Chapter 192: How about it? Do you want to fall behind?

"What? Do you want to fall behind?" Zhao Qiuhua looked at Xie Yuanyuan with a smile.

Xie Yuanyuan waved her hands, "Fall behind? How could that be? I have to follow closely in Nan Nan's footsteps. Wherever Nan Nan goes, I go; wherever Nan Nan points, I strike."

Xie Shuyang felt helpless, wondering what kind of love potion An Yinan had fed to his little scatterbrain.

An Yinan smiled and pinched her chubby cheeks, "Good Yuanyuan."

Li Xiue suddenly patted her own forehead, "Oh my, I forgot the big thing."

Both An Yinan and Chen Xun looked at her.

"You two sit for a moment, wait for me." Li Xiue ran back to the room, and when she returned, she was carrying a duffel bag.

The duffel bag was very large, and judging by the effort it took Li Xiu'e to carry it, it was likely not light.

"Phew, almost forgot the main business." Li Xiue was caught between laughter and tears; there was just so much to talk about as soon as they met.

Li Xiu'e first opened the duffel bag, then took out a cloth bag from inside, "These are the mountain goods the villagers brought for you. They said you left Quanshui Village, but we can't cut off our Quanshui Village mountain goods. They want you to think of everyone often when you eat them."

Li Xiue thought of the scene where everyone scrambled to go home and get mountain goods.

"These are the things I carefully selected—the easiest to carry and the least likely to spoil," Li Xiue said.

Afterward, she took five canning jars out of the duffel bag, "The jars were contributed by Yuanyuan; inside is the soybean paste Aunt Li packed for you. Aunt Li said you like the soybean paste she makes the most."

An Yinan's eyes felt slightly hot, and her heart was filled with emotion.

She never expected that even after leaving Quanshui Village for half a year, everyone still remembered her and brought her so many surprises on her wedding day.

"Don't be in such a rush to get emotional, there's more!" Seeing An Yinan's slightly reddened nose, Li Xiu'e hurriedly teased her.

This little girl seemed not to care about anything, but she saw everything; especially when it came to who was good to her, she kept it all in her heart.

An Yinan nodded, making a nasal sound, "Mm!"

Zhao Qiuhua helped Li Xiu'e take out the final gift from the duffel bag—it was a red quilt!

"This quilt carries the blessings of many people. Every family in Quanshui Village contributed. We four provided the materials, but the craftsmanship came from Aunt Xie Er, Sister-in-law Li, and Granny Liu from Quanshui Village. Because cotton coupons were so hard to come by, we were still a little short in the end, and we weren't willing to make you a thin quilt, so every family in the village contributed their own cotton, some more, some less!" Li Xiu'e thought of the scene at the time; every time someone came, they added a little more cotton.

Cotton was very hard to collect, and each family only had a little, keeping it like a treasure. But when they heard that cotton was needed for An Yinan's wedding quilt, they didn't need to be asked; everyone just sent it directly to the Captain's house, stated their purpose, and left the items behind.

Thinking about it now, was it not the icing on the cake?

"This is the blessing of many people. I have always believed you would be happy, and I have never doubted it," Li Xiu'e said with a smile.

An Yinan stared blankly at the quilt; she hadn't done much, yet those simple villagers had done so much for her.

She even felt some regret—why hadn't she done more for the people of Quanshui Village?

"Alright, what are you thinking about?" Zhao Qiuhua nudged An Yinan.

"I'm thinking, when I was in Quanshui Village, I clearly could have done more, so why didn't I?" An Yinan said.

Zhao Qiuhua tapped her forehead, "Look, you're overthinking again."

"You solved the vegetable issue for them, spared them the risk of going to the Black Market, and now every family has opened up more wasteland and planted various vegetables; everyone's life is getting better and better."

"Nan Nan, when you first came to Quanshui Village, I didn't really like you." Zhao Qiuhua thought of the scene and her own state of mind at the time.

She smiled silently with narrowed eyes, then looked at An Yinan.

"Do you know why?" Zhao Qiuhua asked.

An Yinan looked at Xie Yuanyuan and Zhang Qian, and the three of them shook their heads in unison.

They considered themselves quite friendly and had never provoked any trouble, right?

"I thought the three of you were too aloof. You three formed your own group, as if there was some invisible thing isolating others," Zhao Qiuhua recalled.

"Later, when Xiue helped you pickle vegetables and came back saying so many good things about you, I was half-believing and half-doubting." Zhao Qiuhua chuckled at this point.

"Then later, after eating your kimchi, the taste was just too incredible!" Zhao Qiuhua hadn't expected that she would ever become a foodie.

"And then, seeing that I couldn't stand Sun Xiaoqin, when I saw you dealing with Sun Xiaoqin, I felt satisfied, and I didn't have any more prejudice."

"After moving out and interacting with you more, I realized it wasn't that you were isolating everyone, but that you were moving too fast. You were too unconventional, or even to say, you were all too hardworking, making it impossible for us ordinary people to fit in."

As Zhao Qiuhua spoke, everyone thought of the scenes from back then, and every face was filled with the smiles of memories.

"Now I know, Zhang Qian is a soldier, you have your own secrets, and the reason Yuanyuan came to Quanshui Village was entirely because of her childhood sweetheart. You each have secrets, and you each know how to respect one another; that is the reason you can gather together."

"And I feel fortunate for the choice to move out."

After Zhao Qiuhua finished speaking, she hugged An Yinan, "Nan Nan, thank you."

An Yinan patted Zhao Qiuhua's back with a helpless smile on her face; she really hadn't expected that others viewed her this way in their hearts.

She had always thought she was just doing ordinary things.

"Qiu Hua, thank you for joining us," An Yinan said gently.

Zhao Qiuhua straightened up and let go of An Yinan, "I won't be leaving from now on!"

"You certainly cannot leave!" An Yinan said, then looked at everyone.

Everyone spoke at the same time, "Not allowed to leave."

For a moment, the room was filled with harmony and joy; everyone drank tea from large bowls and chatted about Quanshui Village and their stories.

Time passed quickly while chatting, until Chen Xun checked the time. Although he couldn't bear to disturb them, he still had to say, "It's very late today; I have to take her back now."

Zhang Qian chimed in, "Look at that, he's impatient."

"Go back quickly, it's getting dark now, watch out for safety on the road," Li Xiue said.

Xie Yuanyuan patted Zhang Qian on the shoulder, "Envious, jealous, hateful?"

Zhang Qian looked at the sky helplessly. My friends, why can't you stand united against outsiders? Are you my friends, or are you Chen Xun's friends?

Chen Xun nodded to everyone and pulled the reluctant An Yinan away from the Siheyuan.

They rode for a long time this time, and it was forty minutes later before they arrived in front of a courtyard gate.

Earlier, the godmother said to let them go back the day after tomorrow, and she was still wondering, where would they be staying?