"Those who have jobs are even more expected to have the 'three rounds and one sound'."

"As for Zining's family, Uncle He and Aunt He aren't the type of people to sell their daughter. To make them feel at ease marrying their daughter to you, what they care about most is your attitude toward Zining."

"They value character above all else. Besides, by marrying their daughter into the countryside, aren't they most afraid that she'll be bullied here, or that they won't be able to take care of her?"

"The most important thing you need to do is put their minds at ease and show them your utmost sincerity."

Ba Yuejiao picked up some watermelon and started eating. The ground in their courtyard was covered with a large straw mat, which had been made by one of the village elders.

It was specifically for the children to play and crawl on in the courtyard.

Zhou Rui was sitting on it at the moment, eating watermelon and occasionally letting the child take a lick.

"Sister-in-law, I'll listen to you. Why don't you just tell me how much bride price I should give?"

"How much money do you have?" Ba Yuejiao asked directly.

"A little over three hundred."

"Then give two hundred. If you give this amount as the bride price, Father He and Mother He will have face, and they won't be bad-mouthed by the neighbors."

"They won't be called foolish for marrying their daughter off to the countryside. Plus, this bride price will definitely end up back in your hands eventually."

"Father He and Mother He are worried about their daughter suffering here, so they surely won't keep this bride price; they'll likely return every cent of it to Zining."

"When you go to visit, just wear a nice set of clothes and bring some pastries and fruit with you."

"Alright. But I can't get hold of fruit, Sister-in-law, so I'll have to trouble you for help with that."

"No problem."

That night, when Li Haozi went back, he took the money and fabric coupons and asked Auntie Li to buy fabric to make him a new set of clothes.

When she asked and found out it was to wear for the marriage proposal, Auntie Li happily agreed.

The Autumn Harvest had just ended, and the two of them were still planning which day to return to the provincial capital.

Meanwhile, Father He and Mother He had already boarded a train and were on their way here.

Wasn't this all because they received news from He Zining about getting married?

Things were progressing so fast that it scared them as parents.

Since they hadn't met the young man, they were naturally worried that their daughter was being deceived.

So, they took leave to come and see for themselves.

The two of them hadn't given He Zining any heads-up, so she had no idea they were coming.

He Zining, who was busy working in the fields, was suddenly called by an auntie. She looked up and said, "Mom, Dad, why are you here?"

She dropped the dry corn stalks in her hands, asked the scorekeeper for leave, and ran over.

"Mom, Dad."

"What were you doing just now?" Mother He saw her daughter's face covered in sweat and quickly helped wipe it off.

"The corn stalks from the Autumn Harvest hadn't been collected yet. These are everyone's firewood for the winter, so they need to be collected and distributed to every household later."

"Mom, Dad, let me take you to where I live." He Zining reached out to take her parents' luggage.

"No need, you rest. Is the work hard? Are you tired?"

He Zining knew her parents were worried, so she said, "I'm not tired. It's just some corn stalks."

He Zining brought her parents to the front of the house and pointed to the house diagonally across the way, not far off.

"Mom, Dad, that's Li Haozi's home. The house I live in is their old house."

Opening the door, He Zining let them walk in.

"Old house? This looks quite new." Mother He placed their things on the table in the small courtyard and looked around at the surroundings.

"Yeah, it was just renovated. Li Haozi and his mother agreed that if we get married later, we'll live here, so I won't have to live with my mother-in-law."

"Really? His mother is actually that open-minded?" Mother He looked at the courtyard and also felt it was quite nice.

"Anyway, what does it matter since it's so close? Mom, Dad, that's the toilet. You should use it first."

"You'll sleep in this room tonight." He Zining picked up their luggage and walked into the guest room.

The guest room was just a smaller room that had been newly built.

Li Haozi knew that the house only having one room certainly wouldn't be enough.

Although there was a small storage room behind the Main Room that could be used to sleep in a pinch, he considered that they would have children in the future.

And that they would soon need to renovate the house again, so Li Haozi had built an extra small guest room when he renovated the house.

It was a good thing he did; it was coming in handy now. After the two of them returned from the toilet, He Zining poured two cups of warm water.

"Mom, Dad, drink some water. Are you tired? Go inside and rest for a while later."

"Not tired. We slept a bit on the train. Did you buy this thermos yourself? Do you have industrial coupons?"

Because their own family didn't have enough industrial coupons, Father He and Mother He had no way to give any to He Zining.

Her partner was from the countryside, so it was even less likely that he would have industrial coupons.

"It's not mine. Mom, Dad, do you remember Cousin Yunting? This was given by Cousin Yunting to his partner."

"When I first came here, I lived here with his partner. After they got married, she went to follow the army, and only moved out recently."

"This thermos was left to me by them. Also, the large iron pot inside, the quilts, and so on—we all chipped in to buy them together."

"Cousin Yunting didn't want any of it and said to leave it all for me. Choosing to come to the countryside here was truly the right decision."

"Otherwise, I would have had to squeeze into a small room at the Educated Youth Point with five other people. It's a good thing Sister Bayue was here, or I wouldn't have been able to move out."

"Cousin Yunting must have given me all these things for free without asking for a cent because of this connection."

"Shameless girl. Bayue calls him Cousin, and you call him Cousin too." Mother He certainly knew who Chu Yunting was.

She had seen him several times when she was little.

"What does it matter? I treat Sister Bayue like my own sister, so I'll just call him what she calls him. Do you expect me to call him Comrade Chu or Brother Chu?"

"By the way, where does Bayue live? Take us to see her. We have to see if this girl is really living as well as you say."

"No rush. Mom, you two sleep for a while first. When you wake up, I'll take you over."

"Alright, then we'll go inside and sleep for a while."

"Okay."

He Zining went over to Ba Yuejiao's place to tell her that her parents had arrived.

"Uncle and Aunt are here? Then let's all eat here tonight. When they get back from their trip, it will be the perfect time for them to meet Li Haozi."

"Hehe, that's what I was thinking too. The main thing is that I don't have any good things at home to entertain my parents."

"It's midday, and there's no meat left for sale in the county town."

"Then let's make a big platter dish. You go kill two chickens. I'll take the child to Godmother, and then I'll go prepare the other ingredients."

"Kill two chickens? That's so much." He Zining felt a bit embarrassed.

"There are two pheasants locked up in the woodshed. Go kill those."

"Alrighty."

When she returned, Ba Yuejiao soaked some dried squid, got some dried abalone, and the tiger prawns she had dried earlier.

It would be great to make a spicy dry pot with all that.

Since it's a spicy dry pot, it must have baby cabbage and then tofu puffs.

You have to add plenty of tofu puffs; they soak up the flavor really well when cooked and are super delicious.