Cheng Tianhua secretly shook his head. If Deputy Director Qian were younger, he might have married Cheng You to him and formed a kinship.
But at his age, if Cheng Tianhua still married Cheng You to him, he would be gossiped about.
He thought for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "How old are his two sons?"
"One is eighteen, the other is fourteen."
Knowing that he wanted to find a way to curry favor with Deputy Director Qian, Zhao Yunlin answered him in detail.
"Eighteen..."
This age was suitable.
Cheng Tianhua had an idea in his mind. Cheng You was also just eighteen. If she could marry over, it would barely work.
If she couldn't be a wife, she could be a daughter-in-law, it was the same.
Zhao Yunlin looked at his thoughtful expression and suddenly understood his intention.
He wanted to marry Cheng You off!
Zhao Yunlin felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. Although he and Cheng You had long since broken off their engagement, and he was now married to Cheng Tao.
But to watch Cheng You get married, he still felt a little uncomfortable.
It was like the villagers kept saying that Cheng You and Qi Chengyan were dating.
Every time he heard it, he felt a thorn in his heart, and it was extremely uncomfortable.
As soon as Cheng Tianhua returned home, Song Yulian eagerly stepped forward.
"How was it?"
Because of this matter, Cheng Tianhua's attitude towards her improved a lot.
"It's okay. I'll go to the commune again another day and invite him to a meal."
Song Yulian was delighted. The fact that they were going to eat together meant that the talk had gone well.
But Cheng Tianhua still felt a little melancholy.
To completely establish a relationship with Deputy Director Qian, one either had shared interests or kinship.
He had neither, so no matter how much he ate, it was useless.
Song Yulian was a bit at a loss. The matter seemed to be going smoothly, but he seemed unhappy.
She didn't dare to ask and thought about going to talk to Cheng Tao tomorrow.
...
Cheng You finished several jars of cold cream and finally decided to add two drops of essence, along with several medicinal herbs such as schizonepeta, windproof, and angelica, to make a cracked skin cream.
She didn't dare to make too much at once, as she didn't know if it would be effective. She planned to try it on Old Mrs. Li first.
"Grandma, I'll apply it for you now. If you take a bath tonight, remember to have Uncle Li apply it back for you. There's still a lot of this stuff, so use it generously, don't be stingy."
Old Mrs. Li smiled and nodded, letting her apply the cracked skin cream to her heels.
The originally cracked and itchy wounds felt much more comfortable after a while of applying the medicine.
Old Mrs. Li was surprised and said, "It works! It really works! It's not itchy anymore after such a short time."
Cheng You smiled and said, "It's good if it works, so you must keep applying it, and your skin won't crack when winter comes. Also, these are woolen socks. I bought wool and had it knitted. They're very warm, try them on."
Old Mrs. Li and Uncle Li treated her well, and Cheng You was not an ungrateful person. She treated them as her elders and was filial to them.
"You didn't knit them yourself, did you?" Old Mrs. Li affectionately stroked her head.
Cheng You chuckled, "I originally wanted to knit them myself, but I found that I didn't have the skill, so I found someone to help."
At first, she wanted to knit a scarf for Qi Chengyan herself, but the result was unsatisfactory, so she gave up.
Buying the yarn herself and having someone else help seemed to be the same thing.
"These two pairs are for you to change into. I'll put them here."
Old Mrs. Li nodded repeatedly, her heart warmed as she touched the thick socks.
It was still her daughter who was so considerate.
Cheng You walked out of the house, with two more jars of cracked skin cream in her pocket.
"Uncle, I'm going home now."
Uncle Li, stroking his smooth head, was still resentful and waved her away impatiently, telling her to leave quickly.
Cheng You took two jars of cracked skin cream to the educated youth point, carrying a bag in her hand.
As soon as Sun Xiaowan saw her, she knew she was looking for Qi Chengyan.
"Brother Chengyan isn't here."
Cheng You paused. "He's not here? Where did he go?"
"Our village's pigsty isn't warm enough, so the captain asked them to reinforce it."
Cheng You mumbled, "Okay then."
However, she didn't leave immediately and took out two jars of cracked skin cream.
"This is for you."
She would have to make a few more jars later, as there were quite a few people to give them to.
Sun Xiaowan was pleasantly surprised. "Is this the whitening cold cream?"
"No, this is cracked skin cream. I added medicinal herbs to it, which can soothe cracks on your feet and hands. You can try it."
These educated youths were all from the city and were spending their first winter here. They would surely suffer from chilblains and chapped skin.
Sun Xiaowan was distressed by the painful and itchy chapped skin on her hands.
It was such a small crack that it was unrealistic to get medicine from Uncle Li.
But if she didn't treat it, it would be unbearably painful and itchy.
The one Cheng You sent was very practical.
She didn't stand on ceremony and immediately opened it, scooped out a bit, and applied it to her hands.
It had a slight herbal scent, and it was indeed different from cold cream.
It felt very comfortable after applying it, and after a while, it stopped itching.
"It really works! But you gave it all to us, what about Brother Chengyan?"
Cheng You glanced at her. "He's my boyfriend, of course I'd care about him! Use yours. I already gave it to him."
Worrying that he wouldn't use it, she had specifically emphasized that it was cracked skin cream, not cold cream.
Sun Xiaowan rolled her eyes. "No need to emphasize it, I know he's your boyfriend! Hmph!"
Cheng You ignored her. Since Qi Chengyan wasn't here, she would deliver the scarf and gloves another day.
As soon as she walked a few steps, Sun Xiaowan called out to her, "Cheng You! Do you have any more of this cracked skin cream? I want to buy a few jars for my parents."
Cheng You shook her head. "Not at the moment, but I'll make more. Tell me how many you want, and I'll prioritize you."
"Give me... three or four or five jars."
"...How many do you actually want?"
"Five jars. My family is large."
Although her parents were both workers and had only recently been promoted to minor leadership positions, they had suffered a lot when they were young.
Every winter, their hands would crack, and the pain would keep them from sleeping.
Especially since their hands were rough, the raised skin would sometimes catch on the cotton threads of their clothes, making them extremely irritable.
Cheng You nodded. "Seven mao per jar, are you sure you want to buy it?"
Her cold cream was bought from the supply and marketing cooperative, it was a basic type with no scent, and it only cost three mao.
The essence was not included in the cost. Excluding the medicinal herbs and other ingredients, she could still make three mao per jar.
"Yes, yes, yes, do I need to pay a deposit?"
Seven mao wasn't expensive. The cold cream at the department store cost five mao, and besides being fragrant, it had no other benefits.
"No need. I'll bring it to you tomorrow."
Making this was very simple, just adding some processed medicinal herbs, there was no technical difficulty.
She had sold five jars at once, earning one yuan and five mao, and Cheng You walked away humming a happy tune.
Sun Xiaowan was indeed a little fat sheep, whom she could shear to her heart's content.
By the next day, Cheng You had made a total of ten jars.
Five jars were sold to Sun Xiaowan, two jars were sold to Song Jingtang, and the remaining three jars were sent to Aunt Six's home.