Mother Wei had already heard that her daughter and grandson were being taken care of by this young man. Seeing Wei Shuqing almost back to her pre-marriage appearance, Mother Wei was gratified.
They hurriedly invited them inside. Soon, Sister-in-law Wei quickly prepared four dishes, and Mother Wei opened a bottle of wine, asking Wei Xigun to drink with Zhao Dahu.
After three cups of wine, everything was settled. Zhao Dahu took out fifty yuan and handed it over. "Mom, brother, this is my betrothal gift for Shuqing. Don't worry, I will definitely treat Shuqing well in the future, and I will also love Aiguo as my own child. I will definitely do it."
Mother Wei nodded and pushed the money back, saying, "Take the money back. As long as you treat them well, that's enough. I don't want anything in return. You don't need to worry about this. My brother and I can manage on our own. Living your own lives well is better than anything else."
Zhao Dahu firmly pushed the money back, saying, "It's the rule, please accept it. As for the mother and daughter, don't worry! I will definitely be filial to you in the future, and treat you like my own mother. The same goes for my brother and sister-in-law. We will visit each other often in the future."
Seeing that it was almost time, Zhao Dahu rode his bicycle and took Wei Shuqing away.
After picking up Aiguo, Zhao Dahu took Wei Shuqing and her daughter home. He said, "I'll come pick you up early tomorrow. I've already spoken to the director, and he'll give us a letter of introduction to get our marriage certificate from the neighborhood committee." Wei Shuqing blushed and nodded, "I'll listen to you. Ride slowly on your way back, and be careful on the road!"
Zhao Dahu agreed and left. Wei Shuqing looked at Aiguo after he changed into a new set of clothes, hat and shoes, and asked him, "Do you like your grandparents?"
Aiguo nodded and said, "Hello, Grandpa and Grandma. They're so good to me! I like them!"
Wei Shuqing nodded and said, "Then let that uncle from today be Aiguo's father, okay!"
Aiguo thought for a moment and said, "Okay, Daddy will buy Aiguo candy and hug him. Aiguo likes it."
Since the divorce, Qi Zhijun hasn't visited the child, but Zhao Dahu often passes by and gives the little guy candy, meat buns, or sugar triangles. The little guy seems to prefer Zhao Dahu.
Wei Shuqing hugged her son, washed him, and carried him to bed. Thinking back to the book where she never remarried Qi Zhijun and stayed by his side for the rest of her life, she wanted to slap herself. That bastard didn't deserve it.
Nothing happened that night. After the mother and son woke up, she cooked porridge, peeled an egg for Aiguo, and opened a can of beef. The little guy ate more than half of it by himself, smacked his lips, and said, "This stuff is really delicious!"
Wei Shuqing changed into a red wool coat and black trousers, and after getting her son ready, Zhao Dahu came in and patriotically shouted, "Dad!"
Zhao Dahu grinned from ear to ear when he heard "Dad," and loudly agreed, picking up the boy and giving him a kiss.
Wei Shuqing smiled with satisfaction when she saw the newly made father and son. She filled a bag with candy, and the three of them went out.
Along the way, she thought about how the old saying about marrying someone of equal social standing made sense, and that one shouldn't force their way into a circle they couldn't fit into. Just like her and the Qi family, the barriers between a working-class woman and a scholarly family were too high, and she couldn't overcome them simply by enduring all the grievances.
On the contrary, things were much easier with Zhao Dahu. It turns out that happiness requires a two-way approach.
Upon arriving at the street office, Zhao Dahu presented the two men's letters of introduction, which were readily stamped and a certificate issued, even changing Aiguo's surname. With the household registration booklet in hand, they returned to the Zhao family home, a self-contained five-room tiled house. It had a fairly large courtyard with vegetable gardens on both sides, a large persimmon tree, and a pomegranate tree.
There's a grape trellis to the west, making it a lovely little courtyard. After greeting his parents upon entering, the little guy held up his household registration book and shouted, "Good news! Good news! Grandpa and Grandma are giving us money!"
This was something Zhao Dahu had taught them all the way. The elderly couple came out to greet them. Zhao's mother took the household registration book, and Zhao's father picked up Zhao Aiguo. When the couple turned to Zhao Aiguo's page, their eyes welled up with tears. They said in unison, "Take a look, our Zhao family's grandson is a money-grubber." As she spoke, Zhao's mother took out a ten-yuan note, and Wei Shuqing quickly said, "No, that's too much."
Zhao's mother gave Wei Shuqing a reproachful look and said, "What's so much? We're willing." She then smiled and gave the money to Zhao Aiguo. Zhao Aiguo took it, pushed past his father, and ran over, unexpectedly giving the money to Zhao Dahu, saying in a clear voice, "Dad! Buy Aiguo the meat in the bottle, it's delicious!"
Zhao's parents grinned from ear to ear and said, "He's definitely a child from our Zhao family."
Zhao Dahu picked him up and kissed him, saying, "Dad has money. Give this to Mom, and Mom will save it for you to get a wife!"
Zhao Aiguo shook his head and put the money into Zhao Dahu's pocket, saying, "It's for Dad. I love Dad!"
Zhao's father came over and said, "I'll take Aiguo to buy some firecrackers." He took Aiguo and ran off, thinking to himself that he had to try to get Aiguo to side with him as soon as possible.
Zhao's mother laughed and said, "Don't worry about him, he's just happy."
Zhao Dahu also took off his clothes and put on an apron, saying, "Shuqing, you sit with Mom. I'll go cook and we'll have a nice lunch together."
Wei Shuqing hurriedly went to help, but Zhao's mother stopped her, saying, "Don't worry about it, let him go. No matter how well we cook, can we be better than a cook? Just sit still!"
After entering the house, he took out some melon seeds and candies, and then mysteriously took out a beautifully packaged little box and handed it to Wei Shuqing, saying, "This is chocolate that her dad gave her when he went to cook at a big leader's house. Oh, these days young girls all love to eat it. Try it. If you like it, you can take it all. I have two more boxes here, which are for Aiguo to eat."
Wei Shuqing nodded with a smile. She had heard that Qi Zhijun's workplace had given out a box of this before, but it wasn't as good as this one. As soon as she got home, Qi Zhifang took it away, saying, "She likes to eat it. Anyway, if Mom and Dad don't eat it, no one else will."
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