Chapter 202 The Little Brat's Meddling
Sheng Xiping's arrival was both unexpected and a pleasant surprise to the Zhou family.
Zhou Mingyuan and his wife were overjoyed. One of them pulled Sheng Xiping to sit on the kang (a heated brick bed) and chatted with him, while the other left all the guests in the room and ran to the kitchen to prepare food for them.
Fortunately, during the Lunar New Year, every household has food, and the dishes are easy to find.
With just a few quick strokes, you can easily put together seven or eight dishes.
In most families, there are two meals during the Lunar New Year: one around 8 or 9 in the morning and another around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. That's about it for dinner.
During the Spring Festival, the train runs a little later, so it was almost 2 o'clock when Sheng Xiping arrived at the Zhou family's house.
By the time Wang Chunxiu and her daughter finished preparing the meal, it was already three o'clock, just in time for dinner.
Visitors, seeing the Zhou family busy entertaining their son-in-law, would wisely take their leave and leave.
Only Zhou Mingyuan and his two sons remained in the room, listening to Sheng Xiping recount how he had spent the past few days at the forest farm, leading his dogs to fight jackals and kill leopards.
Not to mention Zhou Mingyuan and Zhou Qingyue, even Zhou Qingyang, a soldier, was captivated by what Sheng Xiping was saying and kept asking about their hunting trip in the mountains.
"Hey, you guys stop chatting and hurry up and wash your hands so we can eat."
"You've finished eating. You young folks can go out for a stroll if you want, go wherever you like."
Wang Chunxiu called out to them several times from the outer room to wash their hands, but no one answered, so she came inside to greet them.
“Wife, we’re listening to Xiping talk about how he and his lads fought off a pack of jackals and killed a leopard.”
"Oh my, you have no idea, ever since Xiping got engaged here, her life has been absolutely fantastic!"
Zhou Mingyuan listened intently, his face beaming as he spoke to his wife.
Wang Chunxiu sighed, "Xiping, it's not that I'm being nosy, but I don't object to hunting."
You're in the forest farm, surrounded by wild animals. If you don't hunt those things, you'll just go into the village and cause trouble for people.
Mom just wants to say, please be very careful.
You see, at the hospital, every year, besides work-related injuries, many people from various forest farms are injured by wild animals in the mountains.
This thing sounds exciting, but it's actually quite dangerous.
As a doctor, regardless of her specialty, Wang Chunxiu felt it was necessary to remind her son-in-law.
"You're about to marry Qinglan. I don't ask you to be rich and famous, I just want you both to be safe and sound, understand?"
Parents everywhere have the same heart; no parent wants anything to happen to their child.
Although Wang Chunxiu was not Sheng Xiping's biological mother, her feelings for Sheng Xiping were no less than those of a biological mother.
"Okay, I understand, Mom. I'll definitely be careful."
This time, the jackals mainly invaded the village and ravaged the farm. The forestry bureau leaders intervened, which is why I led people to fight them.
"Mom, don't worry, I have a few really good buddies, they're all pretty capable. We usually go together in groups of five or six, with our dog too."
Sheng Xiping understood his mother-in-law's good intentions and didn't want the Zhou family to think that he was idle and only thought about hunting and messing around in the mountains all day.
Wang Chunxiu nodded, "Yes, I was just saying, you're a reliable person, I trust you."
As she spoke, Wang Chunxiu laughed, "Oh dear, let's not talk about these things during the New Year. Hurry up, everyone go wash your hands, let's eat."
So Zhou Mingyuan led his son and son-in-law to wash their hands and sit down again.
Zhou Qinglan and Wang Chunxiu set the food on the table and then took out a bottle of good wine to pour for Zhou Mingyuan, Zhou Qingyang, and Sheng Xiping.
The whole family sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), chatting and laughing as they ate.
"Xiping, eat more vegetables. Take whatever you want to eat, don't be shy."
Qinglan, could you put some fish on Xiping's plate? This fish was a gift when you got engaged.
I stewed one on New Year's Eve, and oh my, it was so delicious! I'd only ever heard people talk about small-scaled fish before, but I'd never actually eaten one.
Zhou Mingyuan and his wife both served food to Sheng Xiping, whose small bowl was almost overflowing with fish and meat.
The Zhou family treated Sheng Xiping to a warm welcome, constantly urging him to drink and eat. Everyone chatted and ate, making for a very lively meal.
After dinner, Wang Chunxiu sent a few of the younger women out to have some fun.
The Forestry Bureau Cinema happened to be very close to the Zhou family's house. During the Spring Festival, the cinema was open and showed several movies in a row.
These days, there aren't many movies to watch. Apart from older ones like "Tunnel Warfare," "Mine Warfare," and "Little Soldier Zhang Ga," there are also films that came out a few years ago, such as "The Red Lantern" and "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy."
At most, there will be a few more feature films produced by friendly countries, such as "Coastal Storms," "Unyielding to Death," "Underground Guerrillas," "Trauma," "The Vast Horizon," "Women of Nanjiang Village," "The Flower Girl," and so on.
Although it was the Lunar New Year, there weren't many movies to watch. Anyway, it didn't matter to Sheng Xiping what he watched, as long as he could be with Zhou Qinglan.
This time, Zhou Qingyang and Zhou Qingyue didn't cause any trouble. They let Sheng Xiping and Zhou Qinglan watch the movie together, with the two of them standing next to them.
Despite the limited number of movies these days, and the fact that many films have been shown repeatedly, theaters are still packed to capacity whenever they are open.
Not only were all the seats filled, but the aisles were also packed with people.
The main reason is that cultural entertainment is so scarce these days; apart from watching movies, there seem to be no other leisure activities.
Especially during the Lunar New Year, when people are mostly at home with nothing to do, many relatives and friends go out to watch a movie together for entertainment.
So the movie theater was incredibly lively, packed with people and filled with smoke.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, it was also filled with the everyday life and warmth of the mundane world.
Fortunately, people automatically quieted down as soon as the movie started.
As the film's plot unfolded, everyone became engrossed in the story, and no one spoke.
Sheng Xiping wasn't particularly interested in the movie, but Zhou Qinglan, who was next to him, was watching it with great interest.
Sheng Xiping didn't want to disturb her, so he quietly held his wife's hand. The two of them leaned their heads together and occasionally whispered about the plot. It was a very warm and cozy feeling.
"Brother, did Xiping secretly hold my sister's hand?"
Beside him, Zhou Qingyue, with her sharp eyes, seemed to have noticed something, so she leaned close to her brother's ear and whispered something.
"Little brat, just watch your movie quietly, why are you bothering with so much?"
Unexpectedly, Zhou Qingyang glared fiercely at his younger brother.
They're already engaged, a proper fiancé, why should we care if they hold hands or not?
Although Zhou Qingyang's attitude towards Sheng Xiping wasn't very good before, it was only because he was reluctant to let his younger sister get married and start a family too early.
After these few encounters, Zhou Qingyang realized that Sheng Xiping was a good person, someone he could entrust his life to.
Besides, they're already engaged, and who knows when they'll get their marriage certificate? Who can interfere and meddle?
“That’s your brother-in-law. You have to change how you address him from now on, so people don’t say that our family has no manners,” Zhou Qingyang instructed her younger brother.
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