Song Tan's Notes

Chapter 1659. Irregularities
Dr. Guo left happily, clutching the box.

Ulan commented from inside the house: "Yanping is insightful in judging people and things, and Xiao Guo is also a shrewd person. He's lucky to have met such a fortunate person."

She worried, "Why does he look more and more like his grandfather? When he gets married, the guests will definitely think that Xiao Guo didn't do it willingly."

"Xiao Guo's mother isn't a smart person either..."

Perhaps because she had no time to worry about her own children, Wulan soon began to worry about Zhang Yanping.

Song Tan laughed when she heard this: "Mom, why are you thinking so much? As long as the two of them feel good about it, that's all that matters. Besides, even if Dr. Guo's mother doesn't understand, she wouldn't dare to say anything to Brother Yanping."

Not to mention Dr. Guo's mother, even her uncles and other relatives haven't dared to come to the village and say a word.

That's the empire that Zhang Yanping conquered with his left green dragon and right white tiger!

He bragged about it to everyone when he came back—

Guo Dong grew up in a very closed-off village. Although Yunqiao Village was a poor village, it wasn't really a place where people favored boys over girls.

But it's different with Guo Dong.

When Zhang Yanping arrived, she happened to see a girl who was only 19 years old getting married. It didn't matter if she didn't register her marriage; it was common practice in the area.

When Guo Dong returned home for dinner, her mother was about to cry again, but Zhang Yanping frowned, and she became apprehensive again.

She originally wanted to call out to Xiao Zhang, but looking at Zhang Yanping's face, she couldn't bring herself to do it and could only hesitantly call out: Yanping.

He added modestly, "Dongdong hasn't learned to cook well yet. After she gets married, you should let her practice more. Men work hard outside, how can women not take good care of the home? If she can't cook, ask her mother-in-law to teach her a lesson..."

Good guy!
Zhang Yanping's performance was truly breathtaking.

He knew that many mothers would talk about their daughters' shortcomings in front of their sons-in-law, but that was ultimately out of love and care.

Let me make this clear from the start: if the mother has been picky, then the husband can't be picky at all!
They usually say things like, "This child has been spoiled since she was little, and we've never taught her to cook. I guess she's not a good cook now."

Unlike my future mother-in-law, who always starts by belittling people when she speaks.
There were other relatives from the village at the dinner table at the time!
After all, when the future son-in-law comes, his family and relatives should come and accompany him.

Zhang Yanping then raised his thick eyebrows, his mocking expression widening:

"What? Girls in your village still have to cook for themselves after getting married? What kind of boyfriends do they find? They're so useless!"

The three question marks left everyone at the table speechless.

The uncle was even more depressed.

Guo Dong has read too much and is therefore dishonest. He used to be introduced to several well-behaved women at home, but he ended up dating a fierce-looking guy; who knows, he might end up in jail one day!
But while everyone might think and curse in their hearts, they certainly didn't dare say it out loud.

He could only manage a stiff smile and say, "You're joking. No matter how rich you are, if your wife can't even take good care of her husband, people will laugh at you..."

Zhang Yanping immediately curled her lip: "Then the men in your village are really useless. These days, what capable man would still ask his wife to cook and do housework? If she really did that at home, people would laugh at her."

"Could it be that you can't afford a nanny and are just saying this on purpose?"

He spoke very rudely, and with that fierce-looking face, he seemed to look down on people even more.

"you!"

Immediately, some young people at the dinner table stood up angrily.

To be honest, judging from their appearance, they must have been involved in a physical altercation. As a law-abiding citizen, Zhang Yanping was genuinely a little apprehensive.

But he came this time to give Guo Dong face! Why is he so scared before the battle even begins?
So he stood up too.

In the dead of winter, she took off her thin fleece jacket, revealing a pure black vest that she had deliberately worn.

With a bulge of the muscles in his arm, the expensively purchased Azure Dragon on the left and White Tiger on the right instantly appeared, looking ferocious!

The craftsmanship is exceptional, and it certainly lives up to the price.

Look at that fierce-looking face...

The dinner table immediately fell silent.

A moment later, someone quickly tried to smooth things over:
"Oh dear, you young people are so knowledgeable. Why are you all standing? Sit down and hurry up and eat..."

The villagers are used to bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and they have their own logic in mind—they have the numbers and might not suffer losses in a real fight, but the problem is, the other party has a face that looks like they're capable of ruthless violence!

Everyone just wanted to fight, not go to jail.

It's one thing to bully disobedient juniors normally, but since they've come all the way to our door, a man's pride is paramount... so naturally, he lets it go.

Zhang Yanping was even less polite.

He drank a small amount of wine during the meal, and his cheeks turned dark red, making him look even more fierce.

After the show, when I went to the restroom, I looked in the mirror and, despite it being the dead of winter, I casually draped my thin fleece jacket over my shoulders and swaggered out.

Okay!

Gossip spreads faster than light in the village. After his visit, no one dared to gossip about Guo Dong to his face anymore.

Zhang Yanping returned successfully with the Azure Dragon and White Tiger, and it was from that time that she completely accepted her own appearance!

You know, in this world, it's better to be someone who doesn't dare to bully you than to be bullied yourself.

Having a fierce look makes things easier!
When Wulan heard Song Tan mention this, she also remembered it: "No wonder Qiaoqiao had so many stickers around that time, all over the place! She was sticking them here and there..."

When they're working, they roll up their sleeves and their hands are covered with monsters and skulls, practically plastered all over.

Song Tan laughed: "Finding suitable stickers always involves trial and error, right? Those were all rejected, so we gave them all to Qiao Qiao."

Actually, it wasn't cheap, but Qiao Qiao didn't like it; he was still obsessed with his Ultraman Peppa Pig at the time.

Wu Lan was just chatting casually; Zhang Yanping wasn't worried about it. After all, the real problem lay with Wu Lei and Wu Ling, those two brilliant but actually difficult individuals! Even someone as stingy as Zhu Lingqi managed to find a partner. Recently, he'd come over on Friday nights, work hard for a couple of days, and then happily bring back a bunch of food. He seemed to enjoy everything he did.

But these two are quite different. One is both studying and working, while the other only cares about his cow.

The original Lily, while not without flaws, was at least someone you could date. Now, things are different…

She accurately summarized:

"Your uncle's two kids are going to have a hard time finding partners in the future."

Ulan's little troubles are just routine tasks for parents when they have free time, and there's really no need to mention them.

Meanwhile, in Ningcheng, the efficient Fengfeng Express, which delivers within the province the next day, has successfully delivered two packages to Secretary Wang.

Large package.

The courier, Fengfeng, carried two large boxes into the guardhouse and handed them over to Wang Qing, leaving even Wang Qing bewildered.

What did he buy? Small appliances?
However, the box was labeled as containing fresh produce, and it would take up too much space if left unattended, so I opened it to take a look.

Okay!

The configurations of the two boxes are similar, only the quantities differ slightly.

From small jars of watermelon sauce to green pepper and beef sauce, to pickled cowpeas, pickled vegetables... there's even a jar of fermented bean curd with a special label: "Yunqiao Village Zhang Hong Tofu".

The sign above indicates that it was started by the villagers themselves, and it has now become quite well-known in the area, attracting many visitors every weekend.

There's also lotus leaf and plum tea; the lotus leaves are from Old Song's family, and the plums are purchased from elsewhere.

Several fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, and a small bottle of honey.

Finally, he paid for the tea leaves and moxa sticks.

Secretary Wang was both amused and exasperated.

This was a free gift...

If we're talking about money, there are only two cucumbers and tomatoes, two in total, and a small jar of honey weighing two ounces.

Three small packets of lotus leaf and plum tea.

Watermelon sauce, green pepper and beef sauce, and various side dishes, all in 200g jars.

There was even a small bag of rice casually packed in a plastic bag, which added up to about two pounds.

This left Secretary Wang speechless.

But Dr. Guo advised, "People with weak constitutions are prone to getting overheated and sweating excessively in the summer, which depletes their body fluids. Cook a small handful of this new rice from Song Tan's family every day and drink the thick rice oil that comes out as water."

"It's very suitable for your constitution."

Secretary Wang's heart skipped a beat.

This thing may seem insignificant, but it touched his heart.

They weren't always sitting in the office; they went to the countryside, attended meetings and events everywhere, and would break into a sweat with the slightest movement.

It's not only unsightly, but it also makes my mouth feel dry, and no amount of water can quench my thirst.

If this rice water really works, and no one can tell it's in a thermos, then it couldn't be more convenient.

Even if you can tell, it doesn't matter, because drinking rice water is good for your health, it's cheap, it shows you're simple, and it respects traditional knowledge...

He made a note of this and decided to ask his healthcare provider later.

This pile of miscellaneous items is obviously a free gift; the regular selling items would never be this heavy.

Looking at the other items, the tea leaves, pills, and moxa sticks were exactly the right amount, neither too much nor too little.

He didn't need to think to know that Dr. Guo and Song Tan's family were trying to curry favor.

But putting aside the fact that the leaders themselves are doing practical work, the local economies that their families have boosted deserve more attention from higher authorities.

Not to mention the old men in the mountains.

In short, I appreciate the sentiment, but that's not how things should be done.

Send a message right now:

“We know about Old Song’s stuff. Before, there were never any free gifts with anything we bought, so there’s no reason for them to come with free gifts now. How much are these things? I’ll transfer them to you.”

He simply summarized it as: "It's against the rules."

Dr. Guo's reply was simple: she directly sent screenshots of Qiao Qiao's order and Aunt Zhang Hong's WeChat Moments prices.

"Cucumbers and tomatoes are 9.9 each, fermented bean curd is 25 a jar, lotus leaf and plum tea is not for sale, it's just for family consumption... Honey is a bit more expensive, I'll give you 200."

After all that, the whole box of local specialties cost less than 500 yuan in total.

With everyone happy, Secretary Wang was actually quite pleased as well—for no other reason than that, given the nature of his job, he simply couldn't get any of the good stuff from Qiao Qiao's family!

Now that Guo Dong is calculating the money for him, he is actually very happy.

It's this moxa stick...

He tidied up the things and then personally washed the cucumbers and tomatoes and plated them.

He put the lotus leaf and plum tea directly into the kettle and steeped it. As soon as the leader arrived, he immediately took the moxa sticks and medicine with him.
"With the recent hot and humid weather, your back pain has flared up again. Luckily, the doctor from Yunqiao Village contacted me, saying that the moxa sticks from that farm are ready this year and are very effective..."

　coming!
　　(End of this chapter)