After they had packed up, An Dashan did not stay for long and took them back to Huaishu Village. This time, An Ning's second aunt Li was afraid that Xiao Shitou would disturb Gao, so she did not let Xiao Shitou come along, so Wang, Uncle Gao and Gao Yunfu were in the car.
After returning home, Gao arranged for Gao Dajiu and Gao Yunfu to live in An Yong's room first, and then Wang lived in the west room of the upper house first, and moved to the east room to sleep with Gao after An Dashan and An Ning left. That night, An Ning cooked a large table of dishes to welcome the guests, and An Dashan and Gao Dajiu also drank a few glasses.
The next day, An Ning and An Dashan went to the county town to buy some food and supplies for the trip, and also to prepare some gifts for An Yong's in-laws. An Ning thought that since he was the governor, he should not lack any good things, and the most important thing was the thought. It happened that there were a lot of ginseng in his space, although they were not old, they were good in quantity, so he went to the largest gift shop in the county town and bought a lot of exquisite gift boxes, and then bought a few ordinary gifts.
An Dashan looked at what An Ning bought and was a little confused. After leaving the shop, he asked, "Ning Ning, why did you buy these gift boxes?"
An Ning whispered in An Dashan's ear: "The old immortal gave me a lot of ginseng. Let's put the ginseng in a gift box and give it to eldest brother's Yue family. It will be a very good gift for meeting him."
An Dashan nodded in understanding and said, "You are really smart. But that was given to you by the old immortal. Is it appropriate for you to give it to your eldest brother's Yue family?"
An Ning waved her hand nonchalantly and said, "What's the matter with this? Once it's given to me, it's mine. I can do whatever I want with it."
An Dashan didn't say anything else, but just kept all of this in mind.
An Ning and An Dashan went to the jewelry store again. An Ning was going to buy a gift for her future sister-in-law on behalf of her mother. When they arrived at the store, a clerk came over to greet them. The clerk asked enthusiastically, "What jewelry do you two want to buy?"
An Ning said: "I want to buy some jewelry suitable for young women."
Seeing this, the clerk took out two sets of jewelry from the counter and said, "These two sets of jewelry are new styles this year, especially suitable for young girls. Do you like them?"
An Ning looked at the two sets of jewelry, one set was a golden Begonia pearl hairpin and a pair of matching earrings, the other set was a jasper plum blossom hairpin and matching earrings. An Ning asked about the price, the golden Begonia pearl hairpin was priced at fifty taels of silver, and the other set was 80 taels of silver. An Ning thought about her family's financial resources and the fact that the jasper plum blossom hairpin was too simple, so she gritted her teeth and bought the golden Begonia pearl hairpin and earrings.
An Dashan didn't want to let his daughter down, so he said, "Brother, do you have any jewelry suitable for my daughter?"
The clerk said quickly, "Yes, yes, you've come at the right time. These new jewellery have just arrived in the store. Take a look at this set of jewellery. It is especially suitable for a girl of your age." The clerk took out a set of butterfly hairpins made of sterling silver. The butterflies were made very beautifully, as if they could spread their wings and fly away in the next second. There was also a pair of butterfly-shaped earrings.
An Dashan liked it immediately and asked, "How much is this?"
The clerk said, "Although this is made of pure silver, it is exquisitely crafted, so I want to charge you ten taels of silver."
Before An Ning could say anything, An Dashan said, "Okay, please pack these two sets of jewelry for us!" Upon hearing that, the guy happily went to pack them.
An Ning thought that her elder brother was already an official and couldn't be too shabby, so she bought two jade hairpins and one for her father. An Dashan knew that he was going to arrange a marriage for his son and was afraid of embarrassing him, so he didn't refuse.
After buying the jewelry, An Ning and An Dashan went to the butcher shop and bought some lean meat, planning to fry some jerky in the afternoon to take with them on the road.
The father and daughter bought everything and headed home. On the way home, An Dashan asked in surprise, "Why didn't I see your Uncle Zhao this time?"
An Ning shook her head and said, "Maybe she didn't come on duty because of something!" The father and daughter didn't think much about it and went home.
When the father and daughter returned home, they saw An Ning's grandmother, Wang, busy in the kitchen. It turned out that after An Ning and his friends left, Gao asked Wang to help make some food that could be kept, such as cakes, for fear that An Ning and his friends would miss a place to eat on the way and would not go hungry.
An Ning put down her things and went into the kitchen to help. When Wang saw An Ning coming in, she said, "You guys are back. Go and have a rest. You don't need to do this little work."
An Ning smiled and said, "I'm not tired. We took a carriage back and forth. With my help, we can finish it in a short while."
Seeing An Ning's insistence, Wang didn't say anything else. The two chatted and laughed, and soon prepared food for the journey.
After preparing food for the trip, An Ning and Wang started to prepare lunch. There were lotus roots at home, so An Ning made a plate of cold lotus root slices. Wang rolled out the noodles skillfully, and made a pot of stewed noodles.
After the family had lunch and took a short rest, An Ning got up to fry the dried meat. When An Ning arrived in the kitchen, she saw Wang was already cutting meat. It turned out that An Ning had mentioned it when cooking at noon, and Wang had remembered it.
After lunch, she took a short break and then got up to cut the meat. When An Ning entered the kitchen, Wang had already cut half of it. An Ning marinated the cut meat with seasonings and then placed it on the lid to let the moisture on the surface of the meat dry, which would save time when frying.
After An Ning had arranged everything, Wang had also cut the other half. An Ning did the same with the remaining dried meat. After everything was arranged, they were left to dry for half an hour and then they could be fried.
Half an hour later, Wang helped to light the fire, while An Ning was responsible for frying the dried meat. Only less than 20 kilograms of dried meat were fried from more than 40 kilograms of meat. An Ning felt that the dried meat was enough to eat, and she could leave some for Anyong.
After dinner, An Ning went to Gao's room and showed Gao the things she had bought and the things she was going to give to the governor and his daughter. Then she asked, "Mother, do you think these things I prepared are okay? Is there anything else that needs to be filled in?"
Gao looked at the things one by one and said, "Ningning, you have prepared everything. Our family is grateful to you!"
An Ning smiled and said, "Mom, we are a family and we don't have to talk about different things. Dad and I will leave tomorrow. Dad and I will try our best to come back before you give birth."
Gao nodded and said, "Don't worry, your grandma and your uncle are at home, nothing will happen."
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