"It's like this, Aunt Guihua has taken a liking to Brother Xiaoxu, and wants me to sound out the situation and help Xiaoyu find a partner."

Gu Qingqing was a little confused, "I haven't figured out how to ask yet."

"You can't ask about this." Chu Dai felt a little hesitant. He took out a red date from under his legs and put it aside with a smile on his face.

"Why?" Gu Qingqing was puzzled.

Originally, she thought that if Xiao Xu was willing, she could also help Xiao Yu. Soldiers are very popular nowadays, and having a soldier as a son-in-law would allow her to brag about it for a long time.

"Xiao Xu has a wife in his hometown and is engaged. He will go back to get married in two months." Chu Dai added: "I also heard from Ah Zhao that he and Xiao Xu have a good relationship."

Xiao Xu is an honest man. He answers whatever you ask. Chu Zhao has already asked him questions thoroughly.

Gu Qingqing exclaimed, "Luckily I didn't ask, otherwise it would have been too embarrassing."

Chu Dai held her hand and squeezed it in her palm. "You usually don't worry about these things, why are you asking about them today?"

"Aunt Guihua just asked me about it, and Xiaoyu is my good friend." Gu Qingqing leaned on his shoulder, "Actually, many people are envious of me for being able to marry you. Last time, Xiaoyu seemed to want to marry a soldier."

"A Zhao and the others are also jealous of me marrying you." Chu Dai smiled softly, "It's better not to interfere in this matter. It's too troublesome."

"Yes, I know."

Chu Dai talked to her for a while. Gu Qingqing originally wanted to go out to see the excitement, but she didn't get much sleep last night, and Shi Rushuang pulled her out of bed and teased her early this morning. Now she couldn't help yawning.

"You sleep for a while." Chu Dai stood up and pulled the quilt over her. "It's only eight o'clock now, so the dinner won't start that early. Sleep for three or four hours and I'll call you."

"Okay." Gu Qingqing responded in a daze, her eyelids feeling heavy and she could no longer hold them together.

Chu Dai collected the dishes and went out, closing the door behind him.

Qin Li and Zhao Yu were just about to talk to Gu Qingqing in private, but when they saw this, they stopped.

"That..." Qin Li didn't know how to address him, so he managed to say, "Comrade, is Qingqing in there?"

Chu Dai nodded calmly, "She fell asleep."

"Oh, then let's come find her later." After saying that, Zhao Yu quickly pulled Qin Li and ran away.

Chu Dai glanced casually and walked towards the kitchen.

"Sister Ali, I was so scared just now," Zhao Yu patted his chest and panted, "Qingqing doesn't look like someone who is easy to talk to. His aura looks scary, but he does look good."

"They are soldiers, and have been tempered on the battlefield, so they are more or less murderous." Qin Li didn't look closely. She pulled Zhao Yu to the main room and said, "Let's go watch TV! I've never watched it before."

"Qing Lie also came from the battlefield, so he doesn't seem to be like that. He seems quite friendly, as does the guard," Zhao Yu followed her and said, "How does Qing Qing usually get along with him? I just looked at him and my legs went weak."

"This is just a young couple's business. As long as Qingqing likes it, that's good. Hey, that's your mother, right? Auntie seems to be chatting with Qingqing's aunt."

"Yes." Zhao Yu's train of thought was misleading. "Let's go over and have a listen." She has been more sensitive recently, probably because Qingqing got married. Her mother is also a little anxious and always asks the aunties in the production team if there are any good boys.

"Big sister, today is the busiest time in Datunzi Village, and you guys have rushed us in. If it were another family's wedding, there wouldn't be so many people coming."

The main hall and the courtyard were almost full, and although the banquet was still more than three hours away, everyone was in no hurry and sat there chatting with neighbors.

It’s not long since the Chinese New Year and I don’t have to go to work, so I have some free time. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about my recent visits to relatives.

This year they were given a lot of fish and meat, as well as grain and coupons. They went back to their parents' home and took some of these things back with them, feeling more confident.

"My sister-in-law from my mother's family used to be unhappy when she saw us back home. She always felt that we had eaten the food at home. My mother loved her grandson and often brought us some dried vegetables. My sister-in-law would be so unhappy." The aunt said while sewing the soles of shoes, "Don't mention how smelly it is."

"Are you going to be proud of yourself this time when you go back?" the woman knitting next to her asked her with a smile.

"Of course not. He brought home a piece of fish and a piece of meat, along with a bag of flour. He was so enthusiastic that it seemed like a completely different person. I thought I had come to the wrong place."

"Hahaha, my brother and sister-in-law are the same. They used to be reluctant to let my mother and brother visit me, but this year it's different. They even said they'd come over in a few days to see what it's like to have light bulbs in every room."

"It's all thanks to the great strength of the old Gu family's silly eldest brother. I originally thought that he and Qin Wu would fight each other, but who knew that these two enemies usually don't show mercy to each other, but when it comes to serious matters, they will work together."

"Of course, now we don't have to light a kerosene lamp at night, and we don't have to worry about going to the toilet. My silly kid always goes to the toilet in the middle of the night and misses the toilet, which is so smelly."

She couldn't help pinching her nose when she said this.

In the main room, everyone was eating melon seeds, chatting and watching TV, which happened to be showing the Liberation War.

"Hey, I heard that the son-in-law of the Gu family is in the same corps as Qing Lie and will be transferred to the navy soon. Their family has been involved in all aspects of the navy, land and air force."

"Of course, they are capable, and the whole family is dedicated to doing practical things for the country." Someone curled up his legs and tapped the ground with his toes: "I heard from the team leader that they will start firing bricks after the New Year. If it works, we will tear down all the houses in our production team and rebuild them. It just sounds like it will be very labor-intensive."

"Although our production team has more than 500 households, we have a lot of people. With more than 8,000 people working together, there is no need to worry about the cost. We can just go to the back mountain to cut the beams for the house, and we can burn the bricks, cement and lime ourselves. We can also provide the labor. I don't think it will be a big deal."

"You can't wait to move into the new house." Someone laughed at him.

"You don't want to?" Qin Hu walked over with a smile, found a place with a stove to sit down, and picked up a handful of melon seeds: "Although my house is built tightly and does not leak when it rains, it is still a thatched house, and it is not as good as a red brick and tile house. The production teams nearby all live in thatched houses. Only the wealthy production teams in the south can live in such houses."

"Don't you want to save some face outside?"

The Invincible Production Team used to be the foundation of the dozen or so production teams in the commune, but now it is different and has surpassed the Red Flag Production Team.

The members became more and more arrogant and wanted to compete in everything.

"Huzi, I heard from your father that someone has arranged a marriage for you, right?"

Qin Hu spat out the melon seed shells and smiled: "Yes, matchmakers are saying that our production team is good, that we have plenty of food and electricity, and many people want to marry their daughters here."

The people in Datunzi Village were stunned for a moment, "Was it Wang Dahua from your village who introduced it?"

Wang Dahua from Dagouzi Village is a very versatile person. She is very eloquent and has reliable sources of information. She knows everything that is going on.

Anyway, he is much more reliable than Qian Guihua from their village.

Qin Hu nodded, "Really? Aunt Wang is here to drink today too. She's sitting with Aunt Zhao."

The villagers looked over as he spoke. They were originally planning to look for Wang Dahua to introduce her to their sons and daughters, but when they saw Qian Guihua standing aside, they stopped in their tracks.

This matter can only be done without Qian Guihua's knowledge, otherwise it would be awkward for the whole village to meet each other once in a while.

Qian Guihua occasionally does some matchmaking, but mostly just chats. You can tell by looking at her little fisherman who hasn't found a partner yet.

It's not reliable to ask her to be a matchmaker.

She herself is still counting on another matchmaker.

However, Qian Guihua and Wang Dahua have always been competing with each other, and it would be somewhat embarrassing to find Wang Dahua in front of her.

Someone suddenly sighed: "It's a pity that my family doesn't have a daughter-in-law, otherwise she would marry into the Gu family. They are all honest and decent people, and I would feel at ease to be my in-laws with them."

"I do have daughters, but they don't seem to be in a hurry to find wives for the boys. Although Han Lianxin often complains that her son Xiong has not found a wife yet and she can't sleep at night thinking about it, do you think she looks anxious?"

"He probably wants to hold on and see if he can find a girl he likes. His sisters-in-law are all good-tempered and have never quarreled in all these years. If he were to find a girl who is calculating and schemes behind people's backs, the Gu family would be in turmoil."

"That's right. In the final analysis, this girl from the Gu family is blessed. She has been raised in the palm of the hand by the Gu family. Her two brothers treat her like the apple of their eye and pamper her. They picked such a good man for her from the army. Let me tell you, do you know the identity of the father of the Gu family's son-in-law?"

"Ah, I've met him a few times. He seems to be quite kind. There's a young man with him. He seems to be a soldier, too."

"What do you mean soldiers are always followed by others?! That young man is a guard, and he is the commander of a military region! Otherwise, the Gu family has a connection with them. Qinglie and his son are from the same regiment, and they are comrades-in-arms. Canyang is also a soldier under his command."

"If you say so, Canyang will have to be taken care of more by this father-in-law in the future." Someone became envious.

"Alright, alright. It's already a great feat for Canyang to be a pilot. If other production teams knew that our village had a fighter pilot, they would be extremely jealous."

Gu Canyang has been the most handsome kid in the village since he was young. He has also worked hard to become a successful person when he grew up, bringing honor to the village.

"Here he comes, look, can you recognize him?"

The man who was coming towards them had long legs and a narrow waist, strong features and short hair. Someone shouted, "Canyang!"

Gu Canyang stopped and nodded slightly towards them.

Then he walked through the main room to the other side.

"This child is good in every way, except that he is a little cold-tempered."

"People with ability have nothing to fear if they are calm. He has already ascended to heaven. If I had a son like him, I would wake up with joy even in my dreams."

"Don't you have a girlfriend, uncle?" Qin Hu grabbed another handful of peanuts.

"Come on, my lady doesn't even like her. Not to mention the Gu family, even I think it's inappropriate for us to stand together." The person who spoke waved his hands and started chatting with others.

Gu Yin made a lot of wooden pallets and painted them red overnight. Now they were completely dry. Gu Canyang took the drying pallets from the backyard, stacked them up and walked towards the kitchen.

The kitchen was bustling with activity. Gu Yin kept cutting vegetables. Gu Jin wanted to help pound the garlic, but was kicked by Gu Tiezhu to go back to the main room to greet the guests.

"Canyang, help your uncle chop the red peppers into pieces. Just use the bamboo tube and a blunt knife to chop them." Gu Cai wrapped a towel on his head and tied a cloth apron that Zhang Cuifen had made from worn-out clothes around his waist. He turned around and shouted to his nephew.

"Okay." Gu Canyang went to the utility room to get the bamboo tube. After Chu Dai washed the dishes, he saw someone lighting a fire in front of the stove and there was no need for him, so he followed him in.

"Brother, let me help you." He took the blunt knife and picked up a bag of dried chilies from the side.

Gu Canyang glanced at him and said "hmm".

The two of them sat in the sundry room, Chu Dai put dried chilies in, and Gu Canyang held the blunt knife and kept chopping.

Neither of the two men spoke, and only the sound of "tut-tut" could be heard.

Gu Qinglie was preparing cold dishes and cutting up the salted duck eggs, but he ended up wasting quite a few of them.

Zhang Cuifen was so distressed that she said, "Don't cut it with the shell on, grandson. Just peel the salted egg shell and pull it with cotton thread."

The people from the Shi family came in and wanted to help but didn't know where to start. The people from the Gu family had already crowded the kitchen, and Gu Tiechu was squatting in front of the stove, lighting a fire.

All the dishes were ready. Gu Cai moved the steamer away and washed the three large pots together. "Uncle, please light the fire. I want to stew the chicken."

Gu Tiechu took out the cigarette Gu Bao had given him from his pocket, picked up a piece of red charcoal from the stove, lit it, took a puff, and said, "Don't worry, it's all burning."

He squinted his eyes and looked carefully at the words on the cigarette. Although he had not read many books, he still recognized these simple words: Daqianmen.

This is a good cigarette. A relative of his daughter-in-law's family got a box of these cigarettes. He asked for cigarette coupons and paid 35 cents for them. He showed off for a long time. When his son came back from his daughter-in-law's family home, he kept saying that the relative put the cigarette on his ear and didn't smoke it, but was just showing off.

After thinking about it, he took out another one from his pocket and put it behind his ear.

In the blink of an eye it was already half past ten. Normally, time always seemed to pass too quickly when doing anything, and time seemed to fly away when they were not serving the dishes in the kitchen. Fortunately, Gu Cai had seen big occasions, so the twelve hot dishes were put into the wok in order, and the cooked ones were placed in a large wooden basin, which was covered with a wooden lid first.

There were piles of dishes on the side. When the auspicious time came, Master Xu said some nice words and the dishes would be served after the newlyweds had finished their bowing in the hall.

Gu Bao was also exhausted, his face was stiff when he greeted people with a smile. From around seven o'clock until now, around ten o'clock, adults have been coming over with their children, and he even felt that some of them looked unfamiliar. At that time, he felt that it was all over.

He quickly ran to the kitchen, held onto the door frame with his hands, and stuck half of his head in: "Brother, the food for 68 tables may not be enough. I think some of the people here don't seem to be from our production team."

Gu Cai was stunned, "Are you in love?"

Gu Bao nodded. "They gave their own names."

This wasn't a case of him coming here to eat for free. Gu Cai couldn't help but imitate his elder brother's signature move and grabbed his head, but ended up grabbing the towel.

"Well, go to the main hall to find dad and big brother. Big brother knows a lot of people, and I guess they're here for him, so let him receive them. Ask Xiongwa and Yuanchao to go to the room next to the main hall and set up two round tables. As many people as can sit there can sit."

"Okay, I'll go now!"

Gu Tiechu, who was lighting the fire, stood up and leaned over the wooden window to look out. The usually empty yard was now crowded with people. He asked, "Is there enough food? If not, I'll go back and fetch two carts."

"Enough! But we have to keep steaming because there are not enough steamers." The Gu family has plenty of food. There are many people in their family, and more people earn work points, so they get more food. But after this banquet, the dozens of people in the Gu family will have to tighten their belts and eat wheat bran buns for two months.

"I'll go get it." Gu Tieshi appeared from nowhere and said to his nephew, "Just focus on cooking. If you need anything, just let me know. Don't delay the serving."

"Okay, uncle, call Weiguo and the others."

"Know."

Fortunately, there are many men in the Gu family, all of whom are young and strong laborers. Whenever there is any physical work to be done, four or five men will gather around. They moved two large steamers back from Gu Tieshi's house and took a few wooden basins.

There are definitely not enough bowls for serving food and rice.

Gu Jin was chatting with other members in the main hall. When he heard his younger brother say that many strangers had come, he quickly walked to the door and asked, "What did your third brother say? Is there enough food?"

"Third brother said that our family members should not eat yet, so we should entertain the guests and eat later."

If Gu's family doesn't sit at the table, there will be a lot of free food.

"Okay, go tell uncle that the elders must come to the table, and we cousins ​​and nephews should hold back and make our own meal tonight."

In rural areas, banquets usually only have lunch. In the evening, relatives are called over to continue the lively party and finish the leftovers.

"I know, go quickly, brother."

Gu Bao hurried to the kitchen, while Gu Jin walked into the yard, puzzled.

Logically speaking, there were about 400 acquaintances from Datunzi Village and Dagouzi Village, not counting the children. Generally, there were two adults and two children sitting on one bench.

Or the kids can eat while standing, they don’t take up much seats.

He really didn't expect so many people to come today. People came from every household in the two villages.

"Boss." Uncle Gu called him, "Come here and see what's going on."

Gu Jin was confused when he saw the people in the yard. He suddenly couldn't recognize which ones were new faces. It was just that the call from the eldest uncle of the Gu family brought him back to his senses.

"Come and have a look," said the eldest uncle of the Gu family, who was also a little troubled. "This notebook is almost full. There are more than a thousand favors alone, not including those of our Gu family."

Two yuan per household, one thousand yuan for five hundred households. Obviously, there are more than five hundred people who came to ask for help.

Gu Jin lowered his voice and asked blankly: "Grandpa, can you tell where those people who are not from our village are from?"

"Take a look for yourself." Uncle Gu simply gave him the cold shoulder.

"Xie Changhe, Xie Yuan..." He suddenly understood and didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "From the Red Flag Production Team?" Their production team also consisted of two villages, and most of the villagers had the surname Xie, descended from the same ancestor.

"Of course, luckily we have prepared a lot of gifts." The eldest uncle of the Gu family shook his head, "Don't look for them anymore, they left after the ceremony, saying they just came to share in the good luck." In fact, he was just making excuses because he knew that the Gu family did not prepare so much food.

Gu Jin felt particularly heavy because he was so thin-skinned.

Qin Wu came over and said, "Just now the captains of the Red Flag Production Team and the Red Star Production Team came and left some money as a gift so that I could congratulate you."

"Foolish man?" Seeing that he hadn't said anything for a long time, Qin Wu pulled away the favor in his hand, "They are just thanking you for taking them with you to build the power storage station. Just now, the captain of the Red Flag Production Team asked me if I wanted to build a brick kiln, and asked if I could take them with me."