Chapter 21: The Grand Wedding

Even though Li Sheng was by nature a cold and reserved man, always disciplined and old-fashioned, Tang Xin's words still stirred gentle ripples in his heart.

At last, he was getting married; he was finally going to take a wife...

A simple rural wedding was just one part of it. The main thing was, Tang Xin's parents probably wouldn’t come to the wedding. Fortunately, Tang Xin was not someone who cared much for outward appearances. What truly concerned her now was whether she should pay a formal visit to the Li family.

If she were to visit the Li family, then as the future daughter-in-law, she still had to observe proper etiquette.

So, Tang Xin decided she would go to the county seat to buy gifts.

This era was precisely the time of the communes, so what used to be called townships were now known as communes. The former villages had become production brigades, and her current location was the Fengshou Brigade of Wuxing Commune, Qinghu County.

The last time, Tang Xin had already gone with Li Sheng. From the brigade to the commune took over an hour on foot, a bit faster by bicycle—just over half an hour.

There were vehicles from the commune to the county seat, after all. Tang Xin was not a countryside girl by birth in this era, so traveling alone to the county was manageable for her.

But Li Sheng was not at ease. Their relationship was different now, and a young woman like Tang Xin traveling alone to the county might not be entirely safe.

It just so happened that he had completed a mission, and the brigade leader, always concerned about Li Sheng’s marriage, simply waved his hand and gave him a half-month leave to settle his family affairs.

In any case, the brigade only needed to send a vehicle once or twice a month. If anything came up, they could always call on Li Sheng.

This suited him perfectly. If they were truly to marry, there would be plenty to keep him busy. Even if circumstances didn’t allow for a grand wedding, for that enchanting, almost otherworldly woman, he refused to let her be wronged.

So the two of them set off together for the county. It happened that Old Mrs. Li also wanted her son to buy some good things in town, so that when her daughter-in-law moved in, she wouldn’t find the household too unfamiliar.

Luckily, Li Sheng was there to lead the way. Although the original owner of this body had once traveled the road from county seat to brigade during her assignment to the countryside, at that time, she had been full of resentment and had traveled with a large group, so she didn’t remember the route at all.

Li Sheng, who often drove the route, knew it like the back of his hand. Once they reached the commune, he quickly guided Tang Xin to the bus station, where they boarded a bus to the county seat.

The bus wasn’t full; not many people were traveling to the county that day. A ticket cost five cents.

Tang Xin already knew that five cents was not a trivial amount in this era; it could accomplish many things.

They chose two seats side by side in the middle. Li Sheng let Tang Xin take the seat by the window. "If you start to feel unwell, just open the window a crack."

Because of poor road conditions, dust would be kicked up as the bus traveled, so conductors generally kept the windows closed.

Tang Xin smiled sweetly at Li Sheng and replied, "Alright, Brother Li Sheng, you’re so good to me."

In her previous life, she had never been carsick, but with this body, Tang Xin wasn’t sure. And the roads in the early seventies were guaranteed to be bumpy and full of potholes, so she really couldn’t be certain she wouldn’t get sick this time.

After a while, the number of passengers increased a little, but the bus still wasn’t full.

Just as she had imagined, the road was terrible. The bus wasn’t going fast, but the jostling was relentless.

Tang Xin wasn’t carsick, but the air inside was thick with all sorts of complicated odors, making her feel worse than if she had been.

Quietly, she opened the window a sliver. At that moment, Li Sheng reached over and handed her a tangerine.

Fruits were scarce in this era, and this wasn’t even a region where tangerines were grown. It was the first time Tang Xin had seen a tangerine since arriving here.

The scent of the peel really did make her feel better. She smiled at Li Sheng again. "Brother Li Sheng, luckily I have you."

Though Li Sheng didn’t say anything, the brightness in his dark eyes betrayed his good mood.

Tang Xin, inwardly, could only sigh. She hoped her farm would upgrade soon, so she could grow apples and tangerines before long.

Recently, her Happy Farm had leveled up several times. Now she could plant rice and wheat, as well as tomatoes and jujubes.

The main thing was, the warehouse not only stored produce but also had refrigeration. Last time, her future mother-in-law had made her an egg pancake, and when Tang Xin couldn’t finish it that night and didn’t want to waste it—just as Meng Jia returned home, and not wanting the troublesome woman to get it—she simply stored it in her farm space.

She forgot about it until two days later, but the pancake was still perfectly fresh.

That was when she realized the warehouse’s amazing preservation function. Tang Xin grew more and more confident about her life in this era.

Once rice and wheat were sown, besides periodic weeding, fertilizing, and watering, everything else could be done with a single click—sow all at once, harvest all at once.

In this era, storing harvested rice and wheat in the warehouse was like saving currency in the bank.

She needed a few more upgrades before she could plant fruit, but every time she planted ordinary crops, one of the six plots on the farm would automatically grow pasture grass.

At first, Tang Xin didn’t understand why; when she played Happy Farm in the past, there was no such crop.

After several harvests, she realized that the pasture grass must be preparation for a future Happy Ranch.

She could almost see herds of cattle and sheep grazing—her mouth was watering at the thought.

For her, that meant an abundance of meat.

The land had already been upgraded to open up another plot, so she believed the ranch would be unlocked soon.

What’s more, she’d received several upgrade gift packs—besides the first novice pack, which was all fruit, later ones contained plenty of candy and biscuits, truly valuable things in this time.

The bus took a full two hours to reach the county seat. Tang Xin overheard two people chatting in the row ahead; they seemed to be regulars on this route. They said today was lucky—usually, the bus would break down halfway, and it could take three or four hours to get to the county.

Before boarding, Tang Xin had inspected the vehicle. It looked so battered, it was probably a cast-off from some other place, assigned to this small county only after being retired elsewhere.

Ah, in such a poor, backward era, how was she to improve her own life, and that of the people?

Li Sheng could see that Tang Xin was growing uncomfortable, and quickly helped her off the bus. The air outside was much better.

Tang Xin took a deep breath. "I need some water," she said.

Of course, this was nothing like the future, where you could just stroll down the street and buy a cup of milk tea.

That was out of the question.

Even soft drinks were nonexistent.

But she had her own Doraemon. To her surprise, Li Sheng even took out a water cup from the satchel he carried with him. The water inside was no longer hot, but it was just what Tang Xin needed to help soothe her discomfort.