Even though the marriage between the two families was settled, Chen Lie and Su Junyan only took three days of annual leave this time. After the matter was finalized, they had to go back to the army to file a marriage report.
On the morning of May 7th, Chen Lie and Su Junyan returned to the army.
On June 4th, the marriage report was approved, and Chen Lie and Su Junyan came to Shangang Village to formally propose marriage.
Su Junyan and Ning Xue were both getting married for the second time, so they didn't want to hold a big wedding and just simply invited their family to a meal.
Ning Weiguo and Sun Aiju spent a lot of time and money on their daughter Ning Tang, holding a grand wedding and inviting the villagers to a buffet that lasted a whole day and night.
On June 8th, Chen Lie and Su Junyan will take Ning Tang and Ning Xue to Hailang Island to join the army.
According to the rules of Shangang Village, when marrying someone's daughter, in addition to giving a betrothal gift, the man also has to buy two sets of clothes for the new bride.
This mainly depends on the financial situation of each family. If you are rich, you can buy two sets of clothes and everyone will envy you. If you are poor, you can buy a pillowcase and no one will say anything.
Last time, Chen Lie and Su Junyan came in a hurry and left in a hurry. Apart from the betrothal money they brought with them, they didn't buy anything else. So this time they came back and had to make up for it after the wedding.
So the day before leaving, Chen Lie and Su Junyan took Ning Tang and Ning Xue to the department store in the city.
To get from Shangang Village to the city, one has to go through a winding mountain road. The four of them took the village donkey cart and it took two hours of driving after many twists and turns to reach the city.
When they arrived in the city, the four of them went straight to the department store.
Because they wanted to buy different things, Chen Lie and Ning Tang, and Su Junyan and Ning Xue, the two couples walked separately.
Su Junyan led Ning Xue to the counter selling ready-made clothes and fabrics. He glanced at the counter and smiled at Ning Xue, "I brought a lot of cloth coupons. You can buy whatever you want. You are good-looking, and beautiful clothes will suit you. Buy a few pieces to change into."
Su Junyan is handsome, well-spoken, and generous. The female salesperson at the counter all looks at Ning Xue with envy.
Ning Xue was bathed in the envious gazes of the crowd and smiled slightly. "I have enough clothes to wear. My mother made me two new dresses when I got married. The styles are very fashionable."
After saying that, she walked straight to the counter and picked up a small navy blue shirt, which was obviously a ready-made garment for children. She gestured and said, "You have two children, who are only seven years old this year. They are in the growth stage, and you are worried that their clothes will be too short. Use these cloth coupons to buy clothes for them. I won't use them."
Su Junyan was stunned when he heard this. He really didn't expect that he had brought Ning Xue here to buy clothes, but Ning Xue had been refusing to buy anything and was thinking about his twins instead.
It is a blessing for his two precious sons to have a stepmother like this who starts thinking about the children before she even enters the door.
Su Junyan was deeply moved and said softly, "Then I'll listen to you."
Ning Xue picked out four pieces of clothing for the Su twins. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a men's sweatshirt. She picked it up and said to Su Junyan, "I'll buy you another one. I heard that Hailang Island is very hot, and sweatshirts are breathable and comfortable to wear."
Su Junyan was very grateful for Ning Xue's kindness to him, but after buying four pieces of clothing in a row, even if they were for the children, he had already spent most of the cloth coupons he had. What he had just said about letting Ning Xue buy whatever she wanted was actually just empty talk.
He stammered, "Well, the undershirt is... the army will give us training uniforms, and we can wear them..."
Ning Xue was such a shrewd person. From Su Junyan's hesitant words and the way he touched his pockets, she could tell that he was short of money.
So before Su Junyan could finish his words, Ning Xue interrupted him, "Junyan, it's okay. I have some cloth coupons. I'll buy it for you."
When Ning Xue said this to Su Junyan, she considerately pulled him aside and whispered to him, giving Su Junyan enough face.
Su Junyan hesitated and said, "It's not a good idea to use your tickets. I remember my mother-in-law mentioned that those cloth tickets were bought at a high price on the black market and asked you to keep them to make bedding for yourself."
Ning Xue glanced at him coquettishly, "What are you talking about? We are family. Isn't it the same whether I use yours or mine?"
Ning Xue was already outstanding in appearance. When she glanced at him, Su Junyan felt relaxed and at ease. He immediately responded happily, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
After buying all the sweatshirts, Su Junyan, who was carrying a lot of bags, had only one thought.
With a wife like this, what more could a husband ask for?
Back to Chen Lie and Ning Tang, Ning Tang was strolling around when she arrived at a shoe store.
Chen Lie brought her to the department store to buy things for her, and Ning Tang didn't hesitate and went straight into the store.
Although the styles of shoes in shoe stores these days were not as trendy as those in later generations, there were still many styles. Ning Tang fell in love with a pair of white women's plastic sandals at first sight. When he asked the price, he found out that they were three yuan a pair, which was quite expensive.
Unexpectedly, Shen Lie paid for it without saying a word.
Ning Tang was a little shocked by his generosity. "You have a high salary? You can buy three-dollar shoes just like that."
Chen Lie took the bag from the salesperson and replied, "It's okay. I agreed to take you out shopping, so I can't go back on my word."
Ning Tang raised an eyebrow, "Do you usually buy three-dollar shoes?"
"How is that possible? Money doesn't just come from the wind." Chen Lie said, "The army gives me shoes, and I wear them."
Ning Tang's eyes swept over Shen Lie's feet. As Shen Lie said, he was wearing the green rubber shoes issued by the army. They looked like they had been worn for some time, and the edges of the shoes were peeling.
After buying shoes, Chen Lie took Ning Tang to a clothing store to buy a set of ready-made clothes, and then went to a pastry shop to weigh two kilograms of pastries, and bought a few bags of candy and fruits...all of which were specifically ordered by Ning Tang.
After a round of shopping, Chen Lie's hands were full of bags.
Ning Tang expressed great satisfaction.
The two couples met and looked at each other.
Chen Lie and Ning Tang bought Ning Tang clothes and shoes, as well as her favorite snacks, skincare products like clam oil, and even some food and supplies for Ning Weiguo and Sun Aiju, the elderly couple...
Su Junyan and Ning Xue bought clothes for the Su family twins Su Guangzong and Su Yaozu, Su Junyan's sweatshirt, and the Double Happiness brand cigarettes that Su Junyan liked to smoke... It seemed that they bought a lot of things, but none of them were for Ning Xue to use herself.
The four returned with a full load and rode the donkey cart all the way back to Shangang Village.
The donkey cart only went as far as the village, and they had to walk a winding mountain road by themselves.
Chen Lie and Su Junyan walked in front, carrying large and small bags. Su Junyan stood next to Chen Lie and kept showing off to him, "My wife is so good. I took her to the department store and let her choose what she liked. In the end, she bought everything for me and my sons."
Shen Lie hummed.
Seeing that Chen Lie didn't respond, Su Junyan became even more excited.
He took a quick glance and saw that everything Chen Lie was holding was bought for Ning Tang, not Chen Lie. He couldn't help but feel happy in his heart and began to show off to Chen Lie, "Look at this sweatshirt. Ning Xue said the weather in Hailang Island was hot, so she bought me one with her own money and cloth coupons. I'm not someone who needs that little money, but I still have to accept it as a gift from my wife, right?"
Chen Lie glanced at the sweatshirt that Su Junyan showed him. The fabric looked like Dacron, and it must have cost Ning Xue a lot of money.
Tsk tsk, Ning Xue is really willing to spend money.
Seeing Shen Lie's attention focused on the sweatshirt, Su Junyan thought Shen Lie was envious, so he took out the Double Happiness cigarettes Ning Xue had bought him and said, "And here, I was planning to buy Ning Xue two boxes of clam oil for her face, but she said there was no need to waste the money and that patting her face with water would be enough. It would be better to save the money and buy me two boxes of cigarettes for social events."
"Alas..." Su Junyan sighed, "How did I manage to marry such a good wife? Compared to my spendthrift ex-wife, there's a world of difference."
Chen Lie said, "Your ex-wife treated you well. She gave birth to twin sons for you and took care of the housework for you every day. It was also very hard."
It is said that a person's character can be seen from his breakup or divorce. In his heart, Chen Lie still looked down on people like Su Junyan, who slandered their ex-partners when they had a current one. He couldn't help but say a few words for Su Junyan's ex-wife.
After all, Su Junyan's ex-wife is not a bad person. Apart from spending money lavishly, her feelings for Su Junyan and his twin sons, Su Guangzong and Su Yaozu, are genuine.
Otherwise, with Chen Lie's personality, even if Su Junyan praised Ning Xue to the sky, he would not respond.
Su Junyan couldn't stand being contradicted the most, so he stopped and pulled Chen Lie to talk about the pros and cons of his ex-wife and Ning Xue in detail, which made Chen Lie dizzy.
Finally, Su Junyan glanced at Ning Tang, who was lagging behind the two of them, and said smugly, "I'm the best at judging women. Chen Lie, I'm not saying anything, but I don't think Ning Tang looks like someone who lives a normal life. Your hard times are still ahead."
Chen Lie: "...whatever you say is what it is."
The two men in front were having a small meeting, and Ning Xue was also chatting with Ning Tang in the back.
Of course, Ning Xue was the only one who was outputting, and Ning Tang was just passively listening.
When they were riding the donkey cart just now, the four of them put all the things they bought on the cart. Once the bags were opened, everything they bought was visible at a glance. Ning Xue of course saw Ning Tang pulling Chen Lie to buy a lot of things she liked.
Ning Xue felt that she and Ning Tang were cousins after all. Even if they didn't get along well at home, they would marry together and go to Hailang Island to join the army in the future, so they had to take care of each other.
So she had to pull Ning Tang aside and have a few words from her heart, to teach her how to behave. "Cousin, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you really don't know how to be considerate. You bought all these things, but why didn't you buy any of them for my cousin's husband?"
Ning Tang was stunned. "Ah? Isn't this the custom of our Shangang Village? After getting married, isn't it normal for the man to take the woman shopping for her things?"
"Tsk." Ning Xue couldn't help but glared at her. "That's true, but after marriage, we're a family. Buying things for you and him is the same, isn't it? A good woman who cares about her man should buy more things for him. That's what a good wife does."
Ning Tang always felt that this sounded strange, but she didn't know how to refute it, "Then you only buy things for men, but don't we women buy things for ourselves?"
Unexpectedly, Ning Xue looked at her in surprise and said earnestly, "Have you ever heard the saying, 'When you give someone a rose, the fragrance lingers on your hand?' Buying things for yourself doesn't give you a sense of accomplishment. But buying things for a man is different. When you see him wearing the clothes you bought, smoking the cigarettes you bought, and spending the money you earned, shouldn't your heart be filled with joy? Besides, he's not another man, he's your husband, your heaven, your earth, your support!"
Ning Tang's brows were almost knotted. "Giving a rose to someone and having the fragrance linger on your hand doesn't seem to work that way, right? I'm not even satisfied myself, so how can I care about others? Not to mention that he's my husband, even if he's the Jade Emperor, it wouldn't work."
Ning Xue was stuck, and after a long while, she managed to say, "You didn't go to high school, you're uneducated, I won't talk to you."
Ning Tang: ...
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