The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 145: Results, Selling the Game_1

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Results, Selling the Game_1

Once they were in Qi Xiaoyan’s room, Qi Xiaoyan poured He Tiantian a cup of water from the thermos.

"Sister Tiantian, drink some water," Qi Xiaoyan offered, grabbing a handful of her homemade roasted pumpkin seeds and placing them on the table. "My mom made them, they’re really tasty."

He Tiantian didn’t stand on ceremony, and after drinking the water, she joined Qi Xiaoyan in cracking pumpkin seeds.

"Xiao Yan, just now Aunt Liang said there are some girls who can’t walk straight when they see a man—who was she talking about?" He Tiantian asked curiously, with nothing better to do, she began to gossip.

Gossip wasn’t the exclusive domain of middle-aged and elderly women like Liang Hongyu or Third Grandma Qi. He Tiantian and Qi Xiaoyan were also quite good at it. They just never talked outside; they only chatted with each other in private.

Without entertainment activities, talking about the east neighbor and the west neighbor became everyone’s pastime and topic of jokes.

"Hehe, I knew you would ask," Qi Xiaoyan laughed. "It’s Qi Fangfang and Qi Fenfen, that pair of cousins!"

As soon as it was about Qi Fangfang and Qi Fenfen, He Tiantian became even more interested.

"Come on, spill it, don’t keep me in suspense," He Tiantian said with interest. To know your enemies, to know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles, so He Tiantian wanted to know more.

Seeing He Tiantian’s interest, Qi Xiaoyan "cough cough" cleared her throat and said, "It was during the days you went back to Nan City. The promotional team from the unit came to our village. They showed a movie on the first day, which everyone went to see. The next morning, they started singing songs to encourage and thank the villagers for their hard work over the past year. One of the accordion players got sick and couldn’t accompany the music, so Li Mingkai volunteered to go on stage to help out. Li Mingkai was dressed neatly, and he’s quite handsome, so the young wives and girls in the audience were blushing and their hearts were fluttering. Qi Fangfang and Qi Fenfen, the two cousins, started arguing over a good spot right in public. Anyway, it was quite an ugly scene, and everyone was laughing at them behind their backs!"

He Tiantian was taken aback and then laughed, "It’s like that? What do you think about Li Mingkai?"

He Tiantian didn’t care how lovesick Qi Fangfang and Qi Fenfen were; after all, those girls were her competition. He Tiantian was certainly not a saint; she would rather they all got into trouble because of Li Mingkai, that ungrateful and heartless man!

But it wasn’t the same for Qi Xiaoyan!

Now, He Tiantian considered her a good friend, and for Qi Xiaoyan’s sake, she had not only put in effort but also a lot of blood, just hoping Qi Xiaoyan could have a healthy body and a clever mind. She was so conscientious that if Qi Xiaoyan still fell into the trap Li Mingkai had woven, He Tiantian didn’t know what she would do next!

Qi Xiaoyan just laughed and said, "I don’t think there’s anything special, he just plays the accordion well, nothing else stands out to me."

Good, she hadn’t been fooled!

It seemed that the previous strategy of isolating Qi Xiaoyan and distracting her had been the right move, and it would continue to be executed properly in the future!

"You can’t judge a book by its cover," He Tiantian said. "Li Mingkai is not serious about his work in the village, and he’s very close with Lin Xiaoru and Huang Jingli. A man is known by the company he keeps; they’re probably not good people either."

He Tiantian was really trying her best!

She wasn’t exactly slandering Li Mingkai’s image; in a way, she was just telling the truth ahead of time.

Qi Xiaoyan nodded in agreement, "You can tell he’s just a pretty boy, not reliable at all!"

Hearing Qi Xiaoyan’s words, He Tiantian felt relieved and at the same time, she couldn’t help but mock internally, in your past life, you were the one who got ruined by this pretty boy.

"Who said that?" He Tiantian asked, wanting to know if others had also noticed Li Mingkai’s true nature.

"My mom said that Li Mingkai was very popular on stage that day, and she mentioned, ’Such a man attracts bees and butterflies, he’s not the type to settle down peacefully.’" Qi Xiaoyan said, telling He Tiantian everything. With the guidance of parents and good friends, she wouldn’t foolishly fancy Li Mingkai anymore.

The two sisters chatted about a lot, and it wasn’t until almost noon that He Tiantian finally returned home.

In the afternoon, He Tiantian fried a lot of pine nuts with the help of Third Grandma Qi. The hare meat wasn’t ready yet and couldn’t be sent temporarily, they would wait until they had prepared more before sending it off.

Five pounds for mom and dad, ten pounds for Huo Yingjie. They also kept a few pounds at home to snack on from time to time.

Pine nuts are high in oil content, tasty, and have a multitude of uses.

That evening, Qi Xiaoyan came over to tell He Tiantian about going to the commune together the next day, as Secretary Qi had already agreed.

"Sister Tiantian, you have no idea, those traps that Comrade Zuo and Comrade Xiang dug up caught three wild boars, dozens of rabbits, and over twenty pheasants! My dad arranged for two team leaders to follow Comrade Zuo and Comrade Xiang to other places to set traps, aiming to catch more game. My dad also arranged for Er Gou Brother and a few of the village’s cart drivers to go to the county supply and marketing cooperative to sell things. Tomorrow we’ll hurry on two ox carts, which should be enough for us to sit in," Qi Xiaoyan explained eagerly.

He Tiantian was also surprised that the village people could catch so much stuff.

"That’s great, at the end of this year, everyone will be able to get a bit more money," He Tiantian smiled, "those who should give betrothal gifts will give them, those who should celebrate will celebrate. Right, those who should speak well of their wife should do that well."

"Yeah, this year my family will definitely find a wife for my brother," Qi Xiaoyan said with conviction, believing in her heart that her second brother was the best and deserved the best girl.

"With this money, plus your family’s and your second brother’s, there should be more than enough," He Tiantian agreed, wanting to add a word about Niu Lili. But then, matters of matchmaking are delicate—when things turn out well, you’re praised for good matching; if not, you also bear the blame.

When she sees Niu Lili tomorrow, she will drop a few hints of praise, and with Qi Xiaoyan’s temperament, she’s bound to give it some extra thought.

Ah, enough of these concerns, she has enough of her own problems to worry about, why bother fretting over others’ matrimonial affairs!

After Qi Xiaoyan left, He Tiantian wrote two lengthy letters, then sewed them into the parcels, triple-checking to ensure that she didn’t mix up the packages before she could go to bed with peace of mind.

The next day, it was still dark.

He Tiantian put on the thick fur coat that Third Grandma Qi had provided and sat in the swinging ox cart.

Qi Xiaoyan did the same, wrapped in thick clothing against the cold.

Sister Wu, Wang Lei, and others, eager to return home, didn’t feel the cold.

Last time everybody went to the county town, the mood was heavy with anxiety; this time, everyone was very happy!

As they approached the county town and daylight began to break, all their spirits lifted significantly.

Village Chief Qi arranged for someone to take Sister Wu, Wang Lei, and others to the train station, while he left He Tiantian and Qi Xiaoyan at the doorstep of the post office. He then went with Qi Ergou and other villagers to the agricultural and sideline products purchasing station.

Today Village Chief Qi was very busy and had no time to accompany his daughter to the hospital, but since He Tiantian was there, he felt at ease letting his daughter go to the hospital without him.