The quarrel between these two siblings has been going on for a long time. As long as Gu Canyang is not around, Gu Qinglie will chatter non-stop. The other members of the Gu family pretend not to hear and continue talking to Chu Yuan.
The meal lasted until after eight o'clock. The three sisters-in-law of the Gu family cleared the table and collected the dishes. Gu Cai began to prepare dishes for lunch and dinner. Han Lianxin and Zhang Yuqing helped to make dumplings. Zhang Cuifen asked the grandchildren to connect the refrigerator and washing machine. She and Shi Rushuang took the removed quilt covers to the yard to wash them.
It was nine o'clock, the sun was shining brightly outside and it was warm everywhere.
All the little kids in the village came to watch TV. The TV was installed in the main room. Gu Yin made a lot of stools so that there were enough stools for them to sit on. Gu Qingqing prepared a plate of candy and a plate of melon seeds and peanuts and put them on the small table for them to eat.
"Xiao Ge, where is your sister?" she asked the nine-year-old chubby kid with a smile.
Zhao Ge bit on some peanut candy and swung his little feet happily: "I'm preparing New Year's Eve dinner with my mother at home. Sister Qingqing, please move aside. You're blocking me!"
Gu Qingqing stretched out her hand and pinched the fat boy from Qian Guihua's family's face, then walked away angrily: "You don't miss me after not seeing me for so long. I won't play with you guys anymore."
"You're married now! You can have children of your own in the future." Zhao Ge shook his head, "Sister Qingqing, please stand up for yourself. My mother said that your family is a good place to live and have many children."
Gu Qingqing blushed, not knowing what Aunt Zhao had said to little brother Xiao Ge. She took two steps back and wanted to leave and stop playing with these little brats, but happened to bump into the man's arms.
"What's wrong?" Her ears turned red, and Chu Dai rubbed them for her: "Frozen? Go get some sun."
Gu Qingqing twisted a White Rabbit toffee from the plate, peeled it off and stuffed it into his mouth. "Nothing, let's go and enjoy the sun." After saying that, she held his arm and walked out.
Chu Dai raised an eyebrow and looked at her. Seeing that she avoided his gaze, he chewed the candy in his mouth, shook his head and chuckled.
After Gu Yin had shaved all the shepherd's purse, he measured the smooth wood and pulled a thin cotton thread dipped in ink in his hand. After measuring with a wooden ruler, the cotton thread fell off, leaving a faint mark.
"Uncle, what are you going to do for me?" Gu Qingqing squatted beside him to bask in the sun, and put the shaved wood flower rolls in a small basket to use as kindling in the kitchen later.
"This piece of wood is used to make a bed, and a few other pieces of wood are used to make wardrobes, trunks, washstands and tables." It was rare for Gu Yin to speak so much.
"Thank you, second uncle! But we can't take it with us when we go to the island." Gu Qingqing was a little distressed.
Chu Dai, who was helping Gu Yin with the wood, said, "Put the dowry in the military compound. When the time comes, ask Old Chu to move the original bed and cabinet to another room, and put this one in our room."
"Okay!" Gu Qingqing pulled a small stool from the side and put it under her buttocks. "Do we still have to pass through the Southern Military Region to get to the island?"
"We have to board the ship from the dock controlled by the military district." Chu Dai handed the saw to Gu Yin and said, "We have to go back again. I need to pick up some clothes and get the transfer order from the military district."
Gu Qingqing nodded, not quite understanding. She usually wouldn't ask further questions when it came to military matters.
Glancing at her father-in-law and grandfather who were drinking, sunbathing and eating peanuts at the stone table next to her, she felt warm and tender in her heart, and went to the kitchen carrying a small basket.
Gu Cai was chopping the stuffing. He mixed the shepherd's purse and the meat stuffing together and chopped them up. He added chopped green onions, sweet potato flour, oil and salt, and squeezed the meatballs out of the tiger's mouth and put them into the warm oil pan.
Gu Qingqing was waiting beside them and refused to move, Han Lianxin was rolling out the dumpling wrappers, and Zhang Yuqing was making the dumplings.
Seeing her like this, the two sisters-in-law joked, "Is our Qingqing hungry again? Didn't she just eat?"
"This is gluten. Her uncle is an expert at frying meatballs." Zhang Yuqing said with a smile, "We came back yesterday to buy some meat, and mom went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some more. Today, the team sent over some meat from the slaughtered pigs. It should be more than 20 kilograms. It's no problem for us to eat meat every day during the New Year."
"We can't eat all day long." Gu Cai said, "We have to save some for the wedding banquet."
Gu Qingqing then remembered that she would have to hold a banquet in a few days.
She was a little proud: "Uncle San, I am the only one in the whole Datunzi Village who can marry a chef from a state-owned hotel, right?"
"That's not just in our village, it's also the first in the Invincible Production Team and several surrounding production teams." The uncle and nephew answered in unison.
"What kind of ancestral problem do you have in the Gu family? You brag and flatter each other." Han Lianxin glanced at the window and said, "Xiao Chu is sawing wood with his uncle. This kid is very calm."
Her husband is a dull person who can't do anything even if you hit him with three sticks. Normally, no one likes to get close to him. These guys in the Gu family are very talkative.
Sometimes the next sentence comes out before you even finish the previous one.
"Yes, this child is a stable one." Zhang Yuqing agreed.
In the yard, Zhang Cuifen put her hand on the washing machine, watching it whirring and producing lots of soap foam. She turned to the eldest daughter-in-law next to her and said, "Do you think this thing is wasting electricity?"
Shi Rushuang smiled and said, "Mom, no matter if it consumes electricity or not, you decide whether you would like to wash it by hand or let it wash it."
Zhang Cuifen said without hesitation: "The winter clothes are so thick that I can't even twist them. Of course, the washing machine is better."
"That's it."
Over at Chu Yuan's place, he and Gu Tiezhu sipped their drinks with their eyes half closed, peeling salted peanut shells with their fingers. "Uncle, these days are so leisurely that I don't even want to go back to the military area."
Gu Tiezhu drank Maotai liquor and smacked his lips as he savored the taste. "What's the big deal? You can come over tomorrow for the New Year. We don't have anything delicious to offer, but it's lively and bustling. Qingqing and Adai are going to be stationed on the island, and you'll be bored staying in the military area by yourself. Just take a car and come over when the time comes!"
"That's great." Chu Yuan had a carefree and unrestrained bandit spirit that he had suppressed over the years, but now it was exposed again. He waved his hand and said, "When I retire, I will come here to live out my old age. I don't expect that brat to give me a grandchild. I just want to live a comfortable life."
"That won't do." Gu Tiezhu got anxious when he heard this: "I'm still waiting to have a granddaughter. When the time comes, you, as a father, have to urge Adai. We, the Gu family, only have one precious child, Qingqing, and we dare not have another boy."
Chu Yuan is a traditional patriarch with a strong patriarchal nature. His family did have military power to inherit, and when Chu Dai was just born, he was called a young marshal. He felt that there must be a boy in the family.
Otherwise you won’t be able to carry the burden.
But now, Chu Dai was able to get married, and he felt very happy about his ancestral tomb. In the past, this brat had a lifeless and dull temperament, and he always looked down on him, as if he was going to be a bachelor for the rest of his life and go to the border to die. He also thought that because he had done too many evil things, his ancestral tomb was bombarded by the enemy and was going to be extinct.
He was very satisfied with Gu Qingqing as his daughter-in-law, so he said with a smile: "A granddaughter is good. If we have a granddaughter, she will be the treasure of the old Gu family and the old Chu family. The boy is not bad either, just don't be like his father. I'm afraid he won't live to retire."
The two in-laws were discussing animatedly what to name their great-grandchildren and grandchildren. Chu Yuan's eyebrows twitched when he heard names like "Erya" and "Luqiu".
Although he was a rough man, he had never given his son so many names in all these years. Seeing Gu Tiezhu discussing with him which name was good with great excitement, Chu Yuan raised his hand to hold back his twitching eyelids and laughed dryly -
"...Actually, it's fine not to have children. The children are still young, so just let them be."
The guard next to him almost couldn't help himself as his mouth twitched.
At noon, all the bamboo poles in the yard were exposed to the sun, and Gu Canyang's room was also vacated.
Gu had a large family and they made bricks from mud in the fields. They were allocated a large residential plot and built many houses.
Even if Gu Qingqing gets married in the future, the Gu family will keep her house, but it will not be this one.
Gu Jin leaned against the millstone and told his family about his plan: "Next year I plan to start the brick kiln, and then let Meng the educated youth try to make cement. In another five years, I want everyone in the production team to live in two-story red brick houses, and every household will paint with lime and putty, and the roads outside will be hardened."
He said this in front of the villagers at the year-end financial settlement meeting two days ago. The villagers had full confidence in him and said that as long as he gave the order, the whole village would work hard!
Gu Jin has been in office for more than four months, and everyone can see the achievements he has made. He received a lot of money for meat and oil this year, and there were even matchmakers from other production teams who came here to inquire if anyone has young boys who are looking to get married.
I got real benefits and my heart was even more excited.
After the Gu family members heard this, Gu Tiezhu spoke up first: "Whether it's firing a brick kiln or making cement, we Gu family will never hold you back. Son, just do it boldly. Your parents, brothers, and nephews are all behind you. You must live up to the trust of the organization, the mission assigned to you by the party, and your position as the team leader, and lead the production team to better and better."
As he spoke, Gu Tiezhu's eyes became moist. He originally thought that he would not have access to electricity in his generation, but now he has televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, and even has a light in the toilet. Who would have dared to think of this before.
If you use a kerosene lamp, you have to cut the wick in the middle of the night.
Gu Jin smiled innocently: "That's fine. I was able to accomplish all these things thanks to my brothers and nephews. If it weren't for the second and fourth brothers and Xiongwa Jianguoyuanchao who took the lead, other villagers wouldn't be so willing to follow us to repair the levee."
Working on big and small rivers, digging reservoirs and quarrying stones were all hard work. All the young men in the village would be away for two or three months. Fortunately, the Gu family endured the hardships and worked hard to keep the situation under control, otherwise someone would definitely take the opportunity to cause trouble and strike.
Although this precious daughter of the Gu family is precious and valuable, that is because there are dozens of Gu family members standing behind her, supporting her younger sister.
Chu Yuan was infected by this happy atmosphere. No wonder the Gu family was getting better and better. A harmonious family with no foul play was the greatest blessing.
After thinking for a moment, he spoke slowly: "My dear relatives, from what you said, the educated youth in the team can also make cement?"
Gu Jin nodded and shook his head: "They just said they wanted to give it a try. Those boys are all college students with active brains. They took good care of the economic crops such as medicinal herbs and cotton. They are also good at removing pests from fish ponds."
After listening to this, Chu Yuan could not help but nod and sigh: "Other educated youth who went to the countryside were thinking about how to return to the city, but you educated youth here are all working hard to contribute to the production team."
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