At the end of the second lunar month, Zhang Guofu planned to move into the county town and invited everyone to drink house-warming wine.
On Monday, Zhang Guofu informed his two younger brothers in advance that they would come over to help on the weekend.
After discussing it with Zhang Laoer, Zhang Guoqing felt that the house-warming wine was not that simple. Their eldest brother had been working for several months and had been exchanging favors with his colleagues.
On that day, in addition to family and friends, there would be at least one table for everyone from work. The two of them didn't listen to their eldest brother's advice. Who would really eat at four or five tables?
Ever since Zhang Dad came to town on Thursday, Zhang Guoqing had been rushing to his place as soon as he got off work. The three brothers sat down to discuss the matter, and in the end, Zhang Guoqing was the one who took on the task.
With Zhang Meili's experience from last time, Zhang Guoqing arranged for the chef to be in charge this time, and asked his father and eldest brother to directly discuss with the chef and come up with a list to prepare for him.
At the weekend, after a string of firecrackers, Father Zhang took Zhang Guofu and his family into their new house.
There were five rooms and a fairly large courtyard surrounded by mud walls. When Zhou Jiao, her children, and Lin Juhua came over, they first saw the new courtyard and thought it was quite nice.
This time, Zhang Guofu left the east room directly to his parents, with Xizi's room next to it. He and his wife and children lived in the two rooms in the west room.
By this time, a stove had been built in the courtyard. The chef and his apprentice had already begun preparing the dishes. With the two Zhang Meili sisters joining in to help, the courtyard was soon filled with the aroma of meat.
Huang Cuilan happily accepted Ping An and led her two sisters-in-law into the main hall, where she saw Zhang's mother chatting with relatives from the Huang and Zhang families.
Zhou Jiao and her sister-in-law greeted everyone. After handing the child to Zhang's mother, she went to the yard. Seeing Zhang Guoqing running towards her, she smiled. This guy came over in the early morning, and she didn't know what he was busy with.
"Where's my son? It's too noisy here. Why don't you go to your parents' room and rest for a while?"
Zhou Jiao chuckled, "It's okay. I'll just stand there for a while. Mother is holding Ping'an, and with Xizi here, there's nothing to be afraid of. The gift is really the same as Second Sister-in-law's. Based on the gift that Eldest Sister-in-law gave us last time for warming the house, isn't it too little?"
Seeing that there were so many people coming and going, Zhang Guoqing didn't say much and whispered back to her, "Listen to your mother. I have nothing to do now, so I'll go for a walk with you."
Zhang Meili saw Zhou Jiao coming over from a distance, but she was pulled away by her younger brother. She heard her younger sister teasing Xiao Wu and quickly pulled her away. With so many people around, she couldn't joke with her younger brother. Who wouldn't be polite to her Xiao Wu these days?
Seeing this, Zhang Meihao immediately changed the subject. As Zhang Qingshan's cousins came over, the two sisters who were guests were also sent back to their rooms.
The Zhang family didn't have much else to offer, but they did have a lot of people. By noon, even two cousins, along with their sons and daughters, had arrived. Mother Zhang was secretly thankful that her son had come prepared.
As waves of guests came, the female members of the family began to follow Zhang's mother into the bedroom.
Originally, Zhang's mother planned to move into the old house with her old quilt, but when Zhang Guoqing found out, he directly moved a new set of quilts from his hometown.
He guessed that his parents would rarely have the opportunity to live in the courtyard in his village. Would a new quilt get moldy if left there?
Zhang Meihao saw a group of people coming in, and quickly asked them to get on the kang and pulled Zhang Meili out. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, she whispered in Zhang Meili's ear, "Sister, Xiaowu's new quilt is ready. Are Dad and Mom going to live with Big Brother from now on? Why don't they live with Xiaowu?"
"Silly! Xiaowu needs a quilt? There are so many people here, I'll tell you later." Zhang Meili said, then looked towards the crowd. She found Aunt Huang looking around the room and laughed to herself. Her parents had to stay at their eldest son's house first. Did they really think that their daughter could interfere in the affairs of the Zhang family just because she was close to her parents' home?
Zhou Jiao left the yard and followed Zhang Guoqing back to the street corner. She asked, "Brother is moving back. What about Xizi and his two brothers? Will you leave your sister-in-law at home to take care of them?"
Zhang Guoqing sneered when he heard this. "I've arranged everything well. Since she doesn't want the children to transfer schools, she's the only one who can take care of them. She actually wanted me to intervene and arrange the transfer midway. I ignored her. What an idiot! So many things have happened, Dad knows what's going on, and he will definitely teach her a lesson this time. Let's just pretend we didn't know."
Zhou Jiao rolled her eyes at him. Who's been so busy and happy these past few days? But thinking of Boss Zhang, she kept silent. Alas... everyone has their struggles, and it's Boss Zhang who owes his father-in-law a favor.
As more and more guests came, when the time came, Zhang Guoqing took his wife back to the yard.
At this time, Huang Yaozong and his brother had already arrived. This time Huang Yaozong was obedient.
When Zhang Guoqing heard Huang Yaoguo greeting him, he smiled and exchanged a few words with him, then found an excuse to go see his children.
During this housewarming dinner, Zhang Guoqing sat next to his two brothers-in-law, holding his son. He was very happy to see his two brothers cooperating in arranging the guests and adjusting the atmosphere.
With his second brother around, their family can move out in a year or two without any problem to their parents.
Uncle Zhang followed his gaze to Zhang Guoqiang, the second oldest son. After a moment, he smiled and shook his head. He looked at his family and friends at the table and said with envy, "My second brother is so lucky! Each of his sons has become a pillar of support for the family."
"You are not bad either. All of your sons are the best. Those who came to help today are the children of you three brothers, right? All the descendants of your Zhang family are capable." Father Huang praised after hearing this.
Uncle Zhang sighed, "They're all good kids, but they live in the countryside, working with the fields all day. They're lifelong farmers."
Zhang's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. He'd really gotten what he feared. He quickly said with a smile, "Brother, drink some more. Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Let's not talk about this today. Let's talk about something happy."
Uncle Zhang smiled at the words and chatted with his honest brother-in-law beside him. The Zhang brothers were delighted that the elderly couple, Zhang Dani, and their eldest son's grandson had come with them. As people age, they often reminisce about the past, remembering the sister who had protected them.
After three rounds of drinks, Zhang Guoqing saw that his elder brother's colleagues had said goodbye and gone home, leaving only a few relatives. He made an excuse, took his son and Zhou Jiao home first.
In fact, at the dinner table, he had already heard a lot of the hidden meanings of the people at the other table—nothing more than a desire to go to the city. Some things were difficult to refuse directly, as they would hurt feelings. He could only take the opportunity to leave. How much others could understand depended on what they thought.
On the way, Zhou Jiao talked about how Huang Cuilan's sister-in-law asked directly at the dinner table what gifts Zhang Meili and her sister had received, and she even took a few more glances at herself.
She had originally wanted to retort. This person was meddling too much. But the other person's sister-in-law simply asked her how much she had contributed.
Zhang Guoqing laughed upon hearing this and said, "The Huangs are quite clever. The Huang family gave a generous gift this time, and the Huangs are quite proud of it. She just saw that we didn't give much, so she stood up for her sister-in-law. Maybe Huang Cuilan said something else. There's no place for favors in social interactions, right?
We won't come here unless there's something important. My parents will probably go back to their hometown in ten days or half a month. Since we've split up, I won't interfere in my brothers' affairs. This time, it was my eldest brother who came to say hello in advance. He had to come. Didn't you see all the cousins came to help? "
"I'm just afraid that you'll be sad. My eldest brother is such a nice person. Who would have thought that my eldest sister-in-law would be so close to her parents' family. Before the family split up, I was worried about my second sister-in-law, but I didn't expect that Xianhui would show her true colors first." Zhou Jiao sighed.
She had never mentioned these words to anyone, but today she saw with her own eyes that Huang Cuilan was present there, and she did not say anything to stop or explain. She felt very upset for Zhang Meili and her sister.
Zhang Guoqing smiled but said nothing. It would be more accurate to say Huang Cuilan was cowardly and easily influenced than to say she was treacherous. After a few provocations, she felt she could call the shots.
With his parents around, he wasn't worried about his older brother. Besides, even if their brotherly love was gone, he had done what a younger brother should do, so there was nothing to regret.
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