Chapter 377: I Can't See Anything
Because of Li Laiyu's matter, Li Guangwen went to Hu Xinghong's house after dinner and sat for a while.
He didn't interact much with the production team. Hu Xinghong was the production team leader, and they lived in the same compound. Even in the most difficult times, they had to interact. Moreover, things had gradually improved over the past few years, and he was more considerate of him, so they got along well.
He didn't want to ask for too much when it came to engagement, as too many requests would make people think he was selling his niece. But he couldn't not ask for anything either, lest the other party look down on their family.
Hu Xinghong wasn't entirely clear on this either. Li Guangwen already knew what he knew, so he could only say, "No, you should ask Lai Yu first to see what she means."
"When are you going to do this?"
Li Guangwen said, "Probably tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Today is the 28th, and they can't stay here for long. I asked around, and they said they have to leave on the second day of the Lunar New Year. This is just a formality."
Hu Xinghong said, "Then let's just go through the motions. Invite a few of your elders to sit with you for a while and see how they react. If you want me to talk about this, talk to Lai Yu first. As long as she's willing and happy, any reaction from her is fine. They're from big cities, and they're all educated people. There's no way they're so stingy. They can't possibly be worse than us local mountain people, right?"
Li Guangwen nodded, finally understanding what was going on.
Hu Xinghong laughed and said, "Lai Yu is quite capable. He didn't go to school before, but he was admitted to a university in the capital. Even now, no one dares to believe it when he talks about it."
"I think the guy they found is pretty good, a good match for her, and his parents seem kind. If they didn't like Lai Yu, they wouldn't have come all the way here." Lai Yu had no parents, and although Li Guangwen was her uncle, he couldn't be compared to her biological parents. They were similar, so they wouldn't care about it at all. It was so far away, and no one could say anything if she didn't come.
"After getting married, I'll really become a city dweller!"
Li Guangwen smiled and said, "If we don't marry him, we will be city dwellers now."
His household registration changed when he went to university. Li Laiyu's household registration was originally in the capital, so what Li Guangwen said was not false at all.
"Haha, you see, I forgot while I was talking. Yes, Lai Yu is originally a city dweller."
After breakfast, Li Lai Yu did not go out. He put on an apron and sleeves to prepare some dough to steam some buns, and then cook some bacon.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and even if she is not good at cooking, she has to prepare.
Li Guangwen originally planned to steam buns, so he soaked the dough the day before. Now he just had to knead the dough and let it rise in the hot pot.
Xu Guoliang took Wang Mengfang out for a walk, and Xu Qingming helped her at home.
I watched her knead the dough and leaned over to ask, "Can you do it?"
Li Laiyu said: "I still know how to make steamed buns with leavened dough. I can steam them after it has risen. But I can't guarantee whether they will taste good or not." In the past, I just thought about filling my stomach, and whether they tasted good or not was not that important.
She was also very puzzled. She could learn anything else quickly, but when it came to cooking, she had no idea how to do it. No matter how hard she tried, it was always unsatisfactory.
Xu laughed, took off his coat and draped it over the back of a chair, rolled up his sleeves and said, "Forget it, I'll do it! It's freezing cold, and even kneading dough will freeze my hands."
"No, you're a guest. How can you let a guest cook for himself when you come to my house?" Otherwise, she really wouldn't be polite. The tongue is the most difficult to deceive. After having tasted good food, no one wants to settle for less.
There was no one in the kitchen. Xu Qingming shamelessly moved closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Aren't we going to be one of our own soon? I have to show off a little bit."
Li Laiyu moved a little to the side: "Okay, I'll give you a chance to show your skills." Then he put his hands away and gave the place to Xu Qingming.
We don't make this often at home, so once we do, we won't be short of steamed noodles. There's quite a lot of noodles in the clay pot, and they're all pure white. Xu Qingming didn't ask much, thinking that the family had saved some, after all, the Chinese New Year was coming soon!
Li Laiyu took off his sleeves and apron, and put them on Xu Qingming: "Don't get flour on your body, it won't dry if you wash it in the next two days." The most important thing is that they have to leave in two days, and they only have one set of clothes.
As soon as Li Guangwen came back from Hu Xinghong and entered the kitchen, he saw Xu Qingming kneading dough on the chopping board, and Li Laiyu was sitting by the fire pit with a fire scissors, stirring the fire from time to time.
After a moment of hesitation, he quickly stepped forward and said, "I'll do it, I'll do it, you take a break! Xiaoyu, you really are... How could you let someone else do this job?"
Xu Qingming said, "It's okay. I have strong hands, so I can knead the dough better. Uncle, you can sit over there, warm yourself by the fire, and talk to Xiaoyu. It's rare for her to come home, so she won't be home for many days."
Li Guangwen stood by for a long time, watching him work very well, and he didn't say anything more. He sat down by the fire and called Li Laiyu softly: "He is a guest, how can we let him do it himself?"
Li Laiyu said: "It's okay. When he was over there, he always cooked whenever he was around. His cooking was better than mine."
Li Guangwen sighed softly and didn't want to talk about it anymore.
It looks pretty good. In their area, there are really few men who go into the kitchen to work on the chopping board.
After a pause, he asked Li Laiyu, "I remember this is already the fourth year, right? How many more years can you continue studying there?"
Li Laiyu said: "I graduated, I graduated half a year ago. I have been busy, so I just came back now."
"So, do you have a job?"
Li Laiyu nodded calmly: "Yes, it's quite easy."
Li Guangwen didn't understand this. She said she would ask more questions once she got the answer. After graduating from university, it must be a good job.
The dough was rising there, and Li Lai Yu stood up and added water to wash Xu Qingming's hands.
Then he asked Li Guangwen: "Do you have any other vegetables at home? I brought some back, but not much. I want to make some stuffing for steamed buns."
Li Guangwen stood up and said to her, "Come with me."
Li Laiyu glanced at Qingming and said, "Then you warm your hands here for a while. I'll go clean up and see if there's anything else we can prepare to eat."
Xu Qingming nodded and watched her and Li Guangwen leave the kitchen.
When he got into the house, Li Guangwen took out the bamboo shoots that he had dried in the spring and the mushrooms and black fungus that he had dried in the summer.
"I have to work, so I'm busy during the week. When I have some free time, I spend it all. I don't get much sun, but it's enough for the New Year. If you like this, you can take the rest with you when you leave after the New Year."
Li Laiyu nodded, picked up several cloth bags, and was about to go out when Li Guangwen called him.
"Xiaoyu, I need to ask you something."
Li Lai Yu turned around and looked at him again.
"You're coming back now, are you going to get engaged?"
Li Laiyu nodded: "Yes! We have been together for a few years. I will bring her back for you to see, and then we will get the marriage certificate when we go back."
Li Guangwen opened his mouth and spoke for a long time: "You have decided to spend your whole life with him, right?"
Li Laiyu suddenly laughed: "With my personality, if I hadn't made up my mind, I wouldn't bring someone back to show you."
Li Guangwen sighed and nodded. "Okay, as long as you decide, it's fine as long as you feel it's good. Engagement, on our side, is just a formal meeting between a man and a woman. Take a look. Otherwise, I'll call your second master and the others over tomorrow to sit down and get to know each other, and then we'll be done."
"I asked Xiao Xu's father, and he said he has to leave on the second day of the Chinese New Year and can't stay at home for more than two days."
"Well, they can't stay for a few days. They all have work. It takes more than a week to get there from here. Xu Qingming will start to be busy after the eighth day of the New Year. His parents both teach at the university, so their vacation time is limited."
After hearing this, Li Guangwen understood what was going on.
Then he went out and went next door.
There are only you, Li Laiyu and Xu Qingming left at home.
Li Laiyu brought the things over: "We have these dried vegetables at home, the meat we cut yesterday, and the radishes and cabbages in the fields. Do you want to make stuffing?"
Xu Qingming nodded: "Let's do it! We have nothing to do right now, so let's do it first. Put it there when it's done, and wrap it up when the dough rises."
"Well, I'll go check out the fields then."
Xu Qingming stood up: "I'll go with you."
Li Laiyu picked up the clothes and put them on him: "Put on your clothes. It's not as cold here as in the capital, but the wind is strong in the mountains, and it's snowing. It would be bad if you catch a cold."
Xu Qingming chuckled, squeezed her hand, and reached out to hug her.
The two of them had become increasingly familiar and close over the past six months. Xu Qingming was busy with school and starting his own business, but whenever he had a free moment, he was always there for her. Together, they would arrange flowers, brew tea, play the piano, play chess, and spend time together.
This time, we haven't been close for more than a week.
Xu Qingming is like an opium smoker, he can hardly stop his addiction.
Li Laiyu gently pushed him and said, "Let's go."
Knowing that it was not appropriate to go too far in someone else's kitchen, Xu Qingming didn't dare to get any closer.
Holding a hoe with a basket hanging on it, he followed Li Lai Yu to their family's private plot.
As soon as I walked out of the yard and turned to the side, I saw Xu Guoliang and Wang Mengfang standing and talking on the side of the road.
Xu Qingming shouted, "Dad, why are you here?"
Xu Guoliang shook his arms, stretched, and looked at the mountains shrouded in fog in the distance: "The air here is good, and the view is good too."
Then he looked at him and Li Laiyu and asked: "What are you going to do?"
Li Laiyu said, "Let's go to the private plot to see what vegetables there are. Qingming has mixed some dough and plans to steam some buns."
Xu Guoliang said, "That's great. I'll go take a look too."
There were originally two people, but now there were four people, and they ran to the private plot behind the house.
Li Guangwen was alone, so he didn't make the land too complicated. He planted a lot of radishes and cabbages, as well as garlic sprouts, onions and other things.
In the evening, when Hu Xinghong brought his grandson to visit, the Li family's kitchen was extremely lively.
Li Laiyu and several guests in the house were standing in front of the chopping board, talking and laughing. The host Li Guangwen was free, sitting behind the stove, lighting a fire, and laughing along with them.
After dinner, when it was time to rest, Li Lai Yu took the initiative to call Li Guangwen while Xu Qingming and the others were still washing up.
I took him into the house with a flashlight and showed him the things I brought back.
There were clothes she had made for Li Guangwen, a new cotton-padded jacket and trousers, and cotton-padded shoes. She had also made a set of single-layer clothes, and a pair of large leather shoes with fur linings that Xu Qingming had bought him, as well as cigarettes, alcohol, and other things.
Li Laiyu said to him, "Don't be reluctant to wear the clothes and shoes I brought back for you. Even if I'm not at home, I'll send them to you. And these cigarettes and alcohol, I know you can drink a little, so keep them for yourself. This pack of cigarettes was bought by Qingming, if you don't smoke, keep it and give it to someone, or find someone to help you pass one or two to someone."
Li Guangwen's eyes were a little dry and his nose was sore: "Why did you buy all these for me? I just need to stay warm. It's not easy to make money. If you have money, save it yourself. Only when you have money can you be strong. Don't do this again in the future. Why buy these things for me? My life is much better now."
Li Laiyu said, "It's nothing. I made all of this myself. These are what Qingming and the others bought for you. You are my only elder, and since this is their first visit, they should buy you something."
"As for me, don't worry. My work is easy and I can earn money on my own. I don't need to rely on anyone."
"As for them, don't worry. We've been together for a few years and everything is fine. My family treats me very well. We won't live with them after we get married. Xu Qingming's parents bought us a separate house. It's just the two of us. We just need to live a good life."
Xu Guoliang and his wife spent more than half a year searching before they found a courtyard house near Hua University. They invested all their savings in the house.
Of course, the yard was also quite wide. The two-entry yard was spacious enough for not only the two of them but also Xu Guoliang and his wife.
She also has her own house, but she didn't tell Li Guangwen about it.
Later in the evening, when everyone went to bed, Li Guangwen leaned against the headboard and couldn't fall asleep. He placed the new clothes that Li Laiyu made for him and the new shoes that Xu Qingming and the others bought for him by the bed. He reached out and touched this and that.
A grown man in his sixties lay on the bed and cried inconsolably.
This was his life. But he was content. He had never married, nor did he want to get married. He had no children, but he still had a niece. Others might not have the blessing of children, but he enjoyed the blessing of a niece early on.
He was thinking, how wonderful it would be if his second brother and parents were still alive. Life was so good, Lai Yu was so hardworking and successful, but they couldn't see it anymore.
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