Chapter 161 Full Moon Feast
Lin Yuru and Xia Shuangshan were speechless when they saw the three grown men each holding a little kid and refusing to let go.
Later, it was Xia Juanjuan who shouted from the inner room, asking them to bring the child back so that he wouldn't catch a cold outside. Only then did the three grown men reluctantly return the child.
As the father of the children, Li Zhan still had some privileges. He carried the children directly into the inner room.
After playing with the three kids for a while, he looked at Xia Juanjuan and said, "I'm leaving. You should stay in the county first. When I get my leave and come back, we can go back to the village together."
Xia Juanjuan couldn't help it, and her nose felt a little sour. She quickly lowered her head and pretended to tease the child, saying with a heavy nasal tone: "Yeah. Go early and come back early. And... it's snowing outside, so you should drive carefully on the way."
Li Zhan agreed and left with Bai Zihan, and also let Yan Haotian take a ride with them.
Seeing that her son had just recognized her, Lin Yuru wanted to separate again. She didn't know when he would be able to come back for vacation next time, so she followed the jeep, wiping her tears and chasing it for a long time, until she couldn't catch up anymore and was pulled back by Xia Shuangshan.
"Don't cry. Didn't Xiaotian say that he would take a leave and come back when his nephew is entertaining the rice and flour guests? Then, he will definitely come back to the village with us, and it will be a good opportunity for him to get to know his family. He will be a child of our Xia family again in the future!"
Lin Yuru wiped her tears and nodded, but at the same time she couldn't help but curse Li Cuihua and Xia Dazhuang angrily.
"You bastards deserve to be killed. They even killed their own grandson and nephew. I curse them to die a miserable death! They will spend their whole lives in jail!"
Lin Yuru has been a coward and easily bullied for most of her life. Now her son has been abducted for nearly twenty years. No matter how good her temper is, she can't bear it.
When Xia Shuangshan thought about this, he felt that he had not beaten the two men leniently at the police station that day. He should have just beaten those two worse than animals to death!
"Oh! Don't worry! I've asked the police station, and they'll sentence us to at least five years if we don't forgive them!"
Xia Shuangshan and Lin Yuru talked and went back.
After about twenty days, Li Zhan finally got his leave, but it was only for about ten days.
Bai Zihan also insisted that since he was an uncle now, he had to attend his nephews' rice and flour banquet, so he also took three days off and came with Li Zhan.
After lying in bed for seven or eight days of confinement, Xia Juanjuan could no longer sit still, so she got out of bed and walked around every day regardless of Lin Yuru's objections.
Lin Yuru didn't allow her to take a shower or wash her hair, but she secretly ran to the office to wash them.
After all, before she traveled through time and space, the confinement period was not taken lightly, but in many aspects, such as not being able to take a shower or wash your hair, it was no longer so dangerous. Moreover, if it were abroad, people would give birth to a baby on the same day and go back to work the next day!
She rested for seven or eight days, and she secretly replaced the ordinary water in the kitchen with the spiritual spring water in the space. Her body had recovered long ago, and she no longer followed Lin Yuru's "rules" for confinement.
When Li Zhan and Bai Zihan walked in, Xia Juanjuan was walking around the house with a kid in her arms, coaxing him.
There was a coal stove in the house, so it wasn't cold at all.
Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei were all gathered around the bed, happily playing with the other two kids.
The three little guys have grown up a lot and look much better now.
At that moment, the family hurried to pack up their things. Li Jie rushed over from the village in an ox cart to transport the things, and Li Zhan hired a carriage with a shed to protect them from the wind and rain in the county town. The family returned to Qingshui Village in a mighty manner.
It’s better to settle down in the two houses built by Xiaowen’s father first.
The three main rooms on the new residential plot have been built, and the doors, windows and glass have also been installed. During the month that Xia Juanjuan lived in the county town, Xia Shuangshan returned to the village and, together with Li Jie, built the east wing and the courtyard wall, so they could move in at any time.
Therefore, the next day after returning to the village, Xia Juanjuan moved there, and the house here was locked and temporarily empty.
Villagers who had good relationships with the children, such as Zhou Qiuhe, Aunt Wu, Wu Xiaoyun, and others, as well as those with average relationships, all came to see the triplets because they were so rare.
Li Zhan went to find Secretary Zhao and asked him to help notify everyone in the village to hold a full-month banquet for the child in two days.
Different places in the countryside have different customs. Some places hold what is commonly known as a "rice and flour feast", which is held on the twelfth day after the child is born, and some places hold a full-month feast, which is held on the full-month. However, they are similar. There is not much money to be made in the countryside, so the custom is to send some rice, flour, eggs, etc., which is just right to supplement the nutrition of the daughter-in-law who has just given birth.
Lizhan naturally did not compete for any gifts. The reason for holding such a grand wedding was actually to make up for the fact that there was no wedding banquet in the village.
Secretary Zhao also understood what he meant and said with a smile, "Okay. I will definitely tell you to take the message to every household! Life has been tight these past few years, and this year it's rare to see such a lively atmosphere!"
Lizhan thanked him and came back.
If you want to entertain guests, you naturally have to prepare ingredients.
Li Zhan and Bai Zihan went into the mountains to hunt together.
Lizhan found out the wild boar's lair in the summer, and it seemed that no one had hunted wild boars since then. Therefore, the two men went into the mountains in the morning and came back in the afternoon carrying a big wild boar weighing two hundred kilograms.
Coincidentally, Yan Haotian also took a leave that day. When he heard that Li Zhan and his men had gone into the mountains to hunt, he also went into the mountains. At night, he also brought back a wild boar weighing more than 100 kilograms.
In addition, Xia Shuangshan and his cubs also caught several wild rabbits, wild pheasants and the like.
That way, there is more than enough meat.
Despite this, Xia Juanjuan still asked people to buy some mutton and cook some mutton and radish soup. Everyone could drink a bowl of it, which warmed their hearts!
As for the vegetables, Xia Juanjuan had already prepared them in advance. She collected a lot from the small vegetable garden and secretly took out a lot from the space.
If the whole village were to be invited, there would have to be more than ten tables. Lin Yuru alone would not be able to handle the cooking, so the women in the village also came to help.
On the day of the feast, we set up more than a dozen tables in the courtyard. As there was not enough space, we moved them outside. Fortunately, the weather was good and not too cold. Everyone came with rice and flour, and then chatted with their hands in their pockets while waiting for the feast to start.
Li Qiang, Wang Guixiang's family, and Liu Lan also came, of course.
However, Xia Juanjuan did not let them hold the three little kids. She was really afraid that they would do something naughty. What if they pretended to accidentally drop the kids?
Liu Lan was unhappy in her heart, and her eyes were extremely gloomy as she looked at the three newborn babies.
She had originally thought of waiting for Li Zhan to come back and then talking to him about giving her more allowance. However, it turned out that Xia Juanjuan, this vixen, gave birth to three children in one breath. How could Li Zhan agree to give her more money?
I'll be thankful if the five dollars doesn't decrease!
Therefore, in her eyes, these three little guys are not her grandsons at all, but people who stole her money!
Now Li Qiang and Wang Guixiang are going even further. They originally promised to give Li Qiang three yuan and she would keep two yuan. But these few days, she fell ill, and Wang Guixiang and Li Qiang took away all five yuan on the grounds that they were paying for her medical treatment!
Therefore, she now had no money at all. Without money, she had no one to rely on. She had to depend on Wang Guixiang for everything she did. If she ate a little more, she would be scolded by Wang Guixiang. She didn't even dare to eat her fill!
Liu Lan followed Li Zhan eagerly, wanting to find a chance to talk to him, but Li Zhan, whether intentionally or unintentionally, was too busy to talk to her!
Liu Lan was so angry that her heart ached, but she still couldn't bear to eat. After all, if she didn't eat more at the table, she would go home hungry!
The dishes on the table are quite rich.
Two big wild boars, cold pork cheeks, cold pork ears, brine pork legs, steamed crispy ribs, braised pork belly, fat and lean meat slices with sweet potato cubes and soaked dried beans underneath. The fat is not greasy after steaming, and it crumbles with chopsticks...
There are also fried pork liver with celery, fried large intestine with garlic sprouts, fried pork with cabbage, sweet and sour spare ribs, braised pork, fried eggs with leeks...
At the end, there is a pot of mutton and radish soup so everyone can get a good taste of mutton.
Although the staple food is not pure refined grain, it is mixed flour steamed buns and bread, and it is guaranteed to be filling.
This meal already exceeded the rice, flour, and other coarse grains they had brought as gifts.
Therefore, the whole village praised Li Zhan and Xia Juanjuan.
"Look at the banquet they prepared for their guests. What a generous couple they are!"
"After all, I have three big, fat sons in my arms at once, so I should be happy."
"Zhang Laosan, look at how capable you are. Don't you have two sons at home? Why haven't I seen you host such a generous banquet?"
"That's right. Last time I went to Zhang Laosan's house for a feast, there was only one pickled vegetable, and it took me a long time to find a piece of meat!"
"Hey! Tell me, why can't we catch a wild boar? Look at others, catching one is not enough, they caught two! If I could catch two, I would be so generous!"
"You're bragging again! If you could catch a wild boar, why wouldn't you keep it secret for fear that others would know?"
…
The women are now filled with envy towards Xia Juanjuan.
"Alas! They are all women, look at the life they lead! When they entered the house, Liu Lan maliciously refused to hold a wedding banquet for them, but look at what the man did? He directly took his wife to the army to hold the wedding, and now she has given birth to three big fat sons, and he is inviting guests to the whole village. I heard from Secretary Zhao that there is actually an intention to hold a wedding in the village!"
"That's right! It's really enviable! If my damn man could be one tenth, no, one hundredth as powerful as him, I would be satisfied..."
Xia Juanjuan didn't eat much. She went to the kitchen, prepared some of each dish, put them in a bamboo basket, and when no one was paying attention, she sneaked out through the back door.