On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Li Xiu went to his eldest uncle's house early in the morning to pay his respects. Before long, his parents and his third uncle and aunt all arrived with their children. Li Xiu led his younger siblings to kowtow and offer New Year's greetings to their grandmother, then to his eldest uncle and aunt, his own parents, and his third uncle and aunt. Only then did he take his siblings to visit the homes of his clan's great-uncles—the first, second, third, and fifth. His grandfather had four brothers, and while his own grandfather had passed away, the others were still alive and well.
Every year, Li Xiu led his younger siblings to kowtow and wish them a happy New Year. By the time they had made a full round to all the elders in the village, the day was already over.
On the second day, they went to their aunt's house. They only had one aunt, who had married into Hedong Village, which required crossing Little Beishan behind their own village.
Li Xiu didn't ride his bicycle, instead leading his younger siblings over the mountain on foot. On the third day, Li Xiu took a basket of meat and vegetables to visit his future in-laws. The third day was traditionally when married daughters brought their husbands back to their maternal home. Since his fiancée wasn't officially married yet, he was going to visit her on his own.
Just as he stepped into his future in-laws' courtyard, a burst of laughter erupted from within. Li Xiu froze, steadying his bicycle. 'What's going on here?'
The Zhou family's second brother walked over, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "I won! Thanks, brother-in-law." Then he turned and shouted to his older brother, "Hurry up and get the money! Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, Third Brother, quick, quick, quick! A bet's a bet, so pay up!"
Just then, Zhou Kun came out of the house, smiling. "It's freezing out here. Hurry inside." A little bewildered, Li Xiu parked his bicycle. The third Zhou brother took the basket off for him, saying as he did, "You really came. You could have just come tomorrow, you know."
The Zhou family's eldest brother-in-law watched them with amusement. "Alright, Third Brother, let our brother-in-law come inside. Dad's already calling for him." Li Xiu looked at them, his confusion growing.
"Second Uncle, my dad and my other uncles made a bet," Zhou Lian's eldest nephew, Zhou Huaitai, explained, seeing Li Xiu's puzzled expression. "My first aunt and uncle, second uncle, third and fourth aunts, and my youngest aunt all said you'd definitely come today. My dad, my mom, and my third uncle said you wouldn't. And look, my parents and my third uncle lost." He added, "I told them you'd definitely come, but they wouldn't listen to me. See? They lost!"
"Happy New Year, Second Uncle!" "Happy New Year, Second Uncle!" Six little children stood before him, chirping their greetings in unison, though the three youngest could barely speak clearly.
Li Xiu chuckled and pulled out red paper packets of New Year's money he had prepared, handing them to the children. Eldest Sister-in-law and Zhou Lan quickly came over to stop him, but Li Xiu had already stuffed the packets into the children's pockets. "Eldest Sister-in-law, Eldest Sister, it's for good luck in the first year. It's not much."
Only then did Eldest Sister-in-law and Zhou Lan relent. "Brother-in-law, pocket money!" Seeing three hands stretched out in front of him, Li Xiu looked at the grinning faces of his three young sisters-in-law, then glanced quickly at his fiancée. 'This didn't happen in my past life.'
Noticing the smile in his fiancée's eyes, Li Xiu hastily dug into his pockets, muttering, "Everyone gets some, everyone gets some." He gave each of the three sisters-in-law ten yuan, then pulled out a handful of bills and stuffed them directly into his fiancée's pocket, saying, "Don't worry, you get some too, you get some too."
This sent the onlookers into fits of laughter. They had never seen anything like it. Zhou Kun smiled as well. It wasn't about the money, but the sentiment. Seeing the delighted look on Li Xiu's face as he stuffed money into Zhou Lian's pocket, he knew Li Xiu genuinely cherished her. That was enough. As a man himself, he knew there was a difference between treating a wife as mere family and truly treasuring her. The life they would lead would be different. This was good. Zhou Lian hadn't been enthusiastic about the marriage, which had worried Zhou Kun, but now, it seemed there would be no problem.
The house was lively with so many people. On the way back home after the meal, Li Xiu still felt a bit dazed. It wasn't from drinking; the moment he had raised the cup of wine his father-in-law poured for him, he saw his fiancée glare at him and didn't dare to take a sip.
His father-in-law had just smiled without saying anything. Even when his three brothers-in-law tried to persuade him, he didn't dare drink. It wouldn't do to make his fiancée angry, especially during the New Year.
In his past life, his wife had hated drinking. His son was a teetotaler, and his son-in-law didn't drink either. He hadn't known why at first. It was only when they were old that his daughter told him her mom couldn't stand drinking, especially drunkenness.
'So this life, I'll just go along with what she wants. If she hates drinking, I just won't drink.' But the fact that she had glared at him meant she cared about him. If it was a person or matter she didn't care about, she wouldn't even bother. Li Xiu whistled happily in the cold wind all the way home. This was enough to keep him happy for days.
He had arranged it with his father-in-law: on the fifteenth, he would take his fiancée to the county town to go shopping. His fiancée had agreed.
When the fifteenth arrived, Li Xiu rode his bicycle to Zhou Family Village to pick up his fiancée for their trip. After saying goodbye to the Yue family, he watched as his fiancée settled onto the back seat, then started pedaling toward the county town.
After a moment, he glanced back and stopped the bike. He took one of his fiancée's hands and put it in his coat pocket, then took her other hand and tucked it under his padded jacket, resting it on his waist. He mumbled, "You silly girl. It's so cold. Why are you holding onto the seat with both hands out in the open?"
Zhou Lian looked at him but said nothing. 'How did he get so shameless in this life?'
As Li Xiu pedaled, he chattered away, "Honey, I've cleaned up the whole house and got everything ready. I even dug a big root cellar under the east wing. It's huge! I moved most of our grain down there. I also went to the scrap collection station. There were so many books, and I brought them all back for our kids to read. Honey, I'll tell you a secret. The wood for our big bed is really good wood, it's called Red Sandalwood. All three beds in our house, your vanity, the large wardrobe, and the cabinet on the kang are all made of it. I heard it's the kind of dowry only a young lady from a very, very rich family would have…"
"Where did you get it?" Zhou Lian cut him off.
"From the scrap collection station. It was all just piled up there. I…"
"How did you know about it?"
"Heh, honey, I studied with Uncle Ge, the ox-herder, for six years. He taught me everything. When the family property was split the first year, didn't I only get 250 yuan? What good was that little bit of money? And even though I promised Uncle Ge I wouldn't go into the mountains, I had no choice back then, right? I went to the county town, and that's when I went to the scrap station. Honey, I found some really good stuff. It was hidden in a secret compartment in that Red Sandalwood canopy bed. There's…"
Zhou Lian clapped a hand over Li Xiu's mouth, hissing in a low, angry voice, "Are you an idiot, blabbering about everything out in the open?"
Li Xiu stopped the bike. He looked around and, seeing no one, pulled his fiancée into a tight embrace.
"Honey, honey, you do care about me, don't you?"
Zhou Lian froze for a second, then started hitting his chest. Li Xiu paid her no mind, murmuring softly into her ear, "Honey, just let me hold you for a bit longer. Just a little while."
Zhou Lian stopped bothering with him. Who knew what had gotten into him in the middle of the road. In their past life, they'd had two children together. She wasn't some real twenty-something girl who would get shy in front of Li Xiu.
Sensing Zhou Lian's growing impatience, Li Xiu simply lifted her up and sat her on the front bar of the bicycle, then started pushing it forward.
Zhou Lian gave him a helpless look, pulled her hat down and her scarf up until only her eyes were showing. If they ran into an acquaintance, she'd die of embarrassment.
Li Xiu watched her with amusement. 'She doesn't realize that even if they did run into someone they knew, they'd still know it was her. It's not like he was wearing a hat and scarf.'
"Honey, let me tell you, I found four boxes of good stuff. One box is full of jewelry, for you and our daughter…"
"How do you know it'll be a daughter!" Zhou Lian whipped her head around to stare at him.
"Honey, we can keep trying until we have a daughter. You're not planning on just having one, are you?" Li Xiu said, feigning surprise.
Zhou Lian stared at him for a moment, then turned her head away without a word.
Li Xiu secretly took a breath and continued, "There's also a box of gold ingots, a box of small pieces of gold, and a pair of jade Fish pendants. They're beautiful. There are 10 pairs of gold ingots and 36 small pieces of gold, and each one is ten taels."
Zhou Lian's head snapped back around. She stared at him, dumbfounded. Li Xiu gave her a firm, reassuring nod. "That's over sixty pounds!"
"Where did you put it all?" Zhou Lian was starting to get agitated. 'This unreliable man.'
"Don't worry, don't worry, I put it in the root cellar." Seeing her glaring at him, Li Xiu quickly explained, "I dug that cellar myself, in secret. Nobody knows about it."
"Who else knows about this?" Zhou Lian's heart tightened. Her mother-in-law was not to be underestimated. If she found out, there could be huge trouble.
"Nobody knows. I found it in the bed myself. I put it in fertilizer bags with the books and hid it under Grandma's bed. After I finished digging the cellar, I moved it all there. Grandma doesn't know either. I told her it was just books and that if I left them at the old house, my mom would use them for kindling." Seeing Zhou Lian's tense expression, Li Xiu said cheerfully, 'My fiancée cares so much about me!'