“Is Old Man Zhao home?”

Old Man Zhao opened the door wearing a padded jacket. Liu Fen and Tang Hongen were standing at the doorway.

Liu Fen couldn’t hide the smile on her face.

Together with Tang Hongen, she handed wedding candies to Old Man Zhao, who immediately understood:

“You two got married? Congratulations! Well, let this old man share in your joy.”

Liu Fen’s breath formed long white clouds as she spoke. Tang Hongen urged her to warm her hands in his pockets while introducing himself to Old Man Zhao: “Fen and I just got our marriage certificate. We’re distributing wedding candies to thank the neighbors for taking care of her all this time.”

Not just candies – they had cigarettes prepared for the male neighbors too, Tang Hongen had thought of everything.

Old Man Zhao accepted the cigarette with a smile: “Comrade Tang, you don’t usually live in Beijing, yet you’re doing all this after getting married?”

This matter concerned Tang Hongen even more than Old Man Zhao.

But they had discussed it before marriage – Tang Hongen wouldn’t interfere with Liu Fen’s business, so he couldn’t go back on his word right after getting married.

“That’s right, I work in Pengcheng and can’t transfer back yet. We’ll have to live apart for a few years. They say close neighbors are better than distant relatives – I hope we can count on your help in the future!”

Living apart was a big issue.

But given Liu Fen’s good financial situation and their ability to meet whenever they wanted, it didn’t seem like such a big problem.

Old Man Zhao had long sensed that Tang Hongen was no ordinary person. His politeness wasn’t from any real need for help, so Old Man Zhao readily agreed.

These two had great chemistry.

Many young couples weren’t even as affectionate as them.

Experience comes with age – young people might have many ways of dating, but when it comes to truly caring for someone, it takes someone of Tang Hongen’s age to know how.

Throughout everything, Tang Hongen never mentioned he was a mayor, but his bearing brought honor to Liu Fen wherever they went.

After distributing all the candies and cigarettes in the alley, Tang Hongen quickly led Liu Fen home.

It hadn’t been long since they arrived at the airport when light snow began falling – perfect weather for a hot pot.

“You are farsighted,” Xia Xiaolan praised Grandmother Yu, who readily accepted the compliment: “Naturally, living several decades longer than you have some use.”

As they were talking, Tang Hongen returned holding Liu Fen’s hand.

Since meeting at the airport, Tang Hongen had held Liu Fen’s hand everywhere, regardless of the setting or whether their displays of affection might hurt others’ eyes – if Tang Hongen knew Xia Xiaolan’s thoughts, he would surely scold her. She was old enough to date herself, shouldn’t she understand her elders better?

What’s wrong with holding hands? Just holding hands.

No country in the world has laws prohibiting newlyweds from holding hands!

Seeing the copper pot already set up and bubbling, Tang Hongen quickly grabbed a bowl:

“Fen, what sauce would you like? I’ll prepare it for you.”

Chive flower sauce gives hot pot lamb the best flavor, though the taste lingers in your mouth for a long time.

Liu Fen wasn’t completely oblivious – she chose sesame paste with some green onions.

Xia Xiaolan and Grandmother Yu exchanged glances, both quite pleased.

Now that they were married, they naturally hoped for Liu Fen and Tang Hongen to have a good relationship. Their happiness as a couple put Xia Xiaolan and Grandmother Yu at ease. The young and old had worried about Liu Fen, not realizing her calm and steady nature would find her destiny.

The hot pot dinner was lively.

After eating, Tang Hongen fulfilled the promise he made while pursuing Liu Fen – he volunteered to wash dishes.

When Liu Fen tried to help, he wasn’t happy about it.

“Can’t I even wash a few dishes?”

Making bad pan-fried buns might indicate a lack of culinary talent.

But washing dishes doesn’t require talent. Some men sit idle after meals, never helping to clean up, insisting they don’t know how… Are there people who don’t know how to wash dishes? Daily life has many things more complex than dishwashing – they’re not stupid, just lazy.

Ignoring women’s hard work, just sitting down after eating, unwilling to move.

Time reveals true character – whether Old Tang was just showing off as a newlywed or would persist forever remained to be seen.

At least for now, Old Tang scored a perfect hundred. Xia Xiaolan was happy for her mother:

“You and Uncle Tang will be happy.”

Would they be happy?

Liu Fen had her dreams.

If Tang Hongen continued treating her this way, Liu Fen would treat him just as well.

Marriage requires mutual dedication – if both people want to live well together, how could they not be happy?

Mayor Tang finished cleaning the kitchen and came out wearing an apron, looking quite domestic:

“Xiaolan, now that your mother and I are married, shouldn’t I meet the Zhou family?”

Before, whoever Xia Xiaolan dated was her own business, but now that they were open about it, Xia Xiaolan was Tang Hongen’s stepdaughter.

His son might not be close to him, but a stepdaughter was no different from a biological daughter.

Tang Hongen felt somewhat displeased thinking about how Zhou Cheng had taken Xia Xiaolan away without his permission… from a father’s perspective.

Tang Hongen worried Zhou Cheng might think Xia Xiaolan had no father to stand up for her and might bully her in the future.

He worried the Zhou family might think Xia Xiaolan came from an ordinary background and would mistreat her, also looking down on Liu Fen as an in-law.

Old Tang hadn’t been there before, now he wanted to reassess the Zhou family, including Zhou Cheng.

Inexplicably, Xia Xiaolan wanted to light a candle for Zhou Cheng.

After being guarded against by her uncle for so long, now add Old Tang to the mix.

The clever Xia Xiaolan knew she had to take Tang Hongen’s side now. “Uncle Tang, I don’t know how many days of leave you’ve taken, but meeting the Zhou family won’t be a problem. The Zhou family celebrates in a few days – you can meet everyone at once.”

Xia Xiaolan was referring to Zhou Yi’s wedding.

Her mother was already planning to go, so there was no reason to leave Tang Hongen out.

“A celebration?”

This was quite an appropriate occasion.

Tang Hongen decided to attend as soon as he heard about it. Although he and Fen weren’t having a big wedding banquet, he could still help Fen enter Beijing’s social circles.

However, before meeting the Zhou family, Tang Hongen had other plans:

“I’ll make a phone call now to see how to coordinate the timing.”

Who was he calling?

Liu Fen didn’t know either, Tang Hongen hadn’t told her.

“Could it be meeting Tang family relatives?”

Liu Fen was puzzled.

Xia Xiaolan shook her head, “Probably not, didn’t Uncle Tang say he wasn’t in touch with his hometown relatives?”

When Tang Hongen returned from making the call, he told Xia Xiaolan and Liu Fen they would go to Xiangshan tomorrow morning. Xia Xiaolan suddenly realized – Old Tang wanted to take her mother and her to meet Old Song!

Even Xia Xiaolan felt nervous about meeting such a legendary figure.

Zhou Cheng’s grandfather was also very impressive, but still quite different from Old Song.

Besides, when meeting Grandfather Zhou, he viewed her as his grandson’s partner, only being critical in that aspect.

Old Song wouldn’t have such sentiments about her.

“Uncle Tang, is there anything special I need to pay attention to?”