Chapter 171
“Xinyue, you can rest assured!” Su Xiaoxiao now had the confidence that she could earn money herself.
Seeing her so confident, Jiang Xinyue and Aunt Guo stopped their reluctant protests. Happily, they accepted the gifts from Su Xiaoxiao. She then took seven or eight pieces of fabric out of her luggage and handed them to Aunt Guo.
“Aunt, these are from Yexun and me. The bright red, peach, and light red fabrics are for the New Year. The light blue, dark blue, as well as these brown checkered and black and grass green fabrics are also for you to choose from.”
Aunt Guo was surprised to see so much fabric handed to her all at once. “How many fabric tickets did you need for all of this?” She couldn’t help but sigh.
“We didn’t use fabric tickets; we bought these on the black market. The black market in Beijing is especially safe, about as big as our supply and marketing co-op, and the comrades with armbands who come to arrest people have fixed schedules,” Su Xiaoxiao explained everything about the black market because she didn’t want them to worry.
Aunt Guo, Jiang Xinyue, and the others were left amazed by the story.
“With money, you can buy anything you want; that’s great,” Aunt Guo said, reminiscing about her childhood when buying things didn’t require collecting fabric tickets. But she quickly shifted her thoughts. “I’m already in my forties; I don’t need so much fabric for new clothes.”
“Aunt, you’re only forty-five this year, still very young. What’s wrong with having more clothes? We can certainly afford it!” Su Xiaoxiao clung to Aunt Guo’s arm and coaxed her affectionately. “Now that you have me as a daughter-in-law, and you look good and eat well, others will think you’ve married a good daughter-in-law.”
Su Xiaoxiao was well aware that she couldn’t manage household chores, so she wanted to be dutiful in other ways, especially to her future mother-in-law.
Aunt Guo, feeling her arm being swayed, gave in to her coquetry and nodded with a smile. “Alright, alright, I’ll wear them. When I get back, I’ll make a few sets of clothes for all of you.”
“Then I’ll knit some sweaters for everyone. These are pure wool, so they’ll be quite warm,” Jiang Xinyue said with a smile.
“Xinyue, you’re pregnant now; you can’t overexert yourself,” Su Xiaoxiao warned, concerned.
Jiang Xinyue happily touched the pile of yarn. “It’s not tiring at all. I sit and listen to the radio all day, and it’s so boring. When I’m back home, I can have my mother help me knit as well. You have a sewing machine now, so it won’t take much time to make clothes.”
Seeing that Jiang Xinyue and Aunt Guo had sorted everything out, Su Xiaoxiao took a deep brown leather briefcase out of her bag.
“Brother-in-law, this is specially picked for you by Yexun. Many people in Beijing carry these. He saw that no one was using them here, so he bought one for you.”
“I have one too?” Hua Shoucheng was somewhat surprised.
Once he said that, everyone immediately turned to look at him. Jiang Xinyue slapped him and said, “What are you talking about? You’re part of our family. If Yexun and Xiaoxiao are buying gifts, they certainly haven’t forgotten about you.”
But after she finished speaking, she looked at Su Xiaoxiao with curiosity. “And what about Jiang Quankun and Jiang Quansheng? Did you buy them anything?”
“Why would I buy anything for them?” Although Su Xiaoxiao’s voice was still soft and sweet, it was easy to hear the disdain she held for those two families. If she could, she would have wanted to take their lives. She’d rather eat a few extra bowls of meat than spend money on gifts for them.
“After going back, they’ll start causing trouble again,” Jiang Xinyue was feeling a bit overwhelmed.
“It’s good that they cause trouble; they’ve never won anyway, and Yexun will just give them a good thrashing,” Su Xiaoxiao said with an eager look in her round, bright eyes. She wasn’t afraid of those two families causing trouble. If they suddenly changed for the better, how would she take revenge for what they had done to her in her previous life?
“Exactly, it’s good to give them a few beatings. With the grudge we have against them, I don’t want them to have an easy life,” Jiang Xinyue shared her sentiments.
Aunt Guo, however, stole a glance at Su Xiaoxiao, then asked with concern, “Did you get anything for Yexun’s father?”
Although he wasn’t a good person, he was Yexun and Xinyue’s biological father by blood, after all. Skipping him wasn’t going to be acceptable.
“Of course, we did,” Su Xiaoxiao’s eyes sparkled as she took out a khaki-colored long woolen coat from her bag. “This is specially selected from the supply and marketing store in Beijing; it’s made of imported lamb’s wool and cost 85 yuan.”
Aunt Guo took the coat but couldn’t help furrowing her brow slightly. The fabric felt comfortable, but it was probably unsuitable for their local temperatures, which dropped to below freezing in the teens and twenties. By the time it became warm enough to wear, it would be time to start planting. She looked at Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun and saw the mischievous glint in her future daughter-in-law’s dark, sparkling eyes.
There was nothing more to think about; these two kids were definitely doing it on purpose. They wanted to give Team Leader Jiang something nice to look at but not wear, and that would drive him crazy.
“You guys…” Aunt Guo smiled and shook her head, not directly addressing the issue.
In the afternoon, Su Xiaoxiao took a nap in Aunt Guo’s room, while Jiang Yexun went to the supply and marketing co-op to buy the pipe. After Su Xiaoxiao woke up, they both took showers, tried washing some dirty clothes in the washing machine, and hung them out on the balcony.
It wasn’t possible for them to take everything with them today. Besides, they’d come back to deliver the dirty laundry next week, so they weren’t too concerned.
After dinner, Jiang Yexun found a large wicker basket. He packed Aunt Guo’s luggage and the remaining bag of gifts into it, and under the cover of night, they set off for Hong Feng Production Team. They didn’t walk back but had booked an ox-cart in front of the supply and marketing co-op in the afternoon.
Since it was the middle of winter, the production team’s oxen had several months of rest. However, local people needed to start hoarding the necessities for the winter, so ox-carts were sent out to transport various goods. Sometimes, they didn’t even require money; a couple of eggs or a few catties of white rice would be enough to secure a ride back to the production team. Jiang Yexun paid a full two yuan because the ox-cart he booked was only carrying the three of them.
The weather in their region was already quite cold, with nighttime temperatures around five or six degrees. There were no people outside talking at this time of day. As they walked towards home, they could already see the neatly built house that Su Xiaoxiao had prepared. It was a mud-brick house, but it was built very smoothly and had cleaner colors compared to the surrounding houses.
Their footsteps quickened as they approached the Jiang family’s gate. Upon arrival, they raised their hands to knock on the door. However, after knocking five or six times, there was no response from inside.
“It’s strange that at this time, no one from the family is here,” Aunt Guo said, puzzled, and then called out their names loudly.
But there was still no response from inside. Jiang Yexun increased his knocking, trying several times.
Both Jiang Yexun and Su Xiaoxiao could hear sounds coming from behind the door, but the people inside didn’t seem to be doing anything after standing behind the door.
Jiang Yexun’s brow slightly furrowed, and Aunt Guo wanted to call out again, but Su Xiaoxiao suddenly raised her hand.
Jiang Yexun understood and lifted his foot.
Su Xiaoxiao spoke in a firm tone, “I’ll count to three, and if the door isn’t opened, I’ll kick it down.”
There was still no response from the people inside during the count.
“Three, two, one!” Without any hesitation, Su Xiaoxiao counted out the numbers.
Jiang Yexun delivered a powerful kick, and the already weak door was knocked down. It hit the person standing behind the door, causing her to scream out in pain.
Jiang’s elder sister-in-law took several steps back and sat down heavily on the ground, with blood streaming from her nose. “Ouch! I’m going to die! You broke the door the moment you came back.”
Hu Yuezhen clapped her thigh and cried out in agony.
Su Xiaoxiao blinked as if she was looking at a fool and then scanned the group of people standing in the yard.
“Huh, it turns out you’re all here? But when Auntie called for you just now, why didn’t anyone open the door? You couldn’t even make a sound. Don’t say you weren’t here; my counting was so fast, you wouldn’t have had time to get here anyway,” she emphasized with sarcasm.