Her maternal grandmother is a doctor, so she can only feel more at ease. No matter how good outsiders are, they can never compare to family.
"Then it's settled. I'll arrange my work in the next six months," said Grandma Guo, already planning to make the arrangements as soon as possible.
Hospital affairs cannot be handed over all at once; she still needs to take over the patients she has been caring for.
The family chatted all the way to their destination. After getting out of the car, they didn't let the guards follow them. The three of them, grandfather, grandmother, and grandson, walked into the department store hand in hand.
Suti couldn't even remember the last time she went shopping with her mother and the others.
In her memory, it was when she was sent to the countryside that her grandmother and mother took time off to take her shopping, which felt like a lifetime ago.
"Nannan, shall we go buy the wedding supplies first?" Guo Xuqing led the group straight to the fabric section.
Several family members have jobs and usually wear work clothes, so they don't need the cloth ration coupons issued by their workplaces.
Guo Xuqing used to be able to buy all sorts of pretty clothes for Nannan, but now that she's grown up, she doesn't want their money anymore, which makes her very disappointed.
Now that she's found an opportunity, she feels she should buy some nice things so her daughter can have a grand and dignified wedding.
"Let's go take a look first." Suti glanced at the fabric section and saw that there weren't many people, guessing that everyone had bought what they needed before the New Year.
A few people occasionally walked by; they all seemed to be engaged or buying things. There are quite a few people going on blind dates both inside and outside the year.
Department stores selling clothes and fabrics are never short of customers.
"Nannan, look and see what you like, Mom will buy it for you." Guo Xuqing took Su Ti's hand and led her to the clothing section.
"Mom, I don't lack anything. I have a lot of clothes, and I can change them all in a week without wearing the same thing twice. Now that I'm pregnant, I can't wear all those pretty clothes anymore."
Suti didn't plan to buy clothes; she had plenty of clothes to begin with. She came here mainly to buy some things for her family and to spend some time with her mother and the others.
Suti helped her grandmother walk over, looked at the clothes hanging there, and thought they weren't as neat as the work clothes she wore at home.
None of the currently trendy white shirts, detachable collars, or floral dresses are suitable for home wear.
"Don't you like these clothes? Then Mom will buy some fabric and make them for you." Guo Xuqing also thought these clothes were not good-looking.
She knows her daughter well; she's not the type to be stingy with money. She just didn't find the one she liked. She's been picky since she was little.
I was thinking of going to the Friendship Store later, but I need to get some red satin quilts for my daughter.
From large items like watches, radios, and mechanical devices, to furniture, and even small items like kettles and bowls, Guo Xuqing had already made a list last night.
The items she wanted might not be readily available, so she'd let her father figure out the rest, and she'd buy what she could immediately.
These items were given as part of the dowry to show off to outsiders; the other valuable items were kept secret.
"Mom, Grandma, let's go take a look over there." Suti didn't see any clothes she liked and wanted to check out the other counters.
Sue went to the watch counter. She wanted to buy a watch for her brother, since he gave most of his allowance to her, after sending it to their parents.
He probably doesn't have much money left; the watch on his wrist is his father's old one.
"Sutti?" She had just reached the watch counter when she heard a surprised voice next to her. Suti looked up.
"Guo Lili?" Su Ti was also surprised to see her. She had heard that Guo Lili's family had found her a job when she left Yangliu Brigade.
Wu Xiulan was also arranged into the performing arts troupe through her family's connections. At that time, the two of them hugged her and cried.
They said they would write to her after they settled down, but then they never heard from them again.
She was very surprised to see Guo Lili in Shanghai, because she remembered that her home was not in this area!
"Why are you in Shanghai?" Guo Lili was very happy to see Su Ti and hurried over.
"I'm here to visit relatives. My cousin got married here, and I'm here to attend her wedding." Guo Lili remembered that Su Ti's family was from Shanghai.
"Are you back in the city now? Didn't you say you'd write to me? I haven't received it." Su Ti always remembered the help Guo Lili and Wu Xiulan had given her after she was reborn.
She left them her address in Beijing when she left.
"Xiulan went to the cultural troupe a few days after you left. I was a little late. Now I work at the grain depot, and I've only been here for less than a month."
Guo Lili also wanted to write to Su Ti, but she knew that Su Ti's man had been switched at birth and didn't know what was going on since he had just returned.
She was afraid that writing to her would disturb her, so she thought she would wait until after the New Year to write, by which time everything should have settled down.
"How is Comrade Wu Xiulan doing now?" Su Ti was very happy for them.
It seems that everyone has become better after getting away from Su Nianyou.
"She just joined the performing arts troupe, and I heard she's been very busy, training really hard. How are you doing now?" Guo Lili had only recently spoken with Wu Xiulan.
Everyone's been busy with work and the Lunar New Year holidays lately," she said, glancing at Suti's belly.
She was newly pregnant when she went to Beijing, but now her belly isn't very noticeable. She looks to be in good health, so she must be doing well.
"I'm fine. I'm going back to my mom's place to come and shop with them." Suti smiled as she introduced the people to her grandmother and mother.
Guo Xuqing had met Guo Lili at Yangliu Brigade and knew that they had helped her daughter a lot.
It was back then that I saw the two girls in the countryside looking quite haggard.
This one looks much prettier now, and the group greeted each other politely.
Su Ti was just thinking of inviting Guo Lili to her house when a group of people, who were probably related to Guo Lili, walked over.
"Lili, who is this person?" A group of women walked over, one of whom was younger and the other two looked older.
One of the older women looked a bit like Guo Lili, and smiled kindly at them when she saw them.
Another elderly man had a miserable look on his face; even though he was wearing very new clothes, you could tell that he wasn't doing well.
In addition, her gaze, which darted back and forth between Suti and the others as if assessing something, didn't leave a good first impression.
"Aunt, Mom, Cousin, these are friends I met when I went to the countryside. We just happened to run into each other today," Guo Lili introduced them in one sentence.
Suti understood. The one who looked relatively kind was Guo Lili's mother, and the one who looked distressed and younger was her aunt and cousin.
"Hello, Auntie." Su Ti ignored the mother and daughter who had been watching her from beginning to end and greeted Guo Lili's mother politely.
"Oh, I've heard my daughter Lili mention you." Guo Lili's mother could tell from the girl's appearance that her family must be well-off.
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