253 The Price of Marriage


    The vigemittee held a collective meeting of the entire vige and expressed the theme of the meeting. The vigers would have to express their opinions themselves.


    There were only a few possible oues.


    Whether they were willing to rent or not, there were people watching from the sidelines.


    Most of the families who were willing to rent left were the elderly who had to take care of children. If they did not rent out the fields, the elderly would continue to nt them, making them helpless and worried.


    Therefore, when they heard that the Shi family wanted to rent thend, those young people all called back and said that they were willing to rent thend out. It didn’t matter how much the rent was, as long as everyone’s rent was the same.


    There were also some people who had been farming at home previously. Now, they nned to rent out thend and then go out to work. If the family went out to work, it would be easier to save money.


    However, the few people who were willing to rent it were in the minority.


    Most of them were unwilling to rent it.


    That day, someone came to the Shi family.


    “Lichun, is your family really going to rent so muchnd?” Someone asked curiously. “Why are you renting so muchnd? Are you going to use it to grow watermelons?”


    This year, the watermelons of Shi Lichun’s three brothers were sold at an extraordinarily high price. Therefore, many people guessed that the three brothers wanted to expand their ntation, but rentingnd would attract people’s envy. Therefore, they rentednd in the name of their niece.


    “That’s right, Lichun. Are you nning to rentnd to nt watermelons next year? With so muchnd, you can grow hundreds of thousands of catties of watermelons. If you sell them for four or five dors and earn a few million dors at once, you will really be rich.”


    That’s right, that was what many people guessed.


    They all thought that the three brothers rented thend to nt watermelons.


    The three Shi brothers were speechless.


    What was going on?


    Even if they nned to nt watermelons, they would not need so muchnd. At most, they would have about 10 acres more, and not 200 acres ofnd.


    It was not easy to grow harmless green food. It required a lot of effort and time. Otherwise, if it did not meet the standard, the price would not be good.


    Shi Lichun said in amusement, “Bangyong, where did you hear this from? It’s indeed my niece who’s renting thend. She’s also the one who needs to rent thend next year. It’s not the three of us.”


    Shi Bangyong was puzzled and asked, “Lichun, isn’t your niece going to give birth? Her belly is so big. When is she due? Can she still manage 200 acres ofnd after giving birth?”


    “The child will be born in three months, which is next spring,” Shi Lichun said. “We can manage it, but we don’t have to work in the fields ourselves.”


    Shi Bangyong was deep in thought.


    To put it bluntly, Shi Lichun’s niece could leave thend she rented to her uncles.


    However, if his family had such a rich niece, he would be willing to support her in doing this. Anyway, as long as she paid, there was nothing to worry about.


    Shi Lichun said, “My niece is renting a batch ofnd to nt greenhouse rice and a batch to nt greenhouse vegetables and fruits!”


    Shi Bangyong was a little stunned and asked curiously, “How much greenhouse rice are you nting this time?”


    The increase in the production of greenhouse ricest time caused many people to have the idea of nting greenhouse rice. However, after thinking about it, the cost of nting greenhouse rice was too high and the price was low. It was not worth it, so they decided to nt their rice using the traditional method.


    Shi Liqiu said, “Mingming said to nt 50 acres ofnd first!”


    “Huh? So many?” Another viger, Shi Bangzi, said in surprise, “How much would it cost to build arge shed?”


    “That’s definitely tens of thousands of dors!” Shi Bangyong said. “Last time, you spent 5,600 dors on five plots ofnd. Now, 50 acres ofnd is at least 50,000 to 60,000 dors, or even more than 100,000 dors!”


    Building a greenhouse was calcted by the area.


    “Tsk tsk, as expected of a rich person. She has so much money to spend!” Shi Bangzi clicked his tongue. “If I had so much money, I would definitely deposit it in the bank for interest.”


    Rural people thought that if they had money, they would deposit it in the bank to earn interest on top of the security.


    100,000 dors was probably the amount that many vigers would earn in their lifetimes.


    It was fine for them to build a house for their sons to marry, but it was definitely impossible for them to spend on something they were not confident in.


    “Hehe, you have more than 100,000 dors in the bank now!” Shi Bangyong said, “A few days ago, I heard from your wife that she would let your second son go on a blind date to marry a wife at the end of the year. Only someone with money would dare to say such things.”


    How could a poor person dare to marry his second son after only a few years?


    The cost associated with marrying a wife now was at least 100,000 dors.


    Shi Bangzi waved his hand and said, “Even if you don’t have money, you still have to marry. My youngest son is already 24 or 25 years old this year. Over the years, there have been fewer and fewer girls in the vige. If you don’t marry, the older you get, the harder it will be to marry. So, as long as any girl likes him, we have to borrow money for him to marry her.”


    “Indeed, it’s quite difficult for young people of their age to get married. I heard from those young people that there are 30 to 40 million more men than women. If there are fewer women, then there are more men who are single.”


    “That’s right. Every vige now has more than ten single men.”


    The bachelor in this vige was a man in his thirties who had yet to marry.


    “There are many singles in our vige. There are very few women nowadays. Not to mention virgin girls, even those who have been married twice or thrice, or even widows, have all been snatched away.”


    “There are really too few women nowadays. Banghui, if your Xiao Hua has someone he likes, it’s better to settle the matter quickly. Marriage nowadays is like a transaction. The betrothal gifts are each higher than the other. The day before yesterday, a family in Xianghe Vige said that the betrothal gift was 160,000 dors. Other than a few nkets, there’s nothing else in the dowry.”


    “That’s right. As parents, we work hard our entire lives and save money frugally. We only need to marry a daughter-inw and we are set back to square one.”


    “Think about it. When we got married, we only got a wife.”


    “When I married my wife, I used 108 dors as a betrothal gift. Then, my inws gave me three pieces of dowry.”


    Their three major items at the time were sewing machines, watches, and bicycles.


    “Now, the betrothal gifts are getting higher and higher and there are no girls around.”


    As they talked, the topic became more remote.


    While they were talking, Gu Qingming walked in.


    Shi Bangyong and the others were speechless.


    “Little Gu, you’re back.” Shi Banghui greeted him first and asked with a smile, “It’s sote and the weather is still cold. Did you go out for a walk?”


    Just as Shi Bangyong finished asking, Mo Ronghua and his wife followed in.


    ...


    When Shi Bangyong, Shi Bangzi, and the others saw Mo Ronghua, they felt a sense of fear in their hearts.


    After greeting the couple with a smile, they immediately went back.