After waiting for a while, Li Tianyu still hadn't come back.

  Zhou Xiaoyun told Niu Niu to eat first and then walked out of the house to greet someone.

  They rented a small house in the suburbs of a small county town, not prosperous. Fortunately, there is a hospital and supermarket nearby, shopping is still convenient. It's also close to Zhou Xiaoyun's toy factory where she works. Li Tianyu rented a storefront on a more prosperous street in the county town, selling some fruit, and returned home early or late.

  She had also advised Li Tianyu to find a stable job with a steady income, which would be better than this unreliable fruit stand.

  But Li Tianyu disagreed, saying: "I opened a fruit shop, after all, I am the boss. I don't want to go work for others and look at their faces to do things."

  Actually, this is just a small part of the reason.

  Li Tianyu had just graduated from junior high school and returned after serving as a soldier for three years. He was assigned to be a government security guard, but he thought it was too tiring and quit. His family found him an easier office clerk job, but he worked for only one year and then complained that others didn't take him seriously and always made him run errands.

  After marriage, he had done nearly ten jobs. Later, under the encouragement of friends, he borrowed money to rent a storefront and opened a fruit shop. He finally managed to do it stably for three or four years. Although he couldn't make much money, he won in terms of being relaxed and free.

  Zhou Xiaoyun has been in love with Li Tianyu since she was 19 years old, and they got married two years later. Now it's almost ten years. She understands this man more than herself.

  He loves to eat, play and enjoy life, laziness is an unchangeable nature, and it's impossible to change the innate lack of ambition. Years of married life have made Zhou Xiaoyun understand this: following such a man through life, don't think about getting rich, don't expect sweet words, and don't anticipate surprises.

  Zhou Xiaoyun sometimes couldn't understand how she had fallen deeply in love with such a useless man back then. Her parents at home didn't agree to their marriage, but she was like a possessed person, crying and shouting that she would only marry Li Tianyu. Was this what they called fate?

  After walking for several steps, I heard the ear-piercing sound of a motorcycle.

  Zhou Xiaoyun couldn't help but smile, feeling happy at this moment. She felt that being with the man she loved and being able to go through thick and thin together made all the hardships worthwhile.

  "How did you come out? You could have just waited for me at home." Li Tianyu got off his motorcycle and saw Zhou Xiaoyun.

  Zhou Xiaoyun smiled and said: "Why are you late today? Don't you usually come back at 6:30 every day?"

  Li Tianyu explained: "When it was time to close the store door, Little Gu ran over to find me and told me something, which delayed things for a bit."

  Is it Little Guo? Is it Guo Chunlai?

  "What does he want from you again?" Zhou Xiaoyun furrowed her brow.

  Xiao Gu is Li Tianyu's best friend, they have been together since childhood. To be honest, Li Tianyu is more generous to Xiao Gu than to her. Xiao Gu spends all day trading stocks and has made a lot of money. However, Zhou Xiaoyun has always been a bit jealous of him because Li Tianyu listens to his words the most.

  He hasn't even reached the point of obeying me yet! Zhou Xiaoyun thought angrily.

  Li Tianyu parked his car and walked home with Zhou Xiaoyun. As they walked, he said: "I was just about to come back and discuss something with you, let's eat while we talk."

  Zhou Xiaoyun and her husband entered the house, a wave of heat hit them in the face. The electric fan in the room was blowing hot air with a humming sound, Niu Niu was sweating profusely while eating.

  Zhou Xiaoyun went to get a towel and wiped the sweat for her daughter. Then she brought up the topic that had been mentioned the most since summer: "Let's install an air conditioner, look at the kid sweating so much, as soon as we eat, it's all sweaty. Who still uses a fan nowadays?"

  Li Tianyu sat down to eat, stuffing meat into his mouth while mumbling incoherently: "A rented house, how can we install air conditioning? In the future when we move again, we'll have to move the air conditioner too, what a hassle! Just bear with it!"

  "I can endure, but how can the children? Didn't you say that the rented house is not suitable for installing air conditioning? Then let's buy a house." Zhou Xiaoyun finally couldn't help but express this idea that had been turning over in her mind countless times.

  After marriage, she first lived with her parents-in-law. Li Tianyu's younger brother and sister also lived at home, crowded and often quarreling. When the child was three years old, she finally made up her mind to move out and live separately.

  This rental has been rented for four years, and the money spent on renting a house is over 10,000 yuan. Zhou Xiaoyun's biggest dream is to have a two-bedroom, one-living room house. Having your own house is having your own home!

  Li Tianyu was taken aback, somewhat unexpectedly: "Buy a house? Where did you get so much money?! A set of county town suburban commercial housing is over 3,000 yuan per square meter, not to mention better locations. Even if you buy in the suburbs, buying a 60-square-meter two-bedroom suite would cost over 2 million yuan!"

  Zhou Xiaoyun said in a bad mood: "When will the house prices drop, they just keep rising sharply. Who knows when it will rise to over 4,000, we can't rent a house for life, right? The child is about to enter first grade, and later there won't even be a place to do homework. We have to consider the child's future, I still want to buy a house."

  Li Tianyu disagreed: "The down payment is all 700,000 to 800,000 yuan, but we only have 200,000 yuan on hand, the difference is too big."

  "Can't your parents contribute some? Whose family can afford a house without their parents' financial help, when will you be able to save up enough money on your own?"

  Mentioning Li Tianyu's parents made Zhou Xiaoyun even angrier.

  Grandpa and grandma are rural people, their home is just a three-room tile house. Li Tianyu also has a younger brother who got married and lives at home, his sister works in the county town and occasionally returns home to live. The three of them returned home without even having a place to stay.

  "Where did they get the money from, you'd also say it's a joke." Li Tianyu's parents, apart from farming, just do some odd jobs, and indeed don't have much money.

  "Then go ask your uncle for a loan."

  Li Tianyu's family was not well-off, but he had a good uncle. His uncle worked as a mid-level cadre in the county government and his aunt was a nurse at the hospital. They were relatively well-off and often helped Li Tianyu's family.

  Uncle's family has no son, only two daughters, and they have always liked Li Tianyu. Li Tianyu has been fond of staying at his uncle's house since he was a child.

  "But, however, I..."

  Li Tianyu stuttered and couldn't get the words out: "I've already promised to lend the money to Little Gu."