Starting a new chapter in life

Jingyan placed a large basin full of green beans on the cupboard, then carried the empty basket directly to the backyard. Jinghuan watched her back and smiled helplessly: "She's really not nervous at all. You wouldn't guess she's getting married just by looking at her like this. She's so carefree."

She swept up the pile of string beans and potato peels on the ground and dumped them into the trash can by the door before picking green peppers with her basket. It's so nice living in the village; every household has a big yard, and the whole family can have enough to eat from summer to winter. Unlike in the city, where you have to buy everything.

The two sisters had almost finished preparing all the dishes for the banquet, but then they got lazy and steamed some mixed rice for lunch. They also cooked potatoes and eggplants, made a sauce with eggs and green peppers, mashed and mixed all the ingredients, wrapped them in cabbage leaves, and that was it. Each of them ate two or three of these, and that was their meal.

Jinghuan made six more lunch bags and put them in a clean food box. She told Jingyan, "I'm going to deliver the food to your brother-in-law. Take advantage of the good weather and quickly take a shower and wash your hair. The aunties who are coming to help with the cooking will be here soon."

Jingyan readily agreed, saw her fourth sister off, closed the courtyard gate, and locked it before going back inside to take a bath. After washing herself, she wrapped her hair in a towel, poured the bathwater into the soil in the yard to water the vegetables, changed into new clothes, and opened the courtyard gate. As soon as she opened the gate, she was face to face with Chunlai, and both of them were startled.

Jing Yan took a step back: "Why are you here at this time? Shouldn't you be in the cafeteria?"

Chunlai patted her frightened chest: "Today is your wedding day, and Chef Lin gave me half a day off to help out. I pushed the door open but couldn't, so I peeked through the crack to see if anyone was home before you opened it. You scared me to death!"

"Alright, come in quickly. Isn't the cafeteria busy today?" Jing Yan turned and walked into the courtyard.

Chunlai hurriedly followed: "Chef Lin took a shortcut in preparing dinner and made oil-splashed noodles, saying it was a style from the Northwest. He also stewed a pot of mutton bone soup before he could let me go back. Oh, my sister-in-law isn't home?"

"I've gone to deliver food to your little brother. He'll be back in a bit."

"Young man, you're so lucky to have married such a wonderful wife. She even brings your meals to the fields. Hey, Jingyan, you're getting married today, aren't you nervous?" Chunlai said with a mischievous grin.

"Why are you nervous? We got our marriage certificate a month ago. According to the older generation, we're practically an old married couple."

"That's different. You two got your marriage certificate but didn't live together. This is the first time you've lived together."

“If you’re curious about this, I suggest you ask your brother. Stop teasing me. But speaking of which, we’re about the same age. I’m already married by the time I’m twenty. What about you? When are you planning to go on a date?” Jingyan was genuinely curious.

Chunlai pouted: "The departure time of the army has been set, and I won't be able to do this temporary job for long. My family is trying to find connections for me to see if there are any factories or shops in the county with openings. They are planning to spend some money to buy me a job. We plan to find a boyfriend after I have a stable job. At that time, my value will increase a lot."

“That’s a good idea. It’s better to have it yourself than to have it from someone else. Work is very important,” Jing Yan agreed.

"Is there any chores left at home?" Chunlai asked with a smile.

"We're just waiting for the village aunties and grandmas to come and cook. All the preparations are done. You don't have much to do, so just keep me company."

"That's great, I can steal half a day of leisure from my busy life, and have some snacks."

Jingyan gave her a handful of melon seeds and poured her a cup of black tea: "Eat up."

"Jingyan is the best." Chunlai sat down at the table in the main room without any ceremony and started eating and chatting.

"You'll be unfamiliar with the place and the people there, and you're not with the military, so the beginning will be tough. How about I have my brother take you there and help you settle in? Brother Jingtian and Brother Jingzhao are too busy with work; it's not realistic for them to take ten days or half a month off."

My brother-in-law works to earn work points, so losing a few points is no big deal. My sister-in-law won't be at ease if no one at home takes care of things. He's your fourth brother-in-law, so it would be a disservice to his position if we didn't let him play a role at this time. Don't hesitate to use him." Chunlai truly is Peng Chunhai's good sister.

Jing Yan was also tempted by the idea. Although she had lived in the Great Northern Wilderness her whole life, the army was not going to the familiar place this time. It would be a lie to say that she was not worried. If her fourth brother-in-law could accompany her... "Well, I will discuss it with everyone before we leave."

As the two were talking, Fourth Sister and several aunts and grandmothers came in through the main gate. Jingyan and Chunlai quickly came out of the house: "Thank you all for your help today," Jingyan said with a smile.

“Oh, what’s the big deal? This is how it’s done for any happy occasion in the village. Let’s see what dishes we’re going to make today.” One of the older women responded in a loud voice.

Jinghuan quickly led the person to the east kitchen, talking about the dishes she had prepared. The cook was amazed: "This is really generous! Two meat dishes are what we only have for the New Year. Jingyan's marriage is great. If the army hadn't moved away, there would be many young girls in the village who would envy this marriage."

"Yes, although marrying a soldier comes with good benefits in all aspects, and the monthly allowance is quite substantial, it's still more stable to stay at home than to leave one's family and land behind."

Everyone chatted and got to work at the same time. They were all very good at managing household affairs. Before long, the aroma of the stewing soup wafted out. Jingyan was a little puzzled. She didn't seem to have heard of soup being included when they ordered the dishes a few days ago. She and Chunlai went to the east room and saw Fourth Sister. She asked, "Fourth Sister, why are you making soup? I don't think it was on our menu before."

"We originally ordered rice rolls as our staple food, but then I thought about it and realized that rice rolls require a lot of mixed rice. The work in the village is heavy these days, so we need people who can eat a lot. Today, when I went to deliver the food, I saw that Uncle Qi at the entrance of the village had two old hens that he was going to sell at the market. I had a sudden idea, and chicken noodle soup would be good too. It's delicious, filling, and presentable. Anyway, I had enough time, so I bought it."

"Do we have enough wheat flour at home? We need wheat flour to make noodles, right?"

“We need wheat flour. A few days ago, your brother-in-law ground the wheat we exchanged for work points last year. After deducting the amount for this feast, there’s enough left for us to eat through this year. We can exchange for more after the autumn harvest. It’s enough to eat.” Jinghuan smiled happily.

Jingyan was relieved: "That's fine then. I don't want to empty the family's savings just by getting married."

"No way, don't worry. You're far from being good at cooking. I'm much better at it than you. Go back inside, it's smoky here, you'll get your clothes dirty."

In the evening, people who had finished work went home, washed their faces, changed into clean clothes, and came one after another. Everyone from the canteen and He Zhijun's colleagues also entered the courtyard under his guidance.

The weather is still hot, so the wedding banquet is set up in the courtyard. Piles of mugwort are burned in the furrows between the courtyard path and the vegetable garden to repel mosquitoes. The wedding ceremony is still as simple as ever. The bride and groom stand in front of the house, holding a little red book in their hands, and read a quote. That's it. Then the banquet begins.

After a long day of work, the meal was quite lavish. Apart from a few words of congratulations during the oath-taking ceremony, everyone was too quiet to talk once they started eating. The only sounds were the clinking of bowls and chopsticks. After finishing, Jinghuan shared the extra dishes with the older women who helped in the kitchen. There was also a lot of chicken soup left in the pot, which she kept for cooking noodles the next morning, and distributed the rest as well. Everyone happily left with their bowls and plates.

The courtyard gradually returned to calm. Jinghuan and his wife returned to the east room, while Jingyan and He Zhijun sat silently on the kang (heated brick bed) in the main room. Jingyan thought for a moment and said, "How about we count the money we received as gifts today?"

He Zhijun readily agreed, and so the newlyweds sat on the kang (a heated brick bed). He Zhijun held a small notebook and a pen, ready to take notes, while Jingyan unpacked the packages. "Fifty cents for Uncle Meng's family, one dollar for Aunt Gong's family..."

After taking stock, He Zhijun was a little puzzled: "Are all the gift money amounts like this, varying greatly? I feel like there's some kind of pattern?"

"Of course there's a pattern. If it's just two people, it's 50 cents as a gift. If it's a large family, it's one or two dollars. Everyone has their own sense of right and wrong. They might try to take advantage, but they also stick to a bottom line. Otherwise, how could our village be so harmonious? If you're greedy and take too much, the village chief will teach you a lesson. Over time, everyone has come to feel comfortable with having a bottom line, so it's continued."

"The atmosphere in your village is really good. I remember one of my comrades told me that there was a wedding banquet in their village where everyone went. They set up forty or fifty tables, but when they calculated the gifts, they actually lost money on more than thirty tables. Nobody wanted to lose money, so they did the same thing whenever there was a wedding banquet. As a result, the food at the wedding banquet got worse year by year, creating a vicious cycle."

"It's all because of poverty. No one with surplus grain would take advantage of that. Who wouldn't want to save face? There are few people and a lot of land in Northeast China. Although there's only one season, we can still eat our fill. So the overall folk customs are pretty good," Jing Yan sighed.

The gift money had been registered, and it was completely dark. It wasn't good to keep the candle burning all the time, so the two of them, blushing, got into bed. The night was filled with the warmth of spring, and everything was perfectly harmonious.

The next day, when the couple got up, Jinghuan had already prepared the chicken soup and noodles. Each of them had a large bowl of noodles with two large spoonfuls of chicken soup poured on top, and some chopped green onions sprinkled on top. The steaming hot chicken soup noodles were ready, and the four of them ate their fill. After the fourth sister's husband finished eating, he went to work. Jingyan and He Zhijun were going to the county to see off the He family. They were newly married, so they could go to work the next day.

After seeing their family off, the two thought they'd stop by the supply and marketing cooperative to see if there was anything they could buy. As soon as they entered, they saw a cantaloupe for sale, but since they already had some at home, Jingyan didn't plan to buy any more. Instead, she thought she'd buy a few bottles of liquor to keep at home. Her fourth brother-in-law didn't smoke or drink, but it was still good to keep some at home in case they needed to give gifts. After all, liquor doesn't spoil easily.

The two went to the counter, bought five bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), and were about to leave when they heard someone call their name: "Zhang Jingyan?"

Jingyan stopped and looked in the direction of the voice: "Ah, it's Brother Chen." Jingyan's greeting was not very sincere. After all, in her previous life, she had only returned to her hometown twice because of him, and she had fought with him twice. However, in this life, they would not have much contact again.

Chen Fu hurried over, looked around, and asked with a smile, "Why did you come alone today? Didn't your sister come with you?"

"Oh, my fourth sister and brother-in-law are going to work in the village. I came with my boyfriend to see my mother-in-law's family off at the train station, and I also stopped by to bring back two bottles of wine for my brother-in-law. After working all day, we need to have a drink to relax when we get home." Jingyan said this offhand.

Upon hearing her words, Chen Fu's previously smiling face froze: "Your fourth sister got married? I don't think I heard about it during the New Year."

"Ah, it just so happens that my eldest brother went home for the New Year and arranged the marriage for her. They got married in May. As the eldest brother, he's like a father to us. My fourth sister's husband also grew up with us. We know each other well and he'll be good to my fourth sister, so our family is happy to see it happen." Jing Yan pretended not to understand his implied meaning and said with a hearty laugh.

Chen Fu forced a stiff smile: "Then I should at least offer my congratulations when I see you in the future."

"Thank you, Brother Chen. I'll tell my fourth sister when I get back that she'll definitely treat you and Sister Xiaoli to a meal when they come to the county town sometime in the future."

"Let's talk about it later." Chen Fu's smile was almost impossible to keep up.

"Then, Brother Chen, you go ahead with your work. We'll head back now and treat you to a meal in the county town another time," Jing Yan said politely before leaving.

After the two left the supply and marketing cooperative, He Zhijun asked curiously, "Are you very familiar with him?"

"We're not close. I only spoke to him briefly when my fourth sister and I came to buy fruit before. We ran into each other again last time we were shopping for New Year's goods. He must have a crush on my fourth sister, because he was very friendly and helped us buy fruit."

"However, I don't really like this guy. He's taken a liking to a woman he's only met once, which makes him seem unreliable. Luckily, my fourth sister doesn't have any issues with him either. Now that my fourth sister is married, he probably won't reveal his feelings. If we see him in the future, I'll just say hello." Jing Yan replied calmly.

“I can also sense that you don’t really like this person,” He Zhijun said with a smile.

"Is it that obvious?" Jingyan was surprised. She disliked him because she knew about his personal feelings towards her fourth sister in her past life, but he had not wronged her fourth sister now. It would be unreasonable and inappropriate for him to give a cold shoulder to someone who was friendly.

He Zhijun shook his head: "Your behavior wasn't obvious. On the contrary, you were very enthusiastic. But after spending some time with you, I know how you treat people you like. Your attitude towards him is too fake."

Jingyan patted her chest: "That's good. Although I don't like him, he did make things convenient for us before. Next time he comes, we should bring some gifts. We can't just use his services without giving anything in return."

“Alright, since he had a good impression of Fourth Sister before, we’ll take care of the return gift.” He Zhijun took on the task.

Jing Yan nodded.