1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 376 She has a lot on her mind
Liang Ziqiang was not sure for a moment and didn't know whether Deng Zhaocai was also in the kitchen making sweet cakes.

After thinking about it, since there was no voice from the big mouth in the kitchen, there should be no one in there, right?

Thinking of this, he raised his legs and continued walking towards the gate. Before he reached the door, he saw a strong figure walking towards him from the other side of the house.

Deng Zhaocai was walking over dragging a few thick tree trunks, apparently intending to chop them up for firewood.

"Brother Qiang, you're here? Come in and sit for a while, I'll pour you a cup of tea!" Deng Zhaocai put down the branch, rubbed his hands and went to pour tea.

According to their custom, when visiting relatives in the first month of the lunar year, the host will take the initiative to invite them to have a cup of tea and some candy. Although Liang Ziqiang actually came to pay New Year's greetings as early as the first day of the new year, there were only Deng Zhaocai and his mother at home at that time, and there was no third person.

"Go and do your own thing. Your mother may still be waiting for you to chop some firewood for her. I came here to tell you that the opening date in the first month of the lunar year has been set. We will go out to sea together on the 18th day of the lunar calendar!"

Liang Ziqiang didn't plan to stay long, so he told him about going out to sea and planned to go back.

"Got it. I'll prepare in advance and come to see you early on the 18th day of the first lunar month! By the way, Brother Qiang, my family is making sweet rice cakes. I'll ask Yan Zi to bring some over. You can at least try a few before you leave!"

As Deng Zhaocai spoke, he rubbed his hands together again, as if he wanted to say something to him but was hesitant.

"Swallow?" Liang Ziqiang's mind raced when he heard him call him so affectionately. "You're really good, kid. I didn't hear you say a word on the first day of the new year, but now you've cut the Gordian knot and brought your wife home directly?"

Liang Ziqiang couldn't help but be a little gossipy when he heard this: "Who is the matchmaker? Which village is the girl from? Is she far from us?"

"It's nothing!" Deng Zhaocai's rough face turned red for no reason, and he rubbed his palms twice more subconsciously, "It's not like you don't know him, you've seen him before!"

"Do I know her?" Liang Ziqiang thought about it again, but he couldn't remember any girl named "Swallow" that he had met.

While he was wondering, Deng Zhaocai had already left him and ran towards the kitchen.

After a while, footsteps were heard again. First, Deng Zhaocai's bear-like figure ran into the room, followed by a thin but tall figure holding a large bowl. He walked into the room, saw Liang Ziqiang sitting at the table, and smiled at him.

Liang Ziqiang was stunned for a moment. He really felt like he had seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't remember when or where he had encountered it.

But it was just a matter of a moment, and the smiling face in front of him suddenly overlapped with a disheveled face with wet and disheveled hair.

Half a year ago, the seawall of Xianggu Village in this town collapsed due to a typhoon, and many villagers' adobe houses were almost flooded to the roof. He drove a large steel boat to carry Deng Zhaocai and Lu Song to rescue. At that time, Deng Zhaocai jumped off the roof to save a girl, carried her on his back to his boat, and later temporarily settled in the primary school of Pomwang Village for a long time.

Isn’t that face covered in dirty water but surprisingly beautiful the same one in front of me?
However, she was in a mess at that time, and the impression she gave was quite different from now. Now she was wearing normal clothes, and her hair was neatly combed and tied into two small braids, one on the left and one on the right. She looked refreshed and beautiful in a different way.

It was so stunning even when it was in such a mess, not to mention it was even more stunning under normal circumstances. It was so beautiful that it made the surrounding adobe walls seem unreal.

It was normal that Liang Ziqiang couldn't recognize her at first sight, because he had never visited the girl once during the time she was placed in the Changwang Village Primary School. Therefore, this was the first time he saw her appearance after she had recovered to normal.

He still felt strange after just thinking about it. If he remembered correctly, when he was on his boat, an old lady called the girl "Xiao Lei" all the way. That's why he didn't associate "Yan Zi" with "Xiao Lei" just now. These are obviously two very different names!
"Brother Qiang, huh? I'm teaching you how to make sweet rice cakes. Try some!"

Yan Zi put the bowl on the table and urged Liang Ziqiang to eat. Just as she was about to continue speaking, she seemed to hear a noise outside the house and quickly turned around and ran out.

When she came back, she was already supporting Deng Zhaocai's mother and coming back from the kitchen. Deng Zhaocai's mother seemed to have difficulty walking and sat by the door to catch her breath. Once she had caught her breath, she began to praise Yan Zi to Liang Ziqiang.

Yan Zi sat there feeling a little embarrassed by the compliments. After they finished their greetings, Yan Zi glanced at Liang Ziqiang again and stroked the hair at the corner of her mouth:

"Half a year ago, I was so flustered that I didn't even have the chance to say thank you. I really needed you and Acai that time!"

"It was mainly because of Ah Cai! To be honest, it's a good thing he went there. If I was standing on the roof, I definitely wouldn't have made up my mind to jump into the water to save people!" Liang Ziqiang smiled cheerfully, "I was worried about him at the time, but I admire him a lot when I think about it afterwards. This kid is definitely a first-class good man!"

Deng Zhaocai felt a little embarrassed by the praise. He smiled foolishly and glanced at Yan Zi. However, Yan Zi was looking at the sky outside the house, and no one knew what she was thinking.

Liang Ziqiang ate two sweet cakes, exchanged a few words with the three of them, and then got up to go home.

Yan Zi stopped at the door after sending them there, but Deng Zhaocai walked a long way with Liang Ziqiang.

Looking back, Liang Ziqiang saw that Deng's mother and Yan Zi were no longer at the door. He paused and asked curiously:
"I remember during the typhoon, didn't her grandmother call her Xiaolei? When did she change her name to Yanzi?"

"Xiaolei and Yanzi are both correct. Her real name is Yao Yanlei, and she asked me to call her Yanzi!" Deng Zhaocai explained, "Also, that's not her grandmother, that's her maternal grandmother!"

"She's her grandmother? She grew up with her grandmother?" Liang Ziqiang was surprised again, "What about her parents? They're not here. Is it just her and her grandmother who live in Xianggu Village?"

"My parents don't live in Xianggu Village. And...she doesn't seem to want to mention her parents. When she talks to me, she only mentions her grandmother."

"Is that so?" Liang Ziqiang was also puzzled. "But I see that she is willing to come to your house in the first month of the year. Needless to say, she is definitely interested in you. I'll be frank. Yan Zi is good-looking. Whether you can catch her depends on your speed. In theory, I suggest that you quickly pick a day to propose marriage, but after all, you have to meet her parents to propose marriage. Grandma can't make the decision. There is no way around it! Before she leaves today as a guest, you'd better test her in this regard!"

"Leaving? She didn't come today, she came the day before yesterday, and she has no intention of leaving. She usually takes care of my mother at home like she is her own mother, boiling medicine, massaging her legs, serving meals, and doing laundry. I haven't taken care of her as well as she has!" Deng Zhaocai said.

"What..." Liang Ziqiang was speechless.

Are there such proactive girls in this era? This is completely different from Liang Ziqiang's impression of women in this era!
According to what Deng Zhaocai revealed, she had already come to live with him as her daughter-in-law and was taking care of his mother!
The problem is, they haven't even mentioned marriage yet. According to Deng Zhaocai, they haven't even started dating yet.

For a moment, Liang Ziqiang felt that his brain was not enough.

"And Brother Qiang, I feel that Yan Zi... is worried about something!" Deng Zhaocai lowered his voice and said again.

Even Ah Cai could tell that he was worried, so it must have been very obvious.

"What do you mean?" Since Deng Zhaocai was willing to tell him this, of course he had to stop and listen.

"Since I met her, whenever I had a break in the past six months, I would bring some fish from the deep sea to visit her and her grandmother in Xianggu Village. On the eighth day of the first lunar month, yes, the day before yesterday, I brought some food to her house to wish her a happy new year. In the end, I didn't meet her at her grandmother's house. Guess where it was?"

"Where?" Liang Ziqiang became more and more curious as he listened and asked.

(End of this chapter)