Chapter 133 Change back to original name
Mrs. Zhang nodded to her daughter, and Miss Zhang went to change the videotape herself, and only one photo appeared on the screen.
In the photo, Old Madam Zhang is standing alone on a hilltop, with green grass in front of her and tombstones in the distance.
The whole audience was shocked. This was a birthday party, why were there photos of a cemetery?
Mrs. Zhang smiled and raised her hands, asking everyone to be quiet. She said, "Thank you all for coming to my 80th birthday party."
She looked back at the screen and said, "People have to face birth, aging, sickness and death. In fact, I started thinking about my afterlife a long time ago. This year, the birthday gift I gave myself is this blessed land."
"Sister-in-law, what are you doing?" the second son of the Zhang family asked anxiously.
Mrs. Zhang ignored him and continued, "Today, my old friend Xuan Xiong called me 'Sister Danqin', and tears welled up in my eyes. This name has been gone from me for fifty or sixty years. This sound reminded me of my younger self, who wanted to study hard, return to China to revitalize the banking industry, and..."
She smiled slightly: "Fortunately, I have done something in these years, and I have realized most of Fu Danqin's dreams. I want to use my own name again."
She raised her glass: "Thank you all for coming to celebrate my birthday!"
Cai Zhiyuan was the first to raise his glass: "Let us wish Ms. Fu Danqin a happy and prosperous year after year."
The guests present were all her business friends for many years. They knew her as a person, not by her name. With the eldest son of the Cai family taking the lead, they naturally raised their glasses and changed their address to "Ms. Fu."
The lights were dimmed, and led by Zhang Anle's eldest daughter Zhang Yunde, the three sisters' children pushed out the cake.
A group of grandchildren sang Happy Birthday and the people in the audience sang along.
Fu Danqin cut the cake surrounded by her grandchildren, and the atmosphere of the banquet reached its climax.
After the ceremony, Fu Danqin took the wine glass and went to find her old friends. When she saw Cai Zhiyuan greeting her from afar, she raised her glass.
She walked to Cai Zhiyuan's grandmother, and the old lady of the Cai family looked at her with a smile: "See, it's not that difficult, right?"
Fu Danqin smiled: "Yes. In fact, I put shackles on myself."
Friends congratulated her, and Fu Danqin thanked them one by one. Fu Danqin looked at Zhou Xuanxiong's shiny face, and Zhou Xuanxiong raised his glass: "Sister Danqin, will you eat, drink and go shopping with your brother in the future?"
Back then, the kid who loved to eat would call her downstairs and take her to eat when he found something delicious. She said, "Okay."
In addition to friends, relatives from the Zhang and Fu families also attended the birthday party today. The relatives from the Fu family were fine, and nothing would change whether it was Madam Zhang or Fu Danqin.
The Zhang family is different. She even chose another burial site and will not be buried in the Zhang family's ancestral tomb. She even changed her name back to Fu Danqin, which means she wants to sever ties with the Zhang family.
Needless to say, the eldest niece must know about this matter, and she should be the one who made the plan, after all, all the benefits are hers. But why didn't Anping and Anxi help their own brothers? They even let their children push the cake with Zhang Anle's children?
The second son of the Zhang family was looking for Zhang Anping. He went to find his second niece, who was chatting and laughing with a group of wives as if nothing had happened. He lowered his head and said, "Anping, come with me."
Zhang Anping stood up and said, "Excuse me."
The uncle and nephew went to the corner of the garden, and the second son of the Zhang family said, "You...she asked me to ask you, saying that you knew the details. Why didn't you discuss such a big matter with me? Maybe I could still persuade her. Can't you see what she meant? She wants to give all the Zhang family's property to Zhang Anle."
"Uncle, what is the Zhang family's property? Others may not know, but I do. Back then, dad and aunt came to Gangcheng together to develop the city. Aunt gave birth to my eldest sister, and my mother came to visit and had me with my dad. Both the Zhang family and the Fu family forced aunt to agree that my dad should take my mother as a concubine. Aunt had no choice but to agree. Later, the inland fell, and you all came to Gangcheng for refuge and lived in our house. Gangcheng also fell. In order to have food for the whole family, aunt sold her dowry, but it was as if the roof was leaking but it rained overnight. My parents became seriously ill one after another. At that time, a bag of gold could not be exchanged for a bag of sugar. Don't you know? You saw that they could not afford to feed you, and you left. My parents died one after another, and aunt was a woman with my eldest sister, and she had to drag the three of us. Why didn't I see you use some of the Zhang family's property to help them?" Zhang Anping asked him.
The second son of the Zhang family said anxiously: "No one had money at that time, how could I have the money to help you?"
"Oh! You also know that after my dad died, there were only a few mouths to feed in our family? Where did the Zhang family's property come from? Wasn't all this property earned by my aunt?" Zhang Anping didn't give his second uncle a good look.
"She is the daughter-in-law of the Zhang family."
"Then you go and sue. Just say that Tianxiang Jewelry is the property of the Zhang family and see what the court says." Zhang Anping seemed to recall something, "Oh, right! After the war, you sold the Tianxiang Jewelry sign for ten pounds, and Auntie later bought it back for a thousand pounds. So even the Tianxiang Jewelry sign has nothing to do with the Zhang family."
"Zhang Anping, what's wrong with you? I'm helping you and your brother."
"Why didn't you come to give us something to eat when we were almost starving to death?" Zhang Anping asked sarcastically.
“At that time, our family was almost starving to death.”
"Aunt and my eldest sister were almost starving, but she decided to keep us. In my opinion, she was already very kind by keeping us and raising us. What's more, she chose a marriage for us very carefully. What else do you want?" Zhang Anping saw Zhang Anxi and waved to her to come over.
Zhang Anxi came over: "Second sister, second uncle."
"My second uncle said he wanted to help Ankang, saying that all of mom's property belonged to the Zhang family and should be given to Ankang." Zhang Anping said to his sister.
Zhang Anxi laughed: "Second Uncle, let's not talk about the fact that we were raised by our mother and have feelings for her. Let's just talk about the benefits. Now our mother still recognizes us. We are her adopted daughters and the grandmothers of the children."
Zhang Anxi looked towards Fu Danqin and said, "We are all used to this kind of life. I don't know how many of these people would care about us if Mom didn't recognize us."
Since Fu Danqin is called a legend, it means that she has abilities that ordinary people don't have. Even though Zhang Anxi married into a wealthy family, after so many years, their family's wealth is still far behind Fu Danqin's. Moreover, many opportunities in their family are only available because she is the daughter of Mrs. Zhang.
"Uncle, you were very clear-headed when you were young, and you knew how to judge the situation. How come you know that you are the head of the Zhang family at this age? Do you know that you have to take responsibility?" Zhang Anxi pulled him to the left, "People who rely on others for their livelihood should not be so stubborn."
That was his son and daughter-in-law chatting with Cai Zhiyuan. His son and daughter-in-law opened an advertising company and it was doing very well.
"You said that without mom's connections, can we still live like this? You are a smart man." Zhang Anxi saw his eldest sister waving, "Second uncle, my eldest sister is looking for me. I'm coming over."
Zhang Anping stayed at home as a wife, while Zhang Anxi was still working at Tianxiang, in charge of jewelry raw material procurement. Fu Danqin gave her such a position, which showed how much she valued this daughter.
Zhang Anxi walked over to Zhang Anle and the two chatted with the diamond supplier from South Africa.
The second son of the Zhang family was lost in thought. Zhang Anping said, "Second Uncle, I'm going to Mom's place. Today is the time for us sisters to make our stance clear."
The second son of the Zhang family said, "I'll go with you."
The uncle and nephew went over together. Fu Danqin was eating freshly steamed dumplings. Zhou Xuanxiong asked her, "Does it taste like the one in the Huaiyang restaurant?"
"Yes, it's that delicious taste."
Zhang Anping asked from behind Fu Danqin: "Mom, what do we want to eat?"
"Anping, come and try it." Fu Danqin put her hand on her second daughter's hand. "Before I got married, there was a Huaiyang restaurant in Yuecheng. The crab soup dumplings made by the chef were especially delicious. Your uncle Zhou San still remembers it and told Ningning about it. Ningning found Wenting and had hairy crabs airlifted from Shanghai to Yuecheng, and then transferred them here to make this crab soup dumplings."
"I'll get one too," said Zhang Anping.
The second son of the Zhang family said to his niece, "Anping, get me one too."
The second oldest of the Zhang family pulled out a chair and sat down at Fu Danqin's table and said, "Big sister, I've told the sisters Anping and Xi that you will be their adoptive mother from now on. Now you say you don't want to be buried in the Zhang family's ancestral tomb. But your elder sister-in-law is like a mother, and I have been taken care of by you for decades. This affection is real. From now on, we can change our names and treat each other as siblings. Is that okay?"
Fu Danqin looked at him with a smile. This second son was the one who knew how to adapt to the situation. At this age, since he was willing to maintain this dignity, she would give him this dignity: "Okay!"
Zhang Anping brought over two small bowls: "The soup dumplings are gone. Wait five minutes for the five-snake soup to come out."
Hearing that the Five Snake Soup had come out, Mr. Zhou immediately stood up and said, "I'll go get it."
Zhang Anping put the soup bowl on the table: "You two eat first, I'll get more."
Fu Danqin opened the lid of the soup bowl, revealing strands of white chrysanthemum petals floating on the soup.
"I've eaten snake soup in several restaurants during the past few days in Hong Kong. The soup bases of those soups are mostly made from hens, pork shanks and Jinhua ham, which has lost the original taste of the five-snake soup. Ningning's is different. The soup base is made mainly from snake bones, which has the taste of Fuyunlou in the past." Grandpa Zhou introduced to Fu Danqin.
Zhang Anping brought over two more soup bowls and gave one to her second uncle.
Fu Danqin took a sip of the soup and savored it carefully. This traditional dish from Guangdong city is made by many families in Hong Kong city, and every family claims to be making the authentic Five Snake Soup.
Fu Danqin has eaten quite a few of them, and each one has a different taste. This is one of the only two five-snake soups she has eaten in Hong Kong that tastes like snakes.
The Cantonese people have the custom of eating snakes. There is no fixed number on whether it is three-snake soup or five-snake soup, and what five kinds of snakes should be in the soup.
However, a bowl of the five-snake soup at Fuyunlou must include the banyan tree, the rice shovel head, the golden-footed snake, the three-line snake and the white-flowered snake.
Firstly, each of the five types of snakes has its own effects. Secondly, the meat quality of these five types of snakes is also different. Some can expel headaches, some have fine meat, some can clear the liver and improve eyesight, and some can make delicious soups.
It sounds simple, but as Xuan Xiong said, the taste of the broth in most snake soups in this port city has affected the taste of the snake soup itself, and it feels like fish maw and hen soup with snake meat added.
"It's a very distinct snake soup flavor. Each type of snake meat is different. It's the flavor of Fuyunlou." Fu Danqin said, "Isn't this little girl only 18 years old? Her cooking skills are really amazing."
Just as I was talking about that little girl, I saw my granddaughter Zhang Yunxian pushing a cart with a huge, pink, tender birthday peach on it. The granddaughter said, "Grandma, it's time to eat the birthday peach."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
