Xie Yan took the cucumber handed to him by Yu Yuehui, took a bite, and found it sweet, crisp, and refreshing. It was delicious! This cucumber, which had not been artificially ripened and had just been picked from the vine, was indeed tender and delicious.

Seeing Xie Yan enjoying his meal so much, Yu Yue smiled and said, "These are all grown by our family. Pick whatever you like to eat. From now on, we'll be cooking for ourselves. If you have any dishes you'd like, just tell me!"

Xie Yan nodded, looking quite satisfied with the lush green vegetables in the yard!

As he ate, he followed Yu Yue back to look at the house. There was a stone-paved path in the yard that led directly into the house, which was for easy walking on rainy days.

The houses here are all courtyard houses, but the Yu family's house was built because they didn't have enough money. The east side of the house wasn't built, so there's only the main house and the west side, but the area is still quite large.

The main house has three rooms: one large room and two small side rooms.

One small side room was the kitchen, and the other was a storage room, which mainly contained firewood for heating the kang (a traditional heated bed). Yu Yuehui explained the importance of this firewood to Xie Yan.

Whether we can get through the winter warmly depends entirely on them.

Moreover, when the leaves fall in late autumn, they have to sweep them up and carry them home. The amount they have in the house is not enough for one winter.

Xie Yan sighed! It seems that everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Before, she only marveled at the practicality of the kang (heated brick bed), but heating the kang is also a tiring job!

The room on the west side also has a kang (heated brick bed), so relatives can stay there when they come to visit, or when a baby is born.

Yu Yue blushed as she recalled the adorable children they would have in the future!

Xie Yan thought it was because of the hot weather, so he took Yu Yue to the main room, which is the main house.

The room had clearly been cleaned; not only were the sheets and duvet covers new, but even the cabinets were polished to a shine!

Moreover, the bed sheets and duvet covers were all bright red, very festive, and it was clear that Qian Hong had prepared them for her daughter well in advance. In addition to the ones already laid out on the kang (heated brick bed), there were two more quilts in the cabinet, both of which were thick.

Although they didn't have a grand wedding, almost everyone in the village had already come that morning, mainly to eat steamed buns and drink tea, since everyone in the village was expected to give a gift.

The people from the educated youth settlement have all come and brought gifts. They are all quite practical. Except for Gu Bin, who bought Xie Yan a blanket, the others pooled their money to buy a pair of kettles and a pair of washbasins.

This is quite a generous gift!

When Xie Yan returned, Qian Hong said that she would cook a few dishes for Xie Yan to take to the educated youth settlement and give the educated youth an extra meal!

All of these things are now displayed inside the house!

Yu Yue walked to the cabinet, opened it, and saw rows of clothes neatly folded. Xie Yan searched for a long time but couldn't find his clothes.

Just as he was wondering if his clothes weren't in this closet, Yu Yue pointed to the closet and said, "The bottom ones are our summer clothes, and the top ones are our winter clothes."

"As for the clothes from the spring and autumn seasons, I've put them all here. Look, these are all clothes from the spring and autumn seasons!"

Xie Yan finally realized that those white clothes must be his own. He used to love wearing white clothes, and almost all of his summer clothes were white, which meant that he only had a few clothes to wear for work recently, and he had to wash clothes every day.

Then, Yu Yue opened the drawer. "This drawer is full of socks. I've already mended all your socks with holes. It's better to wear these socks when you go to work."

After all, she was wearing new socks to work! Seeing them made her feel terrible!

Xie Yan looked at the few pairs of socks in the drawer, most of which were his, while the few patched ones next to them belonged to Yu Yuehui. He felt a little sad. Although the brigade leader's family was the best-off family in the village, they were only better off in terms of food and drink.

Elsewhere, they were no different from other villagers; their clothes were almost entirely patched, and they only had two pairs of socks—one thin and one thick, both covered in patches!

Xie Yan remembered that he seemed to still have two cloth coupons, and he almost couldn't resist giving them to Yu Yue to buy some cloth and make two sets of clothes!

Fortunately, he held back. Those two cloth coupons were very useful; he was preparing them for the winter. He heard that the winters here were very cold, and he would freeze to death without thick winter clothes.

Xie Yan could only force herself not to watch.

Sigh! I wonder where the black market is around here. It's time to go check it out!

After looking at the house and putting away some of the things they had bought that day, Xie Yan and Yu Yue went back to the front courtyard.

The Yu family home was bustling with activity at this moment.

Xie Yan had just reached the door when she heard a lively commotion inside. Yu Yuehui's marriage had been a major problem for many years, a worry for her family and relatives.

Now that the wedding is finally here, all the relatives and friends are overjoyed. Knowing that it was today, everyone rushed over.

Her aunt, uncle, and cousins ​​all came over. If it weren't for the need to dry wheat and require manpower, Yu Yuehui's aunt would have come too.

As soon as Xie Yan entered the house, Yu Yuehua pulled him to the main room, where all the male elders of the family were sitting. Xie Yan was choked by the strong smell of smoke as soon as he entered, and it took him a while to recover from the coughing.

He was even mocked by some of his cousins!

Xie Yan was so exhausted! The room was so smoky and he had to inhale so much secondhand smoke.

He didn't say anything, yet he was still mocked for not being manly enough! The room was full of heavy smokers, including the Yu brothers, Yu Shan and Yu Hai, and Yu Yuehui's uncle, Qian Shu. Each of them held a pipe and sat on the kang (a heated brick bed).

The younger generation sat on stools: Yu Hai's son, Yu Yuehe; Qian Shu's two sons, Qian Fuqiang and Qian Fuyu; and Yu Yuehua. Although they were all young men in their twenties, they were all smoking and looked like seasoned smokers.

Most of them were taught to smoke by their elders or other elders in the village when they were teenagers, while Yu Yuehua was taught to smoke by her grandfather.

When Yu Yuehua was a little older, around nine years old, she started sleeping with her grandparents. Later, when she was eleven or twelve, her grandfather's health gradually declined.

When he felt that the suction power was insufficient to light his cigarette, Yu Yuehua began to light his cigarette for him. To ignite a pipe, you need to use suction to draw the flame from the tip of the pipe onto the tobacco.

The first puff had to be taken in a deep drag. That's how Yu Yuehua started smoking his grandfather's first cigarette, and slowly he became addicted.

He's a heavy smoker now.