"I'm inviting all my relatives to a wedding banquet today, and I want to go to the photo studio to take a family photo after dinner, so I dressed up nicely." Qiao Lu shyly lifted her hair. She expected that this dress would attract everyone's attention, but she was still surprised by everyone's enthusiasm.

Qiao An held her mother's hand, wearing a new cotton shirt and standing aside with her head held high. At this time, she was surrounded by adults and children. She was rarely shy and even puffed out her chest proudly. Especially after receiving the envious expressions on the faces of other children, her little expression was full of pride.

Auntie Tian was shocked and joked, "Wearing the clothes to attend a wedding? You will definitely be the most eye-catching person in the room."

Qiao Lu smiled shyly and stood at the gate of the courtyard looking around. Xu Haizhou had gone out to meet someone early in the morning and had not returned yet.

Today is the weekend and the students are all at home. When they see Qiao Lu's outfit, they can't help but feel envy and admiration in their eyes.

Chen Jiamei's classmate Fan Junjun pulled her and stomped her feet excitedly: "Si...Jiamei! Do you feel that the clothes your female neighbor is wearing are very similar to those in the American movie we watched on TV at Zhao Kuihua's house last time, such as Atlantics. There were women wearing this kind of clothes in the movie. They are very similar and very beautiful!"

At the end of 1979, the American TV series "The Man from Atlantis" was released in mainland China and immediately became popular all over the country. Mirrors and bell-bottom pants became popular because of this movie.

Two years ago, Xu Haizhou struck while the iron was hot and made seven or eight hundred yuan just by selling □□ mirrors. At that time, □□ mirrors were all imported goods, so it didn't matter if you couldn't get one. It still had to be Xu Haizhou's friends who were helpful. They got a batch of them from somewhere and made a fortune.

Until this year, I spent some money on the bride price to buy a sewing machine for my wife. In addition to the bicycle and large cabinet I bought before, after spending all the miscellaneous things, the remaining savings were given to Qiao Lu.

However, many of the clothes in the TV series are very different from those in our country, including the coat that Jolu is wearing, which is grand, unrestrained, casual and elegant.

Chen Jiamei thought about it carefully and seemed to have some impression of it, but she didn't look very happy. She put her hands in her pockets and snorted disdainfully: "So it was copied. I thought she made it herself. I have a sewing machine at home. Let's buy some material and make it someday."

Aunt Chen glanced at her daughter unhappily and said, "Buying fabric? Do you have money?"

That's easy to say.

"Humph, I don't have money, but Junjun does." They have such a good relationship, so what's wrong with buying some fabric to make clothes? The adults are just troublesome, and they don't understand the feelings of them, technical secondary school students, at all.

Fan Junjun smiled awkwardly: "I only have a little pocket money, how can I afford so much fabric?"

Moreover, the clothes Qiao Lu was wearing looked very expensive. Some of them she had never seen in department stores. Although her father was a team leader in the production workshop of a food factory, his pocket money was only a few cents more than Chen Jiamei's...

He quickly interrupted her and pulled Chen Jiamei away: "Let's go to Kuihua's house to watch TV."

Xu Haizhou left home at 8:30 and picked up Qiao's relatives at 10 o'clock. Qiao Lu arrived at the state-owned hotel at 10:30, and the relatives had just arrived.

When her sister-in-law Niu Qiaoli saw her, she screamed exaggeratedly.

"Oh my god! Is this my little sister?" He quickly pulled Qiao Guobin up and said, "Guobin, look! Look, is this your little sister?"

Qiao Guobin and his father were fiddling with a three-wheeled cart at the door. There were two camphorwood boxes on the cart, which they were going to deliver to Xu Haizhou's house after dinner. When he heard this, he looked up and rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Little sister? How come you have changed?"

"Jolu?" his father called hesitantly.

It's still the same eyes, nose and mouth, why do they feel more eye-catching?

"Auntie! Auntie!" Qiao Minjuan ran up excitedly to hug her, but little Qiao An quickly climbed onto her mother's thighs and was picked up by her.

"Auntie, you are so beautiful!" The little guy jumped for joy.

Qiao Lu held her son in one hand and rubbed her niece's hair with the other: "Minjuan is here. You are wearing a floral cotton blouse today. It's so beautiful. Did your mother buy it for you?"

Qiao Minjuan shook her head and pointed to the back: "My father bought it!"

In order to come to the city to attend the wedding, Qiao Guobin took her to the town a few days ago to buy ready-made clothes. Her mother said that the purchase of the clothes was not planned with the purchase of fabric, and she scolded her father after returning home. They could not make new clothes for the New Year this year, so this cotton jacket today was equivalent to a New Year's dress.

When she looked up again, she met the shocked eyes of her relatives and was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Uncle, aunt, auntie, auntie, uncle..." After shouting, he took a deep breath and said, "Dad, mom, brother, you must have come a long way and must be tired. Please sit down quickly. I'll go in and take a look. The food should be here soon."

"Okay, okay, it's been such a short time since we last met. You look so different now that you're married. I almost didn't recognize you."

"If Qiaoli hadn't told me, I would have thought I had seen it wrong."

"Yes, it has really changed a lot."

"It has to be the city's water-rich people, Qiao Lu. When you have time, introduce some people in the city to your cousin."

"Okay, I'll definitely do it if there's a chance." Qiao Lu responded one by one.

This was also the first time that Xu Haizhou saw his wife in new clothes and makeup. There was a flash of surprise in his eyes, and his steps were a little unsteady when he walked over.

"You look so pretty today. I was a little hesitant to recognize you just now."

When I held her hand, it was shaking. How nervous must she be? We were clearly sleeping in the same quilt, but now she looked like a young boy who had just had a kiss. It was so funny.

But since Xu Haizhou said so, it means Qiao Lu is really beautiful today. After all, the two have been together for so many days and have even seen her without clothes. No matter how beautiful she is, can she be as beautiful as she was at that time?

Ahem - please forgive me for accidentally filling my head with color waste again.

Xu Haizhou's Adam's apple rolled and he started to worry. Having a beautiful wife must be a kind of pressure.

Sad and happy.

At the wedding, Xu Haizhou got to know most of the Qiao family's relatives and introduced his friends to Qiao Lu.

There were five people in total, including Li Hongjun whom I met last time, three gay men and one lesbian. The lesbian was called Miao Hui, the wife of a gay man called Li Yu. Both of them were locals, selling shoes. They got married three years ago and had a half-year-old child.

When Xu Haizhou first came to Li'an, it was Li Yu who told him about the purchasing channels. Later, Xu Haizhou got to know Li Shunliang and bought a house for free.

The couple raised their glasses and toasted the newlyweds: "Sister-in-law!"

"Brother-in-law, a toast to you!"

Qiao Lu doesn't drink alcohol and can only drink tea instead. Fortunately, everyone has a very good relationship with each other, and there is no such person with bad character who will force you to drink.

After drinking a few cups of tea, I felt like going to the toilet.

After drinking, we teased Qiao Lu's son and everyone felt complicated.

Firstly, my friend got married and I was happy for him; secondly, his wife was a remarried woman with a baby, and anyone would have felt uncomfortable hearing this.

However, they all enthusiastically praised Qiao Lu for being so beautiful, Qiao An for being so cute and well-behaved, and praised Xu Haizhou for being so lucky. It was their first meeting, so no one could understand each other's personality and could only praise each other nonsensically.

Yang Lidong didn't think there was anything wrong with a remarried woman. She just noticed that Xu Haizhou's wife was so beautiful. Not only was she beautiful, she was also good at dressing herself up.

Yang Lidong is a petite man who wears a sheepskin hat and has the same hairstyle as Sheriff Yamura in "The Chase". He is not wearing a cotton jacket but a black suede coat, and a pair of flared pants that are narrow on the top and wide on the bottom. He doesn't even wear autumn pants underneath. I don't know how he can withstand the winter in Li'an City with such an outfit.

Then there was a pair of shiny big-toed leather shoes… Although he was only about 1.6 meters tall, he would be the type that would be noticed at first sight in a crowd because he was dressed quite “trendy”. Xu Haizhou said he was a clothes seller.

"Sister-in-law, I'll toast to you as well. I wish you and Haizhou a happy marriage." He chuckled, and his small facial features shrank into a ball, looking quite funny.

"Thank you."

After finishing a glass of wine, Yang Lidong looked up and down at Qiao Lu, with surprise in his eyes: "Haizhou, the dress your wife is wearing is really nice, where did you get it?"

If there is a source of supply, he would also like to buy a few pieces to try.

Xu Haizhou smiled and put his arm around his wife's shoulders: "It wasn't me who did it. She figured it out herself."

"What, you made it yourself?" So amazing? He had never seen anything like this style in the entire market of Li'an, but he had seen some Hong Kong and Taiwan videos where some Hong Kong and Taiwan stars wore this kind of clothes.

Qiao Lu smiled shyly: "I read a few books and just thought about it casually."

"Tsk, that's amazing."

Qiao Lu smiled and said nothing more.

Qiao An looked at this uncle named Yang Lidong and was a little scared of him. He was wearing a black leather jacket and had a strange hairstyle. He didn't look like a good person... The more he looked at him, the more scared he became. He held the juice and pushed it into Qiao Lu's arms.

Qiao Lu was busy toasting and entertaining guests at the moment, so she had no time to hug him and coax him. Seeing this, Xu Haizhou held the child in his arm with one hand and picked him up.

"Dad will introduce you to some uncles." He pointed at them one by one: "This is Uncle Li, this is Aunt Miao, this is Uncle Yang..."

When pointing to Uncle Yang, the kid obviously hugged his father's neck tightly, and looked at him timidly with his big misty eyes.

Yang Lidong was particularly enthusiastic, grinning from ear to ear: "Your name is Qiao An, right? Good little baby, next time you come to my stall, I'll give you new clothes for free."

"An An, thank your uncle quickly." Qiao Lu patted her son on the back and motioned him to speak.

The young man hugged Xu Haizhou tightly, looked at Yang Lidong and said, "My mother can make clothes."

Then he pointed at the cotton shirt on his body and raised his little face: "This is what my mother made for me."

As he was talking, he started to show off. The adults all laughed and said, "Uncle gave you clothes for free. You should take them. Your mother had to use your father's money to buy the fabrics to make clothes, right?"

"That's right, do you know how much a piece of clothing costs, little baby?"

"Then...then I don't want your clothes either, I have a dad." Dad will give money to mom, why should I want clothes given by others.

Mom once said that free things are the most valuable things, and they should not be greedy for cheap things.

The adults were amused: "This child is interesting. He doesn't even want the free clothes."

Everyone started laughing and the atmosphere became much better.

Li Hongjun was introduced here. He walked up with a wine glass and pinched Qiao An's tender face. His touch felt great.

"I don't need to introduce myself. He must know me." Li Hongjun winked at him: "Right, little darling."

The young man bit his lip, puffed up his cheeks, and said crisply: "I don't know you."

Phew——you really don’t give me any face at all.

Seeing Qiao An being held in Xu Haizhou's arms, Lu Xiuhua came over and said, "Let me take care of him. You guys go and toast him, and then we can have dinner."

"OK."

Xu Haizhou handed Qiao An over. Little Qiao An was not afraid of his grandmother. He became friendly with her and reached out to go into Lu Xiuhua's arms.

The last person I would like to introduce is Xu Haizhou’s fellow villager, a friend who went south with him five years ago. His name is Hou Caijun. He is about 1.78 meters tall and is 28 years old this year. He is three years older than Haizhou. The two have been friends since childhood. However, after coming to Li'an, he did not set up a stall like most people, but became a street vendor.

Look, most of the good things Xu Haizhou got were thanks to him.

In the early days of reform and opening up in the 1980s, during the period of the dual-track system of planned economy and market economy, some shrewd people took advantage of the asymmetry of market information to resell various materials in order to make a profit from the price difference, and were therefore nicknamed "scalpers".

The trader traded in everything, from small items like food stamps and meal tickets to big items like bicycles and electrical appliances. In the later stages of the era, he even reached the point of trading in airplanes!

Later, some speculators entered the European market, and some proposed to sell Notre Dame de Paris and the Eiffel Tower. Of course, this is not possible, but we still have to say that the times create heroes!

Qiao Lu looked at him curiously. Hou Caijun was very polite when he spoke, like a well-educated man. She didn't feel that he was a scoundrel at all. It seemed that she had a stereotype.

Hou Caijun smiled slightly and held up the wine glass with both hands: "I have always been curious about what kind of partner Haizhou would look for. Now it seems that you two are really a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman! Congratulations, I wish you a happy marriage and a son soon!"

"Thank you."

It was just the last word that made Qiao Lu feel a little embarrassed. Until now after getting married, she had indeed never considered the issue of having children, nor had she asked Xu Haizhou. She wondered what he was thinking.

Thinking of this, I tilted my head and glanced at him.

Receiving the signal from his wife, Xu Haizhou smiled slightly, held her hand and squeezed it gently: "What's wrong, are you tired?"

Qiao Lu shook her head, a faint smile hinting at the corners of her lips.

I'll have to go back and ask him tonight.

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