The children also listened with gusto.
On the way ho, Sanwang couldn’t help but reminisce and review the highlights for everyone.
***
Lin i’s family returned ho and the couple went to the kang in the evening. Zheng Yaozu couldn’t help but mutter to her, “Lin i, isn’t it strange? My Third Sister-in-law almost seed to have changed her entire character. You see, she looks so much younger than how she looked in the previous couple of years and she’s as pretty as a flower.”
Lin Lan was now calm and optimistic, smiling all day long. When Zheng Yaozu glanced at her like that, why did he feel like she looked the sa as she did when he dated Lin i?
She was still beautiful, but there was a tinge of maturity and serenity.
Lin i glared at him and said, “You better shut up. My sister’s beauty is only for my brother-in-law to see, what’s it to you?”
Zheng Yaozu, “Isn’t that what I’m saying? Then Han Qingsong looks quite impressive as well. Do you not have the slightest hint of jealousy? If you had fought with my sister-in-law and not given him up to her, you could have been the wife of the Director.”
Lin i spat at him, “Alright that’s it, you are just coveting my sister’s beauty, but I advise you to not think about it. Why would she want to marry a scrawny pretty face like you, knowing that she’d have to take over the role of being the man in the household? If my sister had married into your family, she would have beco Gan Huahua(2) in no ti instead of the beauty you see today.”
(T/N: Lin Lan’s birth na is Lan Huahua, which literally translates to ‘Orchid Flower’. The pun here is using Gan, which ans dry, and emphasising that Lin Lan would have beco a dry flower)
In the past few years, Han Qingsong was never at ho, so Lin i didn’t know what Lin Lan had done to herself back then. But she knew that if the roles were reversed and she married Zheng Yaozu, the couple would have done nothing but rot and wait for death to claim them.
At that ti, the twin sisters went on dates together. One was the third son from the Old Man Han’s family from Shanzui Village, Han Qingsong, who was away from ho all year round due to his responsibilities as a soldier. The other was Zheng Yaozu, a fairly well-educated and handso man from the Zheng Family Village who could not do hard labour.
Lin Lan first set her sights on the soldier, thinking that with his allowances and cash, she might have the opportunity to join the Brigade and beco an officer’s wife.
Lin i also wanted to marry a soldier at first as her thoughts were similar to Lin Lan’s.
However, Han Qingsong was never really ho, so there wasn’t a chance for the dates to happen.
On the other hand, Zheng Yaozu followed his mother to the Lin Family Village. Lin Lan said that the pretty boy was not worthy of food and looked down on him for being useless, but Lin i took a fancy to him.
Although the two were twins, Lin Lan was beautiful while Lin i was more ordinary-looking.
If you were short, you would inevitably want to find soone taller. If you were average-looking, you would want to find soone handso. These were just examples of human nature.
What’s more was the fact that at the ti, Lin i was a young maiden while Zheng Yaozu didn’t do any work and tidied himself up like a young master all day long. He was clean, handso and polite, which was sothing that was considered to be really rare.
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