In the capital villa, Feng Yiping and Huang Jingping were both fully armed, working together to clean every corner of the house. In just two days, both sets of parents were due to arrive, and for the two of them, it was also equivalent to an exam.
Huang Jingping was very nervous.
On the one hand, there are her biological parents, and on the other, there are the people she will call parents in the future. In order to put her parents at ease, she must make them feel that she is currently living a good and happy life. In order to satisfy Feng Yiping's parents, she must even show them her side as an excellent daughter-in-law.
Her outward expression is that of the cleanliness of the home. She is now striving for perfection. If she cannot even get this right, both sets of parents are likely to have something to say, so what satisfaction is there to speak of?
Feng Yiping is also a country bumpkin. Because of his personality, no matter if he later became middle class or now has a huge fortune, he can accept delivery services, but he cannot accept having a domestic help agency send someone to clean his house. So now he can only follow Huang Jingping around, with a rag in his left hand and still another rag in his right hand.
However, for young and strong people like them who grew up in the countryside, this is really not much work.
After inspecting every room, Huang Jingping gave a satisfied clap. 'It's done, I'm sure there's no corner left out. Okay, let's go make the beds,'
This time, they would make the beds not only for their parents on either side, but also for Huang Jingping, and she was very insistent on this.
Even the adults could guess the current daily routine of the two of them, and Huang Jingping also couldn't brazenly live in the same room as Feng Yiping in front of her parents.
Their arrangement was that Feng Yiping and his friends would live upstairs, while Huang Jingping would stay downstairs with her parents, so that it would be convenient if her parents had anything to tell them.
Lying on the made-up bed, Feng Yiping watched Huang Jingping seriously put her clothes in the closet, trying to create the illusion that they had always slept in separate rooms. He found it very interesting. This daughter is indeed delicate and thin-skinned.
'Let me help you,' he said, helping Huang Jingping stuff her clothes into the closet. Then, with a single movement, he lifted her onto his shoulders.
'What are you doing?'
'You're covered in dust and sweat from cleaning, and you need a bath,' Feng Yiping said with a smug grin.
'Kokokok, put me down, I'll take a bath tonight,'
With a sound of resistance, the clothes fell off one by one, all over the floor, stairs and handrails.
...
Feng Zhenchang and Mei Qiuping were in the capital for the second time. Last year, they were tourists, but this year, they also had a home here.
It was about the same time as last year, and it was just the right time. The willows had just sprouted new buds, and the wind, which had been cold, had become gentle. It was just right for people like them, who were no longer young and were not used to the northern weather, to visit each other.
Huang Jingping was still a little nervous and held Feng Yiping's hand very tightly.
Although this was not the first time they were meeting, she still couldn't relax. Feng Yiping knew that she would definitely behave as well as she had at the end of last year, and so he reassured her, 'It's fine, it's fine. My parents have always been very happy with you.'
Yes, even if Feng Zhenchang and the others have some minor opinions, they will not show them. In personal matters, they fully respect Feng Yiping's opinions and will not have any views on social status. This is also related to their experiences. In the first half of their lives, they were from the lowest social class, so what social status would they have?
Feng Zhenchang and Mei Qiuping, pushing two large suitcases, saw the pair of young children standing at the exit early on. Mei Qiuping looked at her son holding Huang Jingping's hand and waving at them, and glanced at Feng Zhenchang. Feng Zhenchang understood what she meant: her son had really grown up!
'Mom, you're not airsick, are you?'
Although her reaction was now a little less, Mei Qiuping's motion sickness never really went away.
'I'm fine,' Mei Qiuping took Huang Jingping's hand, "and you're doing well too, aren't you?'
'We're doing well too. This way, auntie and uncle," sure enough, Huang Jingping's face no longer showed the nervousness she had just now, and she waved her hand freely, 'I knew you were coming over, and I've been looking forward to it these past few days,'
'Don't look forward to it in the future. If you miss home, just go back and visit. Home is quite far from here, but it only takes less than half a day to get there now.'
Feng Zhenchang and Feng Yiping are packing. 'When I was young, a trip to the county took a whole day. Now, with all this technology, it's really amazing.'
Mei Qiuping and Huang Jingping are sitting in the back seat, looking out the window at the villa area. "Last year, we also passed through here, but after looking at the houses in the city, we didn't even dare to ask about this place. It's not easy to be a citizen of the capital." It seems that they are very impressed by the high housing prices in the capital.
'Not really. Those with old family homes don't have to work hard for the rest of their lives when their homes are demolished, and they can live a comfortable life,' Feng Zhenchang says.
'That kind of person is always in the minority. If the child of an ordinary family is assigned to the capital after graduating from university, how many years of work will it take before they can buy a house?'
'Mum, you don't know, how many people will spend money on gifts just for the chance to stay in Beijing,'
'I can't understand these people nowadays. If they have the money, why wouldn't they just live a down-to-earth life somewhere else?'
No, it's pointless to talk to people like my parents about opportunities and such.
'Didn't you say you wanted to buy a house in Shanghai? Have you decided yet?'
'We were talking to Mr Zhou yesterday, and he really did look at a property in his hometown during the New Year. He said it was in a good location, had high potential for appreciation, and was convenient for living. It was also quiet despite being in the centre of the action. A lot of people at the company want to buy it, and we were wondering if we should get a set as well,' Feng Zhenchang says, adding that this topic interests them.
'Then don't just get one set, tell your sister to get one too. Hasn't she always wanted to be a Shanghainese?'
'And you said that she should become a Hongkonger, didn't you? You probably forgot about it, but your sister still remembers,' Mei Qiuping said with a smile.
'Haha, I'll buy it. I'm also planning to buy some property there, starting with an office building,'
At the moment, magazines and investment companies in Hong Kong are all renting office space, which is a real shame. Although this is not the best time to buy, I'm thinking of buying it for my own use, so it doesn't matter if the price drops a little in the next few years after I buy it, because it will rise again in the future.
However, as Feng Yiping still insists on either buying a small building or buying land and building it himself, they have still not found the right one these days.
When they arrived at the villa, Feng Zhenchang and Mei Qiuping now had high standards and did not find these houses anything new. They just looked at the foreigners around them with blond hair, blue eyes and big noses, just like Jinbao and the others when they came last time. 'So many foreigners?'
After showing their parents around the house, Feng Zhenchang and the others didn't pay attention to anything else, just comparing it with their house bit by bit. When it gets warmer, they want to finish their house and start decorating it, so they want to get some ideas now.
Feng Zhenchang likes the layout of the second floor balcony, while Mei Qiuping really likes the fireplace in the first floor hall. 'It would be great to build one like this at home,' she says, sticking her head in to take a look.
Fortunately, the fireplace is just for show, and Feng Yiping and the others have never lit a fire in it, so it is very clean inside.
Feng Zhenchang takes the things they brought out one by one, saying, 'Don't even think about it. If we built one of these, and added the kitchen chimney, there would be two chimneys on the roof, which would be a curiosity for people to see!'
My parents brought a lot of things, and they were all hard to find. There were toon wood from the toon tree in the vegetable garden, young bamboo shoots that had been blanched, tofu skin specially made for grinding soy milk, two chickens that had already been prepared, and dried bacon...
In short, just smelling those familiar scents made Feng Yiping's mouth water.
Mei Qiuping also took out a paper bag containing two pairs of handmade cloth shoes. 'I started making them last year in the twelfth lunar month. Now my eyes aren't so good and my hands aren't as strong as they used to be, but they're still quite sturdy. Yiping has liked the shoes I made him since he was little,' she said, handing Feng Yiping the larger pair.
'These are for you, and Jingping, you try them on to see if they fit. They're quite comfortable to wear at home as slippers.'
Feng Yiping took the cloth shoes handed to him by his mother, looked at the fine stitches on them, his eyes a little red. He lowered his head and tried them on, and they fit perfectly. To be honest, the hard-washed cloth was tightly stitched together, the sole was actually quite hard, but he still felt that these were the most comfortable shoes he had ever had.