Chronicle of the 70s

Li Xianglu swings her legs on the bed, dressed in pajamas. Turning over feels uncomfortable, and turning back is no better. She sighs and puckers her lips, staring at the ceiling—her wedding is in three days.

Because there aren’t many people, the banquet will be held directly in the courtyard house purchased for Su Yan, only four or five hundred meters away from the one they live in—a turn away.

The house over there was almost completely demolished and rebuilt, but fortunately, since the district was building a new office area, they demolished the old house and a lot of old bricks were left over. Mr. Li had someone collect these bricks. The exterior of the house was built with these old bricks, and the interior was cast with reinforced concrete, making it particularly durable. Following the guidance of several local master craftsmen, the structure of the courtyard was simply altered; a garden and a large garage were added at the back. At the front, there was a flower hall for entertaining guests. The entire place was transformed into a courtyard with three sections, connected by galleries on both sides. It took over half a year to finish the major renovations, just the springtime decorating left to do.

Mr. Li’s idea was to entertain guests in the flower hall, which is not small—four tables can be set up. The spacious area in front of this house is also convenient for parking.

The main chef was introduced by Qin Xi’s friend—a master of Shandong cuisine with excellent skills, currently cooking for top leaders in a government department’s canteen.

Regarding the meat, Qin Xi had early on arranged for two pigs to be slaughtered. Actually, even if all of it was turned into dishes, it would be too much to finish. However, knowing that this girl loves to eat some meat and sausages, Qin Xi plans to make leftover meat into cured meat and some sausages for her regular consumption.

The chicken, duck, fish were all purchased with Foreign Exchange Vouchers. Xu Xi brought another remittance order worth ten thousand yuan before leaving. In fact, the money was more than enough; the key was to get these vouchers, so the chicken, ducks, fish, and vegetables were all bought from the Overseas Chinese Store.

In less than a month, everything that needed to be prepared was ready. Mr. Li had sent out all the invitations on his side. Li Xianglu only had a few classmates she was close to, but only two of them were in the capital while the others had returned to their hometowns. So, she only invited Lu Anna and Iro, who would also be bridesmaids on her wedding day.

The outfit for the wedding day was brought by Su Yan last year, made by an old craftsman from Hong Kong—a set of golden silk and red brocade dress and skirt. The shoes were matching red embroidered shoes with golden auspicious cloud patterns, inlaid with red coral beads, looking very quaint and beautiful.

And Li Jianqing had arrived three days ago. His sister was getting married—it was a big event he had to attend.