“Jiaojiao.”
“Ah, you’re here. Come in quickly.”
Mother An was completely mesmerized.
Feng Jiaojiao was already beautiful, but after dressing up, she looked like a movie star.
“Third Aunt is so beautiful!”
Girls naturally loved pretty things, and the moment they saw Feng Jiaojiao all dressed up, they gathered around her.
“Go play somewhere else. Don’t bother your Third Aunt.”
The eldest daughter-in-law, Sister-in-law An, came over to shoo the girls away.
“Sister-in-law, it’s fine.”
As she spoke, Feng Jiaojiao pulled out a stack of red envelopes from her pocket.
She had prepared them the night before for the children in the family.
There were eight envelopes in total, and each one contained fifty cents.
The children were thrilled.
“Third Aunt gave us red envelopes!”
“Thank you, Third Aunt!”
They took the envelopes one by one.
“You’re welcome.”
There was one envelope left.
Feng Jiaojiao walked over to Chen Tingting.
“This is for the child. Sister-in-law, please keep it for her.”
“Thank you, Third Sister-in-law.”
Chen Tingting was a complete beauty lover herself. Seeing how gorgeous Feng Jiaojiao looked, she couldn’t bring herself to look away.
Feng Jiaojiao looked at the adorable baby in Chen Tingting’s arms.
It wouldn’t be bad to have such a cute and beautiful baby of my own someday.
“She’s so adorable.”
“Third Sister-in-law, you’re so beautiful. Your children will definitely be even prettier.”
Chen Tingting could already imagine how beautiful the children of An Jianjun and Feng Jiaojiao would be.
Both of them were good-looking, after all.
“Of course!”
Mother An was already grinning from ear to ear at the thought.
With such a beautiful daughter-in-law, just imagine how handsome or pretty my grandchildren will be! They’ll look like little figures from New Year paintings!
“Oh! We can buy candy now!”
The children were already planning how to spend their money.
“What candy? Give the red envelopes to me. I’ll keep the money for you. Don’t lose it. I’ll give it back when you’re older.”
Sister-in-law An used the same excuse adults always used to coax children.
But these children weren’t little toddlers anymore.
They were old enough to understand that money was valuable. They knew how to spend it and understood that money could buy the things they wanted.
“No! I want to buy candy! And I want one of the red hair ribbons like Big Niu next door!”
The second daughter of the eldest branch was clever.
She clutched her red envelope tightly and ran.
The fifty cents inside was more than enough to buy the two things she wanted.
Five-year-old An Jiabao saw his second sister running away with her red envelope and immediately took off after her.
Sister-in-law An couldn’t let that happen.
“You little brats!”
She chased the two children around the courtyard.
One was five years old, and the other was only six and a half. There was no way they could outrun her.
Like someone catching little chicks, she grabbed both children, snatched their red envelopes, and stuffed them into her own pocket.
“Waaah!”
The children burst into tears.
Sister-in-law An then looked at her eldest daughter.
“Da Ya.”
She didn’t even need to say anything else.
Da Ya obediently handed over her red envelope.
“Mom, here.”
Only then was Sister-in-law An satisfied.
Since all of them had handed theirs over, the girls from the second branch didn’t dare keep theirs either. One after another, they obediently handed their still-warm red envelopes to their mothers.
Seeing them reminded Feng Jiaojiao of her own childhood.
When she was little, she once used the money from a red envelope to buy candy.
She had handed the shopkeeper ten yuan for five cents’ worth of her favorite candy and forgotten to take the change.
When she got home, her mother had given her a good beating.
I wonder how my parents are doing after I disappeared.
If only they could see me getting married here.
Her parents had always hoped that she would marry and have children soon.
They had finally gotten their wish, but in another world and another time.
And she could never see them again.
Tears gradually filled her eyes.
An Jianjun noticed her reddened, watery eyes.
He guessed that she was missing her family.
Without saying anything, he took her hand and led her into the house.
“Mom, I’ll take her inside to rest for a while. I’ll come out later to entertain the guests.”
“All right, go ahead. Let her rest inside. We’ve got things out here.”
Mother An mainly thought her daughter-in-law was simply too beautiful and too eye-catching. It would be better for her to stay inside for now.
“Oh, look at Third Brother treating her like she’s made of gold. He’s afraid she’ll get tired!”
Sister-in-law An couldn’t resist making a sarcastic remark.
“All right, enough. Have you forgotten how you were when you first got married?”
Mother An rolled her eyes at her eldest daughter-in-law before walking away.
She still had to keep an eye on the kitchen. Otherwise, these people might use up everything she had prepared.
An Jianjun brought Feng Jiaojiao into their new room.
“You’re hungry, aren’t you? I’ll get you something to eat.”
He went to the kitchen and took a little of each prepared dish, putting everything into a large bowl. Then he grabbed two steamed buns and brought them to his wife.
Feng Jiaojiao looked around their new room.
All of her luggage had already been neatly arranged.
She opened the wardrobe and saw that her clothes had been folded and stacked perfectly inside.
Not bad.
An Jianjun’s thoughtfulness made her feel less resistant to their future life together.
At least this man was decent.
He knew how to do housework and wasn’t the kind of spoiled man who expected his wife to serve him hand and foot.
Men like An Jianjun were rare.
He was the type who spoke little but did a lot.
He wasn’t good at sweet-talking, but he paid attention to his wife’s feelings and did his best to take care of her.
“Stay here and eat something. I’ll go outside to entertain the guests.”
An Jianjun brought over a small kang table and placed the bowl of food and two steamed buns on it.
“Wait…”
Feng Jiaojiao suddenly noticed something.
“My clothes… Did you organize them?”
“Mm. What’s wrong? You don’t like how I arranged them?”
An Jianjun thought he had done something wrong.
Feng Jiaojiao quickly shook her head.
“No… Thank you.”
Hearing her quiet little “thank you,” An Jianjun’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“This is our home. I’ll do my best to share the housework with you so you don’t have to work so hard. Eat quickly, or the food will get cold.”
With that, he left to entertain the guests.
Meanwhile, Educated Youth Zhang Qiang had been feeling incredibly pleased with himself lately.
Although he had completely fallen out with his family, he didn’t regret it.
Since his family no longer had a place for him, he had decided that he would never go back.
He touched the money he had earned from the black market in his pocket.
He believed he had the ability to give Jiaojiao a better life.
What Zhang Qiang didn’t know was that this trip home to attend his younger brother’s wedding had cost him the woman he loved.
Zhang Qiang had always liked Feng Jiaojiao.
He was attracted to the spoiled, pampered air about her because it was precisely the kind of life he longed for.
People often became attracted to those who possessed what they themselves lacked.
Although Feng Jiaojiao could be spoiled, she was straightforward and open-hearted. She was also generous toward others.
At the educated youth station, the male educated youths were always willing to help her.
Part of it was because she was genuinely beautiful. Who didn’t like looking at a pretty girl?
But beauty alone wasn’t enough to explain why she had such good relationships with the opposite sex.
Feng Jiaojiao never treated their help as something they were obligated to provide simply because she was a woman.
She knew how to repay their kindness.
How could people not like someone like that?
Even when she was a little spoiled and willful, people found it endearing.
Every now and then, she would take out meat coupons or pastries and share them with the other educated youths.
She knew they often looked after her, so she would treat them to good food in return.
With a personality like that, how could she not be popular?
When Zhang Qiang returned to Songshan Brigade, he immediately noticed that there were surprisingly few people gathered at the village entrance.
Usually, there would be groups of three or five, sometimes more than ten people, sitting around chatting.
“Ma’am, where did everyone go?”
“Oh, Zhang, you didn’t know?”
“Today is Educated Youth Feng and the An family’s Third Son’s wedding! Everyone went to the An family for the wedding feast.”
“Anyway, I have to hurry over too!”
The old woman hurried toward the An family’s house.
“What?”
Zhang Qiang froze.
Feng Jiaojiao was getting married.
And the man she had married was An Jianjun.