When the tractor entered the village and passed by the drying dam, the villagers it met were all asking the old man and Zhou's father and mother whether it was fun to have fun in the provincial capital.
"Look, Mr. Zhou, even at his old age, went to the provincial capital for a visit. I wish we could go and see him someday!"
"Look at how hard the youngest Zhou has worked. He is leading a prosperous and prosperous family. We are also benefiting from it..."
Mother Zhou saw Aunt Chen, who raised piglets, carrying a basket full of pig grass on her back, and waved to her, "I've brought back the wool you asked me to bring. Come and see me this afternoon!"
Aunt Chen nodded repeatedly, "Okay, I'll call Lao Qian as well."
The woman who went to cut grass with her sighed and said, "It's hard to predict a person's life. Look at the life Guilan's family lived before. She probably never dreamed that she could live such a life."
"Yeah, who would have thought? This poor family killed four big fat pigs just for their own consumption during the New Year."
As soon as the old man and Zhou's father got home, they went to the back mountain to check on the saplings and herbs. Zhou Huaian had his two elders to help take care of them, so he was too lazy to go up the mountain. He took the things he brought for Zhou Yiding and rode out on his bicycle.
Yang Chunyan went home and gave the gifts she bought for Zhao Huifang and the other two, then took Xiao Jiuer to take a bath.
The weather in the provincial capital was cold, so we didn't dare to take off the clothes and wash the children. We just wiped them with a hot towel. When we came back and the weather was warm, we got a big basin of hot water and put it in the yard to wash them in the sun.
The little guy never stopped playing with water. Yang Chunyan was worried that he would catch a cold, so she pulled him out of the bathtub, wrapped him in a blanket and sent him back to the room to dress.
In the main hall, Zhou's mother distributed the things she had brought back for Zhao Huifang and the other two to them. As she took the things, she said that they had gone to the zoo to see peacocks and tigers, and to the theater to see a play... They had taken photos there and gave them to Wang Zhen to have them developed at the photo studio, which would be visible in a few days.
This made Zhao Huifang and the other two extremely envious.
"You don't have to pay for the clothes and shoes I bought for the baby. I heard from Chunyan that the department store only gave you this wool blanket for about 100 yuan. Chunyan paid for it herself, so you should give me the money too!"
"Great! I didn't expect things in the provincial capital are so cheap. Next time Yumei goes to buy goods, we will go with her." The sisters-in-law touched the thick and tight wool blanket and smiled so hard that their mouths could not close.
After a while, Aunt Chen, Qian Chunhua, and two maids who were on good terms with Zhou's mother came. The wool, polyester cloth, yellow rubber shoes, spring and autumn shirts, etc. that she brought back were very popular because they were cheaper than in town.
The four of them went back with a pile of things. After a while, Jiang Yu and the others came and divided up all the things that Zhou's mother had bought.
Although Zhou's mother also added a few dollars, things like polyester cloth are much cheaper than in town. Those who came late were angry because they didn't buy it!
Zhou Huaian went to Zhou Yiding's house with a headlamp and a tape, and saw Wan Xuejiao drying millet in the yard. "Are you drying millet to make rice?"
"Brother Zhou, you're back! Come in and sit down. Yiding is picking manure to make fertilizer in the backyard. Brother Xu and Brother Li are also helping at my house." Wan Xuejiao said happily and ran to the backyard and shouted.
"Don't you have enough fertilizer at home?" Zhou Huaian pushed his bicycle, bypassed the millet in the yard, and parked it in the shade.
Wan Xuejiao pulled a chair for him. "They used up all the fermented fertilizer from planting the white hyacinth a few days ago. Today, they went to the bamboo forest to dig up some fallen leaf fertilizer and mud. They also dug two compost pits outside the backyard and picked up some manure water to ferment it. They will use it when preparing the rice field and planting the rice seedlings."
Zhou Yiding, wearing a cotton vest and with his trouser legs rolled up high, strode over and said, "I thought your kid would be out for two days before coming back!"
"Look, I bought you three boxes of cassettes of Hong Kong and Taiwan singers. Miss Deng has three boxes." Zhou Huaian had just handed him the cassettes when Xu Hongbing and Li Wu came over, took out their headlamps and said with a smile, "Just because you guys are here, I bought this thing!"
"What is this?" Xu Hongbing took it and opened it curiously. "How do you use such a small light?"
Li Wu looked at it and laughed, "I know, it's similar to the headlamps worn by workers in coal mines."
"It's a headlamp." Zhou Huaian gave one to each person, "We'll wear it and go to the woods to shoot birds tomorrow night."
Zhou Yiding nodded repeatedly after seeing it, "Great, this thing is really good for catching eels and hunting birds at night!"
Xu Hongbing smiled and said, "Then let's go to the ditch below the winter paddy field tonight to catch eels?"
Zhou Huaian shook his head, "I can't tonight. I have to go to town to help my sister paint the walls this afternoon. We bought some clothes from the wholesale market in the provincial capital and sold them to her."
Zhou Yiding's eyes lit up. "Is it fashionable?"
Zhou Huaian smiled and nodded, "Very fashionable. There is also a pair of men's trousers, called jeans. Chunyan said that kind of trousers look good with a white shirt. You can go and see for yourself and pick the ones you like!"
Zhou Yiding: “You didn’t take it?”
Zhou Huaian looked at them with a smug look on his face, "Chunyan said it looks good, so of course I bought it too. I'll wear it when I go to my mother-in-law's house for a return dinner tomorrow."
Xu Hongbing said with a smile: "Youngest, you wear it first so we can see it. If it looks good, I'll get one to wear too."
Zhou Yiding hugged him and said, "Brother, let's not dress the same as him. He looks good in it, but it may not look good on us!"
Zhou Huaian patted his chest proudly after hearing this, "There's nothing I can do. The boy is handsome. Even if he puts on a urea bag, he's still very handsome."
"Ugh~" Zhou Yiding and Xu Hongbing made disgusted expressions. Zhou Huaian put his arms around their necks and said, "Look, am I handsome, buddy?"
"Cool, cricket and pot lid!"
Li Wu looked at the three people who were showing off with a smile, "Let's work first. We'll go to the ditch to catch eels in the evening."
"Wait a minute, I'll play Miss Deng's songs and we'll listen to them while we work." Zhou Yiding took out the tape recorder on the table in the main room with a smile, inserted the tape, and Miss Deng's sweet and cheerful singing voice rang out.
"Come on, help with the work. We'll catch some eels tonight and give you some to try."
"I'm not going to pick up manure. I'm going to my mother-in-law's house tomorrow to eat nine bowls of rice instead of eels."
"How dare you not go!" Zhou Yiding and Xu Hongbing carried him to the backyard, and Li Wu followed with the tape recorder.
…
After lunch, the four Zhou Huaian brothers went to buy lime, went to the town to find a carpenter to make a frame, and bought seven or eight thin iron pipes. They repainted the walls in the afternoon and installed three electric pole lights.
Just wait for the carpenter to finish the clothes rack, install the iron pipes on it, hang up all the clothes, and then you can open for business.
The next morning, Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian took their children back to her parents' home. Wang Zhen and Yang Dongmei welcomed the family of three in. There was a row of large stoves in the yard, with more than ten layers of steamers emitting steam.
Several sisters-in-law from my family were wearing aprons. Some were helping to pick vegetables, while others were cutting vegetables on the chopping board, and they were laughing and chatting loudly from time to time.
Relatives who hadn't seen each other for a long time also came. More than ten 8-person tables were set up in the main room and the yard. Some relatives and friends sat around the tables playing poker and long cards, while others gathered together to chat about family matters.
Yang Dongmei took Xiao Jiuer with a smile, "Sister, aunt and uncle are here, and they just asked why they didn't see you."
"Let's go and take a look. I haven't seen them for a long time." Yang Chunyan went to the main room with her. Looking at her aunt and uncle who looked much younger, she could hardly tell them apart.
Outside, Wang Zhen pointed to the row of large stoves and said to Zhou Huaian with a smile: "This time we will have the authentic nine bowls."
"Hmm! I can smell the fragrance before I even enter the yard." Zhou Huaian looked at the busy cook in front of the chopping board, and then he realized that the chef helping in the kitchen was Chef Li from Linyuan Restaurant. "Oh! It's Chef Li who's cooking. We're in for a treat today!"
Wang Zhen smiled and nodded, "Uncle Li is an old friend of my grandfather. Last year, he said he would hold the wedding banquet here, and I told him about it."
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "I think it was well held in the provincial capital this time. Doctor Wang and your father were also very happy. Also, my grandfather went to the sunbath to play chess all afternoon."
Wang Zhen didn't understand what he meant. "What does the old man's chess playing have to do with the banquet in the provincial capital? I remember that his chess skills were not very good. Could it be that he was going to win this time?"
"Oh! You don't know this, you know? Playing chess was fake, and showing off to those old guys was real. He came back and asked me when he could get the photos? He wanted to show them the photos of him looking at tigers and peacocks at the theater gate and the zoo!"
Zhou Huai calmed down for a moment, "And my old man, after dinner he went to visit my third uncle's house and Uncle Datian's house, also to show off. My mother also sold the clothes and shoes she bought to the old women in the village, and I heard she made dozens of dollars."
He never expected that the old people who had been clamoring to go home in the provincial capital would behave like this after returning home.
Wang Zhen's smile never dropped after hearing this. "When it's more convenient to buy tickets in the future, I'll bring my grandfather with me and we'll go out together."
Zhou Huaian grinned, "Right, I think so too. Let's work hard to make money now, and then take them to see a place every year, so that they can show off every year."
"What are you two talking about? You're laughing like cats stealing oil." Yang Weimin patted Zhou Huaian and said.
Zhou Huaian turned around and said with a smile: "We are in for a treat today. The chef in charge is a famous chef in Ning'an."
Yang Weimin sighed after hearing this: "Wow! After all this time, it turns out it's Ning An who came. I was wondering why I've never seen this chef at the Nine Bowls Banquet in the village!"
Master Li also saw Zhou Huaian, called him over, and said to him: "Youngest, when are you going to go up the mountain and get some game to send to me?"
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "Uncle Li, do your customers like to eat gray storks? I'll go and catch a few tomorrow night."
Master Li nodded and said, "Gray storks are also fine. If we have turtledoves, we can get a few more and send them over."
"Okay! I'll send it to you the day after tomorrow morning. Go get busy!" Zhou Huaian turned around and was dragged away by Yang Weimin and others to play poker.
When the meal time arrived, the sound of joyful firecrackers rang out, and cold dishes, steamed, stewed and stir-fried dishes were served on the table one after another.
During the banquet, the friends and relatives who were eating the nine bowls on the table kept praising the food. (End of this chapter)
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