Chapter 170 What is the Taoist priest looking at?

As soon as Song Zhizhu came out of the donkey pen with his basket on his back, he saw a large group of people heading towards his house.

He was startled, thinking he had offended someone.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the three sisters had come together, along with two children and a man.

I've never seen them all together like this when visiting relatives during the Chinese New Year.

Song Zhizhu panicked a little, wondering if someone was going to remarry.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out the man was a Taoist priest.

What respectable person would marry a Taoist priest?

Song Zhizhu rubbed his fingers angrily, staring intently at the three sisters.

"What a rare guest, Chunmei! You still remember the way back to our home? I thought that bastard Zhao Qian had long since eaten your brains, and you didn't even know the way back to your parents' home." Song Zhizhu mocked her with a half-smile. "What, you've grown wings and can fly now?"

Song Chunmei's cheeks flushed red; she was both angry and annoyed, yet unable to refute him.

"Second brother, I'm already here and you're still making fun of me. I won't dare to come again."

"Ha, you must have ripped Zhao Qian's skull off in your past life, otherwise how could you tolerate such a pig-dog-like creature in this life? If you didn't care about him and couldn't bear to leave him, I would have kicked him into a ditch and filled him in a puddle long ago."

Song Zhizhu said irritably, "I've never seen anyone like Zhao Qian in my life. It's like his mother forgot to put her brain in."

Song Chunmei and her mother remained silent, but they felt extremely uncomfortable.

But it was Song Zhizhu who was cursing, and they didn't dare to utter a single word in rebuttal.

Standing behind, Master Zhang leaned closer to A-Lai and asked, "Has your second uncle always been this good at cursing?"

"Yeah, my second uncle is really good at cursing. I'm so envious," A-Lai whispered. "I wish I could be as good as my second uncle."

Master Zhang patted him on the shoulder and said, “Alai is doing very well now. You don’t need to be like anyone else. Alai is exceptionally good. No one can compare to you.”

Alai beamed with joy, "Thank you, Taoist priest."

Song Zhizhu glanced at the Taoist priest and said, "Fifth brother, I heard a few days ago that you recognized a Taoist priest as your senior brother and even started learning to draw talismans and tell fortunes. How come you brought a Taoist priest home today?"

Hearing her second brother's sarcastic voice, Song Chunxue felt a little scared.

Song Chunlian began to explain, "Second Brother, it's like this. Yesterday, the Taoist priest happened to be passing by and was invited to my house by A Lai. I never expected that the Taoist priest would turn out to be Fifth Brother's senior brother. The Taoist priest has some skills; he's not the kind of charlatan. Last night..."

“I didn’t ask you. Let Lao Wu tell you himself.” Song Zhizhu crossed his arms. “The lucky charm you gave me last time was quite effective, but if you want to marry a Taoist priest, just say so. Why go through all this trouble and beating around the bush?”

Song Chunxue braced herself and said, "Second brother, I didn't want to marry a Taoist priest. Senior brother is a detached and ascetic practitioner. Don't misunderstand him. Senior brother was just being kind. He saw that I was in a bad situation and helped me out. He is my benefactor. Senior brother has important things to do. Getting married would be disrespectful to him."

Song Chunlian and Song Chunmei took a step back, thinking to themselves, "Is the fifth brother so stubborn? Isn't he afraid of being kicked out by the second brother?"

The Taoist priest was pushed back two steps.

Hearing Song Chunxue's words, he stepped forward and explained, "No, no, you overestimate me, junior brother. I just don't like to drag others down. It's not disrespectful at all."

As he spoke, he cupped his hands in greeting to Song Zhizhu, saying, "Greetings, Second Brother Song."

"Second Brother?" Song Zhizhu glanced at him indifferently. "Whom do you call me Second Brother?"

"This humble Taoist..."

"Alright, you've come all this way, I won't scare you anymore, come inside." Song Zhizhu turned around and raised his hand, "Taoist priest, please come inside, could you please give me two more wealth-attracting talismans?"

"..." Song Chunxue didn't remember that her second brother used to change his expression so quickly.

"..." Master Zhang sighed helplessly. He wanted to try, but he hadn't been in good shape lately, so his paintings weren't very effective.

If all else fails, I'll draw him a couple of pictures later; I can't let my junior brother lose face.

A group of people entered the yard, where Song Zhizhu's wife was moving corn with the children.

Rub two corn cobs together vigorously, and the golden corn kernels will fall down.

Upon seeing the guests enter the yard, the mother and her two children got up from the corn pile.

"His aunt is here! All three of you sisters came together. What a wonderful day it is! It's rare for his third aunt to come too." The second sister-in-law smiled and patted the dust off her clothes. "Hurry inside, I'll go cook for you."

Song Chunmei gave a stiff smile. "Yes, I haven't been here for several years."

"Your second brother hunted two rabbits on the mountain a couple of days ago. I'll go stir-fry them. You siblings can have a good chat." The second sister-in-law called out to her eldest son, "Go set up the stove and let your aunts have some tea and steamed buns."

"Okay." Song Zhizhu's eldest son, shy and obedient, carried a large basket of corncobs out of the yard.

Ah Lai smiled and followed him out.

The three Song sisters hurriedly followed to the kitchen, each carrying something in their hands.

"Sister-in-law, don't rush to cook. Let's chat together. We just ate and we're still full."

"Yes, sister-in-law, we haven't seen each other for many years. Let's chat for a while. There's no rush to cook. We can do it when we're hungry."

"This is a small token of our appreciation from the three of us sisters. We even hunted wolves yesterday, so please don't mind these two wolf legs."

As they spoke, the three sisters dragged their second sister-in-law out of the kitchen.

Although this is how it usually is when visiting someone's home, the more enthusiastic ones will first go to the kitchen to cook a delicious meal.

But with so many of them coming, there must be a lot of food to cook. The three sisters have already discussed it and don't want to trouble their second sister-in-law.

"Hey, you three, why are you being so polite? It's not easy for you to go back to your parents' home, how can you not cook?" The second sister-in-law was pushed out the door, and said with a wry smile, "Don't worry about me, go chat with your second brother, I'll cook."

Song Chunlian tugged at her sister-in-law and said, "No way, we also want to talk to you, sister-in-law."

Helpless, Song's second sister-in-law looked at her daughter and said, "Nengneng, you go and do it. You know how to stir-fry rabbit meat, right? Also, scoop out three bowls of white flour. Let me know when you've finished making the flour."

"I understand, Mother." Nengneng smiled at her three aunts. "I'm not very good at making noodles, so please don't mind."

Song Chunxue laughed and said, "How could I not mind? You've probably never scooped wheat flour before. What if you don't do it well? That would be a waste. Just scoop out some other flour, anything you know how to make."

Neng Neng looked at her mother. Although that made sense, most people rarely ate white flour on a daily basis, and she had never even touched it.

Song Chunmei pulled her second sister-in-law toward the main house and smiled at Nengneng, "Go and do what your aunt said. White flour is different from coarse grain flour. You definitely won't be able to make it well if you don't know how to add alkali. Make whatever you know how to make and let your aunts taste your cooking."

The second sister-in-law had already been pushed to the door of the main house. She said helplessly to Neng Neng, "Then you can cook whatever you want and they can eat it. If it tastes bad, they won't blame me."

Master Zhang, who was drinking tea in the main house, listened to a group of women chatting and laughing like sparrows. In the past, he would have found it disgusting.

Now, seeing her junior brother following her own sister to her dearest second brother's house, she stood behind her sister with a relaxed and casual smile on her face, as if she were a completely different person from the junior brother she knew back in Li Family Village.

He couldn't help but think that no matter how long his junior brother lived, in front of his family, she was always the youngest.

It turns out that women can be vibrant and radiant even when they are not mothers.

"What are you looking at, Taoist Master?" Song Zhizhu placed the brush and ink in front of him. "After you draw more wealth-attracting talismans, if you want to marry Lao Wu, I will act as your matchmaker."