"Thank you, Brother Zhou San. Please also thank Aunt Zhao for me." Qin Hanshu took the steaming grate and said, "I'll go get the steaming grate ready. Please wait a moment."

Zhou Weiguang nodded.

Qin Hanshu turned around and went back to the cave, put the dumplings away first, and then packed some rice cakes and four-happiness meatballs that he had made yesterday as a return gift.

Both the rice cake and four-happiness meatballs are cooked and can be eaten while they are hot.

"Brother Wednesday, here you go."

Zhou Weiguang saw him slowly reach out to take the thing, but stood there without moving.

Qin Hanshu looked over in confusion.

Anything else?

Zhou Weiguang coughed lightly and said, "Well, I'll go first."

"See you Wednesday brother."

When Zhou Weiguang returned home, he just happened to hear Zhao Chunmiao asking Zhou Ruilan again: "Where is the basket of dumplings I covered? Did you secretly cook and eat them?"

Zhou Ruilan: "... That much, can I eat it all?"

Zhao Chunmiao muttered, "Did your brother eat it for breakfast?"

Zhou Weiguang has a big appetite and can eat two kilograms of mutton in the morning. If he ate the dumplings, it would be reasonable.

"Alas," Zhao Chunmiao sighed, "I was planning to send it to your sister Xiaoshu."

Hearing this, Zhou Weiguang came in and said, "I have already sent it."

Zhao Chunmiao saw Zhou Weiguang coming in from outside and asked in surprise, "You went out so early in the morning?"

Zhou Weiguang said calmly, "You told me last night to deliver the dumplings to Comrade Qin Hanshu early this morning."

Zhao Chunmiao was stunned for a moment, then asked uncertainly: "Did I say that?"

She thought so, but if she had to give an order, she would ask Zhou Ruilan to send it, not Zhou Weiguang.

But she drank some wine while having dinner yesterday and felt a little dizzy, so she really didn't remember whether she said this or not.

Zhou Weiguang nodded affirmatively: "I did."

Then he looked at Zhou Ruilan, "Lanhua heard it too."

Zhou Ruilan was completely confused. She also fainted after drinking the wine, so she had no idea what Zhao Chunmiao had said.

But Third Brother wouldn't lie, and there was no need for him to tell such a lie, so she nodded and said firmly, "Yes, I did."

Zhao Chunmiao was still confused, but since both his son and daughter said so, then it should be like this.

Her attention was quickly drawn to what Zhou Weiguang brought back.

Seeing the rice cakes and four-happiness meatballs, he praised them repeatedly, "Xiao Shu is so skillful, she's almost as good as a chef... When you guys come back from your uncle's house tomorrow, we'll have to find a day to invite her over for dinner..."

Zhou Weiguang walked into the house calmly as usual.

The door of the east wing creaked open, and a young woman, about 27 or 28 years old, walked out. She was wearing a neat woolen coat and her hair was neatly combed.

The woman had ordinary facial features and a fair and clean face. She exuded a cold and somewhat unattainable temperament.

Zhou Ruilan called out, "Second sister-in-law."

The woman was Zhou Weili's wife, Zhu Jingsu.

Zhu Jingsu's father retired from the position of deputy county magistrate. In this county, she was considered a lady of good family. Marrying into the Zhou family was really marrying down.

At first, Zhao Chunmiao and Zhou Ruilan saw that she was cold and indifferent to the Zhou family, and thought that they had married a girl from a wealthy family and that the people there looked down on her in-laws.

Later I found out that that was just her personality. She treated everyone the same and I had never seen her be very enthusiastic towards anyone.

But apart from his somewhat distant personality, there is nothing wrong with Zhu Jingsu.

——Although Zhao Chunmiao prefers beautiful women, Zhu Jingsu and Zhou Weili are in a free love relationship, and she will definitely not use this standard to measure Zhu Jingsu.

Zhao Chunmiao did not treat her as his daughter-in-law, but as an honored guest, and was polite and considerate every time she came back.

In this way, they get along very peacefully and there has never been any conflict between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Zhou Ruilan inherited Zhao Chunmiao's attitude and treated Zhu Jingsu the same way.

She respectfully called out "Second Sister-in-law" and prepared to turn around.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Jingsu asked again: "Who is Xiao Shu?"

Zhou Ruilan answered in a serious tone, "Sister Xiao Shu is an educated youth who came to our village to work in the countryside. Her brother and my third brother were comrades-in-arms, so my third brother asked us to take care of her."

"Oh..." Zhu Jingsu nodded.

Zhou Ruilan left only after she saw that she had nothing else to ask.

Zhu Jingsu, who stayed where he was, seemed to be thinking about something.

She just overheard the entire conversation outside in the house.

She didn't drink last night and was sober the whole time, but she didn't hear her mother-in-law ask Zhou Weiguang to deliver dumplings to anyone.

Zhou Weiguang was very unusual.

Zhu Jingsu lowered his eyes slightly.

It seems that her sister from her natal family can give up the idea.

***

During the first month of the year, the commune's art troupe would tour various brigades to provide some entertainment for the farmers who had worked hard all year.

As a major grain payer, Haowan Village is usually at the front of the queue when it comes to such good things.

On the fourth day of the New Year, the art troupe arrived.

The day before, Zhou Ruilan said to Zhou Weiguang: "Third brother, I want to go to see the performance of the art troupe tomorrow. Can you go with me?"

The performances were all model operas, the same few plays over and over again, and Zhou Weiguang really had no interest in them.

Then he shook his head and said, "I'll go and save a seat for you early in the morning, but I won't watch it with you."

Although Zhou Ruilan was disappointed, she didn't say anything.

She asked someone else to accompany her!

The performance was in the morning, and some people went to reserve seats before dawn.

It is really difficult to get up so early during the slack season.

However, Zhou Weiguang developed a habit in the army of getting up at five o'clock every day and running with weights.

When he arrived at the drying yard, there were only three or two people there.

When daybreak came, more people started to arrive.

By eight o'clock, the drying yard was bustling with people.

It was at this time that Zhou Ruilan arrived.

Qin Hanshu was also beside him, and the two of them walked hand in hand.

Suddenly, Zhou Weiguang's heart tightened.

The long bench Zhou Weiguang occupied could only seat two people at most. After he gave it to Zhou Ruilan and Qin Hanshu, he had no place to sit.

Standing there straight and erect.

Zhou Ruilan asked in surprise: "Why aren't you leaving yet?"

Qin Hanshu also looked over, staring at him with a pair of watery eyes.

Zhou Weiguang suddenly became speechless.

My throat was so dry that it felt like smoking, and my mouth felt like someone had stuffed a handful of sand in it, making it extremely bitter.

"I......"

It took him a while to find his voice again.

"I suddenly found this performance... quite interesting."