134 Can't Let Go
As they were guessing, the mother and daughter had already seen several large stoves set up in front of Zhou's house.
All the villagers who should have been in the fields were gathered there.
The women washed and prepared the vegetables, while the men cooked and moved things around. There was a strong smell of oil smoke mixed with the aroma of meat.
The mother and daughter looked at each other and decided that it would be better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early.
Whenever there is a wedding banquet in the village, Old Mrs. Tian must be the chef.
But now that I am old, I can no longer wield a big spoon to cook several large pots of food. I just stand by and guide the young people on what to prepare.
"Xiaoqiao, your two treasures are back!"
Someone pulled the busy old lady Tian and pointed her towards the small path.
When Mrs. Tian saw it, she was very surprised and quickly greeted the mother and daughter:
"You've arrived just in time. The banquet starts at two o'clock. Come and eat now that we've prepared something!"
Gao Qinghe and her daughter responded, went home to put down their things, and came to Zhou's house.
Arriving at the Zhou family compound, Gao Qinghe only wanted to say, "There are so many people."
Not only were there people from the village, but there were also many people I had never seen before.
There were more than ten people in this group, all dressed appropriately. They sat alone in a corner, talking to each other in low voices, glancing into the yard from time to time, with a little bit of disgust and discomfort in their eyes.
This group of people sat in the Zhou family courtyard, seeming out of place with everyone else.
Zheng Ersao brought over a plate of fruit candies and asked Gao Qinghe to grab two handfuls.
Afraid that she would feel embarrassed, he personally grabbed a handful and stuffed it into her pocket, saying with a smile, "Save it for later."
Huang Ying glanced towards the corner and exchanged a quick glance with Zheng Ersao.
Zheng Ersao nodded towards the bridal chamber.
Huang Ying nodded in understanding. It turned out that she was accompanying the bride to get married.
"Second aunt, where is the bride?" Gao Qinghe asked curiously.
By the way, why doesn’t the groom Zhou Zhenghua come out to greet people?
Mrs. Zheng pointed into the room and said, "We're greeting the leaders. The bride is in the bridal chamber and can't be seen yet. She might come out to toast later when the banquet starts."
"She came in early this morning. I don't know if anyone brought her food."
Huang Ying patted her sister-in-law's hand and whispered, "She has her own family, husband, mother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law here. It's not your turn to worry about this."
Mrs. Zheng Ersao scolded her noisy little son Maomao, and thought to herself that it was true. She nodded to Huang Ying, asked her to find a place to sit and wait for the meal to start, and then went on to get busy.
Gao Qinghe walked to the closed door of the bridal chamber. Maomao and the other children who were prying through the doors and windows to see the bride saw adults coming and thought they were being driven away, so they dispersed instantly.
"Maomao!" Gao Qinghe grabbed his cousin by the scruff of the neck, "Why are you running?"
Maomao chuckled, "Second sister, when did you come back?"
The ten-year-old boy, who was at the age of being hated by everyone, rolled around in the mud without knowing where he had come from. He excitedly came up to Gao Qinghe and wanted to pick his way into his pockets.
Gao Qinghe ruthlessly slapped his dirty hand away and felt like there was something on his foot.
Looking down, it was my youngest sister Huahua.
The little girl, who is over five years old, goes wherever her brother goes, and holds his legs when he wants to grab candy.
Because he was not tall, Gao Qinghe didn't notice that there was such a little guy at his feet.
Huahua has two small braids on her head with red ropes tied around them. She wears a cool bellyband and shorts, and flowery cloth shoes. She is white, chubby and as cute as a doll in a New Year picture.
The little kid grabbed Gao Qinghe's legs and looked up at her, shouting, "Second sister, candy, candy."
Zheng Ersao was helping out the whole day and had no time to take care of the two little ones. I don't know how much candy they secretly ate, but the corners of Huahua's mouth were covered with sticky candy stains.
Gao Qinghe frowned as he watched, and led the two children, one big and one small, to the faucet, washed their hands and faces, and then gave them two candies.
"Little sister, save some for home to eat. I'll serve a big bowl of meat soon. Let's eat meat!" Gao Qinghe coaxed the child.
Huahua loves to eat meat. Hearing this, she nodded her head twice: "Yeah!"
Gao Qinghe gave Maomao a warning glare and said, "Take your sister to sit at the table."
Maomao hummed reluctantly, and when he turned around, he saw his second sister coming to the window of the bridal chamber and looking inside curiously.
Huahua asked, "Brother, what is Second Sister doing?"
"To secretly look at the bride!" Maomao was very dissatisfied. The officials were allowed to set fires, but the common people were not allowed to light lamps!
Unfortunately, Gao Qinghe didn’t see it either.
Because the curtains in the windows were drawn.
Her actions, on the contrary, caused displeasure among Ouyang's relatives.
There was a young woman, probably in her early twenties, probably Ouyang Yan's cousin or something like that, who suddenly covered her stomach and said she wanted to go to the bathroom.
Guihua had just delivered food to her sister-in-law Chunfang who was in confinement after giving birth, and when she saw Gao Qinghe, her eyes were full of surprise.
But remembering that she was there when Chunfang was about to give birth last time, she nodded politely.
Gao Qinghe walked up and asked, "Boy or girl?"
It was just a normal question, but Guihua's face changed instantly, and she subconsciously glanced at Mrs. Zhong in the main room.
After making sure she didn't hear him, he lowered his voice, as if to say something shameful.
"girl."
She couldn't even utter the words "money-losing stuff".
But there was a hint of gloating and arrogance in his eyes.
It seemed that as long as the eldest grandson of the Zhou family had not arrived, she would have the opportunity to become the most favored daughter-in-law of the Zhou family by virtue of her son's status.
The woman who wanted to go to the toilet came over with her companion and asked Guihua where the bathroom was.
"What room?" Guihua was stunned and didn't react to what they said.
The middle-aged woman accompanying them frowned and said, "Where is the toilet? My niece wants to go to the bathroom."
"Oh oh!" Guihua reacted and quickly pointed to the pigpen behind the house.
The two women were confused, so Gao Qinghe kindly said, "I'll take them there."
Guihua immediately smiled at her gratefully, but felt regretful again in her heart that her brother-in-law suffered a huge loss by not being able to marry this beautiful woman.
Gao Qinghe signaled the two women from the Ouyang family to follow him, lead the man out of the gate first, then around the yard, walk about seventy or eighty meters, and come to the low, dark, and smelly pigpen.
She pinched her nose and raised her hand to point at the bamboo fence next to the pigpen, signaling the two of them to go quickly, as they had reached the toilet.
The middle-aged woman seemed to have some understanding of the situation in the countryside and was not very surprised. She just covered her nose in disgust.
But the young girl couldn't hold it in any longer. She widened her eyes in shock and asked Gao Qinghe repeatedly:
"Are you sure the bathroom is here? Isn't this a pigsty? How do you go to the bathroom here?"
The girl couldn't believe it, the girl questioned it, the girl collapsed!
Gao Qinghe had arrived at his destination and turned around and left seriously.
Not long after, the two men returned to the yard from the pigpen with serious expressions. I don’t know what they said to the wedding procession, but they all looked very unhappy.
Zhou Zhenghua came out.
The banquet was about to begin, and he invited the guests to the table.
Suddenly someone started to make a fuss and asked for the bride to come out.
But Zhou Zhenghua only stared at the bright figure standing in the center of the crowd, and couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.
Gao Qinghe noticed the burning gaze behind him, turned around and curled the corner of his mouth at him awkwardly but politely.
Zhou Zhenghua was happy at first, but then he realized that she was just greeting him politely. The smile on his face disappeared instantly, his eyes dimmed, and he felt bitter in his heart and mouth.
Only at this moment did he realize that he simply couldn't let it go.
I am not willing to accept this and don’t understand why it is like this!
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