At this moment, Gu Yanxiao, a soldier in a certain unit in Heilongjiang Province, was eating dumplings with his teammates. One of his comrades teased, "Old Gu, take out your dried meat to have with your drinks!" Gu Yanxiao swallowed the dumpling in his mouth and said, "I'm done, there's none left." The soldier who teased him stood up and said, "I don't believe it! It's such a big bag, and you won't even share one with us. You're eating it all by yourself. You'd chew your jaw crooked if you ate it all!" Then another comrade said, "That's right, Yanxiao, you're so stingy! The day you came here, you only gave each of us one in the dormitory, and that was the smallest one. You kept the rest tightly covered, as if you were afraid we'd steal them. You know, if we hadn't tasted them, it would have been fine, but you've made us all hungry. Now you won't give us any. You're so unfair!" On the day Gu Yanxiao returned to his unit, he was wearing a shirt made by Xia Liang and carrying a bag of dried meat made by Xia Liang. Gan, he hadn't originally intended to share with his teammates, but how could he show off if he didn't share? How could he let others know that his girlfriend had made it for him? So, he stingily gave each of them a strip, the smallest kind of scrap. Xia Liang had trouble cutting it, so it was a bit small. Every time he gave someone a strip, he would say, "This was specially made for me by my girlfriend. Never had it before, huh? It's so delicious it'll make your jaw drop!" His smug expression made the others want to punch him. But the moment they put the jerky in their mouths, their eyes widened. It was so delicious! Just as they were about to grab it, Gu Yanxiao seemed to have anticipated this, dodging the attack and keeping the jerky in his arms. When the others went forward to grab it, they heard Gu Yanxiao, that jerk, say, "Be careful, don't tear the clothes my girlfriend made for me." Hearing this, the others couldn't help but grit their teeth and gave up the idea of grabbing it. They all realized that Gu Yanxiao was showing off to them.
In Dahe Village, the Xia family stayed home on the first day of the Lunar New Year. There wasn't much work to do, and Xia's father hadn't received any orders. They'd been idle at home for a while. Xia Rong suddenly remembered he hadn't told his father about his job, so he said, "Dad, I'm working at a garment factory now!" Xia Dahe stared at his son in disbelief. "What did you say?" Xia Rong repeated, "I'm working at a garment factory." Xia Dahe's hands trembled with excitement. "Really? You and your sister work at the same factory?" Xia Rong nodded. "Yes." Xia Dahe laughed heartily. "Come on, let's go tell the ancestors!" People couldn't perform ancestral worship these days, but he could sneak over as long as no one saw him. Xia Dahe just wanted to see if the ancestral graves were emitting auspicious smoke. After returning, he went to the village chief Xia Youshun's house to transfer his household registration. From then on, he would be a city dweller and receive government-supplied food. Thinking about this, Xia Dahe couldn't stop smiling. Both of his children were receiving government-supplied food and becoming city dwellers. Not to mention in the village, there was no one in the surrounding area who was so successful. Xia Dahe couldn't help but straighten his back.
Upon arriving at the village chief's house, Xia Rong handed the cloth and candy his sister had given him before he left to Wang Guihua. After some initial refusals, they accepted them nonetheless. Xia Youshun, upon hearing that Xia Rong had found a job in the city, couldn't help but glance at Xia Dahe a few more times. After all, Xia Dahe used to be a simple, honest middle-aged man who was blindly filial, spending his entire life toiling in the fields, no different from the men in other villages, not to mention the burden of having a sickly Zhao Danxiang. Now, with both his children successful, he could be said to have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel. After finishing their business, the father and son returned home. Xia Liang and Zhao Danxiang packed their things, including a hen, as Xia Liang planned to buy her father a job in the city. When Xia Dahe and his father came back, they saw Xia Liang catching a chicken and asked, "Liang, what are you doing catching a chicken? Leave it at home and ask your aunt next door to feed it for a few days. I'll catch another one to raise together." These days, raising chickens is regulated; a family can't raise more than two. The aunts who sold eggs to Xia Liang before all raised them secretly, not daring to make a fuss. Except for a few close friends, they didn't dare let anyone else know. Actually, they were all in the same village, and as long as it wasn't too outrageous, the village chief mostly turned a blind eye. Xia Liang replied, "Dad, this time I'm going to meet my brother's future in-laws. I have to treat them well." Xia Liang didn't dare tell her father about her and her brother's plan to buy him a job, fearing he wouldn't be comfortable going. When Xia Dahe heard that the chickens were to be used to entertain his future in-laws, he waved his hand and said, "Go ahead and catch them. Do you want me to help you?" Xia Liang replied, "No need, I can manage by myself." After saying that, she went to catch the chickens, and Xia Dahe returned to the house.
The Xia family of four returned to the county town before the New Year was over. They set off from the village on the second day of the Lunar New Year. It was the first time Xia's father had visited the house Xia Liang rented. Seeing how big and nice the house was, he was overjoyed and said, "It's really nice, but it's a pity it's not ours. I wish we could have a house like this." Xia Liang said, "When houses can be bought and sold in the future, I'll buy it for you and Mom to take care of in our old age." Xia Dahe looked at his daughter in shock: "That's not cheap, is it?" Xia Liang nodded: "It might cost a few thousand yuan, but it's okay, we'll save up for a while." Xia Dahe walked around the house several times and went inside to tour the interior with satisfaction.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Xia Liang and his mother went grocery shopping and prepared early in the morning. They had invited Zhou Xiaohui's family over for dinner. Although they had invited the whole family, Xia Liang, being the groom, felt he had to make a good impression if he wanted to marry Zhou's daughter. They busied themselves, some killing chickens, others cleaning fish, until around 3 PM when the Zhou family arrived. They had almost finished preparing the ingredients for dinner. When Zhou Xiaohui and her parents arrived at the Xia family's door, the elderly couple were surprised. After all, they lived in a company-allocated apartment, much better than those families crammed into apartments of about 30 square meters. Their apartment was about 70 square meters. The five-person house was fairly spacious, but after seeing Xia Liang's family, their own felt cramped. Xia Rong was the first to see them enter and quickly greeted them, "Uncle and Aunt, please come in." She led them to the living room, served them tea, snacks, and fruit. Xia Liang pushed her parents in to chat with them. The couple were honest, unassuming people, not very good at socializing. Knowing their future in-laws were from the city, they felt inferior and didn't know what to say. Zhou Xiaohui's father, on the other hand, was more talkative. Having worked in the factory since his youth, it was impossible for him not to interact. He chatted with them about crops and farming. This gave the Xia couple something to talk about, and they gradually warmed up. After a while, the Zhou couple exchanged a glance. Zhou's mother nodded secretly in satisfaction, extremely pleased. With such an honest mother-in-law, her daughter wouldn't have to worry about being manipulated.
This feeling lingered until the evening when the dishes were served. Seeing the table laden with food, Zhou's mother was even more pleased. After all, whether the family valued her daughter or not was evident from these dishes; it seemed the Xia couple also adored their daughter. Zhou's mother, happy, asked, "In-laws, what are your plans for their children's marriage?" Xia's mother replied, "Our Rong isn't young anymore; children his age in the village are already running around. We also really like Xiaohui. How about this? I looked it over last night; the engagement is in March, and the wedding in June. As for the dowry and such, we'll see what your local customs are like."
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