Chapter 22
On the tenth day of transplanting rice, Lu Che estimated that he could complete the task in the remaining five days, so he asked Jiang Yao and Lu Qing to go to the fields for two hours every day and sign in for attendance.
Jiang Yao was reluctant to leave Lu Che to struggle alone, but Lu Qing came to persuade her: "The team leader said that as long as the household completes the task of transplanting rice this time, all the laborers in this household can gain ten centimeters in the next half month. Since Lu Che can do it, why don't we stay at home and do other work? Besides, the tomato and cucumber seedlings in the vegetable garden have started to climb vines, so we have to take good care of them."
Jiang Yao has been so exhausted lately that she almost forgot about her tomatoes and cucumbers. Also, the county market is coming again, and she has to sell more jelly twice while the weather is still hot.
After weighing the pros and cons, she decided to follow Lu Che's arrangements.
After working in the rice fields until the sun came out, Jiang Yao and Lu Qing went back to the Lu family.
After Jiang Yao entered the door, she went to the vegetable garden first. At a glance, the two rows of tripods that were originally light yellow had been added with a hint of green.
She walked over excitedly and watched for a long time before standing up. When she was about to water the plants, Lu Qing stopped her and said, "Water them in the afternoon. Lu Che watered them this morning."
"Oh." Jiang Yao agreed, and suddenly felt a little distressed.
Lu Che was already very tired from transplanting rice seedlings, and now he had to take on all the heavy work at home. She was really worried that even a steely man could not endure it.
Lu Qing could see what she was thinking, patted her hands, and comforted her: "He is having a hard time now, but I know he is willing. Yaoyao, I really want to say thank you to you, because of you, my brother is living a happy life now."
The Lu family had been looked down upon before she was born, and it became even worse after Lu Che was born. Later, her father committed a hooligan crime, which made the already heavy family even more depressed, and her mother could not withstand such pressure and died of depression.
Others said that Lu Che was a prick and gloomy person, but how could he not be like this when he was born in such a family? If not, they would have trouble surviving.
But Lu Qing has always known that Lu Che has a good nature. How could he not be a good person who works so hard for his family?
"Sister Qing, don't say that." Jiang Yao smiled slightly, "I am also very happy with him."
Jiang Yao didn't tell Lu Che this from the bottom of her heart, but she really felt that way. Although her life was hard now, she felt that life was full of hope as they worked hard together every day.
"That's good." Lu Qing nodded. "As long as you stay like this, I will be able to leave with peace of mind in the future."
"Are you leaving?" Jiang Yao asked in surprise.
Lu Qing hummed, and said, "It's not a long-term solution for Yangyang's father and I to live apart, and the two children need a dad too. I had no choice before, but his dad understood and accommodated me. Once things are stable, I will go with the army."
Jiang Yao thought about it and asked, "When do you plan to join the army?"
"It has not been confirmed yet. It would be best if it is before the two children go to school." Lu Qing looked at Jiang Yao meaningfully and said, "If you marry Lu Che, I will definitely be completely relieved and can take the children to find their father."
"..." Jiang Yao clearly felt that she was being urged to get married.
She actually wanted to tell Lu Qing that she and Lu Che had only been dating for less than two months, but she swallowed the words back. Nowadays, it is normal to get married after knowing each other for a month. It is basically impossible to date for two or three years before getting married like in later generations.
"Okay, tomorrow is market day, and Lu Che is busy, so I'll go with you to the county town to set up a stall and see if there is any preparation work to be done." Lu Qing knew that the young girl was shy, so he changed the subject at the right time.
Jiang Yao: "Let's sort out the ingredients we're going to use first."
This time when setting up the stall, Jiang Yao refused to let Lu Che help no matter what, but he still ground the rice milk before going to bed at night.
When it was around three o'clock in the morning, he also got up and accompanied them to the county town. After setting up the stall, he returned to Qingyuan Village to work.
The things they wanted to sell at the market this time were similar to the last time, but they were sold out and closed their stalls at around 2:00 p.m. Because it was the busy farming season, there were not many farmers at the market today, so the things at their stalls sold out very quickly.
Lu Qing knew how to drive a ox cart, so there was no need for Lu Che to pick them up. The two of them moved the things onto the ox cart and went back.
It was only 3:30 in the afternoon when they returned to the Lu family. Lu Qing wanted Jiang Yao to go to rest, but Jiang Yao was thinking about making a sumptuous dinner for Lu Che, and even though she was tired, she didn't feel sleepy at all.
Since the young couple can love and care for each other, Lu Qing is optimistic and lets her do as she pleases.
Jiang Yao took a quick shower, changed into clean clothes, and went to the kitchen to get busy.
She went to the supply and marketing cooperative this morning and bought half a pound of pork belly, a large piece of pork liver, and two large bones.
Lu Che likes to eat taro braised pork, so she made the pork belly into taro braised pork. As for the pork liver, she cut it into thin slices and made it into raw pork liver porridge when the white porridge base was ready.
The big bones are stewed together with radishes to make a pot of radish and bone soup.
In addition, she also made a leek omelette and stir-fried cabbage hearts.
When Zhou Yang and Zhou Xin saw the food on the table, they suddenly felt like it was Chinese New Year.
Mrs. Lu was both happy and embarrassed, and said to Jiang Yao: "Yaoyao, why did I make you spend money again today?"
“Grandma Lu, please don’t say that. I was able to plant rice this time thanks to you guys, otherwise I don’t know what I should do.” Jiang Yao said “you guys” instead of “Lu Che” because she felt guilty. After all, the old lady didn’t know that she was dating Lu Che yet.
"Why are you being so polite?" Mrs. Lu said nonchalantly, "We Cheche are strong, this is nothing." Then she said to Lu Che, "Cheche, Yaoyao is so polite, you really shouldn't be rude. I've invited you to such a good meal, so hurry up and say thank you to her."
The Lu family's dining table was a square table. Jiang Yao and Lu Che sat on the two adjacent sides. Although they were not close to each other, they were only separated by a corner.
Lu Che turned his head to look at Jiang Yao and said seriously, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." Jiang Yao also answered politely.
As soon as she finished speaking, her hand under the table was suddenly held.
A warm, calloused palm gently touched her delicate little hand. Jiang Yao knew who it was without even looking.
The whole family was sitting together, but they were blatantly doing something under the table. Jiang Yao was very nervous. She wanted to shake off his hand but didn't dare to use force for fear of being discovered. She could only quietly warn him with her eyes.
But he ignored it, picked up his chopsticks and ate with relish.
"Yaoyao, why don't you eat?" Mrs. Lu asked when she saw that Jiang Yao didn't move her chopsticks.
Jiang Yao thought to herself, your grandson is holding my right hand, how can I hold the chopsticks?
"...Eat, eat now." Jiang Yao laughed and struggled twice before Lu Che let go.
After a few days, the Qingyuan Production Team's final rice planting work was finally completed successfully, and Lu Dazhou gave all members a day off.
After being tired for so many days, Jiang Yao finally had a chance to rest. Of course, she wanted Lu Che to go to bed early, but that person stayed in her room until ten o'clock, claiming that he didn't have to go to work the next day. During that time, he kissed her countless times.
The next day, Jiang Yao went back to sleep after her biological clock woke her up.
She didn't know how long she had slept when there was a knock on her door. She thought it was Lu Che, but when she opened the door, she saw Zhou Xin standing outside.
"Xinxin, is there something wrong?" Jiang Yao asked.
Zhou Xin looked up at her and said, "Sister Yaoyao, my grandmother asked you to go to the main hall."
After saying that, Zhou Xin ran away.
Jiang Yao didn't understand, but she quickly changed her clothes and washed up, then walked towards the front yard.
When she walked into the main room, she saw Mrs. Lu sitting in the middle, and Lu Che was also there, sitting on one side.
The old lady saw her coming, waved at her and said, "Yaoyao, please sit down."
"Okay." Jiang Yao sat down and secretly exchanged glances with Lu Che, but it was obvious from his expression that he didn't know what was going on.
"Ahem..." Mrs. Lu cleared her throat. Jiang Yao and Lu Che immediately stopped eye contact and looked at the old lady. Then she asked, "Did you two forget to tell me something?"
"..." Did the old lady find out about their relationship? This was Jiang Yao's first reaction, but not many people knew about it. If the two of them didn't tell her and Lu Qing didn't tell her, she wouldn't have known about it.
Jiang Yao glanced at Lu Che, and Lu Che said to the old lady: "Grandma, what are you talking about? I don't understand."
"You don't understand?" The old lady snorted coldly, "You didn't even tell your grandma about your relationship with Yaoyao. Do you really think highly of me?"
“……”As expected!!!
Seeing the unhappy look on the old lady's face, Jiang Yao immediately said, "Grandma Lu, even if you don't agree with me and Lu Che being together, you must not be angry. Your health is more important."
"Who said I'm unhappy? I'm very happy." The old lady's expression changed in an instant, and she laughed cheerfully, "This boy is really capable, to be able to pursue a girl as good as you, Yaoyao. Yaoyao, don't get me wrong, grandma likes you very much. In fact, I have long wanted you to be my granddaughter-in-law, but my family background is not good, so I am afraid that you are too high for me."
Seeing his grandma getting angry and happy at the same time, Lu Che confused everyone and said unhappily, "Grandma, if that's the case, why are you so angry?"
"Of course I'm mad that you didn't tell me." The old lady pouted and said, "I'm already half dead, and it's rare for me to have such a happy event, but you kept it secret from me. It's really infuriating. If the whole production team hadn't been saying that you were dating recently, and Aunt Huang next door hadn't come to ask me, I might have had to wait until you got married to find out."
"The whole production team is spreading the rumor that we're dating?" Now it was Lu Che and Jiang Yao's turn to be surprised.
"Yes, Aunt Huang said so." said the old lady.
Jiang Yao: "But...but we didn't do anything inappropriate outside. How did everyone...know about it?" She told Zhao Pengfei about this, but he was not the kind of person who would talk casually.
"The eyes of the women in the village are sharp." The old lady smiled and said, "Aunt Huang said that Lu Che helped Jiang Yao with work. No man in the production team could do that to his wife. No one would believe him if he said they were not dating. The eyes of the masses are sharp. This statement is indeed true."
“…”
The old lady chatted with them for a while, then left Lu Che behind and asked Jiang Yao to go have breakfast.
After Jiang Yao left the main room, the old lady called Lu Che into her room, then dug out a tin can from under the bed and handed it to him, "Open it."
"What is this?" Lu Che brushed off the dust on the tin can. When he opened the can, he saw a lot of big unity banknotes and some banknotes worth a few yuan or a few cents.
The old lady said, "Here is about 1,200 yuan, which was sent to me by your aunt, and the money you usually earn, I put it all here. Now that you are dating, you have to be responsible for the girl. Grandma is not urging you to get married, but getting married is the greatest sincerity to Yaoyao."
Lu Che has worked very hard to make money these years, and he knows how much money he can possibly make, but it is far from 1,200 yuan. Most of this money was sent back by Lu Yuan.
"Grandma, this money is given by your aunt to support you in your old age. I can't take it." Lu Che was about to push it back, but the old lady hit him on the calf with her cane.
"Your aunt gave me this money, I can spend it however I like." The old lady said excitedly: "Cheche, I know you are ambitious and want to marry a wife with your own ability, but now look at how much money you can earn in a month? Yaoyao doesn't despise you for your poor background, but you can't let her wait forever and let her down."
"Yaoyao is an educated youth from the provincial capital, and she picked a peasant like you. There must be many people criticizing her behind her back, so you must not let her feel wronged by the betrothal gift. Do you understand? If you really can't get over it, just think of this money as a loan from grandma. When you make money in the future, you can pay it back to me. Is that okay?"
At this point, Lu Che's expression relaxed a little. The old lady added a dose of strong medicine and said, "Even if Yaoyao can wait for you, I'm afraid I can't. I can see Qingqing's child, and I also hope to see your child."
The last sentence finally touched Lu Che.
He closed the tin can, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the old lady, and solemnly promised: "Grandma, I will definitely return it to you."
"How can grandma not trust you?" The old lady pulled him up and said, "If you can promise me that you will give me a big fat great-grandson, that would be good enough."
"Granny, I will for sure." Lu Che said in a loud and confident voice.
The old lady smiled happily, waved her hand at him and said, "Okay, go out now. Go see if Yaoyao has finished her breakfast. If she has, ask her to come over to me."
"Grandma, what... do you want to do?" Lu Che said defensively.
"You little bastard." The old lady hit him with the stick again and said, "You look so anxious. Can I eat Yaoyao?"
Lu Che said as a matter of course: "That's my wife, how can I not be anxious?"
"All right, hurry up and go." The old lady chased him out, "Don't call me daughter-in-law, she is not your daughter-in-law yet."
When Jiang Yao heard that the old lady was looking for her, she was quite nervous, but she had to go.
She thought the old lady would open up to her and ask her to be nice to Lu Che, but she just showed her a gold bracelet.
"This bracelet originally came in a pair. When Qingqing got married, I gave her one. I'm giving you the other one." The old lady stuffed it into Jiang Yao's hand and said, "This thing is very sensitive now and you can't wear it outside. You should keep it as a family heirloom and pass it down to your and Cheche's descendants in the future. It will be considered a legacy of our Lu family."
Jiang Yao was a little flattered to be handed over a family heirloom without saying anything. She wanted to refuse, but she heard the old lady say, "I know our Cheche is marrying up to you. If you really don't mind him, just accept it."
"..."So, if she doesn't accept it, it means she dislikes Boss Lu?
Jiang Yao was in a dilemma whether to accept it or not, but in the end she accepted it.
When Lu Che came to find her after returning to the room, she threw the hot potato to him, "I can't accept your family heirloom."
"Of course I can accept it." Lu Che took out the bracelet, put it on her hand, admired it for a while, and said, "This thing will be handed over to you for safekeeping sooner or later. It doesn't matter if you take it sooner or later. If you accept it now, it will also make my grandma feel at ease."
"Don't worry? What's there about me that would worry you?" Jiang Yao asked.
Lu Che hugged her and said, "My grandma thinks you are so good. She was worried that you would run away. She gave the bracelet to you so that she would feel more at ease."
"…Why should I run? Am I that kind of person?" Jiang Yao muttered unconvinced.
"I know you're not that kind of person, but don't blame my grandma. As long as I haven't married you, my heart will always be hanging." Lu Che said, hugging her tighter.
Jiang Yao knew that he was insecure, so she hugged him back with more force and said, "Don't worry, as long as you are devoted to me, I, Jiang Yao, will not easily change my decision."
"Yeah." Lu Che rubbed her neck and said, "Yaoyao, I know you are still young, but I am not young anymore. If we are still determined to be together after this year, let's get married, okay?"
"I promise that after we get married, I will not let you suffer any injustice. I will let you live a good life. I will take care of you and love you for the rest of your life."
His oath was simple and plain, but it made Jiang Yao feel at ease.
After dating for half a year, getting married was a hasty decision, but Jiang Yao found that she was not opposed to it. She nodded and replied softly, "Okay."
After a few days, the news that Jiang Yao and Lu Che were dating spread throughout the Qingyuan Production Team.
In fact, ever since Jiang Yao moved into the Lu family, there were people who had speculated that they were doing something secretive, but at that time they just spoke about it in private.
Now that it has been confirmed, let’s say it openly.
Of course, most of the comments were not very friendly.
After all, with Lu Che's background, it was really enviable that he could be with an educated youth from the provincial capital, and a very beautiful one at that.
Jiang Yao took the initiative to apply to live in the Lu family, which caused people to have many associations and criticisms.
Jiang Yao didn't care much about this because she had expected this result and didn't care what others said.
As for Lu Che, no matter what others said about him, he could not say anything bad about Jiang Yao, otherwise he would beat them up. However, he did not have the opportunity to swing his fist, because no matter what others said, they did not dare to say anything in front of him.
Not to mention that others are afraid of his fists, his reputation in the production team has improved a lot recently because he can repair tractors.
In a blink of an eye, the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching. Zhu Xia organized all the educated youth to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival at the educated youth site on August 14th.
In the past, it was celebrated on August 15th, but after this rice planting, the farmers' views on the educated youth changed a lot, and they invited them to celebrate the festival with them at home. It was hard to refuse, so they gathered a day in advance.
Since it is Mid-Autumn Festival, of course we have to have mooncakes to celebrate the festival.
The mooncakes from the supply and marketing cooperative not only required coupons but were also very rare, so they couldn't afford them. Zhu Xia suggested that they pool their money to buy the ingredients and make them themselves. However, she didn't know how to do it, so she gave this task to Jiang Yao.
Jiang Yao didn’t know how to make traditional mooncakes, and she didn’t have an oven, so after weighing the pros and cons, she decided to make snow skin mooncakes.
On August 13, Lu Che went to the county town to deliver firewood. Jiang Yao asked him to buy three pounds of glutinous rice flour, one pound of red beans, and one pound of sugar. She gave 2/3 to the educated youth and left the rest for the old Lu family to celebrate the festival.
She, Zhu Xia, Zhou Qiong and Wen Qian made an appointment to make mooncakes in the old granary on the morning of the fourteenth.
Jiang Yao was busy in the vegetable garden that morning before she set out for the old granary. When she arrived, the other three had already arrived.
After finally catching her, everyone would definitely not miss the chance to gossip about her and Lu Che.
"Yaoyao, when did you and Lu Che get together?" Zhou Qiong asked curiously.
Jiang Yao felt that there was nothing to hide, so she thought for a moment and said, "Two months ago."
"Wasn't that the time when Lu Che was wrongly accused?" Zhu Xia said jokingly, "No wonder you were so nervous at the time and ran around for him. Tell me, did you fall in love with him at that time?"
"Yes, I fell in love with it at that time." Jiang Yao admitted generously.
When everyone saw her happy face, they couldn't help but feel a sense of sourness that is unique to single people.
"Yaoyao, to be honest, it's irrational to date a rural guy, but I envy you. You're so happy to have someone protecting you." Wen Qian said.
"If you're envious, just find one." Jiang Yao said with a smile.
Wen Qian shook her head, "I don't have the courage you have. I still want to go back to the city."
"I want to go back to the city, too." Zhu Xia asked, "Yaoyao, aren't you afraid that you won't be able to go back to the city and will have to stay in the countryside for the rest of your life?"
"No." The country will have a major turning point in a few years, Jiang Yao has nothing to fear, not to mention that Lu Che is a promising man and will not let her stay here forever. However, she couldn't say anything, so she just said: "As long as Lu Che treats me well, what's wrong with staying in the countryside?"
“Oh…”
Jiang Yao's show of affection gave everyone goosebumps.
Four people worked together, and it was noon when the snow skin mooncakes were ready. Everyone went back home and gathered at the old granary in the evening.
Before Jiang Yao returned to the Lu family, she saw a postman at the door from afar. She walked over and asked, and found out that he was delivering a telegram to her.
She took it and saw that it was a telegram sent to her by Jiang Zhen.
These days, unless it is an emergency, people usually write letters because telegrams are too expensive. Jiang Zhen suddenly sent her a telegram, and she couldn't help but feel a little panicked, worried about receiving news that he was injured.
Lu Che happened to come back from work at this time, and saw her standing at the door, so he asked, "What's wrong?"
"My brother sent me a telegram."
Seeing her pale face, Lu Che's heart sank and he said, "Open it and take a look."
"Okay." Jiang Yao quickly opened it, and was stunned when she saw it.
"What did your brother say?" Lu Che asked with concern.
Jiang Yao looked up at him and said, "My brother said he wanted to come see me. He's probably on his way now."
“…”
The author has something to say:
Lu Che: What do you think my brother-in-law is doing here?
Xiaomi: I guess he’s here to beat someone up.
Lu Che: ...
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