Chapter 25 : Marriage Proposal

When Ma Xiaojuan came back from picking the peanuts, she was shocked to find that Su Mo had already picked almost one-third of the remaining peanuts.

How did Su Mo become so powerful?

Was it because she’s in a relationship and full of energy?

Or is it because she plans to settle down in the countryside in the future and is starting to work actively?

Ma Xiaojuan felt that it should be the latter and couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for Su Mo.

Su Mo saw Ma Xiaojuan returning and noticed that it was almost 11 o’clock. She said, “Xiaojuan, I’ll head back after a while. It’s our turn to cook today. We’ll finish the rest in the afternoon.”

During the autumn harvest, people usually start work at 6 a.m. and finish by 12 p.m. in the afternoon, they resume work at 1:30 p.m. and finish at 6 p.m.

Since time is tight at noon, the educated youth whose turn it is to cook usually inform the team leader around 11:30 and go back to cook.

As long as the daily tasks are arranged, if you don’t finish them in the morning, you can continue in the afternoon. The team leader usually won’t say anything.

Ma Xiaojuan nodded vigorously. Su Mo had already helped her pull out a lot of weeds. Maybe in the afternoon, she could ask for another acre of land and earn four work points for the day.

—-

On the other side, Li Yue’e had finished weeding the four acres of land that morning. She left a bundle of peanuts for Lu Changzheng to choose from and hurried home to cook.

She had already enlisted four aunts she was familiar with to go to the educated youth’s site with her to propose marriage, and she had also called the village women’s director.

At noon, she planned to treat the helpers to a simple meal.

The main dishes included steamed buns made from two-grain flour from last night and some corn porridge.

She heard from her third brother that he had cut two pounds of meat that morning. So she planned to stew one pound of cabbage, stir-fry some green peppers with eggs, and stir-fry two green vegetables with lard. That would be enough to make a decent meal.

As soon as Li Yue’e finished cooking, the aunts arrived. They knew they had to help, so they left work early and returned. Some even went home to change clothes.

Li Yue’e hurriedly invited them to the table and set aside some food for the rest of the family so that the guests could eat first.

After dinner, Li Yue’e changed into a set of clothes that were 70% new and had no patches. She picked up her things and headed to the educated youth site.

At that time, everyone was having lunch, and many people asked where they were going when they saw them. Soon, the whole village knew that Lu Changzheng was going to propose to Su Zhiqing.

When Li Cuihua heard the news, she was so happy she drank two bowls of corn porridge. Finally, it worked.

From then on, Li Yue’e would be inferior to her.

When Li Yue’e and her group arrived, the educated youth had just finished their meal.

Knowing that someone might come to propose marriage at noon and disturb the educated youth’s rest, Su Mo had taken six eggs and made a big pot of scrambled eggs with green peppers when she cooked.

They were kind-hearted, so even if they disturbed them, they wouldn’t be able to say anything.

“Oh, are you eating?” The person who spoke was Lu Guilan, the women’s director of the brigade. It had been agreed earlier during the meal that she would be the matchmaker.

The other educated youth were confused when they saw the director of women’s affairs and a group of aunts arriving at their site.

“I just finished eating. Director Lu, is there anything I can help with?” Ma Jianmin, the person in charge of the educated youth site, stood up and asked.

“Something’s going on. Something happy,” Lu Guilan said with a smile. “We are here today to propose to Comrade Su Mo on behalf of Comrade Lu Changzheng.”

“Ah? Oh, oh! Please take a seat.”

Ma Jianmin was panicked and quickly asked the educated youth to clear the table and let the aunts sit down.

Then he thought about getting something to entertain them.

Oh my God! Someone help him! He was a young, unmarried guy and had no idea how to handle this kind of situation.

After everyone sat down, Li Yue’e put the basket she was carrying on the table.

Su Mo took six clean bowls from the cupboard, grabbed the large iron teapot used by the educated youth, poured some water into each bowl, and handed them to each aunt.

“Aunties, please drink some water,” Su Mo said with a smile.

Su Mo knew that people at this time liked sweet drinks, so she had already boiled a pot of sugar water in the large iron teapot at the educated youth camp. It was still hot, so no one had drunk it yet, but now it was ready.

This big iron teapot, two pots, a cupboard, a set of 12 bowls and chopsticks, and several bowls for vegetables had all been provided by the brigade for the educated youth. However, the educated youth mostly used their own lunch boxes and rarely used the bowls and chopsticks provided.

One aunt took a sip of water, and her eyes lit up instantly. She whispered to the aunt next to her, “Sugar water.”

When the other aunts heard it was sugar water, they all picked up their bowls and took a sip.

It seemed that Su Zhiqing was a sensible person. Her eyes were bright, and she wasn’t shy, she openly entertained them. She should be a good person.

Li Yue’e was also secretly observing Su Mo. Seeing that she acted calmly and gracefully, she felt quite satisfied.

Although the room at the educated youth center was large, it was still a bit crowded with so many people. Several male educated youth took the opportunity to return to their rooms, leaving only Ma Jianmin, five female educated youth, and the six aunts.

“Su Zhiqing, Comrade Lu Changzheng said that his revolutionary goals are very consistent with yours and he hopes to establish a revolutionary friendship with you as soon as possible. I wonder what you think about this?” Lu Guilan asked.

“I’ll follow Director Lu’s arrangements.” Su Mo smiled shyly.

The smile on Lu Guilan’s face deepened. Asking her to make the arrangements meant she agreed.

“I think you and Comrade Lu Changzheng are a perfect match. Since you share the same revolutionary goals, you should come together as soon as possible and continue participating in the revolution together.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to Director Lu,” Su Mo agreed with a smile.

Director Lu said a few more formal words to Su Mo, and finally quoted two passages from the Chairman’s quotations, which was simply a formality at that stage.

Su Mo responded obediently.

Finally, Li Yue’e spoke up:”We don’t have so many rules in the countryside. You two just need to live a good life together. Later, divide the things in this basket among everyone so that everyone can share in the joy.”

Then, she took out a thick red envelope from her pocket and handed it to Su Mo:”Even though your family isn’t here, we in the Lu family won’t treat you unfairly. We will do everything we should. This is the betrothal gift, take it and make your own arrangements.”

Su Mo didn’t expect a betrothal gift, and it looked quite thick. It probably contained a lot of money. She wasn’t sure whether she should accept it or not.

Seeing that Su Mo hesitated, Li Yue’e took her hand and placed the envelope in her palm.

“Here, his elder brother and second brother also gave a betrothal gift when they proposed marriage. But since your family isn’t here, I have to give it to you. Just discuss it with your parents.”

“Yes, thank you, auntie.” Since the other party insisted, Su Mo accepted it.

“Okay, everyone is tired from the autumn harvest, so we’ll go back and not disturb your rest.” Li Yue’e was decisive in her work and would leave as soon as she was done.

“Have another bowl of water.” Su Mo quickly poured another bowl of sugar water for the aunts.

After the aunts finished drinking, they prepared to leave.

Today’s meal had been a real bargain. She didn’t have to put in any effort, didn’t have to say a word, and even got some sugar water to drink.

As they were about to leave, Su Mo remembered what Li Yue’e had said earlier, about sharing the things among everyone. She took the basket, noticed the items inside were in double portions, and took out one portion for each person before handing the basket back to Li Yue’e.

“Aunt, I don’t understand the customs here. Can you help me distribute these to the other aunts?”

Seeing that Su Mo was well-behaved and generous, Li Yue’e gladly accepted the offer.

If the woman didn’t give a return gift, she would have to give each of them two cents as a token of appreciation. But now that she had received the return gift, she didn’t need to do that.

When the aunts heard there was a return gift, they were delighted and praised Su Mo.

Lin Xia watched coldly, feeling extremely jealous.

No wonder the little girl had been frying eggs and changing clothes at noon, it turned out she had been waiting here.

Such a thick red envelope must have been worth about one or two hundred yuan, and she also bought so many gifts. It was such a respectable thing.

How could God be so blind? How could something so good happen to Su Mo?

Su Mo sent the aunts out of the educated youth camp, returned to the kitchen, and said to Ma Jianmin “Ma, please ask the other male educated youth to come out. I will divide the things. I’m sorry for disturbing everyone just now.”

“This is a good thing. Don’t say you’re disturbing us. We’re all revolutionary comrades,” Ma Jianmin said, and then went to call the other male educated youth.

Once everyone gathered, Su Mo divided some sugar, egg cake, and red dates equally among them.

After returning to the room, Ma Xiaojuan said to Su Mo with admiration “Su Mo, aren’t you nervous at all? If it were me, I would probably be scared silly, but you can still entertain them so decently.”

Su Mo pursed her lips and smiled without saying anything.

She had experienced traveling through books, it’s just a marriage proposal, nothing to be nervous about.

As soon as the aunts left the educated youth site, they gathered around Li Yue’e, asking curiously, “Secretary’s wife, how much do you give as a betrothal gift? It’s so generous.”

Li Yue’e held up four fingers.

“Forty?” That doesn’t seem like enough. “Could it be four hundred?”

Li Yue’e nodded.

All the aunts gasped, and even Lu Guilan was surprised.

400 yuan!

Many people had never seen so much money in their lives!

So, after Lu Changzheng proposed to Su Mo, the news that the Lu family had given a sky-high betrothal gift of 400 yuan spread quickly throughout Lujia Village.