"You haven't gone out for a stroll in a long time. I'll take you on my bicycle. Don't worry, I'll ride smoothly so you won't get bumped."
"..."
"Ding ding!"
With the sound of the bicycle bell, Zhang Liunian and his wife and daughter passed by Su Jie like a gust of wind.
Su Jie stopped and looked at the happy faces of the family of three, her heart increasingly envious of Jiang Qingqing's life.
"What are you looking at? Do you want to seduce Zhang Liunian?" Wang Xiaoe's voice sounded not far away. Su Jie immediately snapped back to reality, turned around, and saw her mother-in-law at the opposite intersection, looking like she had caught someone in the act. A chill ran down her spine.
Trouble was brewing again.
She shouldn't have come out. As soon as she did, the Zhang family would come looking for her, afraid she would run away too.
But she had no family to rely on, nor the ability to get into university. Where could she go if she left here?
However, her mother-in-law didn't think that way. Seeing that most of the educated youths from Zhangjia Village had returned to the city, she was convinced that Su Jie had the same idea.
Therefore, whenever she went out, someone would come looking for her within half an hour.
What she didn't expect was that it would be her mother-in-law herself this time.
"It's nothing. I'm going back." Su Jie said and turned to leave.
Wang Xiaoe saw that she wasn't explaining and assumed she was guilty. She became very angry. "I was right, wasn't I? You've taken a liking to Zhang Liunian."
Although she didn't want to admit it, Wang Xiaoe knew that Zhang Liunian was the most handsome young man they had ever seen. Moreover, he was now earning money and had apparently bought a bicycle. With money, a car, and good looks, it was reasonable for her eldest daughter-in-law to like him. However, her doing so was unchaste. She would tell her eldest son about this when she got back and have him give her a lesson.
"You won't believe me no matter what I say. What's the point of asking?" Su Jie didn't stop walking, leaving those words behind and heading straight home.
Seeing her attitude, Wang Xiaoe became even more annoyed. She let out a cold laugh and also went home.
On the other side, Zhang Liunian was taking his wife and daughter for a ride on his bicycle. Huabao happily wanted to spread her arms. "Dad, Huabao is so cool!"
"Huabao, hold onto the handlebars. Don't fall, understand?" Zhang Liunian saw his daughter wanting to let go of her hands and quickly reminded her.
"Okay." Huabao obediently placed her hands on the handlebars, tilted her head back, and giggled.
Jiang Qingqing, sitting on the back seat, couldn't help but curl her lips at her daughter's bell-like laughter. This kind of life was wonderful.
She was happier than when she was at her parents' home. Enjoying the moment, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against her husband's back, savoring the happy times.
"Qingqing, hold on tight. Tell me if you feel uncomfortable." Zhang Liunian felt the weight on his back, glanced at the small hands loosely around his abdomen, and gently reminded her.
"Mmm." Jiang Qingqing curled her lips and responded softly. She then continued to lean against Zhang Liunian's back until she inadvertently saw her eldest sister-in-law pointing and making comments, at which point she sat up properly.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Liunian had circled Daming Lake and was turning to head home when he suddenly felt his wife shift. He asked in a low voice.
"It's nothing. Let's go home!"
"Okay, home."
By the time they returned home, almost everyone in Zhangjia Village knew that Zhang Liunian had bought a bicycle. Many curious people gathered around.
Zhang Liunian parked the bicycle in the yard and let them examine it. When asked about the price, he answered truthfully.
After returning to the house, Zhang Liunian handed 900 yuan to Jiang Qingqing. She was confused. "Nine hundred yuan? Where did you get so much? Didn't you spend 320 yuan on the bike?"
Zhang Liunian smiled, held her hand, and sat facing her. "Someone gave me the bike for free, so we didn't spend any money."
Jiang Qingqing was stunned. "For free? Was it your friend Qian Fei?"
Even if Qian Fei's family had good conditions, they wouldn't give a bicycle worth 320 yuan to a friend!
This was more than half a year's income for a worker. Could it be given away so easily?
Hearing Qian Fei's name, Zhang Liunian's expression soured. In his past life, he had genuinely considered Qian Fei a friend, but Qian Fei had been sowing discord between him and his wife, saying she had betrayed him, was impure, and so on.
It was because of these words that he had made such a mistake, causing the death of his wife and child.
Therefore, Qian Fei was not his friend. His only friend was his business partner, Du Ziteng.
"It wasn't him. I can never be friends with him again, and you should stay far away from him, understand?"
Zhang Liunian had thought about Qian Fei's reasons for harming him countless times. After much deliberation, there were only two points that made him suspicious: one was that he had designs on his wife, and the other was that he disliked Zhang Liunian or held a grudge against him.
Although he couldn't recall offending Qian Fei, it was possible that he considered it an offense.
Now that his wife mentioned Qian Fei, he had to clarify.
"Ah? Not friends anymore?" Jiang Qingqing was stunned again. Her man and Qian Fei had been brothers for several years. And now they were not friends anymore?
Had something happened between them?
"We are enemies from now on."
"..." Seeing that her man didn't want to explain, Jiang Qingqing opened her mouth but didn't ask further. However, since this was her man's decision, she would support him unconditionally.
"Okay, if that's what you think, I'll stand by your side. If we meet in the future, he'll be our common enemy."
Jiang Qingqing's words touched Zhang Liunian. He reached out and held his wife tightly, finally calming his emotions. "Next time, we'll go to Nancheng to buy wedding rings."
"Okay!" Hearing about wedding rings, Jiang Qingqing raised her hands. They were indeed bare and missing a ring.
After hugging for a while, they started sharing their daily happenings.
"Liunian, this morning the village head recommended eighteen villagers suitable for building houses. You told me to pick ten, but I kept all of them." Jiang Qingqing was a little embarrassed. Her man had told her to pick ten, but she had kept all of them for various considerations.
Zhang Liunian didn't blame her when he heard this. He gently stroked her hair. "It's fine to keep them. More people will mean faster construction."
Seeing that her man wasn't blaming her, Jiang Qingqing smiled happily. But then she thought of the external debt and the money for building the house, and her face fell. "We have over 1,400 yuan in hand now, and we need 2,000 yuan for building the house. We still owe 4,500 yuan in external debt, and I don't know when we'll be able to resolve it."
"Don't worry. From now on, our income will be at least 500 yuan per day. Five thousand yuan will only take a week, so it will be soon." Zhang Liunian wasn't worried about these debts. Today alone, he had sold over 500 yuan worth of goods, and he believed tomorrow would be even more.
Thinking of this, he decided to go to the county town, because only by going there would he know the order volume for tomorrow.
It might be too late to make braised dishes now, but stir-fried crayfish would be feasible.