Because they still had work in the afternoon, the banquet ended a little after one o’clock. After the meal, the kitchen was left with almost nothing except some green vegetables and fruits brought by relatives who attended the wedding.
Once the guests left, some of the tables and stools that had been borrowed from nearby households were taken back by their owners on their own, saving the Yang family the trouble of returning them.
Yang Tao helped the women of the family wash the pots, bowls, and utensils. With so many people, the work was quickly finished. After washing up, she urged them to go rest since the Yang family still had to work in the afternoon.
As for returning the remaining kitchenware, she and Chen Yichen would handle it themselves. They weren’t going to work today anyway.
While the women were washing dishes, Chen Yichen had already cleaned both inside and outside the house. By around two o’clock, when the Yang family had all gone back to work, Yang Tao and Chen Yichen had almost finished tidying up as well. The kitchenware didn’t need to be returned immediately—just before dinner would be fine.
After a busy morning, both of them were exhausted, so they decided to go back and rest first.
Back in the new house, everything finally felt real. Earlier, the house had been full of people and they were too busy hosting guests to take a close look. Now that it was just the two of them, Yang Tao noticed the red “double happiness” paper on the windows and the red new bedding on the bed—and only then did she truly feel that she was married.
They had woken up early and worked all morning, so neither of them had any extra thoughts. They lay side by side and quickly fell asleep.
When Yang Tao woke up, Chen Yichen was already gone. He must have gotten up earlier to handle things. She glanced at her watch—3:40 PM. She had only slept a little over an hour.
After getting up, she took out the gift money and the record book her mother had given her earlier and started counting the coins on the table—notes of ten cents, twenty cents, and so on.
Just then, the door was pushed open and Chen Yichen walked in.
She looked up at him and asked, “When did you get up? I was sleeping so deeply I didn’t even notice. What were you doing?”
Then she immediately went back to counting money with a very “money-obsessed” expression.
Chen Yichen sat down beside her. “Not long ago. I returned the bowls we borrowed from others. Uncle Daliang’s family and Uncle Youcai’s family weren’t home, so I brought them back and will return them later.”
“These two families are close relatives.”
“Alright, I’ll deliver them later. Guess how much money we received?”
She smiled brightly at him.
Seeing how cute she looked, Chen Yichen couldn’t resist reaching out and ruffling her hair. She tilted her head in protest, but he still succeeded.
“How much? 30 yuan?”
“You wish,” Yang Tao said smugly. “Most households gave 20 or 50 cents. Only my aunts and sisters gave more—1 or 2 yuan. In total, it’s 19 yuan and 6 mao. Take a look at this guest book—we’ll have to return gifts in the future.”
Chen Yichen took it and flipped through it. Then he stood up and walked toward the bed. Yang Tao heard the sound of a suitcase opening, and soon he came back holding a biscuit tin.
“Open it. From now on, I’ll leave all of this with you.”
Yang Tao already guessed what it was—but when she opened it, she was still shocked.
Inside were two rolls of money, some loose bills, and a savings book.
She couldn’t help but count the money. One roll consisted of large ten-yuan notes—820 yuan in total. The other roll was loose cash of all denominations, totaling 57 yuan, 8 mao, and 4 fen.
Then she picked up the savings book—and froze again.
Chen Yichen explained, “The loose cash is my daily spending money. Of the 820 yuan, about 200–300 was what I saved from my previous job. The rest was sent by my grandparents, parents, and family over the past year, including what they sent for our wedding. My older brother also gave 100 yuan as a gift.”
“This savings book was given by my grandfather. He said it was meant for my marriage savings. My brother and sister also have one. Mine was given to me when I went down to the countryside—so I’d have support if I ran into difficulties here.”
Hearing this, Yang Tao joked, “I suddenly feel like I’ve become rich overnight. I’m starting to look down on our wedding gifts. What do I do—I feel a little carried away.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, holding her hand. “I’ll earn even more money for you in the future.”
Just then—
“Yang Tao, Chen Zhiqing…”
The romantic atmosphere between them was instantly shattered by the voice outside the door.
Yang Tao pulled her hand back, quickly put the money and guest book into the tin, and asked him to store it in the trunk before she went to open the door.
It was Aunt Daliang’s mother-in-law. She had just returned from the vegetable patch and came to pick up the borrowed kitchenware herself.
Yang Tao greeted her, then went back to the Yang house to fetch their pots and bowls. Since it wasn’t far, she helped deliver them back together. As for other households that had lent things, they also returned gifts of melon seeds, peanuts, and candies when returning the items.