Zhao Wansheng had no objection to following the military. "Mom, so what are you thinking? Do you want to work, or do you want to stay home as a housewife?"
"Of course I want to earn money and save up some dowry for you, but… I'm worried that finding another job over there will cause trouble for Uncle Zhou…"
Over the years, Chen Xiang had raised her child and cared for the elderly alone back home. Whenever anything came up, she handled it by herself. She was used to not troubling others, even the man she was about to spend the rest of her life with.
Although Zhao Wansheng didn't know exactly what was going through her mother's mind, she could guess well enough.
"Mom, by the time you go to join the military, you and Uncle Zhou will already be married. Isn't it perfectly normal for Uncle Zhou to help his family find a job? If you're afraid of being a bother, that's what would really make you distant from Uncle Zhou."
Chen Xiang thought about it and realized that made sense. "I was overthinking it. Also, the conditions at the military base can't compare to the city. I'm just afraid you won't be used to it…"
"Mom, as long as I can be with you, there's nothing I won't get used to." Zhao Wansheng waved her hand.
Chen Xiang was about to say more when a knock came at the door. "Xiangxiang, I'm leaving. Come out and bolt the door."
Chen Xiang's face flushed hot at the sudden sound of the man's voice. She replied, "Coming."
Reluctantly, Chen Xiang left the room.
When she returned, her face was flushed crimson again.
Zhao Wansheng lay on the bed, secretly amused by the sight.
The mother and daughter chatted for a while longer, then washed up and went to sleep.
After Chen Xiang fell asleep, Zhao Wansheng was still awake.
So many days had passed, and she'd used the Spirit Spring Water plenty.
But the Space remained barren.
At Grandmother's house, during the day she was always accompanied by her older cousins, and at night she shared a bed with her mother. From morning to night, except for trips to the outhouse, there was never a moment she was alone.
To be safe, Zhao Wansheng had never once entered the Space.
The few grains of wheat and millet she'd dug out of the rat hole at Grandmother's house had never had a chance to be planted in the Space.
As for other seeds, the grain at Grandmother's house was kept locked up. A little kid like her had no chance of getting her hands on any.
Fortunately, she was in the city now, and her mother had a job. Once she was home alone, she'd have the chance to enter the Space and farm. In the future, the family would never run out of food.
Zhao Wansheng dreamed big, but she forgot one thing—other than the few grains of wheat and millet from the rat hole, she had nothing.
Still, Zhao Wansheng wasn't discouraged. She believed that one day, she'd fill that one mu of land in the Space.
Taking advantage of Chen Xiang's last day off, Zhou Dingbang dragged the mother and daughter to the department store early the next morning.
"Our wedding may be rushed, but we can't skimp on the things a wedding should have."
Zhou Dingbang bought them both two full sets of brand-new clothes and shoes from head to toe.
There were also thermos bottles for the wedding, enamel washbasins printed with the character for "double happiness," chamber pots, red fabric for making clothes, and the most eye-catching items—large red dragon-and-phoenix quilt covers and bedsheets, and so on.
Chen Xiang hadn't expected Zhou Dingbang to buy so much. She couldn't stop him no matter how she tried.
Back then, it wasn't yet fashionable to buy bicycles, watches, or radios for a wedding. Having a brand-new enamel basin for a wedding was already considered quite good.
What Zhou Dingbang had prepared was already ten streets ahead of everyone else.
Chen Xiang was so moved her eyes turned red.
When the three returned to the small courtyard, Second Uncle Chen had already come back loaded with bags and bundles, and with him was Zhao Wansheng's eldest cousin.
It turned out that after Chen Wen returned home and told everyone about him and Chen Xiang becoming workers, his eldest cousin Chen Daxing, upon hearing that literacy meant a job, abandoned his plans to meet a prospective match and insisted on following his second uncle to the city to find work.
The others were tempted too, but since Chen Xiang and her brother hadn't even started working yet or received a single paycheck, the family worried the city jobs might not be reliable and decided to wait and see.
Moreover, not everyone in the Chen family was literate, and even those who could read didn't necessarily recognize every character.
Just then, the village literacy class was in full swing. The illiterate eldest aunt and second aunt, along with the eldest uncle—who had long since returned his meager knowledge to the teacher and lacked confidence—and the older cousins, all decided to attend the village literacy class.
As for Chen Xiang finding a marriage prospect in the city, Chen Wen only mentioned it briefly.
However, he kept his wits about him. In front of everyone, he only said that Zhou Dingbang was a soldier, also on his second marriage, with good character. He glossed over his rank in the military and didn't mention his income at all.
The Chen family didn't think much of it. For Chen Xiang, a second-time bride with a child in tow, marrying a city man was already more than they could have hoped for. They didn't dare expect anything more.
The courtyard Chen Xiang and her brother rented wasn't large—just two bedrooms in total. After Chen Daxing arrived, he shared a room with Chen Wen.
Chen Xiang and her daughter shared the other room, and they managed to squeeze in well enough.
Early the next morning, after the four of them finished breakfast, Chen Xiang and her brother headed out to work, full of energy.
The eldest cousin greeted Zhao Wansheng and prepared to head out as well.
"Wan Sheng, you stay home and don't run around. I'm going out to take a look and will come back at noon to make you lunch."
Zhao Wansheng obediently agreed.
Chen Daxing was a man with ideas. The dyeing and weaving factory where Chen Xiang and her siblings worked was still hiring, but Chen Xing felt that having the whole family in one factory was like putting all their eggs in one basket—not safe. He decided to check out other factories instead.
Chen Xiang and her siblings naturally had no objections.
As soon as her eldest cousin left, Zhao Wansheng immediately closed the courtyard gate, shut the front door tightly, and after entering her room, bolted the door before slipping into the Space.
The Space was still shrouded in mist.
The one mu of black soil lay bare and empty.
Zhao Wansheng took out her few grains of wheat and used a wooden stick to poke small holes in the ground, beginning to plant the wheat.
There was no choice—there was no hoe for farming at home, so Zhao Wansheng could only use a crude tool: a wooden stick.
Zhao Wansheng counted the wheat grains—eighteen in total.
As for rice, she had twenty-five grains, but this one mu of land was dry farmland, and there were no paddy fields in the Space. She wasn't sure if rice could even be grown there.
After thinking it over, Zhao Wansheng decided to give it a try anyway.
After all, since the Space existed, growing rice in dry land wasn't such an inconceivable thing.
Zhao Wansheng poked more than twenty small holes with the stick, planted the rice grains as well, and finally used a gourd ladle to scoop up some Spirit Spring water and thoroughly drench the soil where the seeds were buried.
Chen Xiang got her marriage certificate with Zhou Dingbang at noon on her second day of work.
That afternoon, the couple, Zhou Dingbang and his wife, brought Zhao Wansheng, dressed in brand-new clothes, to the Zhou family home for a meal.
As soon as Chen Xiang and her daughter entered the door, Zhou Dingbang introduced Chen Xiang and her daughter to the Zhou family members.
"Father, Mother, this is my wife Chen Xiang and my daughter Wan Sheng. Xiangxiang, these are my parents, eldest brother and sister-in-law, second brother and second sister-in-law…"
When the Zhou family heard that Chen Xiang was a remarried woman with a child in tow, their originally warm and cordial attitude instantly turned cold.