Chapter 213: Sewing Machine

Chapter 213: Sewing Machine

Su Zhaozhao turned her head to look at him. "What made you suddenly ask that?"

She said teasingly, "What, did you see Xiao Zhu wearing a military uniform and think that your wife would look good in it too?"

Gu Heng nodded. "You’d look the absolute best in it."

Su Zhaozhao wondered if she should pry his mouth open to check how much sugar he'd eaten, given how sweet his words were.

Since he had said that, how could she say no?

There was no way she could say no—no need to be shy with her own husband.

Su Zhaozhao nodded. "Then get me a set too, I'll wear it and make others jealous!"

"Let’s get two sets so you can rotate them."

As soon as he finished speaking, they saw someone coming around the corner, and Gu Heng let go of her hand.

Su Zhaozhao just stared at him, speechless.

When they got home, Su Zhaozhao threw herself into his arms and went to check his mouth. "Let me see if you’ve been eating candy."

Gu Heng grabbed her hand and lowered his head. "Just taste it and you'll know..."

The next day, Gu Heng brought her two sets of female military uniforms.

Su Zhaozhao held them up to her body to compare. They were her size.

Gu Nian, who was standing nearby, said, "Mom, hurry up and put it on."

Su Zhaozhao wanted to try it on too. She took the clothes into the room and came out after a while, twirling in front of them. "How is it?"

Both Gu Xiang and Gu Nian nodded. "Beautiful!"

Gu Heng said, "At least my uniforms didn’t go to waste."

He swapped these two sets of women’s military uniforms for the new ones he was supposed to receive this quarter.

He had plenty of other uniforms, and since the military issued new ones each quarter, missing two wasn’t a big deal.

Su Zhaozhao gave Gu Heng a sideways glance. Yesterday he had praised her for looking good in it, but today he said his uniforms weren’t wasted.

Hmph! Typical man.

Gu Xiang and Gu Nian were extremely envious; they wanted to wear military uniforms too.

"Mom, can you make me a green military uniform from Dad’s old clothes?" Gu Nian said. Many of their classmates wore clothes made from military uniforms, but she and her brother didn’t have any.

"Do you two really want it?"

The siblings nodded vigorously.

"Sure, I’ll take them to the tailor to get them altered."

Ever since they came to live with their father, Su Zhaozhao had never let them wear other people's old clothes, but now these two little ones wanted to wear their father's. The charm of the green military uniform was really something!

The next day, Su Zhaozhao went to work wearing the military uniform. The green uniform peeked out from under a crisp white collar, looking neat and fresh!

"Sister Su, you're wearing a military uniform! You look so spirited!"

This drew envy from several female colleagues at the unit.

Su Zhaozhao, ever the humblebrag, said, "My husband exchanged his military uniform for this."

The female comrades said, "Your husband is really nice!"

Of course.

When Su Zhaozhao handed Gu Heng's old clothes to Liu Guilan, Liu Guilan said, "Finally, you brought some old clothes for alteration. Every time you came in previous years, it was always new fabric. Here, you're the first."

Su Zhaozhao: ……She had inadvertently lost her image as a frugal and down-to-earth person.

Su Zhaozhao planned to buy a sewing machine; if she didn't move on this, she might forget the skills she learned in her previous life.

Getting a sewing machine voucher was tough, but Su Zhaozhao managed without much trouble. Soon enough, she swapped for one with Feng An from the Qingshan Town Co-op and also asked Lu Haoran to help her procure the sewing machine.

"Sister Su, I need to tell you something."

Su Zhaozhao shifted her gaze from the sewing machine, looked at him, and wondered why he seemed so hesitant.

"Feel free to share good news, but let's not talk about bad news."

Recently, there had been a lot of bad news, mostly about the spring famine.

People were praying for rain every day, but not a single drop fell. To make things even worse, some areas got no rain at all, while others faced flooding.

It was already the end of April, and if it didn't rain soon, there would be no hope for the fall harvest in the second half of the year.

During their free time at the supply and marketing cooperative, everyone discussed the issues caused by the spring famine.

Su Zhaozhao listened with growing concern.

Things would only get harder from here on out.

"It's good news."

Su Zhaozhao raised her eyebrows and thought, "Are you getting married?"

Lu Haoran gave her a startled look. "Did He Fang tell you?"

Su Zhaozhao shook her head.

Lu Haoran realized and laughed, "I thought Little He had told you."

Su Zhaozhao congratulated him first, "Little He didn't tell me. I haven't had time to contact her recently. When you mentioned good news and hesitated, I guessed it must be about your marriage. You two have finally tied the knot."

Back when they worked together, all they did was bicker. Now that they were together, they had actually started a relationship. It was beyond understanding.

They were both in their mid-twenties, and if they didn't get married soon, their families would definitely be furious.

"With food shortages, we're not planning a big ceremony. We won't ask you to come out. Once we get our marriage license, we'll drop by the office to hand out wedding sweets."

Su Zhaozhao nodded. "Alright."

After work, Lu Haoran helped carry the sewing machine into the house. Su Zhaozhao set the sewing machine in the living room and, on her way out, ran into Wang Chunhua and Zhu Chunyan.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law work in the same place, so they have each other for company on the way to and from work.

The young couple hasn't been married long and haven't started cooking at home yet. They bring their food supplies here and come over for meals morning and night.

The provisions for the youth cadres are much better than those for the company leader, and they have a lot of fine grain stored at home. The young couple eats with their in-laws and actually eats even better.

When they heard that Su Zhaozhao had bought a sewing machine, both the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law came over to see it.

"This will be so convenient now. If something tears or gets worn out, we can just fix it up. Once we get the hang of it, we can even sew our own clothes," said Wang Chunhua, touching the sewing machine.

Su Zhaozhao said, "If you need to use it, just come on over."

Zhu Chunyan didn't hesitate, "Sure, I've wanted one for ages, but I couldn't get my hands on one."

Wang Chunhua glanced at her, "We’ll get one too. Have Dad figure it out. When your kid is born, we can make and adjust clothes for them."

Zhu Chunyan quickly said, "Thank you, Mom. You're the best!"

Wang Chunhua's eyes smiled.

Su Zhaozhao ushered them out, "Alright, enough with the mushiness. Head on home."

Wang Chunhua said, "Jealous, aren’t you? In a few years, Gu Xiang will get married too, and then you'll have a daughter-in-law to dote on."

Su Zhaozhao thought to herself, "..."

No!

She wasn’t envious!

She was still young!

It was infuriating!

It’s practically calling me old!

After they left, Su Zhaozhao quickly looked at herself in the mirror again and again. Thankfully, she was still a young and attractive wife.