Chapter 27 : Received the Certificate

Besides the Lu family, the Liu family was also in chaos.

After Liu Guangying went to work, she tried to find out who the educated youth Lu Changzheng was dating. Because of the incident with the quilts the day before, it was easy to gather information.

When the educated youth arrived in the county to work in the countryside, they were under the jurisdiction of the propaganda, culture, and education department, and their files were kept by the propaganda officer of the commune.

Liu Guangying found an excuse and told the propaganda officer, Deng Heng, that she wanted to retrieve the files of the female educated youth in the commune.

Deng Heng wanted to give it to her directly, but then he suddenly remembered that the secretary had specially trained them on work confidentiality some time ago. So he made an excuse, saying he would look for the file and send it to her later.

As soon as Liu Guangying left, Deng Heng immediately went to ask for instructions from Secretary Geng Changqing.

Liu Guangying waited in the office for a long time but did not receive the file. Instead, she received a call from the commune secretary, asking her to go to his office.

Liu Guangying’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly reflected on her recent work. It seemed that there was nothing wrong, so she breathed a sigh of relief, took her notebook, and went over to listen to the secretary’s new instructions.

After Liu Guangying came in, Geng Changqing waved his hand to let her sit down, then asked, “I heard you want to transfer the files of the female educated youth in the commune. Did you encounter problems at work?”

“No, I mainly want to know more about the situation of the female educated youth in our commune to help with my future work,” Liu Guangying said, feeling a little panicked inside, but not showing it on her face. Her excuse seemed reasonable.

“I remember that every time the commune receives a group of educated youth, it holds a meeting to give the youth’s files to relevant cadres for review. Didn’t you record the information you wanted at that time?” Geng Changqing asked sharply.

Liu Guangying felt a little guilty: “I… I didn’t remember it in detail.”

“Be more careful with your work next time,” Geng Changqing said, his tone gentle, but his presence oppressive enough to make people feel breathless.

“I also heard something this morning. You were asking people who the educated youth that Comrade Lu Changzheng is dating is.”

“I also heard that you had previously acted as a matchmaker between your niece and Comrade Lu Changzheng.”

Geng Changqing tapped his fingers on the desk. The sound was not loud, but it was deafening to Liu Guangying. Her face turned pale, cold sweat broke out, and her lips opened and closed several times, but she didn’t say a word.

After waiting for a while and seeing that Liu Guangying did not explain, Geng Changqing said again, “As cadres, we must focus on our work, serve the people, do more practical things, and contribute to socialism. We must be more open-minded and not engage in bureaucracy or revenge.”

“The file is on my desk. If you really need it, take it.”

Liu Guangying didn’t know how she got out of the secretary’s office. She didn’t dare take the files. Nervous, she returned to the office. After work, she immediately rode her bicycle to her eldest brother’s house.

As soon as she entered the room, Liu Guangying started scolding her elder brother, his wife, and Liu Ping.

She had worked in the commune for so many years, and although she had no political achievements, she was conscientious and hardworking. But now, because of her niece’s misfortune, she suffered a great deal of resentment from the secretary.

Liu Guangying said, ” I will not care about Liu Ping’s affairs anymore,” and then slammed the door and left.

The four members of the Liu family looked at each other. Although they didn’t know what had happened exactly, they knew that Liu Guangying had retrieved the file of the female educated youth and caused an alarm in the higher-ups.

It seemed that the female educated youth really had someone behind her.

“Aping, let’s just forget about it. Mom will find you a better one. Don’t let your aunt lose her job,” Mother Liu quickly reminded Liu Ping, fearing that she would cause trouble and affect her sister-in-law’s work.

If that were true, her sister-in-law would come to her house and turn it upside down.

Although Liu Ping was unwilling, she could only endure it for now. She nodded and said “OK,” then slammed the door and went into the room.

—-

That night, many people tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep, but Su Mo slept well.

Because she had absorbed a lot of energy during the day, before going to bed, Su Mo would activate her supernatural powers over and over again, using the vitality of the wood element to regulate herself.

Although the original owner had relatively good living conditions, she was actually thin and in a sub-healthy state.

Under the nourishment of the wood vitality, her whole body was slowly repairing itself from the inside out. Even the skin damaged by the sun had improved, losing its dryness and dullness, becoming fair and tender again.

The next day, while washing up, Ma Xiaojuan kept staring at Su Mo from time to time.

“Xiaojuan, what are you looking at? Is there something on my face?”

“Nothing, I ….just look at your face. How come everyone has become darker since we came to the countryside, but you haven’t, and you look even whiter than before. What do you use to wipe your face?”

Su Mo rolled her eyes at her. “Don’t you know what I’m using? It’s just Ya Shuang. Don’t you have a bottle too?”

“Then why am I still so tanned?”

“You have a darker complexion, but I am naturally fair-skinned. I’m naturally beautiful, and you can’t envy me.”

Su Mo was in a good mood, so she started joking. She was nurtured by her special ability, and Ma Xiaojuan really couldn’t envy her.

“Okay, Su Mo, you dare tease me? I’ll tickle you!” Ma Xiaojuan pretended to tickle Su Mo.

Su Mo giggled and dodged.

Lin Xia looked at the quarreling “white-skinned” duo with disdain and muttered quietly, “How can you not be white if you don’t work hard every day and are lazy and slack off?”

Ma Xiaojuan had sharp ears and happened to hear it, so she immediately retorted.

“Who’s not working actively? Su Mo earned 6 work points yesterday.”

Lin Xia curled her lips and said, “It was Comrade Lu Changzheng who helped her do that.”

“What’s wrong with helping? She’s also a human being, you can’t be envious!”

Lin Xia was so angry that she turned around and walked into the room.

She complained to Zheng Caiping in the room, “Look at how successful they are.”

“Forget it, why do you want to offend her? Once she gets married, she’ll be the daughter-in-law of the village party secretary. If she gives you a hard time in the future, where can you go to cry?” Zheng Caiping advised.

“She dares? If she dares, I’ll go to the commune to report her,” Lin Xia said hatefully.

Zheng Caiping shook her head and said nothing more. Lin Xia was sometimes too extreme.

Today’s breakfast was still sweet potatoes. Su Mo picked up two at random and followed everyone to the team headquarters.

As soon as they arrived at the brigade headquarters, Su Mo saw Lu Changzheng walking toward her. Ma Xiaojuan immediately took Chen Lan’s arm and walked aside.

“Wife, our marriage application has been approved. Let’s go to the brigade to get the certificate, and then go to the commune to get the marriage certificate today,” Lu Changzheng whispered.

“Ah? So fast?” Su Mo was a little surprised. She thought it would take several days.

“It’s not too fast, wife. After the feast is set, I’ll have to return to the team in a few days.”

Or maybe time was too tight, and he couldn’t spend a few days with his wife before having to leave again.

Since this was something they had already discussed, there was no need to be shy about it. Su Mo and Lu Changzheng went to the team leader to get a certificate and asked for leave for the afternoon.

It was very quick to go to the commune to get the marriage certificate, and it didn’t take long, so Su Mo only took half a day.

Lu Changzheng felt helpless when he saw how much his wife loved working.

“Wife, let’s set the banquet for October 1st. What do you think? It’s National Day, a festive and memorable day.”

Su Mo calculated that October 1st was four days away. By then, the autumn harvest would be over, so she should have time to sew the quilt cover.

“Okay, just make the arrangements as you see fit.” Su Mo had no objection.

So, the two of them decided to hold the wedding banquet on October 1st.

When Lu Changzheng told Li Yue’e about this, Li Yue’e was too lazy to even roll her eyes. She just said “I know.”

Fortunately, she had prepared in advance, otherwise she would be in a hurry and at a loss. She hadn’t realized that her third child was also impatient.

In the afternoon, Su Mo changed into a white dress, put on small leather shoes, and specially braided her hair into a fluffy and beautiful fishbone braid. She and Lu Changzheng, who was wearing a new military uniform, took the certificate issued by the brigade and went to the commune office to get a marriage certificate.

The marriage certificate at that time was shaped like an award certificate and had Chairman Mao’s quotations printed on it.

Looking at the marriage certificate that had been stamped, Su Mo suddenly felt a little dazed.

She’s getting married now?

To this man I’ve known for less than four days?

When getting a marriage certificate, the commune provided a coupon subsidy, including 16 feet of cloth coupons, one cigarette coupon, and one candy coupon. There were also cotton quilt coupons, but since the commune had a workshop, they didn’t give them any.

Lu Changzheng gave all the cloth coupons to Su Mo. “Wife, take the cloth coupons. You can use them to make clothes or do anything else. I’ll use the cigarette and candy coupons to exchange for the banquet.”

Seeing that Su Mo didn’t answer and looked a little dazed, Lu Changzheng felt nervous and raised his voice: “Wife, what’s wrong with you?”

“It’s nothing, it just feels a little unreal,” Su Mo was awakened by Lu Changzheng’s voice and smiled.

Lu Changzheng took Su Mo’s hand, pressed it against his chest, and said in a rude tone, “Wife, feel it, it’s real.”

Su Mo was amused by Lu Changzheng’s appearance, and she pulled her hand back and lightly hit him.

If nothing unexpected happens, this man will accompany me for the rest of my life.

Su Mo extended her hand and said seriously, “Hello, Mr. Lu. Please take care of me for the rest of your life.”

Lu Changzheng stretched out his hand and shook it, saying solemnly, “I promise to complete the task.”