Chapter 57 It feels so good to be cherished

“No, the sewing machine is what you asked for from the Xu family. If I marry you without it, they’ll know how to gossip about you, so it can’t be returned. As for the land, Big Uncle asked just now, he asked if we’re going to build a house, or live at home, or find an empty house in the village to fix up and live in temporarily. I didn’t answer just now, why don’t you think about it? If you want to build, the money is all with you, you can decide where to build.

If you want to live at home, that’s fine too, anyway, I won’t be here for too long, you’ll be alone when I go back to the army, and I’m not at ease. Of course, if you don’t want to live at home, and you don’t want to build a new house, then you can find an empty house in the village and improve it, I’m fine with anything.” The phrase “I’m fine with anything” both summarized the fact that he wouldn’t be here for long and also gave her the freedom to make her own decision. He Wanqing looked at Gu Cheng’an with a smile in her eyes and nodded: “I know, I’ll think about it carefully, you go to work!” She had seen his actions just now, and looking at the slightly slanted sun in the sky, she knew that it was already time to go to work, so she immediately urged him to leave.

“I’m going, it’s hot in the afternoon, rest at home.” He glanced at the dried wild vegetables in the basket, finished speaking, and saw her nod before smiling and leaving. He didn’t leave through the front door, but with a running start, he climbed over the wall from He Big Brother’s backyard again. He Wanqing, who was following behind him, watched him leave, and was about to turn around and go home to deal with the wild vegetables, but she was stopped by two laughter. “Second Sister, look at how handsome Big Brother-in-law is, isn’t he?”

 “Handsome, much handsomer than Xu Weijun.” “Indeed.” Not only did the two of them think so, but everyone in the He family, including the Shen family, thought so. Now they were very grateful that He Cao was with Xu Weijun, otherwise, where would He Wanqing have met such a good man. “Aren’t you two going to work in the field this afternoon?” She turned around and looked at her two cousins with a helpless expression. Seeing that the smiles in their eyes hadn’t faded, she shook her head and sighed. “No, I’m going to stay home and make dumplings this afternoon.”

“Me too, I’ll go to the commune and buy some meat later, and we’ll make dumplings at our house tonight too.” He Wanlin said with a smile. “I’ll go buy some too.” Thinking about how busy they had been with spring planting recently, He Wanyi calculated her pocket money and the meat tickets at home, and found that she had enough for a pound of meat, so she also decided to buy some to supplement the family. “Big Sister, are you going?” He Wanlin saw that she had been looking at them without saying anything, so she couldn’t help but ask.

Thinking of that basket of wild vegetables, He Wanqing nodded when asked: “Yes, I’ll go buy some meat for your aunt to replenish her health.” Hearing that she was also going to buy meat, He Wanlin and He Wanyi looked at each other and told her the idea they had just had. Hearing this, she didn’t refuse, after all, the few families often ate together, and yesterday they were still having a big pot meal.

 It was only today that her grandmother said that after spring planting was over, each family would eat separately. “Okay, I’ll give you two the meat tickets and money later, you two go buy the meat, I’ll stay home and chop vegetables.” “Two people don’t need to go, I can go alone, let Second Sister stay home and knead the dough, knead more, more filling, we’ll wrap the leftovers and eat them as buns.” Thinking of the buns this morning, He Wanlin swallowed, she wanted to eat more.

“Okay, then you go buy the meat, we two will stay home and chop vegetables and knead the dough.” “Okay.” The three of them had just agreed and were about to go their separate ways when He Jiakang came over with money and meat tickets. “Third Sister, here are my family’s meat tickets and money, you can bring some for me too. You guys…” Before he could finish, He Wanqing interrupted him, taking the money and tickets from his hand: “Okay, bring your family’s wild vegetables later, we’ll wrap them together.” “That’s so embarrassing, I was going to say I’ll wrap them when I get off work later.” He Jiakang scratched the back of his head and said embarrassedly.

“It’s okay, it’s just a matter of convenience, maybe we’ll have a big pot meal again tonight, okay, go to work.” She said, turning around and going home. Seeing this, He Jiakang quickly ran back home, and before He Wanyi and the others got home, he dug out a gourd of flour and handed it to them: “Second Sister, here’s some flour for you to knead, and some wild vegetables.” After saying that, he didn’t give her a chance to refuse and ran away with his hoe. Looking at the flour and wild vegetables in her hand, He Wanyi turned to her elder sister, who had already returned to the courtyard, and was about to go over, but she was stopped by He Wanlin.

“Don’t go, since Jiakang gave it to you, just take it, otherwise Third Aunt will definitely be unhappy.” “Okay.” Thinking of He San’s aunt’s appearance, He Wanyi nodded. Then the two sisters, one went home to get money and wild vegetables, and the other went home to get flour and wild vegetables. He Wanqing, who had already returned home, took a quick look at the passbook and found that there was five thousand yuan in it, then she flipped her hand and put it into the space. Finally, it was the dowry from the Gu family. She opened the small notebook and took a look, eleven thousand yuan, and there was also a piece of paper inside, which said  “one in ten thousand” in four characters. Looking at the vigorous four characters, she knew that it must have been written by Gu Cheng’an’s father or grandfather. Thinking that they didn’t dislike her, and that they recognized her just by listening to Gu Cheng’an’s words, her heart felt warm, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but turn up.

She opened another small box, inside was a jade bracelet that was pure white and transparent. There was also a note on it: “A gift for the granddaughter-in-law, I can’t give it to you personally, please forgive me.” The handwriting was beautiful and elegant, obviously written by a woman, it must have been left behind by the late Grandma Gu. Next to the box was another box, and when she opened it, there was a gold bracelet. The note next to it said it was an heirloom for the daughter-in-law, this must have been written by her future mother-in-law.

 Under the box, there were two passbooks, and when she opened the first one, it was eleven thousand yuan, and there were also four big characters meaning “one in ten thousand). And under the big characters, there were a few small characters, detailing who had given her what. As she had guessed, the only “one in ten thousand”) was placed by Dad Gu. The passbook below was Gu Cheng’an’s salary since he joined the army, six thousand yuan.

Mom Gu’s intention was that since Gu Cheng’an was getting married, the money he had left with her should also be given to her, so that she, as his wife, could keep it. Finally, there were various tickets, one hundred pounds of military ration tickets, five feet of cloth tickets, five pounds of meat tickets, ten pounds of sugar tickets, twenty pounds of cotton tickets. Ten tickets for various daily necessities, she counted them, just enough for a complete small family. Looking at these things, she was already touched, she raised her head and forced back the tears.

So this is what it feels like to be cherished by your in-laws, it’s so good. She reached out and touched the notes one by one, then put them all into the space, and thought about a return gift in her heart. They were good to her, she couldn’t be ungrateful.

Her gaze went through the wall to the mountains behind, and then she thought of a return gift. Back then, she had found many good things on the mountain, and this was a good opportunity to bring them all back. Then she turned around and went into the kitchen with a smile on her face.