ICCFVHR 15

Chapter 15

Husband and Wife

The woman took out a large red ink pad from beside her, opened the lid, and pointed to the spot on the marriage certificate. “Press your thumbprints, right next to your names. Both of you need to press.”

Lu Shiyan extended his thumb first, pressed it down firmly on the ink pad, and then pressed it steadily right next to his name.

The bright red print was exceptionally conspicuous. Landing on the snow-white paper, it exuded an air of celebration.

He pushed the ink pad over to Su Wanqing, saying softly, “Slow down, don’t get it smeared on your hands.”

Looking at that box of vivid red ink pad, Su Wanqing suddenly felt a bit nervous, her heart rate quickening by a few beats.

She extended her thumb and pressed it gently onto the ink pad, her fingertip stained with a patch of red.

Then, she carefully pressed her hand right next to her name, happening to flank Lu Shiyan’s thumbprint. The two red thumbprints pressed tightly against each other, looking like an inseparable couple.

The woman picked up the marriage certificates, checked them carefully, and after confirming there were no issues, she picked up the official seal and stamped down heavily on them.

The vivid red official seal, stamped onto the marriage certificates, instantly brought a sense of ritual.

She handed one of them to Lu Shiyan and the other to Su Wanqing, a hint of a smile appearing on her face. “Alright, from today onward, you two are a legally wedded couple. Congratulations.”

Su Wanqing took the bright red marriage certificate, lowering her head to inspect it closely.

Written on it was her name, written on it was Lu Shiyan’s name, along with today’s registration date. The large red official seal was stamped right in the middle, vivid and striking, looking exceptionally celebratory.

She stared at it for a good long while before carefully folding it up and placing it into her innermost pocket, terrified of ruining it.

Lu Shiyan also put away his own portion, holding her hand once again, his tone gentle, “Let’s go, I’ll take you to stroll through the supply and marketing cooperative.”

The two came out of the commune compound and stood at the entrance. The sun shone down upon them with a cozy warmth, and the wind blew gently, making them feel exceptionally comfortable.

Su Wanqing turned her head to look at Lu Shiyan, suddenly breaking into a smile, her tone carrying a hint of disbelief, “Lu Shiyan, the two of us, are we really husband and wife now?”

Looking at her bright eyes, Lu Shiyan’s lips curled up incredibly high as well, nodding firmly, “Mm, we are really husband and wife now, legally.”

Su Wanqing blinked, deliberately tilting her chin up as she said, “Since we are husband and wife, then you have to listen to me from now on. My dad used to listen to my mom in everything.”

Lu Shiyan let out a low chuckle, squeezing her hand, “Alright, no problem. I’ll listen to you in everything from now on. If you say go east, I’ll absolutely never go west.”

Su Wanqing smiled with satisfaction, pulling his hand as she ran toward the direction of the supply and marketing cooperative, “Wonderful! Let’s go, let’s go to the supply and marketing cooperative, I want to buy lots and lots of things.”

The two walked along the street. Su Wanqing watched and questioned everything along the way, full of curiosity.

“What kind of shop is that? What does it sell?” she asked, pointing at a small shop by the roadside.

“That’s a shoe repair shop, specifically for repairing shoes. If your shoes break, you go there to get them fixed,” Lu Shiyan explained patiently.

She then pointed to another building where people were lining up, “What about there? Why is that line so long?”

“That’s a non-staple food store. They probably got in some rare goods, so everyone is rushing over to grab them,” Lu Shiyan said.

Su Wanqing tugged his arm, “Then shouldn’t we go line up too? Let’s see what kind of good stuff it is.”

“No need,” Lu Shiyan shook his head. “The supply and marketing cooperative has it too, just a little bit more expensive, but there’s no need to line up, saving us from wasting time for our stroll.”

Lu Shiyan felt a bit strange in his heart. These things should be stuff Su Wanqing had seen before when she lived in the city, so why did she seem like a little girl who had never stepped foot out of her village now, knowing absolutely nothing about anything?

He naturally didn’t know that the current Su Wanqing’s soul had long been swapped out. She was a transmigrator, finding everything about this era fresh and novel.

Arriving at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative, Su Wanqing stopped her steps, gripping the doorframe to peer inside.

The supply and marketing cooperative was very large. Inside stood rows upon rows of glass counters, which displayed all kinds of goods: fabrics, fruit candies, cigarettes and alcohol, soap, matches, kerosene lamps… everything one could possibly need was there, making her eyes glaze over.

Lu Shiyan pulled her inside. Behind the counter stood a saleswoman in her thirties, with permed curly hair, wearing a white shirt. She was currently cracking melon seeds, a look of impatience written all over her face.

Seeing someone enter, she lifted her eyelids slightly, her tone perfunctory, “What are you buying?”

Lu Shiyan walked to the front of the counter, his tone straightforward, “Weigh two catties of fruit candies, and two catties of White Rabbit creamy candies.”

The saleswoman froze for a moment, sizing Lu Shiyan up from head to toe, her tone carrying a hint of surprise, “Two catties of White Rabbit? That’s high-grade candy, it’s not cheap. Are you sure?”

Lu Shiyan didn’t speak. He pulled a stack of cash and coupons from his pocket, counted them out, placed them on the counter, and said flatly, “Sure. Please make it quick.”

Seeing that stack of cash and coupons, the saleswoman’s eyes instantly lit up, a smile immediately piling up across her face as she stopped cracking her melon seeds, “Right away, right away, I’ll weigh them for you right now, please wait a moment.”

She turned around to fetch the candies, weighing them carefully with the scale, wrapping them separately with brown paper, and handed them before them, “Two catties of fruit candies, two catties of White Rabbit. A total of eight yuan and sixty cents, plus three catties of sugar coupons.”

Lu Shiyan paid the cash and coupons, handing the two packages of candy to Su Wanqing.

Holding the two packages of candy, Su Wanqing’s smile curled her eyes into little crescent moons, and she even brought them close to her nose to take a sniff, “Smells so good, they must be very sweet.”

“What else do you want to buy?” Lu Shiyan looked at her, his eyes entirely filled with indulgence. “Just say the word.”

Holding the candy, Su Wanqing strolled unhurriedly in front of the counter, looking at this and touching that.

“We also need to buy red paper.” She pointed to the red paper inside the counter, saying, “Getting married always requires pasting double happiness characters, right? But we don’t have our own house right now, we can’t exactly paste them on the cowshed or the youth point, can we?”

Lu Shiyan nodded, asking the saleswoman to fetch two sheets of red paper, saying with a smile, “If you like it, just buy it. As for where to paste them, you’ll find out in a bit.”

Su Wanqing blinked, not probing deeply either, and pointed at the melon seeds and peanuts to say, “We also need to buy melon seeds and peanuts to distribute to everyone back in the brigade to eat, sharing in the good fortune.”

Lu Shiyan asked the saleswoman to weigh another two catties of melon seeds and two catties of peanuts.

“We also need to buy cigarettes,” Su Wanqing added. “For the men in the brigade to smoke, we can’t leave them out.”

Lu Shiyan bought another two cartons of Daqianmen cigarettes, placing them on the counter.

Su Wanqing suddenly caught sight of the fabrics inside the counter, her eyes instantly lighting up, “I want to buy a piece of fabric to make a new garment. Getting married always requires having a new piece of clothing, right?”

Lu Shiyan followed her gaze to look over. It was a fabric with a red background and a floral pattern; the color was bright, and the pattern was beautiful, very suitable for a young girl to wear.

“Buy it,” he agreed without even thinking about it. “As long as you like it.”

Su Wanqing then caught sight of a plain piece of blue fabric next to it, pointing at it as she said, “This piece is also nice, to make a shirt for you. You always wear old clothes, it’s about time you add a new piece too.”

Lu Shiyan froze for a moment, unable to believe his ears, “For me?”

“Yeah.” Su Wanqing said as a matter of course, “You’re my man. Me making a shirt for you, isn’t that exactly how it should be?”

Looking at her, Lu Shiyan’s gaze softened entirely in an instant.

This little temptress had never kept him in her thoughts before, yet now she was actually thinking about making new clothes for him. This feeling of being kept in someone’s thoughts was truly wonderful.

He nodded with a smile, “Alright, everything is up to you.”