Chapter 78 Chapter 78 Trivial matters before the New Year.
Li Xiaoqing gave an affirmative answer, and Liu Suqin knew that her guess was correct. The other party was from a famous coastal city.
No wonder Lin Quansheng was determined to live with his wife's parents in his previous life, and the house he bought for his two sons was also in the local city.
Although the neighboring Guangdong Province is as poor as their Gan Province, don't laugh at me, but Li Xiaoqing's hometown is one of the popular tourist cities, and the development there is definitely better than their hometown. Ordinary people may not be able to catch up with this kind of bonus, but at least the scenery there is beautiful, the climate is pleasant, and the consumption is not as high as in other coastal cities. The comprehensive conditions are very suitable for long-term settlement.
Thinking of this, Liu Suqin couldn't help but look at Lin Quansheng again, thinking that this boy was so lucky to marry the right person.
This time, Lin Quansheng finally did not miss her sight.
Unfortunately, he couldn't understand even after looking at each other, so he could only ask curiously, "Sister-in-law, do you also know Xiaoqing's hometown?"
Liu Suqin said casually, "I don't remember hearing anyone mention that place, but I've been very interested. I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that Xiaoqing is from there. Is your hometown particularly beautiful and comfortable? Is it much cooler than Shenzhen in the summer?"
"Yes, during the hottest days of the year, we slept on bamboo mats in the yard, and had to cover our stomachs to avoid catching a cold."
Liu Suqin asked excitedly, "Have you ever been to the island? I heard it's very quiet and beautiful, with the sea as clean and clear as glass. Daytime and nighttime are two completely different beauties. The seafood there is also delicious, affordable, and abundant in variety. Oh, and there are buildings on the island from the last century..."
She just said that she didn't remember who told her these things, which was obviously just a perfunctory excuse. Liu Suqin remembered it very clearly, but she just couldn't tell them that these were shared by Li Hong in her previous life.
Li Hong lived a carefree life as a single mother during those years. During the winter and summer holidays, when the stationery store was deserted, she would close it for a while and take her children on a road trip, visiting all the major tourist attractions in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Later, when the children gradually started working and there were no more winter and summer holidays, Li Hong retired completely, flying around the country with just a suitcase in hand.
The year they reconnected, Li Hong was planning to stay on the island for a while and invited her to go with her, but Liu Suqin refused. Li Hong later went there alone with her luggage and live-streamed the whole trip on WeChat, taking her on a cloud tour, which made Liu Suqin know these attractions like the back of her hand.
In fact, she now couldn't understand why she envied Li Hong's elegance from the bottom of her heart, but at the same time rejected her invitation.
Li Hong is not a spendthrift. She focuses on traveling economically, avoiding the peak tourist season, and making food and accommodation very convenient. A trip costs at most three to five thousand yuan. She has this money, and the salary Lin Nanjiang submits every month is more than enough for her. He should not object to her going out for fun occasionally.
But on second thought, she had no income at that time, and Lin Nanjiang would eventually get too old to work, and her sons and daughters were all left with no place to go. If she didn't save some money for their funeral, she would probably be so anxious that she couldn't sleep at night.
It all comes down to poverty. If she had one or two million in her card at the time, she would definitely not have suffered so much.
As she thought about it, Liu Suqin put aside the resentment of her previous life and concentrated on asking Li Xiaoqing about the situation in her hometown. She thought that once she found out the details, she could take her good sisters to travel on the island in this life.
However, the two of them were chatting so lively that they unknowingly piqued the interest of others. Everyone surrounded Li Xiaoqing and asked questions at once, and the atmosphere was very lively.
Li Xiaoqing was not one to shy away from the crowd, and when the conversation got heated, he directly extended an invitation, "Hey, if you have the chance to visit us, I'll treat you to an all-you-can-eat seafood dinner."
"That's a deal then." Lin Nanjiang agreed with a smile, and took the opportunity to help his good brother get some benefits. "Quansheng is going back with you this year, so you can take him around first. When we go back later, we can learn from your experience."
Li Xiaoqing was successfully fooled and nodded in agreement, "That makes sense. Then I'll take Brother Quansheng on a tour first, and then I'll accompany you to see the most beautiful attractions later."
Lin Nanjiang nodded in approval and gave his good friend a smug look, hiding his achievements and fame.
Putting aside some people's petty schemes, the meeting was quite perfect. Everyone chatted enthusiastically and there was no dull moment from beginning to end. The meal was even more enjoyable. The table was full of delicious food. Liu Suqin cooked the egg yolk baked chicken wings herself using the salted duck eggs brought by Li Xiaoqing. It also won unanimous praise from the female compatriots and was the dish that was cleared out the fastest on the table.
Well, this female compatriot also includes Xiao Fangfang who is almost two years old.
Since this dish was added at the last minute, there was not much time to marinate the chicken wings after they were thawed. In order to make it easier for them to absorb the flavor, Liu Suqin used scissors to cut each chicken wing in half vertically.
While eating, she saw that all the adults were eating chicken wings, but her little bowl was empty. The child immediately locked her eyes on her old father who was holding her in one hand while eating. She turned her head and looked at him pitifully with her delicate and sweet little face, blinking her big watery eyes, and called out "Daddy, Daddy" and "Baby wants chicken wings~" in a baby voice, which almost melted Lin Nanjiang's heart.
This is the sweet and soft little princess he has always dreamed of. The dad was so moved that tears filled his eyes. His mind was hot, and when he came to his senses, he had already put a piece of chicken wing into his daughter's bowl.
The little guy was so anxious that he didn't even want the chopsticks. He just grabbed the food and started chewing it. It seemed that there was no way to snatch the food from the tiger's mouth. Besides, Lin Nanjiang couldn't bear it, so he carefully observed his wife's reaction.
The look in his eyes made Liu Suqin speechless. She thought that he was worried about his crying daughter. Could it be that she was some kind of cruel stepmother?
She didn't stop him from picking up the food, so how could she stop the little guy when he was eating happily?
"Okay, if my daughter wants to eat, let her have this small piece. Don't give her any more after she finishes it. Too much salt is not good for her."
"Okay, okay." This sentence not only made Lin Nanjiang feel at ease, but also made the few people present except Li Xiaoqing secretly breathe a sigh of relief and continue to eat without making a sound.
As soon as she relaxed, Qian Juxiang piled Li Xiaoqing's bowl with food again. "Xiao Li, we're family from now on. Don't be shy when you come to our house. Eat more food. Try these prawns. We also have spare ribs, boiled chicken, and pickled pepper beef. It's sour and spicy, so it should be more in line with the taste of your hometown. Come on, eat as much as you like."
While her grandmother and her new aunt were exchanging pleasantries, Xiao Fangfang had already quickly finished half a chicken wing with egg yolk. Perhaps because the food she begged for was more delicious, she not only ate it cleanly, but even chewed the bones three times, cherishing them very much. It was Lin Nanjiang who snatched the chicken bones away before the mother noticed and promptly threw them into the trash to eliminate any traces. He then peeled a large shrimp and put it in his daughter's bowl, coaxing her, "Dear, have this. It's your favorite shrimp too."
Xiao Fangfang is a generous child. She was not angry when her precious chicken bones were thrown away. When faced with the prawns that her father gave as compensation, she found that it tasted better when eaten with her hands. So she stretched out her chubby little hands with a few fleshy dimples to the elder again, uttered the word "thank you" crisply, and continued to eat seriously with a big mouthful of cry. However, she didn't know that her baby voice, expression and movements once again made her old father so cute that he couldn't tell east from west.
After eating and drinking, everyone returned to the living room to watch TV and chat. After both hosts and guests had a great time, Liu Suqin and Lin Nanjiang took Xiao Fangfang, and the three of them personally and warmly sent the guest downstairs and watched her sit on the back seat of the motorcycle.
Li Xiaoqing's face shared the same reluctance to leave as theirs. Before getting in the car, she returned to hug little Fangfang. "Our sweetheart is so beautiful! She's a hundred times cuter than the photo Quansheng showed me. She's truly the cutest child. I can't bear to let her go! Fangfang, please remember your auntie too. I'll bring you some delicious treats next time you visit."
"Auntie, be good." Little Fangfang imitated her parents, patting her aunt like a little adult, reluctant to let go. Liu Suqin and Lin Nanjiang hurriedly extended an invitation, hoping that Li Xiaoqing would come and visit often when she was free.
"Okay, I'll come and visit you guys when I have a holiday." Li Xiaoqing responded loudly. However, the next time she came to visit was the day before she was going to take Lin Quansheng back to her hometown.
It’s not that Li Xiaoqing didn’t want to fulfill her promise. She actually wanted to come several times, but Lin Quansheng and the others became busier and busier as the year drew to a close, and they no longer had time to pick her up in the city.
She was a little hesitant to let Li Xiaoqing come by herself, and she was worried that Liu Suqin and the others were equally busy, and she might cause them trouble if she went there. So every time she talked to Lin Quansheng, she swallowed the words back on the tip of her tongue, and instead told him to take care of himself, and she was waiting to go see Xiao Fangfang with him.
I waited until they closed down before the New Year.
The wages in factories outside the customs are relatively lower, and the workers are not so competitive. The holidays there are generally earlier before the New Year. Li Xiaoqing works in the factory of her good friend's sister and brother-in-law. It is a small factory and there is no need for too many people to stay in the factory for the New Year. The boss and his wife bring a group of close relatives to stay, which is enough to get through the Spring Festival.
If it weren't for waiting for Lin Quansheng, Li Xiaoqing would have gone home with his fellow villagers long ago.
Lin Quansheng did not let her down. He worked hard moving bricks before the New Year and worked non-stop for a whole month and a half. Even after closing the business, he did not stop for a moment. The next day, he went straight to pick up his girlfriend and bring her to the city. He planned to stay at Liu Suqin's place for one night and then catch the train on the third morning.
In order to accommodate Lin Quansheng's schedule, Liu Suqin stayed up all night on the night they closed their business, waiting for them to close their stall and go home, and sorted out their accounts for the past year in one go.
Yes, since Lin Quansheng bought a car and a house, he has been living comfortably again. He only receives his monthly salary from the store for living expenses and dating funds. The dividends for most of the year have been untouched in Liu Suqin's passbook. Adding the income from the golden period before the New Year, his share has reached 70,000 or 80,000.
Fortunately, Liu Suqin was used to being careful. Regardless of whether Lin Quansheng wanted to share the money or not, she calculated their accounts clearly every month and asked the two of them to confirm on the spot that there was no problem. Therefore, the accounting before the New Year was also very simple. After calculating the numbers for each month, she used a calculator to add the numbers for the previous months and wrote down the resulting numbers in a small notebook. She then handed the account book to the two of them for final verification and confirmation.
Lin Nanjiang only took one look and smiled, "Wife, what you calculated is what I calculated."
Lin Quansheng also got used to it and began to reconcile the accounts silently.
Liu Suqin didn't let Lin Nanjiang sit idle either. She handed him the passbook that was almost becoming a public account and said, "Take this and go to the bank with Brother Quansheng to withdraw the dividend to him early tomorrow. I still have to go to work, so I won't be with you."
Lin Quansheng's so-called reconciliation was just a matter of pressing a button on a calculator, and the numbers would all match. He immediately joined the couple's conversation, "I'm not going either. I still have to go pick up Xiaoqing. Nanjiang, you can just transfer the money directly to my account."
Lin Nanjiang was about to urge his wife to go back to bed early when he was interrupted by his words, "Do you want to deposit the money into your account together, or open a separate passbook and put the betrothal gift you plan to give to your wife in the new passbook? By the way, have you decided how much the betrothal gift will be? You don't plan to use all your wealth to marry your wife, do you?"
Lin Quansheng quickly shook his head in denial, then said seriously, "I was just about to discuss this with you. After my last visit to your house, I told Xiaoqing everything about our family situation on the way back. She also explained everything to her parents bit by bit. Her family said that as long as I'm not seriously ill and I'm genuinely good to Xiaoqing, they can let it go and hold the wedding in a few years. Of course, I have to make sure she doesn't suffer any hardship in my house."
"Really? You're so lucky to have a mother-in-law who doesn't make things difficult for you and instead cares about you so much." Lin Nanjiang said enviously.
Even though he seems to be doted on by his father-in-law and mother-in-law now, and the two elders are even kinder and gentler to him than to his wife, he also suffered a lot of difficulties and grievances when he first visited them.
The mother-in-law and sisters-in-law tried to test him in various ways, or made threats with both explicit praise and implicit criticism; the taciturn father-in-law and his two brothers-in-law tried their best to get him drunk, and they were determined not to stop until he drank to death; even his nephew Liu Qiang, who was only half a person's height, didn't know who had instigated him, but he ran up to him and said a lot of harsh words, waving his little fists and saying that if he treated his aunt badly, he would bring his friends to beat him up.
All in all, the whole family almost treated him as a nobody. Marrying a wife was like going through five levels and killing six generals. It was the first time in his life that Lin Nanjiang felt that life was not easy.
Later, when he had a sweet and soft little daughter, he deeply understood the feelings of his mother-in-law and others at the time. If his daughter had such a day, he would definitely be much more ruthless than his father-in-law. He alone could be worth thousands of troops.
But when it was his brother's turn to meet his mother-in-law, he felt a completely different mood. As the saying goes, one is afraid of his brother's suffering, and he is also afraid of his brother driving a Land Rover while he himself has been through the rain. How can a good brother not be exposed to the wind and rain? He has caught up with all the good things. Lin Nanjiang's defenses have been slightly broken.
Liu Suqin ignored his unbalanced look, but she also agreed with what he said. The fact that Lin Quansheng had willingly been a half-son-in-law in his previous life, wholeheartedly caring for his father-in-law and mother-in-law, showed that the two elders of the Li family were kind people. She smiled and said, "That's great! It seems that your trip will be smooth sailing."
Lin Quansheng also grinned and continued to talk about his plan. "Although they are understanding, I don't want to let Xiaoqing down. Or rather, my family's current situation is already a kind of injustice. I should at least give more betrothal gifts as compensation. It's not like I don't have the conditions. So I plan to offer 18,888. Do you think it's okay?"
Liu Suqin was the first to express her opinion, "I think this number is good, both respectable and auspicious. Xiaoqing has this much betrothal gift, which should be the first of its kind in their area."
Compared to the in-laws' family, the betrothal gift is more attractive. It gives you both face and money. After all, you won't be living with your in-laws after marriage, so you don't have to worry too much about it.
Lin Nanjiang also sighed, "That's right. Many people in my hometown don't even have a betrothal gift. My family just followed the crowd and gave a thousand yuan. With the money I saved privately to buy Suqin the three golds, it looked a little more presentable. But you're still lucky now. A betrothal gift of eighteen thousand yuan, wouldn't it be the best anywhere? It's comparable to the eighteen-man sedan chair on TV."
It has only been three or four years since they got married, and his good friend is getting married in such a grand manner. While Lin Nanjiang is happy for him, he also feels guilty for having wronged his wife in the past.
But Liu Suqin herself didn't feel wronged. At least when she married him, she was happy and full of expectations and yearning for the outsiders. She didn't have as many delicate feelings as Lin Nanjiang. Seeing that Lin Quansheng had completely made up his mind after their approval, Liu Suqin half-jokingly said, "Look, you earned back the betrothal money in just two months. Why are you working so hard during this period? Are you trying to marry more women?"
"Hehe." Lin Quansheng touched the back of his head and said shyly but firmly, "When I come back after the New Year, I'll be lucky if I can have 50,000 or 60,000 yuan left. I'll work hard for another year next year and try to buy a house here."
Before the two of them could ask more curiously, Lin Quansheng took the initiative to explain, "I used to think you were planning to buy commercial housing to live better, so I didn't consider the idea of becoming neighbors. But you two are determined to live here until Fangfang goes to school, so if I work hard, there's still hope that this dream will come true. And this neighborhood is great in every way, especially yours and the two buildings next door. They're all large apartments, perfect for a whole family to live in after you have children..."
Lin Quansheng rambled on and on about his considerations, and Lin Nanjiang nodded in agreement. "That's right, your place is suitable for a newlywed couple. After you have children, you should move to a bigger house. Suqin carefully selected our neighborhood, even taking into account the children's future schooling. It's right for you to move here."
"Yeah, I don't have much vision or ambition myself, but I do know that it's not wrong to emulate the boss lady."
Lin Nanjiang gave his good friend a thumbs-up, confirming his idea, and then asked, "Are you planning to buy a house here next year or the year after? The later you come, the more expensive it might be."
Lin Quansheng said that he understood the market and was mentally prepared, and he would not lose money if he bought it anyway.
Liu Suqin also spoke up and flattered him, "They also said you had no vision or ambition. If you really had no ambition, you would have been completely flattened by now, and there was no way you would even be thinking about buying a house."
Honestly, bank interest rates are quite attractive right now, so it's perfectly natural for Lin Quansheng to want to save more money to earn the interest and retire soon. But he still wants to emulate her, which shows that he trusts her choices and isn't completely without motivation.
In short, Liu Suqin increasingly felt that Lin Quansheng had a good personality. While complementing Lin Nanjiang, the two were also growing together.
Let me put it this way, as long as the two of them are in step with each other, their cooperation can continue. Lin Quansheng will be in trouble if he remains completely unchanged. The gap is the beginning of the disagreement.
So both publicly and privately, Liu Suqin is very happy to see the current situation.
After she finished speaking, she stood up and stretched. "Okay, you two are free this year. Take your time chatting. There's plenty of time to catch up on sleep tomorrow anyway. I'm going back to bed first."
"Go ahead." Lin Nanjiang nodded quickly, and Lin Quansheng asked with concern, "When will you have your holiday?"
"Out-of-town employees can take a few more days off and arrange their own time. I can take a vacation after working four more days." Liu Suqin paused and said, "By the way, Brother Quansheng, I don't have time to buy the things you asked me to help you with. I asked my mother to buy them all and put them on the cabinet in the entrance. Those bags are all yours, remember to take them when you go back."
When Lin Quansheng met his mother-in-law for the first time, he was very sincere and even thought of a gift. As for what to buy specifically, he said he was completely clueless and had no time to buy it himself, so he entrusted it to the boss lady who was in charge of their logistics.
Unfortunately, Liu Suqin was also busy this year, so she outsourced the work to her mother again, along with the New Year's goods that her family had to prepare.
Of course, Liu Suqin was still more reliable. Before outsourcing, she gave Qian Juxiang a list and asked her to buy according to the list. In addition, the list of gifts for Lin Quansheng was written down after discussing it with him first.
Upon hearing this, Lin Quansheng immediately stood up and reached into his pocket. "Great! You and Aunt Qian really helped me solve a big problem. How much did it cost in total? I'll give it to you directly."
Liu Suqin and Lin Nanjiang both refused out loud, but Lin Quansheng was very persistent. "Let's put it this way. My sister-in-law often buys things for me. When have you ever been polite? But this time, I'm preparing things for Xiaoqing's parents and sister. Not to mention the large amount of things, even if the price was very cheap, there's no reason for you to pay for it."
"That's right. Honoring your mother-in-law must be a gesture of your own will." Lin Nanjiang joked. Liu Suqin also responded by giving a figure and then waved her hand. "If you insist on giving it, then give it to Nanjiang as his pocket money."
After saying that, she yawned and went back to her room and fell asleep. As for what the two talked about after she left and how long they talked, Liu Suqin had no idea at all. When she got up the next day, the person next to her was sleeping soundly, obviously very tired.
However, when Liu Suqin finished her work at noon and walked to the photo studio, she saw Lin Nanjiang sitting on a motorcycle, waving at her with high spirits, "Wife, I'm here to take you home for dinner."
After successfully picking up his wife, Lin Nanjiang rode his bike home, actively taking credit for himself. "I finished my business at the bank this morning, and Quansheng also picked up Xiao Li. Wife, you just need to go to work these days and don't worry about anything else. I'll take care of everything, so don't worry."
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