country bumpkin

Chapter 409 Before the Wedding

Zhang Haiyan found this very annoying, and her aversion to tall, thin men immediately reached its maximum.

Xia Mili remained gentle and mild-mannered, completely bewildered by the situation before her. Yun Ya, on the other hand, looked helplessly at her sister-in-law's delicate and charming face, sighing inwardly, "Being beautiful isn't necessarily a good thing!"

Zhang Haiyan pulled Yun Ya and Xia Mili along, quickening their pace, not even giving the man a chance to speak.

The tall, thin boy followed closely behind them, eagerly expressing his thoughts.

"Don't be afraid, I don't mean anything by it, I just want to get to know you. Can you please stop and listen to me..."

He continued rambling on, while the three girls started to jog. The tall, thin boy shouted anxiously, "Hey... don't run! Wait... wait for me..."

The sound was drowned out by the cold wind, and the figures of the three girls gradually blurred and disappeared from his sight.

The tall, thin boy stopped in his tracks, sighing in frustration. "Ugh! I finally found a girl I liked, and she ran away? I'm not scary-looking at all!"

Zhang Haiyan and Yun Ya had already run back home. Entering the courtyard, the three of them were panting heavily, patting their chests to catch their breath.

Yunya was so tired, like a puppy that had been thirsty for a long time in summer, that she huffed and puffed for quite a while.

When Kong Xiuzhen saw them return, all of them panting heavily, she asked in confusion, "What happened to you? Did you encounter some wild dogs chasing you?"

After catching her breath, Zhang Haiyan explained, "Yes, there were stray dogs chasing us. Mom, how did you guess?"

Kong Xiuzhen said, "I heard that Sister Li, who sells steamed buns next to our village, was chased and bitten by a stray dog ​​a few days ago, and she even had to get three rabies shots!"

Upon hearing this, the three of them turned pale. Yunya stammered and asked, "Second...Auntie, in the end...was that...stray dog...caught?"

Kong Xiuzhen said, "Don't worry, we caught it and even took it to the police station!"

The three girls breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that the stray dog ​​had been caught.

Kong Xiuzhen continued, "Although this stray dog ​​has been caught, there are probably still many stray dogs like this on the streets. You guys should go out less in the future. Also, don't come back too late when you go out to play."

The three answered in unison, "Okay, we understand."

Remembering what they had just said, Kong Xiuzhen asked again to confirm, "You said you were chased by wild dogs and that's why you ran back?"

This time, Zhang Haiyan stammered and changed her story, saying, "No, I was just kidding. It wasn't wild dogs chasing us. We didn't encounter any wild dogs. We were just having a running race, so we came back panting."

Hearing this, Kong Xiuzhen finally felt completely relieved. She turned and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, no longer paying attention to the three girls.

The two followed Zhang Haiyan back to her bedroom, sat side by side on the edge of the bed, and discussed what had happened with the tall, thin boy earlier.

Yunya said, "Haiyan, don't go out by yourself in the future, otherwise you'll run into this boy, it'll be so scary."

Zhang Haiyan said angrily, "I won't go out alone to give him a chance. This guy is too clingy, so annoying!"

Xia Mili said worriedly, "What if he follows us, finds out we live here, and then comes looking for us?"

Yun Ya frowned and thought for a moment, "That's quite possible. We need to think of a way."

Xia Mili suggested, "Why don't we tell Uncle Jiefang about this?"

After saying that, she looked at Zhang Haiyan's expression, trying to gain her approval. Zhang Haiyan thought for a moment and finally decided to listen to Xia Mili and tell her father about it when he got home from get off work that evening.

Yunya also felt they should tell her second aunt's husband, since they really couldn't beat this tall, thin man. The adults were the ones who could handle this.

After discussing these matters, the three chatted for a while longer. Before it got completely dark, Yunya had to say goodbye and go home.

After Yunya left, Zhang Haiyan told her mother about what had happened that day. She wanted her mother to pass on the story to her father, as she was too embarrassed to tell him.

After hearing what had happened, Kong Xiuzhen was furious. All she wanted to do was meet this scoundrel and let him scare (haunt) her daughter.

When Zhang Jiefang came home from get off work that evening, Kong Xiuzhen told him what had happened. He was eating dinner when he angrily slammed his hand on the table, causing his chopsticks to fall to the ground.

Zhang Jiefang snorted and said, "Hmph! Don't let me run into him. If I do, I'll beat him so badly his own mother won't recognize him."

Kong Xiuzhen said that she no longer runs a breakfast business and focuses on spending time with her daughter.

Zhang Jiefang thought this was a good idea; whenever his daughter went out, he would have his wife accompany her.

Time slipped by silently, and for a whole month I didn't see that man again, as if it had never happened.

----------

On the second day of the second lunar month, the day the dragon raises its head, every household is busy frying soybeans and making dumplings.

Kong Xiujuan was no exception, but she was even busier arranging Sun Limei's wedding.

The new quilts and mattresses for the dowry have been prepared, and thermos flasks, complete sets of teapots and teacups, new pots, new bowls, chopsticks, and so on have all been bought.

They even bought a hen that was needed for the wedding day and kept it in a chicken coop in the yard.

She had borrowed the chicken coop from her third sister's house specifically to raise this chicken for a few days.

Kong Xiufang, the younger sister, said that her family also has a few chickens raised by her mother-in-law, but they are not yet grown up and cannot be used for the time being.

Kong Xiujuan said, "It's alright, everything is ready now, isn't it?"

Kong Xiufang said, "Well, let's keep them for now. When Haiyan and Yunya get married, they can choose one from our family! I'll save one for them."

The two sisters looked at each other and smiled, creating a warm and pleasant atmosphere.

At this time, the Ren family was extremely busy. Ren Mohan's mother ran all over the village to visit relatives and arranged which elders would accompany the guests from her son's side on his wedding day.

Ren's father then went to the village's wedding and funeral organizer to arrange the banquet and dishes.

They even went to the village to find an elderly man who specialized in hosting ceremonies and asked him to come and help out that day.

Ren Mohan's two older sisters were overjoyed to learn that their brother was getting married. The eldest sister, Ren Mulan, was busy buying a gift for the occasion and new clothes for herself.

The second sister, Ren Haiqing, was living a rather frugal life, but she still bought herself a new dress, intending to wear it to her brother's wedding.

Everyone was busy preparing things for the wedding that day, or getting clothes ready.

There was only one person who was completely unaware that such a wedding banquet was about to be held. That person was Ren Mohan's brother-in-law, Xue Huaxin.

At this moment, Xue Huaxin was having a meal with his confidante in a romantic coffee shop.