Selling clothes was like picking up money for Xia Xiaolan.

With her waist pack full, and not being a petty person, she invited Kang Wei along. When they went home to pick up Liu Fen, she said she had already eaten. Liu Fen was good at enduring hardship, but her honest and slow nature couldn’t be changed quickly – she would feel uncomfortable sitting in a restaurant. Xia Xiaolan knew she needed to take her mother to such places more often before things would improve.

But in front of Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei, she didn’t want Liu Fen to feel anxious, so she didn’t insist.

Despite supplying so many eels to restaurants, this was Xia Xiaolan’s first time ordering sizzling eel strips in a restaurant.

Was food not good in the 1980s?

It was delicious!

There was no gutter oil, no additives, and even pigs were honestly raised on grass and bran for a full year before slaughter. With such naturally premium ingredients, how could the food not be delicious?

People simply didn’t have extra money to enjoy fine dining, but the good food was there – in state-run restaurants and time-honored establishments.

Xia Xiaolan wore a satisfied expression.

In her previous life, she hadn’t been someone who prioritized culinary pleasures, but now that she was young again, she found herself craving these dishes.

Her chopsticks moved quickly and steadily, precisely picking up strips of eel with each motion.

The uniformly cut eel strips quivered as she picked them up. The rich sauce was signature to sizzling eel strips, and the perfect cooking time gave them a tender, smooth, glutinous yet chewy texture… Modern eels were still good products, caught from ditches and fields, not like the future ones rumored to be fed contraceptives for rapid growth.

Xia Xiaolan ate with both enjoyment and peace of mind. Though she ate quite properly, Kang Wei couldn’t help but swallow unconsciously.

The Kang family never lacked food – even during the famine when everyone had to tighten their belts, Grandmother Kang never let Kang Wei go hungry. He had eaten plenty of good food, and while this restaurant’s sizzling eel strips were good, Xia Xiaolan seemed overly absorbed in eating them.

Was it really that delicious?

She probably hadn’t seen many good things since childhood.

Kang Wei’s chopsticks paused as he thought of Xia Xiaolan’s background – a country girl from a poor family that didn’t cherish her.

Well, let her eat more, he thought.

Zhou Cheng gave him a light glance – how dare he show sympathy toward his woman?

Zhou Cheng didn’t sympathize with Xia Xiaolan – he cherished her.

Watching her enjoy the food made him happy even if he didn’t eat himself.

“You’ll like the stir-fried shrimp and sweet and sour fish too, try them…”

Xia Xiaolan smiled at him, swallowing her eel strips before murmuring, “After selling eels for so long, this is my first time eating this dish in a restaurant. Now I can feel at ease.”

Didn’t she find eels slimy and fishy?

She was a woman too, and in her previous life, she had never dealt with eels. Such slippery, snake-like things – it would be strange if Xia Xiaolan liked them!

It was just for making a living – she had to endure the disgust to run this business. Xia Xiaolan’s enjoyment of the sizzling eel strips wasn’t just about the taste – sitting in a restaurant ordering this dish symbolized that she had achieved a better life.

Only with money and leisure time would one dare enter a state-run restaurant and order a big table of dishes to treat others.

When paying the bill, Xia Xiaolan handed over the money.

She had been a multinational corporate executive after all – ordinary delicacies couldn’t truly make her lose composure.

But Liu Fen truly hadn’t eaten many good things, so while Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t get excited over seafood, she ordered the restaurant’s most expensive dish – “Braised Sea Cucumber” – to take home for Liu Fen.

“I said I would give Mother a good life. It’s just one serving of braised sea cucumber,” Xia Xiaolan said casually, swinging the takeout container.

After being driven out of the Xia family with 20 jin of sweet potatoes, today she could let Liu Fen eat a 20-yuan serving of “Braised Sea Cucumber.” In the future, she would let Liu Fen enjoy even greater blessings! What was the Xia family anyway? Pah!

Zhou Cheng knew she was happy.

After sending Xia Xiaolan home and watching the door close, his face darkened as he turned around, showing a fierce expression behind his smile:

“Kang Er, your sister-in-law is too beautiful, people are always trying to pursue her… I can’t stay in Shangdu all the time, what should we do?”

Kang Wei was ready to surrender with both hands up.

He truly had no ill intentions toward his future sister-in-law. While initially struck by her beauty, once Brother Cheng had claimed her, Kang Wei suppressed any such thoughts.

He carefully said, “Isn’t Sister-in-law going to Beijing for university next year?”

Brother, just endure for half a year more.

No, Beijing wasn’t entirely peaceful either, with Wang Jianhua, Xia Xiaolan’s suspected “first love.” Kang Wei almost choked on his saliva.

They had used Uncle Xiao Guang’s connections to get Liu Yong out – surely they wouldn’t use those same connections to help Brother Cheng eliminate romantic rivals? That would be overkill and would definitely become a laughingstock if word got back to Beijing.

To avoid being laughed at, Kang Wei said with complete sincerity:

“Sister-in-law won’t be interested in anyone else.”

Of course, knowing Xiaolan had said she liked him gave Zhou Cheng some peace of mind.

Xia Xiaolan returned home with the takeout, the braised sea cucumber still warm.

Liu Fen had never eaten sea cucumber before and couldn’t imagine it would cost 20 yuan per dish. Since Xia Xiaolan said she brought it, especially for her, she ate it honestly. The taste was excellent. When Xia Xiaolan explained it was “sea cucumber,” something from the ocean, Liu Fen just nodded:

“It’s delicious, Xiaolan, you eat some too.”

“I already ate at the restaurant. Mom, you eat more, it’s nutritious.”

Liu Fen was still too thin.

Running around every day also prevented her from becoming fair-skinned. But her eyes were brighter now, different from the puppet-like country woman she had been when Xia Xiaolan first “awoke.” A walking corpse had been given a soul – Liu Fen now had hope for the future.

She tentatively asked about Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng’s relationship, and Xia Xiaolan frankly admitted:

“I think he’s a good person. We’ll see how it goes. We don’t need to meet every day anyway, it won’t interfere with anything.”

“Zhou Cheng drives big trucks?”

“He works at a classified unit, currently on leave.”

A classified unit? Wouldn’t that make Xiaolan a military family member? Liu Fen’s thoughts immediately ran wild.

In Liu Fen’s mind, dating was always aimed at marriage. Her honest and simple nature hadn’t considered that her daughter could be so casual – for Xia Xiaolan, dating and marriage weren’t equivalent. She just wanted to date Zhou Cheng!

“Being a military family member is good, very good…”

Zhou Cheng was young, so Liu Fen didn’t dare think he was some unit cadre, convinced he was just an ordinary person.

An ordinary person, even if from Beijing, and good-looking – how could her Xiaolan not be good enough? Xiaolan was beautiful too, very capable, and would go to university. Liu Fen’s mind had no concept of looking down on the poor and favoring the rich. A couple should work hard together – it didn’t matter who earned the money as long as they lived in harmony.

As long as Zhou Cheng didn’t mind Xiaolan’s previous reputation.

Liu Fen was a bit afraid, but then felt relieved – they had moved to Shangdu City, and few people knew about the past.

Thankfully she had divorced Xia Dajun!

Thankfully they had moved!

These two decisions had been right, and Liu Fen’s face showed unstoppable joy.

“Your uncle doesn’t seem to approve of you and Zhou Cheng. If he wants to say something to you, just listen obediently. Your uncle has been so good to you…”

As Liu Fen rambled on, Xia Xiaolan didn’t show any impatience. She found a task for Liu Fen – counting the money in the waist pack.