In folk culture, seventy is a full birthday, eighty is a senior birthday, ninety is an old birthday, and one hundred is a centenarian, all of which require grand celebrations. However, this kind of birthday does not refer to the actual age of ten, but refers to the age ending in nine, such as 59 and 69. "Don't celebrate ten after nine" is a folk custom. Most people believe that nine is the largest number among the ten, so they should celebrate it grandly and pray for the elimination of disasters and avoidance of misfortunes. Therefore, they should choose a year book with nine in it and celebrate their birthdays one year in advance.
Old Mrs. Miao is exactly sixty-nine this year. Sixty-nine is a celebration of her seventieth birthday, so it is a day for grand celebration.
The Jiang family is now a well-known figure in Qingshan Village. Because Jiang Yiluo deliberately concealed the truth, the villagers still don't know his true wealth. But the little bit he revealed at this time is enough to make the villagers envious. In addition, Erni is now a doctor in a large hospital in the capital, Sanni went to the United States where the villagers dared not even think about it, and Sini got a stable job and became a small cadre. The villagers are very flattering to the Jiang family, and no one knows whether they will need to ask them for help in the next moment.
Therefore, it is estimated that all the villagers will come to join in the fun of Old Lady Miao's birthday party, and the scene will not be small. Gu Dongmei and the women on good terms with the village started to get busy several days in advance. Although the job of cooking has been contracted out long ago, the arrangement of the venue and the rental of tables, chairs and tableware are also quite a hassle.
In order to celebrate the old lady's birthday, the younger generations of the Jiang family who were working outside rushed back early. Even Jiang Sanni, who was far away in the United States, dealt with her affairs in the United States in advance, booked a flight ticket, and tried to arrive the day before the birthday party.
The Jiang family's original bungalow was demolished and rebuilt five years ago, and replaced by a two-story villa with a front and back yard. The outside of the walls is covered with beige stone bricks, which looks particularly imposing and eye-catching among the mud-brick houses. The floor of the house is paved with tiles. There is a large color TV, a large refrigerator, a washing machine, and all the electrical appliances on the market. The house is fully equipped, especially the bathroom with a toilet and shower facilities, which amazed the villagers and made them say it was convenient and clean. Many families who renovated their houses later came back to the Jiang family to learn from them and how to decorate the bathroom.
At this time, the Jiang family's house was already decorated with red silk and red lanterns. On the wall of the bright main room opposite the door hung a longevity character made of countless paper flowers, which almost took up half of the wall. In the middle stood two eight-immortal tables placed together, filled with various tributes. A longevity peach the size of three or four basketballs was placed in the middle of the table. The pink and white dough gradually turned into a delicate peach red at the tip, and the two leaves underneath were also made of dough, and the serrated marks on the edges of the leaves were made lifelike.
This longevity peach is not only beautiful and delicious as it looks, but also contains ninety-nine small peaches with different fillings inside, symbolizing longevity. The production process of this "Five Blessings Longevity Peach" is very difficult, especially when there are many small peaches inside. It is necessary to ensure that the skin of the outer peaches is thin and tender, and at the same time, to ensure that the big peach does not deform. Without a certain skill, it is impossible to complete it.
Jiang Yilu spent a huge amount of money to invite the most famous pastry chef in the capital to come to Qingshan Village to make this birthday peach. As soon as the birthday banquet is over, the peaches inside will be distributed to the guests. Of course, the one on the top of the ninety-nine small birthday peaches will be reserved for the birthday star.
The birthday banquet was prepared with great care, because almost all the villagers of Qingshan Village came, there were a total of thirty-six tables, and there was room for twelve tables in and outside the Jiang family's yard. Fortunately, there was a pickle room that had been vacant for several years that could be used, so they managed to set up the tables.
After Jiang Yilu's business at the food factory got on track, he moved his pickle business there. First, the old lady was too old to work hard, and second, the pickles she made by herself could not keep up with the sales of the factory. Therefore, the pickle room was left vacant and locked on weekdays. The family had no intention of demolishing and rebuilding. After all, Jiang Yilu would not come back in the future. Even if he did, the house at home was big enough for him to live in. There was no need to build another house. The old man and his wife were reluctant to spend money, and they were reluctant to let their grandson live separately when he came back, even if they were just a few steps away.
The birthday banquet had not yet begun, but the busy cook had already started placing the cold dishes on the table.
There are eight cold dishes in total, including Amber Sugar Kernels, Sesame Oil Chicken, Braised Beef, Cold Jellyfish Shreds, Hot and Sour Cucumber, Cold Three Shreds, Century Egg and Tofu, and Squid Shreds. All the dishes are of sufficient portion. The walnut kernels selected for Amber Sugar Kernels are very large and covered with a thick layer of sugar coating. They have just come out of the pot and the syrup has not yet completely solidified. Many children could not help but steal a few of them and lick the slightly melted and sweet sugar coating with a hint of warmth. After licking the honey clean, they put the walnut kernel inside into their mouths. This way of eating is slightly different from the crispy and sweet taste of the Amber Sugar Kernels after they are completely solidified, but it is equally popular.
Old Mrs. Miao is the protagonist of today's birthday banquet. Today she is wearing the Tang suit that her eldest granddaughter had started to embroider three months earlier. It is made of bright red satin with exquisite and gorgeous embroidery. The old lady's hair is combed meticulously, as if she had applied hair oil. Not a single strand of hair is sticking out, and it lies flat on her scalp. Her hair is tied into a bun and pinned with a white and smooth jade hairpin.
The old lady wore all her favorite jewelry today, including gold rings, gold necklaces, gold bracelets, and gold earrings. The golden jewelry matched with the bright red Tang suit made her look festive and wealthy, at least that's what the old lady and the villagers thought. The group of women surrounding Old Lady Miao looked at the heavy gold jewelry and envied the old lady's blessing in their hearts, but they didn't know that the Hetian white jade hairpin on her head was truly priceless.
"Old sister, you are really living a happy life. Look at what you are wearing and on your hands. In the past, you would have been the old lord of the family." A plump woman, who seemed to be about the same age as Old Lady Miao, said as she sat next to Miao Sanfeng.
"Hey, these are all gifts from my children. You see, I'm already old, why should I wear these things? These gold rings and gold bracelets are what young wives wear. It's a pity that those children didn't listen to my advice and insisted on buying them for me. If I don't wear them, the children will be unhappy." Old Mrs. Miao straightened her back, with a look of embarrassment and anger on her face, which made people feel jealous.
If you really don't want to, you should first take your hand with two gold rings and a gold bracelet as thick as a thumb away from them. You are shaking it and saying that you are not happy. Aren't you deliberately making people jealous?
"If you ask me, these are all fake. More children means more blessings. Sister, your Xiaobao is not young anymore, why hasn't he found a partner yet? He earns so much money and has a son, so who will be the one to take advantage of him when the time comes?"
There are still some people in this world who have no sense of propriety. Dazhu Niang, Yu Xiaocao's aunt's mother-in-law, is one of them.
She had long been jealous of the Jiang family's prosperous days, but unfortunately her own son was lazy and greedy, and her grandsons were also useless. Of course, she herself was not much better. Every day she just thought about taking advantage of other families. If someone occasionally pulled an onion from her field, she would curse them from one end of the village to the other.
When Old Lady Miao heard what Da Zhu Niang said, she frowned, but she also thought that it was her good day, so she suppressed her anger and didn't argue with her. If they were not from the same village, she would not be happy to invite such people to the banquet.
The wedding banquet hadn't started yet and everyone hadn't gone to their seats. Dazhu's mother looked at the bowl of thickly cut braised beef with greedy eyes, took a large piece and stuffed it into her mouth, while continuing to speak incoherently. She didn't notice the contemptuous looks from others. Apart from the greedy child, she was probably the only one in the audience who had secretly eaten the dishes on the table before the wedding banquet began.
"I'm not exaggerating. Our Xiaocao is fair and pretty. She went to the same school as Xiaobao and is one year older than Xiaobao. They are of the right age for each other. She can take care of Xiaobao in daily life. Especially since Xiaocao is in good health and has a big butt, she can give birth to a son right away after getting married." Aunt Dazhu said shamelessly, smacking her lips.
Yu Xiaocao was not far away, and she heard everything Dazhu Niang said clearly. Although she was disgusted by her shameful behavior, she subconsciously did not want to stop her from saying those words.
"Hmph, our little treasure has high standards." When Old Mrs. Miao heard that the other party wanted to link her precious grandson with a poor family like theirs, she immediately became dissatisfied.
"Also, who said our Xiaobao doesn't have a partner? Our Xiaobao's partner is not comparable to your Xiaocao." Old Mrs. Miao had no opinion on Xiaocao, but she couldn't bear to see her grandson being hooked up with a family like Jiang Dazhu's. "Our Ruanruan is good-looking and has a good personality. Most importantly, she has a good family background. Not only was she born into a scholarly family, but she is also from Hongcheng. She is rich, talented, and beautiful. Your Xiaocao is not even as good as a little finger of my granddaughter-in-law."
Old Mrs. Miao stretched out her hand and clasped the tip of her little finger with her thumb, indicating the huge difference between the two of them.
"Xiaobao has a girlfriend?" The people around didn't pay attention to the two people's witty remarks. They were just surprised that the rich son-in-law from Qingshan Village was already someone else's meat on the chopping board. Now, those families who still had unmarried daughters couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Although I knew before that Mrs. Miao looked down on girls from families like theirs, there was still a glimmer of hope. Maybe Xiaobao would like her himself. If Xiaobao liked her, no matter how dissatisfied Mrs. Miao was, she would definitely keep it to herself.
"Yes, she is Brother Ruan's granddaughter, Ruan Ruan, who came to our village and lived for a while when she was a child." The old lady felt warm in her heart when she thought of her granddaughter-in-law.
Now that she has a granddaughter-in-law, how long will it take for her to have a grandson? Especially since Old Mrs. Miao heard that people in Hong Kong don't have any family planning policy at all and can have as many children as they want, she is even more satisfied with her granddaughter-in-law.
"It's that child. She is really a symbolic girl." Everyone in the village still remembers the cute little girl who was like a doll. Moreover, Ruan Yuanjiang was rehabilitated and became a professor in his university again. According to information obtained by people who have been out of Qingshan Village, all the properties that were confiscated from the Ruan family were returned. Ruan Yuanjiang severed the father-son relationship with his sons, and those properties were left to that girl Ruan Ruan.
The grandson of the Jiang family is not marrying a wife, he is marrying a mountain of gold.
"What's so good about this city girl? She has a bad temper and looks like a bean sprout. You can tell she's destined to give birth to a girl." Dazhu's mother spat, feeling very jealous but showing disdain. "Giving birth to a son still depends on fate. That girl has been an orphan since she was a child. You can tell she's a jinx."
Dazhu's mother was determined to marry her daughter-in-law's niece to Jiang Yilu, so she naturally racked her brains to belittle Jiang Yilu's current partner, but she forgot that Yu Xiaocao was also an orphan.
Yu Xiaocao heard the conversation clearly, and she clenched her hands holding the dish tightly, with the veins on her forehead slightly bulging. She no longer cared about the words that Old Lady Miao said to belittle her. What she cared about was that Jiang Yiliu was really with that woman.
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