The next day, after breakfast, the young couple was preparing to go home.

Today was the day when Su Youwen got married. The Su family had also invited the entire Lu family, but Mr. Lu Shengcai was busy purchasing goods in Pingchuan County. Wu Shi and her three children did not attend either, claiming it wasn’t customary to accompany their daughter-in-law back to her parents’ home. This implied that the date chosen by the Su family wasn’t auspicious.

Su Qingyu didn’t force it.

It was not too much to have more of your family, and it was not too much to have less of your family. Fortunately, Father Lu gave the gift money.

Lu Bocheng hired a carriage, and the two of them, carrying the return gifts, headed towards the Qiatao Village.

Certainly:

Lu Bocheng helped Su Qingyu into the carriage and was very concerned about her on the way, fearing that their intimacy last night might have caused her discomfort. Su Qingyu enjoyed his care with peace of mind and closed her eyes to rest.

The young man, newly introduced to intimacy, had remarkable stamina and an intense desire for exploration. Su Qingyu, driven by her own motives, gritted her teeth and endured.

Her modern aunt had made a pact with her uncle in her youth to remain child-free. They lived off the rental income from five or six apartments and never held a proper job. In their youth, they traveled and enjoyed leisurely activities. However, as they grew older, her uncle brought home a son. Her aunt immediately fell into despair.

After a long dispute, the two divorced.

Now her aunt lived alone in a big house, and she always felt lonely during holidays. Whenever she saw a child when she went out, she would stare at the child and regret not having a child when she was young.

One of Su Qingyu’s best friends was very ambitious when she was young and had aborted two or three children. Now she wants to have children, but she can no longer conceive. Even though she took traditional Chinese medicine and tried in vitro fertilization, she still couldn’t get pregnant. Eventually, her marriage broke down. The ex-husband married another woman and had children.

Her mentality also collapsed, and she always made mistakes at work. If nothing happened, she would call Su Qingyu over and hold her while she cried.

Su Qingyu was a little scared, she was afraid of marriage.

She gradually lost her sense of security towards men. But she was afraid of being alone and wanted to have a child.

Su Qingyu was thinking about the past in confusion and fell asleep on the swaying carriage. She opened her eyes and took a steady look at Lu Bocheng.

Lu Bocheng noticed her gaze and looked over: “What’s wrong?”

Su Qingyu shook her head, looked at him for a while, and said, “We signed an agreement, do you remember?”

Lu Bocheng hadn’t expected Su Qingyu to bring up this topic on their return home day, and he felt a bit flustered.

After thinking for a while, he nodded.

“I remember. I remember everything you said,” Lu Bocheng replied. “I’ve told you many things before, I don’t know if you remember them. If I’m fortunate enough to survive, I’ll come back for you. Whether we have children or not, I want to live a good life with you.”

Su Qingyu looked at him and saw his dark eyes.

Then he closed his eyes again.

“You don’t believe it?” Lu Bocheng asked loudly.

Su Qingyu said nothing.

“You don’t think that just because two nights have passed, and you might be pregnant, you can kick me out, do you?” Lu Bocheng shook her somewhat anxiously.

He gritted his teeth. “What does this woman think of me? A mere tool for providing seed? It’s infuriating.”

If Su Qingyu knew what he was thinking, she would nod, yes, she did treat him as a tool.

Su Qingyu waved away Lu Bocheng’s hand and continued to rest with her eyes closed. You just got married, how can you see a person’s true heart?

Wasn’t it common in this infuriating ancient world to have three wives and four concubines? As long as you had money and power, no one cared how many women you had in your backyard. Others felt envious, which showed that it was a symbol of status. At least you have the money to afford it.

Regardless of ancient or modern times, whenever a woman is weak, she will be suppressed. Nothing is as reliable as money.

Before Lu Bocheng could wait for Su Qingyu’s response, he angrily turned around and closed his eyes to rest.

He worked hard all night last night, and this woman treated him like this. Humph, so angry.

However, Lu Bocheng finally understood why so many people always wanted to run to the Flower House ^[1]brothel. He used to never understand how those men’s eyes would light up when they saw a woman, and he thought they were crazy.

Now that he had experienced it firsthand, he chuckled to himself, understanding why they say women are fond of the warmth of the bed.

He opened his eyes and glanced at the woman next to me. Although she was still very dark, she was not white or fat, and she had no flesh on her body. But, hehe, it was not bad. She had a tough personality and should be a woman who could keep a home.

Gritting his teeth again, the stinky woman didn’t even believe him! He had sworn in front of his mother that he would never change his mind like his father.

Smelly woman. Hum, you will know later.

It seemed that he still had to find a way to survive. Only by surviving could he make this stinky woman believe that he was not a man who was quick and easy.

The couple thought about their own things, and the carriage swayed for more than an hour and finally arrived at Qiaotou Village.

Qiaotou Village was particularly lively today, with three families holding wedding banquets at the same time.

This year, nearly half of the households in the village were affected by conscription. In this day and age, the emphasis was on continuing the family line. Whether rich or poor, families would arrange marriages for their children to secure their lineage. While families with daughters who had the means to avoid it did so, there were always families with even fewer means who were willing to marry off their daughters.

When Su Qingyu and Lu Bocheng arrived at the Su family’s home, they found it bustling with activity. Tables and chairs were set up both inside and outside the house, with red “Double Happiness” characters displayed on the tables. Although the banquet had not yet begun and the seats were still empty, many children were already running around the tables, adding to the lively and joyful atmosphere.

“Sister!” The twins saw her with sharp eyes and ran towards Su Qingyu.

“Hey. Run slower.” Su Qingyu opened her hands to face them.

“Sister, I miss you so much.” “I miss you too.” “Sister, I miss you too. Are you good?” “Yes.”

The three siblings were intimate for a while, and the two little ones smiled when they saw their sister standing there. Lu Bocheng, who was next to her, blinked, looked at Su Qingyu, and called Lu Bocheng softly: “Jiěfū.” ^[2]husband of elder sister

“Hello.” Lu Bocheng responded with a loud voice.

This fellow, did he think people couldn’t hear him? Laughing like that, what was there to be excited about?

The first time Lu Bocheng was called “jiěfū”, the feeling was particularly different.

Excitedly, he opened the gift bag on the spot, took out a large handful of candies, and stuffed them into the arms of the two little ones. Seeing a bunch of children surrounding them, he also distributed the candies to them one by one.

A bunch of children were so happy that they thanked him sweetly: “Thank you, jiěfū.”

“No thank you, no thank you.” He grinned almost to the ears.

Su Qingnyu didn’t look at it and went in to look for her parents.

When she entered, she found that her parents were so busy that they only had time to say hello to her and then left.

Su Qingyu greeted her family members and looked around, noticing that her eldest and second elder aunt’s families had not yet arrived. Her eldest sister and Ya Ya were also absent. She asked her mother, “Mother, isn’t my sister supposed to be staying here until today? Why isn’t she at home?”

Mother Su kept moving and sighed: “Your sister wanted to stay, but she was afraid that the family would say she was lazy. She took Yaya back when you went out. She said she would come back today.”

Su Qingyu sighed. Once you get married, you can’t help yourself.

If you wanted to relax in your parent’s house for a few days, you had to look at the face of your husband’s family. She was traveling back and forth with a daughter who was over one year old. With her sister’s temperament, she might not be willing to take the cart. She had to get up early and walk such a long way with Yaya in her arms…

Sigh, one still needed to earn money, earn a lot of money, to have confidence.

Su Qingyu put away her things and prepared to help her mother. When her táng jiě ^[3]paternal female cousin who is older Su Chunlan saw her coming back, she came over to talk to her.

Su Chunlan was Second Su’s eldest daughter and Su Youwen’s biological sister. She was one year older than Su Qingliu but married a year later than her. She was not pregnant yet. It was for this reason that her man did not go to the army, but his second brother did.

The two exchanged pleasantries. Su Qingyu also saw her man and said hello.

Her man was the youngest son in the family. His family background was pretty good and she was much better married than Su Qingliu. The eldest and second eldest sons in the family had both gone to the army. The youngest son was loved and doted on by the family, and Su Chunlan was living a good life.

After chatting for a few words, Su Youwen was about to set off to pick up the bride, and the two of them went to help together.

Today, the Su family had dozens of tables. The Su family’s family background was average, with a large population and many half-year-old children. The family didn’t have much food left over, and the income they earned almost every year was only enough for the family. This time, Su Youwen got married with the money they got from Su Qingyu’s betrothal.

However, as it was the first marriage among the younger generation of males in the family, Old Su didn’t hesitate to spend money. Apart from setting up several dozen tables for the banquet, he also made sure Su Youwen looked respectable. In response to the other party’s request, they even hired a wedding carriage from the town, adorned with red decorations and pulled by decorated horses, making it especially festive.

To catch up with the auspicious time, the team to pick up the bride set off quickly.

Only then did Mother Su have some free time, and she and Father Su took Su Qingyu and Lu Bocheng to their room to talk.

Today was also the day for Su Qingyu to return home. It was a good day for Qingyu. Just now, the Su family also had a round of teasing around Lu Bocheng, making him blush.

Father Su and Mother Su looked at Lu Bocheng and were very satisfied with his conduct. They felt happy and had a smile on their face. Lu Bocheng breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that his father-in-law and mother-in-law would be dissatisfied with him and show their displeasure.

The family had only talked for a while, and Su Youwu, who had accompanied his brother to pick up the bride, ran back panting and said something had happened.

(End of chapter)