Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

"Li Daguo, are you kidding me?"

"Oh, Xiuer, why would I tease you? Don't you know how I feel about you? I dream of getting married."

Wang Xiangxiu pointed into the room and said:

"If you want to get married, then hurry up and buy a house! I'm not asking you to lie to me about a rented house!"

Li Daguo quickly put on a playful, smiling face:

"This is what I'm thinking: let's rent a place first after we get married. My apartment isn't finished yet, but I've almost saved enough money."

Xiangxiu flung his hand away and said angrily:

"You bought that house abroad? It'll be ready soon, Li Daguo. Let me tell you, I don't care about anything else, I only care about the house!"

"I'll definitely buy you a house, just try to hurry, okay?"

Xiangxiu shook her head, thought for a moment, and said:

"Big Country, let's just call it quits. I feel like we're not a good match. You can't give me what I want. Let's take advantage of the New Year holiday to cool off."

Li Daguo was stunned:

"What do you mean? You're breaking up with me?"

"If you say so, then so be it. I can't wait any longer."

"Oh, Xiu, don't be like that. How about this, you calm down first, and I'll try my best too, okay?"

Wang Xiangxiu sighed, thinking, "Why is it so difficult to marry into a city family?"

New Year's Eve is here in the blink of an eye. This year there is no 30th, so the 29th is New Year's Eve.

Today the sky is clear and the air is filled with the festive atmosphere of the New Year, which is actually the smell of firecrackers. The warm sunshine shines on the courtyard, and the whole courtyard is filled with the warmth of the New Year.

Around nine o'clock in the morning, Lin Chen had just hung the last pair of small red lanterns at the door when the sound of a car engine came from outside the courtyard. He knew immediately who had arrived.

A short while later, a black Mercedes-Benz W14 slowly turned in.

As soon as the car came to a stop, the door slammed open, and Wang Musheng jumped out first. He was wearing a bulky overcoat over a suit, his hair was neatly combed, but his face was ugly. As soon as he landed, he turned around and shouted into the car, his slurred speech full of resentment.

"I told you long ago not to let Liu Da Nao handle this! You insisted he was reliable and dependable, but what do you mean he's reliable? He's the most unreliable person ever!"

Immediately afterwards, Wang Dana also got out of the car, wearing a black wool coat, his hair neatly combed back, his face showing obvious impatience, and he frowned as he retorted.

"Can you please shut up? You've been dawdling the whole way, never stopping! It's such a small thing, you're just adding to the trouble during the New Year."

The father and son started arguing right after they were born, all because of Liu Da Nao.

Originally, Wang Dana had specially arranged for Liu Da Nao to come along to help carry things and to purchase seafood and other New Year's goods.

Who would have thought that this guy would be driven by selfish motives and try to be clever by using frozen shrimp and crabs to impersonate fresh imported seafood, and even inflating prices to make a profit.

Just before setting off, Wang Musheng caught him red-handed. Wang Musheng wasn't particularly observant; he just disliked Liu Danao and was always looking for trouble with him. He immediately exposed Liu Danao's little scheme.

Wang Musheng grew angrier as he spoke, his speech becoming increasingly rapid, his lisp worsening, and his face filled with indignation:

"Everyone can see through his little scheme. He's passing off inferior goods as superior ones. Who does he think he's fooling? Is he desperate for money? This is a New Year's gift for my younger brother, and he dares to cheat on me. I think he doesn't want to do his job properly anymore!"

"I've already given him a thorough dressing down and sent him back to the company to reflect on his actions. What more do you want? You keep nagging!"

Wang Dana waved his hand, suppressing his anger:

"Alright, alright, don't spoil the fun during the New Year. Hurry up and move your things inside. Look, Xiao Chen has been waiting there for ages."

After seeing that the father and son had finished talking, Lin Chen immediately rushed out to greet them, his smile particularly warm.

"Grandpa, brother, what's all the noise about during the New Year? Come inside and warm up, it's cold outside."

Upon seeing Lin Chen, Wang Dana's annoyance vanished instantly, replaced by a gentle smile. He stepped forward and patted Lin Chen's arm.

"It's nothing. Is your partner here? Come on, let me see what kind of person he is. Oh, and bring out the New Year's goods."

Wang Musheng also stepped forward, speaking in a cheerful tone:

"Happy New Year, bro! I could have gotten here earlier today, but Liu Da Nao delayed me. It's infuriating!"

As they talked, the two opened the trunk and began unloading New Year's goods. The trunk was full of heavy items, piled up to the brim, making it dazzling to look at.

Two large boxes of fresh seafood, including prawns, crabs, and abalone, were specially purchased by Wang Dana after he learned that Liu Danao was up to something. They were very fresh. A large quantity of cigarettes and alcohol were also brought along, making it a high-end and presentable item, specially for Lin Chen to use when entertaining guests during the Chinese New Year.

Seeing that Wang Dana had also started moving things, Lin Chen quickly stepped forward to take over. Wang Dana patted the dust off his hands and said with a smile:

"There's nothing valuable here. We'll cook the seafood today. Don't leave this stuff out; if you need anything else in the future, just ask me, don't be shy!"

"Grandpa, it's already a great honor for me to come. Why did you bring so many expensive things? I've already bought all the New Year's goods. Let's just eat something practical and affordable. Come on in, the kang (heated brick bed) is nice and warm."

At this moment, Xie Dajiao and Xie Xiaomei also came out of the house one after another.

Xie Dajiao leaned against the doorframe, her smile gentle and her manner warm.

"Brother Wang, you've finally arrived! Come in and have a seat!"

Wang Dana paused for a moment when he saw Xie Dajiao, looked her up and down, and said:

"Young lady, you seem to have gained weight!"

"Oh my, you look so plump! You're pregnant! Xiao Chen is taking such good care of me, I've gained weight."

Wang Dana blinked, glanced at Lin Chen, and said:

"Why didn't you say so sooner? I could have brought you some nutritional supplements."

"Oh, you don't need to be so polite."

Xie Xiaomei stood properly beside Lin Chen, poised and graceful, her voice clear and bright:

"Hello, sir. Hello, Brother Musheng."

Wang Dana scrutinized her for a moment, noticing the girl's dignified and elegant demeanor, her tall, beautiful, and fair-skinned figure. A look of satisfaction instantly appeared in his eyes. He secretly nudged Lin Chen's arm and whispered a chuckle of praise:

"Good job, kid! You have a good eye, you're lucky!"

The group of people walked noisily into the house, while Wang Dana secretly tugged at Lin Chen, and the two whispered behind him:

"Why isn't Xie Dajiao coming home now that she's pregnant? You can't do this. What if the villagers start gossiping? Xiaomei is a good girl. Don't let them have any doubts."

Lin Chen knew what he meant and explained with a smile:

"Grandpa, Xie Dajiao is Xiaomei's aunt, and she's her only relative here. It's only right that I take care of her."

"Oh? A relative? No wonder. That's alright, as long as they don't cause any trouble."

Wang Dana entered the house and sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed). Looking around the clean and tidy room, he sighed sincerely:

"Your little house is really comfortable, a hundred times better than the one my son and I have in the city. I'll stay here tonight and leave after dinner tomorrow afternoon. We have to go to Shenyang; we can't even have a peaceful New Year!"

Lin Chen poured tea for the two of them while responding with a smile:

"If you can't handle it, then don't go."

"I have to go, there are only two and a half people in the company..."

Wang Musheng's eyes drifted over:

"Who is half?"

Wang Dana shook his hand helplessly:

"Just watch TV, why are you talking so much? I... I'm only half, okay?"

Wang Musheng pursed his lips, got down to look at the stack of DVDs, and saw if there were any he wanted to watch. Lin Chen had already hidden the ones with color in them.

Lin Chen sat down next to Wang Dana and said:

"It's alright, I'm not leaving. We can get together anytime we want. We've prepared plenty of food for lunch this afternoon. Let's drink a lot, take a nap afterward, and then make dumplings together tonight to celebrate the New Year and have a peaceful and happy reunion."

"Great, great, that's wonderful! In previous years, it was just the two of us celebrating by ourselves, which was so boring. This year it's going to be lively, otherwise we wouldn't have come all this way to see you."

With nothing else to do, he chatted with Lin Chen about the hardships of his early days of making a living. The more he talked, the more emotional he became, and he would occasionally slap his thigh.

"Little Chen, you haven't seen how miserable I was when I was young."

Wang Dana took a sip of hot tea, spat out the tea leaves, and his eyes were full of sighs:

"Your aunt passed away early, and I took Musheng to work. I had no savings and was as poor as I could be. Changgui knows what I was like back then. I didn't have a single decent piece of clothing. My child was small and needed constant care, so I could only do the hardest and most undesirable manual labor."

"Back then, what hardships didn't we endure? We worked day and night, mixing coal slurry and making coal briquettes. Our hands and faces were covered in soot. We worked ourselves to the bone all day long, but we didn't earn much money. It was barely enough for the two of us to make ends meet."

At this point, he turned and glanced at Wang Musheng, who was huddled to the side, his tone somewhat helpless:

"That's when he developed a lisp. He was 36 at the time of the Lunar New Year and still slurred his words."

Wang Musheng pouted in dissatisfaction and said:

"Hey, just get to the point, why are you always shoving me like this?"

"What? Am I wrong?"

"Yes, yes, you've pointed out all these flaws." Wang Musheng turned his head away and ignored him.

Lin Chen listened quietly and replied softly:

"Grandpa, you've really endured this hardship. Anyone else would have given up long ago."

"Absolutely."

Wang Dana nodded, glared at Wang Musheng, and continued reminiscing about the past...

(Haha, it's approved! I'm out of the "black box" now! Four updates today, have some fun!)