Chapter 107 The Feast Begins
Lin Chuntao and the others were busy, and before they knew it, it was lunchtime. Aunt Guizhi and the others helped with the cooking. They stir-fried some pork, heated up some pork cracklings, and cooked a few vegetables. It was a simple meal.
After eating, we took the leftovers from dinner and steamed them in a large steamer. We steamed them until cooked, then poured them out into a winnowing basket. We would reheat them as we ate them that evening, otherwise we wouldn't have enough time to steam them fresh, and one or two steamers wouldn't be enough to eat.
Aunt Guizhi was in charge of steaming rice, Grandma and Chen Dongniang were in charge of serving dishes, Hu and Deng helped serve the dishes, Lin Chuntao also asked Lin Changzong to help with the bookkeeping, and Lin Changsen to help with greeting guests.
After lunch, Lin Chuntao boiled the pig's blood and let it cool. She washed and chopped some coriander and scallions and set them aside. For the dipping sauce that evening, Lin Chuntao prepared to roast dried chilies and grind them into a fine powder using a stone mortar. Freshly roasted chili powder is more fragrant when used for dipping sauce.
In the morning, Lin Chuntao soaked wood ear mushrooms and dried bamboo shoots. She planned to make a cold dish with houttuynia cordata for the wood ear mushrooms and stew the dried bamboo shoots in meat broth. She also planned to stir-fry a few vegetables to complete the meal.
For vegetarian dishes, Lin Chuntao plans to make shredded potatoes with green peppers, steamed pumpkin, stir-fried shredded pork with cucumber, and daylily. This will make eight dishes in total, which should be enough for the meal.
The vegetarian dishes were prepared, and the meat dishes were cooking. Aunt Guizhi and the others went home in the afternoon when they had nothing to do, and they would be bringing a table over to use later.
Lin Chuntao estimated that there would be about twenty tables that evening, so she borrowed six sets of tables and chairs, which were just the right size to be placed in the main courtyard.
After Aunt Guizhi and the others left, Lin Chuntao and the others also rested for a while.
She said to Lin Chunxing and the others, "When you move, everyone will be visiting the house. I have put a lock on your bedroom door. Here is the key. I will lock the bedroom door when there are more people. The beds are already made up, so no one can visit. The guest room door doesn't need to be closed. I haven't made the beds yet, but you can go in and see if you want."
The younger sisters happily accepted the keys, and Lin Chuntao said, "Take good care of them, these will be your own room keys from now on."
The younger sisters looked at the key with sparkling eyes. They had seen keys before, but they belonged to the family and were not their own.
"Sister, does this mean this room will be ours from now on?"
Lin Chuntao raised an eyebrow and smiled, "That's right, from now on it will be your own, and you'll have to clean your own rooms."
"Okay!
They nodded repeatedly, their smiles almost reaching their ears.
They had only rested for a short while when Lin Changzong and the others brought over a table and set it up in the yard.
The table was set up, and the meat that was cooked first was done. Lin Chuntao took it out and let it cool, preparing to cut it later. The braised pork offal needed to be cooked for a while longer.
Before the meat could even be cut, my uncle and aunt arrived. This time, my aunt and uncle finally brought my cousins along.
Lin Chuntao's uncles and aunts brought her a quilt, and Lin Chuntao knew that making a quilt wasn't cheap.
The eldest aunt looked at her and said, "Chuntao, we didn't give you anything when you married Pei Ying. Your uncles said they would make you a quilt. Since your mother is gone, we, as elders, should have prepared a complete dowry for you, including a table, chairs, benches, and bedding. But with our family's circumstances, we can't provide you with everything. Please don't mind."
Mentioning Xu Xiu, Lin Chuntao looked at her aunt and said softly, "I'm sorry, Aunt, for making you worry. Pei Ying and I didn't hold a banquet. Besides, when he comes to our house, he doesn't need to give a betrothal gift, and I don't need to give a dowry. We can just live together like this, without all that."
“If I had known you were making quilts, I wouldn’t have let you. My cousins have grown up. You spend so much money, while I’m raising Chunxing and the others without much expense.”
Lin Chuntao's aunt knew how much money Lin Chuntao spent building the house. Even when it came to food, she felt the money was flowing out like water. Although the sisters were not struggling financially, she was still a little scared watching the money being spent so quickly.
Looking at Chun Tao, thinking about their move to a new house today, she didn't say anything more, only saying, "Whether it's your wedding or your move, we should prepare something for you. Combining the two events together makes your uncle feel bad, like he owes you something."
Lin Chuntao said, "My uncle shouldn't think like that. The table, chairs, cabinets and such that my mother left behind were all made by you, uncle. They're fine. As long as we have something to use, that's enough. After this moving is over, I'll go back home. In a while, when I have a little more money, I'd like to find a tutor for Chunhe and Duo'er so they can study and learn to read. Aunt, you and uncle can discuss it. If it's possible, you can have your younger siblings come along too."
The eldest aunt looked at her with considerable surprise. Although everyone lived in the countryside, they knew that sending their children to school could help them pass the imperial examinations and become high-ranking officials. But knowing this was one thing, but tuition fees for writing materials were so expensive. Where would they get the money to send their children to school? They wouldn't even dare to dream of such a dream.
"Can Duo'er and the others take the exams while they're studying?" the eldest aunt asked.
Lin Chuntao shook her head slightly, "No, but we will be doing business in the future, so it is very important for us to be literate and learn to do accounting."
"Hiring a tutor must cost quite a bit of money, right?"
"Hmm, it should cost quite a bit, I haven't asked yet," Lin Chuntao said. "If he has a talent for studying, my younger brother should be able to do it."
The eldest aunt swallowed hard. She didn't ask any more questions, only saying that she would discuss it with her uncle and the others when she got home.
While the eldest aunt was talking to Lin Chuntao, the two aunts pulled Duo'er and Chunhe to look around. They lived far away and were poor. They had only visited once before Xu Xiu passed away. They didn't even know that Lin Chuntao and the others had separated from the Lin family or that something had happened to the Lin family. It was only yesterday when they arrived here that the eldest aunt and the others told them.
At this moment, pulling Chunhe and the others around, they saw that Lin Chunhe and the others had gained weight and looked much better. Compared to the year Xu Xiu passed away, they had changed a lot. They missed their deceased sister and felt sorry for their niece who had no parents. They were powerless to help her. On such a joyous day, they could not shed tears. Their emotions were turbulent, and soon their eyes were red.
After finishing her business with her aunt, Lin Chuntao quickly handed the things to Pei Ying to put away, and then went to talk to her two aunts.
Looking at the tall and slender Lin Chuntao, her eyes were red, but she still smiled and looked her up and down. Lin Chuntao said, "Auntie, we're fine, you've even gained a little weight."
"We can see that all three of them have gained weight, but you haven't gained much."
Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "Actually, I've gained weight too, but it doesn't show because I'm tall. My younger sisters are still small."
After Pei Ying finished putting his things away, Lin Chuntao called him over and introduced him to her two aunts. Pei Ying greeted them politely, and his aunts looked him over and nodded in satisfaction.
I took them for a walk around the house.
After they finished shopping, Aunt Guizhi and the others returned. Aunt Guizhi and Madam Sun were both the head chefs for her today, so they were quite busy. The task of entertaining guests was left to Lin Chunxing and the others.
Aunt Guizhi and Madam Sun both directly gave red envelopes. When the house was first built, Chen Dongniang and Madam Sun had discussed making something for Lin Chuntao and the others to give as a gift when they moved.
Seeing that Lin Chuntao had made very thorough arrangements, Madam Sun decided that since there wasn't anything particularly suitable to send, she would just give a red envelope, and if it was a little larger, it would still be a token of their goodwill.
Everyone in the village was giving her vegetables, eggs, and dried vegetables. Aunt Guizhi felt that if Lin Chuntao and the others needed these things, they could just ask her directly. It wasn't appropriate to give them away now, so she simply wrapped them in a red envelope. In addition to what happened with Lin Shuilian before, she made a pair of shoes for Lin Chuntao. Since there was still plenty of time, Grandma Lin Shuilian also helped make them. She even made shoes for Chunxing, Chunhe, and Duo'er as well.
I'll bring them all over now.
They were still embroidered shoes, with flowers and birds embroidered on the pink uppers, looking very girly and cute.
Sun and Chen Dongniang were both surprised when they saw these pairs of shoes.
"Oh my, Guizhi, you've quietly made four pairs of such beautiful shoes?"
Sun laughed and joked, to which Aunt Guizhi replied, "I was just lending a hand; it was the old lady who did it."
Lin Shuilian was spared death thanks to Lin Chuntao, as Sun and the others all know.
Hongfeng Sun and her family gave 88 yuan, and Aunt Guizhi gave 66 yuan, both very auspicious numbers.
In the village, six or eight coins were considered a lot, so the amount they gave was already quite large.
Lin Chuntao accepted the red envelope without ceremony, and thanked her with a smile.
Meng Yun and Lin Chuntao didn't ask her to do anything; they just invited her to dinner. She was young, and it was more appropriate for her to join in the fun with other young people than to do kitchen work.
She and Fan Liniang were going to have dinner that night, but they were still a little conflicted about whether Lin Jialang should come.
Meng Yun said, "Sister-in-law, let Jialang go too. You take her to deliver the gift, and I'll give one to Chun Tao and the others separately."
Lin Jialang and Meng Yue will get married when they grow up. They are all family. Meng Yun felt that she needed to discuss their relationship with Lin Chuntao and the others separately.
Hearing Meng Yun's words, Fan Liniang also secretly hoped that the relationship between Lin Jialang and Lin Chuntao could be eased. It would take time for things to ease. If Lin Jialang didn't come to visit at this time, then Lin Chuntao and the others would definitely not come to their banquet in the future. So they still had to keep in touch.
"Then let's do it your way."
It wasn't just Fan Liniang and her family who were worried about these things; Wang Shi and her family were also concerned. The old lady and her family would send one. Although the family hadn't divided their property yet, they would have to divide it in case the old lady passed away. So Chen Dongniang and Hu Shi would keep a record of this.
With Wang Shi and Lin Chuntao in such a state, and Lin Qingqing running away from home, Lin Qingqing's aunt and uncle were coming to visit. They went to ask Wang Shi, who had been lying motionless with her eyes vacant for the past few days, as if she had lost her soul.
Lin Changhua took out eight coins and gave them to Lin Qingqing's aunt.
"Sister-in-law, we won't go. Just write down my name for me."
Qingqing's aunt accepted the money and agreed to the arrangement.
It's best to start the feast early at this time; it's too late to clean up and there's no light.
Before the sun had even set, people began to arrive in the village one after another. Lin Changsen and his group started to invite people to sit down and prepare for dinner, but everyone was curious and didn't rush to eat. They wandered around and looked at the huge courtyard, the first one in the village. The children, in particular, were very excited, their eyes shining as they ran from one side to the other.
While everyone was visiting, Pei Ying called her uncle, aunt, cousin, and other relatives over to sit down first.
Hu and Deng carried the dishes out in winnowing baskets. The first dish they served was meat, freshly ladled from the soup. The marinated meat was more fragrant than freshly cooked meat, and the steam quickly filled the entire courtyard with its aroma.
The adults were surprised to see the bowl full of meat, and the children, smelling the aroma of the meat, stopped running around and frantically sniffed the air, running to the table.
After the dishes were served, Aunt Guizhi served rice to everyone and invited them to start eating.
The courtyard was crowded with people chatting and eating sunflower seeds. As the meat dishes were served, braised pork offal, chicken, and stir-fried pork liver were brought out one after another.
The five branches of the Lin family have dispersed, leaving only a few children. Lin Chuntao and the others are all girls. They always feel that the pillar of the family, Lin Jialang, and the others are still too young. Many people are good at calculating things and don't think that bringing food is a waste. However, some older people will say that they should come even if they have to bring something just because of Old Man Lin.
Looking at this feast now, some people feel fortunate that they came.
Meng Yun, Fan Liniang, and Lin Jialang arrived at a moderate time. After entering, they went to Lin Changzong to make the accounts. They made two sets of accounts, one for Lin Jialang and one for Meng Yun.
Pei Yinggang turned around after a quick tidy-up and saw Lin Jialang. Lin Jialang was taken aback for a moment and called out, "Brother-in-law, congratulations!"
Pei Ying smiled and nodded, "Your sister Chun Tao is busy, you should go in and eat first."
Lin Jialang looked at Pei Ying's expression and nodded with a smile.
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