183: Chapter 56 Moving or Not Moving_1 183: Chapter 56 Moving or Not Moving_1 With a combination of nervousness and hope, Yan Fei mustered up his courage and knocked on Lin Baoguo’s front door.
After a few knocks, soone responded from inside.
Fortunately, the person who opened the door wasn’t Xiang Rui, but her mother.
The elderly woman was delighted to see Yan Fei and welcod him with great enthusiasm, chiding him for not visiting more often.
Yan Fei chattered on various topics for a while before clarifying his purpose for visiting.
Upon hearing his intentions, the elderly woman imdiately ran inside to call for Xiang Rui.
It was noon and Xiang Rui was probably putting her child to sleep.
She responded after being called a couple of tis.
When the elderly woman turned back, she had already agreed to Yan Fei’s proposal on behalf of her daughter and reassured him over and again that she would make sure everything was done perfectly.
She then started showering praises on Yan Fei, the sa old lines she had spoken hundreds of tis, comnting on how chubby and adorable her grandson was.
In reality, she was still grateful for the soup Yan Fei had brought over.
Although life was slightly better now, the lack of breast milk for new mothers during the post-natal confinent month was still commonplace.
So families, whose babies didn’t have enough milk, had to resort to feeding them with lotus root powder while poorer families fed their children the thin layer of soup scooped from the top of cooked porridge.
There were even families that fed their newborns with flour soup.
Those with less financial ans still couldn’t afford formula milk, and many people treated it as a precious gift when visiting the elderly.
It was considered a luxury.
When Xiang Rui ca out, her mother spoke of Yan Fei’s purpose before he had a chance to.
She then insisted Xiang Rui set off imdiately to sort out the matter, not even allowing her to let the child wake first from his nap.
The elderly woman reminded Xiang Rui that she should say she was representing both herself and her husband, Lin Baoguo, and to bring him up in conversation several tis.
She even went inside and brought out two bottles of wine for Xiang Rui to take along.
Yan Fei should have been the one to accompany Xiang Rui for the proposal, but after a few questions, the grandmother made the decision and didn’t allow Yan Fei to accompany her.
During the conversation, Xiang Rui’s aunt finally stopped giving Yan Fei a cold face and gave him a sowhat smiling one.
Yan Fei thought it probably had sothing to do with her noticing that he had lost so weight.
Although the elderly woman was a country person with limited exposure, she was clear-headed and tactful about this matter.
She knew that the higher the status of the person proposing, the more face it would bring to both families, and the greater the chance of acceptance.
As for not allowing Yan Fei to accompany her, everyone knew the reason so there was no need to explain.
Yan Fei didn’t understand this at first, but the elderly woman explained it to him after Xiang Rui left.
Seeing Yan Fei’s unease, she told him to go about his other business as this matter wouldn’t be resolved in a short while, but was just a way to gauge the other party’s intentions.
While walking, Yan Fei also realized the elderly woman used Lin Baoguo’s status to boost his own social standing, and there was an underlying intention to suppress others using Lin Baoguo’s reputation.
Moreover, her eagerness in giving gifts showed that regardless of Xiang Rui’s success, he would owe the elderly woman a favour which wouldn’t be repayable anyti soon.
Those two bottles of wine could perhaps be exchanged for many bottles in the future!
No wonder this old woman could marry her daughter off to the rather sought-after Lin Baoguo, she was shrewd indeed!
Thinking in this way might be a bit petty.
Yan Fei didn’t really mind material things.
Besides, considering the relationship between their families, they were just being kind to him.
However, this taught him that one should not underestimate anyone, even an old woman.
Lin Baoguo was already the deputy director at Sancha River police station and had discretely taken over his post.
The man surnad Wang, who had claid that the exam results were sowhat skewed, had been transferred quite so ti ago.
Yan Fei couldn’t care less where he went, as long as he was gone.
Yan Fei held no fondness for this division director who, while friendly to his face, had ‘betrayed’ him at the next available opportunity.
He still rembered the incident where the man had bought his ga at and then ‘complained’ to Lin Baoguo.
That was his first attempt selling stuff in the market, and he rembered it clearly.
Rushing back to the cattle ranch, he found a surprisingly large crowd gathered there.
It felt like everyone who could co, did — and even those who shouldn’t have.
The familiar faces included classmates like Jiao Bing and Yang Qian, as well as those he vaguely recognized from past encounters, like Pang Fa, Heizi, and others.
Those included people who had helped during the Si family brothers’ incident and so who had watched him carry the massive stone that morning.
The unexpected guest was an affable-looking man, sowhere between youth and middle age.
Through introductions, he learned the man was Granny Dazui’s son, who ca seeking reconciliation with no pretexts.
When Yan Fei initially placed the massive stone, Granny Dazui’s family was in for a rough day as they couldn’t even open their front door.
Even when they closed the door, it didn’t keep out the endless stream of onlookers — drawn to the spectacle outside their ho.
The sporadic burst of laughter and incessant whispers from outside left them restless within their ho.
Rarely is there anything unusual happening in town, so idle folks quickly gather around curiosities.
Even the busier ones couldn’t resist a peek.
So had just returned from the market and decided to stop by when they heard the news.
Granny Dazui’s son ca to apologize and brought gifts in a bid for peace.
But no matter what he said, Yan Fei refused to budge, and a group of young people eventually “persuaded” him to leave.
As for the remaining crowd, Heizi took charge of hosting them.
On a roll, he energetically described how the giant rock was placed.
His story was supplented by the young folks who had followed them earlier, making for a lively scene.
Yan Fei paid little attention to Heizi’s theatrics.
Instead, he wondered about his girlfriend Xiang Rui’s trip to Xu Xiaoyan’s ho.
Regardless of what her father said, they had decided that she wasn’t running away.
Now, Ma Yongming kept pestering him to move the enormous stone, much to his annoyance.
Not only Ma Yongming but also Pang Fa tried to persuade Yan Fei, “Yan Fei, what you did was admirable, everyone should be impressed.
But now Granny Dazui’s son has co and bowed his head.
It’s best to show rcy when one can.
If you move the stone now, it doesn’t an you lose face; it’s Granny Dazui’s family who lost face.
Others will see you as generous and dignified.”
That argunt seed to strike a chord with Yan Fei.
Ma Yongming imdiately realized he was too persistent earlier and changed his approach, “We’re all from the sa town.
Even if they were wrong, one day of punishnt is enough.
Rember the Si brothers, once they admitted their mistake, they left so room for rcy, didn’t they?
You can’t be worse than them, can you?”
“Exactly, after this incident, I’m sure nobody would dare to propose a marriage against your wishes.
There’s no shortage of potential wives, and there’s no sense in taking such a big risk, right?
Once you’ve made your point and they’ve co to apologize, it’s overkill to keep the stone there.
It’s just bullying,” one chid in.
“Yep, it’s market day today.
There’s a fair bunch of people on the streets.
Not to ntion the folks from the countryside coming to market upon hearing the news, and turned to see the spectacle.
If they spread the word when they return, everyone within the surrounding area will co to know about it.
Who would dare to vie for your wife?
Now you should show your magnanimity.
There’s no need to be deed as soone who doesn’t know when to stop.”
When the two began alternating their reasoning, it beca clear that they wouldn’t stop until Yan Fei did as they suggested.
Off to the side, Miss Xu Xiaoyan had been listening.
She now felt that the two n made sense.
People from the sa town shouldn’t block each other’s doors with a big stone.
Briefly doing so to make a point is fine.
But now that the purpose had been achieved, it was improper to keep it there indefinitely.
It was ti to stop while they were ahead!
With these thoughts, she tugged at Yan Fei and whispered, “Maybe we should move the stone away now!
We’ve made our point, after all …”
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