Engagement

  That night, Lin Zhenhua really brought some cigarettes, wine and snacks, and went to Yang's house with great ceremony. Yang Xin accompanied him to the small grocery store to buy these things, and then accompanied him to the door of the house, pushing Lin Zhenhua into his parents' room, while she herself hid in the room where she lived with Yang Tao, refusing to come out.

  "Xiao Hua, what's going on? Is something wrong?" Yang Chunshan and Wei Suping asked in unison, already having a few guesses in their minds.

  "Uncle Yang, Aunt Wei, I've come to propose a marriage," Lin Zhenhua said. "You see, Yang Xin and I have also grown up together since childhood, we understand each other pretty well, and our temperaments are quite compatible. So, I'd like to ask for your consent to allow me and Yang Xin to be together."

  "Agreed, agreed." Yang Chunshan's face lit up with joy, and he hastily walked forward, took the thing from Lin Zhenhua's hand, put it on the table, and pretended to scold: "Look, we're all family, no need to bring anything."

  Of course, if Lin Zhenhua came with empty hands to propose the marriage, Yang Chunshan would definitely feel a bit awkward. This is not about how much money was involved, but rather a matter of principle.

  "Xiao Hua, actually, your Uncle Yang and I have always treated you like our own son. We're delighted that you like Yang Xin. However, look at it this way, you're already the manager of a service company, while Yang Xin is just a temporary worker with only a junior high school education. We're worried that she's not good enough for you." Wei Sufen said in a nagging tone.

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Uncle Yang, Aunt Wei, I also only have a junior high school education. What's the talk about being worthy or not? By the way, I just discussed with Yang Xin and think she can take the college entrance exam. It might be too late this year, but next year she can try to get into an undergraduate program, which will be beneficial for her future development."

  "With her brain, just graduated from junior high school, how can she get into university?" Wei Suping said.

  "Xiao Hua said she would help me review," Yang Xin, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation in the room, couldn't help but interject, feeling embarrassed to face her parents, but inserting a remark was acceptable.

  "Hehe, that's right." Lin Zhenhua said, "When I was in the army, I studied with a university professor for a period of time, and my foundation is not bad. You also know that Xiaofang has made great progress in her studies recently, mainly because I gave her extra lessons. So, I plan to take some time to give Yang Xin some extra lessons, and I think that after a year or so, she should be able to pass the college entrance exam without any problem."

  "Really? That's great. If Yang Xin can get into college, it'll be like a smoke rising from the ancestral tomb of our Yang family." Yang Chunshan said excitedly.

  Wei Suping immediately thought of another issue: "Xiao Hua, since your foundation is so good, can you also spare some time to tutor Xiao Tao? He's in third grade this year and his grades have always been poor."

  "Xiao Hua said he would guide Xiao Tao," Yang Xin chimed in from the other room.

  "Xiao Xin, what are you doing standing there? Come over and talk." Wei Suping shouted.

  "I won't!" Yang Xin replied.

  "Never mind, never mind, it's about her, she'd be embarrassed." Yang Chunshan said sympathetically.

  "By the way, when are you planning to get married? After the New Year, you'll be 20 and Xiao Xin will be 18, you can get a marriage certificate then." Wei Suping finally remembered the important matter and hurriedly helped Lin Zhenhua make plans.

  Lin Zhenhua said, "There's no rush. Yang Shu, Wei Ji, we're still young, and the country is now promoting late marriage. In fact, getting married at 24 or 25 isn't considered late. I think that since Yang Xin has decided to take the college entrance exam, let's wait until she graduates from university before getting married. What do you think?"

  "How many years will it take?" Wei Suping asked with some disappointment.

  "Five years."

  "This has been dragging on for too long." Yang Chunshan said, "Now you two are together every day, and there's some gossip in the factory. If this matter can't be settled, I'm afraid there will be even more gossip in the future. We're all old people in this factory, and we can't just ignore this."

  "But we really aren't suitable for marriage now." Lin Zhenhua insisted.

  "There's no rush to get married." Wei Suping said, "Actually, what I and your Uncle Yang mean is not to urge you to get married immediately, but rather to settle things between the two of you, that is, to get engaged. What do you think?"

  "Engagement?" Lin Zhenhua was somewhat bewildered. He did know the concept of engagement, but in his previous life, he lived in the city and had no experience with such things, nor did he know what etiquette was required for an engagement.

  "Getting engaged is simple, just invite the elders from both sides to come together, have a meal and settle this matter. After that, when you two are together, others won't say anything." Yang Chunshan seemed quite familiar with this, as if he had married off many daughters before.

  "By the way, Xiaohua, are there any other adults in your family who can take care of things?" Wei Suping asked.

  "My family still has an uncle, on my mother's side, there are grandparents and a maternal uncle, very close relatives, that's all." Lin Zhenhua replied, these relatives have also come to visit them in the past year or so, and are considered relatively close elders.

  "Okay, then please ask your uncle and aunt to come over and preside over this matter. At the factory, invite a few leaders, Yang Xin's teacher should be invited, Su Yongsheng was good to you in the past, also need to be invited, and..." Yang Chunshan started calculating the number of people at the banquet.

  "Uncle Yang, isn't this too troublesome?" Lin Zhenhua felt his head swell to twice its size.

  "Dad, I don't want to!" Yang Xin finally couldn't bear it anymore and rushed over from next door to protest.

  "You know what this is a lifelong matter, how can it be casual." Wei Suping glared at Yang Xin and pushed her back into her own room.

  "Alright, let's do it then. Uncle Yang, calculate how many tables of wine we need to set up." Lin Zhenhua also didn't insist anymore, he knew that if he continued to insist, it would only make things difficult for Yang Xinyi. This person was very fond of his daughter-in-law, even though she hadn't entered their household yet.

  "Not too many, two tables of wine will be enough. By the way, you've just moved into a new house and your living room is very big, we can set up the wine there at your place."

  "Alright, alright, Uncle Yang. Let's not tire ourselves out either. Why don't we go outside the factory and find a small restaurant to settle this? I'll trouble you and Aunt Wei to set the standard, and when the time comes, I'll foot the bill." Lin Zhenhua said.

  "It's also good to have it outside, it's more impressive. If we do it at home, things like pig liver and pig belly, may not be available at that time." said Yang Chunshan.

  The engagement was settled, Lin Zhenhua went to ask his uncles and aunts at home, according to the old family rules, sent 200 yuan to Yang's family as betrothal gifts, Yang Chunshan gladly accepted. He also took out some money and let Yang Xin buy a new red dress by herself, which was also what should be bought when sending betrothal gifts.

  After the Spring Festival, the adults of both families chose a good day, booked two tables at a restaurant outside the factory, and invited the factory leaders to hold an engagement ceremony. After this ceremony was held, Yang Xin's face was equivalent to being stamped with a "Lin Ji" seal, and from then on, she officially became Mrs. Lin. With this name, in the future, the two people will not be criticized for being together.

  When treating guests, a small problem arose. Yang Xin's master Jiang Tie Mei refused to come and directly gave Yang Xin the cold shoulder. After the incident, Lin Zhenhua heard that Jiang Tie Mei had opinions about him and took it out on Yang Xin. The reason for this was because of Lin Zhenhua's house division issue. Jiang Tie Mei's family had elderly and young members and had been applying to the factory for housing, but they didn't get a turn this time. As a result, she was one of the workers who were most dissatisfied with Lin Zhenhua. It is said that she once went to the factory director's office and scolded Lin Zhenhua severely, even using vicious words like "unfilial".

  Regarding Jiang Tie Mei's dissatisfaction, Lin Zhenhua said that he didn't feel any pressure in his heart. In fact, even if he hadn't been allocated the house, and had to wait in line, it still wouldn't be Jiang Tie Mei's turn. Moreover, this house was something he had earned through his own abilities, what reason did Jiang Tie Mei have to resent him? As for the insults Jiang Tie Mei had hurled at him, Lin Zhenhua had heard them from others and felt somewhat annoyed, but for the time being, he couldn't think of a pretext to cause trouble for Jiang Tie Mei. If it were several years ago, he would probably have climbed onto the roof of the Jiang's house and stuffed their kitchen chimney first.

  Yang Xin didn't have a good impression of Jiang Tie Mei either. In fact, she had only learned from Jiang Tie Mei for a very short period of time and later benefited from Lin Zhenhua's guidance in some techniques. Nowadays, Yang Xin has switched to studying CNC milling machines and no longer has a master-apprentice relationship with Jiang Tie Mei. She went to invite Jiang Tie Mei simply out of respect for the factory's motto "one day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father", but since Jiang Tie Mei had spoken disrespectfully about her fiancé, Yang Xin naturally regarded her as an enemy in her heart.