Chapter 522: Tea-Eating Life-Saving System (21)

"Sister Yang Yang, you are so capable!"

After Zheng Miaomiao heard what Xie Yang had to say, she gave her a thumbs up.

It was a pity her family didn't have an extra old stove, otherwise she could have asked Sister Yang Yang to help assemble one too.

She took off her thick cotton-padded jacket and sat on the kang: "Wow! This is so comfortable! It's so comfortable that I want to replace the sofa at my house with a fire kang."

"Giggle, giggle..."

Xiao Shitou saw Zheng Miaomiao's exaggerated expression, sat on the kang, tilted his head back, and started giggling.

"Xiao Shitou is so cute!"

Looking at the fair and tender little fellow, Zheng Miaomiao wanted to give him a hug; her maternal grandmother's house also had a child around a year old, but none were as cute as Xiao Shitou.

"Xiao Shitou is almost nine months old, right? Can he eat porridge and rice now?"

"Mm. He started eating rice porridge last month."

Xie Yang watched the little fellow, who was being teased into giggling by Zheng Miaomiao, with a smile.

"My dad said the Grain Station just received a batch of this year's harvested Northeast Rice. It's refined rice, but the quantity isn't large, so it's being prioritized for internal staff and their families first. He asked me to check if your family wants any. If you do, my dad will tell the Grain Station director to set aside a portion for your family."

Of course Xie Yang wanted it; new rice produced from the Black Soil of the Northeast, grown without pesticides, was hard to buy even on the Modern Plane.

"Thank Zheng Shu for me."

"Why be so polite? We're good friends. Besides, my dad and the Grain Station director are old friends; it's just a matter of saying a word."

Xie Yang smiled and nodded: "Good friends, eat more."

She pushed the crispy dates toward Zheng Miaomiao.

Zheng Miaomiao didn't stand on ceremony with her, picked up a bright red date, and took a bite with a *crack*: "So sweet and crunchy!"

"If you like them, take some home when you leave in a bit."

These crispy dates were a reward for Xie Yang from the Factory Director.

At the beginning of the month, she had passed the trial production of higher-precision components, which made the Factory Director so happy that he immediately shared a crate of the crispy dates someone had gifted him with her, and kept his promise to issue her a recommendation form. After the New Year, she would take this form to participate in the Engineer exam; if she passed, she could be promoted to Engineer, which was an Intermediate Technician.

Thinking about the pay raise she would get after the New Year, Xie Yang didn't mind being a little generous. She not only washed a plate of crispy dates for Zheng Miaomiao but also peeled an apple for her.

Zheng Miaomiao didn't act like a guest either; she happily took it and started munching away with a *crunch, crunch*.

"My mom said yesterday that a batch of Tianjin Big Twists would arrive today. I'll ask her to buy more and share half with your family."

Although her mom didn't have many Non-staple Food Coupons on hand, as a Supply and Marketing Cooperative employee, she could buy broken twists that didn't require coupons.

Some people called them broken twists, but they were actually just snapped in half. The appearance wasn't great, but they tasted just as good. Anyway, they weren't for gifting, just for eating at home, so she didn't mind that.

Xie Yang took out her biscuit tin and rummaged through her remaining ration coupons. She actually found three one-jin Non-staple Food Coupons and gave them all to Zheng Miaomiao: "Please trouble Miao Yi to help me bring back one jin of twists, one jin of peach blossom cakes, and one jin of White Rabbit Creamy Candy."

It was the New Year, after all; the table had to have a few plates of festive candies and snacks.

"What's the trouble in that? It's just something my mom can do while she's at work."

Zheng Miaomiao wiped her hand that had been holding the apple and put the coupons away.

Just as she wanted to continue gossiping about the tea she had heard these past few days, a commotion suddenly came from outside.

"What's the situation?" Zheng Miaomiao, who needed to eat tea to save her life, jumped up: "Sister Yang Yang, I'll go out and take a look, then come back and tell you."

"..."

No need; the Main System had already sent a first-hand report from the front lines of the tea-eating:

【Niu Cuifen's son got together with a returned Educated Youth. Niu Cuifen didn't agree and forced her son to break up, so the girl's family has come to cause a scene.】

"..."

"How dare you! Your Wang Family is bullying people! You kissed my daughter, hugged my daughter, and now you're turning around and refusing to admit it..."

The noise in the courtyard was so loud that Xie Yang could hear it clearly even while sitting inside the room.

She picked up her little cousin and went to the window.

A circle of people stood in the courtyard, and the one cursing at the top of her lungs was the girl's mother.

She pointed at Niu Cuifen's nose, spitting as she spoke:

"... If you can do the first day, don't blame me for doing the fifteenth! Don't you have a daughter too? Dagang, go! Hug and kiss the Wang Family's daughter; it's free to hug and touch anyway..."

"You dare!" Niu Cuifen was so angry her voice went out of tune, "You try touching my daughter!"

"Why wouldn't I dare! Your son can do this kind of thing, why can't my son? If you don't give my family an explanation today, hmph, even if your daughter is lucky enough to dodge it today, tomorrow, the day after... there will be a day I'll let her experience the bullying my daughter suffered."

Wang Lin was so scared she hid in the room and didn't dare come out.

Niu Cuifen's chest heaved with anger: "You! You are breaking the law!"

"Oh my! So the thing your son did is against the law? That's even better. Dagang, report this to the police!"

"..."

The girl's mother was too fierce and shrewish; no one in the Wang Family was a match for her.

In the end, the Wang Family had no choice but to grit their teeth and accept the marriage.

What else could they do if they didn't accept it?

The girl's side wasn't even afraid of losing face, shouting that she had been hugged and kissed by her son. If they didn't marry, she would either hang herself at their door or report her son to the police for hooliganism.

Even though Niu Cuifen was dissatisfied with this marriage, she had no other choice but to agree.

Zheng Miaomiao hadn't had her fill of watching the excitement, and upon returning, she said to Xie Yang:

"Looking at it this way, Auntie Niu's family will be holding a wedding before the New Year. But a twisted melon isn't sweet. With the Lou Family forcing their daughter to marry in like this, aren't they afraid their daughter will suffer and be wronged at her in-laws' house later?"

"Does the Lou Family also have an unmarried son?"

"Of course, just like Auntie Niu's family, they happen to have one son and one daughter who aren't married yet." Zheng Miaomiao didn't know what she thought of, but she cupped her chin and chuckled twice, "Uncle You Cai was just joking and advising the two families to swap marriages. Wang Tao marries the Lou Family's daughter, and Wang Lin marries the Lou Family's son. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about their respective daughters being wronged at their in-laws'. Hey, don't say, Uncle You Cai's idea actually makes some sense."

Xie Yang shook her head: "Auntie Cui Fen won't agree. The Lou Family's children aren't far apart in age, but when it came to going to the countryside, they let the daughter go and not the son. Do you think they care if their daughter is wronged at her in-laws'? They just want to seize the opportunity to earn a bride price for marrying off their daughter."

"..."

Zheng Miaomiao opened her mouth: "That's true! How can there be such a family?"

Xie Yang glanced at her lifespan value; today's piece of gossip had extended her life by 20 days, the most life-extension she had ever received from a single piece of gossip, yet it was built upon a marriage where an Educated Youth returning to the city was unwelcome by her in-laws, leaving her feeling somewhat wistful.

"The Lou Family's daughter is so pitiful."

Xie Yang glanced at her, sighing inwardly at whether this young girl had never experienced love or marriage in her past life; she was truly naive!

If Lou Xuefang didn't have some tricks up her sleeve, how could she have managed to be in the first batch to return to the city?

If she didn't have some tricks up her sleeve, how could she have bewitched Wang Tao so completely?

According to the Main System, Wang Tao had secretly subsidized her quite a bit; one could say that every kiss and every embrace came at the cost of money and ration coupons.

The days ahead for the Wang Family would be lively.