Although Xi Junjie and Zhenzhen have not set a wedding date because of the proposal, the two families have already started to prepare for it. Ling Xiulan likes to visit Lao Li's house when she has nothing to do. When Zhenzhen is at home, she often sits in her room. Seeing that Zhenzhen likes classical furniture, she specially asked someone to buy a set of Ming Dynasty furniture made of Huanghuali wood. The furniture is in very good condition and there is not even a scratch on the whole set.
The walls were painted, and the house was five rooms wide. The main room was furnished with tables and chairs as a living room, and there were side rooms and small rooms on the left and right. Ling Xiulan asked people to connect the left side room and the left small room to make it a study room for the two of them, and she also prepared a large table, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone for Zhenzhen to paint. The east side room was their bedroom, and the small room inside was waterproofed with drainage pipes. The innermost part was a glass bathroom, and the huge bathtub inside was sent back from abroad by Ling Xiulan's friend, which was large enough for two people to use at the same time. A flush toilet and a sink were installed outside the glass door, and the outermost part was a shelf and a washing machine.
The left and right wing rooms were also reorganized, and Ling Xiulan moved out all the things she had used before and put them in the empty room. The wing room was repainted and renovated into a children's room, which was prepared for the future grandchildren.
Ling Xiu Lan started working on this matter after the Chinese New Year, and it was already June when she finished cleaning it up completely. She asked the nanny to clean the house thoroughly. Ling Xiu Lan carried a basket of fresh fruits and prepared to go next door to invite Grandma Li and Wang Sufen to come and see the new house.
Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen were watching TV at home. The small black and white TV that Li Muwen had given her had been eliminated. What they had now was the color TV that Zhenzhen had bought for Old Lady Li. Ever since Old Lady Li got this color TV, she would turn on the TV as soon as she woke up in the morning, and would walk around the garden in the morning and then stay in front of the TV without moving. This made Wang Sufen very worried, fearing that Old Lady Li would damage her eyes by watching too much TV.
Ling Xiulan led the fruit into the house with familiarity. As soon as she entered the door, she smiled and said, "Auntie, you are watching TV again."
Old Mrs. Li put the melon seeds in her hand aside, stood up and smiled with narrowed eyes: "It's really good, you can see old movies from the past, and there are even operas in them."
Wang Sufen poured Ling Xiulan a cup of tea and washed a plate of cherries and placed them on the table next to Ling Xiulan: "These cherries are from the tree in my garden. They are big and sweet. You can try some."
Ling Xiulan sat down and took a cherry and put it in her mouth. As soon as her teeth touched the cherry skin, a stream of sweet juice spurted into her mouth. Ling Xiulan squinted her eyes and praised it endlessly: "It's so sweet, Auntie. I find that no matter what fruit you grow, it tastes especially good."
Old Mrs. Li nodded with a smile: "This is true. To be honest, our Zhenzhen is particularly talented in planting. We planted the same fruit trees, but we didn't see how she took care of them, but the ones she planted tasted better than those grown by others."
"The flowers that Zhenzhen grows are great too." Ling Xiulan said with a smile, "The flowers I grow at home look just so-so at ordinary times, but every time Zhenzhen waters them, the next day the flowers grow big and juicy, just like she watered them with nectar."
Old Lady Li laughed out loud: "When Zhenzhen gets married, I promise that your flowers will bloom every day of the year."
"Then I'll be so happy." Ling Xiulan clapped her hands and laughed, "By the way, you see, I forget the business when I talk. I have prepared Junjie and Zhenzhen's new house, and I want you to come over and take a look."
When Mrs. Li heard this, she immediately stood up again. Then she thought to herself that she didn't trust him, so she smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "Why don't we go and see? Just pack up."
Ling Xiulan couldn't help laughing. She stepped forward and took Old Lady Li's arm: "Aiya, we are friends, come with me and take a look."
Old Mrs. Li couldn't help laughing: "So I'm really going there?"
"Really, really, let's have lunch at my house at noon." Ling Xiulan held Old Lady Li's arm and held Wang Sufen with her other hand: "Come on, come on, relax today too."
Wang Sufen looked down at the casual sweatshirt she was wearing, and looked at her a little embarrassedly: "Why don't I change my clothes? This one is too casual."
"It's okay. We are not strangers. You can wear the same clothes you wear at home. Do whatever is comfortable for you. Anyway, my husband Xi is not at home today, so it's just the three of us." Ling Xiu Lan dragged the two of them out without saying anything.
When they arrived at the yard, they ran into Li Muwu. Wang Sufen smiled and said, "We're going to have lunch at my in-laws' house. You can go eat outside."
"Okay." Li Muwu said, "I'm craving meat, so I'll go to the barbecue restaurant by myself at noon."
"I have money to burn." Wang Sufen laughed and cursed: "I'm not afraid of getting angry in the hot summer."
Li Muwu looked back at the three people leaving the yard, and immediately went back to the house to open the box and get some money. He ran out of the yard, locked the door, and shouted to the fishermen by the water: "My wife is not at home today, let's go to eat barbecue at noon."
"You only dare to go out to eat when your wife is not at home." One person said with a smile: "Okay, let's go out to have a good meal together today."
"Hurry up then." Li Muwu urged: "Go home and put down your fishing rods. I'll treat you at noon."
**
Ling Xiulan led Mrs. Li and Wang Sufen to Xi Junjie's yard. Mrs. Li was so happy when she saw that even the window frames and doors were newly painted that she couldn't stop smiling: "You are so meticulous. You even cleaned up the outside to make it look new."
"It's easy to do outside, take a look inside." Ling Xiulan pushed open the door and entered a bright hall. Old Mrs. Li went in, touched the chair, smacked her lips and said, "This furniture is pretty good-looking."
Ling Xiulan smiled and said, "It's Huanghuali from the Ming Dynasty. I saw Zhenzhen likes this kind of antique, so I bought a set specially for her."
"Ming Dynasty..." Old Lady Li was a little dizzy: "That must be one or two hundred years?"
Ling Xiulan covered her mouth and laughed: "It will take at least three or four hundred years."
"Three or four hundred years." Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen widened their eyes and walked around the huanghuali chair. "My goodness, it's still so well preserved after so many years. It must be a good thing at first glance."
After taking a look at the study, Mrs. Li and Wang Sufen walked towards the bedroom at the same time. The furniture in the room was Feihuang brand solid wood furniture that Ling Xiulan had ordered from Zhenzhen's furniture factory, and the bed was placed on the latest model of Tengda brand mattress. There was a dressing table, a large wardrobe, and a small sofa next to it. Mrs. Li looked at the wardrobe that was as big as a wall, and couldn't help but touch it: "This is the first time I've seen such a large wardrobe."
"There's a lot of space inside." Ling Xiulan said, "The top layer can hold bedding, the middle layer is for hanging clothes, and the big drawer below can also hold clothes."
After hearing this, Mrs. Li could not help but open the closet door, only to see two rows of clothes neatly arranged inside. The ones on the right were men's, with a complete range of items from sweaters to shirts, and the ones on the left were women's clothes, including skirts, wool coats, and windbreakers. It was obvious at first glance that they were not cheap brands.
"Oh, there are clothes hanging here." Wang Sufen and Old Lady Li looked at each other, both a little confused.
Ling Xiulan immediately smiled and said, "I prepared this for Zhenzhen. Last month I went abroad to visit an old friend and saw several brands of new clothes that were all very nice. I'm too old to wear such fancy clothes, but our Zhenzhen is at her best, so I bought all the ones I liked and gave them to Zhenzhen."
Old Lady Li looked at the foreign characters on the collar of the clothes and couldn't help but pat Ling Xiulan's hand: "You are too pampering her. She hasn't even asked you to give her clothes as a gift, but you bought her so many clothes."
"My own children don't talk nonsense. She is like my own daughter to me." Ling Xiulan smiled and covered her mouth. "When I was young, I saw those beautiful dolls from abroad. At that time, I thought that if I had a daughter, I would dress her up prettier than the dolls. But after I gave birth to Junjie, my belly stopped moving. After waiting for so many years, I finally got such a beautiful daughter-in-law. I'm going to buy more now, so that my dream can come true."
Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen were all very happy. Zhenzhen was the first girl in the family and they loved her dearly. Even if she got married and moved closer to home, it would still be someone else's family, so they were still a little worried. Seeing how thoughtful Ling Xiulan was, even preparing clothes for all four seasons after the wedding, they felt relieved.
Ling Xiulan took a stool and took down the bright red four-piece set from the cabinet. Old people like Mrs. Li valued red sheets the most, so she quickly came over to touch them and asked, "What's the pattern on it?"
Ling Xiulan put it on the bed sheet and opened it to show them: "It has a dragon and a phoenix, and I found a master craftsman in Suzhou to embroider it stitch by stitch."
Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen helped to stretch out the quilt cover. Looking at the delicate embroidery on it, they were a little afraid to touch it: "How long does it take to embroider such a beautiful pattern?"
"About a year." Ling Xiulan said, "I reserved it last year, and I just got it back."
Wang Sufen couldn't help but thank you after hearing this: "You've thought so carefully about them."
Ling Xiulan sighed, "We only have this one child, and marriage is a great joy in life, so we have to arrange everything for them."
Old Lady Li folded up the scattered quilt covers, and Ling Xiulan put them back. Old Lady Li looked at the upper layer, which not only had quilts, single quilts, wool blankets, summer quilts, etc., but also had seven or eight sets of sheets and quilt covers. She immediately asked with a smile, "You've prepared the sheets and quilts, what do you want us to prepare?"
"Prepare people." Ling Xiulan said with a smile: "Send your eldest daughter to my house beautifully."
When Mrs. Li heard this, she covered her chest with her hands: "Oh, my heart aches. I can't bear it."
Ling Xiulan laughed so hard that she couldn't even straighten her back. "It's too late to be reluctant. I'm just waiting for the wedding day."
After the two of them had laughed enough, Ling Xiulan continued to show them the house, pushed open the door of the bathroom, and invited Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen in to have a look: "I made an indoor bathroom for them, you can take a look."
"It's for washing hands." Mrs. Li had never heard of such a fancy term. When she entered, she was attracted by the washing machine. "What is this?"
"Washing machine." Ling Xiulan said, "Throw the dirty clothes in, and they will be clean in a short while, without even a drop of water. Hang them outside to dry in a while."
"Oh, this is the washing machine." Old Mrs. Li opened the lid of the washing machine and looked inside: "Last time, Zhenzhen said she wanted to buy a washing machine for the family, but her mother didn't allow it."
"Nowadays, we have so many clothes that we can wash them within two days of wearing them. It doesn't take much effort." Wang Sufen smiled naively: "But young people nowadays are different from us. They are so busy that they don't even get enough sleep. It's good to have a machine to help them wash their clothes."
Old Mrs. Li stepped through the large glass sliding door and looked at the large bathtub inside. She couldn't help but look back at Ling Xiulan: "What is this big bathtub used for?"
"For a bath." Ling Xiulan turned on the faucet and hot water flowed out. "Put a tub of hot water in it and lie down to relieve fatigue. If you don't want to take a bath, you can stand and use the shower head above."
"Oh my, this is such a treat." Old Mrs. Li was a little jealous: "There are so many ways to take a bath, it must be so comfortable."
Ling Xiulan immediately said, "If you want, I'll call a worker to come over and make you a new room."
Mrs. Li's four sons and several grandsons give her a lot of money every year, and they compete to buy her clothes for all seasons. Zhenzhen is even more generous to Mrs. Li, giving her one or two thousand yuan each time. In recent years, Mrs. Li's private money has increased, but the places where she spends it are very limited. She doesn't need to buy vegetables from outside. The vegetables grown in the garden are enough for her in spring, summer and autumn. In winter, there is a greenhouse, and there are more varieties of vegetables in it than those sold outside. She raises a lot of chickens and ducks at home, and there are plenty of fish, shrimps and crabs in the pond. She only goes to the market every now and then to buy some meat and ribs, and basically doesn't need to spend money on other things.
Old Mrs. Li is not the kind of person who is reluctant to spend money, especially now that she is old, she knows how to enjoy life. She walked around the bathroom again, reached out and pressed the flush toilet, nodded and said, "Okay, you can talk to the engineer later and ask him to come to my house and build a bathroom like this for me."
Ling Xiulan responded immediately: "Don't worry, I'll let him go to your house tomorrow."
"By the way, besides the guy who worked on the bathroom, do you know anyone who broke the wall?" Old Mrs. Li asked seriously.
Ling Xiulan was a little confused: "Which wall are you going to hit?"
"These are the walls that were added later between our two courtyards." Old Lady Li gestured and said, "The house we live in belongs to Zhenzhen. When she and Junjie get married, they will be one family. It would be more convenient for us to talk to each other if we open it up directly."
Ling Xiulan was stunned: "Will your grandchildren be happy about this?"
"Why should I be unhappy? When I bought it, I wrote it in Zhenzhen's name." Old Lady Li said, "Now only Zhenzhen's fourth brother Mingbei and his wife and their two children live with us, but they have been looking for a house recently. They said they liked a small courtyard with five houses in the front and an acre of garden in the back. They will move there after they graduate."
Wang Sufen also laughed and said, "In theory, we should go live with my eldest son, but we've gotten used to living here, and we don't plan to move. Just don't look down on us as a burden."
"What are you saying? I'll cry if you guys move out." Ling Xiulan said with a smile, "Our house is big, and there are so many empty rooms. It will be more lively when there are more people. Besides, I'm usually alone at home. I don't know how boring it would be without you guys."
Old Lady Li smiled and said, "It's settled then. Let's get someone to break down the wall tomorrow."
While the family was discussing it lively, Xi Junjie and Zhenzhen at school were not paying too much attention to getting married at this time. After their graduation exams, they began preparing for work.
Xi Junjie and Zhenzhen were the first batch of university graduates after the resumption of the college entrance examination. The quality of their admission was incomparable to that of the former Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University. When they were in school, they were reserved by various state departments. Now, as soon as they graduated, they received reporting letters from various units. Xi Junjie was going to work in the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Zhenzhen received a reporting notice from the China News Agency.
The furniture factory under Zhenzhen's name has become the largest furniture brand in China, but since everything in the furniture factory has been on track, she has rarely participated in the factory's affairs. Even the furniture design has a special design workshop. In order to motivate the enthusiasm of the employees in the factory, Zhenzhen takes out 10% of the dividends to give bonuses to employees every year, and 40% of the profits as Sun Rende's salary. Sun Rende is grateful for Zhenzhen's kindness in the past, and he himself has a strong interest in managing enterprises. He wants to stay in the factory 24 hours a day and work like crazy.
When Zhenzhen submitted her personal materials before graduation, she also reported that she had a company under her name, but the China News Agency didn't seem to care and still sent her a report letter. Zhenzhen originally wanted to work as a reporter for the China News Agency for a few years, one to broaden her horizons and gain more knowledge, and the other to expand her network and pave the way for realizing her dreams.
The two of them packed a lot of stuff and sent it home. They had about a week's rest time before they had to report to work. When Mrs. Li found out, she was extremely anxious: "Why are you in such a hurry? Can't you get married first and then go to work?"
Zhenzhen smiled and shook her arm: "Grandma, don't worry, I'm still waiting for Xi Junjie to propose to me."
"What proposal?" Old Lady Li was a little confused: "You mean you want him to come to your house and propose marriage? Oh, what era is this? You still care about this."
Wang Sufen also chimed in: "We've already broken through the wall, why are you still coming to ask for marriage? Just tell us a date. Your third and fourth uncles have to come from Heilongjiang Province, so you have to call us early."
Zhen Zhen smiled and said, "I know. It will be settled in the next few days. Don't worry about it."
In fact, Xi Junjie had been secretly preparing to propose these days. In order to have a surprise, Zhenzhen had deliberately withdrawn her consciousness these days and was determined not to take a peek.
Seeing that the one-week vacation was about to end, on the morning of the last day of the vacation, Xi Junjie ran around the garden with a red face and knocked on Zhenzhen's door. Zhenzhen was so focused that she didn't notice Xi Junjie coming. She opened the door with some surprise and yawned: "What's the matter so early?"
When Xi Junjie saw Zhenzhen in pajamas, he suddenly had no place to put his eyes. He tried to look away and asked quickly, "Can you go out with me today?"
"What are you doing?" Zhen Zhen saw a blush on Xi Junjie's face and immediately opened her eyes wide: "Are you preparing to propose?"
The author has something to say: Too sleepy, update first and fix bugs tomorrow