Seeing Xiao Tingshen and Tang Wenya's discomfiture, Xu Qingning felt secretly pleased. She pushed her lunchbox aside and said, "I'm full, it's your turn."

In this day and age, being able to eat pork ribs is a luxury in itself.

The pork ribs were stewed and smelled delicious. The cafeteria lady gave her too many ribs, and she ate several pieces, leaving quite a few in her lunchbox.

It has to be said that Zhao Jingyu's words were quite effective; the ribs in their lunchboxes were more than twice as much as the portion Xiao Tingshen had just ordered, and they were overflowing.

The important thing is that I haven't spent any money yet.

She was a little curious about the relationship between the cafeteria lady and Zhao Jingyu, which was why he received such preferential treatment.

Seeing that Xu Qingning hadn't eaten much, Zhao Jingyu didn't go to get more food and simply ate all the remaining pork ribs and rice.

Tang Wenya was surprised; were they all so intimate?

She and Xiao Tingshen had talked for so long, and she had never let him eat her leftovers. In fact, she never left any food uneaten; she always took only what she could eat.

How could someone like Zhao Jingyu eat Xu Qingning's leftovers?

Xiao Tingshen also saw it.

He increasingly felt that Xu Qingning was unruly and impolite, showing no respect for Zhao Jingyu in front of everyone.

Fortunately, someone like Zhao Jingyu couldn't distinguish between good and bad.

The two are really a perfect match.

After finishing his meal, Zhao Jingyu went to the tap to wash his lunchbox and said to Xu Qingning, "From now on, if you want to eat or get food in the cafeteria, just use this lunchbox. It has my name written on the outside, so it's easy to find."

"I've got it," Xu Qingning readily agreed.

"Jingyu, bring your wife over for dinner!" A young man in work clothes with a slicked-back hairstyle walked over with a lunchbox, his eyes falling on Xu Qingning. "Your wife is so beautiful. No wonder you got married in such a hurry. I just got back today and heard that you got married. I didn't have time to attend your wedding banquet. I'll have to make it up to you another day."

“We definitely have to make up for it.” Zhao Jingyu stepped forward and patted his shoulder, blocking his view. “You’d better hurry up too, I’m still waiting to drink your wedding wine!”

"I'm not as lucky as you are with women." Gao Yang slicked back his hair oil, making it shiny, and gave Xu Qingning a polite nod before heading to the window to get his food.

"Let's go home." Zhao Jingyu put down the lunchbox and took Xu Qingning's hand.

Her hands were soft and boneless, with a delicate and supple feel.

I want to touch it again after I've touched it.

"Who is he?" Xu Qingning asked.

“Our leader’s son, Gao Yang,” Zhao Jingyu said disdainfully. “Stay away from him if you see him in the future; he’s no good.”

Xu Qingning hummed in agreement, remembering that in the original book, Gao Yang fell in love with her at first sight and even pursued her.

Xu Qingning was also tempted, and the two talked for a while after she returned from her rural trip.

But later, after Gao Yang heard from Tang Wenya that Xu Qingning had had an abortion, he accepted the marriage arranged by his family and stopped seeing Xu Qingning.

As a result, Xu Qingning was depressed for several years.

Undesirable romantic encounters!

Xu Qingning shrugged and let Zhao Jingyu lead her out of the cafeteria.

The plot has changed; she is now a married woman. If Gao Yang still falls in love with her at first sight, he must be out of his mind.

Watching the two figures disappear into the distance, Tang Wenya said to Xiao Tingshen with a wronged expression, "Qingning didn't want to go to the countryside, so she went to Zhao Jingyu and then pinned the blame on me. You saw it yourself, she's just such an unreasonable person."

Xu Qingning announced her pregnancy in a high-profile manner and got married quickly, so naturally she won't be going to the countryside.

Therefore, the only spot for going to the countryside could go to her.

The records from the educated youth office state that Xu Qingning will be going to the countryside in two months. By then, if the educated youth office comes knocking, she will already be married, and they will not force a pregnant woman to go to the countryside.

As for how to handle this matter, she didn't know.

Looking back now, Xu Qingning really had a brilliant plan.

"I know." Xiao Tingshen didn't have a good impression of Xu Qingning. He didn't want to investigate what happened that night, nor did he bother to do so. He said gently, "Let's do what we need to do and let them be!"

“Yes, everyone has their own path to walk, and no one can help anyone else,” Tang Wenya sighed. “My parents are worried about her day and night. I tried to persuade her to go back to her parents’ home, but she refused and even said that I had ulterior motives.”

"Don't be sad over people who aren't worth it." Xiao Tingshen held Tang Wenya's hand and said emotionally, "Let's study hard and try to get into university together. There are many people who go to university after getting married now. We must always arm ourselves with knowledge."

"Yes, you're right." Tang Wenya nodded. "Ting Shen, thank you, thank you for believing in me."

"Let's not dwell on the past," Xiao Tingshen said solemnly. "We need to look forward."

The weather in May is neither too hot nor too cold.

The midday sun shone warmly on her, feeling very comfortable. Xu Qingning glanced at the man walking beside her and suggested, "Let's go to the department store to digest our food."

With Zhao Jingyu gone, she also had to start thinking about making money.

His meager salary is barely enough to make ends meet; he can't save anything at all.

"Okay." Zhao Jingyu readily agreed.

After leaving the cafeteria, the two walked along the road in front of the Ocean Company, crossed two intersections, and finally arrived at the department store.

The department store was newly built, three stories high, and the entrance was full of bicycles.

The old man watching over the bicycles sat in a chair, drinking tea from a ceramic mug. He charged five cents for each bicycle he parked.

In Xu Qingning's eyes, this department store was too ordinary and didn't occupy much space, but in the eyes of people in this era, a department store was a high-end place.

Only people with incomes like Zhao Jingyu can afford to stroll around; ordinary people can at most come and take a look, mainly because they can't afford to spend any money.

The first floor is a department store, with all sorts of daily necessities on the shelves. The second floor has fabrics, bedding, and other items, as well as ready-made clothing, though very little of that.

The men's clothing was almost all Zhongshan suits, with very few Western suits. The women's clothing, on the other hand, was colorful, but there weren't many styles.

The third floor sells things like bicycle stereos, but Xu Qingning wasn't interested and didn't go up to take a look.

What interested her was the fabrics on the second floor. Rows of fabrics were laid out in a row, a dazzling array, mostly cotton and polyester.

People in that era almost always bought their own fabric and had their clothes made by tailors.

I rarely buy ready-made clothes because they're expensive!

As soon as Zhao Jingyu entered the second floor, he started chatting enthusiastically with a saleswoman and even pulled Xu Qingning aside to introduce them to each other: "This is my wife."

"This is Dawei's aunt, we can just call her aunt too."

"Hello, Auntie," Xu Qingning greeted her.

"You've really found a good wife, kid." Liu Dawei's aunt, Liu Caixia, looked Xu Qingning up and down with a smile. "Look for me when you come to the department store in the future. The red sweater you're wearing is the one I recommended Jingyu to buy. It's a bit expensive, but if you're in a hurry to wear it, you can only buy ready-made clothes."

"Thank you, Auntie. I really like this sweater." Xu Qingning touched the sweater she was wearing and smiled. "It's comfortable and stylish."

"I'm glad you like it." Liu Caixia was very happy.

Since she was already there, Xu Qingning didn't want to go back empty-handed. She picked out three colors of fine cotton fabric, had Liu Caixia calculate how many fabric coupons she would need, and simply spent all the fabric coupons she had.

After buying the fabric, the two went downstairs. Zhao Jingyu looked at the colorful fabric in his hands and asked curiously, "Are you going to make clothes?"

“Your child will need to wear clothes when he/she comes out, so you need to prepare in advance.” Xu Qingning rolled her eyes at him. “These are all for the child. It’s a pity you’ve used up all your cloth coupons, otherwise you could have bought more.”

In those days, you needed cloth coupons to buy fabric, and you were restricted in many ways.

If I want to make money from my old profession, I can only open a tailor shop.

However, this way, the money comes in too slowly. Firstly, her health doesn't allow it, and secondly, it's not necessary.

Although Liu Caixia is a minor supporting character, the author mentioned her briefly, saying that her husband works in a state-owned clothing factory in the provincial capital, and they rarely see each other.

Once she has made a sample garment, she will come back to talk to Liu Caixia about it. She is confident that her clothing designs will be approved by the state-owned garment factory in the provincial capital.

These hidden plot points often contain surprises.

"We'll have it when we get paid next month." Zhao Jingyu didn't think much of it and smiled. "Don't worry, I won't let our children go without clothes."

When the two returned to the courtyard, Wang Yaqiang and Liu Dawei were already waiting at the door.

They must have gotten bored waiting for so long, so they squatted down, drew a grid on the ground, and picked up small stones to play chess.

Upon seeing Zhao Jingyu and Xu Qingning return, the two stood up with smiles on their faces: "Boss, sister-in-law, you're finally back."

"You've arrived." Xu Qingning had a good impression of the two of them; they had been helping out with things at home these past two days.

"Our boss is leaving tomorrow, so we came to visit." Wang Yaqiang chuckled, while Liu Dawei scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed as he looked at Xu Qingning.

"Come in and sit down." Xu Qingning gave the two of them a bright smile. After Zhao Jingyu left, she would take these two people under her wing, so why not use them?