"Eat! I want to eat!"
Li Xiaoli jumped up.
Li Weidong ignored her and only looked at Zhou Xiaoye.
Zhou Xiaoye looked up, her eyes red as a rabbit's.
Zhao Xiulian also noticed, and recalling her energy when she was in the Zhou family, she instantly understood.
Originally, I was going to say that candied hawthorns weren't very tasty, but now I changed my mind and said, "I've never tried this rare treat before! I'm in a good mood today, so let's each have one."
He then put his arm around Zhou Xiaoye's shoulder and said, "Xiaoye, come on, your brother Weidong will cover all the expenses today. Don't try to save him any money!"
Zhou Xiaoye chuckled and nodded emphatically, "Mm!"
There were many people buying candied hawthorns, so Li Weidong simply gave the money to Zhao Xiulian and asked her to take Zhou Xiaoye and Li Xiaoli to wait in line, while he walked away.
When he returned, he was carrying a bag of steaming hot glutinous rice cakes.
The glutinous rice flour is kneaded, fried, and then coated with syrup. It's fragrant and sweet, making it the most expensive snack at the market.
Zhao Xiulian felt sorry for him: "If you want to eat glutinous rice cakes, why don't we just make them at home? Why do we have to spend money to buy them?"
"Making it myself is too cold and too much trouble, and I don't need the money anyway."
As Li Weidong spoke, he took a bamboo skewer, stuck a piece of glutinous rice cake in it, and handed it to Zhou Xiaoye: "Try it."
Zhou Xiaoye's pretty face flushed red, and she shyly opened her mouth to bite into the glutinous rice cake.
In an instant, my entire mouth was filled with sweetness; the taste of sugar and oil mixed together was indescribably wonderful.
She couldn't help but squint her eyes, fully immersing herself in this delicious treat she had never tasted before.
Li Xiaoli, seeing this with envy, leaned closer and said, "I want one too!"
He opened his mouth wide as he spoke.
Li Weidong shoved a whole bag of glutinous rice cakes into her hand: "Can't you eat them yourself?"
The candied hawthorns were ready. He took one and placed it in Zhou Xiaoye's hand, saying softly, "Eat slowly, and buy more if you're not full."
Li Xiaoli stomped her foot angrily: "Brother, you're being unfair!"
Zhao Xiulian smiled and said, "Your sister-in-law is your brother's wife. If he doesn't favor his wife, why would he favor you, his sister?"
Even though he said that, he still took the bag from her hand and handed her the candied hawthorn: "Alright, your brother is biased towards your sister-in-law, and I'm biased towards you, is that okay?"
Li Xiaoli pursed her lips, but ultimately didn't say anything more.
The family of four squeezed forward, eating candied hawthorns and glutinous rice cakes.
The market was crowded with people, and there were shouts and bargaining sounds everywhere.
"Couplets, couplets! These are couplets written by the old scholar in our village. Take a look!"
"These clothes are from the south, trendy items you can't even buy in department stores, ladies, take a look!"
"The pig was just slaughtered this morning, it's very fresh, want to buy some?"
"Your price is too high. Lower it a bit, and I'll buy it all for you."
"Big sister, you're so good at talking! How about this, you buy two extra pounds, and I'll round it up for you, okay?"
Despite the haggling, everyone was all smiles, and the atmosphere was filled with joy.
The children darted and weaved through the crowd like eels, and every now and then an adult would shout, "Tie Dan, where have you been? The kidnappers will take you away, what are you going to do then!"
Some children even took a liking to the toys on the stalls, crying and fussing to buy them, making quite a scene.
Zhao Xiulian also squeezed into the crowd to grab New Year's goods.
Spring Festival couplets, snacks like melon seeds and peanuts for entertaining guests—you have to buy them all; nothing can be left out.
Li Xiaoli also joined her to watch the excitement.
Li Weidong was following behind, responsible for giving money and carrying things, when suddenly his hand was grabbed by a small hand.
Looking down, she met Zhou Xiaoye's flushed face.
Li Weidong was somewhat surprised, but more than that, he was delighted. He lowered his voice and said, "Aren't you going to go up and watch the excitement?"
"It's too crowded."
Zhou Xiaoye shook her head, her face turning even redder: "I...I'll stay with you."
Li Weidong laughed, took her hand in return, and whispered in her ear, "How about we go shopping separately from them?"
"I'll take you on a date."
The word 'date' made Zhou Xiaoye so embarrassed that she couldn't lift her head and shook her head repeatedly.
Although she had long been used to being with Li Weidong, she called him "husband" so naturally every day.
But deep down, she's still incredibly shy.
The thought of leaving with Li Weidong and being teased by Li Xiaoli when she got back made her feel embarrassed.
Li Weidong didn't insist, saying, "Alright then, let's go shopping with them. It won't affect anything anyway."
With so many people at the market, Zhao Xiulian was only thinking about buying New Year's goods, and Li Xiaoli was preoccupied with watching the excitement, so she didn't pay any attention to them at all.
We can just hold hands and follow behind each other without being noticed.
Zhou Xiaoye gave a soft "hmm," feeling as if her heart was filled with honey, warm and incredibly sweet.
"Finally, I've bought the couplets!"
Zhao Xiulian squeezed through the crowd, shoved the spoils into Li Weidong's hands, and hurried forward, saying, "Hurry up, hurry up, we still need to buy some tofu!"
"Let's wait until the 28th of the lunar year to buy this fish, so it won't be stale. Weidong, you should come to the city early then."
"By the way, we also need to buy new clothes for Ono and your sister. I'm afraid we won't be able to buy them all today, so we'll have to come back twice more."
"After the New Year, we'll be visiting relatives and friends to exchange New Year's greetings, and we'll need to arrange the gifts for those visits."
She kept talking, and Li Xiaoli followed closely behind, talking about the styles of clothes she wanted to buy.
Li Weidong, carrying things in one hand and holding Zhou Xiaoye's hand in the other, said with a smile, "Don't worry, we have a car, it's convenient. There are still several days until the New Year!"
"If we can't buy everything in one day, we'll just run around for a few more days..."
Before she could finish speaking, Zhao Xiulian suddenly stopped and turned around, saying, "By the way, Weidong, our family and your uncle and aunt..."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Li Weidong and Zhou Xiaoye's hands clasped together and immediately burst into laughter.
Zhou Xiaoye looked embarrassed and tried to shake off Li Weidong's hand as if he had been burned.
Li Weidong not only refused to let go, but tightened his grip even more, looking at Zhao Xiulian with a calm expression: "Mom, what did you say about Uncle and the others?"
Zhao Xiulian's smile never stopped as she continued, "Are you going to visit your uncle and your aunts again this year?"
According to the rules, I definitely have to go.
But after the old man was hospitalized, the families had already fallen out, so whether or not to go and pay New Year's visits is now uncertain.
Li Weidong said directly, "No, we're not going. They won't welcome us anyway, so why bother trying to be friendly when they won't welcome us?"
"For New Year's gifts, I'll only buy gifts for my uncles, my second grandfather, and my maternal grandfather. I won't buy anything else."
"Why!"
Zhao Xiulian agreed and turned around to continue buying New Year's goods.
After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned around and said, "By the way, you two don't need to follow me anymore, just wander around by yourselves!"
"After I buy the things, I'll have your sister carry them to the car and wait for them."
Don't delay your son and daughter-in-law from developing their relationship.
Li Xiaoli was unhappy, but before she could protest, she was dragged away.
Zhou Xiaoye was very embarrassed and wanted to chase after him, but was pulled back.
Li Weidong pulled her into his arms and said with a smile, "Why are you leaving? Don't you want to go on a date with your man?"
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