80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches

"Hee hee!" Qiaohui clung to her arm, cajoling, "Don’t be mad anymore! I wanted to come back and tell you, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say it."

"It’s your own mother, what’s there to be embarrassed about!" Wu Shufang shot her a look. "When did you and Zhigang get together?"

Qiaohui pulled her down to sit on the edge of the bed, blushing as she looked at her mother and said, "Brother Zhigang often comes to the store to help out and chat. I think he’s a really nice person, and he’s hardworking too."

"One time, he tore his clothes and asked me to help mend them. After I fixed them, he asked me to make him two pairs of shoe insoles. He bought me some silk thread and a handkerchief as a gift, and... well, one thing led to another, and we got together."

After listening, Wu Shufang looked at her and said, "Your aunt and the others all say Zhigang is a good man. If you like him yourself, your father and I won’t object. But a girl has to respect herself. You can’t do anything improper before you’re married, you hear?"

Qiaohui nodded repeatedly. "Don’t worry, Mom. Brother Zhigang and I have never gone out alone, not even to the movies."

"I trust you." Wu Shufang tucked a loose strand of hair from her daughter’s temple behind her ear. "You kids have suffered a lot with us. I don’t want anything else now, just for you and your brother to have a good life in the future."

Qiaohui comforted her, "Mom, we will have a good life, you and Dad don’t need to worry. Let me tell you, my cousin said I’m ready to manage a shop all by myself. She said if I manage a store on my own, I’ll get a ten-percent share on top of my base salary."

"My cousin’s husband bought the machinery when he went to Yangcheng City last time. The original plan was to open the bakery next to the department store in the second half of the year, but my cousin is pregnant, and we have to make mooncakes this month, so it’ll have to wait until next year."

Wu Shufang looked at her, pleasantly surprised. "That’s wonderful! You can manage a store on your own! Keep working hard with your cousin, and you won’t have to worry about the future."

"Mhm!" Qiaohui said with a grin. "My cousin also had her husband buy some pastry-making books in Yangcheng City for us to read."

"Work hard." Wu Shufang patted her. "If it weren’t for your second aunt and your cousin, our family would still be toiling in the dirt back in Shishanling!"

Qiaohui nodded. "I know! Mom, I have to go, there’s still a lot to do!"

"Alright, I need to talk to your cousin anyway."

The mother and daughter came out of the room. When Tong Xinglan saw the smiles on their faces, she said cheerfully, "Auntie, does this mean we’ll be invited to a wedding banquet soon?"

Wu Shufang laughed and gave her a light swat. "You cheeky girl. You’ll only get to go to a wedding if you work hard."

Tong Xinglan nodded emphatically. "Don’t worry, Auntie, I promise I’ll work hard."

"Good girl. I’ll bring some bingfen and spring rolls this afternoon as a treat for you all."

Tong Xinglan quickly made a request, "Add extra shredded radish and crushed peanuts, and make it spicier!"

"Alright!" Wu Shufang agreed, then went into the store and asked her about the house at the garment factory.

Lin Lan listened and said, "The house at the garment factory is quite spacious, but it doesn’t have a stove or anything." She thought for a moment, then said, "Let me go back and ask Xiangyang. I’ll get back to you this afternoon."

"Let’s get this straight first. We’ll pay whatever the rent should be. Otherwise, I’ll just go find a place on my own."

"Let me ask Xiangyang first."

"Okay! As for Zhigang and Qiaohui, we have no objections. When your mother picks an auspicious day, have Zhigang come over to make their relationship official. Then we can pick another day for the engagement."

"I’ll have Zhigang get the house cleaned up. You all can go take a look whenever you’re free." Lin Lan smiled. "Auntie, with Qiaohui settling down, you and Uncle can just relax and enjoy life."

Wu Shufang gratefully took her hand. "Little Lan, it’s all thanks to you two that our family can finally live a stable life."

Lin Lan quickly said, "Auntie, please don’t say that."

Wu Shufang was about to say more, but another customer came in, and Lin Lan hurried over to weigh some pumpkin seeds for them.

In the afternoon, Lin Lan went home and told the father and son about Wu Shufang wanting to rent the house.

Old Li looked at Li Xiangyang. "A house falls into disrepair if no one lives in it. I remember that row of houses in the back is pretty decent. Since your aunt wants to pay rent, just charge her a little something. They’ll feel more at ease if they’re paying rent!"

Li Xiangyang nodded. "Dad, the old houses are going to be demolished next year anyway. We can let Auntie and her family use the furniture we left there. As for the rent," he thought for a moment, "let’s just charge them the same price as Ding Bang’s family."

"Alright." Old Li stood up and said to Little Douzi, who was playing with a Rubik’s Cube on the side, "Douzi, let’s go for a walk. It’s sweltering in here."

"Okay!" Little Douzi waved the Rubik’s Cube at Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang. "Mom, Uncle Xiangyang, we’re going for a walk!"

Lin Lan waved back and said to Li Xiangyang, "This Indian summer is brutal. It’s still this hot even with the electric fan on."

Li Xiangyang grabbed a fan and sat down next to her, asking in a soft voice, "I saw you only had one bowl of congee and a few bites of the other dishes. Are you not feeling well?"

Lin Lan smiled at him. "Before you guys came back, I suddenly had a craving for boiled taro, so I had Qiaohui cook some to eat with soybean paste. I ate five or six of the small ones. I’ve found that as long as I don’t eat garlic, I don’t feel nauseous."

"That’s good, then." Li Xiangyang was relieved. "You go take a walk, I’ll come join you after I wash the dishes."

Lin Lan stood up and looked at him with a grin. "The sunflowers in the backyard are ripe. I’m going to go see about picking a couple of heads to send over to Xiuyun. The ones she planted all died."

Li Xiangyang urged her worriedly, "Be careful. If you can’t reach, wait for me."

"Mhm!" Lin Lan grabbed a pair of scissors and a basket and headed to the backyard. In the vegetable patch, some of the eggplant plants that Old Li had pruned the side stems from were already bearing autumn eggplants.

The two rows of sunflowers were already bent over by the weight of their seed heads. At some point, the sunflower stalks had been co-opted as trellises by pumpkin, cowpea, and muskmelon vines.

Lin Lan snipped two young pumpkins and selectively picked a handful of old cowpeas, planning to dry them for next year’s seeds. Before she had found all the old cowpeas, she discovered a golden muskmelon under a few pumpkin leaves. She brought it closer and smelled a faint, sweet fragrance.

The muskmelon was perfectly ripe. She snipped it off the vine, then circled the two rows of sunflowers twice, finding two more. Only then did she start cutting the sunflowers, choosing and cutting down two heads whose seeds in the center were still fairly plump.

"Finished picking?" Li Xiangyang strode over.

Lin Lan turned and gave him a brilliant smile. "Look, I found three muskmelons under the pumpkin leaves."

Li Xiangyang glanced over, then bent down to pick one up and sniff it. "These muskmelons smell great this year. Later, we can squeeze out the seeds and dry them to save for planting."

Lin Lan nodded with a smile. "And the cowpeas and green beans, let’s save some of those too."

"Mhm! You go take a shower, I’ll take this over to Dongzi." Li Xiangyang picked up the basket and leaned close to her ear. "Honey, I asked Dongzi, and there are... other ways. Honey, tonight, we..."

Lin Lan gave him a light punch. "You goof, why do you tell people everything?"

"Heh heh, that’s what guys do!" Li Xiangyang put an arm around her with a fawning look. "But don’t worry, I didn’t say a single thing I wasn’t supposed to."

Lin Lan shot him a glare, pinched the soft flesh at his waist, and gave it a sharp twist. "You still dare to talk!"

Li Xiangyang twisted his body, begging for mercy. "Honey, ow, ow, ow! You know my skin is sensitive, it’ll be bruised again tomorrow."

「That night」

At a certain someone’s shameless pleading, Lin Lan’s wrist was nearly exhausted.