“No, no, no…” Ning Shu quickly refused, “Both Guo Dong and I had love marriages. Plus, the country is advocating for the elimination of feudal old ideas and promoting freedom in love. Guo Dong is a cadre, so naturally, we should follow the country’s footsteps. Therefore, our children should also have the freedom to love.”

Hearing Ning Shu say that she and Guo Dong had love marriages, Lin Guodong couldn’t help but glance at her a few more times.

Ning Shu didn’t notice his gaze.

Yang Meixia didn’t expect her to refuse so directly.

Wouldn’t most people be more tactful? However, when she mentioned following the country’s footsteps, it made it difficult for her to say anything.

She could only agree, “Yes, yes, yes, we’re both highly enlightened people, and we should definitely follow the country’s footsteps. But children should have more contact with each other, and feelings will naturally develop. Whether it’s finding a son-in-law or a daughter-in-law, it’s best to be familiar. We’re afraid our daughter will marry the wrong person, and you’re afraid your son will marry the wrong person. Whether it’s marrying wrong or being married wrong, it’ll cause trouble in the future.”

Ning Shu didn’t want to continue discussing this topic, as it was still far off for her.

So, she said, “No rush, the children are still young.”

Yang Meixia just mentioned it briefly and didn’t continue the topic, “Indeed, there’s no rush, it’s too early.”

Then she changed the subject again, “The three children in your family are raised very well. They all look very cheerful.”

Ning Shu smiled, “They’re doing okay.”

Yang Meixia asked, “Which kindergarten do the two older ones attend? If it’s close to our daughter’s school, they can take care of each other.”

Ning Shu said, “They haven’t started school yet. We’ll send them next year.”

The two women didn’t chat much because it wasn’t convenient while riding bicycles.

On the other hand, Lin Guodong and Zhang Hui chatted happily.

Zhang Hui was riding a bike while Lin Guodong was running, so their conversation wasn’t hindered. However, it was mostly Zhang Hui speaking while Lin Guodong listened.

Actually, during their time, getting into university wasn’t difficult. Basically, if you finished high school, you could get into university.

The real difficulty lay in not having the means at home to afford education for your children.

Naturally, Zhang Hui was a university graduate who was allocated back to his hometown after graduation.

As for Zhang Meixia, she hadn’t even finished junior high school.

The fact that they had been together since Zhang Hui’s high school years and managed to stay together was somewhat surprising.

The reason Zhang Hui, as a university graduate, could be allocated back to his hometown after graduation was mainly due to the allocation system at the time. Generally, graduates with professional degrees were given priority to return to their place of origin, their hometown.

Among Lin Guodong’s high school classmates who went on to university, several had been allocated back to their hometowns.

Lin Guodong hadn’t been around this area for these years, so naturally, he wasn’t aware of these details, but Zhang Hui was well-informed.

The three small courtyard houses that Ning Shu bought were all located in the city center, in good locations.

One of them was in the east of the city, convenient for both the Eastern Police Station and the factory where Yang Meixia worked.

So, they didn’t inspect all three houses. They decided on this one after seeing it because of its location.

This particular courtyard house cost Ning Shu 1500 yuan, and it had three rooms plus a courtyard.

Among the three rooms, there was one kitchen and two bedrooms, totaling around 120 square meters including the courtyard.

With the house selected, naturally, they began discussing the rent.

Ning Shu responded promptly, “For one unit, it’s 8 yuan per month, which totals to 96 yuan per year. But for you, we’ll make it 90 yuan for the year.”

Since Zhang Hui and his wife were interested in renting a house, they naturally had an understanding of the market.

Renting a whole unit for 90 yuan a year, as offered by Ning Shu, was indeed cheap.

Although it was a bit difficult to part with 90 yuan at once, paying 6 yuan per month for the year wasn’t a small amount either. However, Yang Meixia asked, “Sister-in-law, we pay 90 yuan for this year, what about next year? Will there be a price increase?”

Ning Shu knew that with the restoration of the college entrance examination and the increasing number of rural migrants coming to work in county towns, rent prices would definitely rise.

Moreover, being in the southern region, where real estate development was rapid, rent prices were likely to increase.

Ning Shu hadn’t been to other places, so she wasn’t familiar with their development situation, but she was clear about the situation in the south because she was originally from there.

As for going to places like Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, she had no plans to buy houses there for now. She hadn’t been to those places, so suddenly going there to buy a house would be inappropriate.

“Next year it will still be 90 yuan a year,” Ning Shu replied.

She wasn’t relying on the rent to make money, so she wouldn’t raise the rent for Zhang Hui’s family in the next few years.

Also, judging by Yang Meixia’s character, they probably wouldn’t rent for a long time. When they had enough money, they should be able to buy a house.

“In that case, let’s pay for two years in advance,” Yang Meixia suggested.

They currently had around 30 yuan per person per month, totaling 60 yuan. Even if they spent some, saving 40 yuan each month would accumulate to four or five hundred yuan in a year.

With two years saved, it might be enough to buy a house.

To guard against Ning Shu raising the rent, she decided to pay for two years upfront.

“No problem,” Ning Shu agreed. “You can use the existing items in the house, but if there’s anything missing, you’ll need to provide it yourselves.”

Ning Shu had checked beforehand that tenants needed to prepare their own belongings when renting a house.

After settling the price, they discussed other details and then one party paid while the other wrote the receipt.

Thankfully, Zhang Hui, being a clerk at the police station, had a briefcase with paper and pens.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to write the receipt today and would have had to come back again tomorrow.

With the house matter resolved, the sun had already set.

Zhang Hui suggested, “How about I treat you both to dinner at the state-owned restaurant before you leave?”

Lin Guodong declined, “No need, we’ll eat together next time. It’s already late today, and the kids might feel cold.”

Ning Shu added, “When you have time, you can come to our brigade to visit, and we can have a meal together then.”

Zhang Hui nodded, “Alright then, Lin Guodong, Ning Shu, take care on your way home.”

Yang Meixia said, “Sister-in-law, we won’t see you off.”

Ning Shu replied, “No need to see us off.”

Watching Ning Shu and the others leave, Yang Meixia said to Zhang Hui, “Let’s pack up and move in tonight. Even though we gave the house to big sister-in-law, we can still move our bed and other things over, right?”

Zhang Hui hesitated, “Move in tonight? Isn’t that too rushed? We don’t have time for that.”

Yang Meixia insisted, “We should move in sooner rather than later.” She was worried about staying with the widowed sister-in-law and was concerned about rumors spreading.

“By the way, what do you think about marrying our daughter to the son of Lin Guodong ans Ning Shu?”

Zhang Hui was taken aback. He thought his wife and sister-in-law were joking earlier, but why was she bringing it up again? “Are you serious?”

“I wasn’t joking. Think about it, their family has bought houses for all three of their children in the city. If our daughter marries into their family, we’ll have access to those houses, and they’re close by in the county town. Wouldn’t that be great?” Yang Meixia’s imagination ran wild.

Zhang Hui pointed out, “Our daughter is three years older than their son. Yang Meixia, you’re just daydreaming.”

Yang Meixia replied confidently, “Age doesn’t matter when it comes to marriage.”

“But still, that’s just talk. I wouldn’t want to marry a woman three years older than me,” Zhang Hui expressed his reluctance.

Yang Meixia persisted, “Well, our second daughter is only five years old. She can marry their younger son. At that age, they’re practically the same age, right?”

Zhang Hui sighed in resignation, “Please, stop thinking about this.”

“Why shouldn’t I? I have to think more for our two daughters. At our age, we can’t have any more children, and without a brother to support them, we need to be extra careful when choosing their in-laws. Besides, both of us are working now. After our daughters marry, are we going to neglect them? So, shouldn’t we pick good in-laws for them?” Yang Meixia laid out her thoughts, “That’s why we need to start early with potential sons-in-law. Let them get to know each other from a young age. Who knows, they might develop feelings as they grow up.”

Ning Shu was unaware that Yang Meixia was eyeing their son as a potential match for their daughters.

After buying dinner from the state-owned restaurant, they headed home.

With the sun setting, the evening breeze became chilly.

The three children sitting on the bicycle felt the cold.

Lin Guodong, running alongside the bicycle, didn’t feel cold.

In fact, he was warm from the exercise. Seeing his children shivering, he immediately took off his coat and wrapped it around the youngest, San Bao. “Yi Bao, Er Bao, use Dad’s coat to keep warm. We’ll be home soon.”

Thirty minutes later, they arrived home.

Yi Bao insisted, “Dad, give the coat to San Bao. I’m not cold.”

Er Bao chimed in, “Dad, I’m not cold either. I’m the older one, so give the coat to San Bao, the little one.”

With his father’s coat wrapped around him, San Bao was completely covered, and the sleeves of the coat were tied around Ning Shu’s waist.

This way, he was shielded from the wind from all sides and felt warm.

After about thirty minutes, they arrived in the village.

Smoke was rising from chimneys in every household, and the evening glow had disappeared from the sky.

Finally, the five of them reached home. Ning Shu immediately went to prepare dinner, while Lin Guodong lifted the three children out of the bicycle basket.

He had initially planned to take them to play in the county town, but they ended up not playing at all.

The food they bought from the state-owned restaurant had cooled down a bit, so they needed to heat it up again due to the rapid drop in temperature during winter.

Just as the family finished reheating their meal and started eating, they heard Lin Guodong’s mother calling from outside, “Third Son… and daughter-in-law…”

“I’m here,” Lin Guodong replied.

Lin Guodong’s mother came in and saw them eating dinner by the light of a kerosene lamp.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you come back so late? I came to check on you before I finished work, but none of you were here.” She had left work early to come home and cook.

“We went to buy a house in the county town. After that, we plan to move Ning Shu’s household registration to the county town, so she can receive urban resident benefits in the future. We also plan to rent out those several houses, which will provide us with additional income,” Lin Guodong explained.

“What? Several houses?” Lin Guodong’s mother exclaimed in surprise. “How many did you buy?”

“Three sets of single-story houses with yards. We plan to give one to each of the three children for their weddings in the future,” Lin Guodong replied.

Lin’s Mother：“……” For a moment, she was at a loss for words, then after a while, she finally reacted, “I came to tell you that when you move into the new house, according to our customs, you’ll need to prepare some things.”

Ning Shu hadn’t thought about mentioning the purchase of the three houses, but since Lin Guodong had already brought it up, she decided to go along with it. “Mom, what do we need to prepare? And do we still need to prepare even if we’re not moving in right away?”