Chronicle of the 70s-Chapter 330 - 319: The First Wedding Update
Li Xianglu hadn’t discussed with Leng Qing about visiting Li Jianqing over the New Year yet when Leng Qing came looking for her. He said that Li Jianqing had written to say that he had applied for marriage leave to return to his hometown to hold the wedding banquet. With a month of leave, after half of the banquet was over, he would return to the capital just in time to meet up with Li Xianglu.
Li Xianglu was dumbfounded after listening, wondering how it could be so soon. She saw Leng Qing’s shy and somewhat worried face and asked: "Leng Qing, are you willing to marry my third brother?"
Leng Qing nodded earnestly and said: "I am willing; Jianqing is a responsible person."
Li Xianglu really wanted to roll her eyes. Just because he’s responsible doesn’t mean you’re ready to marry. Isn’t the premise of marriage based on good feelings? But she didn’t know how to ask that question. Moreover, people from this era, especially those born in the sixties and seventies, had traditional thinking. Hardly anyone talked about dating, and if it wasn’t suitable, they would just break up.
Most relationships started by being clear with both families right from the start. If the parents from both sides agreed that the conditions were acceptable, they would let their children marry immediately. A long courtship would lead to a lot of gossip.
Emotions were mostly implicit and never explicitly stated, even someone from a family like Lu Anna’s wouldn’t say she missed Qin Zhen and wanted to go see him; it was always done under some pretext.
While Li Xianglu was worrying, Li Jianqing also made a phone call to officially discuss with Li Xianglu about his marriage.
In the past half year, Li Jianqing had been writing almost weekly letters to Leng Qing, and gradually he came to understand and like her, so he decided to marry her at the end of the year as previously planned. However, there were things that needed to be arranged by Li Xianglu, such as preparing wedding clothes for the trip home. Li Jianqing could wear his military uniform, but at least Leng Qing should have three or four decent outfits, right?
Another matter was the furnishings for the big courtyard. Li Jianqing intended to have the furniture sent there. When he came back from leave, they could move in; it wasn’t appropriate for the couple to continue living at the old man’s place.
Li Xianglu agreed to everything. Li Jianqing, from collecting scraps, had obtained many valuables, some of which were taken directly by Su Yan after catching her eye, while other pieces of furniture made of sour branch wood or pear wood were taken by the trading company associated with Su Yan and shipped out for sale in Hong Kong.
The most valuable was a red sandalwood show stool. Because the set was incomplete, Li Xianglu wanted to have it polished into bead necklaces to keep for value appreciation, which indeed was set aside.
Now, apart from the twelve thousand yuan for buying the courtyard, Li Jianqing had more than forty thousand yuan stored at Li Xianglu’s place.
Li Xianglu planned to buy another courtyard to hold for him which would appreciate in value after demolition, but she had been too busy, and hadn’t found a suitable one, so this matter was put on hold.
With the forty thousand yuan, even buying a house or land would cost about thirty thousand yuan at most, leaving more than ten thousand yuan. Going back home for the wedding would at most cost five or six hundred yuan, maybe one thousand yuan at most. The most expensive aspect wasn’t the banquet, but the travel expenses.
So, Li Xianglu planned to set aside thirty thousand yuan for buying a house. The remaining money, she’d keep five thousand yuan for future furniture expenses, provide Leng Qing with jewelry, outfits, hats, and shoes. The rest of the money would be wired to Li Jianqing. After all, aside from getting married, he hadn’t been back to Guanzhong for three years.
Although he received a letter every three or four months, it was from Chunhua’s daughter Wu Hehua.
The little girl was now in fifth grade and wrote very well, gradually describing the events occurring at home.
For instance, Ge Sanmei often hit Li Jianhong’s daughter, or Li Jianwen made a fortune in Hong Kong, or their noodle shop turned into a big stir-fry restaurant, and how Li Erfu completely moved from Li Family Village to the county town and even bought a house there.
There’s also the peanuts, millet, corn stalks that have been continuously mailed over during the harvest season these past years, as well as the jujube trees Guanzhong planted along the river bank recently.
Originally Guanzhong did not produce jujubes, but to improve the river bank and reduce soil alkalinity, they planted jujube trees there, and unexpectedly, they grew exceptionally well and bore fruit that was both sweet and large.
And Li Xianglu was not the type to simply take advantage without giving back. The product variety at the Overseas Chinese Store had grown increasingly diverse, including imported backpacks, notebooks, and pens from various countries; she frequently purchased some to send over to Guanzhong.
Especially since last mid-year when Xu Wu brought a 32-inch TV from abroad, since the family had an extra 21-inch color TV, just in time for Qin Xi’s colleague to go to Guanzhong; she had it sent over.
Wu Hehua’s letters were full of joy; Chunhua even took the trouble to tear fine cotton cloth to make two sets of cotton pants and jackets for the kids with new cotton, which were especially comfortable.
As for this time, Li Jianqing would likely have expenses on both sides, so Li Xianglu gave him his money in advance. Financial considerations aside, he was about to get married, and it simply wouldn’t be proper for the sister to manage the brother’s money anymore, not to mention what Leng Qing might think if she found out.
So, in January, Li Xianglu sorted out some fabrics and, along with Leng Qing, visited the store. Since the family didn’t typically use their cloth tickets, they used them all at once.
When getting married, it isn’t just about clothing. Each side, bride and groom, should have at least two quilts. Li Erfu, for one, couldn’t even dream of mustering the cotton tickets for two quilts; Hehua mentioned in her letter that the cotton for the two sets of kids’ cotton clothes was exchanged for food tickets with a worker in the county town.
Thus, Li Xianglu decided to prepare everything needed for both her family and her in-laws.
As for clothing, she would send two pieces of summer fabric and buy two more, while for winter just going to the department store would suffice.
However, in this era, it’s fashionable to have three sets of everything for weddings, meaning even autumn undergarments are considered a set. Li Xianglu didn’t adhere to this but instead got three sets for underwear, and for sweaters or knitted trousers, she simply bought the yarn, as Leng Qing was very good at knitting. For the twins’ first birthday, Leng Qing had gifted them with two hand-knit sets—one red for Ba’er, one blue for Ba Yi—and they looked incredibly pretty worn over their cotton clothes.
So Li Xianglu just bought yarn; as for winter outerwear, a good quality wool coat is in order, and there must be a red one reserved for wearing outside during the wedding.
Having prepared this medley of items, the end of January arrived swiftly. The New Year celebrations would be around the 10th of February, so when Li Jianqing called, he suggested that Leng Qing bring the stuff to Beihai Province, then they could purchase tickets and head to Guanzhong together.
Traveling to Beihai at this time requires more than a day by train, then one day of rest before heading to Guanzhong, which requires three days by train. Including layovers, the journey would take five days, so Leng Qing needed to set off immediately.
Actually, Li Jianqing very much wanted to ask Li Xianglu if she wanted to attend his wedding, but considering Ge Sanmei was certain to show up and create a scene, if Li Xianglu came, it would likely result in even more chaos and wouldn’t be enjoyable for her, so he decided not to mention it.
Thus, on the morning of Leng Qing’s departure, Li Xianglu took a wooden box into Leng Qing’s room.
