Two days later was Xu Yan's birthday. Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong had planned to make her a bowl of longevity noodles by themselves, but then they received a telegram from home saying that something had happened and they needed to return home as soon as possible.
The elderly couple had no choice but to pack their belongings.
In the afternoon, Xie Zhuo went to the brigade leader's house several times to ask him to help him get a letter of introduction and a certificate of no spouse, and then took these things to the city to get a marriage certificate with Xu Yan.
This was the first time Xu Yan had ever seen a marriage certificate like this, and she held it in her hand and examined it carefully for a long time.
I'd heard my grandma say before that marriage certificates from this era looked a bit like award certificates, but I never imagined they looked this much like them.
It feels like they just changed the words "award certificate" to "marriage certificate".
She held it in her hand, looking at it back and forth, when it accidentally fell to the ground. As she bent down to pick it up, Xie Zhuo picked it up first.
"I'll keep it," Xie Zhuo said.
Then, in front of Xu Yan, he put it into the cloth bag that had been prepared beforehand. Xu Yan watched his careful movements and felt a pang in her heart, making her feel a little weak.
"Xie Zhuo," she suddenly called out to Xie Zhuo.
"Hmm?" Xie Zhuo turned around.
The evening sun was no longer as intense as at noon, and when the breeze blew by, there was a pleasant sense of relaxation.
Seeing that Xu Yan didn't speak, Xie Zhuo asked with some confusion, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Xu Yan smiled, her eyes crinkling, "I just suddenly wanted to call your name."
Xie Zhuo glanced around. At this time of day, many people were out strolling and chatting on the street, and the noise of children almost filled the entire street.
Xie Zhuo restrained himself from taking Xu Yan's hand.
In this day and age, let alone couples holding hands and parading around in public, even just being close to each other could attract trouble from the red armbands (police officers).
By the time they got back, it was almost eight o'clock, and the sun was about to set.
Xie Zhuo packed up some food from the state-run restaurant and placed it on the table when Da Bao and Xiao Bao ran back from outside, laughing.
Recently, the two of them have been getting along very well with Xiao Shuanzi. The three little ones listen to Xu Yan tell stories and learn to write in the morning, and then run around the village playing in the afternoon.
Xiao Bao didn't talk much before and always just echoed Da Bao's words, but these past few days he's started talking on his own.
Xu Yan's mood improved considerably.
However, the thought that Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong would be leaving tomorrow morning made him feel a little lost.
"Are you alright?" Xie Zhu asked when he saw Xu Yan standing by the washbasin in a daze.
“It’s nothing,” Xu Yan shook her head. “It’s just that I’ve gotten used to it these past two days, and then my parents suddenly have to leave.”
After she said that, Xie Zhuo fell silent for a moment.
However, the silence didn't extend to the dinner table. With Da Bao and Xiao Bao around, they could always make people laugh, and Xie Zhuo and Xu Yan's mood improved considerably.
“Xiao Shuanzi said he wants to change his name,” Da Bao said.
"Hmm? Why change your name?" Chen Lihua picked up a piece of food for him and asked as he spoke.
“Because their family doesn’t have any babies,” Xiao Bao said, “so he wants to change his name.”
Upon hearing Xiao Bao's words, Xu Yan suddenly looked up at Xie Zhuo.
Xie Zhuo was also a little confused. Usually, when he repaired watches and radios, he would do so behind their backs, for fear that they would let it slip when they went out to play.
Was it because we failed to defend against it?
He put down his chopsticks and looked at Da Bao and Xiao Bao. "You two tell him that we have a baby in our family?"
“Yes,” Da Bao nodded, “I told you.”
“He’s so envious,” Xiao Bao said with a smug smile.
Chen Lihua glanced at Xie Zhuo's expression, then at Xu Yan, guessing that the Xie family might be hiding something, but she didn't ask any further questions.
She just smiled at Da Bao and Xiao Bao, "Can you tell Grandma that his family doesn't have any treasures, but our family has a lot of treasures?"
“Three,” Xiao Bao blurted out first.
"Three?" Chen Lihua glanced at Xie Zhuo again. "Xiao Bao saw them?"
“Mm,” Xiao Bao nodded.
Before Chen Lihua could ask any more questions, Da Bao hurriedly spoke up, "It's Da Bao, Xiao Bao, and Xie Baobei."
The child's voice was quite loud, and it seemed to echo throughout the entire yard.
When Xie Zhuo heard the name "Da Bao," he had a sudden guess, but he didn't have a chance to stop it and had to listen to Da Bao finally shout out "Xie Baobei."
……Depend on!
The moment Xu Yan heard Da Bao's words, she guessed what he meant, and she could barely contain her smile.
Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong were stunned for a long time before they coughed and said, "...Your family does have more of this treasure than other families."
Xie Zhuo's ears turned red again.
He practically buried his face in his rice bowl.
Xu Yan held it in for a long time, but finally couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.
Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong wanted to hold back, but when they turned around and saw Xie Zhuo, they couldn't hold back anymore.
After laughing for a while, Chen Lihua went to tease Da Bao again, but Da Bao had no idea what was so funny and looked completely confused.
"Is your third uncle's nickname Xie Baobei?" Chen Lihua asked.
“No,” Da Bao shook his head.
"and you……"
"Mom, this dish tastes good too," Xie Zhuo quickly moved the dish in front of Chen Lihua before Chen Lihua could ask, "Please try it."
Unfortunately, his attempt to interrupt was ineffective; Da Bao had already answered on his own.
"Because my third aunt said that my third uncle is the Xie family's greatest treasure, and she calls him Xie Baobei!"
Her sweet, childlike voice was crisp and clear.
Xu Yan's face also turned red.
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