Shengnan's problem was still not resolved. Liu's father talked to Shengnan and told her that if she really liked Zhou Bing, she didn't have to stay at home to find a son-in-law. As long as he and Zhou Bing were filial to Liu Xiu in the future, he would go to persuade Liu Xiu.
Shengnan was unwilling and still wanted to find a son-in-law at home. However, since Zhou Bing received the letter from his aunt, he had been telling Shengnan that he wanted a boy to have his surname, otherwise he would feel sorry for his mother who passed away early.
Although Liu Xiu and Zhou Bing were interested in each other, neither of them wanted to give in, and the situation remained deadlocked.
When Liu's father saw that Shengnan couldn't let go of Zhou Bing in a short time, he could only find an excuse and secretly told Liu Xiu that he had asked someone to calculate and the person said that it was not a good time for Shengnan to see or get married this year, so they could wait until next year.
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiu quickly found a reason to reject the two young men. Liu's father also planned not to tell Liu Xiu about Shengnan and Zhou Bing's affairs yet. He wanted Shengnan to think things through and resolve the issue on her own after calming down. He was afraid that if they got involved, Shengnan would become even more furious and refuse to turn back until she hit a wall.
Before Shengnan's matter was sorted out, Duanwu arrived. Xuemei also needed to go to work today, but Xuemei had something important to do today, so she explained the situation to the director and asked for leave to stay at home.
Han Chen told Xuemei two days ago that he wanted to finalize their marriage. Xuemei went home and told Liu's parents about it. The next day, Liu's parents asked Xuemei to call Han Chen to their home to discuss it.
Han Chen wrote down his determination to marry Xuemei, the dowry, the house issue, and his plans after marriage on paper, a total of ten pages. After reading them, Liu's father and mother felt Han Chen's sincerity and agreed to Han Chen and Xuemei's engagement.
Finally, Liu's father and mother planned to invite Grandpa Liu, Grandma Liu, second uncle and aunt's family to have lunch together on the Dragon Boat Festival, and to treat it as Xuemei's engagement party.
The day before the Dragon Boat Festival, Liu's father and mother went out to pick some rice dumplings leaves and cut a bundle of mugwort, and hung mugwort on every door in the house.
The night before, Xuemei took her younger brothers and sisters to clean the rice dumplings leaves by the well. Liu's mother spent a lot of money and soaked twelve kilograms of glutinous rice this year, intending to make more rice dumplings the next morning.
The next morning, at dawn, Liu's mother got up with Xuemei and her four siblings to make zongzi (rice dumplings). Liu's father made breakfast. They made twenty lye-water dumplings, thirty red bean and peanut dumplings, and twenty salted duck egg dumplings. Han Chen had been given five salted duck eggs when he drove a tractor to help out in another village. He bought five more and brought them all back to the Liu family. They had some glutinous rice left over, but no filling, so they made fifteen plain dumplings.
After wrapping the rice dumplings, put them in an iron pot and cook them for at least two hours.
Xuemei and Han Chen took Qingya and her two siblings to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Liu's father and mother wanted to come to help, but Xuemei and Han Chen felt that today was their job and they didn't want to tire Liu's father and mother, so they let them have a good rest at home for a day.
Qingya and her two siblings helped wash the vegetables. Han Chen gave each of them a red envelope in advance and said that today was a good day for him and Xuemei and they were not allowed to refuse.
Han Chen went to the commune early in the morning to buy two pounds of meat. He planned to cook one pound at noon today. In addition to the meat, Han Chen also bought ten eggs and a pound of tofu in the village.
After the dishes were prepared and the rice dumplings were cooked, Xuemei asked Qingya and the other three to go out and eat the rice dumplings.
It was the first time for Han Chen to eat rice dumplings with salted egg yolk. After eating one, he found that it tasted good, so he ate another one. He also told Xuemei that if he didn’t have a big meal later, he could eat five or six more rice dumplings with salted egg yolk.
After tasting the rice dumplings, Xuemei started to cook, and Han Chen helped her and learned how to cook at the same time. Han Chen and Aunt Lin learned how to make dough and make dumplings, steamed buns, and noodles, but they only knew how to stew vegetables in a big pot. No matter what, they would put everything in the pot and cook it. When it was done, they would sprinkle salt on it and eat it.
Xuemei made a total of six dishes, namely braised pork, leek and egg, stir-fried beans with dried chili peppers, tofu soup, stir-fried vegetables, and cold kelp shreds.
After dinner, Qingya and her two siblings rushed to clear the dishes. Han Chen went to the brigade headquarters to drive the tractor. Liu's parents planned to take the family and Han Chen to Wangjia Village that afternoon, partly to deliver festival gifts and partly to tell Wang Weimin and Wang Weixi about Xuemei's engagement.
Han Chen even went to the county town in advance to buy cigarettes, alcohol, and snacks, and took all the leftover meat from lunch.
As for Xuemei's grandma and grandpa, Wang Weiguo and Wang Weidong, Xuemei's engagement could only be informed by letter, and Han Chen planned to send the things for them when Xuemei's family sent the letter.
They had dinner at his second uncle Wang Weimin's house. Han Chen was so happy that he accepted all the wine and got completely drunk. However, he did not act crazy after getting drunk. He just kept following Xuemei, not leaving her side for a moment, which made Xuemei's face turn red like a monkey's butt because of everyone's teasing.
Finally, Xuemei took Han Chen to live at her second uncle's house, and Liu's father and mother took Qingya and her two siblings home. Qingya and her two siblings had to go back to school the next day.
The next day, after Han Chen sobered up, his face was red when he left Wangjia Village, which made Xuemei tease him all the way.
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