A few days later, just after they finished eating, Mother Ye suddenly came over all smiles and called the three brothers to the Old House, saying they were to have a few drinks with A-Guang and his father.
He understood at once. His parents must have agreed to marry off their daughter.
Why hadn't his mother held out a little longer? Made things difficult for them?
Was that saying really true-the more a mother-in-law looked at her son-in-law, the more she liked him?
A-Guang got off too easy! Damn it!
Ye Yaodong headed to the Old House with a stern face. Seeing his father and Uncle Pei both flushed red, he knew they had already had a round of drinks.
A-Guang, meanwhile, was positively glowing and kept grinning like an idiot. It hurt his eyes to watch.
Drink! They had to drink!
Without needing to discuss it, the three brothers took turns drinking with the father and son, getting them so drunk their tongues were tied and they couldn't speak before taking them home.
Only after they returned to the Old House did Mother Ye happily announce that the other family planned to offer the "Three Rotations and One Ring" and "Thirty-Six Legs" as betrothal gifts.
"A Butterfly sewing machine, a Phoenix bicycle, a Shanghai Plum Blossom watch, and a Phonograph. A-Guang's father said they've been to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to look these past few days. Once things are settled, they'll buy them right away. They certainly won't shortchange Huimei..."
Ye Yaodong curled his lip. The Three Rotations and One Ring were a tall order for most families. Not many in the surrounding villages could afford those four big-ticket items. Only people working in government offices or state-owned enterprises could get the full set.
But their own family