mtl008 Chapter 135: Worth it! Absolutely worth it!
Chapter 135: Worth it! Absolutely worth it!
As night deepened, Li Xiangyang locked the door of his new home and followed his mother home.
The cold wind howled, and he couldn't help but wrap his clothes tighter, but his heart was warm.
Thinking about how the new house would be equipped with heating and the family could live a comfortable life, a smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.
Before dawn, hurried footsteps could be heard outside the courtyard.
"Xiangyang! Xiangyang!" Wang Ergou's voice came through the door, "Open the door quickly!"
Li Xiangyang put on his clothes and opened the door, only to see Wang Ergou standing outside with Ma Hongxia.
The girl was wearing a dark blue cotton-padded jacket, her head was down, and her cheeks were red from the cold.
"So early?" Li Xiangyang ushered the two into the house.
“That’s right,” Wang Ergou said with a grin, “You and Xiaoyun are about to get married, and the house is already built, so we need to hurry up too. That’s why she wanted to come and see your new house.”
Hearing the commotion, Li's mother got up and saw that it was Wang Ergou bringing the girl. She busied herself boiling water and making tea.
After the tea had warmed up, the group drank it and had breakfast. Only then did Li Xiangyang take the two to see the new house.
"Your house is really impressive!" Wang Ergou paced around, taking it all in. "The main house alone has five rooms. In my opinion, it's no less impressive than an apartment building in the county town."
Ma Hongxia looked around, her eyes full of envy.
"It must have cost a lot of money, right?" Wang Ergou asked.
"It comes to over a thousand," Li Xiangyang said. "If we add heating and a water heater, it'll probably be around sixteen or seventeen thousand."
"Heating? Water heater? What are those things?" Wang Ergou suddenly became interested.
Li Xiangyang then repeated what he had said to the blacksmith the night before.
"So, you're saying it'll be like spring indoors during winter? And we can even use hot water for showers?" Wang Ergou was increasingly excited. "I want one too! I have money, and I want my girlfriend to have a good life."
Upon hearing this, Ma Hongxia blushed even more, lowered her head, and smiled with her lips pursed.
"The blacksmith will go find the materials today. You'll see what it looks like when he gets here," Li Xiangyang said, glancing at the sky. "But waiting around isn't very interesting. Doesn't Brother Daqiang still owe us a drink? Let's go find him!"
Wang Ergou's eyes lit up: "That's right! We should find him. If it weren't for you saving him last time, we would both be stranded in the mountains. It makes me so angry just thinking about it. He absolutely has to treat us to this drink!"
"Then...then I'll go back first," Ma Hongxia said softly.
"No way, come along!" Wang Ergou hurriedly said, "You won't get anything good to eat if you go back! Someone's treating you, are you stupid to not eat?"
Seeing this, Li Xiangyang laughed: "Yes, if someone's treating, you have to eat. I really feel bad about it, I'll have Er Gou treat you later. Let's go together."
"Exactly, I'll bring him back later. I'm telling you, if he dares to be disrespectful this time, you'll see if I don't teach him a lesson..."
The three of them chatted and laughed as they walked toward Li Daqiang's house.
On the way, Ma Hongxia was shy, but she couldn't hide the smile in her eyes.
She would occasionally glance at Wang Ergou out of the corner of her eye, her eyes filled with affection.
It seems that Li Xiaoyun's matchmaking this time was truly successful.
Thinking of Li Xiaoyun, Li Xiangyang's heart stirred, but remembering his mother's words, he forced himself to suppress the thought.
Anyway, it's only two months, it'll be over quickly.
Once we're married, we can see each other every day.
As we approached Li Daqiang's house, we could smell the aroma of meat wafting from the yard from a great distance.
Li Daqiang was chopping firewood in the yard when he saw the three of them arrive. His eyes lit up and he said, "Hey, what brings you here?" As he spoke, his gaze fell on Ma Hongxia, and he winked at Wang Ergou.
"Stop being so glib. We owe you drinks, and we'll pay you back today!" Wang Ergou said nonchalantly.
"We've been waiting for you!" Li Daqiang leaned the axe against the wall. "Dad, Xiangyang, Ergou, and Ergou's girlfriend are here!"
Li Xiangyang's second uncle peeked out of the house. Seeing them, he warmly greeted them, "Come in, come in! We just finished stewing some meat."
The house was warm and cozy, and as soon as my second aunt saw that guests had arrived, she quickly added more dishes.
Before long, several large dishes were laid out on the kang table, and a pot of stewed meat was steaming hot, with a fragrant aroma filling the air.
Second Aunt was busy adding bowls and chopsticks to the table, and then quickly pulled Ma Hongxia onto the kang (heated brick bed) to warm up.
"Come on, let's have a drink!" Li Daqiang poured everyone a drink. "If Xiangyang hadn't saved me last time, I might have died on the mountain. This drink is on me, Li Daqiang!"
"That's right. Not only you, but I was also left behind in the mountains. Don't you feel any guilt towards me?"
"Sorry, I'll treat you another day!"
"Never mind, I'll treat you another day."
……
After several rounds of drinks and several dishes, the atmosphere in the room became increasingly lively.
Wang Ergou's face turned bright red as he talked about his hunting experiences, gesturing wildly and making Ma Hongxia giggle from time to time.
"Brother, someone's looking for you!"
Just then, Li Xiaohua's voice came from outside the door, interrupting the lively atmosphere inside.
"Who is it?" Li Daqiang asked, looking up.
"I don't know him. He brought a lot of things and is waiting at the new house," Li Xiaohua said, peeking in.
Li Xiangyang immediately understood; the blacksmith must have brought back the materials.
He put down his chopsticks and stood up: "You all continue eating, I'll go check on things."
"Go ahead," Auntie said, beckoning to Xiaohua. "Xiaohua, come here quickly. Try my new braised pork and compare it to your mother's. Oh, and there's some candy Daqiang's girlfriend gave us; take it with you after dinner..."
……
After leaving his second uncle's house, Li Xiangyang hurried towards his new home.
As I approached the door, I saw the blacksmith leading a burly middle-aged man, who was standing there.
Several young men followed behind, carrying a pile of materials.
"This is Mr. Liu, the owner of the scrap metal recycling station," the blacksmith introduced. "All the materials are ready. What do you think, is it suitable?"
Li Xiangyang carefully examined the materials and was overjoyed.
The quality of these materials was even better than he had imagined, especially those thick steel pipes, which looked brand new as if they had never been used.
"These materials cost five hundred and eighty in total," Mr. Liu said with a simple, honest smile. "If you hadn't repeatedly assured me that you weren't ripping me off, I wouldn't have bothered sending them all this way."
"Don't think it's expensive. After all, we brought it all this way ourselves, which shows our sincerity. Of course, if you think it's not worth it, we can take it with us. After all, we didn't tell you beforehand..."
"Worth it! It's totally worth it!" Without saying another word, Li Xiangyang went home to get the money and paid Boss Liu every penny.
Seeing that both parties were satisfied, the blacksmith beamed, "Then it's settled. I'll start work first thing tomorrow morning."
Wang Ergou followed at this moment: "Let me see the effect. If it's good, can you prepare a set for me too? I'm not kidding, I have the money, I'll pay you a deposit first to show my sincerity!"
"No need, just let the blacksmith know whenever you need it!"