The eighth day of the first lunar month in 1984.
Chen Chun, 25 years old.
Zheng Haisheng, 25 years old.
Today is the day when two people get married.
At the beginning, both of them were among the worst-off students in school. Chen Chun fell into the darkest period of his life due to family changes and almost dropped out of school and went home to farm.
Zheng Haisheng's home was in one of the most remote mountainous areas of Juzhou. When he reported to the school, he wore Liberation shoes with his toes exposed. He could only eat the worst meals at school and had to use the money he saved to support his family.
But neither of them was defeated by life.
A cheerful person, he is the president of the student union, and after graduation he will be a reserve cadre in the hospital and a future academician.
He has an open-minded personality and seems low-key in school, but he actually has a high level of understanding and his academic performance is among the best in the school. He is also a future academician.
Two people are getting married today.
The eldest sister was getting married, and Chen Xia was the busiest person. Just when he was about to spend a lot of money and wanted to book the Xizi State Guesthouse for the wedding banquet, Chen Chun stopped him.
Chen Chun likes to enjoy herself moderately, but she is not a materialistic girl, so she overturned all the wedding plans prepared by Chen Xia.
It’s not that she has no money, she has nearly 100,000 Hong Kong dollars in her hand, but she really feels it’s unnecessary.
He didn't want anything like having 50 tables at the wedding banquet, using Minglu Villa as the wedding house, hiring a drum band, or driving a luxury car around the city, etc.
Chen Chun's request was very simple. The wedding banquet should be held in the hospital cafeteria, and only university classmates and teachers, some colleagues and hospital leaders should be invited. It should be simple, with no more than 10 tables in total.
The wedding room was in the 60-square-meter house in Qingchun Community. It was fully equipped with home appliances such as color TV and refrigerator, and there was no need to buy anything extra. The only extra thing was the bright red bed sheets and quilt covers given by Gu Lin.
She and Zheng Haisheng even planned to treat Minglu as her mother's home (after all, it was her brother's house), and then take a few bicycles to Qingchun Community. It would be simple and easy.
Chen Xia disagreed. Marriage is a lifelong commitment, so why keep it so low-key? But he couldn't persuade his elder sister, but he still had one last stubborn thought: the wedding car must be prepared.
On the wedding day, when Chen Xia appeared in everyone's sight driving a red Toyota Land Cruiser LC60 SUV, everyone was as surprised as if they had seen a UFO.
These days, the styles of Chinese cars are very monotonous. The better ones are Volga, and the worse ones are 212 jeeps. They are either black or white, and at most military green.
The Santana rolled off the production line, but it wasn't available to the public right after it was produced. And honestly, can the Santana compare to the Land Cruiser? Just like how the Jetta can compare to the Prado, they're two different classes.
One is a sedan and the other is an off-road vehicle. They have different models, different appearances, and different controls. Besides, off-road vehicles look more impressive.
How could the Chinese people in 1984 have ever seen such a mainstream off-road vehicle from Japan?
The body of the car looks so big and majestic, and it looks very impressive no matter how you look at it. The key is that the color is still that flashy dark red. I guess there are only a few of them in the whole of China.
Those waiting in Minglu were all Chen Chun's colleagues and classmates. They were all young people, and who didn't love cars? So the bride ignored them and everyone gathered around Chen Xia's SUV to look at it curiously.
Chen Xia stopped the car, and then grandma, father-in-law, mother-in-law, Gu Lin, Chen Qiu, and Chen Dong all got out of the car. The 7-seater car was so spacious that everyone's eyes widened and their mouths were wide open.
In fact, Dean Gu, who was sitting in the car, was also very satisfied with the car. The space, the air conditioning, the shock absorbers, and the sound insulation were completely incomparable to the 212 jeep in the hospital.
The 50-odd kilometers from Yuezhou to Lin'an would take two hours if using an old small jeep, but this Land Cruiser arrived in less than an hour. The acceleration and the push-back feeling are amazing.
It’s such a pleasure to ride in this car.
Chen Xia opened all four doors and said, "Come on, don't just stand around and watch. If you're interested, get in and try it out. If you can drive, you can go for a few laps around West Lake."
He wasn't worried about any negative consequences from this "stolen" car. In fact, car smuggling on that southern island was rampant these days. What kind of car model was not available in China? It was just a matter of quantity.
In this era, it is not difficult to get a license plate and ID card if you have a car and use your connections. This would be unimaginable in 2020.
Take Chen Xia's flashy off-road vehicle for example. It has a regular license plate. If he wanted to be more arrogant, he could ask his two brothers-in-law for a pair of military license plates. It seems that this was quite popular in the 1980s and 1990s.
If you ask Chen Xia where he got this car, he will definitely tell you that he has a grandfather in Hong Kong who loved his grandson and bought him this big toy.
Is this reason sufficient?
When Chen Xia walked into Minglu, the living room was already full of people. Because they were hosting a wedding, all the experimental equipment had been put away and hidden on the third floor. Once the big iron door was closed, no one knew about it.
Xiangjiang's great-grandfather, great-aunt, and great-aunt's family all came back this time. One came to attend Chen Chun's wedding, and the other came for a "business inspection."
Xiangjiang Pumpkin Vine Pharmaceutical Company will formally apply to invest and set up a factory in Yuezhou after the new year. This is also something that Chen Xia and Chen Shuqin have discussed.
Zhan Aiju, Fang Meizhen and Shen Huishan are today's bridesmaids. They are dressing up the bride Chen Chun together in the master bedroom on the second floor. Chen Xia went in and took a look.
"Eh, the aesthetic standards these days are really beyond words. Fortunately, Gu Lin listened to him and didn't wear heavy makeup."
Chen Chun's face was rubbed red, and he had an ugly perm. He was wearing a red wool coat that he bought in Japan.
In the eyes of Zhan Aiju and the others, this outfit was extremely fashionable and beautiful.
But in Chen Xia's eyes, it looked so unfashionable. Luckily, he still had a bit of brains and didn't blurt out the words. If he had, he would have been crippled by them.
Minglu was filled with joy at this time, with even speakers blaring pop songs and a wide variety of snacks on the table. People in this era still had some dignity, so everyone politely avoided taking anything.
This happens in some rural areas. The old ladies have already snatched up all the food and don’t even leave a plate for you.
In the afternoon, Zheng Haisheng brought a group of male classmates to welcome the bride.
As a brother-in-law, of course I have to say a few words to my brother-in-law. This seems to be a necessary procedure.
Everyone gathered together, eager to hear whether Chen Xia wanted to "warn" her brother-in-law to show off her mother's family's power.
Chen Xia held it in for a long time before saying, "Brother-in-law, if my sister bullies you in the future, tell me and I'll help you teach her a lesson."
Everyone fell down, and Chen Chun was so angry that he stepped on the foot of his hateful brother.
The great grandfather and old man Gu laughed even louder. After all, it was good enough that Zheng Haisheng was such an honest child and was not bullied.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
