The next morning, when there weren’t many custors in the shop, Little Chen was about to head to the post office to send money ho when Shitou handed him 100 yuan.
"I’m not going, so can you send this back to my mom for ?"
Little Chen asked him, "Aren’t you going to write your mom a letter?"
Shitou thought for a mont. "Never mind. Next ti."
’I should wait until Ge ili and I have confird we’re getting married before I tell my mom,’ Shitou thought.
At noon, Ge ili ca by again.
As soon as she saw Shitou, she asked excitedly, "Did you get paid?"
Shitou nodded. "I did."
Ge ili linked her arm with Shitou’s. "Let’s go buy a watch."
Shitou hesitated. "Will anyone be working at the departnt store in the middle of the day? How about we go another day?"
Ge ili shot him a look. "Of course people are working at the departnt store at noon. Are you just reluctant to spend money on ?"
Shitou quickly shook his head. "That’s not it at all. You know , right? Don’t I spend all my money on you every month?"
Ge ili let go of Shitou’s arm, looking at him unhappily. "What do you an you spend all your money on ? Don’t we spend it together? Besides, did I ever force you? You say that like you’re blaming for spending your money. Fine, if that’s how you feel, then I don’t want the watch anymore. I’m going ho."
Shitou hurriedly grabbed her hand. "Hey, co on. I didn’t an anything by it. You know I’m bad with words and don’t always say the right thing. Let’s go, let’s go. We’ll go right now and buy you that watch you like."
Ge ili was still a little upset, but she let Shitou pull her to the departnt store.
The watch Ge ili had set her sights on was a Butterfly brand that cost 170 yuan. Shitou fastened it on her wrist. "So? Do you like it?"
Looking at the long-awaited watch on her wrist, Ge ili finally broke into a smile.
Shitou also bought her a pound of White Rabbit creamy candies. "Take these ho for your family. Didn’t you say you have nieces and nephews?"
Ge ili pouted and mumbled under her breath, "I’m not giving these to them."
Shitou didn’t quite hear her. After hesitating for a few seconds, he asked, "So... when are you planning to introduce to your family?"
Ge ili froze for a mont. "But you’ve already t my mom, haven’t you?"
Shitou waved his hand dismissively. "That’s not what I an. I just want to know, how does your family feel about us being together? And what are their thoughts on when we should get married?"
"Get married?" Ge ili stared at Shitou in astonishnt.
Shitou’s heart instantly sank. "You... you never planned on marrying ?"
Seeing the terrible expression on Shitou’s face, Ge ili said quickly, "How could that be? I just think this is too sudden. Besides, I’m only in my early twenties. I don’t want to get married so quickly."
Shitou looked at Ge ili and said seriously, "I’m already in my thirties. My third brother isn’t much older than , and he already has two kids. Of course I’m anxious. I’m serious about you. I just want to find a girl I like, settle down, and live a stable life."
Ge ili looked into Shitou’s eyes, a bit flustered. "Um, I should go ho and discuss it with my family first, see what they think. And you can’t just go ask my mom directly, okay? She’ll get angry."
Shitou nodded. "I know."
Ge ili had two older brothers, both already married with children, and a younger sister who was still in high school.
Ge ili was a worker at a flour mill, earning only about forty-sothing yuan a month, which wasn’t even as much as her mother made working as a nanny. And of course, a young woman like her loved to buy clothes and snacks.
Not to ntion she had to contribute 20 yuan for household expenses each month, which left Ge ili with only a little over twenty yuan in spending money. It was nowhere near enough for her.
She first t him when she was shopping for clothes at the market. She thought Shitou was decent-looking, a smooth talker who knew just what to say, making him quite charming. After they’d interacted a few tis, she felt he was a really nice guy, so she thought dating him would be fine.
Besides, when Ge ili found out that Shitou made over three hundred yuan a month, she was floored. She couldn’t help but marvel at how much private business owners earned. Of course, she also felt a swell of pride. ’Her boyfriend makes this much money every month, so why should I keep slaving away at this dead-end job for a pathetic little paycheck?’
But when she went ho and told her family, they all disapproved. Her father was especially against it; the mont he heard Shitou was from the countryside and, on top of that, a self-employed entrepreneur, he was vehently opposed. However, hearing that Shitou earned a good amount of money each month made him hesitate.
Their family was large. Her eldest sister-in-law had been laid off, and her second sister-in-law was unemployed. Her younger sister was still in school, and on top of that, there were a total of six nieces and nephews. The extended family hadn’t split the household and all lived and ate together, making the financial burden incredibly heavy. That was why even her mother had to go out and find work.
Theirs wasn’t the only family in the large, shared courtyard; several households lived there together. Ge ili and her sister were cramd into a single small room.
Just as Ge ili arrived ho, she heard her eldest sister-in-law arguing with soone in the courtyard.
"Are you blind? Didn’t you see walking past? You splashed water all over , and this outfit is brand new!"
"So what if I splashed you? I did it on purpose! You’re the one who took the cured pork hanging under my eaves, aren’t you? Don’t think I don’t know it was you just because I didn’t see it happen. We all live in this courtyard; I know exactly what sches everyone’s cooking up. You’ve always had sticky fingers. I’m telling you, return my pork right now, or I’ll splash you every single ti I see you!"
"Who took your cured pork? Don’t you slander ! I think you ate it yourself and are just trying to pin it on ! My family eats at all the ti; I have no interest in that pathetic piece of pork from your house."
Ge ili saw her eldest sister-in-law, drenched from head to toe, standing there arguing with Auntie Zhang. She quietly crept along the wall and slipped back into her room.
"What are you doing, sneaking around like that?" said Ge ili’s sister, Ge ixia.
The words were barely out of her mouth when she spotted the watch on Ge ili’s wrist. She shot to her feet, grabbed Ge ili’s hand, and examined the watch.
"Wow, it’s a Butterfly! This must’ve cost over a hundred yuan, right? Where did you get that kind of money?"
Ge ili lifted her chin proudly. "A full one hundred and seventy yuan. What do you think? It’s beautiful, isn’t it?"
Ge ixia leaned in close to Ge ili and looked at her. "Don’t tell your dopey boyfriend bought this for you, too?"
Ge ili glared at her. "Watch your mouth! What do you an, ’dopey boyfriend’? His na is Shitou, you know!"
Ge ixia pouted. "Shitou, Shitou. Just listen to that. What kind of normal person has a na like ’Stone’? The countryside is full of stones. Isn’t that just dumb? And this fool is spending so much money on you, even though you have no intention of marrying him."
Ge ili sat on the edge of the bed, gazing at the watch on her wrist. She sighed. "He really is very good to , actually. Do you think it would be so bad if I actually married him?"
"You want to follow him back to the countryside?"
Ge ili shook her head. "Shitou makes so much money every month. Why would we have to go back? Even if we get married, we’d do it here in Beijing City."
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