"Uncle, what are you saying?"
What's lacking in our family? What's lacking in Xiping?
With our family background, Xiping's height, looks, and competence, what girl wouldn't be good enough for her?
Upon hearing this, Gao Haining quickly waved her hand.
In his heart, his childhood friends were all good, and they were more than enough to match the educated youth from the town.
"Uncle, what do you think of Fengying's cousin?"
Gao Haining was anxious. He had come all this way, and he couldn't just leave without completing his mission by drinking.
If he fails to complete the task and goes back home, will his future mother-in-law treat him well?
Sheng Liancheng usually spends his days either working on the construction team or at the small repair shop, and doesn't have much contact with young people.
He had only met the educated youth from the town a few times and didn't have much of an impression of Zhou Qinglan.
Although they had met earlier, he, a grown man, couldn't really stare at the young girl too much.
I have a vague impression of her; she seemed quite quiet, unlike the chattering girls at the forest farm.
"Oh dear, if you ask me about this, I'm afraid I can't say for sure either."
"This matter of finding a daughter-in-law is ultimately up to your aunt to decide."
The traditional saying goes that men are responsible for external affairs and women for internal affairs. Sheng Liancheng, being a strong man, wasn't particularly sensitive.
He was only responsible for earning money to give to his wife; the rest was up to her.
"Anyway, as long as the girl is of good character and Xiping likes her, then we parents don't have any other requirements."
It's their life together; as long as they get along well, that's fine.
Sheng Liancheng glanced at his eldest son, a young man in his twenties who should be thinking about settling down and starting a family.
Having said that, Gao Haining couldn't ask any more questions.
Judging from the laughter and chatter coming from the west room, Aunt Sheng probably gets along quite well with the girls.
Well, he did his best anyway. Whether Sheng Xiping and Zhou Qinglan can get together depends on their fate.
So Gao Haining toasted Sheng Liancheng again, and then went to play drinking games with others.
Everyone enjoyed the meal, and by the end, there wasn't much left on the table anyway.
The young men drank some wine, and their faces turned red and their tongues became slightly stiff.
However, he was still sober and didn't cry, make a scene, or act like a drunkard.
"Hey, it's getting late, we have to go back, we still have work to do tomorrow."
Uncle, Aunt, thank you both for the meal. It was very satisfying.
"When you have some free time, Uncle and Auntie, please come over for a visit."
Everyone glanced at the clock on the wall; it was almost eight o'clock. This meal had taken long enough, and if they didn't leave soon, the power would be cut off.
So the young men put on their shoes, got off the ground, and said goodbye to Sheng Liancheng and his wife.
"Oh, let's stay a little longer. You're all usually so busy, it's rare for you to come all this way, so it's no trouble to sit a little longer."
The girls had actually finished eating long ago. They had cleared away the dishes and washed everything, and were now chatting.
When Zhang Shuzhen saw that the young men in the east room were about to leave, she quickly got up to persuade them to stay.
This is the way to treat guests. No matter how late it is, if a guest wants to leave, you should express your desire to persuade them to stay.
"No, Auntie, it's getting late, Fang'er and the others must be tired too."
We have work to do tomorrow morning, so we can't get up too late.
What's the point of staying at a time like this? People need to rest too.
Gao Haining and the others exchanged a few words with Zhang Shuzhen with smiles, and then led the girls out of the Sheng family home.
Sheng Xiping and Zhang Shuzhen followed them to the gate. Zhang Shuzhen held Zhou Qinglan's hand and gave her repeated instructions.
"Girls, it's getting dark. Be careful on your way home. Come visit me whenever you have time. I'll cook you something delicious."
This was Zhou Qinglan's first visit to the Sheng family. Zhang Shuzhen had a good impression of the girl, and the two got along quite well.
“Son, go and see Qinglan off. It’s late at night, and she and her two daughters, Fengying, are afraid of the dark.”
Zhang Shuzhen reached out and nudged Sheng Xiping, then stuffed something into his hand.
Sheng Xiping was originally going to deliver it, but he hadn't had a chance to say anything yet.
He readily agreed and took a flashlight to escort Zhou Qinglan and the others back.
Chen Weiguo's house is right next door, so he could just go straight home.
However, he and Liu Hongxia seemed to have something going on, so instead of going straight home, he followed the others eastward.
Halfway there, the group split up. Sheng Xiping, Gao Haining, Tang Fengying, and Zhou Qinglan turned south and headed straight for the Tang family.
Upon arriving at the Tang family's gate, Sheng Xiping called out to Zhou Qinglan, "Qinglan, wait a moment."
Zhou Qinglan was feeling a little reluctant to part ways when she heard Sheng Xiping call her, and she quickly turned around. "What's wrong?"
Sheng Xiping took something wrapped in a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Zhou Qinglan.
"This is what my mom asked me to give to you."
What was wrapped in that handkerchief looked like a watch; at least it felt a bit like one when I touched it in my pocket earlier.
Today is Zhou Qinglan's first visit to the Sheng family. According to the old custom, this is equivalent to her going to "introduce herself" to the family, and the groom's family should give her a gift.
In the past, a matchmaker would accompany both parties, and they would make it clear that they were going to get married. Once they had agreed to the marriage and both were satisfied, it was considered settled.
However, Zhou Qinglan and Sheng Xiping are in a free-love relationship, and it's still in the early stages of their relationship, so it's hard to say.
If Zhang Shuzhen were to give the gift to Zhou Qinglan in front of those girls, she feared Zhou Qinglan would feel awkward and refuse to accept it.
But Zhang Shuzhen really liked this girl, so she specially asked her son to come and see her off.
He also gave the items to Zhou Qinglan as a token of their engagement.
As for why Sheng Xiping wasn't sure what was in the handkerchief, it's mainly because he and Zhou Qinglan didn't get together so quickly in their previous life.
There was no encounter with snakes in the mountains in my past life, let alone being invited to dinner tonight.
Zhou Qinglan's first visit to the Sheng family was near the beginning of winter.
But Sheng Xiping remembered that when Zhou Qinglan went to the Sheng family that time, his mother also gave her something wrapped in a handkerchief.
Later I learned it was a Gemflower brand watch made in Shanghai, and it was quite beautiful.
I don't know when Zhang Shuzhen prepared it, but I guess it was meant to be a gift for her daughter-in-law.
Zhou Qinglan took a look and saw that it was a brand new handkerchief, neatly wrapped around something.
Although she couldn't see what was inside, it was probably very valuable. So Zhou Qinglan quickly waved her hand.
"No, no, I can't accept anything from my aunt. Please thank her for her kindness, I appreciate it."
Originally, Gao Haining should have gone home after dropping Tang Fengying and Zhou Qinglan off at the Tang family's door.
But as Sheng Xiping and Zhou Qinglan were talking, Gao Haining and Tang Fengying became quite curious and craned their necks to look in their direction.
Perhaps Zhou Qinglan spoke a little too loudly, because the two people on the other end heard her.
Tang Fengying jumped over, snatched the handkerchief from Sheng Xiping's hand, and stuffed it into Zhou Qinglan's hand.
Gao Haining, on the other hand, simply pulled Sheng Xiping aside.
To give the two girls some space, Tang Fengying was asked to persuade Zhou Qinglan.
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