Chapter 8: Thanks to the Number One Big Brother, Father-in-law!
“Folks, listen to me.”
“As everyone knows, my disciple Lu Yang is an orphan, and he has no house to live in. The house his Ya Laozi left after he died had holes in the roof like a starry sky, each bigger than a fist, and it’s probably going to collapse. That’s no longer a place for people to live.”
“But as the old saying goes, a disciple is half a son. Lu Yang, that kid, has been learning carpentry from me, Yin Lao Si, since he was thirteen. I taught him hand-by-hand. I am his master. He is at an age where he should be marrying and having children, but he has no home, no place to even set up a single banquet table. As his master, it pains me to see this. Reluctantly, I had no choice but to help him by lending him my own house to serve as a temporary wedding room. I ask you, folks, is there anything Yin Lao Si did wrong?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the old branch secretary on the stage led the applause.
“Righteous!”
“Lao Si is righteous, so righteous.”
“It’s truly rare. Traditionally, after teaching a disciple, the disciple must dutifully show respect to the master. But for a master to handle his disciple’s marriage entirely, providing people, money, and lending a house—if this gets out, who wouldn’t give a thumbs-up?”
“Exactly, everyone misunderstood Lao Si.”
“Yin Lao Si, well done! Are you still taking disciples? My kid is tough, just doesn’t like to study. He graduated from elementary school, and I think he doesn’t need to go to middle school. Lao Si, if you think highly of him, how about he comes to your house?”
“And me too! My kid graduated from middle school, quick-witted, guaranteed to be easy to teach.”
“My kid is not bad either! The key is he’s like me, very strong, just eats a bit too much.”
For a time, the situation on the scene gradually went off track.
Lu Yang’s mouth curved into a hint of pride. He knew it would be like this. No amount of excitement is as important as one’s own interests. If there’s profit to be made, who cares about watching a spectacle?
But don’t rush. If it’s just like this, it’s still not enough to eliminate the impact of this whole matter.
Lu Yang is thick-skinned; he can ignore other people’s gazes.
But Mingyue Meimei can’t. She can’t stand such gazes, and he won’t allow it.
If Mingyue Meimei marries him, then he must be responsible for both their lives. From a young age, Mingyue Meimei grew up under the mocking and ridiculing colored gazes of those around her. If, after marrying him, this mockery and ridicule were to continue to accompany her throughout her life, wouldn’t that just make Lu Yang seem incompetent?
He had been reborn; if he couldn’t even solve this small matter, he might as well find a shoelace and hang himself.
So, from the moment he was reborn, Lu Yang had been thinking: Is there any way to solve this?
Thanks to the Number One Big Brother, Father-in-law!
The method Lu Yang came up with was simple: throw money, throw it hard, until these people’s eyes turn red. After all, what could be more enviable than marrying a beautiful, kind-hearted, considerate, and beautiful wife with a generous dowry?
“Folks, there’s no rush about apprenticeship. If there are half-grown lads in your homes, of suitable age, who want to be carpentry apprentices, as long as they are hardworking and meet the conditions, I, Yin Laohan, will definitely take every one of them, as long as my small carpentry workshop can still accommodate them.”
“However, before that, I have something to announce.”
On the stage, Yin Laohan’s expression already showed a slight hint of pride.
He hadn't expected to be so popular. It seems his disciple Yangzi was right; as long as he followed his method, it indeed solved the current shortage of hands in the workshop and also allowed Yin Laohan to gain a significant wave of prestige. Oh, and the key is that apprentices don’t need to be paid before they graduate; just providing food is enough.
Forget it, just for the sake of my daughter, this kid got a good deal.
Thinking this, Yin Laohan addressed the crowd below: “Just now, from behind, I heard many of you in the audience laughing very loudly. Perhaps many of you think that my old man’s daughter is not worthy of Lu Yang, after all, my old man’s daughter has a stutter. I, Yin Laohan, admit it, but my old man’s daughter is kind-hearted!”
“She knows that Lu Yang, that brat, is an orphan and doesn’t have a proper home to shelter him from the wind and rain, yet she is still willing to follow him wholeheartedly. For this point alone, which girl is worse than her?”
“I remember one night, my daughter very difficultly told Yin Laohan: ‘Father, a woman follows her husband wherever he goes. Your son-in-law can’t live in Yin’s house forever. After the wedding, please let your daughter go with him.’ ”
“Yin Laohan, being a rough man, didn’t take it to heart at the time. It was Yin Laohan’s wife who reminded him: ‘Our daughter is feeling for our son-in-law. She doesn’t want rumors to hurt him, after all, it wouldn’t sound good if he lived with his Father-in-law after marriage.’ ”
“Indeed, look, today this whole thing happened, everyone misunderstood, right?”
“Since that’s the case…”
“Before I came on stage, I, Yin Laohan, thought to myself, my own daughter must be cherished by myself. I can’t just stand by and watch her cry all day long. So, I, Yin Laohan, have made a decision, and I’m going to announce it to everyone today.”
He paused.
Yin Laohan continued: “I, Yin Laohan, am prepared to take out 5000 yuan to serve as my daughter’s dowry. As for the use of this money, whether it’s for building a new house or for thinking about what kind of business to start to revitalize their small home, it will all be decided by the young couple themselves. Daughter’s mother, why aren’t you bringing the money up quickly?”
Ma Xiulan said “Aiya” and somewhat flustered, returned to the house, and brought out a large bag.
She walked up to Yin Laohan, reluctantly handing it to him.
Yin Laohan, however, directly threw it on the ground.
He squatted down, opened the bag, and facing everyone, removed the newspaper covering the top, revealing five neatly stacked bundles of large ten-yuan notes inside, exactly 5000 yuan, no more, no less.
While everyone was dumbfounded.
Yin Laohan then sternly said: “You’ve seen it clearly, right? I, Yin Laohan, don’t feel bad about this money, and I certainly don’t mean to show off. I’m showing it to everyone because I want to tell you all that my daughter is not bad; she’s more than enough for anyone. From now on, whoever dares to speak ill of my daughter, or point fingers at her behind her back, whether you are a young woman or a young man, an old woman or an old man, living in the east or west end of the village, no matter how many people are in your family, you’d best think it over carefully, don’t let me, Yin Laohan, find out, otherwise I, Yin Laohan, will get angry with you.”
For a long time, the courtyard was silent.
At the same time, all the villagers turned their gaze to the protagonists of today’s wedding, Lu Yang, and Yin Mingyue, who was holding his small hand, secretly moved to tears by her parents.
“A perfect match!”
“Yes, looking at it this way, they really are a perfect match. A small flaw isn’t really anything.”
“Who says it isn’t? If I had such a generous Father-in-law, let alone a stutterer, even if the bride were mute, deaf, or had a broken leg, I’d be happy!”
“Hey, I’ve said it before, Lu Yang, that kid, has been smart since he was little and will be successful when he grows up. See, isn’t it coming true?”
“Many people don’t earn 5000 yuan in a lifetime. This Lu Yang kid gets married, takes a wife, and it’s like he married a gold nugget. I think it’s because the Lu family’s ancestral grave has good feng shui. Otherwise, why would Yin Lao Si not pick anyone else, but only him, Lu Yang? It won’t be long before our village has its second ‘ten-thousand-yuan household’.”