I'm back in 1990

Chapter 31: Giving a Wedding Gift in Advance

A bundle of dried bamboo shoots, two baskets of fruit, several large bags of cakes and dumplings, thirty catties of Biluochun tea, several bundles of pastries from a time-honored Suzhou brand, a whole jar of Shaoxing wine, and one hundred catties of rice. Two large plastic buckets, each weighing five catties, were filled with sesame oil, and four buckets of bayberry wine, each weighing five catties, totaling twenty catties. In addition, there were two cases of Moutai and several cartons of cigarettes given to Lao Huang by his uncle.

Looking at this huge pile of things, Huang Xiaochuan couldn't help but click his tongue and ask his aunt, "Auntie, are you planning to let my family open a general store?"

To everyone's surprise, my aunt wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "If your uncle hadn't borrowed a car that was too small, you would have taken even more back with you."

Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaochuan exclaimed, "Good heavens! My aunt is planning to empty out their supply and marketing cooperative!"

Moreover, Zeng Jiahua borrowed a Santana. Huang Xiaochuan seriously doubted whether he would have a place to sit after all these things were loaded into the car. Was he supposed to sit on the roof?

Fortunately, Master Liang had experience driving trucks and was very skilled at loading. He managed to stuff all the stuff into the truck, leaving a passenger seat for Huang Xiaochuan. However, the already low chassis became even lower.

After hugging his grandmother, aunt, and sisters, Huang Xiaochuan tried to hug his uncle, Zeng Jiahua, but Zeng Jiahua dodged him, waving his hands and saying, "It's so ugly for two grown men to be hugging like that! Okay, okay, you little monkey, hurry up and leave!"

"Then I'm leaving. Grandma, Uncle and Aunt, please take care of yourselves. I'll come back when I have time." Huang Xiaochuan leaned out of the car window to say goodbye to the group as he got into the car.

At this moment, Grandma stepped forward and stuffed a bundle into Huang Xiaochuan's hands. Huang Xiaochuan knew what was inside as soon as he received it. This stubborn and adorable old lady! Huang Xiaochuan's nose tingled and his eyes reddened again.

......

The private car was indeed fast; it delivered Huang Xiaochuan home before 2 PM.

With so much stuff in the car, Huang Xiaochuan couldn't let Master Liang help him move it anymore. After getting out of the car, he looked up and shouted towards Yu Wei's bedroom window on the third floor, "Yu Wei! Yu Wei!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the window was suddenly pushed open. Yu Wei poked his head out of the window with a look of surprise and delight. He was overjoyed to see that Huang Xiaochuan had returned.

He immediately blurted out, "Ah Huang, you birdbrain, you finally decided to come back? Wait here, I'll be right down."

"Huh? Ah Huang?" Huang Xiaochuan was so angry he almost took off his shoe and threw it at his house. "You're the real Ah Huang! You son of a bitch, you've only been gone a few days and you've already lumped me together with a dog. I'll settle the score with you later."

Not long after, there was a series of thumping sounds in the stairwell, and then Yu Wei rushed out of the building entrance. Upon seeing Huang Xiaochuan, he punched him on the shoulder: "Damn, you actually came back? You were having so much fun back home that you forgot all about home? You didn't even call me."

Huang Xiaochuan scolded, "Stop babbling and hurry up and help move the things."

Yu Wei leaned closer to the car and looked inside, exclaiming in surprise, "Holy crap, how come there's so much stuff?"

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Huang Xiaochuan kicked him, a small act of revenge: "Enough with the nonsense, hurry up and move it!"

Today is Sunday. The noise the two were making startled Lao Huang and Zeng Lijuan, who were resting at home. They heard Huang Xiaochuan's voice and quickly came out to see what was going on, because Zeng Jiahua had called this morning to say that Huang Xiaochuan was on his way and would probably arrive in the afternoon.

As soon as the two opened the door, they bumped into Huang Xiaochuan, who was carrying things to the front door. Old Huang quickly helped take the things from his son's hands.

Zeng Lijuan asked with concern, "Do you have a lot of things?" She then went out to help carry the things.

"Grandma and Aunt brought you a lot of things. Yu Wei and I will carry them. You can just stay home and help out."

At this moment, Yu Wei also came up behind Huang Xiaochuan carrying two buckets of bayberry wine. Hearing what Huang Xiaochuan and his mother said, he said the same thing as Huang Xiaochuan: "Xiaochuan and I are fine. Aunt Zeng, you don't need to come out."

At this moment, Ah Liang also helped carry 100 jin of rice to the door. In an instant, Huang Xiaochuan's door was completely blocked. Huang Xiaochuan quickly helped Ah Liang carry the rice into his house.

Many hands make light work, and they moved all the things into the house in less than ten minutes. In the morning, it took Huang Xiaochuan and Master Liang a full half hour to load all these things into the car. I don't know how my aunt managed to get them home.

Sweating profusely after moving everything, Huang Xiaochuan poured two glasses of cool water for Master Liang and Yu Wei, and then drank a large glass himself. After putting down the glass, he went back to his room, first putting his grandmother's box into the closet, and then casually placing his handbag and stamp album on his desk.

Old Huang and Zeng Lijuan were in the living room, offering Ah Liang water and trying to persuade him to stay for dinner.

When Huang Xiaochuan came out, Master Liang was already preparing to return home. He refused Huang and his wife's offer to stay, saying, "I have to rush back. I need to return the car to them tonight. That's what the factory manager told me to do."

After hearing this, Huang Xiaochuan rummaged through the pile of things he had brought back and pulled out a pack of three spiced cigarettes, which he handed to A Liang: "Master A Liang, be careful on your journey. You can smoke these cigarettes to keep yourself alert."

Old Huang quickly added, "Take it, take it. Thank you for your hard work, Master Liang."

After seeing Ah Liang off, the father and son returned home. Old Huang helped Zeng Lijuan tidy up the living room. Zeng Lijuan felt a little sorry for the carton of cigarettes Huang Xiaochuan had given away: "That carton of cigarettes cost over a hundred yuan!"

"It must have been hard for them to bring Xiao Chuan back from so far away, and they have to rush back home. They won't get home until at least seven or eight o'clock. You're the factory manager's sister, you should at least support your brother, okay?" Old Huang advised Zeng Lijuan.

Huang Xiaochuan went straight back to his room to tidy up his things. Yu Wei was waiting for him in his room.

The stamp album that was brought back caught Yu Wei's attention. He pointed at it and asked, "What's this?"

Huang Xiaochuan took out a booklet of publication tickets from the cloth bag, opened it, and showed it to Yu Wei.

"Stamps, do you recognize these?" Huang Xiaochuan pointed to the sheet of stamps inside.

The entire sheet is a bright red one, with 80 little monkeys leaping off the page.

To his surprise, Yu Wei recognized them. He exclaimed, "Holy crap, monkey stamps! So many?"

Huang Xiaochuan was surprised: "How do you know about this if you don't collect stamps?"

Yu Wei casually said, "My older sister collects stamps; I've seen them in her stamp album."

Huang Xiaochuan was greatly surprised: "Huh?"

"How come I didn't know your older sister collected stamps? I've never heard you mention it?"

"The stamps she collected were all peeled off envelopes, not a single one was good, they were all tattered and torn, not a single one was new. She even made her own stamp album. What's there to say?" Yu Wei said with a look of disgust.

Yu Wei then asked, "The monkey stamp seems quite expensive, right? Where did you get it?"

"Don't worry about whether it's expensive or not, I'll keep this stamp for you and give it to you as a wedding gift when you get married." Huang Xiaochuan casually gave the stamp to his friend, but he couldn't give it to him yet, in case he broke it up and it became worthless. In 97, selling this stamp would be enough for the kid to buy an apartment in Shanghai outright.

Yu Wei was somewhat incredulous: "Really? You're willing to do that?"

"Nonsense, it's just a sheet of stamps, what's there to be reluctant about? A gentleman's word is his bond."

Hearing Huang Xiaochuan's promise, Yu Wei grinned. Why not take it? It's rare for the usually stingy Huang Xiaochuan to be so generous.

"It's a deal then. You'd better keep it safe for me."

Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaochuan simply closed the stamp album and handed it to Yu Wei: "If you're worried I won't keep it safe, then you keep it yourself. I'm giving it to you in advance. I won't give you a wedding gift when you get married."

"Damn, you went to Suzhou and came back so generous?" Yu Wei was a little incredulous. He wasn't stupid. Although he didn't collect stamps, he had heard about the value of these stamps, so this 80 Year of the Monkey stamp must not be cheap. With some hesitation, he didn't reach out to take it.

"It can't be fake, can it?" Yu Wei scratched his head in confusion, and after a long pause, he finally blurted out a question.

This infuriated Huang Xiaochuan so much that his teeth ached. He gritted his teeth and said, "If it's fake, I'll eat it right in front of you."

Yu Wei was relieved after receiving the assurance, but he was still too embarrassed to take it, as it was very expensive.

Huang Xiaochuan genuinely wanted to give it; it was just a sheet of stamps, after all. Besides, the friendship between two generations couldn't be measured by a sheet of monkey stamps.

However, Huang Xiaochuan still reminded you: "Don't break it apart. Just keep it as a whole. The whole sheet is valuable. Maybe you can sell it and buy a house later."

How could Yu Wei possibly believe Huang Xiaochuan's words at this point? He sneered, "This thing can be exchanged for a house? Are you kidding me? Houses are allocated by the work unit; there's no need to buy one, okay?"

Huang Xiaochuan was too lazy to explain to him, and it wouldn't make a difference anyway. He shoved the book of stamps into his arms and started chasing him away: "Get out, get out, get out! Anyway, I've already given you a wedding gift, so I won't give you any more if you ask me for it again."

Yu Wei stared in disbelief at the stamp album in his arms. Had Huang Xiaochuan really changed his ways? How could he be so generous? Giving away something worth thousands of yuan just like that? Where did he get this set of monkey stamps?

Unfortunately, before he could ask any questions, Huang Xiaochuan chased him out, so he had no choice but to leave with the stamp album.

However, Yu Wei didn't forget to greet Lao Huang and Zeng Lijuan: "Uncle Huang, Aunt Zeng, I'm going back now."

Zeng Lijuan quickly stopped him: "Wait a moment, take these things back with you."

Zeng Lijuan prepared a bucket of bayberry wine, a bucket of sesame oil, some dried bamboo shoots, cakes, fruits, and pastries for Lao Yu's family, as well as five catties of Biluochun tea.

Yu Wei looked at the pile of things with some difficulty: "Aunt Zeng, I can't carry all of this! How about I come back to get it later?"

Zeng Lijuan turned to Huang Xiaochuan and instructed him, "Xiaochuan, help Yu Wei take these things upstairs."

Alright, my mother has spoken, so I'll just do as she says.

"Hurry up, just take it when I tell you to. Why are you as lazy as a pig?" Huang Xiaochuan took the opportunity to make fun of Yu Wei.