Xu Aimei thought she had misheard and excitedly grabbed Jiang Dongjian, “They’re giving us a house? We’ve applied for so many years, and now we finally get a bigger place?”

Jiang Dongjian looked just as surprised as if a pie had fallen from the sky, “I’m also puzzled. Why did they suddenly say we could have a house? Director Sheng said a house just became available, and it’s our turn.”

Song Lijuan was more excited than anyone, “Dad, where is it? Is it an apartment upstairs?”

Xu Aimei replied, “The rooms upstairs aren’t big, not as good as downstairs. If they give us a place upstairs, do we have to return this one?”

Jiang Dongjian explained, “The Meng family moved out. People didn’t want to live in the same courtyard with them, afraid of ruining their reputation by association, so they were moved to a single unit. That house became available, so the Jianqiu family moved in, and we move into Jianqiu’s old house.”

Factory workers didn’t own the houses they lived in and usually didn’t stay in them for a lifetime.

Applications for housing began after marriage, and it might take a long time to get a small single room.

As seniority and wages increased and more children came, they could apply for a larger house, maybe around ten square meters.

At Jiang Dongjian’s age, it was common to live in at least a forty-square-meter house.

Moreover, not every factory had a large residential area for its workers.

Sometimes, several factories shared one housing department.

In this area, besides the Auto Parts Factory, there were also the Machinery Factory, Textile Factory, Radio Factory, and Building Materials Factory.

Their residential areas were adjacent, so over time, they began to share resources.

Especially for couples who didn’t work at the same factory, housing allocation depended on factors like seniority and job type.

Xu Aimei had been eligible for housing at the Textile Factory for a long time, and Brother Jiang at the Radio Factory hadn’t been allocated housing either.

Until now, the whole family had been squeezed into two small rooms.

“Jianqiu’s family? Their house has three large rooms, twice the size of ours, even bigger than Meng Kaiping’s place. Why are they moving to a smaller place?” Xu Aimei and Song Lijuan were both shocked.

Their current two rooms were about twenty square meters because of the narrow frontage and small depth.

Meng Kaiping’s three rooms combined were forty square meters, and Jianqiu’s house, with three large rooms, was around fifty square meters.

Most people move to bigger places, not smaller ones.

Jiang Dongjian explained, “Jianqiu’s family and Old Guo’s family haven’t gotten along for years. Now they aren’t even speaking, and they can’t stand each other. Jianqiu’s family decided to move out.”

Unlike Jiang Dongjian’s family, who tolerated a lot for the sake of face, the two other families couldn’t stand even trivial issues, leading to constant conflicts and chaos.

They’ve been at it for six or seven years, but suitable housing isn’t easy to come by.

Now that Meng Kaiping’s family has been moved out, Jianqiu’s family couldn’t take it anymore.

Jiang Lin asked, “Is it hard to get along with Old Guo’s family? Will we be alright moving there?”

Xu Aimei responded, “They like to take advantage and gossip. But as long as we live our own lives, there isn’t much they can take advantage of.”

Song Lijuan added, “Borrow a big cabbage and return a small one, borrow a basket of coal and return half, borrow a big scoop of flour and return a level scoop…”

Jiang Lin laughed, “That’s no big deal. Let Director Fan have a word with them.”

When she came back this time, she took Meng Yiyi to the police station.

The neighbors saw this and knew Meng Yiyi was a fraud and spread rumors, but they didn’t know the details.

They just thought she was impressive or had found an impressive man, which unknowingly raised the Jiang family’s prestige and made people wary of offending them.

Jiang Dongjian felt that although Old Guo liked to take small advantages, he wasn’t fundamentally bad.

At least he didn’t steal or cheat.

If you didn’t lend him something, he would just grumble or call you stingy, but it wouldn’t go beyond that.

He had been severely taken advantage of by the Meng family, and compared to them, he thought the other neighbors were actually quite decent.

Yan Runzhi was also very happy and congratulated the Jiang family, “Neighbors are developed through interaction. We shouldn’t tolerate bad ones, but we should overlook small faults. We can’t refuse to move to a bigger house just because of one neighbor. It’s not easy for you to live in the city, with all the expenses for food, drink, and daily needs. With such a large family, you definitely need a bigger place.”

Xu Aimei and the others snapped out of it and looked at Jiang Lin and Cheng Rushan, feeling it was too coincidental.

The rumors about their daughter were resolved, and now they were getting a bigger house.

How could it all happen so perfectly?

Xu Aimei asked, “Rushan? Did you find someone?”

Cheng Rushan shook his head, “No, it should just be the right time.”

Jiang Xinglei said, “Mom, I…”

Xu Aimei interrupted, “Don’t interrupt. It must be thanks to you kids. I’m so happy, thank you.”

Cheng Rushan insisted, “Mom, I really didn’t do anything.”

Jiang Xinglei, desperate, said, “Mom, it was me who…”

“What did you do? Just don’t cause trouble,” Xu Aimei said, not giving her unemployed son a chance to speak.

Jiang Xinglei thought to himself, I might as well be mute.

Xu Aimei then said to Yan Runzhi and Cheng Yunzhi, “We are blessed to have such good fortune because of our in-laws. You came, and our situation improved along with yours.”

Although she didn’t know exactly what happened, Xu Aimei was sure it had something to do with Cheng Rushan.

Yan Runzhi laughed and said, “Yes, we’re all very fortunate. You have a wonderful daughter, and we have a wonderful son.”

The in-laws began to shamelessly praise each other, and Song Lijuan joined in, sparing no effort in her compliments.

When Yan Runzhi saw how they praised her daughter-in-law, she forgot that the others were the girl’s own parents and immediately began endlessly extolling her daughter-in-law.

Others might not like to hear this, but a mother does.

As she listened, she modestly said, “Oh, she’s just stubborn.”

The more Xu Aimei listened, the more she believed it.

Her daughter seemed quite good, indeed.

Although she had been stubborn and cold as a child, wasn’t that just childish ignorance?

Now that she was married, with a loving husband, in-laws, and children, hadn’t she matured and changed?

While Xu Aimei hadn’t been very fond of her daughter, she didn’t dislike her either.

She had simply neglected to manage her well. As her mindset shifted, so too did her feelings.

Jiang Lin felt herself breaking out in a sweat and quickly pulled Cheng Rushan to go make dumplings.

Jiang Xinglei approached Jiang Lin, “Sis, I didn’t know you had such a temper…”

“What? Am I not good to you?” Jiang Lin glared at him. I’m already sweating, don’t you start complaining.

Jiang Xinglei sighed.

In this family, he had no status at all anymore.

To be honest, everyone said his mom favored him, but only he knew the bitterness of it.

His mother had never praised him.

When he finally brought home some meat, all he earned was, “You’re the one freeloading at home. If you can’t even bring back some meat, you’re worse than Qinqin. At least Qinqin washes the dishes.”

Jiang Lin and Cheng Rushan discussed, “Should we invite Qianbo to dinner?”

Cheng Rushan replied, “We should ask Mom and Dad first.”

So, Jiang Lin went to ask Xu Aimei.

Xu Aimei thought for a moment.

She vaguely remembered Qianbo, her daughter’s classmate, who used to have a face full of acne and seemed rather silly.

Now, without the acne, he looked much more refined and not so foolish.

That day, when the Meng family threatened them, he had spoken up for the Jiang family, which greatly improved her impression of him.

“Sure, it’s just an extra pair of chopsticks.” For someone she accepted, it was merely an extra pair of chopsticks.

For someone she didn’t, it would be a problem in every way.

Cheng Rushan was about to go invite him when Jiang Lin said, “Jiang Xinglei, you go.”

The errand boy, Jiang Xinglei, obediently complied and went to find Qianbo.

After searching around, he finally found him in the cafeteria, about to get his meal.

“My brother-in-law wants you to come for dinner.”

“Cheng Rushan? He invited me for dinner?” Qianbo asked.

Jiang Xinglei replied, “If you don’t want to come, that’s fine. There might not be enough mackerel dumplings anyway.”

“Of course, I’ll go! Let’s hurry before it gets cold,” Qianbo said.

As the two walked toward the Jiang house, they unexpectedly ran into Lu Hang.

Today, Lu Hang was wearing a red hand-knit wool sweater, a green 1965-style military jacket, blue trousers, black leather shoes, and a green military hat without the five-pointed star, thinking he looked handsome but actually looking quite gaudy.

He was preening himself by the roadside.

Seeing Qianbo and Jiang Xinglei, he immediately put his hands in his pockets and blocked their way, “Where are you going?”

Jiang Xinglei replied, “Going home to eat.”

He used to be a bit afraid of Lu Hang, but after seeing his foolish side, he wasn’t so scared anymore.

Lu Hang glanced at Qianbo, raised an eyebrow, and sneered, “I’m talking to you. What are you up to?”

Qianbo, feeling smug, said, “Going to eat! Linlin invited me.”

This provoked Lu Hang, who grabbed Qianbo by the collar, “You bastard, you want to die? Even I haven’t been invited.”

Jiang Xinglei interjected, “Lu Hang, what are you doing? My sister invited him.”

Qianbo, though scared of getting beaten, couldn’t resist running his mouth, “Lu Hang, aren’t you into those worker-peasant-soldier female college students? Didn’t work out, huh? Now you’re back to strutting around? Linlin’s married, has a husband and a kid. Stop fantasizing, or Cheng Rushan will beat you up.”

“Beat me up?” Lu Hang’s eyes widened with a hint of menace, and he slapped Qianbo’s shoulder hard, making him stumble.

“I warn you, don’t badmouth me to Linlin. I just went to check out that female student because she reminded me of Linlin a bit. But after a few more glances, I realized she wasn’t like her. Nose too big! Teeth too yellow!”

Jiang Xinglei thought, You’re seriously asking to be beaten up by my brother-in-law.

Qianbo retorted, “Lu Hang, you have no shame. You’re just fooling around. Saying you like Linlin is an insult to her.”

“You… hmph!” Lu Hang snorted, waving his fist but holding back from hitting Qianbo in the face, “Alright, I won’t beat you up. I’ll let you have your meal in peace. But I tell you, if this were anywhere else and you talked to me like that, I’d have beaten you so bad you’d be picking up your teeth from the ground, and you wouldn’t be able to father children!”

Jiang Xinglei pulled Qianbo away, thinking it best to avoid dealing with this lunatic, especially one who could fight.

It was better to talk things over with his brother-in-law.

Lu Hang often wandered around the Auto Parts Factory, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jiang Lin.

He wanted to tell her that he had taken the letter to the police station and reported Meng Yiyi again.

But he never saw Jiang Lin; instead, he saw Qian Bo going to her house for dinner, which made him feel dejected.

He took out a photo and looked at it, thinking that the black-and-white image couldn’t compare to the real person.

“That Cheng Rushan is her husband, huh? I wonder what their kid looks like. Hmph, definitely not as good-looking as a kid I would have with Linlin. What a pity!”

When Qian Bo and Jiang Xinglei arrived at Jiang’s house, they greeted everyone.

They then asked the group of children, Wen Sheng, Da Bao, and Xiao Bao, how they were doing.

Da Bao and Xiao Bao exchanged glances.

The potential comrade wasn’t a bad guy, so they decided to treat him better.

Da Bao nodded, and Xiao Bao pulled out two pieces of candy and handed them to Qian Bo with an air of giving a reward.

Qian Bo thought, “Why do I feel like I’ve been acknowledged by some important person?”

“Brother Cheng! Sister Lin!” Qian Bo bowed to Cheng Rushan and Jiang Lin.

Jiang Lin was speechless.

Cheng Rushan said flatly, “My parents invited you to dinner.”

Qian Bo replied, “Yes, Brother Cheng, your parents.” Not my parents, noting the emphasis.

When it was time to eat, the children placed a radio high up, not wanting to squeeze in with the adults.

They insisted on having their own table so they could imitate the adults’ toasting and exchanging pleasantries.

Though they had no alcohol, they had orange juice.

Qinqin was the host, taking turns pouring drinks for everyone.

The group of children toasted, “Cheers! Good relations, brothers and in-laws!”

Jiang Lin was so struck by their antics that she almost lost her composure.

The Spanish mackerel dumplings had the freshness of fish, the savory taste of pork fat, and the unique flavor of chives, making them incredibly delicious.

The pork stewed with potatoes and green beans had a rich, aromatic meat sauce.

The vegetables soaked up the meat juices, giving them a more layered and complex taste, making the dish so good that it left everyone speechless.

Song Lijuan was stunned.

The cooking skills of this countrywoman were impressive.

It was truly delicious!

Cheng Rushan saw Qianbo trembling nervously and gave him a reassuring look. “Just eat, no need to be nervous.”

Qianbo, just about to pick up a piece of meat, was startled by Cheng Rushan’s words and dropped it.

Jiang Xinglei, with chopsticks like a detector, immediately picked up the meat and ate it.

Qianbo glared at him. “That was the piece I picked.”

Jiang Xinglei replied nonchalantly, “If it didn’t make it to your mouth, it’s not yours.”