The entire Qing Shan family was full of sincerity, and with her ex-husband's family lurking in the shadows, watching her with predatory eyes, Lang Ying chuckled as she saw Qing Shan's anxious and expectant gaze, and readily agreed to the Qing Shan family's marriage proposal.
What Lang Ying didn't tell them was that, in her heart, from the moment Qing Shan risked his life to put on protective clothing to deliver grain and vegetables to the people on the other side of the river, he was no longer that incompetent young man in her eyes...
Whether a man is a responsible and manly man is not determined solely by his age.
Take her ex-husband, for example. He was several years older than Qingshan, but when faced with problems, he showed no manly responsibility whatsoever. He would either go home to his parents or simply turn off his phone and run away.
Lang Ying had been married to him for so many years and had two children, but she still didn't feel any sense of security from this man.
However, the moment Qingshan, completely recovered and sporting a scruffy beard, stepped off the boat, she felt a sense of security from this boy.
A sense of security is knowing that even on the day the world ends, this man will smile and say to you: Don't be afraid! Even if I die, I will stand in front of you.
However, Lang Ying has always been introverted, and she had already clearly rejected Qing Shan once before. Now, she would never take the initiative to express her love.
Fortunately, Qingshan never seemed to have given up on her...
Both families were extremely sincere about the marriage, and Qingshan was even more eager to marry into the family that very day without bringing anything. There was no need for the traditional wedding arrangements involving dowry and betrothal gifts; the two families agreed that the 18th day of the first lunar month would be an auspicious day.
We'll hold one banquet at Laoshan Aozi first, where Lang Ying will pick up her son-in-law. Then we'll hold another banquet down the mountain, so that relatives from both sides can have a good time.
Most importantly, Qingshan's mother and elder sister were used to "rejecting the father and keeping the son" in marriage, fearing that Qingshan would also be abandoned by Lang Ying. So they simply held a proper wedding banquet and let Qingshan marry into the family as a son-in-law.
Marriages down the mountain are more traditional than those in the mountains, and young people are more willing to get marriage certificates. That's good; with this marriage certificate as a guarantee, the son certainly won't be abandoned...
Because it's a son-in-law move-in, Qingshan's family doesn't need to prepare a wedding house or dowry. Moreover, according to old customs, families that take in a son-in-law should give the man's parents a sum of money for their retirement.
Lang Ying has been financially well-off these past two years and doesn't lack this little bit of money.
Most importantly, with a man in the house, Jiang Erming's family no longer dared to bother her, thus ensuring that she could keep her money safely.
Therefore, Lang Ying took the initiative to offer 60,000 yuan as retirement money for Qing Shan's mother. According to the customs of Lang Shan, once this retirement money was given, Qing Shan's mother's retirement would no longer be related to her son who had married into the family.
Sixty thousand yuan is definitely not a small amount for the families in Laoshan'aozi.
Qingshan's mother smiled and agreed, then turned around and said that Qingshan had made a lot of money with Shanyan and the others in recent years, and the family had originally saved up all that money to help him get married.
Now that they're no longer needed, Qingshan's mother simply took out the money and prepared to buy Qingshan a small truck that could haul goods, as a "dowry" for her son.
Moreover, from the perspective of rural people, buying a small truck is much more cost-effective than a car. Not to mention anything else, just delivering goods in town can earn a lot of money in a month.
"That's great! Our two cooperatives often need to hire vehicles to help transport goods, so we might as well use Qingshan's vehicles from now on. This way, we can keep the benefits within our own community!" Jiang Xiaoman said with a smile.
As the major shareholder of both cooperatives, he can make decisions on such minor matters.
In this way, the 60,000 yuan of retirement money that Lang Ying gave away essentially came full circle and returned to her own home.
Lang Ying was grateful to her future mother-in-law for being so open-minded and generous. She secretly decided that even if she married into the family, she would often accompany Qing Shan back to visit her mother-in-law during holidays. Since it was inconvenient to buy things in the old mountain valley, they would also often buy more things for the elderly and send them back.
This was probably the smoothest matchmaking experience Aunt Huiying had ever had in all her years in the business.
The man was very sincere, and the woman was generous and modest. If all marriages in the world were this smooth, how many disputes and lawsuits would the matchmakers save?
Lang Ying is getting married for the second time and doesn't plan on having a big wedding. She's long past the age of pursuing romance. Now, she'd rather save the money for the wedding and buy some practical furniture and appliances for the house.
The main reason for holding a banquet was that it was Qingshan's first marriage, and he was marrying into her family. It would be too unfair to her if they didn't even have a wedding banquet.
After the marriage arrangements were finalized, Qingshan's family left. Although Qingshan really wanted to stay and say a few heartfelt words to Langying, and secretly express his loyalty, the young man was too shy. With his mother and the matchmaker watching him, he was too embarrassed to stay at Langying's house. So he left reluctantly, looking back every few steps.
Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Yu, however, stayed behind.
Lang Ying has had little contact with her family anymore. Even for something as important as her second marriage, she didn't intend to inform them, which shows that she was truly heartbroken.
As her friends, Jiang Xiaoman and the others couldn't bear to see her have such a shabby wedding.
Jiang Xiaoman suggested that they could form a "Lang Ying Wedding Preparation Group".
You don't have any family members from your mother's side, right?
Let's set the bar high and have the three major shareholders of the cooperative take the lead in establishing a special working group to treat this wedding as a major event for the cooperative!
Since they had nothing to do during the Spring Festival, and Lang Ying and Qing Shan were key members of the cooperative, helping them with their marriage was the first major happy event since the cooperative was established.
"Then it's settled. Yingzi, you can stay home and prepare for your wedding. Leave the wedding banquet to me and Xiaoman. Don't worry, we'll make sure it's a grand and spectacular affair!" Jiang Yu seemed even more excited than Lang Ying herself.
It's understandable, though. When he and Shan Yan got together, his family disapproved, so he went to the mountains and consummated their relationship. Besides, when two men get married, they usually don't have a big wedding banquet. This is one of Jiang Yu's biggest regrets.
Lang Ying's eyes reddened, and she opened her mouth, wanting to say thank you, but then felt that the thank you was too inadequate, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.
"Alright, I still have three maids waiting to be served at home, so I'll head back first. Yingzi, you go ahead with your work. Tonight I'll ask Shanyan which master chef in our town is the best at making banquet dishes, and then I'll invite him to cook for you!"
With that, Jiang Yu hurriedly left.
Jiang Xiaoman was the last to leave.
He still had things to discuss with Lang Ying.
The plot of land that Jiang Erming's family compensated Lang Ying with was not very large. It was just right for the three of them, mother and daughters, but if Qingshan were added, and perhaps one or two more children were to be born in the future, it would not be enough.
He suggested to Lang Ying that Qing Shan could move his household registration to Langshan Village.
Anyway, no one wants the homestead in the old mountain valley, so keeping the household registration there is meaningless. It's better to move to the village, where the couple can get together and the village can approve a larger homestead.
The homesteads in the village are much more valuable than those in the mountains.
Jiang Xiaoman didn't dare to say these words before, but now she says them without any guilt.
Since he and Jiang Yu started live-streaming e-commerce and established two cooperatives, the per capita annual income of Langshan Village has collectively increased, and the price of homestead land in the village has also risen.
Given the contributions Lang Ying and Qing Shan have made to the village's collective economy, it wouldn't be difficult to allocate them another, larger plot of land for their home.
Lang Ying listened quietly, and after hearing Jiang Xiaoman's analysis, she nodded gratefully in agreement.
"Xiaoman, thank you!"
"Why thank me? If Qingshan's household registration had been moved to the village, this homestead should have been approved for him in the first place."
“I’m not talking about that… Xiaoman, you don’t know how unwelcome a divorced woman with two children is here.”
"If you hadn't helped me open an online store and do business, with my circumstances, people would avoid me like the plague, let alone act as a matchmaker for me."
At that moment, Lang Ying realized with absolute clarity that a woman can only be considered worthy of pleasing in the eyes of others if she strives to make herself valuable.
Otherwise, a woman's position in marriage will become like that of a bird in a cage; the owner will feed her when they're happy, but starve her at any moment when they're not...
She no longer wanted to be a bird whose life and death were in the hands of others.
Fortunately, when she resolutely escaped that cage, Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Yu gave her a whole forest to shelter her from the wind and rain!
Here, you might have to build every brick and tile yourself, and no one will pay you a salary for no reason. But Lang Ying loved this kind of life where she could earn a living through her own labor and hands.
Now, she is about to enter another marriage. The young and handsome man has eyes only for her, and her future mother-in-law is not as selfish and mean as her ex-mother-in-law. Her words are full of respect and affection for her...
All of this started after she met Jiang Xiaoman.
Lang Ying felt that if her family had to be present at her wedding, then no one in the world was more qualified than Jiang Xiaoman.
Chapter 206
Lang Ying is actually going to remarry Qing Shan, Shan Yan's little apprentice?
Moreover, it was Qingshan who married into Lang Ying's family.
This news is even more explosive than the countdown to the Spring Festival!
If Langshan Village had its own trending topics list, the topic "Lang Ying's remarriage" would probably already be trending with the word "hot" attached to it.
Following closely behind is the topic of "Qingshan marrying into the family".
In short, each one alone is explosive enough.
This time, however, no one said anything about "Lang Ying, who was remarried, not being a good match for Qing Shan, who had never been married before".
She was the first female star from their village to act in a TV series!
And she's not just done one; there's another one right now!
I heard that Lang Ying received 100,000 yuan in payment for filming for just one month!
Making so much money and marrying Lang Ying is beyond simply marrying a wife; it's practically marrying a hen that lays golden eggs!
Looking back now, it's possible that Lang Ying was originally a woman with exceptionally good fortune, but she was just unlucky enough to marry Jiang Erming, a poor jinx, during her first marriage, which is why she suffered so many years of hardship.
Haven't you noticed that Lang Ying's fortunes have improved dramatically ever since she divorced Jiang Erming?
Looking back now, Qingshan is quite lucky to have married Lang Ying, who is said to be the reincarnation of the God of Wealth. Alas! Why didn't his family have such good fortune?
This truly sensational gossip kept the village buzzing for days before being replaced by another piece of good news—
Jiang Youliang, an old man from Langshan Village, has actually been certified by the county as an inheritor of Langshan bamboo carving intangible cultural heritage!
What is this intangible cultural heritage? Although the villagers didn't know what it meant, they all saw the golden plaque that the county sent over!
It has the county government's seal on it!
I heard that with this plaque, Jiang Youliang will receive a monthly salary of one thousand yuan from the government, for as long as he lives!
Isn't this even more secure than the "iron rice bowl" of a township cadre?
Even if you have two sons, they might not necessarily send you 500 yuan a month for retirement, right?
The older generation always says that raising children is for old age security, but look at Jiang Youliang, with his bamboo carving skills, the state provides for his retirement!
Before long, even though Jiang Youliang hadn't announced that he would be taking on apprentices, many families from the surrounding villages and towns whose children weren't doing well in school came to ask him if he wanted to take on apprentices.
Although factory work does pay more than crafts, factory work is a job that relies on youth. When you get older, the factory won't want you anymore. Then you won't have a pension and you'll just have to go back to your hometown and eat potatoes.
Unlike bamboo carving, where as long as you have national certification and are considered an inheritor, you can earn a guaranteed income of 1,000 yuan per month regardless of drought or flood.
This is about their children's livelihood for life!
The villagers immediately forgot about gossiping about Lang Ying's remarriage and instead became very interested in Jiang Youliang's bamboo carving skills. Many people even went to Jiang Youliang's house to see the plaque the government had given him, his bamboo carvings, and his bamboo carving tools... They wished they could come and learn from Jiang Youliang!
However, most people backed down after hearing Jiang Youliang's requirements for taking on apprentices.
The country doesn't have so much money that anyone can learn a skill for a few days and receive subsidies for life. The county's intangible cultural heritage center also has requirements.
The first step is to register and sign up. Once you've registered, you have to diligently learn the basics of bamboo carving from Jiang Youliang for two years, and you also have to participate in a county-level assessment every six months.
If you fail the assessment twice in a row, you will not be able to get a graduation certificate and will not be able to become an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage.
Secondly, there is a check-in system. To prevent cheating or the inheritors themselves from cheating to obtain government subsidies, those who sign up for the inheritor training course must upload check-in information at fixed learning times.
These two points alone have filtered out most of those who want to take shortcuts.