They soon arrived in the county town. Li Xiu took Zhou Lian to the department store to buy what they needed, then to a restaurant for lunch, before finally leading her to the salvage station.
Looking at the messy pile of things before them, Li Xiu calmly asked Zhou Lian, "Is this it? Is there anything else?"
Zhou Lian shook her head. 'This place is too small, there's nothing good.' In her past life, while living at her daughter's home, she had learned a great deal from her daughter's mother-in-law.
Her daughter's mother-in-law had been the eldest daughter of a prominent scholarly family. During the Ten Years of Turmoil, she was sent down to the countryside, where she married a local farmer. Life was harsh, and though she gave birth to several children, none survived. Only the son she had in her forties, who would become Zhou Lian's son-in-law, lived.
Her husband passed away just after their son was born. She endured countless hardships to raise him alone. Despite a life of displacement and suffering, her daughter's mother-in-law was remarkably open-minded.
She was nearly seventy when Zhou Lian's daughter married her son. To avoid being a burden to the young couple, she insisted on moving into a nursing home. Her daughter couldn't bear it and asked Zhou Lian to try and persuade her.
In the end, they all lived at her daughter's home. Zhou Lian took care of the older woman, and in return, her daughter's mother-in-law taught her things. Zhou Lian was already getting on in years, so she wasn't going to master literacy or painting. Instead, the woman taught her how to identify antiques. Because her foundation was weak, she only learned the basics. However, since there weren't fakes back in this era, she could still identify the period of an item and so on.
The corner of Li Xiu's mouth twitched. He went to find the old man at the gate, paid him four yuan, and hired a mule-drawn cart. Amidst Zhou Lian's constant cries of, "Slow down, be careful...", they loaded everything onto the cart. After saying goodbye to the gatekeeper, they left the salvage station.
"To Shanqian Village in Liu Shugou Commune," Zhou Lian told the cart driver. Then, she hopped onto the back of the bicycle and urged Li Xiu to get going. Li Xiu froze for a second before quickly starting to pedal, following behind the mule cart. 'Is she taking all this stuff directly to our home?'
"Honey, we don't need to take it back to your father's place in Zhou Family Village?" Li Xiu asked cautiously.
Zhou Lian knew what he was implying. She patted his back, huffed, and said, "Worry about yourself. Put those things away properly, hide them in the cellar, and don't you dare tell a soul!"
'Those things are for my future daughter and son. Besides, how would I explain bringing them back to my family's home? Right now, this stuff is considered junk. In the future, everyone will know its value, and no matter who I give it to, it will only cause trouble. A little help breeds a ton of gratitude, but a lot of help breeds entitlement. What happened with Li Xiu in our last life was a perfect example of that.'
Hearing her words, it suddenly dawned on Li Xiu. 'In our last life, our daughter's mother-in-law taught my wife a lot of things.' He glanced at the junk on the mule cart ahead. 'Those must be the antiques my wife is preparing for our children!'
'Oh, man, my wife actually wants to live a good life with me this time!' He was ecstatic. 'She must care about me, too. I'll treat her as well as I possibly can from now on, and she'll definitely, definitely start to care about me a lot...'
"Watch where you're going!" A punch on his back and Zhou Lian's voice snapped Li Xiu out of it. He had been so excited that he'd started swerving. He quickly straightened the handlebars and tried to wipe the irrepressible grin off his face.
By the time they got home, the sky had already turned dark, so no one in the village saw them. After the cart driver left, the two of them hurriedly moved everything into the house. Despite the bitter cold, they both worked up a sweat.
"Don't touch any of it. I'll sort it out later," Zhou Lian said, wiping the sweat from her face. "I have to get back now."
"Have something to eat before you go."
"No, I can't. My dad and the others will be worried."
Li Xiu didn't dare press the issue. At this hour, his father-in-law was sure to give him a piece of his mind. He quickly locked the door and took Zhou Lian back to the Zhou family's home on his bicycle.
When they reached the entrance to the village, Li Xiu said, "Honey, just tell them we went to see a movie."
Zhou Lian gave him a half-smile. "You're getting pretty good at lying!"
Hearing the sarcastic tone in her voice, Li Xiu quickly explained, "I'm just worried your father will scold you! I promise I'll never lie to you in the future."
Zhou Lian didn't answer. 'Men's words are lies from the devil. I'd be a fool to believe him. The damn man is as sly as a monkey. Still, he doesn't have a wandering eye like other men. He didn't in our last life, either.'
When she didn't reply, Li Xiu started to panic. He stopped the bike, moved closer to Zhou Lian, and stared into her eyes. "Honey, you have to believe me. I won't lie to you."
Zhou Lian patted him. "I know, now let's go."
Li Xiu reached out and hugged her. "Honey, I won't lie to you. Please don't distrust me."
"I believe you, I believe you! Now let's go," Zhou Lian urged, cursing inwardly. 'Damn it, he's so thick-skinned! He must be doing this on purpose!'
Li Xiu didn't dare push it further. It was getting late, and this wasn't the time to be pushy. He held the bike with one hand and her hand with the other, only letting go when they reached her family's gate.
Zhou Lian shook out her hand before pushing the gate open and entering the courtyard. Hearing the noise, her second brother came out. "Second Sister?"
"Second Brother, I'm back."
"Dad's angry. You're in for it now!"
"Second Brother, it was my fault..."
"Don't tell me. Go tell my dad—your esteemed father-in-law," her second brother cut off Li Xiu's explanation.
Walking into the house, Li Xiu saw his father-in-law sitting there with a dark expression. The room was full of people, but completely silent. Li Xiu's heart tightened. "Uncle, it's all my fault. I was the one who insisted on taking her to see a movie..."
Zhou Kun glanced at him. "That's enough. Go home. It's only a few more days anyway. Get yourself ready, and then you won't have to keep running over here. Come back after you're married."
"Uncle, but that's still nearly a month away! I'm already prepared. Besides, I can help out when I come over," Li Xiu said quickly with an appeasing smile. 'It'll be torture not seeing my wife for that long.'
"Are you planning on helping your own wife prepare her dowry?" Zhou Kun was so exasperated he almost laughed. He used to think the boy was down-to-earth, capable, and honest. Why was he so unreliable now? What kind of son-in-law runs to his in-laws' house every other day before the wedding? Wasn't he afraid of becoming a laughingstock?
"Uncle, I already said I've prepared the dowry," Li Xiu muttered.
"Get out! You prepared the dowry? Are you marrying off a daughter, or am I?!"
Seeing things were going south, Li Xiu decided not to actually anger his old father-in-law. He quickly backed out of the house, saying, "Uncle, don't be angry! It's late, so I'll be going. I'll come see you in a couple of days!"
Zhou Lian watched his hasty retreat and chuckled. 'Serves you right for being so smug!'
Zhou Kun turned to look at his second daughter and asked softly, "Why are you so late? What were you doing?"
Zhou Lian smiled. "He insisted on seeing a movie. It's the fifteenth today, so it was especially crowded. We didn't get tickets until the sun was about to set, so of course we're late." 'Of his eight children, her father doted on her the most. She had been a picky eater and difficult to raise, so he had put the most effort into her. Plus, she was quiet and never caused trouble.'
"So you really went to a movie," Zhou Kun said, shaking his head. He had thought the boy was just making it up. But it made sense. His second daughter was the most dependable and well-behaved, and that boy clearly treasured her and wouldn't dare upset her.
"Yes. We won't have time for things like that later. The ground will be thawing soon. Don't listen to his nonsense; he has to go into the mountains to gather wild vegetables, so he won't have time to run over here," Zhou Lian said calmly, not wanting him to truly anger her father.
"Gather what wild vegetables? He's going into the mountains for that?" Mrs. Zhou asked, taken aback. Daqing Mountain was a bountiful place, blooming as soon as spring arrived. But who would go into the mountains at the start of spring? You couldn't hunt the wild animals, only gather some vegetables. Every family had radishes, cabbage, and potatoes now. Besides, the animals were fierce in spring. No one went to the other mountains, so why would he go into Daqing Mountain?
"Oh, it's nothing. He's just idle anyway," Zhou Lian said nonchalantly. Li Xiu had indeed mentioned going to Daqing Mountain for wild vegetables today. Fiddlehead ferns and wild bamboo shoots could only be found on Daqing Mountain. Afraid she would get angry, though, he had specified he would only go halfway up the southern slope and not deep into the mountains.
"What did your fifth sister and the others tell him?" Zhou Kun said with certainty. That boy doted on his second daughter; he must have been asking about her behind their backs.
"Yes. Fifth Sister told him I'm a picky eater and don't like cabbage or radishes."
"So that boy is going into the mountains just to get you bamboo shoots and fiddlehead ferns!" Mrs. Zhou burst out laughing.
"Alright, it's late. Everyone wash up and go to bed," Mrs. Zhou said. "And you," she said to her husband, "don't get so worked up. That boy is stubborn as a mule. Just leave him be. He's very protective, and since he's protecting our daughter, let him be if it makes him happy. Besides, that kid knows what he's doing. He's sly as a monkey; he won't be taken advantage of!"
The Zhou siblings all chuckled. In their family, their father always made the decisions, but their mother was the truly smart one. Mrs. Zhou rarely voiced her opinion, but whenever she did, Zhou Kun never disagreed.
It seemed to be the same with Zhou Lian now. Li Xiu was even less of a match for her than their father was for their mother. Zhou Lian might be quiet, but she had a mind of her own. With Li Xiu in her hands, there would be plenty of amusing situations to watch.
Zhou Lian calmly swept a glance over her amused siblings and got up to go to her room. 'What's so funny? In our last life, things between us got so bad, yet whenever he heard from the children about something I liked, he would run his legs off to get it for me. Back then, I was sick to death of him. But if he were truly a terrible scumbag, I wouldn't have married him again, not even for the children's sake! Do they really think I'm some naive fool?!'