Xu Lai stood there for a while, and Zhao Qingyun followed her, walked to her side, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "You look beautiful today."
Xu Lai's thoughts were not on the same line as his. She looked at her outfit and said somewhat uneasyly, "Won't I steal the spotlight at someone else's wedding? Am I attracting attention there?"
Zhao Qingyun was stunned, then chuckled twice and said, "It's alright, very proper."
The village chief's house was only a few minutes' walk from theirs, and the whole village was decorated with lanterns and red lanterns, which showed how much the village chief's family valued this daughter-in-law.
As soon as Grandpa and Grandma arrived, someone pulled them aside to chat. Xu Lai handed the red envelope to the person in charge of accounting and registration, gave her grandfather's name, and then found a seat to sit down.
Ms. Yingqiu left a little late. Zhao Qingyun went to the male guests' side. The bride hadn't been brought back yet. The village chief gave him a firework tube and said, "Qingyun, help him out later."
Xu Lai was bored when someone set up a card table. It was a game called "Pao Hu Zi" that they often played around here. She knew a little bit of it, but she wasn't very good at it.
The group was one player short, and seeing Xu Lai sitting alone, they came over and pulled her aside: "Come on, let's play a couple of rounds together."
Xu Lai politely declined, saying, "I'm not very good at it, you guys do it."
The person who pulled her was the village chief's cousin from the next village. Xu Lai didn't know her and didn't know her temperament. If she was determined to bring you here, she would drag you onto the table no matter what.
Aunt Wang shouted loudly, "Whose new daughter-in-law is this? She doesn't even come to play cards. Why is she so unsociable?"
Xu Lai doesn't go back to her hometown often, so it's normal that Aunt Wang doesn't recognize her. Aunt Wang thinks she's pretty and that she's easy to bully, and that she wouldn't dare to talk back, so she speaks ill of her in public.
Just as Xu Lai was about to retort, a voice interrupted: "Isn't this Sister Wang? It's been so many years, why is your temper still so bad?"
Ms. Yingqiu was drinking tea when she heard the argument. She glanced over and discovered that the people involved were people she had disliked since their youth.
When Aunt Wang saw that the person speaking was Jiang Yingqiu, her momentum weakened. She had been overshadowed by Jiang Yingqiu when she was young, and now the next generation was no match for her son.
Xu Lai gave Ms. Yingqiu a grateful look. Her temper flared up after being teased by Aunt Wang. She looked at Aunt Wang and said, "I didn't want to offend you, but you're trying to embarrass me. Now that I'm in this situation, how can I not fight back?"
Xu Lai sat down on one side of the card table, gesturing to the other three card players. They all sat down one after another, trying to smooth things over: "It's okay if you don't know how. We're playing small hands, you won't lose too much."
Xu Lai chuckled lightly: "Then please, ladies and aunties, make way for me."
Xu Lai won the first round, and the others didn't look too happy. She blinked and said, "Sorry, maybe I'm a newbie and there's a protection period."
Aunt Wang won the second round, and she chuckled, "These people are still young, they don't know their own limitations."
Xu Lai didn't say anything, and Aunt Wang, feeling awkward, also stopped talking. Their card game was going well, and some people came over to watch. Xu Lai remained calm and won another round.
She mostly won more than she lost after that. In the last round, she won again. Aunt Wang reluctantly handed over the money, which Xu Lai accepted. She stood up and said, "Thank you all for your kindness today. Let's play again next time."
Aunt Wang wouldn't let her leave: "What do you mean? You think you can just leave after winning?"
Xu Lai pointed to the convoy approaching in the distance and said, "Aunt Wang, have you forgotten all about playing cards? Today is someone else's wedding. Do you think this is your card game? You should know when to play cards."
The onlookers around said, "That's right, this person is so inconsiderate. He's so old, yet he doesn't know any manners like a young person."
Feeling embarrassed by everyone's chatter, Aunt Wang made an excuse to go help out in the kitchen.
Once everyone had gathered around to look at the bride, Ms. Yingqiu came over and praised her, "Whose daughter are you? Do you have a boyfriend? Auntie is rooting for you. This is the first time I've seen a junior put her in such an awkward position."
Xu Lai turned her head and saw the aunt who had spoken up for her earlier. She had a very good demeanor, and it was clear that she lived a life of luxury.
She thanked him again: "Thank you so much for speaking up for me earlier."
Jiang Yingqiu leaned closer to listen to her voice and felt it sounded somewhat familiar, but she had never actually seen this girl before. She knew all the pretty girls in the village, but there were only a handful in total.
As the firecrackers went off, Xu Lai turned her head to look at the scene over there. The bride was being carried out of the car by the groom, and the two stood in front of the red carpet, walking step by step toward the stage that had been set up.
She inevitably thought of herself and Liang Xuzhou. It would be impossible for her not to have thought about their future at all. After being together for so many years, she had genuinely considered marrying him.
Unfortunately, her eyesight was poor, and she couldn't see the person's true face.
As she stood there lost in thought, Zhao Qingyun, who had already finished setting off the fireworks, walked up to her and said, "What are you thinking about?"
Xu Lai snapped out of her reverie and shook her head: "It's nothing, I just feel like time is flying by. How did I get so close to turning 30?"
Zhao Qingyun felt offended; he would be thirty after the Chinese New Year this year.
After Xu Lai finished speaking, she also thought of this question. She laughed and explained, "Sorry, sorry, I was just expressing my own feelings. It has nothing to do with you."
On the stage over there, they've already started serving tea to the bride's parents-in-law, and the bride is addressing them as "Mom and Dad," with the elders giving her a "change of address fee."
The emcee then asked, "How many children do you want to have in the future?" The bride seemed reluctant to answer, so the groom smoothed things over, saying, "We'll have as many as we want!"
When Xu Lai heard this question, she felt that the host was being somewhat offensive. She believed that a woman's value did not lie in how many children she had, and that she should not be confined to the small world of the family.
The final part was the bride throwing her bouquet. Many young people were pushed and shoved up to it, but Xu Lai stood still. Zhao Qingyun joked, "Why don't you give it a try?"
Xu Lai glanced at him, her tone calm yet lethal: "I think you need it more than I do."
Zhao Qingyun: ……
The bouquet eventually ended up in the hands of the bride's cousin, who accepted it gracefully and then handed it to her boyfriend. Everyone cheered, and Xu Lai watched the lively scene with a smile on her face.
After the ceremony, Xu Lai found a seat. She wanted to see where her grandparents were, but there were too many people, and she figured the village chief would arrange for them to sit near the front, so she decided not to go and join the crowd.
Zhao Qingyun is tall, and she spotted her grandmother and Grandma Xu at a glance. The two were sitting together chatting.
He was just about to find a seat when someone twisted his arm. Zhao Qingyun frowned: "Mom, can't you talk properly? Don't hit me!"
Jiang Yingqiu pulled him outside and asked, "At the wedding just now, who were you standing next to?"
Zhao Qingyun thought for a moment, then after setting off the fireworks, he looked for Xu Lai and replied, "Xu Lai, the granddaughter of Grandma Xu next door."
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