Because of this matter, the three sisters-in-law had quite the tug-of-war yesterday.
But Jiang Si alone couldn’t persuade the other two.
In the end, she had no choice but to accept the red envelopes.
Thinking this, Jiang Si returned to her room and packed all the coupons she had into her bag.
These were given by her mother-in-law after the family division.
Some of them had expiration dates, and if she didn’t use them soon, they’d go to waste.
“First, we’ll go to the square. If we don’t run into them there, we’ll head to the department store.”
“I want to buy gifts for Second Brother and Fourth Brother’s families.”
“Oh, and for Grandpa Huo, Grandma Huo, and our parents too—they’ve been working hard lately.”
“We don’t know when we’ll be back next, so if we see suitable clothes, let’s buy them a couple of outfits.”
Jiang Si shared her plans, and Huo Tingzhou had no objections.
He only reminded her, “Tomorrow is your homecoming visit. After we go out this afternoon, we’ll need to buy the gifts for that first.”
With that, he also took out all the coupons he’d exchanged with his comrades recently.
Jiang Si glanced at them—they were quite a variety.
Combined with what she already had, it would be more than enough for today.
Just before leaving, Jiang Si suddenly remembered something. “The train tickets for the fifth—aren’t they on sale today?”
Last time, because she’d asked an old classmate for help, the tickets had been reserved on the day of release.
Jiang Si recalled her mentioning that tickets were usually sold three days in advance.
Considering the capital was the departure station, tickets might sell out quickly.
“We should go to the train station first to buy them. If we’re late, we might not get seats in the same carriage.”
Unexpectedly, Huo Tingzhou had already taken care of it.
“I’ve arranged for someone to get the tickets. After we finish our errands, we’ll swing by the station to pick them up.”
With everything so well arranged, Jiang Si had nothing to worry about.
Once they packed up, the two set off promptly.
However, as soon as their car entered Chang’an Avenue, Jiang Si sensed trouble.
It was a Thursday, not even a holiday—why were there so many people on both sides of the road?
When they reached the square, the sight of the dense crowd ahead nearly triggered her trypophobia.
She’d expected a lot of people, but not this many.
In this situation, forget finding someone—just getting in and out could take two or three hours.
Jiang Si sighed. “Let’s just go to the department store first.”
Huo Tingzhou agreed. “Mm.”
Near the department store, Huo Tingzhou parked the car, and they headed straight to the third floor.
On the way, Jiang Si had already planned what to buy, and with enough money and coupons, the shopping went quickly.
In less than two hours, they were done.
Back in the car, Jiang Si took stock of their haul.
For Grandpa Huo and Grandma Huo, she’d bought shearling hats to match the cotton-padded jackets she’d gotten them last time.
For Mother Huo, Second Sister-in-law, and Fourth Younger Sister-in-Law, she’d picked out cashmere scarves in colors they’d like.
For Father Huo, she’d bought a pair of leather shoes. She’d wanted to get a pair for Huo Tingzhou too, but his size wasn’t available, so she settled on a belt instead.
Second Brother’s two children were already of school age, so instead of toys, Jiang Si bought them new schoolbags and pencil cases.
She hadn’t forgotten Eldest Brother’s family, either, though they were far away in Xinjiang.
Though Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law hadn’t attended the wedding, they’d called with their blessings and sent the gift money in advance.
Since they’d been so thoughtful, Jiang Si couldn’t slack off either.
Not knowing their sizes, she bought fabric and yarn to mail to them later.
Thinking they’d be returning to Qiongzhou Island in a few days, Jiang Si also picked up gifts for Sister-in-law Xu and Sister-in-law Hu’s families—and, of course, He Ping.
Next came the homecoming gifts.
These were bought according to the list Mother Huo had prepared: six types of pastries, two packets of tea, a pig’s head and a pig’s tail, plus four apples and four oranges.
While buying the fruit, Jiang Si had an idea.
Many senior officials who’d attended their wedding, like Old Master, had once marched through snow-capped mountains and grasslands.
Now retired, their health had declined due to old injuries, and coughing had been constant during the banquet.
Without hesitation, Jiang Si turned to Huo Tingzhou. “Let’s buy the whole crate of oranges.”
“The whole crate?”
It wasn’t the cost—just that the crate weighed nearly a hundred pounds, far more than they could eat.
But Jiang Si had other plans.
“I want to make preserves.”
Jiang Si explained, "These don’t require coupons either. We can buy more and make some to give to the senior officials in the compound later as a gesture of reciprocity."
Of course, making preserves was just an excuse—she simply wanted to use this opportunity to add some of her spiritual spring water into them.
Jiang Si’s reasoning was straightforward.
These senior officials had already endured enough hardship in the first half of their lives. It pained her to think of them suffering from illness in their old age as well.
Moreover, those who had come to the wedding banquet were particularly close to the Old Master.
Helping them within her means didn’t seem like a big deal to Jiang Si.
Besides, when she had needed help with the facial feature database before, these senior officials had gone out of their way to assist her.
Huo Tingzhou hadn’t expected this to be the reason.
Fortunately, making preserves was simple and not too much trouble. After some thought, he agreed.
"Should we buy some pears too?"
"Yes!"
Jiang Si smiled as she answered.
After buying the fruit, the two of them visited several more supply and marketing cooperatives before finally gathering everything they needed.
They loaded the oranges into the trunk and then made another round of stops at several cooperatives.
Only then did they manage to purchase all the necessary jars and brown sugar for making the preserves.
By the time they finished and arrived at the Beijing train station, it was already quite late.
Huo Tingzhou parked the car across the street. "I’ll go get the tickets. Wait for me in the car."
"Alright," Jiang Si nodded in agreement.
Once his wife was settled, Huo Tingzhou quickly disappeared into the crowd in front of the station.
Sitting alone, Jiang Si soon grew bored and pulled out her camera from her bag.
She aimed it at the two large clocks above the station entrance and took a photo.
"Excuse me, coming through."
Hearing the voice, Jiang Si quickly stepped aside.
Just as she turned, the other person glanced up at her.
Their eyes met—Jiang Si merely frowned, but the other person looked as if they had seen a ghost.
