Han'an County is located in the hinterland of Qingchuan Province and is mostly mountainous. Yang Qi's classmates brought them a lot of fruits. There are not many fields here, and they mainly grow some cash crops. It was very backward in the early years. However, with the development of the economy, the fruit price has soared, and the economy of Han'an County has also improved a lot.
Qingya City is more than 180 kilometers away from Qingzhou, and it takes about two hours to drive there.
"Is this Qingya City?" Yang Qi couldn't help but mutter as he looked at the rolling mountains outside the car window.
The highway is built against the mountain with a drop of about ten meters. You can even see huge concrete pillars supporting the road. You have to know that this highway has only been built for a few years. Although it is amazing, just imagine that before the highway was built, it was very inconvenient to enter and exit here.
"How about it? Beautiful, right?" Zhao Yixin said with a smile from the back seat.
The mountains are now full of fruits that are about to ripen, and they are all green, making people want to go down and pick some to taste.
"It's very beautiful. Do you also grow fruits at home?" Yang Qi nodded slightly.
"I planted some, but my father's health is not very good, so we don't have much mountain land to contract." Zhao Yixin said with a wry smile.
Although there are no restrictions on mountain land contracting, as long as you can pay the contract fee, you can contract it. However, the process of planting trees and getting them to bear fruit takes many years, which is also a considerable expense. In addition, the fruit can be stored for a long time. During that period, a lot of manpower is needed to harvest. Zhao Yixin's family is short of labor, so she doesn't contract much.
We arrived in Han'an County, got off the highway, and went straight to Zhao Yixin's home.
The houses here are built along the road and distributed on both sides of the road. There are almost no houses in other places. It is obviously different from the distribution of courtyards in Yang Qi's hometown.
The main reason is that most of the land here is mountainous, and it is impossible to form courtyard-style houses. However, the houses here are much better than those in Yang Qi's hometown. Because Han'an County grows cash crops, not many people go out to work. Unlike Yang Qi's hometown, there are not many cash crops. Relying on the income from farming, it can only be said that they will not starve to death. The young people in the village have long gone out to work.
The old man likes to be lively and is also thrifty with money, so this time he did not hold his 80th birthday party in town, but chose to hold it at home.
Although the houses are built along the road, each household has an independent small courtyard, where a few tables are set up, and some people in the village who are good at hosting birthday banquets are invited to host an authentic farm birthday banquet. In the courtyard, several women are busy preparing food, and occasionally there are villagers who come to celebrate the birthday. At a few tables nearby, several elderly people are playing bridge.
The birthday party hadn't started yet, so it wasn't very lively. But looking at the courtyard, Yang Qi couldn't help but feel a little nervous. If the birthday party started, Zhao Yixin's family would be busy with the party and wouldn't have time to greet him. But now the party hadn't started yet, and if they saw him, Zhao Yixin's family would definitely ask him questions, and he might be exposed.
"Xinxin, your mother won't force us to get married, right?" Yang Qi asked, slowing down his pace unconsciously.
"Don't worry, I will take care of it." Zhao Yixin curled her lips.
In order to make people believe that the two are lovers, the way they address each other has changed since yesterday. According to Zhao Yixin, this was an advance preparation.
"Phew~ That's great." Yang Qi breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Yixin's parents were pushing him to get married. If they really asked them to get married, he really didn't know what to do.
"What do you mean?" Zhao Yixin's face darkened and she stared at Yang Qi.
"I'm just afraid that your parents will force me to get married?" Yang Qi said with a wry smile.
"Or you can marry me." Zhao Yixin said.
"Ahem, well... I think it's more appropriate to delay the breakup for a while." Yang Qi said with a dry cough.
"Are you saying that I'm not worthy of you? Or am I not pretty?" Zhao Yixin stared at Yang Qi unconvinced.
"Ahem, beautiful, of course she is beautiful, but aren't we just pretending?" Yang Qi smiled awkwardly and continued, "Lady, lady."
"Hmph~" Zhao Yixin snorted lightly. She had decided a long time ago to change the way she kept saying "I'm the mom" but unfortunately she still said it involuntarily.
"You have good taste." Seeing Yang Qi busy praising her beauty, Zhao Yixin stopped arguing with Yang Qi and said, "Be more discerning."
"Yes, yes." Yang Qi nodded repeatedly and took the gift from Zhao Yixin. The two of them walked hand in hand quickly towards the courtyard not far away.
"Xinxin, you're back? Just now your grandma was talking about you, asking why you haven't come back yet." As the two of them were walking towards the courtyard, an old lady came towards them on the road, "Who is this guy? Your boyfriend?"
"Yes, Aunt Qing, this is my boyfriend Yang Qi." Zhao Yixin saw the old lady staring at her and Yang Qi, and quickly said, "Yang Qi, this is my Aunt Qing, our neighbor."
"Hello, Aunt Qing." Yang Qi hurriedly spoke upon hearing this, feeling the meaningful and stern gaze of the old lady. Even though Yang Qi had already reached the level of a martial artist, he still felt uncomfortable all over, as if he had been seen through.
"Xiao Yang, where are you from? How old are you this year? Where do you work? Did you drive back or..." People in rural areas have always been in the habit of comparison and gossip. Often one thing can spread throughout the village in just one morning. When Aunt Qing saw Yang Qi for the first time, she naturally couldn't avoid gossiping. She wanted to compare Yang Qi with the boyfriends of those girls in the village.
When Aunt Qing asked this, Yang Qi broke out in a cold sweat. He just graduated this year and has not been back home yet. It was during the Chinese New Year last year that the villagers asked about his girlfriend and work, but he was still in school at that time, so there was no gossip in the village.
Unexpectedly, before she even entered Zhao Yixin's house, she was questioned by someone, as if they wanted to ask her about her entire family.
"Aunt Qing, my grandma is still waiting, so we'll go back first." Zhao Yixin had experienced a lot of scenes like this, but considering that it was Yang Qi's first time encountering one, she was afraid of scaring Yang Qi away, so she spoke hurriedly. Before she finished speaking, she pulled Yang Qi towards home.
"This girl, why is she so anxious? Auntie has watched her grow up, and now she is shy." Aunt Qing shook her head slightly. In fact, among the young women in the village, Zhao Yixin is the only one who has not yet married. In the past two years, countless people have come to their village for matchmaking, and Aunt Qing has also been asked to do so.
"Phew~ That's so scary." Yang Qi let out a long breath and said with a hint of fear.
This was the first time he had seen such a scene. It was even more terrifying than facing two martial artists. He would rather fight with martial artists than chat with these aunts and uncles.
At this time, Yang Qi was very fortunate that Shen Yuxuan's family was much easier to talk to, except for the time when Shen Hongyu almost stuffed his daughter into his arms!
"Be smart and don't let yourself be discovered." Zhao Yixin whispered beside him. (To be continued)