Feeling frustrated, Liu Chunhua returned home and saw Gu Xinli cracking sunflower seeds. Her anger flared, and she immediately started scolding.

“You useless girl, all you know is how to eat! You don’t even try to win over your grandparents. They save all the good stuff for your third uncle…”

Gu Xinli, being scolded, also felt annoyed.

To stop her mother’s endless rant, she brought out two large buckets of fish from the kitchen.

“Mom, look at this, and you’ll feel better. Once we sell these fish, we’ll have money, won’t we?”

Liu Chunhua, seeing the dozen or so large fish in the buckets, stopped scolding and smiled. “Alright, I’ll go ask around to see who wants fish.”

Gu Xinli hesitated for a moment before saying, “Mom, go ask Second Aunt if she wants any. I remember Gu Xiaoxi likes fish.”

Normally, she wouldn’t want to make money off Gu Xiaoxi, but she was about to go to the countryside and needed money for various expenses.

Since private business wasn’t allowed, she couldn’t find a buyer for the fish right away.

Liu Chunhua thought about it and decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask Jiang Xiuqing, so she carried one bucket of fish over.

Jiang Xiuqing, seeing the fish, was tempted but decided to be cautious and asked, “How much are these fish? If they’re too expensive, I won’t buy them.”

Liu Chunhua laughed. “We’re family. How could I charge you too much? Each fish weighs at least three or four pounds, and the bigger ones are five or six pounds. How about two and a half yuan each? You can pick whichever you want!”

Gu Xiaoxi came out to pour water and happened to see the fish in the bucket. She glanced at them and said calmly, “Two yuan each, and I’ll take all of them.”

Liu Chunhua hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded. “Alright. There are six fish here, so that’s twelve yuan.”

Just as Jiang Xiuqing was about to go inside to get the money, Gu Xiaoxi had already taken the money out of her pocket and paid.

Liu Chunhua counted the money and casually asked, “I have another bucket of fish at home, about seven or eight. Do you want them? If so, I’ll bring them over.”

Jiang Xiuqing was about to refuse, but Gu Xiaoxi spoke first. “Bring them all over.”

“Great!” Liu Chunhua, delighted, immediately went back to get the fish.

Jiang Xiuqing, seeing her daughter buy so many fish, asked in confusion, “Xiaoxi, this is too many fish. We can’t eat them all.”

“It’s fine. We can keep them and eat them slowly. Mom, can you also make some fried fish for us to take on the road?”

Jiang Xiuqing smiled. “I was just thinking of making some fried fish for you! Now it seems I can also make some fish balls.”

With that, she busied herself in the kitchen.

Gu Xiaoxi, having nothing to do, quietly conducted an experiment. She took a fish bone her mother had removed and threw it into the old goods storage.

Then, she watched as the fish bone disappeared, and nothing new appeared in the new products display.

Clearly, the fish bone had been treated as garbage and removed!

Next, she opened a can, ate half of it, and threw the rest into the old goods storage.

This time, she noticed that a new, unopened can appeared in the new products display.

The difference was that the new can was much smaller than the original, as if it had shrunk from a large can to a small one.

It was quite fascinating!

She also realized that the new products display couldn’t store items from the outside world directly, but if they passed through the old goods storage first, they could be stored in the new products display as a portable storage space.

Thinking this, she began to consider what else she could find at home to exchange for new items.

Gu Yimin, seeing his daughter wandering around as if looking for something, said, “Xiaoxi, go back to your room and pack. Organize everything you need to bring tomorrow.”

“Okay!” Gu Xiaoxi responded and went back to her room.

Packing her clothes was quick. She folded and rolled them up, then pulled out the large wicker trunk her grandmother had left her from under the bed. She placed it in the old goods storage to exchange it, then neatly packed her clothes into the new wicker trunk.

After filling one trunk, she took out a military backpack her brother had left and sorted the items she needed to bring. For the things she couldn’t take, she stored some in the new products display through the old goods storage.

Once everything was packed, Lu Jiansen returned from making a phone call.

Seeing his little wife had already prepared her luggage, a warm look flashed in his eyes. After closing the door, he softly explained, “I just asked our leader. The house we’ve been assigned is a small, old courtyard. If you don’t like it, we can change it later.”

Gu Xiaoxi nodded. “We’ll see when the time comes.”

“The tickets are bought. We leave at 7:40 tomorrow morning. Go to bed early tonight. I’ll go help your parents with some things and talk to them.”

Seeing him so diligent, Gu Xiaoxi held back a laugh and nodded. “Go ahead.”

If he wanted to be a good son-in-law, she would certainly cooperate.

Lu Jiansen, seeing the lively look on his little wife’s face, couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle her hair. “Go to sleep.”

Gu Xiaoxi’s face turned slightly red, and she nodded softly. “Got it. You should sleep early too.”

Her sweet, soft voice seemed to hook into Lu Jiansen’s heart, making his breath hitch for a moment.

He couldn’t help but think of that night when she had been beneath him, crying out in pain, saying she was tired and wanted to sleep.

To stop his thoughts from running wild, he quickly closed the door and left.

As soon as the door closed, Gu Xiaoxi also let out a sigh of relief.

Truth be told, she had been a bit nervous being alone with him in the room.

She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a while, but soon succumbed to the exhaustion of the past two days and fell asleep.

Lu Jiansen, meanwhile, stayed in the kitchen helping his mother-in-law cook and chatting.

Gu Yimin also helped out, sharing stories about his daughter’s childhood.

The atmosphere among the three of them was quite pleasant!

That night, only Gu Xiaoxi slept.

…

The next morning, Gu Xiaoxi woke up early. Hearing her parents bustling in the kitchen, she quietly slipped a package under the blankets on their bed.

Inside the package were four sets of new clothes, several pieces of brand-new fabric, a thousand yuan in cash, and a note.

If she gave it to them directly, they would refuse, so she had to wait for them to find it later.

For breakfast, the family had meat-filled dumplings.

Since her daughter was about to leave for a long journey, Jiang Xiuqing couldn’t help but nag.

“Xiaoxi, take good care of yourself in the military. If Jiansen goes on a mission and you run into trouble, go find your brother. If he’s not around, call home…”

“If you need anything there, buy it. If you can’t find it, write to us, and we’ll buy it and send it to you…”

“Get along with the other military wives. If anyone bullies you, tell your brother and Jiansen. We can’t let others push us around…”

Gu Xiaoxi listened attentively, both amused and touched. “Mom, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of myself!”

Jiang Xiuqing nodded. “If you can get leave at the end of the year, come home for New Year.”

Gu Yimin, hearing his wife’s words, coughed lightly. “If they get leave, they should go to Jiansen’s family first.”

Lu Jiansen immediately said, “If we can arrange a home visit, Xiaoxi and I will come back to pick you up, and then we’ll all go to the capital together.”

Jiang Xiuqing, hearing Lu Jiansen’s plan, smiled and nodded. “That works too.”

She was really worried about her daughter, who had just gotten married!

Gu Xiaoxi thought for a moment and said softly, “Dad, Mom, I’ll write to you every month. Don’t worry too much about me. Take care of yourselves. Also, after Grandpa is discharged from the hospital, make sure he stays with us. It’s not safe for him to live alone.”

Jiang Xiuqing nodded. “I understand.”

Gu Yimin cleared his throat and couldn’t help but add, “Xiaoxi, now that you’re married, you need to learn to take care of Jiansen. Don’t be too willful. Also, keep up with your exercise, but make sure to eat and sleep well. If you feel unwell, see a doctor right away.”

Gu Xiaoxi glanced at Lu Jiansen and smiled as she nodded. “I understand.”

Lu Jiansen, knowing how worried his in-laws were, assured them again, “Don’t worry, Mom and Dad. I won’t let Xiaoxi suffer!”