That conversation ultimately led nowhere. In the end, Bai Lan still didn’t know Qin Yan’s true feelings. She only had a vague sense that Qin Yan was particularly shocked to learn that Da Tou’s feelings for her weren’t purely platonic.
Seeing this, Bai Lan decided to drop the matter. After all, matters of the heart were personal, and outsiders shouldn’t meddle too much.
Aside from that, the biggest excitement in the compound was still Hu Aihua and Zhu Cheng’s wedding.
After the couple obtained their marriage license, they chose a weekend to hold a simple wedding ceremony.
As a neighbor, even though Bai Lan didn’t want to get involved, she ended up passively watching a simple wedding procession when the groom’s party came to escort the bride.
Those coming to escort the bride were Zhu Cheng’s friends and family. Among them, Fang Baoguo’s wife—Zhu Cheng’s aunt—appeared in the compound for the first time.
When her brother Bai Baowei happened to be there and crossed paths with her, Bai Lan couldn’t even describe the atmosphere.
In short, one looked at the other with pure disgust, while the other acted as if the first didn’t exist.
“Brother, stay far away from these people in the future.”
Watching the bustling Hu household, Bai Lan said to her brother Bai Baowei.
Bai Baowei nodded. To be honest, even now he didn’t know why Fang Baoguo and his wife harbored such hostility toward him. And between the two, Fang Baoguo’s wife’s animosity was even greater. It had been one thing when he was still the second son of the Fang family. But now he was a Bai, and the Fang family’s assets had nothing to do with him.
So, the look in Fang Baoguo’s wife’s eyes when she first entered had left Bai Baowei utterly speechless.
Bai Lan felt the same way. She thought Fang Baoguo’s wife was completely inexplicable.
Just as the siblings were quietly discussing this, a familiar person walked boldly into the compound.
Immediately, a neighbor called out, “Bai Ping, are you here to celebrate the Hu family’s happy occasion?”
Bai Ping flashed a very friendly smile at everyone. “Of course! Zhu Cheng is my sister-in-law’s nephew… Oh, I won’t chat with you now—my sister-in-law is here.”
With that, Bai Ping walked over to Fang Baoguo’s wife, and the two of them huddled together, talking. Their movements and expressions were quite intimate, making Bai Lan frown.
“Brother, do you know when they became so close?”
Bai Baowei was also watching the two of them. He shook his head in response to Bai Lan’s question. “I don’t know. I asked around at the factory, and everyone said that recently, my former sister-in-law has been receiving a lot of phone calls from Beicheng.”
Hearing this, Bai Lan immediately realized something. Could those calls from Beicheng be from Bai Ping? Or perhaps just from Zhu Cheng. But Zhu Cheng was just a nephew—he wouldn’t be calling his aunt that often, would he?
So, Bai Lan was inclined to believe that at least some of those calls from Beicheng were from Bai Ping.
Then what had brought these two together? Other than mutual benefit, there was no other explanation. But what kind of benefit? For the first time, Bai Lan fell into deep thought.
Elsewhere, Bai Ping had finished catching up with Fang Baoguo’s wife. She glanced at Bai Lan and Bai Baowei, then walked over to Widow Hu and, speaking as if she were from the groom’s family, exchanged a few words with her.
Widow Hu was quite a character, chatting with Bai Ping with a smile the whole time. There was no sign of the part she had played years ago in spreading all those bizarre stories about Bai Ping.
But today, Bai Ping wasn’t the star of the show. Everyone’s attention quickly turned to Zhu Cheng, as he pulled out a large bag of wedding candies and began handing them out to the children.
However, Bai Lan’s eldest sister’s two children didn’t participate. It had been agreed that they would treat each other as strangers, so the Bai family wanted nothing to do with anything related to Zhu Cheng. But Zhu Cheng, determined to appear gracious, smiled and asked Widow Hu to deliver the candies to the Bai family.
No one in the Bai family accepted them. Widow Hu, not wanting to delay, quickly had everyone help see the newlyweds off.
“Your family acting like this—Widow Hu will probably badmouth you all over the neighborhood.”
Aunt Wan materialized out of nowhere and spoke to Bai Lan in the tone of a seasoned veteran.
Bai Lan said, “Let her. It’s not like we depend on her for food or clothing.”
Aunt Wan replied, “If I were you, I would have taken the candies. Take whatever benefit comes your way—you don’t have to be friends with Widow Hu.”
Listening to this twisted logic, Bai Lan suddenly felt that the older women in the compound were a hidden well of talent.
Nevertheless, Hu Aihua’s marriage, apart from providing a spectacle, had its biggest impact in sparking another wave of matchmaking fever in the alleyways.
Over the next month, Bai Lan heard daily about who was going on a blind date, who had failed at it, and who had succeeded. In short, there was no end to the entertainment. She couldn’t help but feel that moving back to the compound had its advantages. At the very least, she got to hear fresh matchmaking stories every day.
Compared to Bai Lan’s detached, married-woman’s attitude of just enjoying the show, the parents of the compound’s unmarried young people were beside themselves with anxiety.
The children weren’t in a hurry to find a partner, but their parents were even worse than ants on a hot pan.
Even Bai Lan, a newlywed, had people coming to her door asking her to introduce potential matches.
Bai Lan couldn’t help but complain to Xu Jianbei, “What makes people think I know so many single men and women?”
Xu Jianbei was equally helpless. “Don’t even mention it. Even I’ve had people asking me.”
Bai Lan was surprised. “Who do they want you to introduce?”
Xu Jianbei said, “Cao Changsheng! He’s still single.”
Bai Lan thought about it and realized it made sense. Compared to someone with Da Tou’s disadvantages, Cao Changsheng was practically the perfect catch—tall, rich, and handsome. His parents were both senior researchers and didn’t live with him. He was an only child, his workplace had allocated him an apartment in a multi-story building, and he held a junior leadership position at a factory with tens of thousands of employees. It was only natural that such a desirable prospect would attract attention.
“Anyway, I’ve noticed that people are even competing when it comes to finding a spouse.”
After the couple finished venting to each other, they set about organizing the package they had received.
The package had been sent by Second Brother Xu Jianxi from the island. After the spy case was resolved, Second Brother Xu had returned to the island alone. From there, he regularly sent things home or wrote letters. Compared to the previous seven years of no contact, this was an immense improvement.
The elderly Xu couple were overjoyed because of this. Even when unreliable people came by suggesting they find a match for Xu Jiandong, they no longer got angry.
The package, as usual, was full of seafood—various types of salted fish, dried shrimp, and dried seaweed. Everyone in the family loved these things, and since Bai Lan and her husband hadn’t separated their meals from the Xu family, they stored everything in a cabinet after organizing it.
The strong aroma of the seafood must have been particularly potent, because quite a few neighbors came over to chat. Since there wasn’t much, Bai Lan didn’t share with everyone as she had last time. She just exchanged some small talk with the neighbors, and after finishing her organizing, she locked everything in the cabinet.
Seeing there was nothing to be gained, the gathered crowd gradually dispersed.
“I think I heard someone calling us stingy.”
Bai Lan smiled and nudged Xu Jianbei with her shoulder. Xu Jianbei shrugged helplessly. “Whatever. Second Brother went to a lot of trouble to send these. I really wouldn’t want to give them away.”
The couple chatted and laughed as they prepared to go inside. Then they heard Da Tou’s voice from across the courtyard wall.
Before Bai Lan could react, Xu Jianbei had already heard Da Tou’s running footsteps.
“Brother Bei…”
Da Tou came scurrying over, clutching a small cloth bag, looking as furtive as a thief.
“What are you doing?” Xu Jianbei asked, exasperated.
Da Tou said, “I heard that Second Brother Xu sent some seafood. So I was thinking…” He trailed off, embarrassed.
Bai Lan asked, “You want to trade for some seafood for your father to eat?”
Da Tou nodded repeatedly. He knew how precious these things were. But his father truly loved this particular taste. During the New Year, when Second Brother Xu had returned and Bai Lan had brought some dried seaweed to their home, his father had eaten it with a ravenous appetite, praising it endlessly.
Now that the weather was getting hot, his father’s appetite had worsened again. Da Tou had been especially worried. When he heard the commotion from the back courtyard and learned that Second Brother Xu had sent another package of seafood, he had swallowed his pride and come over.
Seeing how filial he was, Bai Lan looked at Xu Jianbei.
Xu Jianbei thought for a moment and said, “There are a lot of people in our family, but we can trade you some. However, if Uncle Ning really likes this stuff, you should find out who at the transport company drives the coastal routes. That’s how you’ll be able to get more.”
Da Tou understood this logic, but he hadn’t yet been able to make connections with those people at the transport company. So, for now, he had no choice but to shamelessly impose on Brother Bei.
“Brother Bei, I understand. Just trade me some dried shrimp, that’s all. And you have to take my money.”
Xu Jianbei smiled. “Of course I’ll take it. Even brothers settle accounts clearly.”
The two of them chatted and laughed as they quickly made the exchange.
Watching Da Tou’s light-footed figure retreat, Bai Lan couldn’t help but sigh. “He’s truly filial.”
Ever since he was old enough to understand that his father was paralyzed, he had been taking care of him. To be honest, Bai Lan deeply admired him.
Xu Jianbei knew this too. He thought for a moment and said, “How about I check with Mom, and we secretly give some dried seaweed to Da Tou’s family?”
Dried seaweed was cheap and had come in large quantities. It was the most appropriate thing to give away.
Bai Lan nodded. After watching Xu Jianbei whisper with her mother-in-law for a while, he took a bundle of dried seaweed from the cabinet.
“Come on, let’s go give it to him. We can also buy soy sauce at the supply and marketing cooperative on the way.”
The couple grabbed their soy sauce bottle and walked to the front courtyard.
There wasn’t anyone in the front courtyard; everyone was busy inside their homes. But you could hear the murmur of people talking.
This wasn’t Bai Lan’s first time at the Ning home, but every time she came, she felt particularly oppressed. The main reason was that the layout of the reversed room was already dark and gloomy. Plus, Uncle Ning had been paralyzed for years, so the hygiene naturally couldn’t be as good as that of a normal home. As a result, the Ning home had a certain smell.
Xu Jianbei called Da Tou out from the doorway.
But Ning Ma warmly invited the couple inside.
Since she insisted, they couldn’t very well stay at the doorstep. So, the couple stepped into the Ning home.
As soon as they entered, they could see Uncle Ning lying on a wooden board. He nodded at them and spoke in a hoarse voice that made one’s skin crawl.
Da Tou, hearing the commotion, came out from the inner room. Xu Jianbei smiled and handed over the bundle of dried seaweed.
“I just missed giving this to you earlier.”
Da Tou wanted to refuse, feeling he couldn’t keep taking advantage. But Uncle Ning had already chuckled, “Thank you, thank you. I know you’re a promising young man. This stuff is especially delicious—I have no appetite, but when I eat this, it really whets my appetite.”
Bai Lan tugged at Xu Jianbei’s sleeve, signaling that they should leave quickly. She felt increasingly uncomfortable.
Xu Jianbei didn’t want to linger either. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he said, “We need to go buy soy sauce. The family is waiting to use it.”
Hearing this, the Ning family warmly saw them out.
As Bai Lan turned to leave, she noticed something. Thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, she rubbed them.
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