Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Unconditional Support

Huh? The vendor selling chicken heart persimmons just listed four bottles of Moutai?

And it’s Moutai from 1975? Is that for real?

Whatever, I’ll just place an order first. Didn’t they say they’d pay ten times the price if it’s fake? No matter what, I can’t lose.

First come, first served.

In almost an instant, all four bottles were gone.

Many people had just opened the page, only to see “sold out” displayed.

The rush was on par with tickets for a top singer’s concert.

A lot of people started following Gu Qinghuan’s shop, and some even tried to dig up her real identity, hoping to find some clues about the seller, but all to no avail.

Mainly, what she sold wasn’t fixed—she just sold whatever she happened to have, and it was all wild, natural products, all genuine, with a mysterious vibe that somehow inspired trust.

Some guessed the seller was a farmer living deep in the mountains, while others said it was all just hype to build up popularity for future sales.

Either way, Gu Qinghuan herself had no idea what was going on.

She was busy fighting a battle with wild hazel mushrooms in a hazelnut grove.

How to put it?

She just couldn’t finish picking them all—there were way too many.

She didn’t even have time to put them in a sack, just tossed them straight into her space, planning to sort them out later.

Almost every time she touched a hazel mushroom, it would disappear from the ground, leaving behind only a little hole as proof it had ever been there.

Even at this pace, Gu Qinghuan spent half an hour picking, and only then did she manage to clear out most of the mushrooms in this patch. In her space, they’d already piled up into a small hill.

There were just too many.

“Beat a roe deer with a stick, scoop up fish with a ladle, wild pheasants fly right into the pot.”

It’s not an exaggeration—Northeast China is vast and rich in resources.

As long as people in the mountains are a bit hardworking, they’ll never go hungry in winter. Maybe they can’t eat meat every day, but there’s always plenty of wild food to fill up on.

Once the mushrooms were cleaned up, it was time to harvest hazelnuts.

The hazelnuts on the trees were already fully ripe, and plenty had already fallen to the ground.

Gu Qinghuan used her usual method—uprooting the whole tree and transplanting it into her space, leaving behind a “seed of life,” and watering it with spring water before leaving.

Her planting area in the space now had yet another new addition.

Gu Qinghuan kept heading deeper into the mountains and soon came across a large patch of fiddlehead ferns. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to pick them one by one, so she’d have to come back next time.

Moving on, she soon found four wild hickory trees.

Wild hickory nuts nourish the kidneys, calm coughs, and lower blood lipids. Compared to regular walnuts, they’re even more beneficial—a perfect natural health food.

Good stuff—she had to take it all.

On her way back, she even ran into a nest of rabbits, brazenly dashing right past her.

Gu Qinghuan followed them and saw them dart into a hole.

As the saying goes, “a crafty rabbit has three burrows”—there had to be other exits. She searched the area and, sure enough, found several similar holes.

No half-measures—she blocked all the holes she could find, leaving only one open.

Then she lit some pine branches and tossed them into the hole, fixing a sack over the exit.

The rabbits inside couldn’t stand the smoke, so they all rushed out and into the sack in no time.

Gu Qinghuan counted—there were six rabbits in total.

She wasn’t planning to eat them just yet, but to keep them as breeding stock in her space.

Rabbits reproduce quickly, and with no predators in her space, they’d soon become a whole colony. By then, she could eat as many as she wanted.

Once the rabbits were settled, it was getting late.

Gu Qinghuan leisurely made her way down the mountain to head home.

As she neared home, she finally took out the things she’d prepared earlier and put them on her cart.

Two jin of pork belly, three jin of ribs, two slabs of pork fat, a can of repackaged milk powder, two jin of peach crisps, and a jin of White Rabbit milk candies.

There was no more meat at home, and both the kids and the patient needed nutrition. A cup of milk powder morning and night would help with calcium and growth.

As for what she’d tell her family, she’d just say she happened to run into someone selling meat on the sly and bought a bit. Perfect!

Zhong Zijun hadn’t expected her daughter to bring back so much stuff again and instantly felt a headache coming on.

It wasn’t that Zhong Zijun didn’t know how to live well—on the contrary, she used to have everything she wanted. These things were just ordinary supplies to her, nothing special.

She was just worried her son-in-law would think her daughter didn’t know how to manage a household.

In these mountain villages, who buys two jin of meat, three jin of ribs, and two jin of pork fat all at once?

At most, people would buy a few taels of meat for a taste.

So, at dinner, she deliberately scolded her daughter at the table, mostly for her son-in-law’s benefit.

“Huanhuan, you can’t be so extravagant with money from now on. I’ll let it go this time.” She’d discipline her own daughter herself.

Xu Huai’an looked at Gu Qinghuan in confusion. “What did you buy?”

Ever since last night, when Gu Qinghuan had pounced on him and another awkward moment had occurred, he’d been preoccupied with those thoughts. Miraculously, he hadn’t lost control of his emotions again.

Gu Qinghuan pouted. “I only bought meat for you all to get some nourishment. Look at you, Xu Huai’an, you’re as skinny as a stick.

And the milk powder—the kids are growing, and drinking more milk will help them get taller. You need to recover your arm, so you need more calcium too.”

Xu Huai’an immediately chimed in, “Mom, don’t be upset. Huanhuan’s right. The whole family needs nutrition.

I gave her the money so she could spend it as she liked. She can buy whatever she wants.”

Even the two kids were sneaking glances at Zhong Zijun, worried she’d scold Gu Qinghuan again.

Zhong Zijun couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation.

So she was the only bad guy in the house? The whole family was united against her.

But this actually put her at ease—her son-in-law knew how to support her daughter unconditionally, and that was more important than anything.

“Mom? Aren’t you going to say anything else?” Gu Qinghuan waited a while, and when nothing more came, she asked tentatively.

Zhong Zijun shot her a look. “What else can I say? The whole family thinks you did the right thing. If I keep going, I’ll be the villain for the ages.”

Actually, she was happy inside.

It’s easy to find treasures, but hard to find true love.

Her daughter had married the right person.

Xu Huai’an felt a little embarrassed. He didn’t know why he’d been so anxious to defend Gu Qinghuan just now—those words had just slipped out.

Gu Qinghuan was a bit embarrassed too and quickly lowered her head to pick up some food.

The family continued eating.

Lunch today was again multigrain steamed buns with cold shredded potatoes.

There really wasn’t much else to eat at home.

After lunch, Gu Qinghuan pushed her little cart out—she needed to go to the educated youth camp to get her vegetables back.

When she arrived, it was just lunchtime, and everyone was there.

“Gu Qinghuan? What are you doing here? We don’t have any food for you!” As soon as Jiang Xue saw her, she perked up like a fighting rooster.

Everyone else looked at her curiously.

But, honestly, after getting married, Gu Qinghuan seemed even prettier.

She wore a dark purple floral jacket that made her look healthy and vibrant. Her long hair was tied up simply with a wooden hairpin—elegant and understated.

She wore no makeup, but her skin was as fair and smooth as a peeled egg.

She radiated a noble, graceful air, even more stunning than when she was at the camp.

But as soon as she opened her mouth, everyone’s illusions shattered.

“None of your damn business!” she snapped at Jiang Xue.

“I’m here to get what’s owed to me. Comrade Qiu Shuxia, last time you divided up the grain, you forgot to count what was from my private plot, didn’t you?”"

"Chapter 43: Picking Vegetables, Getting the Private Plot, and Celebrating

Jiang Xue was so angry she gritted her teeth.

Qiu Shuxia, who was called out by name, had no choice but to step forward awkwardly. “I was in a rush last time and just forgot.”

Gu Qinghuan put on an innocent face. “No worries. I brought a little cart with me today. I’ll pick my own share—no need to trouble you.”

The other educated youths didn’t say anything. After all, they’d all planted these vegetables together, so it was only right for everyone to take their own share.

“Comrade Gu, need any help?” Lin Shengnan gulped down the last of her porridge, wiped her mouth, and asked.

She’d borrowed Gu Qinghuan’s axe last time and found her to be easygoing, not at all stuck-up, so she was happy to offer a hand.

Gu Qinghuan shook her head. “No need, thank you! I can manage.”

But of course, someone just had to stir up trouble.

“Hey tomboy, if you’re so eager to help, why don’t you just move out and live with her? Qiu Shuxia, are you dead or something? Go keep an eye on her! If someone takes more than their share, what will we eat this winter?”

“Jiang Xue, watch your mouth.”

Lin Shengnan got dragged into it for no reason. She might be a bit slow and awkward, but she could tell right from wrong.

Gu Qinghuan couldn’t be bothered to argue. She picked up a firewood stick someone had left on the ground—thick as an arm—and with a single motion, snapped it in two.

“Wanna fight?” With people like this, fists spoke louder than words. No point wasting her breath.

Jiang Xue was so startled by Gu Qinghuan’s show of strength that she backed away, hiding behind Chen Jianghe.

“Who—who wants to fight you? You—you’re breaking up our unity!”

Since when did Gu Qinghuan get so violent? She’d acted like this last time too. Better steer clear of her in the future.

Jiang Xue might be scared inside, but she still tried to save face.

“If you don’t want a beating, quit messing with me! Next time, I’ll make sure you remember!”

Gu Qinghuan didn’t even bother looking at her cowardly act. She tossed the stick aside and went straight to the vegetable garden to pick her share.

After Gu Qinghuan left, Chen Jianghe snapped at Jiang Xue impatiently, “Can’t you just stop provoking her already? Embarrassing.”

These past few days, Chen Jianghe had just started treating her a bit better, but the moment Gu Qinghuan showed up, it felt like everything went back to square one. Jiang Xue hated Gu Qinghuan even more now and swore she’d get back at her.

Gu Qinghuan picked only her allotted share—never more, never less. She wasn’t one to take advantage, but she wasn’t about to let herself get shortchanged either.

She picked three chili plants’ worth of peppers, red and green alike.

Three pumpkins, two winter melons, five heads of cabbage, five big white radishes, about ten carrots, and ten tomatoes.

She picked two eggplant plants’ worth—six big eggplants in total—five loofahs, and three handfuls of long beans.

A bunch each of cilantro and scallions, roots and all.

That was about it.

Qiu Shuxia watched her the whole time to make sure she didn’t take extra.

Gu Qinghuan loaded the vegetables onto her little cart and wheeled them home.

With these veggies, plus wild greens and the occasional “smuggled” goods from her space, they’d have enough to eat for a while.

Next up was the issue of the private plot.

Land matters in the village had to be discussed and approved by the village committee.

But since Gu Qinghuan’s “good father-in-law” was the Party Secretary, there was no one better to handle it.

If you have a connection, you might as well use it.

Xu Mingshan hadn’t seen Gu Qinghuan in days. When he suddenly saw her walking over with a big smile, he tensed up—was she here to ask for something again?

“Dad, heading out to work?”

“Yeah. I heard from the team leader you haven’t shown up for work in days. What’s going on?”

“Let me be clear, Huai’an’s wife. That three hundred jin of grain last time was a one-time split-off allowance. There won’t be any more. You young folks are able-bodied—don’t expect the old folks to support you if you don’t work hard.” Xu Mingshan warned sternly.

Gu Qinghuan thought to herself, Old fox, what a nice calculation—one hundred yuan and three hundred jin of grain, and you dump three people on a young girl to look after.

If she hadn’t come with her space, relying on the original body’s labor, she would’ve starved by now.

“Dad, you forget—we just split off, and the house had nothing. Cleaning, gathering firewood, setting up the home, all fell on me. Of course it took time.”

“That’s true. Anyway, just remember, from now on, however your days go is up to you. I’m old—I can’t help anymore.” Xu Mingshan put his hands behind his back.

“I understand. But there’s one more thing—only you can help with this.” Gu Qinghuan flattered him a bit.

“What is it?” Only he could do it? Xu Mingshan was intrigued.

“Now that we’ve split off, how should the private plot be divided?”

Xu Mingshan’s eyes widened. How could he have forgotten about the private plot? Great, now his wife would make a fuss at home.

Actually, Xu Huaian had always had a private plot—the Xu family was still farming it. The people had split, but they’d forgotten to hand over Huaian’s share of the land.

Seeing his reaction, Gu Qinghuan guessed what was going on and deliberately said, “Veterans should be given special consideration. Besides, Huaian was a deputy battalion commander before he retired. If he can’t even get his two mu of private plot, I’ll have to go to the township and county leaders to get an answer!”

As soon as Xu Mingshan heard she’d go to the leaders, he snapped, “Such a small matter! No need to bother the leaders. I’ll take care of it this afternoon.

You’re living in Wang Laocai’s old house, right? He had a private plot out back, but it’s been left fallow. You can start farming it again—exactly four mu.

As for the two mu that belonged to Xu Huaian in the Xu family’s plot, that’ll be returned to the team.”

He was reluctant, but Xu Mingshan was more afraid of being accused of taking his son’s land—or worse, losing his official position.

Gu Qinghuan was delighted—so the old fox could be scared after all.

She said, “Thank you, Dad. You’re so good to us. If there’s anything else in the future, I’ll come to you again.”

Xu Mingshan watched her walk away, so angry his mouth twisted.

With the private plot issue settled, Gu Qinghuan was in a great mood and hummed a tune all the way home.

Tonight, she was going to celebrate.

Oh, and she should invite her grandparents over for a good meal—they hadn’t met Xu Huaian yet.

No sooner said than done.

Back home, Gu Qinghuan started preparing dinner.

Zhong Zijun helped her out.

With what they had at home, she set the menu: pork ribs stewed with long beans, tomato scrambled eggs, stir-fried shredded pork with green peppers, hot and sour cabbage, minced pork eggplant, and loofah soup.

Given the limited ingredients, these were all simple home-style dishes.

But for this era, such a spread was already a real feast.

This time, Zhong Zijun didn’t say a word. If she wanted to spend, let her; if he wanted to eat, let him. As long as her husband was happy, that was all that mattered."

"Chapter 44: Lin Xiaomeng’s Goal, Xu Huaian’s Unease

Ever since her rebirth, Lin Xiaomeng had made up her mind: this time, she was going to win her husband’s heart and raise her child to be on her side.

But reality hit her hard.

Her in-laws were still the same as before, her sister-in-law and brother-in-law were just as unbearable as in her previous life—a whole family of troublemakers, nothing but headaches.

Living with them was like death by a thousand cuts, utterly intolerable. If it weren’t for Xu Huaizhi, she would have left again without a second thought.

In truth, her decision to abandon her husband and child in her past life wasn’t solely her fault—the Xu family had their share of blame too. Life had simply pushed her to the edge.

Lin Xiaomeng was from Beijing, but her family wasn’t well-off. Her parents were ordinary workers, and she was the eldest of five siblings—three younger sisters and a younger brother.

She married Xu Huaizhi because she knew she had no hope of returning to the city. Her parents would never give her their jobs or help her find a way out, so she had to plan ahead.

She thought Xu Huaizhi had a decent job, his father was the village party secretary, and his younger brother in the army was said to be doing well. Most importantly, he was good-looking and genuinely cared for her.

That’s why she married him early.

But after marriage, Xu Huaizhi was always away for work, leaving her alone at home to be tormented by her in-laws. She had to get up earlier than the chickens and go to bed later than the dogs, with endless farm work to do.

She had to cook for the family, earn work points, and wash everyone’s clothes—all by herself.

What was even more outrageous was that her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, both grown adults, still made her wash their underwear.

It was disgusting beyond words!

She married Xu Huaizhi partly for his looks, but also in hopes of a comfortable life. Who would have thought the Xu family was all show and no substance?

Not only did they work her to the bone, they also controlled Xu Huaizhi’s wages. If she wanted to spend even a penny, she had to ask her in-laws for it.

What she couldn’t accept most was that, in her previous life, she was so busy with chores that her son was left in her mother-in-law Liu Guifang’s care, who ended up raising him into a brute who even hit his own mother.

Every day, Liu Guifang would badmouth her in front of her son, saying she was unchaste, lazy, greedy, and selfish.

Her child would curse and beat her at the slightest provocation.

Unable to bear such a miserable life, and with her child turning against her, she lost her last shred of hope.

Utterly disheartened, she eventually ran away with a male educated youth from a neighboring village.

Now, in this life, she had done a lot of mental preparation and wanted to start over. But seeing these same awful people still made her feel bitter.

Fortunately, her son Dacheng had finally been won over in this life, and their relationship was now very close.

She also possessed a fortune space, with a spring of blessed water inside.

After some experimentation, she discovered that drinking this spring water would increase her luck a little every day, though the effect was very slow.

Soon, she made another discovery: if someone else drank the fortune spring, she could use it as a medium to siphon off their luck for herself.

Her first test subject was the village rascal, Xu Lao’er, who often harassed her and had cornered her several times.

Although he never really took advantage of her, it was still deeply unpleasant.

Xu Lao’er didn’t have much luck, but every little bit counted. Thanks to him, her luck value rose to thirty percent.

To test it out, she went up the mountain and ended up discovering a hundred-year-old wild ginseng.

She secretly sold the ginseng for three hundred yuan, her first stash of private money. The excitement she felt was beyond words.

In her previous life, she was let down by her parents and bullied by her husband’s family, living in utter misery.

From now on, she would never have to live at the mercy of others—she could finally rely on herself.

Having tasted success, she set her sights on Xu Mingshan and his wife, as well as Xu Meiling and Xu Huaiyu.

But she found that the four of them had even less luck than the rascal Xu Lao’er—pitifully little.

Heaven truly has eyes—people like them don’t deserve good fortune.

Still, she didn’t dare act rashly. Everything was connected, and she worried that draining their luck might affect Xu Huaizhi and herself.

Recently, she found a new target:

Qian Caihua.

This woman gossiped everywhere. Lin Xiaomeng had only bought herself a new outfit with her own money, and Qian Caihua was already criticizing her for not being frugal, her mouth as foul as ever.

She’d drain Qian Caihua’s luck and see if she could still laugh when she was down and out.

With her plan set, Lin Xiaomeng got to work.

Deep down, she didn’t want to admit it, but the truth was, she just wanted Qian Caihua’s luck.

She was becoming addicted to the feeling of growing stronger.

—

Gu Qinghuan used spiritual spring water to make a table full of delicious dishes.

The two little ones stood at the kitchen door, drawn in by the aroma, their mouths watering. Gu Qinghuan handed each of them a piece of pork rib.

They were instantly enchanted by the flavor.

Ever since learning that Gu Qinghuan was going to pick up her grandparents for dinner that evening, Xu Huaian had been on edge.

He admitted to himself that he was being greedy.

He didn’t want the elders to see him in such a wretched, useless state.

He didn’t want them to think their granddaughter had entrusted herself to the wrong person.

He didn’t want to see disappointment or sadness in their eyes.

After thinking it over for a long time, he finally steeled himself, picked up the scissors, and cut the ropes binding his legs.

His emotions had been stable these past few days. Today, he didn’t feel any anxiety or irritability at all—he remained clear-headed. He believed he could control himself.

The moment he freed himself, he felt a wave of comfort and relief, followed by piercing pain. After so long without moving his legs, they simply wouldn’t obey him.

He quietly massaged his legs, enduring the pain as he tried again and again to regain control over them.

All for the sake of maintaining his dignity.

Or perhaps, for the sake of surprising someone, if only for a moment.

At this moment, he admitted to himself that he had fallen for the girl who had pulled him out of hell.

He was becoming strange—restless and insecure, with a strong sense of inferiority. He felt unworthy of having her, yet was terrified of losing her.

This bittersweet feeling even made him forget his usual anxiety and irritability; his mind was filled with thoughts of her.

She was like a beam of light, suddenly appearing and illuminating his entire world."

"Chapter 45: Visitors and Pretending to Be Strong

Xu Huaian finished eating a persimmon and felt some of his strength return. Gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, cold sweat beading on his forehead, he forced himself to regain control of his legs and managed to stand up on the kang bed.

Although he could barely stand for a minute before his strength gave out, to him, this was a huge step forward.

He couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curl up, betraying his good mood.

After lying in bed for over a year, he could finally stand up again. It felt wonderful.

Gu Qinghuan had no idea that Xu Huaian was struggling to stand up just so he could meet her elders with dignity. She was busy in the kitchen, cooking up a storm.

By the time night finally fell, Gu Qinghuan grabbed a flashlight and headed out to the neighboring village’s cowshed to fetch her grandparents.

It wasn’t far—just a ten-minute walk.

Inside the cowshed, the two elders were about to eat their bowls of cornmeal and wild vegetable porridge when someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Zhong Weiqian called out.

“Grandpa, it’s me!”

“Huanhuan, is that you?” Cheng Shuying hurried to open the door.

“Huanhuan, why are you here so late? Is something wrong at home?” Cheng Shuying asked, a little worried.

“It’s nothing. We bought some meat today and wanted to invite you over for a meal. I’ve already finished cooking, so let’s go!”

Hearing this, Zhong Weiqian cheerfully put down his bowl. “Alright, give us a moment to tidy up so we don’t look disrespectful.”

With that, the couple went into the small room separated by a wooden board.

Gu Qinghuan noticed the cornmeal and wild vegetable porridge in Zhong Weiqian’s hand. The bowl was full of greens, with barely any cornmeal. She felt a pang in her heart.

She knew the two elders were reluctant to spend good food on themselves.

It seemed she’d have to find a way to bring them more grain so they’d be willing to treat themselves a little better.

There wasn’t much for them to tidy up—just a change into presentable clothes to avoid looking disrespectful.

At their age, they didn’t insist on wearing new clothes to look decent. They wore their usual old clothes, faded from many washes but clean and neat. To them, that was dignity.

When visiting others, clean and tidy clothes were enough.

The three soon arrived at the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

Zhong Zijun was already waiting at the door. When she saw them coming, she quickly opened the door. “Mom, Dad, you’re here!”

Cheng Shuying saw that her daughter seemed to be doing well these days. After her illness, she’d visibly filled out, and the weight in her heart eased a little.

When the accident first happened, she’d felt like the sky was falling. But now, things had finally turned around—though it had been hard on Huanhuan…

Dabao and Beibei hid behind Zhong Zijun, poking their little heads out and calling softly, “Great-grandpa, great-grandma.”

Only then did Cheng Shuying notice the two little ones behind her, and her heart softened.

Smiling, she pulled out two small red paper envelopes from her pocket and handed one to each child.

There wasn’t much money inside—twenty cents each—but it was all they could spare.

It was an ingrained custom for the old couple: when meeting younger generations for the first time, they always gave a gift.

Dabao and Beibei knew what this meant. Every New Year, their grandparents would give red envelopes to Dacheng, and they could only watch from afar.

They never expected that someone would give them red envelopes. For a moment, they didn’t know how to react and looked to Gu Qinghuan for help.

Gu Qinghuan nodded, signaling that they could accept it. Gifts from elders shouldn’t be refused. She hadn’t expected her grandmother to give the children red envelopes, especially when they themselves were struggling.

But it was fine—she’d repay them a hundredfold in the future. Let them give what they wanted.

“Great-grandma’s meeting gift. You can take it,” Cheng Shuying said, half-squatting to tuck the red envelopes into the children’s hands.

“Thank you, great-grandma, and great-grandpa.”

The two children blushed with excitement. They hadn’t expected their mother’s family to treat them with such kindness.

From their grandmother to their great-grandparents, everyone was so good to them—it felt like real family, so warm.

Zhong Zijun felt a bit embarrassed. The first time she came, she’d forgotten to give the kids a gift—she’d been too angry at the time.

Now, she was strapped for cash and relying on her daughter to get by. She really couldn’t afford a proper gift, but she’d make it up to them in the future.

“Alright, let’s not stand at the door chatting. Let’s go inside and talk,” Gu Qinghuan said.

The group was just about to go inside when a tall, slender figure appeared at the doorway.

He walked very slowly, as if every step took all his strength, but he was determined to come over to them.

Gu Qinghuan, Zhong Zijun, and the two kids, who knew the situation, were all stunned.

They stood there, frozen.

When did he become able to stand?

This man really was stubborn. He must have been secretly practicing for ages, just to meet the elders with dignity. It couldn’t have been easy.

She hadn’t been wrong about him—he really was unusually tall, probably over 1.85 meters. Because he was so thin, his clothes hung loosely on him, making him look like a clothes rack—long and lanky.

Honestly, his looks were exactly her type. Just looking at him made her want to eat two more bowls of rice. Right now, he even had a sort of fragile, sickly beauty.

She couldn’t look any longer—she was about to start drooling.

Gu Qinghuan, get a grip! You two are bound to go your separate ways eventually. Don’t let yourself be tempted!

Zhong Weiqian and Cheng Shuying were just as shocked when they saw Xu Huaian.

Weren’t they told their granddaughter’s husband was a mentally ill invalid?

But this young man looked perfectly decent—just a bit thin. He had a smile on his face, seemed perfectly normal, and even came out to greet them.

They were instantly hit with a wave of pleasant surprise.

Then they wondered if they’d misunderstood—maybe he was just a guest the family had invited?

If only their granddaughter had married a young man like this!

Zhong Zijun, meanwhile, was secretly amused. After spending time together these past few days, she’d noticed that Xu Huaian clearly had feelings for Gu Qinghuan, but Gu Qinghuan was as dense as a log and hadn’t noticed at all.

Children and grandchildren have their own fortunes—let them work it out themselves!

After all, love that hasn’t weathered storms can’t blossom into something beautiful.

“Daddy, you’re up! That’s great!” The children were the most honest in their reactions, and Beibei ran over excitedly.

Gu Qinghuan quickly reached out to stop her. She knew all too well what kind of state he was in—barely holding on. If Beibei pounced on him, he’d probably collapse right then and there.

She might as well help him keep his dignity to the end!

Zhong Weiqian and Cheng Shuying hadn’t expected their wish to come true—the young man really was their granddaughter’s husband. Their faces broke into sincere smiles.

Xu Huaian met the old couple’s eyes. Though he was nervous, he greeted them seriously. “Grandpa, Grandma, for various reasons, I haven’t had the chance to meet you before. I hope you can forgive me.”

“You’re Huaian, right? It’s alright. If it’s hard for you to get around, you don’t have to come out to greet us,” Cheng Shuying said, having already noticed his difficulty walking.

“My legs are fine. I just haven’t walked in a long time, so I’m a bit out of practice. Please, come inside and have a seat.” Xu Huaian gestured toward the main room.

Normally, they ate on the kang in the east room, but with so many people and elders visiting, it wouldn’t be proper. They needed to host everyone properly in the main room.

Zhong Weiqian and Cheng Shuying didn’t stand on ceremony and went in first.

Zhong Zijun led the two kids to help.

Only Gu Qinghuan and Xu Huaian were left behind.

Once everyone else had gone in, Gu Qinghuan nudged Xu Huaian’s arm with her elbow. “You really know how to put on a brave face. Want to try walking another lap for me?”"

"Chapter 46: Celebration