Back to my 1980s

The Zhao Family Courtyard.

Zhao Hua remained silent for a moment, then composed himself.

He just thought about it for a moment and he roughly understood what was going on. He was pretending to want himself, but the real reason was probably that he wanted to eat and drink at his doorstep. Of course, it was also possible that he wanted to touch the bicycle. After all, he had just gotten a feel for it and then Zhao Hua never went back.

It's normal to be thinking about this so much right now. Zhao Hua smiled and said, "Alright then, it's good to get engaged sooner rather than later. Once we're engaged, I won't have to worry about it all the time. Mother, does that mean I can visit you more often after the engagement?"

Zhao's mother laughed and said, "Yes, otherwise why would your future brother-in-law be urging you to get engaged? Once you're engaged, you can visit each other more often."

Zhao Hua thought for a moment and said, "Well, okay. I haven't been there for so long, and now that we're suddenly getting engaged, the villagers should know that I've had my eye on Song Xueping for a long time, so they shouldn't spread rumors. When should I go?"

"Brother, so your sister-in-law's name is Song Xueping?" Zhao Ru interjected.

Zhao Hua glanced at her sideways but ignored her, instead focusing his eyes on his mother, wanting to see what she would say.

Zhao's mother went into the house, took down the calendar, flipped through it for a while, and then looked at Zhao Hua, saying, "This calendar says that August 4th is an auspicious day, favorable for success and suitable for marriage."

Zhao Hua smiled without saying a word. His mother had been to school for two years and had even gone to literacy classes with her old friends when she had nothing to do, so it wasn't surprising that she knew a few characters. However, he was curious about the date. Since they had decided to use the Chinese calendar to choose the date, would his father be happy with this number?

Seeing that Zhao Hua remained silent, Zhao's mother lowered her head and started flipping through the papers again, saying, "We can get engaged on August 6th, or even the 8th. But after the 9th, it won't work. The Ghost Festival is from the 9th to the end of the month, so we have to get engaged as soon as possible."

As she spoke, she shook her head, flipped through a few pages, then flipped back to the previous dates and looked at them again, saying, "Take a look for yourself. The second date is fine too. It says that the second date is auspicious for hunting, marriage, and sacrifices. It's a good day."

As soon as she finished speaking, she handed the calendar to Zhao Hua.

Zhao Hua waved his hand and said, "Forget it, I won't look anymore. Number two it is. What time is it now? Is there anything I should be careful about?" He finally understood.

As long as it's an even number, there are no bad days, so what's the point of looking at it?

Zhao's mother held the calendar in her hand and let it hang down in front of her, looking towards the door. She said, "There's nothing to prepare. Once it's decided, I'll tell your Aunt Zhao and have her take you there. Just dress smartly."

She paused, glanced at Zhao Hua, and said thoughtfully, "You two have known each other for a long time, so you can arrange the meeting and engagement on the same day. I'll discuss how much the dowry should be, and we'll also check their birth dates. Your father will go with you, bringing cigarettes, alcohol, pork, a rooster, and a carp. We also need to find out how many relatives they have. Her aunts and uncles need to prepare a gift, as do her siblings. The girl's parents need to prepare fabric and jewelry, and we also need to exchange wedding invitations. Afterwards, you'll need to take the girl to the city to buy her a new outfit."

Zhao Hua felt dizzy listening to this. He vaguely remembered that there weren't so many things going on in his previous life. They just glanced at each other, went on a trip with their parents, and then got married. They were married in a flash without even realizing it. Now, he was wondering why there were so many things to prepare.

"Mom, don't say anything more. Just prepare whatever you need. If you need me to help, just call me." Zhao Hua didn't want to force himself to pay for these things. If he really paid for them, his parents would be unhappy.

Knowing that this was the matter, and having discussed it to the point of exhaustion, Zhao Hua felt that it seemed like they hadn't really discussed anything with him. Simply put, they had just informed him. Originally, it was an arranged marriage, a decision made by the parents, and there was no room for a child like him to interfere. At most, he could offer some suggestions, but his family might not necessarily accept them.

Zhao Hua then turned and went into the inner room, grabbed a handful of banknotes, and said, "Mother, you take care of it. I'll go check on the educated youth settlement."

Zhao's mother nodded and ignored him, directly compressing the matchmaking and engagement onto the same day. The dates were so close together, so they had to hurry up and prepare.

"Uncle Meng!" Zhao Hua carried the wood into the Meng family's courtyard.

Before leaving, Zhao Hua forgot to tell them to move the wood, mainly because he felt that even if he had told Meng's father, he might not have felt comfortable doing it.

But he felt there was no point in keeping it, so he thought he might as well move in himself later.

"Hey! You're done with your work?" Meng's father came out of the house upon hearing the voice. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Zhao Hua carrying a log. He quickly stepped forward to help and asked, "What are you doing? Why are you carrying this thing?"

Zhao Hua and Meng's father worked together to put the wood on the ground and said with a smile, "We're building a shed, and I just happened to have some wood here. I don't need it all myself, so I just carried it over."

Zhao Hua couldn't very well tell Meng's father that he looked down on these things and that's why he brought them to build a shed for his family...

"Oh, oh, oh, I can't accept this."

Zhao Hua quickly waved his hand to interrupt Meng's father, saying, "The license has already been obtained, and we have to pay the fees every year. Let's hurry up and get the shed set up and the stall up and start making money first. Every day we delay is a day's worth of money we've already paid."

Upon hearing this, Meng's father immediately felt a sense of urgency. He didn't bother with pleasantries with Zhao Hua and said, "Hey, hey! That's right. Every day we delay is a day's worth of money. Thank you for your hard work, Xiao Zhao. I'll go dig the hole right now."

As he spoke, he turned and walked towards the door to get a shovel. Zhao Hua smiled and said, "Uncle, let's bring all the wood over first, measure the length before you dig the hole. If you dig now, the wood will be buried unevenly, and then how will we lay the tiles?"

Meng's father slapped his forehead and said repeatedly, "Yes, yes, I forgot about that in my haste. I'll go with you to haul the wood."

Zhao Hua rolled his eyes inwardly. Without even asking how many logs were needed, he immediately started carrying them. However, he didn't say anything; he figured he could just carry them all.

He pursed his lips and followed Meng's father to the neighbor's house to carry wood. The people in the foundation greeted him and then turned to their own business. Zhao Hua glanced around casually. Although there were only two people with trowels, they were building quite fast. They were about to start laying the foundation for the courtyard wall.

He tossed a pack of cigarettes to the foreman, casually asked how long it would take to finish the foundation, and inquired if they needed any materials. Upon hearing that they didn't need any, he turned and left.

Just as he was about to carry the log, his nephews and nieces, who had come to play in the sand with his sisters-in-law, surrounded him again, each vying to help him.

Zhao Hua thought to himself that this wasn't his job, and besides, the little kids might accidentally hurt their feet while carrying the wood, so he took out a 50-cent bill and urged them to go buy candy.