Zhou Mingyuan and his wife each carried a very large backpack, and they both carried net bags and other things in their hands.
It would be difficult for the couple to carry so much stuff on foot.
Sheng Xiping and Zhou Qinglan stepped forward and quickly took some of the things to lighten their burden.
"Uncle, aunt, when you two get off the bus at Shuguang Forest Farm, just make a phone call over here.
We pushed the railway three-wheeler over to pick her up, and it was a bit brisk."
"Oh, why bother with that? It's only 17 or 18 miles away. We'll be there just by walking slowly." Wang Chunxiu smiled and waved his hand.
Tomorrow, the Tang and Tang families will have a wedding. They must be busy today.
It's okay if they arrive late and can't help much, but they can't cause any more trouble.
"How are you guys doing lately? I heard you've all moved to collective housing?
Are the conditions good over there? Should we eat in the cafeteria?"
Wang Chunxiu hasn't seen her daughter for a long time. She has to ask how her daughter is doing at the forest farm, right?
Especially since so many things happened in the forest farm a while ago, and the entire Ersongjianghe Forestry Bureau has heard about it, the Zhou family and his wife are all thinking about their daughter.
If Zhou Qinglan and Sheng Xiping weren't dating, Wang Chunxiu would really have planned to find a way to get his daughter to become an educated youth elsewhere.
"The collective household is okay. We have a dozen female educated youths living together.
Originally, I said I wanted to cook for myself, but later I found it too troublesome, so I decided to eat in the cafeteria.
Isn't this Fengying going out? I've been living in the Tang family recently, and I often go to Aunt Sheng's place to eat, and my life is pretty good."
Zhou Qinglan knew that her mother was worried about her, so she had to say something reassuring.
Of course, what she said was true. With Sheng Xiping taking care of her, Zhou Qinglan's life in the forest farm was obviously much better than that of other female educated youths.
"Oh, thanks to Xiping's care, otherwise, we would be really worried." Wang Chunxiu nodded after hearing this.
It was obvious from the meeting just now that my daughter must be living a good life these days. She has put on some weight and looks good.
"Xiping, thank you very much for helping us take care of Qinglan."
"Auntie, this is what I should do. Qinglan is my partner, so if I don't be good to her, who else should I be good to?"
Sheng Xiping laughed when he heard this. If a grown man can't even take care of the girl he likes, isn't he a waste?
"Hey? Why didn't Qingyue come with you?"
They had met just now and were too happy to pay attention. Only then did Zhou Qinglan realize that she didn't see her younger brother Zhou Qingyue.
“We came here in the leader’s inspection car, and there were only two seats available, so we couldn’t move.
Besides, Qingyue is still studying, so we can’t tell the teacher, let’s go drinking and ask for a few days off for the child, right?”
Zhou Mingyuan explained with a smile.
"He is at home. My mother cooked a lot of food and stuff, and left him some money and food stamps.
It’s okay, you don’t have to worry, you’re a young man of 14 or 15 years old, he’s not hungry at home.”
Men are big-hearted. When Zhou Mingyuan went out to study as a teenager, he took care of himself, so he felt that his son would be able to do it too.
"Mom, our idiot Qingyue, can we do it alone at home?"
Zhou Qinglan was not at ease with her younger brother, so she asked her mother in a low voice.
"It's okay, I've made an agreement with our neighbor in the west courtyard, your Aunt Wang.
Let her go over every noon and evening to cook the kang, heat up rice and so on."
Wang Chunxiu glanced at her man, shook her head helplessly, smiled, and then whispered to her daughter.
When Zhou Qinglan heard her mother's words, she nodded with relief.
The neighbor in the west courtyard is a nice person. When his eldest daughter-in-law gave birth, Wang Chunxiu delivered her baby. The two families have a good relationship.
With Aunt Wang taking good care of him, his idiot brother should be fine, at least he won't starve to death.
Zhou Mingyuan and Sheng Xiping were quite at odds with each other, so they had to ask what Sheng Xiping had been doing recently.
There was nothing to hide this, so Sheng Xiping told Zhou Mingyuan that he would lead people to watch green grass, collect pine seeds, hunt and so on this autumn.
Maybe men have some adventurous element in their nature.
Even though Zhou Mingyuan was an engineer and a great intellectual, his eyes immediately widened when he heard what Sheng Xiping said about shelling badgers, hunting wild boars, and killing blind men. He listened with relish.
"Oh, it turns out your life in the forest farm is so wonderful.
It's a pity that I came at the wrong time, otherwise I would have followed you into the mountains to see the excitement." Zhou Mingyuan said with both yearning and envy.
“Uncle, actually hunting in the mountains is not that fun, it’s quite hard and tiring.
Wandering around the mountains from morning to night, if you don't encounter prey, the day will be wasted. If you do, it can be quite dangerous sometimes.
I just don’t have a serious job, so I have no choice but to go hunting in the mountains to supplement my family income.”
Hearing this, Sheng Xiping could only shake his head and smile.
To outsiders, hunting in the mountains seems to be quite interesting. It is good to be able to sell money and eat meat. In fact, only the hunters themselves understand how tiring and painful this work is.
Of course, Sheng Xiping loved hunting from the bottom of his heart and also loved walking in the mountains.
But he couldn't say that in front of Zhou Mingyuan.
No father would be happy to see his daughter find a man who has nothing serious to do.
That's why Sheng Xiping deliberately revealed that he was eager to have a formal working attitude.
This can make Zhou Mingyuan and his wife feel at ease. After all, their daughter's partner is motivated, but the current situation is limited and there is nothing they can do.
"Oh, you are right. It would be best to have a formal job and get paid at work.
Don't worry too much, the bureau can't always stop recruiting workers.
As long as you perform well in the educated youth team, if you don't get enough guarantees, the government will have a policy and you will be recruiting workers, right?"
Zhou Mingyuan is quite satisfied with Sheng Xiping's performance. This kid has serious business and knows what to do, which is quite good.
In this way, the four of them walked and chatted, and it didn't take much time to reach the Tang family in Qianchuan Forest Farm.
As soon as they entered the gate, Tang Fengying's mother, Li Yuqin, was busy working in the yard.
As soon as I saw my cousin and sister-in-law arriving, I hurriedly greeted her and held Wang Chunxiu's hands. I was so happy that I didn't know what to say.
"Oh, my cousin is here. Are you tired from the journey? Come on, come inside and sit down."
As he spoke, he dragged Wang Chunxiu toward the house.
"Old Tang, hurry up, my brother and sister-in-law are here."
Tang Fengying's father, Tang Bin, was also busy. As soon as he heard his wife's greeting, he quickly came over to say hello to Zhou Mingyuan and his wife.
"Hey, my cousin and sister-in-law are here? Come on, come in and sit down, come in and sit down."
Zhou Mingyuan and his wife entered the east room of the Tang family surrounded by everyone. Wang Chunxiu took two bags from his daughter and handed them to Li Yuqin and Tang Bin.
"Well, there isn't anything very good in the Forestry Bureau store recently, so we just bought some.
These are for the children, these two quilt covers and a pair of mirrors are for Fengying's makeup."
Nowadays, most wedding gifts are given in kind.
There are many things like washbasin, large mirror, soap dish, quilt, pillow cover, towel, etc., but few of them are paid directly.