Wedding Dress: Growing flowers is not as fragrant as growing vegetables.
Xie Mingtu walked over and squatted beside Zhou Heqiang, pointing to a spot on the engine, saying, “There’s something wrong here.”
Zhou Heqiang became interested at this point, looking at him with curiosity and uncertainty, and handed Xie Mingtu a tool.
Holding the tool, Xie Mingtu tightened a certain area, rotating it. Zhou Heqiang didn’t interrupt him, watching as he listened to the sounds, exerting force in several places and also helping to clean the engine.
Before long, the originally stubborn tractor started up normally, trembling as it moved on the muddy ground.
“Is it fixed?”
“Uncle Zhou, did you guys fix it?”
“Try it to see if there are any more issues?”
Xie Mingtu put down the tool in his hand and glanced back at Su Xiaoman. At this moment, Su Xiaoman didn’t know what to say either. She hadn’t expected Xie Mingtu to actually be able to fix a tractor.
The versatile Xie Mingtu.
Su Xiaoman: “…”
But clearly, their team still didn’t have a tractor.
Seeing Xie Mingtu’s skilful movements, Zhou Heqiang regarded him as an experienced hand. He had heard before that some people were very familiar with tractors, just by listening to the sound, they could tell where the problem was.
Unexpectedly, there was such a young person in the learning team, who had such skills.
“Young man, you’re impressive.”
Zhou Heqiang asked him, “How many years have you been learning?”
Xie Mingtu shook his head.
“Why don’t you say? Who did you learn from? Did your master forbid you from saying? With such skill, why didn’t you say it earlier? Seeing how adept you are at fixing tractors, can you also drive them?”
Xie Mingtu’s hands were stained with black engine oil. He frowned, looking at his palm. “I never learned.”
Zhou Heqiang didn’t believe him. “Are you kidding me? Never learned? You just handled the tools so skilfully?”
“You fixed it for me?”
Xie Mingtu: “…I learned from you.”
It was indeed Xie Mingtu’s first time repairing a tractor, or rather, his first encounter with such a bulky, earth-coloured lump of iron in his life. He had observed Zhou Heqiang and a few others repairing tractors all the way, listened to the sounds, and acted according to his own speculation.
For him, this wasn’t a difficult task.
“Learned from me? Are you kidding? You must have learned about tractors for several years. If an ordinary person encounters this thing, they wouldn’t even know where to start. I’ve been dealing with it every day, that’s why…”
At first, Zhou Heqiang didn’t believe it until he heard from Uncle Chen that their team didn’t have a tractor at all. Only then did he completely believe that Xie Mingtu was encountering a tractor for the first time.
Zhou Heqiang was suddenly amazed, patting Xie Mingtu’s shoulder several times in succession, his tone becoming much more enthusiastic. This old man had been obsessed with tractors since the 1960s, and he had a favourable impression of anyone associated with tractors. “Hey, young man, you’re talented. You have a gift. My son wouldn’t be able to do this. I tried teaching him from a young age, but he just couldn’t learn and didn’t like it…”
“If you want, you can learn from me. I’ll teach you how to do it…”
With this, Zhou Heqiang, who had previously been cold-faced, opened up and kept praising Xie Mingtu all the way, leaving Su Xiaoman and the others looking at each other.
This Uncle Zhou was truly a fickle-minded person, with a huge contrast before and after.
Once he opened up, rural folks could talk about anything. Zhou Heqiang even asked about the relationship between Xie Mingtu and Su Xiaoman, as they seemed quite close.
Xie Mingtu blinked and didn’t answer, instead turning to look at Su Xiaoman.
“We got married this year.” Su Xiaoman didn’t hesitate to answer.
In the eyes of outsiders, the two of them were a married couple.
Zhou Heqiang was somewhat shocked by this answer. “Impressive! You’ve done well! You, young man, have done well to marry such a beautiful girl.”
He carefully looked at Xie Mingtu and then glanced at Su Xiaoman, murmuring softly, “Truly, heroes don’t judge by appearances…”
Su Xiaoman: “…”
Su Xiaoman gave Xie Mingtu a sidelong glance.
Talking about you, rough guy.
Xie Mingtu was puzzled: “????”
Although Xie Mingtu didn’t quite understand what Su Xiaoman meant, he was quite happy, smiling brightly at Su Xiaoman, showing a row of small white teeth.
Su Xiaoman: “…”
This guy is hopeless, doesn’t care about appearances at all, no sense of image burden.
The atmosphere among the three of them became lively. After Zhou Heqiang, who had been cold-faced before, became enthusiastic, he became very eye-catching, which caused dissatisfaction from his teammate He Liang.
He Liang looked down on Zhou Heqiang constantly praising Xie Mingtu.
“These country folks have no knowledge. It’s just fixing a tractor. If they have the skills, they should go fix a car with four wheels in the city, a sedan. I bet they’ve never even seen a sedan…”
Educated Youth Jiang, standing beside him, remained silent, still recalling the words he had just heard.
“We got married this year.”
When Su Xiaoman said this, her tone was very calm, as if stating a fact, without any of the shy demeanour of a newlywed bride.
Was she truly willing to marry Xie Mingtu?
Upon reaching the village, Zhou Junyou, the team leader of the Yongqin Production Team, came to welcome them and arranged accommodations for the eight of them.
“The houses at the end of the village are currently occupied by educated youth.”
“These were newly built for the educated youth, and the conditions are pretty good.”
The Yongqin Production Team was one of the more affluent production teams among several nearby brigades. The houses provided for educated youth to live and work in the countryside were all newly built with good funding from the team.
“There are a few vacancies. Oh, three educated youth also arrived. Why don’t you guys stay there? The conditions are good too. You three educated youth can have a chat together.”
“We can accommodate one more person.”
“Let the girl go over there. You go.” Captain Zhou pointed at Zhang Lili.
“The rest will stay with the members of the commune. Some of them may not have very convenient conditions, so please bear with it…”
Zhang Lili didn’t expect Captain Zhou to point at her. She was thrilled because it meant that Educated Youth Jiang, He Liang, Zhao Qingqing, and herself, the four of them, would be staying in the educated youth quarters in Yongqin.
She had seen the house Captain Zhou pointed out, newly built with decent conditions. The only regret was that He Liang was also among them.
Zhang Lili had already vowed in her heart that she would no longer pay attention to He Liang. If He Liang continued to pester her, she would settle the grudge from her past life once and for all.
She glanced at Educated Youth Jiang, whose appearance was extraordinary. Many of the girls from the Yongqin Production Team were also secretly looking at him, some even wanted to come up and say hello.
Zhang Lili couldn’t help but look smugly at Su Xiaoman.
She knew that Su Xiaoman was somewhat picky, having been pampered by her parents. Now that her luck wasn’t good and she couldn’t stay in a good house, she didn’t know what kind of family she would be assigned to.
Staying in the educated youth quarters was always more comfortable.
Educated Youth Jiang was also assigned there.
“You two, oh, this old man, you can stay at my house.”
“And you, young man—”
“They’ll stay at my house!” Zhou Heqiang jumped down from the tractor and pointed at Xie Mingtu and Su Xiaoman. “The married couple will stay at my house. There happens to be a spare room.”
Captain Zhou was shocked by this. “Zhou San, you want them to stay at your house?”
When allocating houses, Zhou Junyou hadn’t even considered Zhou Heqiang’s house, because he knew that Zhou Heqiang had a temper now and didn’t welcome outsiders coming to the team to learn.
He never expected Zhou Heqiang to actively request the allocation.
“They…are a married couple?” Captain Zhou was already speculating about the relationship between this couple and Zhou Heqiang. He hadn’t heard of any distant relatives on Zhou Heqiang’s side.
“He—” Zhou Heqiang pointed at Xie Mingtu, “this kid and I hit it off. I’m going to teach him how to handle tractors tomorrow…”
Captain Zhou laughed. “Well, if they get along well, let the married couple stay with you.”
Captain Zhou thought it was quite fortunate to have such a good thing happen. It seemed that this couple had good luck and saved him a lot of trouble. He originally thought it would be difficult to mobilize Zhou Heqiang, but now Zhou Heqiang had taken the initiative to take on responsibilities.
“Then, take them for a ride in your car and show them our fishpond and the fish farm at the foot of the mountain.”
“Don’t know how to drive a tractor? I’ll teach you… Don’t worry about the fuel costs, just lend a hand.”
…
Finally, after Captain Zhou arranged for Tang Jianqiang to stay with another family surnamed Zhou, the accommodation arrangements for all personnel were in place.
“You’ve all worked hard along the way. Take a good rest and freshen up today.”
“Xiao Zhang, you take them to the educated youth area.”
Zhang Lili and the other four followed a short-haired, glasses-wearing educated youth named Xiao Zhang toward the end of the village. There was a pond in the middle, and as they walked along the pond, halfway through, they turned back and happened to see Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu walking toward the most impressive two-story brick courtyard in the village.
Zhang Lili couldn’t help but ask, “Whose house is that?”
Educated youth Xiao Zhang looked in the direction she pointed and casually replied, “That’s Uncle Zhou’s house. He often helps repair tractors in the vicinity.”
“His house is newly built, the most impressive one. It has running water, and the toilet is clean and beautiful, with white tiles.”
Zhou Heqiang’s house was considered top-tier in their village, a newly built large house not long ago, with a style that was considered trendy in the village. Zhou Heqiang’s family was one of the wealthiest in the village. He had his skills, helping repair tractors for others, making extra money with his mouth and hands. Sometimes he even helped with transportation for the public. They were one of the few households in the village with good conditions.
Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu followed Zhou Heqiang to his house. The yard of his house was large, surrounded by a circle of bamboo fences, with a vegetable plot and many fruits and vegetables planted. In the corner of the wall hung a bunch of purple grapes.
In one corner of the west side, there was a chicken coop, with several chickens and ducks pecking at the vegetable leaves on the ground.
Zhou Heqiang arranged for them to stay in a room on the second floor. At this time, the staircase in the countryside was outside, and the staircase next to the water well led up to the second floor, where there were four rooms. They stayed in the room in the corner.
“You’ll stay up there.”
Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu went up to put their luggage in the room. Zhou Heqiang’s youngest daughter, Zhou Xiaofeng, came in carrying bedding, laid out new bedding for them, and brought them a quilt.
Zhou Xiaofeng was about the same age as Su Xiaoman, with a round face and a very beautiful appearance. She was plump but not fat, wearing a light-coloured floral dress. She was a bit shy and didn’t talk much.
“I’m Su Xiaoman, and you’re Zhou Xiaofeng. We both have ‘Xiao’ in our names, which is quite a coincidence.” Su Xiaoman struck up a conversation with her, finding this shy, round-faced girl quite interesting.
She was also very grateful to Zhou Heqiang’s family for letting them stay.
Although Zhou Heqiang seemed cold-hearted, his daughter was soft and shy.
Blushing, Zhou Xiaofeng exchanged a few words with her, and as she spoke, she relaxed a bit, not as nervous as before.
After relaxing, Zhou Xiaofeng blurted out what she had been holding in her heart, “Sister Xiaoman, you’re really beautiful. You’re even more beautiful than the most beautiful girl in our village, Xiaohong.”
Zhou Xiaofeng thought Su Xiaoman, who came to visit their house, was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, much prettier than her cousin.
Su Xiaoman joked with her for a while before they were called downstairs to have tea together. When guests come to the village, it’s customary to serve tea and some melon seeds.
Zhou Heqiang had two sons and one daughter. The eldest son was already married and had children, while the youngest son was serving in the military. Now, only his youngest daughter, Zhou Xiaofeng, was left at home. She was getting married in a few days, not far away, to a family in the same village.
It was quite fortunate for Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu to come at this time. After they arrived, the prospective groom’s family came to deliver the red silk, signalling the start of Zhou Xiaofeng’s preparation for her wedding dress.
With the upcoming joyous event for his youngest daughter, Zhou Heqiang and his wife were ecstatic. They also had guests at home at this time, so they prepared several pounds of pork and a table full of delicious dishes to entertain Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu.
“It’s almost done. Before you leave, you can taste Xiaofeng’s wine.”
After taking a shower and lying on the bed, Su Xiaoman couldn’t help but sigh. This was the most comfortable place she had stayed in since coming to the 1970s.
… After all, she had only lived in Xie Mingtu’s shabby little house before.
The conditions at Zhou’s house were really good. Su Xiaoman felt like this trip was almost like a sponsored vacation.
“It’s so nice…”
“Do you want a house like this, Xiaoman?”
Xie Mingtu, sitting beside her, asked. There was only one bed in this guest room of Zhou’s house, and because they were considered a “couple,” only one double bedding was prepared. One quilt for two people.
As Su Xiaoman lay on the bed, Xie Mingtu sat honestly on the wooden chair by the window.
Su Xiaoman felt that if she didn’t call Xie Mingtu over, he probably wouldn’t come close to the bed.
It was already autumn now. In the village, even during the hot summer nights, sometimes they needed to cover themselves with blankets. In the autumn nights, it was even colder, bone-chillingly cold late at night. She didn’t want Xie Mingtu to get frozen sleeping on the floor.
Su Xiaoman separated two bags in the middle to indicate Xie Mingtu to come over and gestured him to sleep at the other end, sharing half of the quilt with him.
“I want a better house than this.” Su Xiaoman, who had seen many luxury homes of the former wealthy, wasn’t particularly impressed by this rural brick house. Of course, Comrade Su Xiaoman’s requirements for housing weren’t high now.
As long as it didn’t leak, no snakes got in, and the toilet was clean, “It would be best to have three floors, spacious rooms, and a garden for planting flowers, with a grape trellis.”
Su Xiaoman kept her eyes closed as she voiced some of her demands. After speaking, she felt that these ideas were unrealistic.
In the 1970s, planting flowers didn’t have the same practicality as planting vegetables.
Planting some leeks in the yard, harvesting them as they grew, was particularly convenient. There were also some scallions; just picking a few when cooking was sufficient…
In the courtyard, planting some leeks, growing and harvesting them in turns, is especially convenient. There are also some scallions; just pinch a few when cooking…
Su Xiaoman closed her eyes and buried her head in the pillow. She felt that she had been conquered by reality. If she ever had her own courtyard in the future, she would still plant vegetables.
Bottle gourds, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, scallions, leeks, bok choy, all sorts of vegetables, all planted in one season…
Xie Mingtu lay flat on the bed, with a double pillow; he slept on one end, and she slept on the other. Su Xiaoman’s black long hair scattered, with a few strands crossing over to his side.
There was a scent of orchids drifting in.
Xie Mingtu closed his eyes and remembered what she had just said.
The next day, Xie Mingtu got up early and went out with Zhou Heqiang first, saying he was going to teach him how to use a tractor and also go up the mountain together. Su Xiaoman stayed at Zhou’s house. Yesterday she had made an appointment with Zhou Xiaofeng; in the morning, Zhou Xiaofeng would take her to Shun’s house. Shun was a skilled silk farmer in their village.
Zhou Xiaofeng told her not to get up too early; she had something to do in the morning.
Su Xiaoman slept a little longer, and no one came to wake her up. The mornings in the village were both peaceful and noisy. It was peaceful because you couldn’t hear the noisy voices, but noisy because there was a lot of activity in the courtyard.
The chirping of insects and birds outside the window, the quacking of chickens and ducks under the eaves, and the loud crowing of a rooster from the neighbouring house sounded like it wanted to call out people’s souls.
Luckily, it didn’t crow too much. After being startled awake by the crowing, Su Xiaoman fell back into a deep sleep.
Before falling asleep, she remembered something she had experienced. She went to a friend’s villa to play. It was a suburban villa area where some middle-aged and elderly rich people had a peculiar hobby of raising chickens in the villa courtyard.
When the rooster crowed, all the dogs in the neighbourhood would bark along, waking up all the villa owners in a row.
Finally, it caused public anger, and they gathered to kill the rooster.
Compared to roosters, people in the countryside preferred to raise hens. Hens lay eggs, not only gaining weight themselves but also laying eggs.
One egg a day was a good income.
When Su Xiaoman woke up, it wasn’t the time when the rooster crowed anymore. The sky was already bright, and the sun was about to come out. She got up, dressed, and after a simple hair combing and washing up, she walked into the courtyard.
After taking a few steps, Su Xiaoman suddenly heard “scolding” and “crying” coming from the main hall.
“Now what should we do? How could you be so careless?”
“It’s difficult, it’s fatal, it’s such a pity.”
“What are you going to do about this? Tell me, how are you going to deal with it? Were you so careless with the scissors?”
…
There was a woman’s high-pitched scolding voice, it was Zhou Heqiang’s wife, Song Yuejuan, speaking. Beside her, there was also the sobbing voice of their daughter, Zhou Xiaofeng.
Zhou Xiaofeng cried, “What should we do?”
This morning, when they got up, they were cutting red fabric together to make bridal clothes. For convenience, she folded the fabric and cut it together. In the middle of it, her mother appeared, directing her daughter with the scissors. But their cutting methods didn’t match. Left scissors, right scissors, they ended up cutting the fabric into uneven pieces.
Now what were they going to do with this fabric?!
Her future husband’s family, the Yang family, their son Yang Changgui grew up with Zhou Xiaofeng. The two families had a good relationship, and Zhou Xiaofeng was also valued by her future in-laws. The red fabric sent over this time was a high-quality fabric bought by the Yang family from the county, twice as expensive as ordinary fabric. Now, the good silk fabric had been wasted.
“We can’t make the bridal clothes anymore.”
“This fabric is no good, sewing it together will be uneven, even crooked. How can that work?”
“Mom… what should we do?”
“It’s all because you weren’t careful when you were cutting. How could you cut it crooked like this?”
Zhou Xiaofeng was aggrieved, “Mom, you scolded me just now and told me to hurry up.”
Song Yuejuan paused, “How can you blame me? I told you to pay attention, to pay attention.”
“I wasn’t planning to cut this part, it was when you came and told me to hurry up.”
…
The argument between mother and daughter not only attracted Su Xiaoman’s attention, but also their cousin’s wife who came to visit. She walked in and asked, “What’s going on? What happened early in the morning?”
“The fabric got cut up.” Zhou Xiaofeng’s eyes were swollen from crying. She had been dreaming last night about wearing beautiful bridal clothes, but now everything was ruined.
“Such a joyous occasion, how did you manage to ruin the fabric for clothes?”
“Can’t we salvage this? Just alter these two pieces and sew them together.”
Song Yuejuan frowned, “Would that look good? For wedding clothes, wouldn’t it be ugly to patch them up?”
“They’re asymmetrical on both sides.”
The cousin’s wife seemed indifferent, “It’s not that bad. Xiaofeng’s current condition is fine. In the past, when people got married, they just draped a piece of red cloth over themselves, no need to fuss over so much.”
Hearing the cousin’s wife’s words, Zhou Xiaofeng didn’t feel comforted, instead, she felt even more distressed.
In the past, it was due to lack of conditions that people didn’t fuss, but now everyone knew that the husband’s family had sent the best red fabric. She couldn’t even wear a beautiful bridal dress. How could she have the nerve to marry into the Yang family? She was still from the same village, everyone was watching, how could she face them?
“I don’t want… I won’t wear it.”
“I won’t marry, I’ll compensate the Yang family.”
“What nonsense are you talking about, child? It’s a happy occasion, it’s just a piece of red cloth. If you say you won’t marry, your brother Yang will be heartbroken when he hears it.”
…
At this moment, Su Xiaoman also walked into the main hall. After hearing the conversation between Zhou Xiaofeng and her mother, she could roughly guess what had happened.
Su Xiaoman walked to the pile of red fabric, picked it up, and compared the sizes with her fingers. She had studied fashion design before, although she hadn’t made clothes by hand for a while, she still had the touch.
She looked at Zhou Xiaofeng’s figure and a clothing outline immediately formed in her mind.
“Xiaofeng, I’m good at making clothes back home. If you and your mother trust me, I’ll make you a beautiful red wedding dress.”
Zhou Xiaofeng’s voice was hoarse from crying, “But the fabric is ruined, how can we make it?”
“It’s not ruined. We’ll use this fabric. I’ll make you a nice set.”
Zhou Xiaofeng hesitated, “Can you really do it?”
Su Xiaoman smiled and nodded, “Trust me. Come here, I’ll carefully measure your size. If you wear the wedding dress I make, you’ll definitely be the most beautiful bride.”
Zhou Xiaofeng walked over foolishly, spreading her arms to let Su Xiaoman measure her size. Her mother and cousin’s wife watched Su Xiaoman with suspicion, but for now, they didn’t intervene.
The Su Xiaoman before their eyes was beautiful, with fair skin, dark hair, and dressed nicely in a light blue outfit that accentuated her slender waist. There was even a beautiful lilac flower embroidered on the sleeve. When she said she was good at making clothes, she naturally had a convincing power.
After Su Xiaoman finished measuring Zhou Xiaofeng’s size, she asked if there was a sewing machine at her cousin’s wife’s house. Zhou Xiaofeng took the red fabric and went with her, while Song Yuejuan stayed at home to entertain the Yang family when they came over later.
Before long, the Yang family arrived, including Zhou Xiaofeng’s fiancé, Yang Changgui. Yang Changgui genuinely liked Zhou Xiaofeng and was eagerly waiting to be the groom and bring his bride home.
“What? The fabric got ruined?” Upon hearing the news, Yang Changgui was also taken aback.
“Don’t blame her. Xiaofeng has been blaming herself. She cried for a long time and is now trying to find a solution. Maybe we can still fix it…”
“No!!! If it’s ruined, then it’s ruined! It’s still early, I’ll go buy new fabric right away.”
Marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and Yang Changgui wanted to make his bride the most beautiful one. He didn’t want her to suffer any grievances.
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