I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

Xiaoqi had been waiting at the vegetable base for a while. Qiaoqiao parked the car, took the lunchbox, and went into the guardhouse.

"Grandpa, this is some kimchi I made. Would you like to try it? If you like it, I'll bring you some more."

Qiaoqiao opened the lunchbox, and the aroma of sesame oil wafted out, making Grandpa Liu swallow hard.

Grandpa Liu pinched a radish in his hand and put it in his mouth, then exclaimed in amazement: "Oh my, young lady, you can make kimchi? This, this is even tastier than meat!"

Qiaoqiao smiled happily: "You can eat as much as you want. Next time I come to pick vegetables, I'll bring you a big box."

"That's great. Wait, I'll go find a box to put it in."

Grandpa Liu needed to take the lunchbox home, so he quickly went to find it.

"Take your time, we'll go pick out the vegetables first."

"Okay, okay, you can go in now."

Once inside the compound, Xiaoqi pulled Qiaoqiao aside and said, "Yang Qiao, thank you. Grandpa Liu has helped me a lot. I tried to buy him some things, but he refused them all."

"Let's not talk about thanks. If you hadn't brought me here to pick vegetables, I wouldn't be able to make kimchi. Grandpa Liu has been kind to you. You can thank him when you're able to."

Qiaoqiao pats Xiaoqi.

"When I make money, I'll buy Grandpa Liu a bottle of good wine; he likes to drink."

"Drinking alcohol and eating kimchi at the same time, it's wonderful."

There are fewer vegetables in the morning than in the evening; the better vegetables have already been selected by the workers once.

"The workers picked out the vegetables yesterday afternoon and delivered them to the various vegetable shops early this morning. We quickly picked some up, because they'll all be disposed of as garbage soon," Xiaoqi explained.

"Okay, let's get started."

The three of them started rummaging through the pile of rotten vegetables.

There were many radishes that were half-rotten, so cut off the bad parts and keep only the good ones.

There were many cabbages, but they were covered with tiny wormholes, which the workers didn't like.

There were fewer chili peppers; most of them had gone bad.

Today's vegetables were far fewer in variety than last time, but we still filled two large woven bags with just cabbage and radishes.

It was still more than ten miles to Xiaoqi's house, and they couldn't carry all the bags. The three of them carried two large bags and prepared to go back first.

Grandpa Liu washed the lunchbox and handed it back to Qiaoqiao, saying, "Girl, you're so skillful! I've never tasted such delicious kimchi. Please bring me some more next time."

Qiaoqiao smiled happily: "Okay, we'll come every week, and I'll bring you some."

"That's wonderful! My wife also makes pickled vegetables, but they're either unbearably sour or unbearably salty. Yours are sweet and sour, they're really delicious!" Grandpa Liu kept praising.

Qiaoqiao added white sugar to the kimchi to enhance the flavor. White sugar is so expensive and scarce, how could ordinary families afford to use it?

Gu Tong'an's old-fashioned bicycle was carrying two bags of vegetables, while Xiao Qi rode his bicycle with Qiao Qiao on the back. The three of them braved the scorching sun and headed to Xiao Qi's house.

Before Qiaoqiao's family built their new house, they were very poor.

A family of six squeezed into three mud-brick houses.

However, the house still has all the basic household items.

It wasn't until she arrived at Xiaoqi's house that Qiaoqiao truly understood the meaning of poverty.

Xiaoqi has three older brothers and three older sisters. All three older sisters are married, and her two older brothers are already married.

The eldest and second eldest brothers have five children, all of whom live with their parents.

But his family only had three mud-brick houses. His two married brothers each had one house, so Xiaoqi had to live in the same house as his parents.

My third brother is over twenty years old and doesn't want to live in the same room as our parents, so he built a few planks in the kitchen and sleeps there.

The most valuable things in the kitchen were a rice cooker and a wok for stir-frying vegetables; all the rice bowls were placed on a mud platform.

There were only five or six broken rice bowls, and with so many people, not a single person had a bowl.

Xiaoqi's parents are not yet sixty, but they look as old as they are in their seventies. The burden of life has made them thin and frail.

"Qiaoqiao, this is my home. We're very poor. But it's okay. Once the land is allocated to individual households, things will get better."

Xiaoqi smiled, full of anticipation for the future.

"Has your village not yet distributed land to individual households?"

"No, I heard from the commune that after the corn harvest, the land will be distributed to individual households. Have you heard of Tonggang County? They distributed land to individual households a long time ago, and every household has white flour steamed buns to eat."

Mentioning Tonggang County makes it seem like paradise, something that people from other counties envy.

"I know, I've heard about it."

Qiaoqiao smiled, but she didn't say that Tonggang County was her father-in-law's model county.

"How happy you would be to have white flour steamed buns to eat every day."

Xiaoqi sighed and went inside to get a basin for washing vegetables, preparing to make kimchi.

Xiaoqi's nephews and nieces, dressed in tattered clothes and with dirty faces, looked at Qiaoqiao and Gu Tongan with great curiosity.

"Da Ya, they are my friends, they made kimchi for us. From now on, we will have kimchi every day."

Xiaoqi called out to her niece, and the children's eyes lit up, showing that they really liked the kimchi Qiaoqiao made.

Xiaoqi carried a large vegetable basin to the haystack next to the house, then fetched water and poured it in. Qiaoqiao was puzzled: "Why did you have to carry it so far when you could just wash it by the well?"

Xiaoqi smiled sheepishly: "The basin leaks. If I put it next to the well, water will be everywhere, and the yard will become a muddy mess, making it difficult to dry things."

Basin leaking?

Qiaoqiao was speechless for a moment. She never imagined that Xiaoqi's family could be so poor.

Qiaoqiao's respect for her father-in-law grew even stronger. He had devoted himself to distributing land to individual households throughout the province and allowing farmers to raise chickens, ducks, and geese, giving ordinary people hope for survival.

Qiaoqiao admired Xiaoqi even more; such a family had actually managed to get into Huailin University.

Qiaoqiao was overwhelmed with mixed feelings. She didn't have time to reflect on her emotions and, together with Gu Tong'an, poured the radishes into the leaky basin and washed them one by one.

A whole basin full of water, need to wash quickly, otherwise the water will leak out.

Qiaoqiao was good at farm work and quick on her feet, while Gu Tong'an, who grew up in the city, shouted exaggeratedly, "No water! No water! Xiao Qi, hurry up and get some water!"

"Okay, okay, right away, right away."

In a hurry, the first batch of radishes was washed and dried, and Qiaoqiao started making kimchi.

The three enormous jars were bought by Xiaoqi with 1.5 yuan from Qiaoqiao, and they looked completely out of place in this dilapidated home.

Xiaoqi's mother also came to help. Qiaoqiao poured white sugar into the radish, and Xiaoqi's nephews and nieces watched and swallowed their saliva.

No, we can't give them that; we need to sell the kimchi.

Qiaoqiao hardened her heart and pretended not to see them.

Salt, sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce were poured into the basin. Soon, a large basin of white radishes emitted the aroma of soy sauce. Several children each secretly took a radish and happily hid under the eaves to add some.

The radishes that weren't properly soaked had a bitter taste, but the children ate them happily.

Qiaoqiao was filled with regret; she should have brought Xiaoqi a big box of kimchi too.

The jar of kimchi I gave her a few days ago is probably all gone by now.

Xiaoqi's mother smiled awkwardly: "I'm sorry to have made my classmates laugh at me. The kids are so envious."

"Auntie, you can call me Qiaoqiao. His name is Gu Tong'an. We're good friends with Xiaoqi. That's how kids are. Back in my hometown, I go up the mountain to dig up sweet roots. After washing them clean, we can eat them all day."

"You...you eat beetroot too?"

Xiao Qiniang looked at Qiaoqiao in disbelief. She was wearing a fashionable shirt, thin polyester pants, and nice sandals. How could she eat sweet root?

"Auntie, my family is very poor. My father and brother work ten work points a day, which is only 35 cents. In a year, my family can only get two hundred yuan, which is all the family's expenses for the year. Grandma's feet hurt, but she refuses to buy medicine and suffers from the pain all night long."

Qiaoqiao didn't mind telling Xiaoqinian about her past.

"Girl, no way, you, you..." Xiaoqi Niang didn't believe Qiaoqiao's words.

"Auntie, I found a wonderful family to marry into. They treat me like their own daughter. Without them, how could I have gotten into university?"

Qiaoqiao had to admit that the Zhou family had changed her fate.

"I see. You're a good girl, and you deserve a good husband."

Xiaoqi's mother smiled as she looked at Xiaoqi, thinking to herself, "I hope Xiaoqi can find a good husband in the future."