That night, Dong Xiulan and Lin Jianguo lay on the warm kang (a heated brick bed). Dong Xiulan, who was tired after a long day, still couldn't fall asleep for some reason.
"Jianguo, do you think Qingqing and Nanxun brought out all the food in the house?"
Dong Xiulan savored the meal she had just eaten. The rice was snow-white, without a single grain mixed in. There were ten different dishes, seven of which were meat dishes, and all of them had more meat than vegetables. There was also a fragrant and delicious chicken soup. She had lived almost her entire life and had never eaten such a delicious meal.
Lin Jianguo pondered for a moment, then said with concern, "Didn't we bring money with us? You can give it to Qingqing tomorrow."
"Oh dear! We were so busy talking that we forgot to give the cotton-padded jackets I made for my parents."
Hearing Lin Jianguo mention money, Dong Xiulan suddenly remembered what she had brought with her. Besides her cotton-padded coat, she also had some food. She had been so busy talking that she had forgotten to give it to her parents. She couldn't help but sit up from the kang (a heated brick bed).
"Go to sleep! We're not leaving yet! We'll deliver it to Mom and Dad tomorrow and see where they live."
Lin Jianguo turned over, reached out and patted Dong Xiulan's arm.
Dong Xiulan obediently lay down, and after a long while, she said softly, "Jianguo, thank you for your hard work."
Lin Jianguo hugged Dong Xiulan tightly and patted her shoulder, saying, "What nonsense are you talking about! We've helped each other all our lives like this. Now that the children are all grown up, what's so hard about it?"
Dong Xiulan nodded heavily in Lin Jianguo's arms, swallowing all the gratitude in her heart.
She thanked Lin Jianguo for standing by her side when she was being harassed by her mother-in-law; she also thanked Lin Jianguo for always being there for her no matter how difficult things got, so that she wouldn't break down in the most difficult times; she also thanked Lin Jianguo for not abandoning her parents when they were in trouble, and even for being willing to lend a helping hand; she also thanked Lin Jianguo for not blaming her after she lost her job because of her parents, and even for being willing to send his son to the countryside to help her parents.
Dong Xiulan was unaware that while she was grateful to her husband, Lin Jianguo was also grateful to her.
He thanked Dong Xiulan for not blaming him when his parents were wasting her time, and even for being willing to stay with him; he thanked Dong Xiulan's parents, his mother-in-law, father-in-law, and brother-in-law for reaching out to help him when he was all alone and helpless; he also thanked Dong Xiulan for giving birth to three sons and a daughter for him, and for following him without complaint no matter how hard life was.
...
"Nanxun, did you know Mom and Dad were coming when you were riding the sled?"
That evening, after everyone had left, Lin Qing, who had washed up, lay on her side on Gu Nanxun's body and asked with a smile.
"Yes, I hadn't thought of it before. When my parents said they were coming, I was thinking about how to pick them up, and that's when I remembered that we should take a sled."
Gu Nanxun said embarrassedly, feeling a little guilty. He thought to himself, "That day, when I saw Lin Qing sitting on the sled, laughing so happily, I wondered why I hadn't thought of it sooner!"
"My parents are really something. They didn't even tell me they were coming over, and they only wrote to you."
Lin Qing buried her head in Gu Nanxun's arms and pouted in dissatisfaction.
"I wrote a letter to invite my parents!" Gu Nanxun said with a smile, patting Lin Qing on the shoulder.
"Why did you write the letter?" Lin Qing asked with a delighted smile upon hearing Gu Nanxun's words.
"You've always felt that getting married without informing your parents first would be unfair to them, haven't you? And I also know that you miss them too."
Lin Qing was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. She thought she had kept it a secret all along, but she didn't expect that Brother Nanxun already knew: "How did you know!"
“Fool, how could I not know! If your parents didn’t treat you well, you might not have those thoughts, but they’ve always been devoted to you, how could you not feel guilty?”
Gu Nanxun reached out and tapped Lin Qing's head, saying that his darling was the kindest person. If someone was nice to her, she would want to repay them tenfold, let alone the fact that her mother-in-law and the others treated her with such devotion.
...
In the morning, Lin Qing slept until after 9 o'clock as usual.
When Lin Qing got up to eat breakfast, Dong Xiulan had already taken a walk around the village, and Lin Jianguo followed Lin Yunfeng and Gu Nanxun up the mountain with Leiting and Shandian.
"Qingqing, this is the money your father and I brought from home. Take it."
After finishing her meal, Dong Xiulan took out a roll of money wrapped in a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Lin Qing.
Lin Qing glanced at it; it was about 400 yuan. She didn't take it, but smiled and said to Dong Xiulan, "Mom, wait for me a moment."
After saying that, Lin Qing went into the bedroom, and a little while later she came out carrying a small wooden box.
Lin Qing placed the wooden box on the kang table, then opened it to show Dong Xiulan.
Dong Xiulan looked down and saw that the wooden box contained bundles of money tied with rubber bands, as well as various receipts and passbooks.
“There are two savings accounts in total. One account is the dowry money given to me by Gu Nanxun’s parents, totaling 5,000 yuan. The other account is the dowry money given to me by Gu Nanxun’s uncle, totaling 50,000 yuan. There are also several thousand yuan and some tickets, all of which were mailed to me by Gu Nanxun’s parents in installments.”
Lin Qing showed Dong Xiulan the contents of the small wooden box one by one. After that, she picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Dong Xiulan: "This is a property deed for a courtyard house in Beijing. It was given to us by Gu Nanxun's parents, who said it was for our wedding."
Dong Xiulan stared in astonishment at everything her daughter had shown her, unable to process it for a long time. After a while, she asked Lin Qing in a trembling voice, "Qingqing, what do Nanxun's parents and uncle do? How can they be so generous?"
“His father and uncle are both in the military, but I don’t know exactly what they do. They’re probably officers. His mother doesn’t work and stays at home.”
Lin Qing said with a smile that she really didn't know what her father-in-law and uncle did; she only knew that they were high-ranking officials.
"Qingqing, didn't you say Nanxun was a local? How come his father is in Beijing now?"
Dong Xiulan asked in confusion, remembering that Qingqing had told her before that Gu Nanxun was a local.
"That's a long story," Lin Qing said with a smile, about to explain to her mother, but was interrupted by her mother: "We'll talk about it later. You should put these things away first. Why didn't you lock them? You're too careless."
Lin Qing paused for a moment, then got up, removed the lock from the kang cabinet, and locked it directly to the wooden box. She then picked it up and carried it back to the bedroom—actually, to her spatial storage. The box had been stored there before, which was why Lin Qing hadn't locked it.
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