After finishing the meal, Li Cuihua was still holding Qin Jingru's hand and instructing her: "Jingru, once you get into the city, take good care of your man, as well as your three younger siblings. Xiaojun is a really good fellow, and since he treats you so well, you must treat his family even better."
"Xiaojun is such a pitiful child, losing both parents at such a young age. From now on, we will be his parents."
Qin Jingru nodded tearfully: "Mom, I'll come back to visit you often."
As Qin Jingru got on Zhou Junfeng's bicycle, the fellow villagers were still buzzing with lively discussion: "The Qin family has another daughter married off to the city. How is their family's geomancy so good? Every single one of them is gorgeous. If only I could marry into the city."
"Forget it, with a face like yours, go home and look in the mirror."
"What kind of face I have is none of your business. Why don't you go home and look in the mirror?"
Watching Zhou Junfeng's bicycle slowly roll out of the village entrance, Qin Tianfu walked around the village with his hands clasped behind his back, looking so proud that even the stray dogs passing by could sense his glory.
Over an hour later, the two finally arrived in Sijiu City.
"Brother Jun, the capital is so bustling! I love it here."
Zhou Junfeng smiled. "From now on, this is your home. You can come out and stroll around with Xuemei and Xuehua."
"Jingru, let's go get our marriage certificate first."
Zhou Junfeng quickly pedaled his bicycle to the entrance of the Sub-district Office. "Xiaojun, who is this?"
"Aunt Wang, this is my fiancée. We're here to get our marriage certificate today."
Then he turned to Qin Jingru and said, "Jingru, this is Aunt Wang." Qin Jingru hurriedly greeted her: "Hello, Aunt Wang, I am Qin Jingru."
Aunt Wang nodded. "Xiaojun, your fiancée is so pretty. You're blessed. Now that you've settled down, Aunt Wang can finally rest easy, and your parents can rest easy too. Life will get better and better day by day."
Zhou Junfeng patted Qin Jingru on the shoulder: "Aunt Wang is a friend of my mother's, and besides my dad, she is the elder who has been the kindest to me. Aunt Wang is a wonderful person."
Marriage certificates back then looked just like award certificates, and the two of them quickly got theirs.
Leaving the Sub-district Office, Zhou Junfeng took Qin Jingru to the Friendship Store. Since Qin Jingru had already registered their marriage with him, he had to buy his wife a couple of nice outfits.
"Wife, you look great in this goose-yellow overcoat. It really complements your skin tone."
Qin Jingru tried it on, and it indeed looked stunning. Clothes really make the person; her poise and elegance instantly jumped up several notches.
"Brother Jun, this clothes is way too expensive. I don't want it."
Even though Qin Jingru loved it, upon seeing the price tag of 80 yuan, she refused to buy it no matter what.
In the end, Zhou Junfeng made a grand gesture and settled it directly: two sets each of clothes, shoes, and pants.
With a flurry of wild shopping, over three hundred yuan was spent.
Qin Jingru felt a mix of pain and joy, vowing in her heart to work herself to the bone for her Brother Jun and take good care of him. Did a man this good really exist? She worried she might be dreaming.
"Jingru, we're eating out today."
"No, no, no, let's just go home and eat something simple. Besides, we ate a lot at noon and I'm not hungry," Qin Jingru said, waving her hands.
"Today is our wedding day, how can we just eat something simple?"
"Listen to me, we're having instant-boiled mutton today." With that, Zhou Junfeng swallowed hard.
In no time, Zhou Junfeng pedaled to Donglaishun. The restaurant was packed, and a young waiter led them to an empty table.
"What would you two honored guests like to order?"
Zhou Junfeng thought for a moment. "First bring three portions of frozen tofu, three portions of soybean sprouts, three portions of mutton, and two bottles of Arctic Ocean soda. If it's not enough, we'll order more later."
The waiter immediately acknowledged the order.
Qin Jingru looked around with excitement. "Brother Jun, there are so many people here. I've never been to such a nice place to eat."
Zhou Junfeng smiled. "Jingru, since you're with me, I won't let you suffer. From now on, we can come here twice a month."
Hearing this, Qin Jingru became even happier, growing more and more confident about life in the city. She hadn't married the wrong man; this was the life she wanted. Before long, all the dishes were served. Zhou Junfeng thoughtfully scalded a few slices of mutton for Qin Jingru. Since it was the girl's first time eating it, she didn't know how, and though he couldn't do household chores, scalding a few slices of mutton was something he could manage.
"Brother Jun, you're so good to me."
As she ate, Qin Jingru wiped away her tears, moved to the point of crying.
After some thought, Zhou Junfeng decided to tell Qin Jingru about the situation in the courtyard. Since she would be living in the Courtyard from now on, it was better to tell her sooner rather than later.
"Jingru, your sister's mother-in-law is a notorious shrew in these parts. What kind of person she is, you'll find out soon enough once you get to the courtyard. If she bullies you, just fight right back."
"And your sister—her specialty is crying poor. Don't believe a single word of it. Just look around the entire courtyard: apart from your sister's family, whose family is raised as well as theirs? Widow Zhang and Banggeng are as plump and white as can be; her family is in no shortage of food or drink at all."
"Ever since your brother-in-law Jia Dongxu passed away, it has indeed been hard for your sister to support the family alone. But we have Shazhu the cook in our courtyard! Shazhu delivers lunch boxes to her every single day. Even when his own younger sister doesn't have enough to eat, he makes sure the Jia family is well-fed. Her family manages to save a tidy sum of money every month. But you know why Shazhu is already thirty and still can't find a partner, and why every blind date of his falls through?"
Qin Jingru looked at Zhou Junfeng with a face full of question marks.
Zhou Junfeng: Is she really this naive?
"Your sister wants to cut off the family line. If Shazhu gets married, he won't unconditionally help their family like that anymore, so she ruins his reputation everywhere she goes. People in the neighborhood all think the two of them have a thing going on, but in reality, your sister looks down on him while still being reluctant to give up his lunch boxes and his salary."
Qin Jingru: "Is my sister really that wicked?"
Zhou Junfeng: "You hit the nail on the head. Anyway, from now on, don't have any dealings with the Jia family. It's not that I look down on poor relatives, but their family is a bottomless pit; once they latch onto you, you can never shake them off. We'll just live our own lives well."
Qin Jingru: "Brother Jun, I'll listen to everything you say. From now on, I won't even talk to her when she speaks to me."
"There's a First Uncle in the courtyard. He has no children and has always worried about who will provide for his old age. Originally, his choice was Jia Dongxu—your brother-in-law. After your brother-in-law passed away, the choice fell on the runner-up, Shazhu, the cook I just mentioned. The reputation Shazhu has today was partly fanned by First Uncle. In the beginning, he made Shazhu help your sister's family because he wanted to match them up. He thought Qin Huairu was filial, and if Shazhu ended up with your sister, his old-age problem would be solved. With a single young man interacting with a widow so much, it turned into the mess we have today."
Qin Jingru: "First Uncle is pretty wicked too. If he wants a child to support him in old age, he should adopt one. Why scheme like this? Times are so hard right now, and there are so many children without parents."
Zhou Junfeng said: "He's afraid that someone not of his own blood won't be loyal, and people in the same courtyard know each other inside and out."
Qin Jingru: "Can you really be sure you won't misjudge someone just because they're in the same courtyard?"
Zhou Junfeng: ……Speechless. That actually makes a lot of sense.
"Then there's Second Uncle, who is obsessed with being an official. He puts on airs in front of everyone and practices the parenting philosophy of sparing the rod and spoiling the child. He beats people whenever things don't go his way, and you can often hear shouting and screaming coming from their house—they've broken several sticks."
Qin Jingru: "We have people like that in our village too. When they got old, neither their sons nor their daughters-in-law would take care of them. Now they're utterly pitiful."
Zhou Junfeng: "Wife, your commentary is so sharp and hits the nail right on the head."
"Third Uncle Yan Bugui—he supports a family of five on a salary of 27.5 yuan, so he's extraordinarily stingy. Even a mouse entering his house would have to shed some fur before it could leave. But he has no choice; without saving every penny, they couldn't get by."
"Then there's the Deaf Old Lady in the back courtyard. She also has no children and shows extreme favoritism toward Shazhu. You should keep your distance from her. That old lady is unreasonable, and Shazhu is the only one who can ever reason with her."
"And Xu Damao. This guy... emmm... he's rotten to the core..."
As for his wife's destined match from her past life, no further comments would be made.
And then there were all the other random passersby, yada yada yada. Zhou Junfeng's mouth was completely dry from all the talking.
"Anyway, we'll just live our own lives well and stay out of whatever happens in the courtyard."
"Brother Jun, I understand. From now on, I'll just close our door and live our own life."
"Brother Jun, there's something I don't know whether I should say."
Qin Jingru stammered.
Zhou Junfeng: ？？ Spit it out ？？
We ate outside, but our younger brother and sister haven't eaten yet!
Zhou Junfeng awkwardly scratched his head. After the two of them hurriedly finished eating, Zhou Junfeng bought two roast ducks from Quanjude and hurried back to the Courtyard.
Courtyard
Zhou Family
"Where did big brother go? Why isn't he back yet?"
Zhou Xuemei asked Zhou Haifeng.
"I'm so hungry, I want to eat."
Zhou Xuehua lay across the table, almost too weak from hunger.
Zhou Haifeng looked at his two younger sisters and said, "I'll go wait at the entrance for big brother. You guys go ahead and eat."
Neither of the two little girls dared to touch their chopsticks first. Big brother wasn't back yet; if they ate first, would big brother be upset?