Sweet Nostalgia of the 80s

Ji Chuan heard this and smiled brightly.

He was determined to win over this woman.

Once she stepped into his world, he wouldn’t allow her to walk out.

A plan?

He had one.

The destination was a picturesque village.

It was said that Ji Chuan’s mother’s family had a significant background, while his father was a poor boy back then.

This family was in a remote mountainous area.

After years of governance, with favorable policies, the village gradually escaped poverty.

Yan Huan wasn’t visiting the village for the first time, but the first time she stepped into this village, she felt an inexplicable familiarity.

”Yan Huan, have you never been to the countryside?” Meng Qingmei smiled, pointing at the azure tiles and bricks of the houses, speaking with a smile, ”This village is truly beautiful. In the past, this village was very poor, you couldn’t even imagine how poor it was.”

”No food and drink? Or couldn’t afford to go to school?” Yan Huan walked slowly, looking at the flat asphalt road beneath her, unable to imagine what it was like in the past.

”It’s normal to not afford food and drink,” Ji Shuanglin squinted his eyes, reminiscing about their youthful days, ”In the past, farmers, if they were willing to work hard, wouldn’t have extremely poor days. After all, they relied on the crops in the fields to live. Even when there were production teams, although they might not have enough to eat, they could go to the mountains to find wild vegetables and game. Those days could be lived through. But, what I say applies to other villages. Only, our village was not like that.”

”Oh? What was it like?” Yan Huan’s interest was piqued by Ji Shuanglin’s words.

She grew up with her parents in the army, and the food there was decent. Plus, her father held a high position early on, never letting the family worry about food and drink.

”This village was called a village cursed by demons,” Meng Qingmei explained.

”What does that mean?” Yan Huan was puzzled. Looking at the thriving scene in the village, she couldn’t fathom how it could be cursed by demons.

”Old Ji, tell Yan Huan what happened those years,” Meng Qingmei was busy working during those years, and Ji Shuanglin, for some reason, lived in the village for a few years.

The couple was separated for quite some time.

Ji Chuan lived in the village with his father, and it was the most beautiful time of his life.

”Those years were strange. It didn’t rain for several consecutive years, and the crops couldn’t grow at all. Men were the hope of the family, so seeing no rain, they started to dig wells. Oddly enough, no matter how deep they dug, no water came out. Without water, crops couldn’t survive, which meant no food or drink. The men went to a neighboring village to fetch water, fetching water to irrigate the crops,” he had also followed them at that time.

”Get to the point,” Meng Qingmei was tired of listening.

”Without crops, there was naturally no livelihood. So, in those years, if a family had a girl, she wouldn’t marry within the village. One after another, they married into other villages! For a time, young men of marriageable age in the village couldn’t find wives. Without marriage, there was no way to have the next generation.”

”So, in those years, you nearly saw no marriages in the village, and no children were born.”

”What could be done?” Yan Huan was truly amazed that such a thing could happen in that era.

”Buying brides,” Ji Shuanglin said.

”Buying? How did they buy?”

”They bought from other regions! Every family pooled their money, some even spending everything they had to buy brides for their sons.”