Chapter 645 - 660

"Then I’ll just tell Jiang Xia I’m not getting married."

That one sentence left Jiang Xia, who was just walking in, frozen at the doorway, unsure whether to enter or leave.

When Lin Cuihua saw Jiang Xia, she gave An Ning a light smack, as if by reflex.

"Nonsense. Jiang Xia, come in. Pay her no mind."

"Auntie."

Jiang Xia came in, feigning a wronged expression, and placed the fabric he was holding on the kang bed.

"Auntie, what do you think of this fabric?"

"Oh my, it’s beautiful!"

An Ning’s eye twitched as she looked at the fabric, which was covered in large peonies.

She shot Jiang Xia a look that screamed, ’You’re sacrificing your future wife just to suck up to your future mother-in-law!’

Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow smugly. The message was clear: pleasing his mother-in-law was extremely important.

An Ning gave up on her game of cards. Lin Cuihua, clutching the new fabric, went out to find someone to make it into a quilt.

Hei Dan’er perceptively took his two younger brothers outside to play. An Ning and Jiang Xia left the house and went to the backyard to talk.

There was a small pavilion in the backyard, with a fish pond built next to it. When the two of them came out, Da Huang and Xiao Lang were working together to catch a fish.

"Da Huang! You’re going after my fish again!"

At An Ning’s shout, Da Huang quickly retreated while Xiao Lang moved forward to block her path. Their coordination was flawless.

"Xiao Lang, whose wolf are you, anyway?"

"AWOO—"

Xiao Lang rubbed his body against An Ning’s pant leg, as if to say, ’It’s just one fish!’

"Is it just one fish? I had twenty koi in here, and now there are only three left!"

Knowing he was in the wrong, Xiao Lang lowered his head and started drawing circles on the ground with one paw.

"Don’t you try that with me. I’m not falling for it."

Seeing that acting pitiful clearly wasn’t working, Xiao Lang dropped the act and ran off with a flick of his tail.

"Look at them—"

"I’ll go talk to them. How about I punish them by not letting them eat?"

Jiang Xia’s perfunctory offer earned him a cold snort from An Ning.

"You’re all in this together."

An Ning huffed and sat down on a stool under the pavilion. Jiang Xia sat across from her.

"How about I catch them for you, and you can give them a beating?"

"I want to beat you."

An Ning would never have the heart to actually hit those two.

Hearing this, Jiang Xia grabbed a nearby broom and said, "Here you go. When do you want to do it?"

"Get lost!"

That "Get lost!" made Jiang Xia stop joking. He put the broom down.

"I’m heading back to Beijing tomorrow. I should be back in about a week. Do you want to go?"

"No. As a bride-to-be, I need to stay home and prepare peacefully."

"The wedding is still a month away."

"I know. I don’t want to go, and I don’t want to move."

Ever since leaving the research institute, An Ning had been in a state of languor. In her own words, her brain needed a rest.

Of course, Jiang Xia wouldn’t force her. The two had decided to get married three months ago, and Jiang Xia hadn’t even needed to propose.

One day, when An Ning came out of her lab, Jiang Xia was there to pick her up, bringing her a late-night snack as usual.

While eating the snack in the passenger seat, An Ning suddenly turned to Jiang Xia and asked, "Jiang Xia, let’s get married, okay?"

Jiang Xia was so shocked he let go of the steering wheel. Luckily, it was the middle of the night and there were no other cars on the road, so a traffic accident was avoided.

An Ning, however, looked at him calmly and asked, "You don’t want to marry me?"

"I do! I do, I really do!"

How could Jiang Xia dare say no? He just didn’t understand why An Ning had suddenly decided she wanted to get married.

An Ning held up the pan-fried bun in her hand, took a bite, and after swallowing, said, "I was craving a pan-fried bun in the middle of the night."

And so, because of a pan-fried bun, Jiang Xia and An Ning decided to get married.

By that time, the An family’s house had also been built.

When the two of them decided to get married, their families naturally had no objections. In fact, they were incredibly supportive.

They had someone consult the calendar for an auspicious date, and with the date chosen, their wedding was now a month away.

An Ning had been staying in her hometown, and Jiang Xia spent most of his time there with her, though he occasionally went to Beijing to handle some business.

In the pavilion, An Ning idly fed the fish while Jiang Xia sat beside her with a small box, cracking walnuts for her.

One cracked, the other ate. It was a perfectly harmonious scene.

After eating for a while, she’d had enough walnuts. An Ning half-reclined in a rocking chair to watch TV, while Jiang Xia sat nearby, working on his laptop.

They didn’t talk much, but there was a sense of destiny about them, as if this was exactly how things were meant to be.

In the evening, Jiang Xia went back next door.

The Jiang family and the An family were still neighbors. This time, when the houses were built, a separate one for An Ning and Jiang Xia was constructed as well.

Their house was situated between the An family’s home and Grandpa Jiang’s place, with its own small courtyard, serving as their future home in the village.

The An family’s new house was a bit different from the last one they’d built. This time, the foundation was higher, and it resembled a modern-style courtyard house.

Furthermore, each family home had its own independent courtyard, unlike before when they were all in one.

The row of new courtyard houses—with their blue bricks, gray tiles, and white walls—was a beautiful sight to behold. While each family’s gate was unique, they all shared a similar style. Many other villagers even began to model their own rebuilt homes after the An family’s courtyards.

The Shili Gou of today was like a new model village, beautiful and prosperous.

After a year of rest and recovery, the An family’s greenhouses and mountain plots were all up and running again.

An Guoqing was still in charge of animal husbandry, raising fat pigs, free-range chickens, roaming sheep, and grass-fed cattle. He even brought in a few horses for no other reason than Hei Dan’er wanting to ride one.

For the sake of these horses, the An family even planted a small pasture. The horses spent their days leisurely grazing, well-fed and well-cared for.

During that year, Yin Xuemei successfully gave birth to a daughter, which made An Guoming so happy he was grinning from ear to ear every day.

Lin Cuihua was also delighted. She already had three grandsons.

Any grandmother who has raised boys especially longs for a granddaughter.

A soft, sweet little girl was a completely different sensory experience from a bunch of stinky little rascals.

After helping Yin Xuemei through the postpartum confinement period, Lin Cuihua left very reluctantly, but she still had to go.

Yin Xuemei had hired a nanny to help. When she wasn’t busy, she would take the baby to work with her. When work got hectic, she’d hand the baby over to An Guoming. In short, they took turns watching their child, leaving the household chores to the nanny.

Over the past year, An Guoping had focused entirely on his work, with no interest in romance whatsoever.

Hei Niu and Hua Cheng had unexpectedly become a pair of bickering lovers. They were either fighting or on their way to a fight every day. However, the more they fought, the closer they became, forming a very unique couple.

An Ning’s apprentices were also developing steadily. One of her prized pupils could now hold his own. Meanwhile, Yu the Elder received a hard-earned honorary award.

The only regret was that An Ning missed the award ceremony. Zhou Xiaoshan’s talent for weaponry continued to shine, and he was contributing his part to world peace.

However, An Ning’s eldest apprentice, Li Chengze, had been quiet lately.