https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-142-Searched-High-and-Low-and-Found-It-Effortlessly/12849257/
Chapter 143: One Height Hides Five Ugliness
Chapter 143: One Height Hides Five Ugliness
Afternoon.
After dinner, the Deng family sat by the door, burning tobacco and chatting idly.
In this era, in the rural areas of Bobai County, it was rare to find anyone, young or old, who didn't smoke water pipes. This was largely due to the environment. Before the liberation, Bobai County only produced sun-dried tobacco, and in 1949, the county's sun-dried tobacco production was only 130,000 kilograms.
Starting in 1959, Bobai County introduced winter-flue-cured tobacco for small-scale trials. By 1964, the production of winter-flue-cured tobacco had reached 1.14 million kilograms, and by 1965, it had surged to 3.53 million kilograms.
From that year onward, the planting area for winter-flue-cured tobacco in Bobai County remained between 70,000 to 100,000 acres, with almost every production team planting a significant amount. The tobacco produced by the teams was sold for money, and a certain amount was distributed to the members.
With tobacco leaves readily available, it was only natural for adults to smoke. Children, growing up in an environment where smoking was common, naturally followed suit.
Even if adults tried to forbid it, they couldn't stop the children from smoking. Most parents of this era didn't care whether their children smoked or not. When they saw their children smoking, they were more concerned about the cost of the tobacco leaves than the health risks.
Thus, many people in the rural areas of this era started smoking from a very young age and became seasoned smokers by the time they reached adulthood.
Deng Changdong's father, Deng Yunfeng, after smoking a few pipes, handed the pipe to his wife.
Changdong's mother took the pipe, stuffed some tobacco into the mouthpiece, and said, "Today, Yuncai's son, Ah Yuan, also got engaged. If I remember correctly, Ah Dong is even a year older than him. It seems we need to start looking for a wife for Ah Dong."
Deng Yunfeng nodded, "He's already 22. It's time to find him a wife."
Hearing his parents discuss his marriage, Deng Changdong said, "Let's put this on hold for now. We've invested all our money into raising cattle, pigs, and chickens. Even if we find a suitable match, we can't afford the dowry. We should wait until we sell these and earn some money before we talk about this."
Changdong's mother puffed on the pipe a few times and said, "It's best to wait until we have the money to start matchmaking, but we can also have a matchmaker keep an eye out. That way, when we have the money, we can immediately arrange the marriage and save a lot of time."
Deng Yunfeng said, "We can just let Uncle Jiu know about this."
Changdong's mother nodded, "Uncle Jiu is good at matchmaking. We can have him start looking for a suitable match."
Hearing this, Deng Changdong remained silent.
No physically normal young man didn't want to get married.
Changdong's mother smoked a few more pipes and, as she handed the pipe to her eldest son, she saw Uncle Jiu walking toward their house. She immediately greeted him with a smile, "Uncle Jiu, have you eaten?"
"Uncle Jiu!"
"Uncle Jiu!"
Deng Yunfeng and his son also greeted him.
Deng Shirong nodded and smiled, "I've eaten. Have you?"
"We've eaten too!"
"Uncle Jiu, come and have a smoke."
In the rural areas of Bobai County, every household had a few small stools by their door, as shown in the illustration below:
Deng Shirong sat down on one of the small stools, chatted a bit, and then got to the point, "Yunfeng, your son Ah Dong isn't young anymore. It's time to find him a wife!"
Deng Yunfeng smiled, "Uncle Jiu, my wife and I were just talking about this. He's indeed at the age where he should get married."
Changdong’s mother laughed. "We were just talking about it. We want to ask Uncle Ji to help us find a suitable match for him. Once we sell those pigs and chickens, we should have enough money to arrange a proper match for him."
Deng Shirong couldn’t help but smile. "That’s a coincidence. I happen to have a suitable match for Ah Dong. If you’re interested, we can arrange for them to meet. If everything goes well, we can set up a visit to check the family lineage. As for the wedding, it can be held at the end of the year, no problem."
Changdong’s mother’s eyes lit up. "Uncle Ji, do you know which village the young lady is from?"
Deng Shirong smiled. "She’s from the same village as my daughter-in-law. She’s a cousin to the girl Ah Yuan is visiting today. The three of them grew up together and are very close friends."
Deng Yunfeng and his family were a bit surprised to hear this. They hadn’t expected the girl to have such a connection.
"This girl is tall, even taller than my daughter-in-law. She’s well-educated, hardworking, and not the type to be lazy."
Changdong’s parents nodded in approval. They had seen Uncle Ji’s daughter-in-law before, and she was not only beautiful but also tall. If this girl was even taller, they were very satisfied.
It’s a strange thing about people; the more they lack something, the more they value it. In Guangxi, the average height of people is among the lowest in the country. Therefore, height is a highly valued criterion when arranging marriages in the countryside.
There’s even a saying: "One tall trait can hide five flaws."
After all, parents hope their children will find a tall partner so that their future generations will be tall as well.
Hearing that the girl was so tall, Changdong’s parents were already very satisfied.
Exchanging a glance with her husband, Changdong’s mother said, "Uncle Ji, the girl you mentioned does sound suitable. We can arrange for them to meet."
Deng Shirong nodded. "Alright, in a couple of days, when I go to Poxin Village to deliver the date for Ah Yuan’s visit, I’ll also talk to the girl’s parents about this. If everything goes smoothly, we can set a date and place for the meeting."
Deng Yunfeng and his wife nodded in agreement. As for Changdong, he didn’t have any objections. Although the country had long promoted free love, in the countryside, marriages were still mostly arranged by parents, with free love being a minority.
After finishing the discussion, Deng Shirong didn’t stay any longer. He waved goodbye and walked back home, hands behind his back.
Once Uncle Ji was out of sight, Deng Yunfeng said to his son, "The market day is the day after tomorrow. Go and get a haircut."
Changdong ran his hand through his hair, which had grown long enough to cover his eyes, and nodded. "Alright, I’ll do that."
Deng Yunfeng then turned to his wife. "Do we have any cloth left at home?"
Changdong’s mother replied, "We have a bit of leftover cloth."
Deng Yunfeng said, "Then go to Shuangwang Market the day after tomorrow and buy some cloth to make Ah Dong a new outfit. He can wear it when he meets the girl, to make a good impression."
Changdong’s mother nodded. "Wearing a patched-up outfit for the meeting wouldn’t be good. I’ll buy the cloth and make him a new outfit."
Changdong listened quietly to his parents’ plans, feeling a growing sense of excitement.
---
Sweat, finally got the book title changed. Whether it’s good or not, I’m sticking with this one. The past few days have been a nightmare trying to decide on a title, and it even affected my updates.
(End of Chapter)
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