I was reborn after my cousin stole my life.

Chapter 17: You won't regret it, will you?

"You're such a thoughtful girl," Zhou's mother said, her eyes lighting up.

"Mom, are you ready? Shall we go?" At this moment, Zhou Lei walked in.

Zhou's mother said in a strong voice, "Why would I leave? I'm not leaving! I'll stay here and live with you all."

Zhou Lei was stunned. Why did he suddenly decide to do something like this?

"Xiaohua is still in our hometown. If you don't go back, who will take care of her?"

"Have your older brother bring it to me. I'll take care of the child here from now on!" Seeing her son's troubled expression, Zhou's mother glared at him: "What, you don't want to? Aren't you disgusted with me and Xiaohua?"

"That's not what I meant. I was just worried you wouldn't be used to it."

"What's there to be unaccustomed to? Your mother isn't destined for hardship. I'm already so old, can't I enjoy a few more years of happiness with you? I see all the other kids in this compound are going to kindergarten at the military base. They look so clever, they can sing and dance. When Xiaohua comes, let her go to that kindergarten too, so our Xiaohua can be a city kid for once."

Zhou's mother pulled her son into the house to chat, and as she closed the door, she said to Yuan Xiu, "Daughter, I'm not leaving. We can chat sometime later."

Yuan Xiu nodded with a smile.

As soon as the door closed, her smile faded, and she glanced towards the second floor.

……

The store didn't have many kinds of vegetables, and the sales clerk had to rummage through them for a while before she found a bag of cabbage and radish seeds.

"If you want to buy vegetable seeds, you still have to go to the farmers' market in the city. Here, apart from those who live on the first floor or have a yard, not many families grow vegetables. I only have these two packets of seeds. I remember that I brought them back with me when I went to the city to buy goods before."

Yuan Xiu gave the money, thanked her, and took the vegetable seeds to the small courtyard.

As I was bending over to plant vegetables in the field, someone knocked on the courtyard gate.

Yuan Xiu got up and looked over. Guiying, whom she had met once before, was standing in the half-closed doorway, smiling at her.

"Come in, sister-in-law."

As Guiying's sister-in-law entered, she said, "I didn't believe it when my husband told me that Battalion Commander Jiang was moving next door, but seeing you, I finally believe it. What are you planting?"

"Plant some radishes and cabbages."

"You only grow these two things?"

"These are the only two types available in the store. I'll go to the farmers' market to buy some more when I have time to go into town."

"Why buy these seeds? You should ask me. I have some at home. I'll go get them for you right now."

Sister-in-law Guiying left in a hurry, and soon returned with a bag of vegetable seeds, handing it to Yuan Xiu.

Yuan Xiu took a look and saw that there were quite a few varieties. She selected a few that were in season and returned the rest to Sister Guiying, but she refused, saying, "Keep them. My father-in-law has used the yard to grow medicinal herbs, so I won't need them."

Yuan Xiu then learned that Guiying's father-in-law used to be an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor. In the past two years, he had gotten old and had difficulty walking, so he was brought to live with them. The medicinal herbs in their house were dried by him.

"My father-in-law used to be very capable. Back when he practiced medicine in our county, many people would travel from far and wide to see him. But later he couldn't do it anymore and dared not treat people. He could only go back to the countryside to farm. All those years of ups and downs have made him very temperamental. If you see him in the future and he says something unpleasant, don't take it to heart. Just think of him as an old man who is not thinking clearly anymore."

Yuan Xiu nodded with a smile.

Seeing that the sun was almost up, Sister-in-law Guiying was about to go back to cook. "Why don't you come to my house for lunch? Don't go to the canteen."

Yuan Xiu smiled and declined, "No, sister-in-law, I have some things to do after I finish my work."

"Are you having dinner with Battalion Commander Jiang?" Guiying's sister-in-law teased.

Yuan Xiu didn't explain; she was just embarrassed to go to her neighbor's house for dinner after only meeting him twice, so she made up an excuse.

The furniture from the logistics department was delivered that afternoon, along with two young logistics soldiers who helped move and lift it.

Yuan Xiu didn't need to lift a finger; the young soldier helped her arrange everything.

Yuan Xiu spent the afternoon packing and made several trips to the service store to buy some necessities.

As for the rest, she didn't have any tickets or much money in her pocket, so she could only wait for Jiang Zhou to come back and see what he would do.

Jiangzhou reappeared when the materials for building the toilet at his home were delivered.

He found three fellow villagers nearby, who provided both the labor and materials, and had them work for three days straight to finish building the toilet.

When Sister-in-law Guiying came to visit, she looked around inside and out and said, "This toilet is well-built. People living in the building will all be envious when they see it."

Yuan Xiu admitted that there was nothing to envy about the toilets in the apartment buildings she lived in now.

So many families live on one floor, but there are only a few toilets. When you go to the toilet, there are people next to you, and the smell is absolutely indescribable.

She had experienced it once before when she visited Sister Chunmei's house.

After spending a few days with her, Yuan Xiu discovered that Jiang Zhou was much more particular than she was.

Take this toilet for example. She originally thought it would be a dry toilet, but Jiangzhou spent a lot of money to buy pipes to connect it to the public toilet outside and even installed a flush pump.

For the past three days, I've spent most of my time digging holes outside.

"The marriage application has been approved." Jiang Zhou handed the letter of introduction, which indicated that the two had received organizational approval, to Yuan Xiu. "If you have no objections, let's go get the marriage certificate first thing tomorrow morning, and then go to the city to buy what we need."

Yuan Xiu stared blankly at the letter of introduction in her hand, not giving Jiang Zhou any reaction for a long time.

"You won't regret it, will you?"

"What?"

Looking up, Yuan Xiu realized that Jiang Zhou was staring at her expressionlessly. She thought to herself, "I still dare to say I regret it... this man..."

This person would likely say very calmly, "If you regret it, that's fine. I'll buy you a ticket and take you back tomorrow."

"No, I won't regret it."

Jiang Zhou's lips curled up almost imperceptibly. "Think carefully about what you want to buy. It's best to make a list so you don't forget anything. I'll be very busy after my honeymoon."

Yuan Xiu understood what he meant; after her honeymoon ended, he wouldn't have time to accompany her into the city.

Since he said that, he must not be short of money and tickets. After returning to the guesthouse, Yuan Xiu borrowed paper and pen from the front desk and carefully made a list of the essential daily necessities for a household.

While Yuan Xiu was making a list on the table in the guesthouse, the old lady next door was talking to her son.

"Why go to the city? Things are so expensive there, everything costs money."

"We can't just not buy them some clothes, can we?"

"Go to the shop and buy her a set of fabric to make!"

"And then there are shoes, we need to buy a pair of leather shoes..."

"You might as well eat me! Leather shoes? Does she think she's some kind of goddess? Can't she wear cloth shoes?"

"Mom, in our army, who buys cloth shoes for their bride when she gets married? If people see that, I'll lose face."

"...If you want to buy it, I'll go with you tomorrow!"

"...Alright then."