102: This land and water nurtures beauties

Having confirmed the status of millet porridge, A Shui seemed very happy. She felt that she held a special significance to Qinghe.

So, she skipped ahead, leading the way with great enthusiasm.

"Brother-in-law, are the roads in Hanoi very wide? I heard there are skyscrapers over a hundred meters tall..."

After relaxing her mood, A Shui felt that the world was so beautiful, so she chattered around Qinghe, asking about the environment in Hanoi.

In her opinion, Hanoi was already an incredibly impressive big city, and she had only seen what big cities looked like on other people's televisions in the village.

In her mind, Hanoi and Saigon were among the most prosperous major cities in the world.

"A Shui, actually, there are many cities in China that are even more prosperous than Hanoi. If we have time in the future, I'll take you to see the big cities in China..."

Qinghe then told A Shui about the major cities in China and some famous scenic spots.

A Shui also talked to Qinghe about the ancient Dragon Country People poems she had learned in her textbooks.

As a part of the Dragon Country People cultural sphere, no matter how much Vietnam denies history, it cannot change the fact that it has studied Dragon Country People culture for thousands of years.

Because Chinese language was abandoned and replaced with Latin script, Vietnamese students have to go through several steps to learn ancient Dragon Country People poems.

First, there was the original text of the ancient poem, then the Nom script, which was invented in ancient Vietnam by imitating Dragon Country People pronunciations and characters.

This script was very obscure and difficult to understand, and in ancient Vietnam, it was a culture that only a small number of elites could master.

Many pronunciations in Vietnamese are actually inherited from Dragon Country People characters, just like dialects in remote areas of China.

What's more, in Vietnamese textbooks, famous scenic spots in China like Yellow Crane Tower and Yueyang Tower are all places they are familiar with.

Many places in Vietnam still share names with places in China, for example, Henan Province, Tay Ninh Province, Lai Chau Province, Hai Duong Province, and A Ying's hometown, Thai Nguyen Province.

And there are even more city-level units below that, such as Jingmen City, Quy Nhon City, and Phan Thiet City.

There is even a Chongqing County in Lang Son Province, which is close to Guangxi Province.

Xiangyang County, where they are currently located, is also like this.

Therefore, A Shui was relatively familiar with many of the Dragon Country People place names that Qinghe mentioned.

A Shui even recited "Viewing the Lushan Waterfall" with emotion in Vietnamese.

Even Dragon Country People who haven't studied Vietnamese can understand quite a bit if they listen carefully; it's just that some characters have changed pronunciations, but if you connect them, you can understand.

"Brother-in-law, there's a tomb of a great Dragon Country People poet near Vinh City..."

"Oh, I know that. Has A Shui been there? The Pavilion of Prince Teng, written by Wang Bo, is in my hometown, Akalin Province."

Hearing Qinghe's question, A Shui pouted her small mouth again: "Stinky Brother-in-law, the farthest I've ever been in my life is Xiangyang County."

"Tomorrow, I'm taking A Ling to Vinh City, you know." Qinghe teased her with a smile.

"Stinky Brother-in-law, I want to go too! Can you help me ask the school for a day off?" A Shui, with an expectant look, hugged Qinghe's arm again.

"You should study hard. If you get good grades, you can apply to study abroad in China. Then you can communicate with me in Dragon Country People."

Qinghe's words immediately made A Shui's eyes light up.

It was as if a whole new world had opened up for her.

She had never even dreamed of being able to apply to study abroad in China.

Thinking that in the future, among Qinghe's women, only she would be able to speak Dragon Country People with him, A Shui couldn't suppress the smile on her face.

In the future, the person who understands Brother-in-law the most will definitely be the beautiful and lovely A Shui.

"A Shui, why are you fetching water today? Is this your man?"

As A Shui was happily daydreaming, a girl also carrying two buckets walked over from the opposite side and greeted A Shui from afar.

"Sister Trinh, you've picked so many vegetables." A Shui didn't answer her question but instead changed the subject.

Even though she had been quite bold when confessing her feelings to Qinghe just now, she was still very shy about calmly discussing it with others.

When the girl came closer, Qinghe looked her up and down. She was a typical rural girl, wearing a distinctive conical hat.

She wasn't tall, probably just a little over 1.6 meters.

Her clothes were simple, a floral shirt and black trousers, looking like the fashion from around 2000 in China, and her round face exuded a simple charm.

Perhaps due to the local environment or something else, this girl also looked quite pretty, possessing a pure beauty.

An Lac Commune is a place that produces beauties.

Nguyen Thi Trinh

She was carrying two plastic buckets. One bucket contained quite a few green vegetables, and the other, for balance, only held half a bucket of water.

"A Shui, has your sister returned?"

"Sister Trinh, my sister is back. My Brother-in-law brought her back."

A Shui had no choice but to push Qinghe forward.

"Brother-in-law, I am Li Qinghe." Qinghe extended his hand proactively.

"Brother-in-law, my name is Nguyen Thi Trinh." The girl named Trinh didn't even dare to look up, quickly touched Qinghe's hand, and then withdrew it.

"Sister Trinh, is there something you need my sister for?"

A Shui asked her from the side.

Nguyen Thi Trinh looked up slightly at A Shui: "I wanted to ask her if the factory in Hanoi still needs people, and if she could take me out to work."

"Sister Trinh, hasn't a man already given your family a bride price? Would he agree to you going out to work?"

A Shui seemed to know Nguyen Thi Trinh's situation very well and asked with surprise.

"I... I don't want to marry him. My dad won't return the bride price, so I want to earn money to pay it back myself."

Nguyen Thi Trinh lowered her head and bit her lower lip hard. The conical hat blocked Qinghe and A Shui's view, so they couldn't see her expression at all.

"My sister is going to the county town to run errands today. She'll be back tonight. Sister Trinh can come to our house tonight."

A Shui didn't tell Nguyen Thi Trinh that Nguyen Thi Linh was no longer working in the factory.

She knew she couldn't tell everyone everything about her family. She would wait until Nguyen Thi Trinh came over tonight and then let Nguyen Thi Linh tell her.

"A Shui, then go back and tell A Ling that I'll come to your house to find her tonight."

"Okay."

After separating from Nguyen Thi Trinh for a while, A Shui told Qinghe that Nguyen Thi Trinh was a distant cousin on her father's side.

She was the same age as Nguyen Thi Linh and also graduated from high school this year.

However, she didn't get into university. Before she even graduated, her family found her a man from the neighboring town who owned a shop, was fifteen years older than her, and had been married twice before.

When he came to propose, he gave Nguyen Thi Trinh's parents a bride price of one hundred million vietnamese dong.

But from what Nguyen Thi Trinh just said, it seemed she had rejected this marriage.

However, her father was unwilling to return the bride price, and now Nguyen Thi Trinh was trying to earn money herself to pay back this bride price.

After briefly explaining Nguyen Thi Trinh's situation to Qinghe, A Shui even wrinkled her small nose and hummed: "Sister Trinh's father wanted to sell her a few years ago, but the school teachers stopped him and even reported it to the police."

"The police came in a car, arrested Sister Trinh's father, and held him for a day before releasing him..."

A Shui said that ever since then, Nguyen Thi Trinh's father never dared to talk about selling her again, but he had been constantly looking for a man for her.

This time, accepting money from the shop owner, in another sense, was also equivalent to selling her off.