Although the Sun family did not release any poison gas tonight in order to maintain harmony within the compound, the Yan family, who lived not far away, still smelled the fragrance.
"Wow! It smells so good! I wish I could have a bite!"
Yan Jiekuang sniffed and said with relish.
The people around him nodded in agreement.
"Honey, I didn't smell anything while you were cooking. What did you eat?"
"That's where their brilliance lies. If you filled the yard with fragrance every day, someone would have reported you long ago."
Yan Bugui explained to everyone.
"Dad, isn't he afraid of being reported for what he does?"
Yan Jiecheng asked, puzzled.
If possible, he wouldn't mind going there so that everyone could have peace of mind.
"Of course I'm scared, but by the time you report it, they'll have eaten every last crumb. Do you have any evidence?"
Seeing that his wish had not come true, Yan Jiecheng said with a grin.
"Dad, look at other people, and then look at our family. How about we get a couple more pickled vegetables? It would be a good way to improve our meals."
"Don't even think about it. With this smell, wouldn't cornbread taste better? I don't know who you took after? You didn't learn any of your father's thriftiness."
Seeing this, Zhou Tiemei quickly put the two pieces of pickled vegetables she had just received into Yan Jiecheng's bowl.
"Jiecheng, you need to go out and work. You can have these two pickled vegetables!"
Although the Yan family has many faults, it depends on who you compare them to.
When they were fleeing famine, they would fight over even the roots of grass to eat, so she was already very satisfied with the life she had now.
Yan Jiecheng didn't stand on ceremony. He quickly ate two pieces of pickled vegetables with his chopsticks, without even tasting them.
While the Yan family was arguing over two pickled vegetables, the Sun family had already finished their dinner.
Just as Yan Bugui said, there wasn't even a crumb left on the table.
"Zhengguo, rest for a while, then send Xiaowei back! So as not to worry your mother-in-law."
Lin Wencui said as she wiped the table.
Although she wanted to keep her daughter-in-law, she knew it was impossible.
"Okay! I'll go right away."
Sun Zhengguo didn't wait long and prepared to send Ning Xiaowei home. Since the marriage proposal was coming up soon, he wanted to make a good impression on his future mother-in-law.
The two left the compound and arrived at the Ning family's house. Wang Guiying was very happy to see her daughter return and insisted that Sun Zhengguo come in and sit down.
Sun Zhengguo didn't plan to go inside. He just told Wang Guiying that he would come to propose marriage in two days and then returned to the courtyard house.
The next morning, Sun Zhengguo went to the backyard; he had something to ask Aunt Chen.
"Hey! Zhengguo, did you need something?"
Just as Aunt Chen was about to leave, she ran into Sun Zhengguo and asked him a question.
"Aunt Chen, I'd like to ask what items I should bring when proposing marriage?"
When Sun Zhengguo asked this question, Aunt Chen got excited and brought out two stools from the house.
After the two sat down, Aunt Chen began to speak.
"There are many rules to follow when proposing marriage. The gifts usually include four kinds of gifts: cigarettes, alcohol, tea, and candy; sweets such as wedding cakes, pastries, red dates, and lotus seeds; and gift boxes of cakes and apples. The gifts must be in even numbers, symbolizing that the couple will be together."
Upon hearing that so many items were needed, Sun Zhengguo also expressed his headache. It wasn't that he couldn't gather them all, but rather that gathering them all would seem too ostentatious.
"What's wrong? Having trouble? These things are not easy to handle, are they?"
Sun Zhengguo pretended to be embarrassed and nodded.
"Pfft!"
"What I just said were all traditional sayings. These days, who cares about such things? Just throwing together a few things is good enough. Look at Zheng Dong's marriage proposal, how well it was done."
Aunt Chen's words enlightened Sun Zhengguo, and he immediately had an idea.
"Thank you so much! I know what to do now. You're busy, I'll go and get ready."
After leaving the backyard and returning home, Sun Zhengguo found some pastry vouchers, pushed his bicycle, and went out the door.
Arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative, Sun Zhengguo saw that there weren't many kinds of pastries, so he bought two jin of peach shortbread, which was enough for him.
He had already planned it out. With these two pounds of peach shortbread, he would also take out some cigarettes, alcohol, apples, tea, and sugar from his storage space. This way, he wouldn't appear ostentatious, but he would still have face.
An hour later, when Sun Zhengguo returned to the courtyard house, the car was already full of bags and packages.
Yan Bugui saw it, his eyes gleaming, and immediately went to greet him.
"Jung-guk, why did you buy so much stuff?"
"Uncle, I'm going to Xiaowei's house to propose marriage tomorrow. I can't go empty-handed, can I? These are all the gifts I've prepared."
Sun Zhengguo didn't hide anything and directly explained the reason, so that the old bastard wouldn't covet his things.
"Oh! Congratulations! You've gotten married so quickly. No young man in this compound can compare to you."
"Thank you for your kind words! Uncle, you're busy, I'll head back now."
Sun Zhengguo was no longer going to waste words. He had a feeling that something was off about Yan Bugui. Could it be that he was up to something again?
"Don't rush! Zhengguo, I need to talk to you about something."
Sure enough, they started making demands.
However, Sun Zhengguo was not flustered at all. These were all gifts for the marriage proposal, and he did not believe that Yan Bugui would have the nerve to ask for them.
"Third Uncle, tell me, what's the matter?"
“Zhengguo, I know you are a capable person. Of all the young people in this courtyard, you are the one I have the most faith in…”
"Wait, Uncle, just say what you want to say. What are you trying to say after going through all this trouble?"
Yan Bugui had originally intended to offer some praise, but Sun Zhengguo had already grown impatient, so Yan Bugui quickly got down to business.
"Okay! Then I'll get straight to the point, Zhengguo. I see you have a lot of connections, and I'd like to ask you to help me buy some sweet potatoes, cornmeal, or something like that. I don't know...?"
Sun Zhengguo hadn't expected that Yan Bugui was so observant; he must have been watching him for a long time.
But we can't open that door!
Although these things may be insignificant to him, once you've done it once, you'll do it again. Next time someone needs help, will you help them or not?
In short, there are too many people who need help, and you can't help them all.
"Uncle, that's easy. You can buy tickets anywhere with these tickets."
Knowing full well that Yan Bugui did not mean that, Sun Zhengguo chose to play dumb.
"No, Zhengguo, what I mean is that I'm willing to pay for it even if it's a little more expensive, without needing a ticket."
"No ticket required? Uncle, are you sure you're not joking? There's a place like this? Could you tell me about it?"
Seeing that Sun Zhengguo was not taking the bait, Yan Bugui was also very helpless. He couldn't very well break off relations and say, "I've been watching you for a long time. With the ration coupons allocated to your family, you simply couldn't buy so many things."
If he did that, he would offend too many people. After all, no one in this compound has a clean past, including Yan Bugui.
"Sigh! Never mind, since you can't figure it out either, I'll just have to think of a way myself!"
"Okay! You go ahead with your work, I'll go home now."
After leaving the gate and returning home, Sun Zhengguo sat alone on a stool and began to reflect.
Today's incident with Yan Bugui served as a wake-up call for him. Many of the things he had done simply couldn't withstand scrutiny; a little attention would reveal numerous flaws.
Consider that this is only the first year of the famine. In the next year or the year after, some people will go crazy from hunger and will definitely do some irrational things.
"Sigh! It seems I should get married as soon as possible, move out of this courtyard, and get as far away from this whirlpool as possible!"
Sun Zhengguo sighed.
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