Chapter 412 Let Me Marry into the Cai Family

Chapter 412: Trying to Get Me to Marry into the Cai Family

Jiang Yu didn’t take the words to heart and said dismissively, "Let’s not talk about this again. She’s been in the countryside for years and hasn’t been in touch with your brother for ages. No need to ruin her reputation."

She wasn’t the type to think every woman was after He Tingyue.

He Feiyan stuck her tongue out. "She used to write letters to your brother in the first few years, but he never replied. She probably gave up after getting no response."

Sun Yulian was already twenty-six, almost twenty-seven, holding out on marrying in the countryside just so she could return to the city.

Jiang Yu asked, "Does she have a job? How’s she coming back?"

He Feiyan said, "Mrs. Sun wants to introduce Sun Yulian to Jiang Mingrui."

Sun Yulian was a year or two older than Jiang Mingrui, but that wasn’t a problem.

Jiang Chenghuai was eager to find a wife for his son, so he agreed to let Jiang Mingrui meet her.

"Poor Sun Yulian," Jiang Yu remarked. For Sun’s mother to even introduce someone like Jiang Mingrui to her daughter...

He Feiyan sighed in agreement. "Mrs. Sun’s always played favorites. Back then, she forced her daughter to go to the countryside for Sun Zailiang’s sake. Now, bringing Sun Yulian back to marry is just to make herself feel less guilty."

That way, she wouldn’t feel as guilty when thinking about this daughter in the future.

"I’m going to Sixie’s place. Pick a fabric you like from what we bought yesterday for a cotton-padded jacket."

He Feiyan pursed her lips, twisting her fingers together.

"You’re making it yourself, sis?"

Jiang Yu had no intention of doing it herself and said, "We’ll get a tailor to make it. We’ll just prepare the cotton and fabric. I’ll go buy some Dacron later and see if there’s enough to make you a shirt too."

He Feiyan was overjoyed. "Dacron?"

Then the light in her eyes dimmed as she pouted. "It’s cold now—Dacron isn’t wearable."

"By next spring, it’ll be fine. Dacron never goes out of fashion."

Jiang Yu planned to make a knee-length, fitted-waist dress—it would definitely look good.

She was just about to knock when she saw Cai Huifang walking out.

"Aunt Cai, what are you doing here?"

Cai Huifang was startled to see her.

"No offense, but why are you here? Jiang Yu, if that’s the case, a young woman like you hanging around with Sixie all the time—doesn’t Section Chief He mind?"

Jiang Yu found it amusing. "I used to work in an office with male colleagues. If that’s the case, he should’ve locked me up to keep me from interacting with outsiders. The Qing Dynasty fell long ago. Sixie and I have an open, proper relationship—it’s not like we’re doing anything shady."

Cai Huifang had just been shut down by Lai Liuzi, and now Jiang Yu’s retort made her face darken.

Jiang Yu moved aside to let her by. Only after Cai Huifang left did she enter the house.

"What did Aunt Cai want?"

Lai Liuzi looked annoyed. "Trying to get me to marry into the Cai family."

He and Cai Xiaole were dating, but they both agreed to take things slow and not rush into marriage for now.

But Cai Huifang was dead set on them getting married.

She also said that since Lai Liuzi had no relatives, marrying Cai Xiaole would mean he was becoming a live-in son-in-law for the Cais, so no bride price or house would be expected.

She had one more demand: Lai Liuzi had to give up his current business and find a stable job.

Taking one look at his face, Jiang Yu knew he must have refused.

"Does Xiaole know about this?"

Lai Liuzi shook his head. "What’s the point of telling her? It’d just start a fight with Aunt Cai."

He figured Cai Xiaole had no other family besides Cai Huifang, her only mother, so there was no sense stirring up trouble between them.

If he married Cai Xiaole, it would only be because they were really into each other.

As an orphan, he didn’t care what surname their children would have. The only thing that bothered him was Cai Huifang’s attitude—so high-and-mighty, like she was throwing him a bone.

It was almost as if she wanted to say, "Being our live-in son-in-law is your good fortune."

And now she wanted him to abandon his business? Like hell he would.

"You got any meat handy?"

Lai Liuzi nodded without hesitation. "Yeah, how much you need, sis?"

"Three pounds’ll do. Gonna trade it for fabric."

Lai Liuzi said, "Beef work for you? Tie Niu helped a neighbor butcher a cow today. I was already planning to bring you some."

Jiang Yu asked how much he could spare.

"Not loads, but I’ve got maybe 30 pounds."

Jiang Yu didn’t take too much, just twenty pounds for jerky.

Lai Liuzi brushed it off big-heartedly and gave her forty pounds, saying she could make some jerky for him with the rest.

He Tingyue’s cooking skills were truly excellent—his beef jerky was packed with salty-spicy flavor and had perfect chew, lasting a long time.

Especially in winter when hunger struck easily, chewing on a hunk kept hunger at bay.

After leaving Lai Liuzi’s place, Jiang Yu hauled the meat over to swap for fabric.

The saleswoman from yesterday, He Chunlan, was camped out at the back door with the goods.

"No pork, but will beef do the trick?"

He Chunlan took a closer look, her eyes going wide.

"This is too much—I’m getting the better end of this deal!"

Beef was more expensive than pork.

Besides the meat, Jiang Yu threw in some extra cash, but He Chunlan thought the fabric didn’t stack up to all that.

When she tried to give her money back, Jiang Yu refused.

"If you come across any imperfect fabric, think of me first."

He Chunlan was equally blunt and immediately took her to get the fabric.

"My cousin works at the textile factory, and she happens to have a batch. They call it flawed, but the fabric is actually quite good."

Jiang Yu asked, "How much is there?"

"Tons—you get first dibs."

However, her cousin didn’t want fabric coupons—she wanted meat.

For Jiang Yu, meat was no issue at all.

"Piece of cake. Let me take a look first. If the fabric is good, I’ll trade meat for it directly."

He Chunlan beamed, wishing they'd met sooner—otherwise, she could have been eating meat much sooner.

"From now on, I’ll save all the Dacron I get for you."

Jiang Yu agreed. After all, her family was large, and if everyone needed a piece, who knew how much yardage that'd require?

When they arrived at He Chunlan’s cousin’s house, before they even stepped inside, they heard the sound of cups and bowls being smashed.

"My brother has been doggedly trailing after her for so many years, and now that she’s back in the city, she wants to dump him! She even told me not to go looking for her—I’m fit to burst!"

Then came a gentle voice comforting her: "Your brother isn’t a child anymore. He’s almost thirty—since when does he need your worrying? If he told you not to interfere, then just leave it be."

"I don’t have any other siblings, just this one brother. I married far away to the north and couldn’t look after him. With no elder at home to arrange things, he’s still unmarried at this age. I never liked that woman—I always felt she was unreliable, just working my brother like a mule. I urged them to marry several times, but she kept putting it off, just waiting for the chance to return to the city!"

She covered her mouth and sobbed. "If it weren’t for her, he would’ve listened to me and married long ago. Now things have turned out like this—I'll be too ashamed to face my parents when I die."

"Stop that talk! You’re still so young—what’s all this about dying? Your brother isn’t even thirty yet. There’s still plenty of time, and you’ll see him with a houseful of kids."