze, “Father, Mother, why are you here?”
Li Ying: !!!
These were Xie Yuejin’s parents?!
The woman at the door pitifully said, “Yuejin, our commune suffered a disaster. We’re all starving. If we didn’t come to find you, your father and I—and your brothers too—we’d all starve to death…”
She seemed intimidated by the number of people around and shrank back, but she mustered her courage and said, “You… you’re getting married today, aren’t you? Why didn’t you invite me and your father? We’ve been starving for days.”
Xie Yuejin said, “Didn’t I ask someone to send money back to you?”
He quickly tried to follow up—he had just been too shocked earlier, but in the blink of an eye, he understood the situation he was in.
His eyes were blazing, but his speech was rapid: “I’ve been sending you money every month through someone.”
Couldn’t you stop harping on how you’re all starving? Can’t you see how many people are here today? You make it sound like I’m heartless!
But his words didn’t make his mother grasp the situation. She just smiled ingratiatingly and said, “You send five yuan a month. What can five yuan do? It’s not even enough to feed your brothers… Oh, and I haven’t told you—Yuejin, your mother is pregnant again…”
Stars exploded behind Xie Yuejin’s eyes. Around them, the whispering among the crowd had already begun.
“What’s going on? Parents suddenly show up? Didn’t even invite his own mother to the wedding?”
“Didn’t you hear? He’s been sending them money every month. Maybe they’ve already split households.”
“His mother looks about fifty, doesn’t she? And she’s still getting pregnant? Damn!”
“Which commune is Yuejin from? Don’t tell me it’s one of the ones downstream…”
“I bet it is! A few nearby communes have had it rough this year, but I’ve heard that the Lazybones Commune is the worst—they’re practically starving to death!”
“Well, who’s to blame? My cousin’s little brother is a minor official in a commune, and he said the Lazybones Commune has guts. When their spring crops failed, they just ignored the still-good crops in the fields! They’ve just been eating their stores and waiting for government rations!”
“Now that it’s getting cold, they probably won’t even be able to scrape together food. Relief grains don’t come instantly—they’re going to starve!”
“Yeah, it’s a tough year, but they’re ridiculously lazy. Literally lying around at home for half a year!”
…
As he listened to the crowd gossiping around him, Xie Yuejin’s face turned pale and green.
Ever since he got his job in town, he never mentioned where he came from.
Lazybones Commune—just the name made locals shake their heads in disdain.
Xie Yuejin had grown up there, and the most common sight was rows and rows of old bachelors who couldn’t find wives. Old bachelors raising little bachelors. In earlier years, a few families still managed to scrape together enough money to marry off their sons. Families from other villages who didn’t mind marrying off their daughters for the dowry would sometimes agree.
But later, that stopped. Fewer and fewer families could afford bride prices, and hardly any women wanted to marry into the village. The men didn’t even want daughters—if they had a girl, they’d dump her on the mountain or drown her in the river.
After a few years of this, nearly his entire generation had no girls.
The people were poor—and lazy.
Their commune was infamous for its poverty. There were plenty of men, but hardly any who worked diligently in the fields. In recent years, they survived almost entirely on relief grain.
Relief grain was supposed to be for years of natural disaster, but they depended on it constantly. Farm work was all but neglected.
When Xie Yuejin was old enough to understand things, he knew one thing: if he wanted a better life, he had to leave.
So he pushed himself from a young age. He started by sneaking into the school in their commune to listen through the windows. When he couldn’t afford tuition, a teacher noticed him, felt sorry, and paid his fees.
Thanks to that, he was able to attend school. He didn’t have paper or pens, so he wrote in the dirt with sticks. Later, he helped classmates’ families with chores in exchange for old pencil stubs. He picked up discarded paper, soaked it to blur the ink, dried it in the sun, and wrote on top of it.
Getting through school was a struggle. When he finally graduated primary school, even his teachers sighed in relief.
But Xie Yuejin knew that just finishing elementary school meant nothing. His own brigade was a hopeless pit—he had to escape.
He bit the bullet and took the junior high entrance exam. After passing, he went to town alone. Things were still loose back then, and there were small markets. He’d steal eggs from home and sell them at the market.
After all, he was the one feeding the chickens. His mother did nothing but eat, drink, and give birth. She didn’t care about anything else.
Xie Yuejin sold eggs, then chickens. He also climbed the mountains to dig wild vegetables and gather fruits. He sold everything at cheap prices, but penny by penny, he scraped together his tuition.
He staggered through until graduating junior high. After that, he didn’t keep studying.
Here is the accurate English translation of the provided text:
He knew in his heart that this was the end of the road. If he kept studying, he wouldn’t be able to afford it even if he sold his blood.
Xie Yuejin chose a commune closest to the county seat to apply for a worker’s position. After several attempts, he finally got a job at a restaurant.
Ever since he settled in Xipo Town, Xie Yuejin never went back home.
Later, his mother somehow heard from someone that he had made something of himself and wanted to come find him.
But Xie Yuejin couldn’t let his mother come. He knew all too well what kind of people his family were. So every month, he sent five yuan back home through someone he trusted to deliver it.
Life passed peacefully like this until now. Xie Yuejin thought that after a few more years of working hard, he could save enough to buy a job in the city.
Then he could finally break free from the influence of his family and never have to support a bunch of lazy freeloaders again.
Marrying Li Ying was part of Xie Yuejin’s life plan.
He hadn’t been allocated housing yet and still rented a place each month. If he married Li Ying, he could live in her house after the wedding. That would at least save on rent.
Li Ying also had a job. Together, they could save money, and once they had enough, he could move to the city.
But who would’ve thought that after all this careful planning, everything would fall apart today?
His mother had come without so much as a word, bringing his father and younger brothers along with her!
And his mother was pregnant again!
Hearing the gossip around him, Xie Yuejin wished he could crawl into a hole and disappear.
Li Ying screamed, “Xie Yuejin! What is going on!”
Xie Yuejin quickly tried to explain: “Yingzi, listen to me. I really didn’t know my mother and the others were coming today. They’ll be leaving soon. I’ll handle it, I promise I won’t let this trouble you…”
Li Ying was furious: “You lied to me! Xie Yuejin, you lied to me! You said you would never lie to me!”
Xie Yuejin said: “I really didn’t lie to you, Yingzi. I told you about my family’s situation before. Isn’t it just because of the disasters this year?”
Li Ying felt humiliated. Her intention was to show her relatives how well she was doing. Her mother’s past wasn’t a pleasant topic, and she had kept it under wraps. Once word spread, she figured her relatives would at least respect her for marrying well.
But now? Her big day had turned into a joke.
Li Ying cried out, “I’m not getting married! I’m not getting married!”
Xie Yuejin was in utter panic. His mother and the rest were standing outside looking pitiful, and now even the restaurant’s servers and coworkers were peeking in and whispering. Their eyes already showed contempt. No matter what the situation was, when a son threw a lavish wedding while his parents looked like beggars, no one would say anything nice.
Even with his toes, Xie Yuejin could imagine the things people would say about him.
Cold-hearted, ungrateful, a thankless wretch.
And now Li Ying was making a scene, crying and shouting she wouldn’t get married. Her relatives were all from the bride’s side, and at this moment, whether to intervene or not, no one knew what to do. Even comforting her was awkward.
How could they comfort her? If they were from the groom’s side, maybe they could say something—after all, the couple had already registered their marriage. What was the point of saying she wouldn’t marry now? Were they going to get a divorce?
But since they were from the bride’s side, if they pushed too hard, it would seem like they weren’t on their own family’s side.
So the only one stepping up to comfort Li Ying was her fourth sister-in-law.
She wiped Li Ying’s tears and forcefully pushed her back onto the chair.
Li Ying’s brothers exchanged helpless glances, all feeling a bit useless.
At this point, it was the fourth brother who was the sharpest.
He came up, grabbed Xie Yuejin by the collar, and demanded, “Xie Yuejin, are you deliberately trying to make a fool out of our family?”
Xie Yuejin cried out in grievance, “Brother-in-law, how could I have known!”
The whole situation had completely overwhelmed him!
The fourth brother of the Li family said, “Hmph, so you tricked my sister into marrying you, and now your parents and the whole bunch—are they going to live with you guys from now on?”
Xie Yuejin said, “Of course not! They’re leaving soon!”
He was practically swearing an oath, “They’re not used to life in town. I’ll arrange for them to go back right away.”
“We’re not going back… Yuejin, you don’t know, our house is gone. We have nowhere to return to.”
While Xie Yuejin was racking his brain to talk things through with the Li family, his mother stepped in and ruined it.
Afraid her son would send them away, she quickly added, “The house wasn’t in good shape in the spring. It got smashed by hail back then, and we were too busy to deal with it. A few days ago, it rained, and the whole place collapsed…”
Too busy to deal with it? More like too lazy!
Xie Yuejin almost coughed up blood!
When it rains, it pours!
Li Ying’s fourth brother narrowed his eyes, “Xie Yuejin! What do you have to say! Our Yingzi doesn’t have bad prospects. She married you thinking your family was clean and without drama—now you owe us an explanation!”
Li Ying cried even harder when she heard that.
Stuck in the middle, Xie Yuejin had on one side his raggedly dressed, pregnant mother and a bunch of younger brothers, and on the other side, his in-laws demanding a proper explanation—if he didn’t give them a satisfactory response, the marriage might be over.
He was sweating bullets from the stress.
Wanguodong had long since sensed trouble and slipped away. Looking at the packed room, and being Xie Yuejin’s boss, he was afraid he’d be dragged into this mess.
What could he possibly do?
Both sides looked difficult to deal with, and since it was a family matter, no matter what he said, he’d end up offending someone.
Better to slip away and deal with it later.
Wanguodong left, and Xie Yuejin squatted on the floor in despair.
Li Ying’s second brother shouted, “Yuejin, you owe us an explanation. This isn’t how people act at a wedding! And don’t forget, Yingzi is a permanent worker!”
Li’s fourth brother silently cursed—this wasn’t good. Just as he tried to stop the second brother, a few of the nearby relatives started whispering in confusion.
“Yingzi is a permanent worker? Where is she a permanent worker? Didn’t she not have a job?”
“Exactly, if her mother could get her a job, wouldn’t she have arranged something for her daughters-in-law first?”
Xie Yuejin felt that never in his life had he experienced a day as nerve-racking as this one.
“What did you say? Li Ying doesn’t have a job?”
