Team Leader Lin’s daughter and the educated youth courtyard’s Yan Chu became a couple. This matter had grown wings and generally spread widely throughout the village. Lin Guangguo, this father, on the contrary, was the last of the people who knew.
“Your third uncle and third aunt will be coming back tomorrow, let Yan Chu come home for dinner.” Upon the Lin family’s dinner table, Lin Guangguo suddenly made such a sentence.
“Patriarch.”
Lin Dingding was happy, but Huang Ruhua was somewhat unwilling. It was almost the New Year festival’s labor, what was the meaning of letting Yan Chu eat at their home? Could it be that her man also fancied that son-in-law?
She gave birth to three sons to get a baby daughter. She did not demand her to marry a wealthy family. She only asked for peace and safety, and she could live a comfortable life. These were all things that Yan Chu was unable to provide.
“That child is still good.” Lin Guangguo took two mouthfuls of porridge and said profoundly.
Where could a filial child go bad? Previously, he was dissatisfied with Dingding in the same place together with that child, thinking that the child from the city was too spoiled. But now, he was working on time every day on the field and too tired to cry out. Previously in those days, it was indeed possible that he was in poor health and did not adapt to the climate on their side.
He understood his daughter the best. She was a stubborn one. Since she was so fond of that boy Yan Chu, he had no significant drawbacks for people and was not necessary to desperately block her path.
If there was no house, the old house where they lived previously could be repaired for people to live in too. It was just several tens meters away from home. They still could assist financially with each other if their earned work points91work pointsa measure of work completed in a rural commune in the PRC during the planned economy era were not enough for the whole family to eat. Lin Guangguo also thought intimately to ask his brother-in-law to do a favor to keep the position of an elementary school teacher for Yan Chu. He was a high school graduate and had a higher educational level than the elementary school’s headmaster. This way, there was an extra salary every month, in addition to the team’s internal grains distribution, the days of their life would not be too difficult.
The parents’ care for their children would remain the same. Lin Guangguo did not want her daughter to be upset. He had to think about everything for her.
“Dad!”
Where Lin Dingding still had the desire to eat! Holding her father’s neck to give a lovable expression, she quickly used an already full excuse to tell and send Yan Chu a letter.
“You’ll go back to your parental home tomorrow and ask your elder brother to also come that day. He loves Dingding dearly. For the future nephew-in-law, he bounded to have an on-the-spot investigation carefully.”
Lin Guangguo knew that his wife was still not very satisfied with Yan Chu, that son-in-law. He patted her on the back of her hand and spoke to her.
Huang Ruhua was a traditional woman. She usually did not refute Lin Guangguo’s idea. Therefore, although she was not pleased, she nodded and agreed.
The married couple in this family was very authoritative. Some daughters-in-law listened to the in-laws to discuss the little sister’s marriage and did not dare to interrupt. As for Lin Dingding’s older brothers, of course, following their younger sister’s heart. She was already happy, if Yan Chu later dared to bully their sister, they would hit him until he became obedient.
“Uugh”
Yan Chu held his stomach, his face flushed, and he had a heavy smell of wine. At this late hour, he was unusually drunk that the Lin family did not send him back to the educated youth courtyard. They tidied up a room, then let him sleep in their home.
“You’re too honest. My eldest uncle and second uncle poured you a cup, and you drank a cup.” Lin Dingding was distressed when she helped Yan Chu wipe his face. Her mouth was complaining, yet her face was overjoyed. Thinking about eldest uncle and second uncle when they left with a smiling expression, she knew that they were satisfied with Big Brother Yan.
Also, the man she liked was quite good. How could others not like him? Remembering Eldest Uncle, Second Uncle, and Third Uncle deliberately made things difficult for Yan Chu upon the dining table just recently, and the way he spoke frankly with assurance, could not help Lin Dingding from making a fool of herself.
“Don’t talk loudly. Your uncles, how could they be willing to let you marry me?”
Yan Chu was still drunk from drinking the first time. He was a very restrained person. Even in the talk of business with wine upon the table, he would not make himself in a difficult situation like that.
In the room lit a yellow kerosene lamp at this time. Half of Lin Dingding’s face was facing the light, and the flawless skin had a slight halo. Also, the other half of her face had more layers of shadow, which made another kind of beauty.
“Not telling you.”
Lin Dingding stuffed the handkerchief on her hand in Yan Chu’s hand. She glanced at him with a blushing face, turned around, and ran out.
Yan Chu smiled, wiped his face and neck with the handkerchief, then a burst of dizziness hit him. After all, he could not resist the drunkenness and slept.
“That child Yan Chu is actually still good. It’s like he is taking our daughter to his heart.”
On the other side, Huang Ruhua and Lin Guangguo finished washing their face and rinsing their mouths. They got unto the Kang79Kanga heatable brick bed. After the meal, Huang Ruhua completely changed her previous attitude toward Yan Chu.
Lin Guangguo looked at his wife’s satisfied expression. He could only lament that a woman’s mind was fickle.
It was no wonder Huang Ruhua thought like that. Previously, the relations between those educated youths and villagers, although harmonious, but the vast majority were indistinct or arrogant. Because they were city dwellers or educated people, and compared to these local uneducated farmers, who worked on the field to eat, they naturally looked down on them with such an aloof and remote attitude.
But Yan Chu was not like that. Huang Ruhua could not say where the difference was, but talking to that child made people feel particularly comfortable. Even if she just said a lot of trivial matters upon the dining table, he would not be bothered. He was answering with a few words, yet it made many people feel warm.
“Furthermore, that child is also very pitiful. His biological father is like that, and his biological mother is almost worse than a stepmother, gosh!” Huang Ruhua thought about when Yan Chu talked about his family situation, and his mourning looks at dinner, she could not help but feel distressed.
“After Dingding and he got married, we’ll treat him a little better. Father-in-law and mother-in-law are the same as father and mother. That child didn’t have loving parents. Therefore, we’ll treat him better. He can also remember a bit, and will add this affection to Dingding.”
The rice had been eaten, and the elders also had seen it. This matter is fundamentally settled. Huang Ruhua naturally did not take the benefit of those unsatisfactory areas but found ways to turn disadvantages into advantages.
“Still need you to say it.” Lin Guangguo extinguished the kerosene lamp, and the darkness did not affect the couple’s communication.
“After a few days, let Dingnan and his brothers handle the repair of the old house properly, the married couple can live there before they’ve their own. Regarding Dingding’s dowry, it mustn’t do with those imaginary things. Didn’t that child Yan Chu say that he had a wristwatch? The three things that originally prepared for Dingding, a sewing machine, a bicycle, and a wristwatch that can be exchanged for money. Give her the most valuable thing in the family. Yan Chu doesn’t have parents to help. A married couple, who just started living, will inevitably have a little hard time.”
Although Lin Guangguo was a grown man, he was quite careful and considerate.
“Just like you said, when I got married, my mother gave me a pair of gold rings, a pair of earrings, and a gold bracelet. I originally thought it would divide after a lifetime, but Dingding gets married. It doesn’t look good to have only a sewing machine. I’ll add a gold bracelet.”
Huang Ruhua counted the rest of the family’s money. The daughter’s dowry saved early. They had a lot of labor and had not yet separated. They had also saved a lot of money in these years. It was more than enough to have a banquet.
The couple both said the same thing, thinking that their daughter would soon be someone else’s family. For the whole night, thinking about her when she was still a baby, they could not go to sleep for a long time.
“Old Yan, did your son send you another letter?”
For the farm where Yan Xun located, the most anticipated thing for everyone was to receive a letter from Yan Chu. The people here were too lonely. For them, it was no different from the ones they received.
“Yes!”
Yan Xun could not stop smiling. Since he received a letter from his son, his whole person recovered like a newborn. The one who used to be a sullen person was full of spirits every day now. He had strength in his heart. He had to live well and stay alive until the day he saw his son again.
The people on his side were also influenced by him. Every time others heard him read his letter, they thought that perhaps in another place, their children and loved ones were missing them. Just because they did not know while they were in this place, they felt that there was hope for living.
“My son is getting married.”
Yan Xun was delighted to look at a photo placed in between the letters. He looked at the handsome young man who had a five-point look similar to him and was completely different from the steamed bun-faced baby in his memory. He was very excited. He did not know what to say.
“Let us take a look.”
A group of people listened to Yan Xun’s words and immediately came over to see.
“Old Yan, your son is more handsome than you, and this is your daughter-in-law, I presume.”
“You’re blessed. Your son married a young woman. I’m afraid that you can hold a grandson soon.”
Everyone said a brief remark to him. Their eyes were full of envy while looking at the smiling young couple in the photo.
Yan Xun saw his son telling the daughter-in-law’s circumstances in the letter. She was not the city girl but the village girl where he lived in the rural community. Her personality was cheerful and lively. She was a kind and good girl. His son also said that he would like the girl very much.
They properly discussed it when they built their house. They left one empty room, waiting for him to come home.
He was not always the man with the best of family status, not to mention in this current situation, other people only despised him. Yan Xun felt that the girl his son liked had to be a good girl from looking at how happy Lin Dingding was in the photo.
“This is the candy sent by my son. Therefore, everyone can feel a piece of happiness too.”
When Yan Xun saw his son’s package also had some dry food and candy inside, he gave a handful of it to those fellow sufferers. After some thought, he took a handful of them and went to the gatekeeper Old Man Li, to express his gratitude toward him.
“You’re a blessed one. There is always a day when the hard days will end.”
Old Man Li took the candy and grinning, revealing his yellow teeth. Yan Xun’s eyes flashed, Old Man Li never spoke these words to them. Could it be that something was going on? He could not manage to exchange the greeting. He went back to the house and discussed the message with his friends.
“Ding— Side Mission completion value is 100%. The reward points are 300.”
At this time, Yan Chu’s whole body was wearing a Lenin uniform with Hibiscus flower on his upper body, ready to be a bridegroom.
