◎Second update◎
Song Jianguo saw it all. Everyone came to help with the move today, so how could he let Xu Shengjie treat them all? However, he had already spent all the family savings on the housing issue this time, and also took on foreign debts. A meal at a state-owned hotel would cost him half a month's food expenses.
No matter how heartbroken I am, I can't really let my brother-in-law treat us, right?
He secretly called Liang Baoying over and asked quietly, "Do you have any money on you? We'll give it to you at lunch later. We can't let Baozhen's man give you money."
Liang Baoying didn't know that Song Jianguo had spent extra money on the house, and was surprised that he had no money at all. Of course she brought money with her. Song Jianguo had sent money home every month for more than a year, and she saved it all without spending a penny. She just thought that living in the city would be expensive in the future, so she had already saved 120 yuan, which was really a huge sum of money.
It must be said that in the past, my husband and I only earned thirty or forty yuan a year working as farmers in the village, not counting food and drink. As expected, we still had to break out.
"Here, take it." She sewed ten large bills of one hundred yuan into the pocket of the inner lining of her cotton jacket, and carried the other twenty yuan with her, wrapped in a handkerchief. She knew her man wanted to save face, so she passed the handkerchief to him in advance, "Then you can pay later. There are twenty yuan in it."
"good."
The team that helped Song Jianguo and Liang Baoying move to their new home cleaned the house thoroughly. Liang Baozhen and Xu Shuping helped Liang Baoying open all the luggage bags and put them away one by one.
Several men helped to wipe the tables, chairs and benches and sweep the floor. The previous occupants of this house were a family of five from the soda factory, who were fourth-level workers in the factory, and the living space was even more crowded. This time they were allocated a 40-square-meter house before they moved out, and the vacated space was left for Song Jianguo to pick up the spoils.
Originally, the 300 yuan that Song Jianguo gave to Sun Kai almost didn't get him a room. There were too many people waiting for rooms at the soda factory, many of whom had connections and even more who gave gifts. Song Jianguo didn't get a room even after giving out the 300 yuan, so Sun Kai just told him to wait a little longer.
Later, Song Jianguo couldn't wait any longer, and he went to Sun Kai privately for four or five times before he finally persuaded him to give him the dilapidated little house.
When the packing was almost done, Liang Baoying saw that although her new home was small, it was cozy and the most important thing was that the three of them could be together, which was more important than anything else.
"Mom, Dad, I want to eat, I'm hungry!" Mengmeng was still thinking about the state-owned hotel and was greedy.
"Okay, let's go." Liang Baoying held Meng Meng's hand, and everyone walked out. Song Jianguo locked the door behind them.
The group arrived at the state-owned hotel in a grand procession. They ordered three meat dishes, three vegetarian dishes, and a soup. When it was time to pay, Xu Shengjie was about to pay when Song Jianguo got there first.
"Brother-in-law?" Xu Shengjie stopped him, "We agreed that this meal would be treated by us."
"No." Song Jianguo and Xu Shengjie didn't interact much, but he was grateful for his help this time. "You guys came to our house to help clean up, how can we let you treat us?"
The big Tuanjie note that Song Jianguo handed over was changed back to five yuan and thirty-two cents. As for the food coupons, they were pooled together. Knowing that they would have to go out to eat, even Liang Baoying and Liang Baojun exchanged four taels of food coupons to go into the city.
There was only one person. Before Xu Shuping could take out the food coupon, Liang Baojun got there first. Liang Baozhen was sitting on her left, and Liang Baojun was sitting on her right. She quietly leaned to the right and said softly, "I'll give you the food coupon later."
Liang Baojun smiled and said, "No need."
"Shu Ping, what are you doing for him?" Liang Baozhen heard the conversation between the two and came over to joke, "Just spend his grain coupons. My second brother has grain coupons and money!"
After saying this, he winked at her. Liang Baozhen finally realized the fun of teasing young couples, especially those who like each other but cannot be together.
When Xu Shuping heard this, she immediately looked at Liang Baojun, then lowered her head shyly.
Xu Shengjie saw his wife's eyes narrowed into crescents with laughter. He didn't know how she could be so happy. She seemed to have no appetite for her meal. He stretched out his chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat for her and said, "Eat your meal well."
"Hmm." She whispered to Xu Shengjie, "What should I do? Shu Ping is younger than me, but she wants to be my sister-in-law."
Liang Baozhen was happy, but when she thought about this, she felt that she had suffered a loss, a huge loss!
Xu Shengjie agreed deeply. After all, he was Liang Baojun's brother outside, but now he became his brother-in-law. He looked at Liang Baojun with resentment, "Your second brother did it on purpose. He took advantage of me, and his wife took advantage of you."
"That's right, we both suffered a lot."
Liang Baozhen was so angry that she ate another piece of meat. It was so delicious!
"Mengmeng, eat more." Song Jianguo sat with Mengmeng in his arms. It was the child's first time to eat in a state-owned hotel. He looked at every dish with excitement, his eyes shining, and his little mouth kept eating.
"You eat too." Liang Baoying had never eaten such expensive food before. A meal cost more than three yuan. How much food could she buy? Although she had saved 120 yuan, she still felt painful when she spent so much. It was not that she was stingy, but she had never spent money so lavishly before.
In the past, she only had a few dollars in the village, and everything she bought was charged by cents. Four dollars? At most, she could spend it in a month, which was not painful.
Seeing Song Jianguo feeding his daughter, Liang Baoying wanted to take the child over, but was stopped by the man.
"Eat your food." It was not only Meng Meng, but also Liang Baoying's first time eating in a state-owned hotel. Song Jianguo would never let her feed the child. "This dish of stir-fried pork with scallions tastes great. Try it."
"Okay." Liang Baoying felt sweet in her heart.
After dinner, everyone passed by the supply and marketing cooperative. Liang Baozhen asked her elder sister if she wanted to buy anything, and Liang Baoying shook her head.
"No need for now, we brought everything with us."
In fact, there was not much shortage of things at home, even toothpaste and towels, which they both brought with them. In the future, you will have to spend money everywhere in the city, and Liang Baoying doesn't have a job, so you have to plan your expenses carefully.
"Then let's go back first, and you can go get the marriage certificate this afternoon."
In the afternoon, Song Jianguo and Liang Baoying had to get their marriage certificate again, otherwise she and Mengmeng would not be able to stay in the city for long.
Liang Baozhen and Xu Shengjie went home, as for Xu Shuping and Liang Baojun...
"Brother, please help take Shu Ping to the bus stop."
"Baozhen..." A blush crept up Xu Shuping's cheeks.
"Oh, I have to go back to see my daughter. I miss her so much after being out for a while." Liang Baozhen pushed Xu Shengjie and Xu Shuping forward, and she herself pulled Xu Shengjie and ran quickly.
Liang Baojun hadn't seen Xu Shuping for several months. He felt that the girl had become prettier again. She looked fairer and cleaner not long after she came back. It was indeed hard for her to go to the countryside as an educated youth. It was no wonder that her parents were determined not to agree to her marrying a villager.
"Let's go." Liang Baojun looked at her, "But I don't know where the bus stop is. Please lead me there."
"Um."
The two walked along the way without saying a word. Xu Shuping felt much more comfortable facing Liang Baojun in the city. She always felt that this was where she grew up, and it was familiar and safe. In Damian Village, that was Liang Baojun's territory, and she was weaker there.
"How are your family members?" Liang Baojun asked suddenly.
"Pretty good." Actually, it wasn't that good. Grandpa suffered a lot when he was sent to the countryside for reform. Even though he has been rehabilitated now, he is still physically injured and not in a good mental state. He has been hospitalized for two months since returning to the city. After all, my parents are younger, so they have managed to get through it.
"When can I visit your home and your parents?"
"Ah?" Xu Shuping didn't expect Liang Baojun to say this. She was slightly stunned. "You want to come to my house?"
Liang Baojun stopped walking, a smile on his face, "Forget it, your parents probably won't like me at this point."
Xu Shuping wanted to say no, but the fact was that her mother did warn her not to have too much contact with people from her previous village. When she and Liang Baojun had a crush on each other, she mentioned the comrades who helped her in her letters to her mother, but she didn't even mention Liang Baojun's name, so her mother saw through her thoughts.
In the reply letter, her mother specifically asked her to stay on her own, not to get married in the village, and to return to the city in the future.
Xu Shuping's silence actually served as an answer. Liang Baojun didn't care much. "Then I'll go later, when I'm capable of satisfying your parents."
"Yes, my parents are not that strict." This was actually false. Her parents had been very strict since she was a child. "They will definitely like you."
"Then will you speak for me then?" Liang Baojun coaxed her in a low voice.
"Yeah!" Xu Shuping nodded shyly.
After a long struggle, Liang Baozhen and Xu Shengjie finally returned home. Xu Shengwei was already drinking water in the house. Today was the first day of his competition in the Children's Palace table tennis team selection, so it ended early.
"How was Xiaowei's game today?" Liang Baozhen asked before even approaching the house.
If the internal trials of the Children's Palace table tennis team had not prohibited spectators from entering, she would have definitely gone to join in the fun and cheer for Xiaowei.
There is no way now.
"Sister-in-law, I'm in the second round!" Xu Shengwei said to his elder brother, "Brother, am I awesome?"
Having grown up without parents, Xu Shengwei longed most for recognition from his eldest brother, after all, his eldest brother was the most powerful person in his heart.
"Not bad." Xu Shengjie had never seen such confidence on his brother's face. When talking about playing table tennis, the man seemed to be glowing.
"Where's Xiaoya?"
"I went to find Song Xinhe."
Xu Shengjie nodded and went into the house to see his daughter who was being played with by her grandmother. Both of them were smiling.
They had a good meal at the state-owned hotel at noon and their stomachs were full, but neither of them ate much in the evening.
Only Shanshan was the most active eater.
She can now eat some mushy millet porridge. Eating coarse grains makes her throat sore and her throat is fragile. The millet porridge is soft and mushy. Sometimes she also cooks a few chopped green leaves and feeds it to the child together with the porridge.
Shanshan has a good appetite and thinks everything tastes delicious. She is happy as long as there is food to eat. She opens her little mouth and bites the spoon tightly without letting go.
"Look at Shanshan, she can't even take out the spoon."
The family sat at the table to eat. Xu Shengjie held the child and fed him. He ate the fastest, so he took the child over so that his wife and grandmother could eat in peace.
As a result, the girl was very polite and even ate the spoon.
Xu Shengya came up to her little niece and whispered, "Shanshan, you can't eat this, spit it out quickly."
Shanshan closed her little mouth tightly and put the small spoon in her mouth. When she saw that everyone was looking at her, she suddenly felt embarrassed. She opened her little mouth and laughed.
At night, Liang Baozhen and Xu Shengjie took their daughter to play on the bed. Their favorite game was rolling over. Shanshan was now able to roll over independently and skillfully. At this moment, she was wearing a milky white sweater and rolling over and over on the bed.
The child was about to fall to his father's legs, so Xu Shengjie quickly reached out to protect his head.
He and Liang Baozhen sat on each side to watch over her so that Shanshan wouldn't fall off the bed.
"Shanshan, shall we sit up?" Liang Baozhen clapped her hands to attract the lady's attention, and then slowly helped the lady who had just turned over to lie on her side to sit up. "That's it, very simple, right? Our Shanshan is the best, let's learn together, okay? Sitting up is also very simple."
"Just fool her." Xu Shengjie found that his wife's way of coaxing the child was to use force.
"You don't understand!" Liang Baozhen thought to herself that this man just didn't know how to raise a child. The child must be encouraged. He was different from him, who was very frugal when praising his brothers and sisters. "You should also praise Shanshan. A lady needs her father to praise her."
Xu Shengjie: “…?”
You won't let him coax her like his wife does, will you? He seemed unable to say it.
Shanshan didn't know what her parents were talking about. She straightened her right leg and jumped up, then turned her legs around, rolled to the side, pressed her legs under her body, and used force with her calves and even her toes.
"Shanshan is awesome, try harder." Liang Baozhen watched her daughter sit up after trying harder, and she shouted excitedly, "Our Shanshan is amazing."
Xu Shengjie didn't expect Shanshan to be able to sit up suddenly tonight. She did it by herself, without any help from his wife. Looking at the chubby child, his eyes were full of pride. He picked up his daughter and lifted her into the air, "Our Shanshan is really amazing!"
The author has something to say:
Shanshan: Dear father, is it possible that you lifted me up just after I sat up for a few seconds and before I could enjoy the fruits of victory?
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