After being driven back from the city, their son also left them behind to go out and work. Without their hardworking former daughter-in-law, Lang Liugu and Jiang Hongyi's lives became increasingly difficult.
Moreover, because she insulted Lang Ying, she offended Jiang Xiaoman, the current sugar daddy of the entire village. Anyone in the village who still wanted to find work with Jiang Xiaoman no longer wanted to work for her family.
With no money in their hands and no chickens or ducks to raise, they couldn't even afford an egg. The elderly couple were so hungry they were dizzy and lightheaded. Aunt Lang had no choice but to pick up the vegetable garden that had been neglected since Lang Ying left and plant some vegetables.
Having not eaten meat for several months, she couldn't take it anymore. Her son didn't even call back, so Aunt Lang had no choice but to put aside her former pride and go to find Lang Ying.
Seeing the village women gathered by the river, Lang Liugu's eyes darted around. She swallowed hard, her voice trembling with tears, and rushed to Lang Ying, kneeling down before her with a thud.
"Yingzi! Erming has run away, you have to take care of us!"
Holy crap! What kind of shameless logic is this?
If I remember correctly, your son cheated on his wife first, and he divorced Lang Ying a long time ago, right?
Now that your son has abandoned you, instead of looking for your son, you've come looking for a former daughter-in-law who has no blood relation to you and isn't even a relative.
Everyone really wanted to tear off Lang Liugu's face to see if it was thick enough to make a pair of leather shoes or something.
If Lang Ying were still your daughter-in-law, and she refused to support her parents-in-law, even if you didn't scold her, plenty of people in the village would scold her for you.
But now that they've divorced your son, why are you, a former mother-in-law, coming to your former daughter-in-law to ask her to take care of you?
How should it be managed?
What right do they have to interfere?
Jiang Xiaoman was furious and stood up, wanting to stand up for Lang Ying and retort.
Unexpectedly, Lang Ying stopped him.
Aunt Lang's eyes lit up.
She knew that Lang Ying was always soft-hearted and very filial to her elders. Even if it was her son who wronged Lang Ying in the divorce, Jiang Erming hadn't married the eldest daughter of the Hou family yet. If Lang Ying was willing, her parents would definitely let their son remarry Lang Ying!
Lang Ying stopped Jiang Xiaoman, staring expressionlessly at her former mother-in-law, and coldly questioned her—
"I haven't heard of any law that stipulates that a divorced daughter-in-law is responsible for supporting her ex-husband's parents."
"Isn't this just a matter of you saying the word, Yingzi? As long as you nod, I'll immediately let Erming remarry you!" Aunt Lang thought Lang Ying was asking for a formal title, so she immediately revealed her plan.
"Or you could move back home with your two daughters and rent this place out. Xiaoman makes kimchi, right? Why don't you rent it to her? That way, you can get some extra rent every month. What do you think?"
Jiang Xiaoman felt like shoving his slipper into the old woman's mouth.
"Remarry?"
"Yes! You and Erming were husband and wife! I know that Erming made a lot of mistakes in the past, causing you and the child a lot of grievances. Once you two remarry, your father and I will definitely discipline him properly and make him listen to you from now on!"
That's it?
"Just name any other conditions you have, and we'll make sure Erming complies!"
"Alright, since you've said you can name any conditions, I have two conditions: if you agree to them, I'll remarry your son."
What?! Everyone was shocked!
Jiang Xiaoman was so angry that her hair almost stood on end.
It's a pity that Lang Ying is a woman. In public, he couldn't just grab her directly, otherwise he would have knocked her unconscious with a stick and dragged her back!
Jiang Erming, that kind of scumbag, only deserves to be sorted into the hazardous waste pile!
Remarry him?
Hey lady, did you forget to bring your brain with you when you went out today?
Chapter 175
"Actually, there are no other requirements. As you know, aunt, divorced women are still popular in the countryside. Last year, in the village in front of us, a divorced woman remarried, and her husband's family gave her a dowry of 188,000 yuan and even bought her a new house in the county town."
"I won't make any unreasonable demands, just two points!"
"First, I want a bride price of 160,000 yuan! This money must be transferred to my own account, not a penny less. Moreover, I will not give this money out of my own pocket. Even if you borrowed it, I will not help your family pay off this debt after we remarry."
"Secondly, my two daughters will be starting school soon, so I need your family to buy me a house in the county town, any size doesn't matter, as long as I can register my household there. Oh, and the house must have my name on it."
"Pfft~" Jiang Xiaoman almost burst out laughing.
He said, "Lang Ying isn't a professional garbage collector, so why would she want a secondhand scumbag like Jiang Erming?"
Aunt Lang was dumbfounded, and she wanted to curse Lang Ying, her former daughter-in-law, with a million curses.
Nonsense! If their family could really afford a dowry of 160,000 yuan, would they still want a piece of trash like you?
Why buy a house in the county town?
Bah! If his family could afford a house in the county town, she would have already married her son off to a virgin who could bear sons. Who would want a jinx like you who only gives birth to money-losing babies?
Aunt Lang was furious, but considering that she and her husband were penniless and couldn't even find an egg in their house, she had no choice but to feign a pitiful state and employ the dual skills of "moral blackmail and empty promises" on Lang Ying.
"Yingzi, it must be so hard for you, a woman raising two children all by yourself. Take the children home with you, and I'll help you take care of them. You can focus on your work. We'll do whatever you say!"
"As for the bride price and house you mentioned, once Erming comes back, I will definitely make him work hard to earn money to buy you a house!"
“You know our family’s situation. It’s really difficult to come up with 160,000 yuan for a bride price all at once. How about this, I’ll talk to Erming and have him give you 10,000 yuan every year from now on. That’ll be 160,000 yuan in 16 years, right?”
"Oh? Ten thousand a year? Let me ask you, is this ten thousand your son's money just for Yingzi's private savings, or is it ten thousand yuan to let her manage your whole family's food, drink, and daily expenses?" Lang Ying's good friend Shan Ying sneered.
Bah! Do they really think everyone's an idiot?
It sounds nice to say that Lang Ying will receive 10,000 yuan every year, but what if she gives the money and then doesn't care about the well-being of her family, forcing Lang Ying to take out that 10,000 yuan again to supplement her household expenses?
"Alright, stop making empty promises to Yingzi. You asked her to name her conditions, and she did. These days in the countryside, this is the going rate for getting a wife, whether it's her first or second marriage."
"Want Yingzi to remarry your son? Get the house and money ready, hire a matchmaker, and have a proper wedding. Don't forget the three gold pieces, wedding clothes, the money for getting out of the car, and the money for changing your address!" Shan Ying gave Lang Liugu a cool look.
"You'd better hurry up! Our Yingzi is young, beautiful, and capable. Countless handsome young men from all over the village are eyeing her. If you ask me, your Jiang Erming is a divorcee, so the bride price of 160,000 is already too low..."
"Of course! Lang Ying has a proper job now, and she earns tens of thousands of yuan a year. If you ask me, a bride price of 280,000 yuan is acceptable."
"Sixth Aunt, I wonder how much Erming earns a month these days? He's been working away from home for so many years, surely your family can afford a dowry of over ten thousand yuan?"
The group sided with Lang Ying, chattering amongst themselves and making Lang Liugu so embarrassed that she turned pale and soon slunk away.
The Lang Ying of today is no longer the docile wife who would do anything for their family just by making empty promises.
Watching her former mother-in-law flee in panic, Lang Ying sneered.
Let alone the fact that Jiang Erming simply couldn't afford the dowry of 160,000 yuan and the house that cost millions, even if he could, she would never go back to him.
However, Jiang Erming couldn't produce these things, but there was one person who was particularly willing to take them!
Hearing that Lang Ying had said she would be willing to marry him if he received a dowry of 160,000 yuan plus a house in the county town with her name on it, Qing Shan jumped for joy and immediately grabbed his master's leg to borrow money.
He knew his master was rich, and quite a lot of money (although it was probably all in his "master's wife's" account).
"Master! My family can afford the 160,000 yuan dowry! Could you lend me the down payment for the house? I'll definitely pay you back in a few years!"
This wasn't a promise Qing Shan made lightly.
Now he goes into the mountains with Shan Yan to harvest honey, and he can earn tens of thousands of yuan a year.
In addition to beekeeping and tea cake making with Jiang Xiaoman, Qingshan calculated that if they continued like this, their family's annual income could conservatively be at least 150,000 yuan!
Rural expenses are low, he doesn't smoke or drink, and Shan Yan strictly forbids his apprentices from gambling. If he can earn 150,000 yuan a year, after deducting necessary family expenses, he can save at least 100,000 yuan, right?
100,000 a year, 300,000 in three years, is just the down payment for a two-bedroom apartment in the county town!
"Get up!" Shan Yan roared.
"No! Unless you lend me money to buy a wedding house, Master!"
When Shan Yan saw that his apprentice had become love-struck, he was furious and was about to violate the sect rules on the spot.
They were stopped by the river fish.
It wasn't that he was unwilling to lend Qingshan money to buy a house; his main concern was something else—
"Qingshan, don't worry about the house for now. The dowry and down payment are not a problem. If you really need the money to get married, even if your master and I don't have it, we can borrow it for you."
"But the problem is, are you sure that even if you buy this house and raise enough money for the bride price, Yingzi will really be willing to marry you?"
"I'm not saying this to be rude, but Yingzi has a house, land, savings, and a child. She's living a very comfortable life. I don't think she really wants to get married."
"The two demands she made were probably based on the assumption that Jiang Erming's family couldn't afford them, and she was deliberately using the house and bride price to make things difficult for them."
These words left Qing Shan ashen-faced.
"Sigh! You should go back and think this over carefully. If you really like her and want to spend your life with her, then show some attitude and take care of your own family first!"
“Qingshan, it’s not that your master is unwilling to lend you money, but think about it. You borrow money now to marry her, but what about later? You have hundreds of thousands of yuan in debt. Do you want Lang Ying to share this debt with you?”
"Why do you always criticize your own apprentice? Qingshan, come here, let me have something to say to you!" Jiang Xiaoyu rolled her eyes at Shanyan and pulled Qingshan to the side of the chicken coop.
"Don't listen to your master! Think about it from a different perspective. Yingzi doesn't want to get married right now, isn't that your chance?"
"You said it yourself, if you work hard, you can save two or three hundred thousand in three years."
"If you're a man, show some backbone! Look at yourself now, you're a few years younger than Yingzi, you can't make decisions in your family, and you haven't saved any money yet. If you were Yingzi, would you dare to marry someone like that?"
"There's an old saying that a man becomes more valuable as he gets older, and I think there's some truth to that. Being older doesn't mean being old in years, but rather having enough experience and wealth to provide the stable life that the person you love wants."
"You've seen Yingzi's situation too. Her first marriage was so miserable, wasn't it because that Jiang Erming was so unreliable?"
"If you want Sister Yingzi to treat you like a man, not an immature younger brother, then from now on, you'd better start doing what a real man should do!"
"Follow Brother Yan closely in our career! Make money! Save money!"
"Give yourself, and give Sister Yingzi three years."
"Three years from now, Yingzi should have moved on from her previous marriage. By then, you'll have money and be able to take charge of the household. If you still like her, your master and I will personally come to your door to propose marriage!"
"Really?" Qingshan grabbed Jiang Xiaoyu's arm.
He had been convinced by Jiang Xiaoyu's words and understood why Lang Ying had always treated his pursuit as a joke.
Perhaps, in Lang Ying's eyes, his pursuit was like children playing house: "I want to play with you, but you won't play with me, so I'll go find someone else..."
How can someone who can't even settle down for himself give her a stable family?
From that day on, Lang Ying suddenly realized that Qing Shan, who had been pestering her, seemed to have not come for several days.
That's good!