Pang Dahai and Shu Beiqiu were close, and they never deliberately hid their friendship. Others only thought Pang Dahai had a strange temper and wasn’t a master craftsman or anything. They assumed Shu Beiqiu got close to him because they both had experience working at the Provincial Machinery Factory.

No matter what others thought, Shu Beiqiu and Pang Dahai got along well.

They didn’t let the gossip affect them at all.

That day, after finishing a livestream, Lu Qingyuan checked the gifts she had received over the past few days. When converted to the currency of her time, she had earned 130 yuan!

This was a huge sum.

After all, she had only been receiving gifts for less than two months.

And she had already made 130 yuan—far more than what a regular job paid.

Lu Qingyuan didn’t rush to cash out the money. Instead, she browsed through the system’s marketplace.

She noticed that the marketplace had a wider variety of goods compared to what was available in her world, but they were still items that existed in her era. Nothing unusual. Exchanging them would be convenient.

Thinking of Shu Beiqiu’s cloth shoes, which were already worn out, she didn’t hesitate to redeem a ration ticket for a pair of Liberation Shoes when she saw them available.

She also exchanged for a fabric coupon. The rest of her points remained untouched in her account for future needs.

With the two tickets in hand, Lu Qingyuan went to the county department store.

By coincidence, she ran into Lu Yanyan and Tan Chang’an.

However, since they were some distance away, Lu Qingyuan pretended not to see them and went straight to handle her own errands.

She first bought a pair of Liberation Shoes in Shu Beiqiu’s size, then selected enough fabric to make two sets of clothes.

Lu Qingyuan preferred blue, so she chose a light blue fabric for herself and a gray one for Shu Beiqiu.

After making her purchases, she left immediately.

Lu Yanyan only caught a glimpse of her side profile. Just as she hesitated about whether to call out to her, Lu Qingyuan was already walking away.

Lu Yanyan pressed her lips together, not mentioning Lu Qingyuan to the obviously displeased Tan Chang’an beside her.

“Our engagement might not go through,” Tan Chang’an suddenly said.

Lu Yanyan’s eyes reddened. “I’ve already given you my body… Do you really want to watch your woman marry someone else?”

Tan Chang’an didn’t want that at all.

That night, he had been drunk when he got entangled with Lu Yanyan. Once he sobered up, he immediately took her home. But when he tried to sneak back into his own house, his mother caught him red-handed.

Tan Chang’an was incredibly obedient in front of his mother. She only had to ask him a few questions before figuring out what had happened.

Mother Tan had never been fond of Lu Yanyan. She thought the girl wasn’t good enough for her son—especially after learning that she was Lu Qingyuan’s cousin. That only strengthened her belief that it was as if the older sister had rejected her son, so now the younger sister was picking up the leftovers.

Her son was outstanding. How could she allow these two sisters to “choose” between him?

But Tan Chang’an did have some feelings for Lu Yanyan, so he kept trying to balance things between both sides.

When Mother Tan found out that they had been intimate before marriage, she didn’t blame her son for failing to control himself. Instead, she blamed Lu Yanyan for seducing him.

That was why, when Grandma Yao proposed setting a wedding date, Mother Tan used the excuse of an elder’s passing to delay the banquet. She only agreed to let Lu Yanyan enter the family but refused to hold a formal celebration.

The more Lu Yanyan thought about it, the more she felt wronged.

Why was it that in her past life, her cousin had a grand wedding with Tan Chang’an, but when it was her turn, she wasn’t even allowed a proper ceremony?

Moreover, she had looked into it—Tan Chang’an’s family had no recently deceased elders. The person who had passed away was just a distant relative. How did that have anything to do with their wedding?

So, Lu Yanyan brought up the banquet again.

Tan Chang’an knew his parents had no valid excuse, so he tried to persuade her.

“How about listening to my parents?” Tan Chang’an coaxed. “Move in first. Once you’re part of the family, we can have a proper celebration later when we have kids.”

Lu Yanyan pushed him. “Fine, I can agree to that. But in return, shouldn’t your family increase my dowry? I’m already making enough sacrifices—do you want me to suffer even more?”

“I’ll talk to my parents about it.” Tan Chang’an said.

Lu Yanyan thought of her cousin’s betrothal gifts from her past life, and her eyes immediately lit up.

Because of her relationship with Tan Chang’an, her mother had fallen ill and was unwilling to pay much attention to her.

If the Tan family could offer a generous betrothal gift, Lu Yanyan planned to keep eighty percent of it for her mother. That way, her mother and younger brother would have an easier life.

With this thought in mind, Lu Yanyan clung to Tan Chang’an again. Tan Chang’an had already tasted intimacy and could no longer hold himself back. The two of them headed straight for the woods near the county.

When Shu Beiqiu returned home and saw the Liberation shoes, he was completely stunned.

“Wife, where did you get the ration coupons for these?”

“It’s a secret,” Lu Qingyuan replied.

She placed the dish on the table. “Wash your hands and eat first, then try them on to see if they fit.”

“Alright,” Shu Beiqiu agreed with a bright smile and did as she said.

After trying them on, he found that they fit perfectly. Shu Beiqiu was overjoyed. “Since you had the ration coupons, why didn’t you buy a pair for yourself?”

“I still prefer cloth shoes, or maybe I should wait for you to buy me leather shoes in the future?” Lu Qingyuan teased.

“Alright, I’ll remember that,” Shu Beiqiu said seriously.

Lu Qingyuan blushed. “You better remember.”

After dinner, the two of them went for a walk. The weather was hot, so they wore slippers and carried palm-leaf fans. However, when they walked along the lake, they found the mosquitoes unbearable.

They didn’t stay out long before heading back home.

After washing up and getting ready for bed, Lu Qingyuan asked, “Beiqiu, if the college entrance exam is reinstated, will you take it?”

“No,” Shu Beiqiu shook his head. “Right now, I don’t have the patience to focus on studying. Rather than going to college, I’d rather focus on improving my work.”

“What do you mean?” Lu Qingyuan leaned against him and asked.

“If the college entrance exam returns, the economy will definitely grow rapidly,” Shu Beiqiu said, his vision far-reaching. “A purely state-run economy won’t be sustainable. Maybe in a few years, individual businesses will be allowed again, and by then, there will be many opportunities.”

Lu Qingyuan was taken aback by his insight. She met his gaze and said, “With a mind like yours, you should go into politics.”

“I wouldn’t be good at that,” Shu Beiqiu shook his head. “You have to be extremely careful with your words and actions. One wrong step, and you become someone else’s stepping stone. Besides, I don’t have a strong family background or connections. Without the right people supporting me, I’d just be taken advantage of.”

“That’s true,” Lu Qingyuan sighed softly. “I think our current life is pretty good. You’re already very capable.”

“Really?”

“Yes, very capable,” Lu Qingyuan leaned in and kissed him, which led to an even deeper kiss.

On the day of Chunhong and Liang Xiang’s wedding, Lu Qingyuan stayed at her mother’s house to help Chunhong, while Shu Beiqiu helped out at Liang Xiang’s house.

This time, Zheng Xiaoxin was the one escorting the bride since Lu Qingyuan was already married.

When Shu Beiqiu and the others arrived to fetch the bride, Lu Qingyuan said goodbye to Grandma Lu and went along with them.

The Liang family’s wedding banquet was well-prepared, and Zheng Xiaoxin couldn’t stop praising it while eating.

Seeing that Zheng Xiaoxin looked much healthier and had even gained some weight, Lu Qingyuan took the opportunity to chat with her when things weren’t too busy.

Zheng Xiaoxin brought up Secretary Chen.

“When I used to chase after him, he found me annoying and wished I would disappear from his sight. But now that I’ve stopped chasing him, he suddenly feels uneasy and keeps coming to me with all sorts of strange conversations.”

She smiled faintly. “I suddenly realized that I’ve completely let go of my feelings for him. I don’t like him anymore. Maybe we can still be friends in the future, but we’ll never be close friends.”

She was speaking with such calmness that Lu Qingyuan knew she meant it. Feeling happy for her, Lu Qingyuan said, “Focus on your studies.”

“I know. Opportunities belong to those who are prepared. By the way, do you know how much betrothal money your cousin received?”

“How much?”

“Sixty-eight yuan and eighty cents, plus some gifts,” Zheng Xiaoxin replied.

As a city girl, she found this amount quite low, but in the production team, it was considered decent.

“But she left with red eyes. If you ask me, if they didn’t even bother with a proper wedding banquet, it just means they don’t value her. Why marry into a family that doesn’t respect you?”

Lu Qingyuan chuckled. “Maybe she has her own reasons.”

Lu Yanyan was absolutely furious.

In her past life, her cousin’s betrothal gifts had been in the triple digits, along with a bicycle and a wristwatch. But now?

Just a little over sixty yuan and some common food items from the supply and marketing cooperative.

Did they think she was worthless?

Tan Chang’an had clearly told her that his parents had agreed to increase the betrothal money.

Unable to hold back, Lu Yanyan questioned him on the way home.

Tan Chang’an scratched his head. “They did increase it. My mother originally wanted to give you only twenty yuan, but she added more than forty.”

“How much?!”

“Twenty.”

“…Do you think I’m a fool?!” Lu Yanyan snapped.

“Calm down,” Tan Chang’an quickly pulled her aside when he noticed his cousins watching curiously. “My mother said that once you marry into our family, she’ll arrange for you to work at the paper factory.”

Lu Yanyan’s anger disappeared instantly.

She wiped her tears and playfully hit Tan Chang’an. “Why didn’t you say that earlier? You scared me into thinking your parents didn’t like me.”

Tan Chang’an forced a smile. He hadn’t told her his mother’s actual words—she had said they would only let her work at the paper factory after she gave birth.

But seeing how happy Lu Yanyan was, he decided to keep that part to himself.

It didn’t make much difference anyway.