When the New Year arrives, Cheng Qicai and her group will return to their hometown and prepare for the banquet there.
Because a wedding had been held there, all the homes here were simply decorated with red paper couplets and paper-cut window decorations, and red balloons.
All the couplets were written by Gu Rongqi himself. His grandfather watched him write and praised him, saying, "Well written!" That evening, he also cooked his specialty dish—Pagoda Pork—which everyone enjoyed immensely.
They never imagined that their casual, polite remark would become a reality in this way.
Back home, these banquets aren't like the ones they hold in October, where people raise red wine glasses and chat. Here, it's more about toasting with baijiu (Chinese liquor) from disposable plastic cups.
Their enthusiasm was palpable, and they were chugging down glass after glass of baijiu. The grain liquor from the countryside tends to have a higher alcohol content, and soon Cheng Qicai noticed that Gu Rongqi's face was starting to turn red.
The questions from relatives in the village were also quite "tricky," such as how they met, what they did for a living, when they had children, and how many they had...
Even someone as shrewd and resourceful as Gu Rongqi couldn't handle the barrage of questions.
Seeing Gu Rongqi looking somewhat embarrassed by the question, Cheng Qicai whispered in his ear, "How was it? Was it difficult to answer?"
Gu Rong smiled, his voice a little slow, "A little."
"Want some oranges?" Cheng Qicai took out an orange she had just picked from the tree from her clothes and handed it to him. "They're a little sour, just right to help you sober up?"
Gu Rongqi took it.
Ms. Yun walked over from a short distance away. "Qicai, take your second uncle home for a bit. It's getting dark, and his old leg problem has flared up again."
"No need, no need, I'll walk back slowly. Today is a special day for Qicai. I wouldn't bother with it on other days, but why would you send me off now?" Uncle waved his hand.
"It's not far and won't take much time, anyway, she doesn't have anything to do right now."
"Second Uncle, let me see you out." Cheng Qicai stood up and helped him out.
Her second uncle lives in the village across the street; it's a ten-minute drive there, and a round trip takes about twenty minutes.
When she got home, she saw Gu Rongqi being urged to drink by her friends in the yard. She went over and asked, "What are you talking about?"
They laughed and said, "Of course, you should tell your husband about the embarrassing things you did when you were little. We're already talking about things from junior high."
"Don't listen to them, they're deliberately smearing me." Qi Cai stood behind Gu Rongqi and covered his ears with her hands.
"Who smeared you? In first grade, you insisted on showing us how to spray water from your nose. The water had barely entered your nose when it sprayed out along with your snot, spraying all of us watching. And in second grade..."
Upon hearing her embarrassing moment, Cheng Qicai sob toe-to-toe in embarrassment. She covered Gu Rongqi's ears even harder and shouted, "Hey, hey, please let us stop talking about this..."
"Haha, what goes around comes around! You were the one who talked the most enthusiastically at our wedding! So now it's our turn to get back at you." The man stood up. "Why are you covering your husband's ears? He already heard that. Now it's time to talk about middle school..."
"...I won't say anymore, I won't say anymore, please forgive me, I was just being ignorant before, I admit my mistake." Hearing that they were going to bring up old grievances, Cheng Qicai immediately slid down and knelt down to apologize.
"Looks like you still care about saving face," the boy who had spoken earlier said with a wicked grin. "How about this, you and your husband drink a toast together, and we won't say anything more."
"Crossing the cup..."
"Crossing the cup..."
A group of people joined in the commotion after hearing his suggestion, and as the two men remained still, their shouts grew louder and louder.
"Alright, alright, let's drink." Cheng Qicai poured a glass of wine for each of them.
She looked at Gu Rongqi helplessly, "Drink it."
Gu Rongqi smiled, hooked his arms around hers, and drank the wine in one gulp.
Then someone suggested, "How about another kiss?!"
"Kiss you my foot!" Cheng Qicai laughed and scolded. "If you want to kiss, you and your wife have to perform first. Last time at your wedding, you said you had mouth ulcers and couldn't kiss, but now you can make up for it."
"Haha, what Qicai said makes sense..." The other friends, not wanting to miss out on the fun, chimed in.
Seeing the fire spreading to him, he loudly protested, "Today is a colorful wedding! How could they let me come? It's definitely their wedding..."
"If you kiss me, I'll kiss you..."
"I won't kiss you, it's not like we're..."
The two of them went back and forth like elementary school students for several rounds, gradually shifting their "war" to other people, from married to unmarried, and the topic slowly went astray.
When the banquet finally ended, Cheng Qicai was a little dizzy from drinking, but she was still relatively clear-headed.
She turned to look at Gu Rongqi, "Are you alright?"
Just now, her group of friends kept finding excuses to drink, and most of her drinks were drunk by Gu Rongqi. Although she was drinking beer, Cheng Qicai was still quite worried because she remembered that he had been drinking baijiu with his uncles and elders before.
Gu Rongqi doesn't flush when he drinks, so she doesn't know how drunk he is.
After waiting for a long time, Gu Rongqi took her hand and intertwined their fingers. He said honestly and firmly, "No."
Such an honest answer made Cheng Qicai turn around and look at him seriously, and she found that his current state was exactly the same as when she first bumped into him drunk on the street.
She tried to pull her hand away to say something to Ms. Yun, but the moment she moved, their hands clasped together became even tighter.
Cheng Qicai said helplessly, "Let go first, I'll go tell Mom and the others."
"Mmm," he replied verbally, but his hand remained firmly in his grasp.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com