Chapter 162: Xu Yuping's plan

"fine!"

Seeing Li Guoqiang's reaction, Xu Yuying quickly reached out to block the pen case, then laughed and said, "I didn't spend any money on this pen. It was a reward from the commune."

"."

Li Guoqiang was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then he said seriously: "Then I can't accept it even more!"

"why?"

Xu Yuying frowned, then asked with some confusion.

"Because I'm worried that this will affect your reputation!"

When Li Guoqiang saw Xu Yuying like this, he didn't know whether she was really stupid or just pretending, so he could only speak frankly and tell her the reason.

"I"

Xu Yuying glared and almost couldn't help but want to curse.

I am just a little older than you! Is it necessary to be so mean to me?

Do you really think that no one wants me and that I have to marry you?
With my looks and figure, the people pursuing me every day can line up from the commune to the village.

If it weren't for the fact that my parents nag me all day long, I wouldn't bother to pay attention to you!

"Comrade Xu Yuying, are you okay?"

Li Guoqiang looked at Xu Yuying's dark face and couldn't help feeling a little sorry.

Logically speaking, given Xu Yuying's conditions, it was indeed rare for her to be interested in an educated youth from the city like him.

In addition, Xu Guangfu had always been very caring towards him, and if he rejected him now, it would inevitably give people the impression that he was ungrateful.

If possible, he wouldn't want that.

It’s just because issues between men and women are more sensitive these days and things can easily go wrong, so he has to be careful at all times.

"fine!"

Xu Yuping took a deep breath, then shook her head and said in a cold voice: "Thank you for thinking about me so carefully. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first!"

After saying that, she didn't care about Li Guoqiang's reaction, she reached out and snatched the pencil case, then quickly turned around and left.

Li Guoqiang was slightly stunned when he saw this, then he couldn't help but shook his head with a dumb smile.

Then, he didn't take the matter to heart and hurried back to the cabin to continue greeting the guests.

It wasn't long before the meal was ready.

As the delicious and tempting dishes were served on the table, everyone kept swallowing their saliva.

Especially when the soft, glutinous and crystal-clear braised bear paw was served, everyone was stunned.

"Come on, everyone, stop looking and eat it while it's hot!"

Seeing that everyone was almost dying of greed, Li Guoqiang felt a little happy and quickly greeted them.

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Maocai picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of bear paw at lightning speed.

Dig!

Seeing this, the others couldn't help but curse in their hearts, and then they didn't bother to be polite to Li Guoqiang, and they all picked up their chopsticks and went straight to the plate of braised bear paws.

In a short while, the plate became clean and even the soup was used to dip the steamed buns.

Then, no one cared to marvel at how delicious the bear paw was, and they quickly reached for other dishes with their chopsticks.

Only when everyone had eaten their fill did they slow down their eating pace, and then they started toasting and talking nonsense.

As he was talking, Sun Maocai suddenly leaned close to Li Guoqiang's ear and said in a low voice:
"Qiangzi, you have a house now, all you need is to find a wife to warm your bed. I happen to have a niece who is so pretty and about your age. How about I bring her over someday so you can get to know each other first?"

Hearing this, Li Guoqiang was slightly stunned, then hurriedly shook his head and said politely: "Secretary Sun, I appreciate your kindness, but I am still young and don't want to think about finding a partner so early."

"That's it!"

Sun Maocai frowned, then said with some disappointment: "Okay! If you want to find a partner, tell me, I promise to find a good one for you."

"Got it!"

Upon hearing this, Li Guoqiang immediately nodded in agreement, then picked up his glass and said with gratitude: "Then I'll toast you first."

"Ok!"

When Sun Maocai saw Li Guoqiang like this, he couldn't help but nodded with some satisfaction, and then drank a glass with Li Guoqiang.

In fact, the thing that he valued most about Li Guoqiang was that Li Guoqiang would never ignore the Sun family and the Ma family just because he had the support of the Xu family.

The feeling he gives people is that he doesn't look like a young boy who has just started out, but rather more like a smooth little fox.

Therefore, he wanted to win over Li Guoqiang, and then use Li Guoqiang's abilities to let him take the position of captain.

It’s a pity that no one knows what Li Guoqiang is thinking. He doesn’t care about finding a partner at all, which makes it difficult for him to start.

Moreover, he also heard that Xu Guangfu had offered the price of a production team leader in order to marry his daughter to Li Guoqiang, but in the end he still failed to impress Li Guoqiang.

Now he doesn’t know how to successfully win over Li Guoqiang?
Soon, the first meal in the new house came to an end unknowingly.

Everyone ate with their mouths full of oil, and then left very satisfied.

After Li Guoqiang sent everyone away, Qu Yinfeng and Xu Yuping immediately walked into the wooden house and busied themselves with clearing away the dishes and cleaning.

Zhu Caixia and Xu Dani ate so much that their bellies were round. They lay on the kang, listening to the radio, with happy and contented looks on their faces.

At the same time, Zhu Gui's family, who returned to Zhujiatun and rented a pigpen, were not so lucky.

Not only did they have to endure the stinky smell, but they could only eat until they were 20% to 30% full. Compared with their previous days, it was completely different.

"Dad, what do you think we should do now?"

Zhao Chunhua looked at the dirty and narrow pigpen in front of her and couldn't help but ask with some concern.

"What to do?"

Zhu Gui glanced at Zhao Chunhua and said unhappily, "How should I know what to do?"

"you"

Zhao Chunhua glared, then said angrily: "The captain said that we can only live here until the beginning of next spring. When the piglets are bought, we will have to move out." "If you don't think of a solution now, are you going to make us sleep on the street with you?"

"You can think of it if you want, but I can't think of it anyway!"

Zhu Gui curled his lips, then spoke with a sullen look on his face.

Now, when he thought about the fact that he still owed the brigade nearly 200 yuan and was labeled a thief, he completely lost hope for the future.

When Zhao Chunhua saw Zhu Gui like this, she felt even more annoyed.

However, she knew that it was useless to get angry with Zhu Gui, so she could only suppress her anger and suggested in a deep voice: "Why don't we try to go to the eldest sister-in-law's parents' home first to see if we can borrow some money from her parents' home!"

"You are stupid! You know the situation of my sister-in-law's family. Maybe they owe more money than ours. You are still thinking of borrowing money from her family. I think you are just daydreaming!"

Zhu Gui frowned when he heard this, and then complained in a somewhat unpleasant tone.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

Zhao Chunhua rolled her eyes, then said shrewdly, "Didn't I tell you before that I saw my sister-in-law eating with a little bastard in a state-owned restaurant in the commune?"

"Later I asked around and found out that the meal they had cost at least three or four dollars."

"Think about it! Since they are willing to spend so much money on a restaurant, who knows how much money they have in their hands!"

"That's what you said!"

Zhu Gui was slightly stunned, then asked in confusion: "But how do you know who the money belongs to?"

"Look what you said!"

Zhao Chunhua raised her eyebrows, and then said in a somewhat unpleasant tone: "How could I not think of such a simple question? In my opinion, the money must belong to that little bastard."

"That"

Zhu Gui frowned, then asked in confusion: "Then what's the point of you going to find your sister-in-law?"

"Really!"

Zhao Chunhua curled her lips, then said with a look of disdain: "How come you still don't understand at this point? Didn't I just say that the little bastard spent three or four dollars to treat my sister-in-law to a meal?"

"In my opinion, there must be some hidden relationship between the two of them!"

"Otherwise, who would be willing to spend so much money to treat people to a meal?"

"Oh~"

Hearing this, Zhu Gui suddenly showed a look of realization on his face, then nodded quickly and said, "I understand. You mean we can use this incident to control our sister-in-law and ask her to help borrow some money from that little bastard."

"That's right!"

Zhao Chunhua nodded, and then said with some pride: "If my sister-in-law is unwilling to help us, I will go to their village and ruin her reputation."

After saying this, a deep hatred flashed in her eyes.

Why should I be turned away by my parents' home, while Xu Yuping, this cheap woman who can't give birth to a son, had her parents move her household registration back home?

Since I can't get better, you can forget about getting better either!

At this time, Zhu Gui didn't know that the reason why Zhao Chunhua came up with this idea was because she was jealous of Xu Yuping's family background. After seeing that Zhao Chunhua was so confident, he immediately fell into longing for the future.

He even thought that if he could really borrow money in this way, he might as well borrow a few more times, so that he could pay off all the debts and then rebuild the house.

"correct!"

As Zhao Chunhua was thinking, she suddenly remembered something and quickly continued, "His father, Xiaoyan and the eldest sister-in-law have a better relationship in our family, so I want to take Xiaoyan with me when the time comes, so it will be easier to talk."

"Yeah!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Gui nodded without even thinking and agreed, "We should take Xiaoyan with us. You can also bring a few pounds of corn with you. That way, we can look better when the time comes."

"Okay, then I'll take Xiaoyan with me early tomorrow morning!"

When Zhao Chunhua saw that Zhu Gui agreed to her idea, she couldn't help but reveal a look of joy on her face.

At the same time, Xu Yuping, who was busy making tofu buns with Qu Yinfeng at home, had no idea that Zhu Gui and Zhao Chunhua had already set their sights on her.

According to their local New Year customs, almost every household will make some steamed tofu before the New Year, then freeze them in a clay jar and save them for later consumption.

It is said that a long time ago, farmers ate two meals a day. They would have breakfast at dawn, then go to work in the fields, and only have dinner when they returned home after dark.

For farmers who engage in heavy physical labor, the interval between two meals is too long and they can easily become unbearable.

Therefore, in early winter every year, farmers would grind millet into flour and make egg-sized bean curds with bean filling. They would then leave them outside to freeze solid so that they could fill their stomachs when they went to the fields in the spring.

Gradually, this became a custom.

In previous years, because the family’s financial situation was not very good, Qu Yinfeng could only make 20 to 30 red bean-filled buns to satisfy her family.

This year, with all the supplies bought by Li Guoqiang, he can make as much as he wants, with any filling he wants.

However, in order to keep a low profile, they finally decided to use red bean filling, mung bean filling, peanut filling, and sesame filling, and make fifty or sixty of each.

Soon, Qu Yinfeng and Xu Yuping prepared the dough and fillings, and then sat on the kang with Li Guoqiang, Zhu Caixia, Xu Dani and others, rolling the glutinous rice dough into long strips and then pinching them into small pieces.

Next, flatten the dough and then wrap the filling in it.

Once all the dough and fillings are wrapped, you can put them directly into the pot and steam them.

After steaming them, Li Guoqiang and the two greedy cats Xu Dani and Zhu Caixia finished twenty or thirty of them in a short time. After they had satisfied their cravings, they took the remaining bean buns outside to freeze them.

I worked for the entire afternoon and finally finished making the bean buns.

As Xu Yuping saw that it was getting dark, her heart suddenly tightened. She hurried to fetch some water and boil some water. She was going to take care of the other people in the family first, and then take a bath and dress up.

After rushing for a while, by the time she was the last one in line to finish her shower, it was completely dark.

At this time, Qu Yinfeng had already heated up the leftover food from lunch and brought it directly to the kang table on the other side of the wooden house.

In this way, after dinner, she could take Zhu Caixia and Xu Dani back to the house next door, and let Xu Yuping stay in the wooden house naturally, so as to avoid Xu Yuping being embarrassed when the time comes.

When Xu Yuping saw this, she didn't say anything. She just went back to the house silently, took out the snow frog oil and vanishing cream that Li Guoqiang had bought before, and applied them on herself.

Moreover, she combed her hair carefully in front of the mirror with the help of kerosene lamp, trying to look her best.

It was not until Qu Yinfeng came over and urged her again and again that she walked out with some trepidation, then slowly pushed open the door of the wooden house and walked in.

(End of this chapter)