A woman in her 70s marries a rough-looking man; her plump wife is too delicate and alluring.

When breakfast was served, Sheng Kaiyuan had already left, and Li Xuanxue was sitting at the table serving porridge.

After washing up, He Zhaoyang came out and sat down opposite Sheng Yuze with his head down.

He Zhaoyang's ears were red, and he hadn't looked up since he sat down.

Li Xuanxue took a sip of the porridge, put it down, and glanced at them.

"Zhaoyang," she began, "why are your ears so red?"

He Zhaoyang paused for a moment, "It's hot. The porridge is hot."

"The porridge has been sitting cold for half a day."

"I drank it quickly."

Sheng Yuze was drinking porridge when he heard He Zhaoyang's words. He choked and coughed twice.

Li Xuanxue looked at the two of them, her lips twitched slightly, then she lowered her head to drink her porridge and didn't say anything more.

But while she was drinking her porridge, she kept glancing at the person opposite her out of the corner of her eye.

She noticed that Sheng Yuze had been secretly watching He Zhaoyang all day.

After finishing her porridge, Li Xuanxue put down the bowl, stood up, and said, "I don't have much to do today, so I'll just turn over the plot of land in the backyard."

She left after she finished speaking.

The main room fell silent.

He Zhaoyang finished the last mouthful of porridge, then stood up to collect the bowl.

After washing the dishes, He Zhaoyang returned to the room, took out some fabric from the cabinet, and spread it out on the kang (a heated brick bed).

She planned to make a dress for Lu Xiao first.

Then she took out chalk and a ruler to draw lines.

He Zhaoyang had already measured Lu Xiao's measurements yesterday.

Then she took the scissors, sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and cut along the chalk lines.

She slowly cut along the lines with the scissors, then picked up a piece to examine the stitching of the fabric against the window light before putting it down and picking up another piece.

Sheng Yuze walked in from the main room, leaning on his cane, and saw her sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) cutting cloth.

She kept her head down, clutching the scissors in her hand, her fingers holding the edge of the cloth, moving forward little by little along the chalk lines, her lips slightly pursed, very focused.

He stood at the door for a while, his heart pounding.

He Zhaoyang didn't dare to look up; she could feel a strong gaze fixed on her.

Just as He Zhaoyang was about to get up and move to another place to continue, the courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open forcefully.

A plump woman in a floral-patterned blouse entered the yard and shouted, "Is anyone home? Is anyone home?"

He Zhaoyang put down his needlework, stood up, and walked to the door. "Auntie? What's wrong?"

Aunt Liu stood at the gate of the courtyard, one hand on her hip and the other pointing towards the alley entrance, "Your car is blocking the way at the alley entrance."

My husband can't get through with his manure cart, please move it quickly.

He Zhaoyang paused for a moment, then turned to look at Sheng Yuze.

Sheng Yuze stood up, leaning on his cane, and walked to the door. "Impossible, the car was parked right under the wall, it wasn't blocking the way."

"Why isn't it blocking the way?" Aunt Liu's voice rose a half octave. "The manure cart is so wide, and your cart's rear end sticks out so far, how are you supposed to get through? If you're lame and can't drive, then let Zhaoyang move!"

Sheng Yuze frowned slightly. He Zhaoyang grabbed his arm, "I'll go take a look."

After she finished speaking, she walked towards the entrance of the alley. Sheng Yuze followed behind her, leaning on his cane, walking slowly.

Aunt Liu led the way, then turned back to look at He Zhaoyang after a few steps. "Zhaoyang, honestly, a man with a limp should stay home and rest. Why are you driving? A car parked at the alley entrance, blocking so many people's way!"

He Zhaoyang didn't reply. When she reached the entrance of the alley, she saw the green car.

Only a small part of his buttocks protruded; the manure truck could have easily passed through.

Uncle Wang, who was squatting next to the manure cart, was smoking. When he saw He Zhaoyang arrive, he didn't stand up, but just raised his chin and said, "Zhaoyang, want to move?"

He Zhaoyang walked to the back of the car and gestured, "Uncle Wang, it's wide enough for us to pass through."

"You can't get through, there's a tree blocking the way on the left."

"The jujube tree is still dozens of meters away from the roadside!"

"What's a few dozen meters enough? I feel like I can't even get in."

He Zhaoyang stood behind the vehicle, looking at the gap between the manure truck and the green truck. It was quite large; it wasn't like they couldn't get through.

Just as she was about to speak, Aunt Liu interjected, "How about this, Zhaoyang, you drive the car into the yard first. Parking it at the entrance of the alley is too much of a hindrance."

"There's no room to park in the yard."

"Then drive a bit further away and park at the threshing ground at the village entrance."

Sheng Yuze's voice came from behind, "The car is parked at the entrance of my alley, who's it bothering?"

Aunt Liu turned to him and said, "Oh, Yuze, I'm not trying to be mean, but you've injured your leg and can't walk. Your car is parked here every day, and Uncle Wang has to go in and out several times a day to haul manure. It's so inconvenient!"

After saying that, Aunt Liu's eyes lit up. "How about this? I think your car is a bit old and ugly, but I can reluctantly buy it. You don't have a place to park, right? I do. My house is very spacious."

Sheng Yuze didn't speak, just stared straight at her.

Aunt Liu felt a little uneasy under his gaze and added, "Look at your legs, you can't drive anyway, so you're just sitting there. I'll give you thirty yuan, you can sell it to me."

He Zhaoyang stood to the side, paused for a moment, then looked down at the car. Although it was old, it was clean.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but Sheng Yuze stopped her.

"Auntie," Sheng Yuze said softly, "this car isn't for sale."

Aunt Liu was embarrassed. "Oh dear, how can you be so ungrateful? I only did this because I saw that your family was struggling."

"My family is not in need."

Aunt Liu was taken aback by his words, her face twitching. "How can you talk like that? I'm doing this for your own good! Your leg is like this, what are you doing driving? It'll just rust!"

He Zhaoyang, who was listening nearby, couldn't stand it any longer and stepped forward. "Auntie, the car isn't for sale. You should find another way."

"Oh, who gives you the right to speak? Besides, this is a public road. Why are you taking over it? You think you're so great and look down on us ordinary people?"

He Zhaoyang was speechless. Aunt Liu's voice was quite loud; the gates of several neighboring houses were already ajar, and people were peeking in this direction.

He Zhaoyang had a bad feeling. The Sheng family was here because they had made a mistake. If they were accused of misusing public property and bullying the people, who knew what would happen?

He Zhaoyang pondered for a moment, then glanced at Aunt Liu and suddenly smiled, "Auntie is right, this is a government road."

Aunt Liu thought she had given in, and raised her chin slightly, "Isn't that settled then? Hurry up and move away."

"Then I understand even less," He Zhaoyang interrupted her, his voice not loud, but each word was pronounced clearly.

"Your Uncle Wang's manure cart can travel on the public road, but my Sheng family's cart can't stop? Does stopping mean it's occupying public property? Uncle Wang's manure cart passes by the public road every day, dripping manure all the way; doesn't that also occupy public property?"

Aunt Liu's face changed. "You!"

"Besides, this is a government vehicle!" He Zhaoyang didn't give her a chance to reply, took half a step forward, and tilted his head to look at her. "Auntie, you just said you'd buy my car for thirty yuan? I bought several bolts of cloth in town yesterday for over five hundred yuan. Are you planning to buy just one of my car wheels for thirty yuan?"

Aunt Liu swallowed hard, her lips trembling slightly. "You...you stop bragging! Five hundred yuan for cloth? Don't you know your family's class status? Where did you get so much money?"