"Mom, has there been any letter from my second brother?" Li Hongqi pushed his bicycle into the yard and asked his mother in the kitchen.
All day, he had been preoccupied with whether they had received the remittance. He even made up an excuse to decline his father-in-law's invitation to dinner after work, just so he could come home and check if the money had arrived. The wedding was only a couple of days away, but so far, they hadn't even bought the bride's dress, let alone secured the sewing machine they had promised her for the marriage. Even the deposit for the banquet had not been paid, despite having made a reservation. They had set a date for the wedding, but preparations had barely begun.
The reason was simple: no money.
"Not yet, I waited at the brigade all day and only came back after the postman had been." Qiu Shuping emerged from the kitchen, shaking water off her hands, dutifully reporting to her younger son.
