Chapter 172 Old Friend
Ning Huiyue and her group waited at Miao Xiujiu's place and drank a few sips of water. Then they were taken to Gu Weidong by Fubao Gu Shengtian. Before leaving, Miao Xiujiu specially caught a few chickens and asked Gu Shengtian to carry them, saying that these chickens were old and would make delicious soup, so she would ask Liu Guizhi to stew them later.
Miao Xiuju asked Fubao to carry the things again, saying that she would put some of them here first and then go back to see who to give them to. Some of them were for the fourth son's family, so she asked Fubao to take them with her: "Huiyue, we are a family and we should keep our distance. I will help you to arrange them."
Ning Huiyue chuckled. "Aunt, I bought so many things this time just to honor you and thank the folks from Dagunzi Mountain. I'm completely new here, so how would I know who's with whom? You certainly understand the ways of the world better than I do, so I'll listen to you."
Miao Xiuju smiled from ear to ear: "Then I'll see what happens."
The two women talked for a while, and Miao Xiujiu gave Fubao some instructions before letting them go. But as soon as they went out, they saw a tanned and thin peasant woman peeking inside. She was startled when she suddenly saw Ning Huiyue and others coming out.
Fu Bao took a look and saw that it was his third aunt Liu Zhaodi. He immediately smiled and said, "Third aunt, you are here. We just got home today and came to visit my grandma."
Liu Zhaodi had heard the children at the back of the village say that Fubao had returned with a large family, and that they were carrying a lot of things. So she ran over here to see what good things they had brought. However, she was caught red-handed as soon as she entered the door to eavesdrop.
She stole a glance at the Yu family and was dazzled by the city people's attire and elegance. When she wanted to see what good things they had brought, Gu Shengtian spoke up, "Aunt, my parents don't know we're back yet. We're going home first and we'll talk later."
Having said that, he called everyone and left.
Liu Zhaodi peeked out and watched those people leave. Seeing them carrying large and small bags to the fourth brother's house, she was so jealous that she stamped her feet and said, "How stingy! I'm your aunt after all, why don't you think about showing some filial respect?"
After she cursed, she wanted to go in and see what good things Miao Xiuju had gotten. But after she went in, she glanced around the room and saw nothing. She was puzzled: "Mom, Fubao brought her parents here. They are so rich, but they didn't give you anything good?"
Miao Xiuju said: "I sent it, why not? This is a filial child, how could I not send it!"
Liu Zhaodi's face lit up with joy: "What did you give me?"
Miao Xiuju was puzzled and looked at Liu Zhaodi questioningly: "Why? Why are you asking this? Do you want it?"
Liu Zhaodi was startled by Miao Xiuju's gaze and said hurriedly, "How can that be? I'm just asking casually!"
Miao Xiuju: "I think so too. You said that as sons and daughters-in-law, you don't want to show your filial piety to me. How can you come to me every few days to look for things? You are always embarrassed to think about the things other families show me. I, the daughter-in-law of the Gu family, don't have such thick skin."
Miao Xiuju: ...
Forget it, she should just leave. Why did she come here? How could she possibly think of taking advantage of her stingy mother-in-law?
On this side, Fubao led everyone to his home in a grand procession, which naturally attracted everyone's curiosity. There were also some children who came to watch the fun. Fubao asked Ning Huiyue to take out pear paste candy for the children to eat.
After Ning Huiyue broke up, she asked Fubao privately, "That Third Aunt just now, is she the one who's greedy and bullies others by favoring boys over girls?"
Fubao nodded: "Yes."
Ning Huiyue suddenly realized that this person clearly wanted something, but Gu Shengtian pretended not to know and didn't give it to her. It seemed that there was a reason for this. Moreover, the way she looked at her just now was clearly greedy and wanted something. As expected, this person's character was obvious at a glance.
When everyone arrived at Gu Weidong's house, before they even entered, Gu Weidong, Liu Guizhi, and Gu Yuehua were all on tiptoe waiting to greet them...
Gu Yuejin was in a military academy and had no holiday during the New Year. He had to concentrate on training. There was nothing he could do about it. However, Gu Yuehua was at the mine and had stopped working a long time ago. Now he was back home preparing for the New Year. Everyone hadn't seen each other for a long time and greeted each other warmly. Fubao helped Gu Yuehua introduce everyone to each other. After greeting each other, they all gathered together and went into the house.
In the past two years, Gu Weidong's family has become better off and is one of the richest families in the village, so they have built an additional house. There are plenty of rooms, enough to accommodate so many people. After entering the house and settling down, they poured hot water to warm their hands and feet, and ate dried fruits picked from the mountains and dried in the sun.
Liu Guizhi smiled and said, "You two should take a break first. Jinyun and Wanru will be back soon. They went to town to buy wedding supplies. There's pork stewing in the kitchen. It's the pig we just slaughtered. I thought there would be a lot of people for the New Year this year, so I simply didn't sell it and kept it. We'll drink the hot soup and eat the big white steamed buns and nibble on the pork later!"
Gu Shengtian heard this and said, "Mom, are we buying a whole pig this year?"
Last year, my family also raised pigs. Since our conditions had improved, we couldn’t bear to sell them all, so we only sold half. We kept the remaining half for ourselves to eat, to make dumplings during the Chinese New Year, and to eat pork and pig’s trotters, etc., which we could eat until February of the following year.
Gu Yuehua: "Look at how greedy you are. Yes, a whole pig, you can eat as much as you want!"
"Pork is good! I love pork stewed in a big iron pot. It's delicious. And pork stewed in a big iron pot with vermicelli and cabbage is so delicious!"
When it comes to eating, it becomes more lively when there are many people around. Everyone scrambles to eat from the big pot of rice, and that’s how delicious it is!
Miao Xiuju heard this and gave a thumbs up: "It's obvious that the old man is an expert. That's right, we rural people have to eat pork, vermicelli and cabbage stewed in a big iron pot during the New Year. Let's stew it tomorrow!"
Everyone laughed when they heard this. Liu Guizhi wiped her hands and was about to go to the kitchen to get busy. Fubao hurried over to help. Ning Huiyue saw this and followed her into the kitchen. Of course, Liu Guizhi didn't let her help: "You just got here, take a rest. I'm afraid you must be very tired from the journey."
Ning Huiyue insisted: "It's nothing, I don't feel tired, I just feel fresh. Besides, I want to see how this big iron pot cooks!"
She was born and raised in the city. Even when she had followed Yu Anmin to the mountains for a while, there was a canteen where she could eat ready-made meals. She had never seen a big iron pot. When she went there to take a look, she was very surprised to see the bellows, the iron pot, and the stove.
When Fubao saw it, he taught her that this was a fire stick and that it could make a breeze. Ning Huiyue enjoyed learning and soon started to fan the bellows. However, she used too much force and the flames licked out, and a cloud of smoke came out, almost smoking several people into pandas.
Finally, Fubao and his two mothers looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
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