Countdown to Awakening

After the first dish was served, Chen Juan picked up her chopsticks and started digging in the plate with a look of disgust on her face...

"What kind of dishes are these? I thought they would be delicious... Forget it, just eat it. Come, son, I'll get you a bigger piece." Chen Juan couldn't wait to put a big piece of meat into Sun Jiacai's bowl.

"..."

Everyone at her table showed displeasure, but since they were from the same village, it was hard to say anything. Especially since it was someone as unreasonable as Chen Juan...

After Qi Rongfeng and the others toasted, they returned to their seats.

They sat with the village chief and some of the most respected elders in the village. The other table was opened because there was no more room.

Zhang Mei's table was next to Qi Yuanyuan and the others, so someone started complaining: "I say, there's no need to send the girl from the Qi family and the girl from the Sun family to college. It's a waste of money. It's better to use the money for dowry or something. At worst, they can be kept for their retirement. Why send them to college?" The person who spoke was Liu Yingdi's sister-in-law Lin Yun.

She couldn't stand it. The same thing happened with her older sister, who was married. She'd read so much before she got married, she was almost as smart as Tianci. Everyone knew her older sister was a genius at studying, even smarter than Tianci when she was still in school. And everyone knew about that mess she had with Jiang Wen...

As a result, she and Tianci were laughed at in the village and could hardly raise their heads.

Now with Qi Yuanyuan and Sun Pandi? Sending her to college would be a waste. She should just marry her off, betroth her to a boy from the village, and live the hard life with her!

Zhang Mei, holding her child, responded bluntly, "What if you passed the exam? Would you be willing to go? Or would you be willing to get married like this?"

Lin Yun was suddenly speechless.

She forgot that there was a college graduate next door who married her. So much talk, like she didn't even know you were a college graduate! Humph! People who got into college are different, they talk so powerfully!

"Widow Zhang, I didn't say anything about you, so why are you butting in? You're really trying to catch the rat."

Zhang Mei smiled. She was twenty-five, and Lin Yun was only twenty. At least Lin Yun should call her "sister," right? Being so direct was disrespectful.

But she didn't take it too seriously. There were many people in the village who looked down on her.

Since her husband passed away, she has been raising her children alone and doesn't feel the need for someone to be with her. She firmly believes that she can support a family on her own.

Although she usually just sets up a stall in town to sell things, the money is still enough to support the lives of her and her son.

"I really don't understand. Why does a girl have to study so much? What will happen to the boys in the village if they pass the exam? If they can't get married, will they be bachelors all their lives? This is ridiculous. Don't they know that if the boys in the village can't get married, the village will have no descendants?" said old man Xu.

Old Man Xu is a well-known man in the village who has been a bachelor all his life and has never married. Now he is in his fifties and lives with his old mother.

Many people gave birth to baby girls back then, but those people couldn't accept it, so they abandoned the baby girls to fend for themselves, and then continued to give birth to baby boys with peace of mind.

After giving birth, I found out that my son didn’t have a wife… and I started looking for a wife for my son everywhere…

This situation has only been avoided because of the strict enforcement in recent years.

Old Man Xu couldn't understand why he didn't have a wife. Wasn't he a good person? That couldn't be possible. His mother said he was a good person. If he didn't have a wife, wasn't it because those women were too short-sighted?

Ultimately, it's because the bride price is too expensive, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get married. The bride price in the village is ridiculously high, and the girls in the city won't marry him...

It's impossible for someone like Teacher Qin to marry him. He knows that city women are all greedy and materialistic. It's impossible to marry someone without money...

The women in the village also worship money. Who would be willing to marry their daughter to him if the betrothal gift is not enough?

Those women, relying on their daughters, raised the price. The bride price was so high that he still couldn't find a wife...

Zhang Mei didn't say anything. She felt that it was not right to argue on such a good day. It would bring bad luck. She didn't want to argue with those people. Otherwise, the three children wouldn't say anything. Their parents were different.

Not many people in the village respected her to begin with. Although she was used to it and didn't care, the three children couldn't be influenced by her.

Then she continued to eat, and did not forget to feed some rice porridge to the child in her arms.

Lin Yun actually didn't want to sit next to Zhang Mei. He felt that Zhang Mei was extremely unlucky, a widow with a child.

If she got unlucky, wouldn't she also lose her man like Widow Zhang? She didn't want such bad luck!

Originally, after Widow Zhang's husband died, her house was supposed to be given to someone else. After all, she had no parents-in-law here, only a husband. Now that her husband is dead, isn't she just occupying the toilet without doing anything? It would be better to give this piece of land to someone else.

For those boys who haven't married yet.

But widow Zhang refused to leave and gave birth to a son...

If she had given birth to a girl, it would have been fine. She would have given the land to someone else. But now, she was holding a son, the heir of her husband. Shouldn't she leave the land to her son? Otherwise, her son would have nowhere to live after getting married...

Really served!

And Zheng Haifeng, his family is the same. He's living a little better thanks to the money his father made from his sacrifices. Now he's bragging about getting into college!

Originally, his house shouldn't belong to them and should have been given up, but who knew that Zheng Haifeng was his father's descendant... and he would have to marry a wife in the future...

Lin Yun looked at Qi Yuanyuan at the village chief's table again.

That's right. I don't know why the Qi family gave them a share of the family property. They shouldn't have given them a share! And they can also share the family property just because they gave birth to a girl?!

But Zhang Mei was beside her, so she didn't dare to say anything, for fear that Zhang Mei would scold her, and she wouldn't be able to win...

On the other side, the village chief was having a great time at the table.

Since all the people at this table are elderly, they don’t like to drink alcohol or beverages, and some of them don’t like or can’t eat the dishes.

At most they just drank and chatted.

This was a great deal for Qi Yuanyuan and the other two. How could they just sit there with a table full of delicious food and no one to eat? Compared to the other tables, this one was a steal. They could still eat their fill, get plenty of drinks, and no one was competing with them...

Eat enough!

Qi Yuanyuan was drinking a drink while eating her food.

She also quietly observed the people at other tables. Wang Ning's face looked extremely ugly.

She loves to see those who dislike her lose their defense. Even when they are clearly doing something wrong, they still criticize her, and in the end, they lose their defense...

How funny!

"Yuanyuan, Pandi, Haifeng, you three should eat more. We don't like these dishes." The village chief said with a smile.

The three of them smiled.

Qi Yuanyuan really couldn't understand it. Sun Pandi and Zheng Haifeng were clearly in love, but they had to pretend and make her sit in the middle...

Isn't this just being a light bulb?

She suddenly remembered that during the previous dinner party, there was a teacher in their school named Shang Wen who was said to like women, and there were rumors that he had a crush on her...

Qi Yuanyuan was suddenly stunned. She didn't know how Shang Wen was doing.

Why has she never been in a relationship? She always feels that she can't like someone of her gender who can't empathize with her. So she resists dating. Shang Wen happened to be close to her, so she has a little crush on Shang Wen...

What others said was indeed true. But she didn't know that Shang Wen treated her... because of this incident, she was always scolded by her head teacher, saying that she would lead the students astray.

Everyone felt that this was wrong. How could she, as a teacher, corrupt the moral character?

But fortunately they have no actual evidence.