Grandpa Wang chuckled, “As soon as you went into the back room, I locked the door. Hurry up and give the things to Xiao Ning!”

Grandma Wang placed the box on the table and opened it, revealing a set of jade jewelry.

Inside were a string of exquisite jade beads, a jade pendant, a pair of earrings, a set of ear studs, two bracelets, a ring, a thumb ring, and a brooch—all of it looked quite valuable.

Xu Ning quickly declined, saying, “Grandma Wang, Grandpa Wang, this is too precious! I can’t accept this. I came here to bring you some wedding candies, not to receive gifts.”

Grandma Wang held her hand and said, “Xiao Ning, do you really think we don’t know who you are? I’ve been preparing these since last year, just waiting for the day you get married to give them to you. Please accept them.”

Then she pulled out another box containing six large yellow croakers. “Take these to sell for some money. You can buy some fabric to make yourself a couple of outfits.”

Xu Ning looked at the gifts and then at the two white-haired elders in front of her, her eyes welling up with warmth.

She smiled and said, “Alright, Grandpa Wang, Grandma Wang, I will accept these. From now on, I’ll be your granddaughter, so feel free to come to me if you need anything.”

The two elders responded with joy.

Grandma Wang took her hand and asked, “Xiao Ning, what does your fiancé do?”

Xu Ning replied with a smile, “Grandpa Wang, Grandma Wang, he’s a soldier. I’ll bring him to visit you soon.”

After chatting with the two elders for a while, Xu Ning prepared to leave; otherwise, she would miss Old Chen’s ox cart.

Finding a secluded spot, she took a pig’s head from her storage space, along with a set of pig offal and two pounds of meat, preparing them for her wedding day.

When Xu Ning arrived home, Lu Xiaotang and Xu Yang were already back, tidying up the courtyard.

Seeing her walk in, Lu Xiaotang hurried over to take her backpack. When he noticed the pig’s head and offal inside, he went to the kitchen to fetch a large basin to wash them.

Xu Yang spotted the sizable pig’s head and asked, “Are we having braised pig’s head for dinner tonight?”

Xu Ning gave him a blank look and replied, “This is for the wedding day. If we eat it tonight, how are we going to host guests that day?”

“I was just talking with Xiaotang about going into the mountains tomorrow to hunt some game for your wedding,” Xu Yang said. “Now you’ve already bought this.”

Lu Xiaotang chuckled, “Let’s cook something now. We’ll head back to the mountains tomorrow for another look. Have you counted how many tables we need?”

Xu Ning thought for a moment and said, “Let’s prepare six tables! I originally planned for four, but a few aunts in the village mentioned they’d come by for a drink, and several uncles who helped fix the house said they’d come to join the festivities as well.”

Lu Xiaotang nodded and said, “Alright, we’ll prepare six tables.”

“When did you two come back from the city today? How did that matter go?”

Lu Xiaotang replied, “We found the place where he hid the stuff and submitted a report letter. They sent someone to investigate right away.

Li Shiyou is ruthless and has offended many people. Now that he’s in trouble, everyone is turning against him, and many have come forward to report his misdeeds.

He’s already been locked up, and his brother-in-law, Cao Bo, and his wife have been arrested as well. Unless something unexpected happens, someone will come to ask Wang Juanjuan questions tomorrow morning.”

Xu Yang chimed in, “You wouldn’t believe where that guy hid the stuff. Xiaotang and I followed him for two days before we discovered he buried everything next to his ancestral grave.

You wouldn’t believe how many valuable items there were. There was a whole box of gold and a bunch of antiques and jewelry. Xiaotang and I were shocked when we dug it up. According to Jianshe, after they arrested him, they searched his house and found even more hidden there.”

Xu Ning asked, “So where are those items now? Are they still buried there?”

Xu Yang replied, “We took a look at what we dug up and then buried it again before writing the report. Now the items have been unearthed and turned over.”

Xu Ning hurriedly said, “You turned everything in? You didn’t keep a few pieces when you dug them up?”

The two looked at her in unison.

Realizing they were both staring at her, Xu Ning felt a bit embarrassed and chuckled awkwardly, “Turning them in is good; they should definitely be turned in, haha.”

The two exchanged glances, each seeing the humor in the other’s eyes, surprised to find out that this girl was a bit of a money lover.

The next morning, as Lu Xiaotang and Xu Yang were tidying up the yard and Xu Ning was sitting there washing clothes, she suddenly heard Wang Juanjuan from the youth compound crying and making a scene.

She placed the clothes in the basin and prepared to go check out the commotion.

Everyone from the camp was standing in the courtyard, and Wang Juanjuan had already been taken away by the police.

Gu Wenping and Gu Wenjing were preparing to go into town to call Wang Juanjuan’s family to inform them of the situation. After all, they had grown up together, so it was necessary to let her parents know something had happened here.

Seeing Xu Ning arrive, Wei Lanlan hurriedly brought her into the house and whispered, “It seems that something happened with Wang Juanjuan’s boyfriend, and now she’s been dragged into it too.”

After a moment, she looked at Xu Ning and asked, “Do you know anything about this?”

Xu Ning quickly denied, “How could I possibly know? I don’t even know him.”

Wei Lanlan gave her a knowing look, but neither of them pursued the topic any further.

Wei Lanlan then asked, “How is the preparation for your wedding going?”

Xu Ning replied, “There’s not much to prepare. My brother and the others are tidying up the yard. By the way, why is your Xiao Pang sleeping all the time?”

She even reached out to poke the little guy who was sleeping soundly.

“Kids are like that; they sleep a lot. Once you have your own, you’ll understand—sleeping during the day and crying at night. They can be quite the handful.”

Xu Ning…

She hadn’t even gotten married yet! Why was she talking about having children?

After lunch, Lu Xiaotang and Xu Yang headed into the mountains, and they didn’t return until Xu Ning had finished preparing dinner.

When they came back, their basket contained several rabbits, two wild chickens, and a fawn.

Lu Xiaotang said, “There were too many people cutting firewood on the mountain these past few days, so we didn’t dare to go after bigger game.”

Xu Ning looked into the basket and said, “These are still quite a lot.”

After dinner, Lu Xiaotang and Xu Ning were discussing the dishes for the wedding day, while Xu Yang, seeing that there was nothing for him to do, headed to the cow shed.

“Six dishes per table should be about right, with larger portions. When I went to the county yesterday, I bought a few bottles of wine—one for each table,” Xu Ning suggested.

Lu Xiaotang looked at her with affectionate eyes and replied, “Alright, I’ll do whatever you say.”

He then took out a money pouch. “This is my salary and task allowance for this year. You take it. There are two hundred yuan in there from your uncle and your little uncle.”

Xu Ning thought that since both of them were getting married, there was no need for her to be overly polite. She accepted the pouch and opened it to take a look; there was quite a bit, at least several hundred.

“Please thank my uncle and little uncle for me. When you go back, bring them some dried vegetables or mountain goods.”

“You send twenty yuan to me every month, so how come you have so much left?” she asked.

“I’m now a battalion commander, earning over eighty yuan a month. Plus, there are allowances when I’m on a mission. I don’t really have many places to spend money while I’m in the army.”