People came to the house early in the morning. They were supposed to help prepare the banquet, but everyone came to visit the house first.
When the house was built before, there was no wall outside, so everyone could stand on the ridge outside to watch. Now that the wall was built at the back, people were embarrassed to go in and take a look.
If your man is working here, you can still find an excuse to come in and take a look, but it is not so nice for an unrelated person to walk into someone else's yard, let alone a wealthy family. Others will say something, just like the landlord in the village. If you stay outside for a while, the servants in the house will pour out a basin of water for you.
"This is great. It's spacious and solid. We don't have to worry about the wind and rain in the summer."
"The blue brick house is so beautiful, the bricks are neatly laid out."
All the important rooms were locked today, and other places where people could enter and exit were left for visitors to see as they pleased.
When Dabao and Xiaobao were one month old, Xu He was able to leave the confinement period and go out to visit and entertain guests.
Originally, he was supposed to cook for the family banquet, but Zhang Fangyuan wanted him to have a good rest. Besides, if the host cooked for such a large banquet, there would be less people to greet the guests. Xu He thought about it and it made sense, so he decided to just entertain the guests today.
At breakfast, everyone was still cleaning the vegetables, and in the afternoon, guests started to arrive to have a drink.
The two children were one month old. The weather in April was very comfortable. Xu He got up early in the morning and changed the clothes for the two children and put on small hats. Because the clothes prepared earlier were only for one person, the second baby wore different clothes today.
Every time relatives come, they all want to hold the two little ones. In previous families, when the baby is one month old, relatives and friends cannot separate the two children. But it is different in their family. Instead, relatives have to hold this one and that one.
"At first I held him in the quilt and he looked small, but after changing his clothes and holding him in my arms, I found that he was really heavy, with flesh all over his arms and legs."
"Let's see who is heavier, Ajin or Ali?"
A group of women and husbands gathered together to play with their two children, having a great time.
Xu Shaochun came in the afternoon, walked into the house and looked around for a few times. Although there was envy in his eyes, it had become much calmer. After all, he could see the construction progress of the Zhang family's big house every day when he was out doing farm work. When it was finally completed, he did not feel as surprised and amazed as when he first heard that the Zhang family had built such a big house.
However, when I looked at Heger's twin children, I felt even more envious.
We asked Fei Lian to come to the banquet today, but he refused to come. The same went for my mother-in-law. I guess she was afraid that if she saw her mother, they would have another quarrel, so she simply didn't come. She just didn't want to come, and then she was asked to bring some wine and food back when she left, which made her so angry that she didn't know what to do.
"Shaochun, come quickly to see the baby, and hug the baby to get some of the childishness. This will help you get pregnant and it will work."
Seeing Liu Xianglan jumping and twisting with joy while holding her eldest grandson, and saying these words in public, Xu Shaochun couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, but she still went up to take a look, because she really wanted to have a child.
Xu He and Zhang Fangyuan were greeting guests at the door together. Most of them were villagers, so there was no need to say any roundabout greetings or polite words. They just invited them in and sat down.
The gifts given by farmers were not rare, just gifts of money, chickens, ducks, etc., unlike the brocade boxes, treasures, rare animals and exotic animals given in the city. This time the banquet was so grand that it was estimated that the money collected from the gifts would not be enough to cover the cost of the banquet. However, Zhang Fangyuan did not mind spending several hundred thousand coins more for the sake of his two children's happiness.
Seeing that there were not many people around later, the couple prepared to go in to entertain the guests. Suddenly, they saw an ox cart coming towards them from afar. When it got closer, they realized that it was his sixth uncle's family of three.
Seeing that people were coming to the house, Zhang Fangyuan found it very strange. When the couple got married before, they went to invite them but failed to get them back for a banquet. This time, he didn't send a letter but heard the news back.
"Fang Yuan, your house is so grand!"
The man walked along the stone path outside the house, looking up at the house with his neck almost stretched like a duck. When he was almost at the door of the house, his wife beside him pulled him and he finally lowered his chin.
"It's very grand, very grand. There are still some advantages in the village. You can build as big a house as you want. It's not like the city where you only have a small piece of land and can't move it. It involves several families." The man didn't feel strange at all. Instead, it was as if he had just met Zhang Fangyuan yesterday. His tone was full of familiarity: "You spent a lot of money on this house, right? Is it worth this amount?"
The man held up two fingers.
"Sixth uncle and sixth aunt are here, please come in and sit down." Zhang Fangyuan did not answer the questions that were like checking household registration. He introduced the couple who came and the boy they were holding hands with to Xu He.
Xu He had only seen Uncle Zhang when he was a child. Later, he moved to the city and rarely returned to the village, so he saw him even less frequently. But now he doesn't feel that Uncle Zhang looks unfamiliar.
The uncles and aunts of the Zhang family all inherited the appearance of Grandpa Zhang, with long faces and high noses, but their body shapes are different, with different heights, weights and body shapes. However, they have many similarities in appearance. I often see Uncle Eldest and Fourth Uncle Zhang, and I feel very familiar with Uncle Sixth Zhang.
After all, he moved to the city when he was young. Compared with those who worked hard in the countryside for many years, Uncle Zhang looked much younger than his older brothers. Even though he had some advantages in age, he still looked the youngest among his peers in the village.
The woman following beside him was not big, even petite, but her small eyes were very smart and sharp, and they seemed to be shining all the time. She had her hair in a bun, a new style popular in the city, and wore flowers and silver ornaments. Her clothes were also clean and pretty, and her face was smooth and shiny, as if she was only in her early twenties.
Xu He knew that they were respectable people, so he respectfully followed Zhang Fangyuan and called them.
But the woman was not an easy person to get along with. Before Zhang Shilong could speak, she said, "Oh, your wife is a boy. I was not able to come to see her when she got married, but I can finally see her today."
Then he looked Xu He up and down and said, "Look at this tall guy. He is really rare in the village or in the city."
Xu He raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard that. It had been a long time since anyone in the village had said anything about his appearance or figure. He felt a little uncomfortable hearing such words again on such a nice day, but he didn't say much.
He was patient, but Zhang Fangyuan was not one to allow others to criticize his wife in front of him, so he said immediately: "If it wasn't for my brother, how could I find another man? Besides, a tall and strong man like me must find a tall match, and an ordinary short and stunted man can't handle it."
Zhang Fangyuan deliberately lowered his head to look at her, and his Sixth Aunt's face turned irritated. She probably had never been refuted at home, so she said sarcastically: "Fangyuan is now capable, and his words are more exaggerated than before."
Zhang Fangyuan exclaimed, and looked at his sixth uncle Zhang Shilong: "I used to talk like this too. Look at Aunt Liu's memory. Uncle, you have to bring Aunt back for a walk more often. It's getting worse."
Zhang Shilong smiled and tugged at his wife's sleeve, signaling her to stop talking, but the woman shook his hand off without giving him any face.
"Let's go in and see the eldest brother and the fourth brother. I heard that the second sister is back too. Rongfang, you can go and meet someone."
Zhang Shilong shamelessly pretended not to see his wife's dissatisfaction and tried to smooth things over.
"What's so good about a shabby house? You have to come all the way from the city to see it. No matter how well-built the house is, it's still just like a country house." Feng Rongfang started cursing as the family of three entered the courtyard.
Zhang Shilong said, "With such a big house, even if it was built in a village, it would be a business worth more than 100 taels. My nephew has opened a tea stall, and I just found out a few days ago that the Linglong shop in the city was opened by him. With such a big business, it would be a good thing to have frequent business."
"What's good about that? You opened a shop in the city, but no one sent toothbrushes or tooth powder to your home. Do people take you, their sixth uncle, seriously? And you came here all the same. It would be fine if you came here alone to be ridiculed, but you brought me and Jie'er back with you. What annoys me most is the poverty of these rural households. Your poor relatives treat people from the city as if they were gold ingots. When you come back, they pull you here and ask you all kinds of questions, hoping that you can find a job with their son."
Although Zhang Shilong knew that his wife was talking about his eldest brother's family, he still felt a little uncomfortable: "I am also from a village family, why did you marry me if you disliked me so much?"
Feng Rongfang heard the man talking about herself, and changed her tone: "You are talking about yourself when you are talking about outsiders' affairs. Now you are half a son-in-law, how can you still be a villager? You have been a city dweller for a long time. Look at which man in the village is as respectable as you."
The couple whispered a few words, and two villagers who tried to call them ignored them. Finally, Zhang Shicheng looked at them and called out "Lao Liu", and the couple finally stopped.
“Fourth brother!”
"Come sit inside. Big brother and big sister are here. It's hard to get together." Zhang Shicheng was slightly surprised to see the couple, but he was really happy to see his family. "Have you seen Fangyuan's two children? They are very well-behaved."
"two?"
Feng Rongfang cried out in surprise. She only knew that the full moon banquet and the banquet for moving into the new house were held together, but she had no idea that she had given birth to two babies in one go. Even though she didn't like the village family, she couldn't help but go and see the two children after hearing about such a rare and happy event. She was surprised to see that they were indeed a pair.
Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He looked at this family of relatives, feeling somewhat helpless: "What do you call this? If you are poor in a busy city, no one will care about you. If you are rich in a remote mountain area, you will have distant relatives. If we often stay in the city in the future, there will inevitably be disputes. But the best thing is that my Sixth Aunt can't stand me."
Xu He patted Zhang Fangyuan's palm and said, "Why worry about those things? Let's just live our lives well. If we are strong, we don't need to rely on others to make a living, and we will never be unhappy."
Zhang Fangyuan suppressed the anger between his brows, and his expression softened a lot as he held Xu He's hand.
The banquet was set up earlier than the usual dinner time. As the weather was good today, they set up the table in the yard for the banquet.
The first dish served was a large plate of steamed buns stacked into a tall triangle with a spring crabapple flower on the top.
This time the Zhang family held another lavish wedding banquet, which was even better than any previous one. The villagers knew they could not compare with it, so they ate and drank and had a great time.
In a blink of an eye, the baby's full moon celebration was over and we moved into the new house. With these two major events happening at home, life returned to quiet and peaceful again.
Spring came and went quickly. After Xu He recovered from her confinement, her body was no different from before, but there was a second baby in the family who needed constant care. This spring, she couldn't even go out to pick wild vegetables.
The chickens and ducks were raised in the old house, so my second aunt and fourth aunt went to take care of them. The ducks grew fast, so apart from feeding them, all they had to do was drive them to the river, so there wasn't much work to do.
Everyone in the family wanted to take good care of him, thinking that he was a great contributor, and didn't let him worry about anything. He had to take care of their two children wholeheartedly.
Although the child is small, he is easy to take care of. He sleeps after eating, and when he wakes up, the two of them lie on the bed and kick their legs. Xu He doesn't need to coax him too much.
The days became busy. Xu He was the one who could not stand to be idle. He felt anxious with nothing on his hands, so he had to collect some soybeans and chili peppers from the village and make some food in jars at home.
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