The news that Lu Fengnian had pulled half a pig over spread throughout Lihua Village in an instant. They all talked about how lucky Hua Guotao was to have three good sons-in-law.
All three sons-in-law are capable. Even though his youngest daughter married into the next village and the son-in-law's family conditions are relatively poor, compared to these country people, the son-in-law is still a worker after all.
Some people lament that having a daughter is better, because having a son requires building a house and giving a gift to the bride's family. If a daughter is born and the family is not well off, there is no need to give a dowry, and a gift from the man is required.
Many people came to their house to ask how many tables they would set up tomorrow and whether they would invite the villagers to dinner.
Hua Zhang originally planned to just have a few tables, but he knew that many people had never eaten meat, so they all wanted to bring a few eggs from home as a contribution to join in the fun.
Finally, we gritted our teeth and decided to have twelve tables. My brother-in-law had bought half a pig, which he could make into three dishes: braised pork with taro, braised pork ribs, and stir-fried pork slices with cucumber. Add in the fish he bought in the village and the duck he raised at home, and we had five meat dishes in total.
The last two stir-fries and a soup are stir-fried eggplant, stir-fried loofah and river clams, and tomato and egg soup, a total of eight dishes, which is very decent.
Lu Ting and his uncle built two temporary earthen stoves with mud bricks in the backyard. They had to fry the pork and fish first tonight to prevent them from getting smelly.
Tian Xiuhe and her two sisters-in-law were in the kitchen preparing tonight's meal. Su Yan took advantage of the fact that the big pot was empty and cooked the snails in a large wooden basin first. She could then stir-fry the snails after her aunt-in-law had finished cooking the vegetables.
The snails were cooking in the pot. Su Yan felt that the kitchen was too stuffy and hot because there were too many people, so she ran to watch Lu Ting deal with the pig over there.
Hua Jing saw Su Yan leave, squatted down and folded long beans with Hua Min, "Sister, Xiao Ting asked me to help take care of their children. Is Xiao Yan going to college? It seems that the results are not out yet."
Hua Min said confidently, "After Yanyan finishes the test, she will check her answers with Jin'er. They will estimate her scores and she will have no problem getting into university."
"That's good. Ting'er asked me to leave my child at home and go to his house to help take care of the child. He said he would give me 25 yuan a month. I think he wants to help this useless aunt of mine."
"Hey, I originally planned to quit and help them take care of the children, but unfortunately I can't retire for the time being. Your brother-in-law said that your salary comes from us. Ting'er works alone, and I don't think he can save much money to support the children and his wife."
"Sister, Xiao Ting said he would give the money. He said he would have no problem supporting his wife and children, and told me not to worry too much.
Your Xiao Ting is planning to bring Ruirui to the army to study, and he also found a temporary job for our Zhenzhen in the soap factory."
"It turns out everything has been arranged for this child. He's worried that no one will take care of your little Ruirui."
She wasn't worried about Ruirui being left unattended, as Yanyan, Dandan, and Keke weren't home. Her husband would be home if he didn't have to work overtime, so she was mainly worried about Ruirui getting naughty and going out to play in the water.
"Sister, we've made the arrangements for Ruirui, but I'm not sure how much I should give Xiaoting for Zhenzhen's job."
"No need for that. It was Fengnian who managed to secure Zhenzhen's position. If I have to thank anyone, I should thank Yanyan more. This matter has something to do with her."
Tian Xiuhe, who was cutting meat on the chopping board, was a little dazed. If she could earn 25 yuan a month by babysitting someone's child, she would be willing to leave her child behind and work as a babysitter.
It's a pity that her parents-in-law need her to take care of them at home, so Lu Ting gave up the idea of asking her to help. In fact, she is quite good at taking care of children.
Tian Xiuhe interrupted, "Xiao Min, do you know if Yanyan is having a boy or a girl?"
"Sister-in-law, you won't know until the baby is born. When my daughter Shu'er was pregnant, her belly was small and tight. Everyone said she was having a son, but in the end it was a beautiful girl.
My Fengnian likes girls, and I hope Yanyan’s baby is a girl. First bloom, then bear fruit.”
Hua Jing laughed and teased, "Big sister, you are really open-minded, but Xiaoyan is so beautiful, and her daughter must be very beautiful."
"Yes, yes, our Yanyan is pretty, and my daughter is pretty too. If she has a girl this time, she will definitely be very pretty."
Seeing that the time was almost up, Su Yan went back to the kitchen, took out the cooked snails, and took them to the well to wash them twice.
"Xiaoyan, you come and fry the snails first. After you finish frying the snails, we will cook the vegetables."
"Aunt, why don't you cook first?"
"You fry it now. Your mother-in-law, aunt, and I will watch you fry it. Once we learn how to do it, we can go to the ditch and catch snails to cook with us anytime."
Su Yan felt a little pressured. With so many people staring at her, how could she feel confident and pour oil into the pot?
Su Yan picked up the peanut oil she brought and poured it into the wok. Hua Min and the others opened their eyes wide. Tian Xiuhe wanted to say something but it was difficult to say it, after all, they were guests, and it was they who brought the oil.
Hua Min was shocked and said, "Xiao Yan, why did you pour so much oil?"
"Aunt, we need to fry it in a big wooden basin. Snails absorb oil. Look, I cut garlic and ginger into bowls of rice."
There were really too many snails, otherwise she wouldn't have poured so much oil. If none of them had oil coupons, they could just bring out two more barrels of oil tomorrow as a filial honor to grandpa.
Lu Ting handed the job of frying the meat to his uncle's father. When he knew that his wife was going to stir-fry snails, he came in to help. As soon as he came in, he heard Yanyan explain the oil issue.
"Aunt, if there's not enough oil at home, I'll buy another 20 kilograms tomorrow. If there's not enough oil to stir-fry the snails, they'll definitely be fishy.
Yanyan, you guide me from the side while I stir-fry. It must be very strenuous to stir-fry this big pot."
Su Yan also felt hot, so it would be best if Lu Ting could stir-fry the food. Hua Jing and Tian Xiuhe thought that Xiao Ting must be so arrogant now that he has a wife that he even cooks extravagantly.
He used to be very frugal. He didn't even eat a popsicle in the summer and didn't smoke. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to save any money.
After Lu Ting put the fried snails in a basin, Hua Min picked up one with chopsticks and sucked it hard. "It's very tasty, and it doesn't have the muddy smell of snails. It really takes more oil and all the ingredients to make the fried snails taste good.
Ting'er, you and your aunt take these two basins of snails out first, and your aunt and I will start cooking."
Hua Min was quite accommodating to Su Yan because she usually saw Su Yan use more oil than her when cooking, and she was used to it.
Lu Ting and Hua Jing had just put the fried snails back on the table when a horn blew. It turned out that the Huali family had come over.
It is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive at the right time. When they were working, none of them came back home, but they came back when they were about to prepare dinner.
He Wenzhou got out of the car and said to the driver, "Xiao Wu, go find a place to park the car first, and then take the cigarettes and alcohol out of the car."
Huali smoothed her newly curled hair in the car with her hands, and slowly walked down carrying a cowhide.
Twenty-two-year-old He Yuanhang and twenty-year-old He Siyu, brother and sister, got out of the car empty-handed.
The whole family dressed up and went out in style. Su Yan thought that her father-in-law was a deputy division commander and was as ostentatious and high-profile as them.
Looking at He Li's face, you can tell that she is a powerful person. There are no lights in the countryside at night. Is she putting hair wax on her head to show it to mosquitoes?
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