The neighbors came over in a crowd, peeking through the door frame of Qiao's house. Qiao Lu, who lived next door, was too embarrassed to chase them away, so she could only close the door gently, blocking half of the view.
Xu Haizhou entered the house very suddenly, and suddenly saw Qiao Lu's sister and brother-in-law. The three of them stared at each other, and the atmosphere was very awkward.
"Ahem—" Qiao Lu reminded them, interrupting the three people's "entangled" gaze.
Qiao Yan came to her senses and was shocked by her own gaffe. She looked embarrassed. She really didn't expect that at the age of 28, she would be impressed by a young man.
Her sister was right, he is even more handsome in real life than the stars in magazines!
"You brought so many things?" Noticing the large and small bags in Xu Haizhou's hands, Qiao Yan hurriedly made room for him, "Quick, put them here, they must be so heavy!"
Qiao Lu was also dumbfounded. The gifts Xu Haizhou brought were even more than yesterday, including a bag of apples and two boxes she had never seen before. The boxes looked like shoe boxes, but she had no idea what they were.
"It's okay, not too heavy." He is tall and strong, and these things are nothing to him.
Qiao Yan quickly poured a cup of hot water for the gay man: "Come on, Comrade Xu, drink some water."
Xu Haizhou took it and drank it all in one gulp: "Thank you."
Her eyes lingered on the gift for a moment, and Qiao Yan's heart trembled again and again. She pushed Qiao An's shoulder and said, "Quick, Qiao An, bring a stool to your stepfather."
The boy ran over without noticing his aunt's address to Xu Haizhou.
The first person to notice it was Qiao Yan herself, and her heart skipped a beat.
Oh no! I had originally planned to give Xu Haizhou a head start when he arrived, but now everything has gone wrong!
"Look, you shouldn't buy so much even if you come to visit!" It's piled up like a small mountain. How much does it cost? She didn't know how to play the good cop.
Although Xu Haizhou was not her man, Qiao Yan, who was used to being frugal, felt sorry for him now. He had spent so much money! If he had just brought some gifts as a token of his appreciation, she wouldn't have been so excited that she would have forgotten the important things.
Xu Haizhou smiled nonchalantly, placed the gifts neatly one by one, and finally opened the two boxes that even Qiao Lu didn't know what was in them.
"Second sister, this is our first meeting so I don't know what you like, so I just bought something random."
"Look at what you said! If this is casual, then there is no such thing as casual in the world!"
As he spoke, the box was opened, and inside was a pair of fine cashmere leather boots!
There was a sudden sound of inhaling at the door.
This is a good thing, really good, more precious than leather shoes! Ordinary people are reluctant to buy it easily, and even if they are willing to buy it, it may not be available, and even if it is available, it may not be your turn, because it has been sold out internally! Some factories with good treatment will also distribute such boots as employee benefits during the Chinese New Year, which are basically only available to cadres.
Don't be fooled by the fact that these are just a pair of fur boots, the lining inside is actually cashmere! The outer layer is made of genuine leather, which keeps you warm, locks in heat, resists cold and is windproof. Who wouldn't want to give their family a pair of fur boots in winter? Xu Haizhou is really good at pleasing people!
"I guessed the size and bought a size larger on purpose. This shoe is very elastic and if it is too large, I can put a few wool insoles in it without affecting the use."
The couple each took the leather boots handed to them by Xu Haizhou. After checking the sizes, they found that the women's shoes fit them perfectly, while the men's shoes were one size larger. However, perhaps because of the cashmere, they did not feel too big at all when they were worn.
Yuan Jianghe's eyes flashed with surprise, he put them on and walked back and forth for a few steps: "This shoe is good, I wanted to buy it two years ago, but I never had the chance to buy it."
Xu Haizhou smiled and said: "I only bought it with the help of a friend. It is indeed hard to find in the market."
Yuan Jianghe suddenly looked at him twice, and his favorability towards him soared.
"You are awesome, kid."
Yuan Jianghe is thirty-four this year, so it is not an exaggeration to call Xu Haizhou, who is twenty-five, "boy". This call of "boy" is quite intimate, as if he has accepted the other party.
Qiao Yan was also very happy. The leather boots were really warm. When she put her feet in them, it felt like she was putting them in a stove. It was true! The only problem was that the leather was not waterproof. She couldn't bear to wear them when it rained.
"Real leather? Or cashmere? It's so comfortable and warm!" Qiao Yan liked it more and more, and her only remaining prejudice disappeared: "Look at you, you're really wasting money! Don't do that next time!"
next time……
Xu Haizhou laughed and said, "I heard from Qiao Lu that my second sister and her husband are usually nice to her, so I am just offering them a gift."
Qiao Yan covered her mouth and laughed: "Why are you being so modest? You really know how to talk."
Qiao Lu: "???"
Sister, didn’t you say you wanted to act like the eldest sister?
Brother-in-law, didn’t you say that you would use your authority as director to scare him?
Is this rebellion?
Qiao Lu covered her face.
I didn’t expect Xu Haizhou’s level was not low. I thought he was an innocent boy, but in fact he is a lot of cunning people!
In fact, neither Qiao Yan nor her husband are money-grubbing people. One of them is the workshop director of a chemical plant, and the other is a workshop team leader. They are both college students, so they have seen the world.
When Qiao Lu first told Wang Bin that she wanted to give it a try, Wang Bin actually sent a lot of gifts to their home, but Qiao Yan and Yuan Jianghe did not show much excitement about this. Wang Bin's vulgar arrogance and Xu Haizhou's sincerity and dedication gave people completely different feelings. Xu Haizhou's image and temperament fully interpreted the word "family education" vividly, which made people like him much more.
Qiaolu's sister and brother-in-law kept chatting with others, so Qiaolu felt it was okay not to eat today's meal.
Of course, if you bring so many things with you on a rainy day, you must go through the process.
Qiao Lu dragged her sister to the corridor and continued to talk about whether they should have dinner or not.
"Okay, Qiao Lu and I will go cook, Jiang He, help me entertain Comrade Haizhou."
Even Comrade Haizhou was invited, that’s great.
…
The two women went out to cook, and Xu Haizhou played chess with Yuan Jianghe in the house. Qiao An wanted to stick to his mother, but Qiao Lu thought the corridor was too crowded and didn't ask him to come out.
It was dinner time and it was also the weekend, so the corridor was bustling with noise. As soon as the sisters Qiaolu went out, the neighbors swarmed over and surrounded them, asking them questions non-stop.
"Did I see it right? Leather boots? Fur boots?"
Qiao Yan was in a good mood at the moment, and her expression was very happy: "Wool."
"Oh, so generous? Really good, where did you meet this gay man?"
Before Qiao Lu could answer, Qiao Yan answered, "Sister Liu introduced me."
"Little Liu is really something. Why didn't you introduce your daughter to me back then?" the old Zhao family's aunt teased.
Someone smiled and said, "Yeah, it's really good, and it looks so young."
The daughter of the old Zhao family is about the same age as Qiao Lu. A year ago, she also asked Sister Liu to act as a matchmaker for her. She liked him at first sight, unlike Qiao Lu who was so picky. If she had known earlier, she should have been more picky. Maybe she would have picked this boy! Unfortunately, it's too late to say anything now.
"That's right, she's only 25, about the same age as my sister." Qiao Yan smiled and stuffed the enamel basin into Qiao Lu's arms: "Go get a basin of water."
Qiao Lu was called away obediently.
Song Yulian glanced into the room and said, "So young? Is he divorced or his wife is dead?"
This is a stereotype. Everyone thinks that since Qiaolu is a widow, she should find a divorced man to be in line with realistic standards.
"What do you mean by divorce and dead wife? This is my first marriage! I've never been married before!" Qiao Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but she found everyone's disbelieving looks quite interesting.
I just like the way you look like you have never seen the world.
"Really? That's impossible!"
"Isn't your sister remarried? Why is he..."
Be careful not to say anything unpleasant to your neighbors so as not to affect their feelings.
Qiao Yan just curled her lips lightly, with a happy expression: "Who knows? Things in the world are like this, hard to explain, when fate brings them together, they will naturally come together, it's weird!"
Just sigh!
This one sentence has shut everyone up. Otherwise, how can we say don't mess with intellectuals? He has a lot of reasons to give, but the key is that you can't find a reason to fight back!
There are not many entertainment activities these days, and the most interesting thing is to chat about each other's gossip. Once you start, you can't stop chatting until everyone has lunch at noon.
Today's lunch was very rich, with one meat and three vegetables. Qiao Yan specially sent Qiao Lu to the grocery store to buy some peanuts to fry. Fried peanuts were a common "street stall item" thirty years ago, but nowadays it is the highest standard for entertaining guests.
Think about it, peanuts, fried, and with sugar! Fragrant and crispy, it's so delicious to eat with wine! But oil is so expensive these days. A family of three would use two or three kilograms of oil a month. Who wouldn't save money? This shows how much Qiao Yan "values" Xu Haizhou.
Yuan Jianghe opened the Jiannanchun that Xu Haizhou brought, and the two men drank together. Xu Haizhou looked gentle, but perhaps because he was from the north, he could drink a lot, and he remained calm after drinking a large bowl of wine.
Yuan Jianghe was trying to show off and didn't want to lose face. His ears turned red but he continued to pour wine into the bowl, but Qiao Yan snatched it away.
He frowned and said, "That's enough. You are not allowed to drink anymore today as you have exceeded the limit."
The most annoying thing is a drunk Yuan Jianghe. He snores loudly at night and can’t be woken up even if you fan him. He also has a hangover the next day and feels so uncomfortable that he has no energy to work all day.
Yuan Jianghe waved his hands nonchalantly, trying to grab it back: "It's okay, I'm happy today and have a few more drinks."
"Which day have you been unhappy?" Qiao Yan turned around, stuffed the wine bottle and the bowl he had drunk from into the cupboard, and locked it with a click.
So cool!
Yuan Jianghe was helpless, pointing at Qiao Yan and said to Xu Haizhou: "Look, my wife is too strict in controlling everything. You can't be like me after you marry Qiao Lu. A man must be tough!"
Qiao Yan slapped his shoulder in a funny way: "You are quite stubborn, but you are stubborn in words."
This one sentence made several people burst into laughter, and Yuan Jianghe himself laughed too.
Although he said that his wife was too strict, he was actually very happy in his heart. He liked it and enjoyed being controlled.
Everything is just a means to please the lady.
After drinking, Yuan Jianghe talked to Xu Haizhou in detail about his love story with Qiao Yan, from their encounter to knowing each other and finally falling in love. It sounded quite romantic.
"At that time, there were no college students in our factory, and even fewer people who read books. Other people's desks were filled with notebooks, teacups, pens, and at most a copy of Mao's Selected Works. Her desk was filled with Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre, Schopenhauer, and too many."
"I was thinking, this lesbian is not simple! She is so different! I have to get to know her!"
Qiao Lu couldn't help laughing: "So you started pursuing my sister?"
"Later, I started to get close to her and asked about her story. After we got to know each other, we talked about everything from Marxism to Tolstoy, from poetry to spring flowers, snow and moon. Your sister was convinced by my personality charm and was determined to be with me."
Qiao Yan was unhappy and slapped him on the back: "Go to hell! Don't listen to him, it was obviously him who pestered me! I only agreed because I had no choice!"
His face turned red after explaining this.
Yuan Jianghe narrowed his eyes and smiled, still missing that experience.
"I didn't have much experience at the time. I heard people say that a strong woman is afraid of a clinging man. At that time, many gay men in our factory were interested in you, but you always ignored them. I knew you would be hard to win over. To pursue a lesbian, you have to cater to her preferences. I worked hard to study those foreign classics you loved, and finally I had a topic to talk to you about. If I didn't cling to you, I was afraid you would be snatched away!"
He is already in his thirties, and he is not at all shy when talking about sweet things. If it weren't for this meal, Qiao Yan really wouldn't have known that her husband was so shameless, and she would not have known that he didn't really love those classics at all, but just wanted to attract her and "win" her!
Qiao Yan was angry and amused. If she knew this before getting married, she would be angry and would think he was not honest enough and would consider whether to continue with him. But now they have been married for almost three years, and Yuan Jianghe is so good to her that it has long offset those little tricks before the relationship.
"I didn't expect my brother-in-law to have such a romantic gene." Upon hearing this, Qiao Lu stopped eating, put down her bowl and chopsticks, and held her chin with one hand, as if she was immersed in the love story of the two and couldn't extricate herself.
Xu Haizhou turned his head and glanced at her. What he saw was her tranquil profile. Her almond-shaped eyes were curved in a smile, like a blooming bud, pretty and charming.
As if possessed by a ghost, his hand under the table suddenly reached out towards Qiao Lu, and his fingertips brushed the back of her hand lightly. It felt itchy, like a soft brush touching the skin.
When Qiao Lu turned her head, Xu Haizhou held her hand. She was startled and met a pair of smiling eyes.
The light from the roof shone on his angular profile, dark on one side and bright on the other. That glance seemed to penetrate into his heart.
Qiao Lu never imagined that the first time she and Xu Haizhou held hands would be in such a scene!
Her first reaction was not to struggle, but to wonder why his hands were hotter than a stove, why his hands were not as soft as hers, and why his fingertips were a little rough...
At this moment, God knew how nervous she was. She had clearly not drunk a drop of alcohol and seemed to be drunk to the point of passing out.
A feeling of excitement, tension and novelty surged up, and a slightly intoxicating ambiguous atmosphere permeated the two of them, and Qiao Lu's heart was pounding.
Maybe it was because his hands were so warm, or maybe it was because of the love story I heard about my sister and brother-in-law.
Qiao Lu exerted a little force on her hands, held him with her backhand, squeezed his big palm with her small hand, and finally slid her fingers together.
His hands were bony and had little flesh, so they were not very comfortable to hold, but she just loved that feeling!
The author has something to say:
The period novel "Reborn in the 90s, Daily Life after Marriage" is in advance collection. If you like it, please move your fingers and click to collect it~*^_^*
In order to escape her terrible original family, the village girl Song Nian married into the Gao family in the provincial capital, but unexpectedly jumped into another abyss.
Looking back on my miserable life, I was weak, incompetent, timid and accomplished nothing.
She is an intellectual, but she is willing to be a housewife.
In order to be a good new daughter-in-law, she did her best to serve her parents-in-law, look after the daily life of the whole family, and take care of the housework... In the end, she didn't get a single good word out of her mouth.
Her sister-in-law thinks she is a burden to her husband because she has no job, while her mother-in-law thinks she is just an educated live-in nanny.
Because of her neglect, her daughter confessed her true feelings before she died: "I understand your difficulties, but if there is a next life, I don't want to be your child anymore."
The only husband Song Nian can rely on is a good man in the eyes of outsiders.
He is good in every way except that he doesn't love her.
If she could do it again, she would not want to marry into the Gao family.
I don’t want to be a hardworking housewife, I don’t want to be a punching bag for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and I don’t want to be sucked dry by my natal family.
Nor was she willing to marry him.
In 1990, Song Nian was reborn.
This was the fourth year of her marriage to Gao Yuning, and their daughter was three years old.
————————————————————————
*The male protagonist is a career-oriented man. In his previous life, he was a straight man who didn’t love his wife. He likes the female protagonist but “can’t express his love for her.” In this life, he chases his wife to the crematorium.
*The heroine pretends to be a pig to eat the tiger, builds a career, earns money and moves out of her husband's house!
*The heroine also had big problems in her past life. She was reborn to change the status quo and transform the hero. She has a career line, a love line, and her parents' shortcomings.
If you like it, collect it~