An Hao slept through days and nights at home, and after two or three days, she fully recovered.
The college entrance exam was ahead, followed by the middle school exam.
An Ping saw how An Hao envied her after the college entrance exam, as she did nothing but eat and sleep all day, and he too began to slack off.
When An Hao became aware of this, she began to rise early every day to supervise An Ping’s studies and tutor him in his homework.
A week later, in the early morning, Qin Jian arrived at An Hao’s house. He was heading back to the city that day. He and An Hao had discussed it beforehand, and she was to go with him.
Seeing Qin Jian arrive, An Hao left An Ping several exercises and then changed into her clothes, joining Qin Jian on his trip to the city.
Today, she wore the red dress made by Zhang Lanxiang, with her hair tied into a high ponytail, and white sneakers on her feet. She looked very outstanding and beautiful, exuding a vibrant and youthful aura.
This was the second time An Hao wore this dress, and Qin Jian felt she looked incredibly beautiful, his eyes barely able to leave her.
Yet, he had rarely seen An Hao wearing such a beautiful dress.
"You don’t seem to wear this dress very often," Qin Jian remarked.
"Yeah. I can’t bear to wear such a nice dress on ordinary days," An Hao muttered, "In the village, anything casual will do."
Qin Jian said nothing, but nodded thoughtfully.
Once they reached the city, Qin Jian first dropped An Hao off at Director Zhang’s house. Today happened to be a Sunday, and Zhang Lanxiang was at home, not having to go to work.
She was tidying up the house when she heard a knock at the door. Setting aside what she was doing, she went to open the door.
She was very surprised to see Qin Jian and An Hao standing outside, "Ah, what brings you two here together today? You’re such rare guests! Come in, come in and sit!"
Zhang Jianguo was just about to go out when he heard the commotion at the entrance and came out.
Seeing that it was the two of them, he immediately brightened up with laughter.
"Qin Jian is still considered a guest? This guy comes over whenever he has nothing to do—he’s practically worn out our doorstep. Now that An Hao and he are engaged, An Hao is our own family too." Director Zhang loved to tease Qin Jian, happy to see some expression on the face of his ’stern-faced battalion commander’.
"In the recent period, I’ve been busy with the college entrance exams. I’ve told Qin Jian you and sister-in-law have been thinking of me. Now that the exams are over, I have time, so I thought I’d come over and see sister-in-law," An Hao said with a smile, her dimples making her look very pleasing.
Zhang Lanxiang felt very comfortable hearing An Hao speak, "I like you. My heart warms just hearing you talk."
"I also enjoy visiting sister-in-law. Look, I’ve worn the clothes you made for me. Aren’t they pretty?" An Hao said, turning around, "Sister-in-law’s craftsmanship is really beyond criticism—it fits just right, not too loose or tight."
Hearing An Hao praising her, Zhang Lanxiang was on cloud nine, "I’m so happy to hear you say that, but people in the city don’t really do handmade clothes anymore. Everyone is so fashionable now, with frog eye glasses and bell-bottoms, they look so pretty."
In the mid-1980s, wearing bell-bottoms and denim outfits, getting a perm, and sporting frog eye glasses was a very fashionable look.
As times changed, so did people’s aesthetics.
Thus, new things kept emerging.
An Hao witnessed the prosperous development of the previous era, so she was not unfamiliar with the new things springing up in this era, nor was she particularly curious.
However, listening to Zhang Lanxiang, she felt a bit intrigued.