Chapter 527: The Gossip-for-Survival System (26)

On the twenty-ninth, the sky cleared up once again.

Xie Yang got off work at noon and brought back a lively, jumping grass carp, a slab of fresh and beautiful pork belly, and a pair of pig trotters.

Lou Xuefang had been suffering from morning sickness less than twenty days after entering the house, so she naturally cast aside all housework, grabbed a handful of melon seeds, and sat in the courtyard basking in the sun, cracking seeds while watching the neighbors wash their laundry and gossip about household trifles.

Just as she was feeling content, she saw Xie Yang and the fish and meat in her hands, and her eyes flickered.

"Yo, Xiao Xie, you bought meat back? This pork belly is truly beautiful!"

Kang Dama was filled with envy when she saw the meat in Xie Yang's hands.

Her son and daughter hadn't managed to grab train tickets this year and couldn't come back for the New Year, so she and her old man were spending the holiday alone; the meat coupons she had earlier were used for sausages, and she had only cut a small strip of fresh meat, which she would chop up with cabbage to wrap two bowls of dumplings to count as the New Year.

Widow Guo, on the other hand, envied the fresh grass carp in Xie Yang's hands: "Yang Yang, where did you buy this grass carp? I've been running to the Vegetable Station to queue up every day lately, but I haven't been able to grab any fish."

After all, for the New Year, it was best to have a bowl of jellied braised fish left over until the beginning of the year to be considered complete, hoping for abundance year after year.

"My family hasn't bought fresh live fish yet either." Li Axiang leaned over and asked Xie Yang, "Xiao Xie, you are well-informed; if you know where there is live fish for sale, let this auntie know."

Xie Yang smiled and said, "This fish was a gift from Hui Yi."

"Oh, Zhao Wenhui? Then it must have been sent by her future son-in-law." Kang Dama had only retired from the Mechanical Factory a few years ago and knew Zhao Wenhui, "Her future son-in-law is from the countryside around his hometown; there are fish ponds in the village, and they drain the water to distribute fish before the New Year. Your Hui Yi made a good match; she won't have to worry about eating fish in the future."

"Xiao Xie will be eighteen after the New Year, right?" Li Axiang asked with a smile.

Xie Yang: "Seventeen."

"That's your actual age; by lunar age, you're eighteen, old enough to look for a partner."

Xie Yang twitched the corner of her mouth: "I'm still young."

"Not young anymore; at your age, I was already pregnant with my son."

"……"

Xie Yang walked quickly into her house, and the kind laughter of the aunties and neighbors followed behind her.

Someone sighed and said: "Time really flies; the little girl who used to jump rope in the courtyard with two small braids is already at the age to get married."

Someone replied: "It's true, she's already a big girl. I wonder which young man will get lucky... Once Xiao Xie gets married, Old Lady Xie will be even lonelier."

With the creak of the closing door, all the whispers were shut out by Xie Yang.

Looking at it this way, the previous plane was better; although it was a more backward ancient era, with the identity of a "martial arts master's disciple," no one dared to manipulate her marriage, and she was free to come and go, living a carefree life.

Unlike this plane, where if you don't get married by a certain age, you will be subject to all kinds of speculation and criticism, and it will also make the old lady worry.

No matter where she moves, it's the same; the general environment is just like this.

It's not that she is against getting married, but after experiencing so many planes and seeing countless men, if they don't make her eyes light up, she really can't muster any interest.

There were indeed many young men in the Mechanical Factory, and many of them came to the Technical Department to seek her attention every now and then.

But how should she put it...

Some, at a glance, you could tell their family housing was cramped, they had many siblings, and they were eyeing her family's three large rooms; some were after her position as a Technician, planning to let her give the position to their family members after marrying her in; some could be seen to genuinely like her as a person, but setting aside whether they had common topics or were pleasing to the eye, she would pass without hesitation any mama's boy who listened to his parents in everything. She was looking for a partner, not a son.

The time left in this plane was at most a few short decades; compared to her long career of Tasks, it was but a fleeting moment, so why wrong herself? Even if she were to marry, she would want to find someone pleasing to the eye.

"What are they saying about you outside again?"

Grandma Xie was sitting on the kang doing needlework, faintly hearing a few words of Li Axiang teasing her granddaughter, and said with a smile:

"Don't pay attention to your Zhang Dama; that mouth of hers will shout about anything."

She paused, then said: "After your birthday, when you are eighteen by actual age, Grandma will entrust your Hui Yi to pick a partner for you who is satisfactory in every aspect, and I definitely won't let you become an old maid. At that time, Grandma will have your Hui Yi make it clear to the man's family that I will take care of Xiao Shitou, and he definitely won't hold you back."

Xie Yang: "……"

The old lady was overthinking it.

"Grandma, I'm still young; there's no rush to look for a partner."

Grandma Xie bit off the thread she was sewing with: "You're not young, but it's a new era now, so it's fine to marry a few years later. Your Lihua sister is three years older than you, and she hasn't found a partner yet either."

Xie Yang smiled upon hearing this.

It wasn't that Guo Lihua hadn't found anyone, but that she had been on several blind dates and hadn't been satisfied with any of them.

Zheng Miaomiao had told her about this.

The little girl was keen on gossiping to save her own life, and her information was even more well-informed than her own old lady's.

Speaking of which, she suddenly thought of one point: if she got married, it would be fine if it were close, but if it were far away, wouldn't she be far from her Task target?

Xie Yang thought for a moment, and silently added a new requirement to the two conditions of "like-minded" and "pleasing to the eye"——

Either he moves into her house as a son-in-law, or he settles down in a nearby alley, the kind where you can reach it in minutes by bike.

After thinking it through, she stopped pondering this matter.

She came back to have lunch and still had to rush back to work.

These days, the New Year holiday is only three days long, and one has to work until the afternoon of New Year's Eve before the holiday.

Even in the last two days, she had plenty of work in her hands; improving the lathe was not only brain-consuming but also quite physically demanding.

If it weren't for taking the Physical Fitness Potion and completely transforming her physical quality, she would have been exhausted countless times over with this small frame.

"Xiao Xie, wait for Hui Yi."

Just as she left the office building, Xie Yang was called out by Zhao Wenhui.

"Hui Yi, what's the matter?"

"Nothing much, just giving you some good things."

Zhao Wenhui trotted up carrying a cotton cloth bag:

"Take it! It's a little token of appreciation from our workshop. Ever since you improved the lathe technology, several of our production workshops don't have to work overtime every day and can still increase production; everyone is very happy. It's almost New Year, so we pooled some New Year goods to show our appreciation."

Xie Yang took a look; in the cloth bag were peanuts, melon seeds, dried jujubes, walnuts, longans, puffed rice candy, and a bag of southern specialty bean crisp candy; the few uncommon items were clearly brought back from other places by the drivers of the factory's Transportation Team.

"Hui Yi, I can't accept this! You should return it to everyone for me."

Zhao Wenhui waved her hand with a smile: "I'm just running this errand for everyone! Just take it; it's not worth much money, just a little token from everyone."

Zhao Wenhui refused to take it back no matter what, so Xie Yang had no choice but to accept it.

She thought about asking her little cousin's grandmother's family to help procure some tea leaves from the south when spring came next year, then blending them with chrysanthemum buds and jasmine flowers to stir-fry some scented tea to give to everyone. When the weather gets hot, it is easy to feel drowsy; drinking some scented tea is refreshing, clears the mind, and reduces internal heat.