Liu Jianguo led the way on his bicycle, and they arrived at the state-run restaurant.

He deliberately ordered the most expensive dishes, and Shi Tou didn't say anything. He knew this was his older brother's way of compensating Peng Fei.

Finally, Pengfei couldn't stand it anymore. "Dad, there are only six of us, that's enough to eat. Besides, we have to go home in a little while."

"Okay, that's enough. Your second uncle can eat, he'll be fine."

Zhiyuan found his uncle particularly interesting; he had never met him and had only greeted him on the phone.

"Uncle, please eat too. Don't bother serving me food, I can do it myself."

"Good, good, Uncle, please eat. Zhiyuan is really capable."

The three children felt helpless. This father, the great-uncle, really didn't know how to talk. But seeing his desire to take care of them, they felt quite comforted.

"Stone, make sure your wife eats well. The chefs here are pretty good."

"Big brother, I can take care of myself."

After finishing the meal, there was absolutely nothing left.

"Stone, let's go home and sit for a while. I need to pack some things. Then I'll take the bus back."

"Dad, I want to ride in the car with you."

"Uncle, I'm taking the bus too." Ping An was fed up with the crowded buses. In fact, he rarely took the bus, so he found it a novel experience.

"Uncle, me too."

"Alright, alright, I'll take you to the car. Let's go back first, I'll find a ticket for your second uncle and buy some cigarettes and alcohol in the building."

When the group arrived home, Liu Jianguo found a large stack of receipts and stuffed them all into Shi Tou's hands, along with five hundred yuan.

"Brother, you don't need to give me money, I have some."

“What you have is yours, so take it. You two can go to the building and see what you need. I also have cigarette and alcohol coupons here, so buy more. Your wedding this time is definitely going to be a big affair.”

Shi Tou thought about it and realized it made sense. His eldest brother's wedding was just a regular banquet because his mother didn't like his sister-in-law, and they invited too many people. His second sister was engaged at home, so they didn't have a wedding ceremony at all. As for San Ya, she was the last one to get married, so his parents would definitely throw a big party.

"Okay, big brother, you guys go get in the car, we're going to buy things."

"Okay, go ahead, don't worry, I just cleaned the house a few days ago." There's no rush.

Shi Tou drove the four of them to the station, while Liu Xu waited at the door of their house.

"Honey, you've never been to this building before, have you?"

"No, I've been to the county's supply and marketing cooperative with my wife before."

"Hehe, you still call her Madam, you should be calling her Sister Hongmei now."

Liu Xu didn't seem to mind the form of address, and the two parked their car and drove around the first floor of the building.

We already have dozens of kilograms of sugar, so we don't need to prepare any more. But we should still buy some brown and white sugar, as we should be able to use it when we go to deliver the good news.

Shi Tou counted the sugar coupons in his hand; there were only five jin (2.5 kg) of them. This wasn't enough; they would need more for the banquet, wouldn't they?

Liu Xu pulled a stack of coupons from her satchel. "This was given to me by Gan Lu; there are ten catties of sugar coupons here."

"Then let's buy fifteen jin. We'll buy them all." They used up all their cigarette and alcohol coupons and bought a carton of Chungeng cigarettes and a carton of Hongtashan cigarettes.

I bought ten bottles of red sorghum liquor. Liu Xu also bought soy sauce and vinegar.

The two saw that they still had five jin of oil coupons left, so they bought a plastic bucket and five jin of soybean oil.

I bought almost everything on the first floor, then went up to the second floor, looked around, but there wasn't anything I wanted to buy.

"Honey, let's go back. Drive slowly. I reckon my brother and the others have only just left the city."

"Okay, is there anything else we need? How about we go check out the supply and marketing cooperative?"

"We don't know what to buy either. Let's wait until we get home and let Auntie take care of it. We can come back later."

The two of them carried their purchases out of the building and saw Liu Jingsong standing by the car.

Liu Jingsong certainly recognized the family's car. Shi Tou knew about Liu Jingsong, but only from what his second sister had told him. He didn't know much about him, but he knew the basics.

Liu Jingsong was particularly excited when he saw the stone that had been unearthed. "Second Uncle, when did you come home?"

"Jinsong, I just arrived today, why aren't you at school?"

"I finished my exams today. I came to the building to sell cotton; my quilt is no longer useful."

"Oh, then you go ahead, I still have to go back to Liujiatun."

Liu Jingsong felt a little awkward after hearing Shi Tou's words, "Second Uncle, have my third aunt and the others returned?"

"They'll be back in a few more days, right? By the way, I came back to get married. If you have time off, come back to the village for a meal."

"Okay, Second Uncle, I'll be back in a few days." Liu Jingsong was waiting for Li Cuihua. He felt that the only person who could persuade his aunt was his third aunt, so he had to go back this time. He was really fed up with this kind of life.

Liu Xu remained silent throughout, and Liu Jingsong ignored her as well.

The two drove away directly. Jinsong watched the car leave, feeling very envious. He had once had such a life. No, he must find a way to get his third aunt to talk to his aunt.

Thinking about this, I still went into the building. The blanket was too thin; I needed to add a floor. Otherwise, it would be too uncomfortable to sleep at night.

"Wife, what exactly happened to Jinsong?"

"He's just jealous of Zhenye and the others, always trying to outdo them. He's too vain, and most importantly, he actually sided with outsiders last time."

"I heard about that from my second sister. Sister Hongmei must be very sad about this child."

"Yes, Madam was in pain for a long time."

"Hmm, I guess he went to see my mom this time because he wanted to go back? But he's so old, yet he still doesn't understand things."

"Yes, Madam won't let him go back now. The leaders are afraid he'll cause trouble for Zhenye and his team in the future."

The two arrived home three hours later. The village children saw the car enter and chased after it, wondering if their aunt had returned.

Stone didn't go home; he went straight to the old lady's house.

The car stopped at the door, and Liu Changhe came out. He was overjoyed to see Shi Tou get out of the car. His family already knew that this young man had come back to get married, so the old folks were naturally happy.

"Grandpa, I'm back." Looking at the old man who was over eighty years old, Shi Tou felt quite uncomfortable. He was so old, yet he couldn't come back to take care of him often.

"Haha, it's good to be back, it's good to be home. Hurry up and come inside, your great-grandmother said at noon that you should have arrived today."

Liu Xu respectfully addressed him as "Grandpa".

"Good, good, good, you've found a good wife. Come inside quickly."

Shi Tou took out the gifts he had prepared for the old lady from the trunk: two tubs of malted milk powder, two bags of milk powder, and a box of Daoxiangcun pastries. He also gave Liu Aimin and Liu Changhe four bottles of fine wine.

Liu Changhe was happy, not because of the gift itself, but because of the child's kind intentions. It showed that the child was thinking of them, the elderly.