Chapter 168 See Who's Luck is Suppressing Who
Small fishing village
At half past seven, Tian Caihua came to the old house to see if there was anything she could help with.
Zhou Chengxin went out to sea early in the morning, so Tian Caihua was not surprised that she didn't see Zhou's father and Zhou Chenglei. Today they were just doing the construction, so it would be fine to have a woman at home.
Tian Caihua saw that Jiang Xia's room door was still closed, so she asked, "Mom, is Xiao Xia still sleeping? Didn't they say eight o'clock is the auspicious time? Shouldn't we wake her up?"
Jiang Xia is really lucky. Sometimes she comes over after eight o'clock while she is still sleeping.
Mother Zhou: "No, she and your father went out early in the morning."
Tian Caihua's mouth twitched.
She didn't expect that Jiang Xia would go out to sea on such an important day.
On the first day of the construction of her new house, she didn't even worship God in person. How careless! They are living in that new house now, and she took the initiative to fight for it and worship God in person.
The gods will protect the gods, so now the house is hers? At this time, the great grandfather and Zhou Yongguo came over.
Great grandfather smiled and said, "The auspicious time is almost here, let's come over and help move the things over."
Zhou's mother smiled and asked them to move an octagonal table over.
Then she and Tian Caihua carried the prepared offerings out, and met Zhou Bingqiang's family coming over with an eight-immortals table and offerings.
When Zhou Bingqiang saw his mother, he immediately shouted, "Sister-in-law, what a coincidence, you are also starting construction at this auspicious time? My wife went to pick a date to build a house a while ago, and the fortune teller said that the best day in the second half of the year is today. I thought that the new house could be built earlier or later anyway, so I might as well pick the best day! After all, a house is a place you live in for a lifetime, so of course it should be built on the best day, don’t you think?"
It was true that today was the best day of the following days, but he wanted to finish the construction early because he didn't want to be outdone! Otherwise, when they went to attend the Ten Thousand Yuan Household Conference together, someone would ask about it, and he would be outdone by Zhou Yongfu's two-and-a-half-story house.
The corners of Zhou's mother's mouth twitched. She could tell with her toes that he didn't want to be outdone by his own family, so he came here deliberately to make trouble for her old man.
On such a happy day, she didn't want to quarrel with others, nor did she want to say anything unlucky. Mother Zhou said with a fake smile: "Yes!"
Zhou Bingqiang's wife Zhang Guiying also smiled and said to Zhou's mother: "We will live together again from now on! Come to my house when you have time."
Zhou Bingqiang’s old house was right next to his great-grandmother’s. Later, he built a new house and moved to the side of the big tree garden.
When Zhou's father later built a house, he deliberately chose a place far away from Zhou Bingqiang. He didn't expect that the other party would come back here to build a house. This was clearly a deliberate attempt to disgust their family.
Mother Zhou was so angry that she cursed in her heart, but she still said with a fake smile: "Yes!"
It's really disgusting! That's right, the homestead next to their homestead belongs to Zhou Bingqiang's family.
If the residential land didn't belong to Zhou Bingqiang's family, A Lei would have wanted to buy the remaining land so that he could build a bigger yard for drying fish.
Mother Zhou was really mad!
But that was someone else's land, and she could do nothing about it.
It’s all the old man’s fault. He’s always showing off. Look, he told others about his family’s good life, and this bastard chose the same day to come here and disgust him!
Grandma was afraid that Zhou's mother would not be able to hold back and start quarreling. Quarreling was the worst taboo on the day of groundbreaking. She smiled and said to Zhou's mother, "Hurry up and arrange the offerings. It's almost eight o'clock. Don't delay the auspicious time."
Zhou's mother also knew that there should be no quarreling during the groundbreaking ceremony. Even though she was angry, she still placed the offerings on the Eight Immortals Table with a smile.
Zhang Guiying smiled and called Wen Wan: "Xiao Wan, you come to set up the offerings, you come to worship the gods."
"Okay." Wen Wan smiled and went forward to help.
Once this house is built, it will be hers and will be valuable in the future.
Wen Wan was supposed to go back to school for classes today, but when she heard Zhou Guohua say that his father planned to build a new house for her and her husband, on the same day as Zhou Chenglei's, and right next to Zhou Chenglei's new house, she decided to take a leave of absence today to watch the construction of the new house begin.
She also suggested that Zhou Bingqiang invite a lion dancer to perform to liven up the atmosphere and outdo the Zhou family and suppress Zhou Chenglei's family.
After worshipping the gods and breaking ground, the lion dance team arrived.
Because it was already eight o'clock, the two families did not speak, but quickly placed the offerings and began to worship the gods.
Wen Wan was secretly competing with Zhou's mother, just wanting to finish the worship first.
Zhou's mother was not in a hurry. Worshiping gods should be done with sincerity. She worshipped earnestly in the middle first, then in the eight directions of the house, burned some paper money, and said many auspicious words.
It was over, an hour later, the great grandfather took the shovel and dug a handful of soil, and shouted happily: "Good luck to the start of the work! Let's get started!"
Great-grandfather and the hired workers began to pull ropes, measure the location of the house, and prepare for digging the foundation.
Zhou's mother, Tian Caihua and great-grandmother, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, carried the offerings back home together.
The four of them came out again and watched the workers digging the foundation, and then they heard the sound of "dong dong dong" drums.
Then, Zhou's mother saw a lion dance team, who were pushing a big drum on a cart, beating the drums and holding up a lion head as they walked towards them.
Many children and villagers followed behind to watch the fun.
Zhou's mother thought: Could it be that the old man invited a lion dance team to celebrate today?
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Zhou Bingqiang came up to her and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, my family has invited a lion dance team to come over and dance to bring prosperity to the new house. It just so happens that your family is also building a house, so you can also take advantage of the good fortune! By the way, where are Yongfu and Chenglei? They won't be out to sea today because the new house is under construction, right? Let them come out and watch the lion dance! Touch the lion's head for health and longevity! Take advantage of the good fortune!"
The claim to be taking advantage of the good fortune is fake. Recently Zhou Yongfu's family has been so lucky that they are about to surpass his family and become the richest in the village.
That’s why he invited the lion dance performance to enhance the luck of the new house and make it prosperous.
The two families started construction at the same time. His family had lion dances to bring good luck and fortune, but Zhou Yongfu's family didn't. The fortune of the house was stronger than Zhou Yongfu's from the beginning, so didn't it suppress the other one?
Wen Wan glanced in the direction of the Zhou family’s old house and felt a little sorry that she didn’t see Jiang Xia. She wanted to see Jiang Xia’s expression.
Mother Zhou was so angry that she was shaking all over!
What does Zhou Bingqiang mean? Zhou's mother is superstitious and believes that lion dance can drive away evil spirits and avoid harm. On festive days, inviting a lion dance team to dance can drive away bad things and make the family prosperous, auspicious, and lucky.
The groundbreaking of a new house is a big deal! Zhou Bingqiang invited a lion dance team to come. His new house is next door to them. Wouldn't this drive all the bad luck and bad things into their new house and take away all the good luck?
This really touched Zhou's mother's taboo, and she was almost mad with anger!
Just as she was about to curse, her grandmother quickly pulled her aside and said with a smile, "It's a great day. Since Bingqiang wants you to share in the good fortune, then go ahead and share it! This is Bingqiang's good intention. How can I refuse? Bingqiang, right?"
Zhou Bingqiang smiled and said, "Yes! Sister-in-law, I specially invited a lion dance team to come over so that your family can also share in the joy!"
After hearing this, the grandmother stepped forward and said to the lion dance team, "Masters, did you hear that? Bingqiang said that my niece's wife should also share in the good fortune! Today is also the day when the construction of my niece's wife's land will start. Please finish dancing for Bingqiang's land, and then dance for this land. Bingqiang will pay you when the time comes!"
Zhou's mother's eyes lit up: "Yes, yes, yes... Thank you so much, Bingqiang! Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought of hiring a lion dancer! Thank you so much for your kindness! Master, after you finish dancing for Zhou Bingqiang's family, please come to my homestead to dance! Bingqiang just said that he invited my family to share in the good fortune! Everyone in the village heard it, he is the richest man in our village and he will not default on his debts!"
Zhou Bingqiang's whole family was dismayed!
Zhou Bingqiang was so proud that he didn't know how to say no, so he could only force a smile and said, "Yes! Dance for them too!"
Wen Wan looked at Zhou Bingqiang in disbelief.
Mother Zhou looked at their frustrated expressions and finally felt relieved.
Humph! You want to suppress them! Let's see who suppresses who!
I can’t kill you!
Wait until their family finishes dancing, then we'll dance too, to drive all the bad luck back to their home, and bring back all the good fortune and luck!
(End of this chapter)