Several people waited in the hotel for Zhou Huaian to come back with the old man and Zhou's father to see the house before leaving for Douhua Village.
Huang Yongcai came out of the restaurant with a smile and said, "Good luck in opening the business, and may your business prosper!"
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother Huang!"
Huang Yongcai said with a smile: "The environment of your hotel is much better than that of the second hotel, and the room rate is not expensive. I guarantee that the business will be booming."
Wang Zhen said with a smile: "There are not many immigrants in Ning'an now, so we dare not imagine that it will become popular. We will be satisfied if we can have half the occupancy rate every day."
Huang Yongcai: "Yes, there are fewer migrant workers here, but in the future, more and more people will come to the city. I heard that a bus station will be built there. When it is completed, more people will stay in your place."
Wang Zhen nodded, "I thought so too. If there is anyone who wants to rent a storefront, please help introduce it to me."
Huang Yongcai said straightforwardly: "Don't worry about this, as soon as I hear the news, I will bring people to you!"
Everyone exchanged greetings and entered the restaurant. Soon Wang Zhen's relatives and friends also arrived, and the waiter brought the dishes to the table one by one.
Zhou Huaian, Wang Zhen and Zhou Yiding filled the guests' glasses with wine, said some words of thanks, and after everyone toasted, they started eating.
…
The three Zhou Huairong brothers had already arrived at the grove, pulling the red mushrooms. The Zhou Jiaming brothers and Zhou Xiaoqian were squeezed in the truck bed, drooling in their sleep.
Hearing Zhou Huaishan's voice calling down, the three of them looked up in confusion, only to find that they had arrived at the backyard of Yaoba's house.
Zhou Xiaoqian blinked and said, "We're here!"
Zhou Jiaming wiped the corner of his mouth and pointed at his shoulder, "You two squeezed me in the middle, and your saliva wet my shoulder."
"Hey!" Zhou Xiaoqian jumped off the tractor and stretched. "I'm not awake yet. I'll go to bed after dinner."
"I just got up early one day, and you woke me up!" Zhou's mother brushed the dust off her body, "Your mother and husband do this every day. They only finish work and go home when you are dreaming at night."
Zhao Huifang took over the conversation, "If you don't study hard, you will have to get up early and go to bed late in the future!"
Zhou Jialiang pouted, "Now whenever my mother talks, she turns to studying. Why didn't you care about us before?"
Zhao Huifang grabbed his ears and asked, "I didn't take care of you before? Then why did you cry when you were beaten?"
Last night, when the eldest brother came home, the two of them talked about it again. Xu Laosan felt very uncomfortable about delivering the goods to the Xiong family.
He also said that now that the family has the conditions, they should keep a closer eye on the children and let them read more books so that they won't be oppressed in the future. But it seems like it's too late now.
"It hurts! It hurts!" Zhou Jialiang hurriedly grabbed her hand, "Mom, if you pull my ear again it will fall off."
"If you don't listen next time, just cut off your ears." Zhao Huifang let him go, "Hurry up and wash your clothes and eat. After you eat, go up the mountain and pick some herbal seeds."
Zhou Jiaming said with a bitter face, "How can you be obedient? You got up before dawn to go to the Baicaoping, and you're not back until now. You also have to go to the back mountain to pick seeds."
"You still have the nerve to say that. You fell asleep there when you went there, and slept all the way home when you came back. You still have the nerve to complain." Zhou Huaishan walked towards the wine cellar carrying a basket of red mushrooms.
Zhou's mother came over with a steamer, "It's time to eat buns. Xiaoru, send two over to your mother."
"Hey!" Zhou Xiaoru took a porcelain jar, slurped her saliva, and put the plump white buns into the jar. "Grandma, what did you use to make the bun filling? It smells so good!"
Zhou's mother smiled and said, "Shiitake mushrooms and pork belly, of course they are delicious!"
"The ancestors and grandpa are at ease. They followed the youngest father and others into the city for a banquet." Zhou Jiakang picked up a bun, and his left hand was so burned that he quickly switched to his right hand and put it back into the bowl.
"You're so greedy!" Zhou's mother tapped him with her chopsticks, scooped up the porridge and arranged it, "Come and eat."
"Here we are!" Zhao Huifang said to Zhou Xiaowen, "After you finish eating, go and call Grandma Jiang and the others to come to work."
The sun is strong and the temperature is high. The collected red mushrooms must be cleaned and sent to the drying room for drying as soon as possible. Red mushrooms are not as easy to preserve as big-foot mushrooms. If they are not cleaned and dried in time, they are prone to maggots and rot.
"Got it!" Zhou Xiaowen took a bite of the plump white bun, "Delicious, my steamed buns with milk are the best."
"Give some to little brother Jiuer." Zhou Xiaolin broke off some buns and was about to feed them to little Jiuer, but Zhou's mother quickly stopped her and said, "Little brother can't eat pasta yet. He can't digest it."
Seeing that Jiuer was about to cry because he didn't eat anything, Zhao Huifang quickly picked him up and patted him on the back to coax him, "Mom, you can grind some rice flour for Jiuer to have as a snack."
"Why did you forget about this? I'll go fry rice and grind rice flour for him after dinner. Feed him some rice soup first." Mother Zhou looked at Xiao Jiuer who was watching them eat eagerly, took a spoon and pressed it on the porridge, then scooped some cooked rice soup to feed him.
I had just finished my meal and hadn’t called Jiang Yu and the others when they came. “When I saw the tractor driving into the grove, I knew that the boss and the others were back. I didn’t wait for them to come back and hurried over to eat.”
"I told Xiaoru to call you guys!" Zhou's mother smiled and handed the buns to the group, "Eat a bun first and then work slowly."
"Big buns, this is so delicious!" Jiang Yu and his friends took it and ate it, then got busy.
Zhou's mother scrubbed the stone mill clean, then scooped a bowl of rice, fried it and started grinding it into rice flour. After grinding it, she poured the rice into the mill again and ground it again. She touched it three times in a row, and then sifted it through a powder sieve before she took the jar of malted milk and put it in.
I washed a handful of vegetable leaves, boiled water, and made two spoonfuls of rice noodles. I held Xiao Jiuer and started to feed him the rice porridge. The little guy liked it very much and finished it in a few small bites.
Just as I put the child to sleep, Liu the matchmaker came and said, "Guilan, I found out what you asked me to find out."
"Sister Liu, come sit down and have a drink of water!" Zhou's mother hurriedly scooped some honey and gave it to her in a cup. "How is that person?"
Matchmaker Liu drank two sips of honey water and said, "What your third aunt said is true. Although the man is married, he looks like an unmarried young man. He has a good family background and is handsome.
But there are some things they don't know at all. Luckily you asked me to find out for you. Otherwise, when the two of you meet and fall in love, it will be too late to regret it."
She leaned forward and said, "That man is a pervert who likes to torment people. I found out the news after asking several colleagues."
"Thank you, Sister Liu. I knew I had found the right person!" Mother Zhou handed over a bag of cloud cakes gratefully, "Have some cakes."
"Yes!" Matchmaker Liu took it with a smile, "I didn't find out clearly about your Yumei and He Jianjun. If things don't go well this time, you'll ruin my reputation. Besides, with her current conditions, what are you worried about? When her girl is older, I promise to introduce her to a good one."
Mother Zhou nodded happily, "Okay, please pay more attention to it."
She felt that the previous incident could not be blamed entirely on Liu the matchmaker. It was because they saw that the He family was from the town and He Jianjun was not bad looking that they were eager to facilitate the marriage. If the woman lowered her own values, it would be strange if others would respect her.
Matchmaker Liu patted her chest and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely find her a good match this time."
Zhou's mother smiled and said, "I'm relieved that you've been chosen to arrange the marriages of our children. I'll also be choosing you to arrange the marriages of my grandchildren in the future!"
The wrinkles on Liu the matchmaker's face turned into a smile, "Everyone is free to fall in love in the future, who would want us old men to be matchmakers?"
"Hey! No matter which dynasty or generation, I can't live without you!"
"I just like talking to you. It makes me feel comfortable."
"That's right. Can you see which family doesn't need a matchmaker for their wedding?"
"That's true!" Matchmaker Liu finished drinking the honey water in the cup, stood up and said, "I know you are busy, so I won't keep you. You should be back from picking mushrooms soon."
Mother Zhou picked up a few more packets of Yunpian Gao and gave them to her, "Take a few back for your grandson to eat."
"Thank you!" Matchmaker Liu took it and left happily.
Mother Zhou turned and went to the backyard. Zhou Huairong and Zhou Huaijun came out of the drying room with dried red mushrooms, sweating profusely. "Mom, take these to the third brother's house upstairs to dry them."
"That's right!" Zhou's mother picked up the basket and went to Zhou Huaishan's house. She saw Li Qiuyue raking red mushrooms with a bamboo rake in the backyard. "The sun is so hot, why don't you take a rest?"
Li Qiuyue smiled and said, "It's okay. Just move more so you don't have trouble sleeping at night." There was still more than a month until the due date. She was both excited and worried, afraid that she would give birth to another girl and be laughed at by others.
"Be careful." Zhou's mother picked up the red mushrooms in the basket and poured them out upstairs. She rakes them apart with a bamboo rake before going downstairs.
Li Qiuyue held her waist and stepped forward, "Mom, did the youngest family really buy land to build a hotel?"
"I heard that Doctor Xiao Wang helped buy it, and he also hired someone to repair the hotel. I haven't been there." Zhou's mother glanced at her and said, "The youngest said that he would tell you when there is land in the future."
Li Qiuyue said hurriedly: "I'm just asking!"
Zhou's mother said rudely, "I didn't say a word, but you're already thinking about all sorts of things. I don't know where you get so many thoughts from every day."
Li Qiuyue smiled awkwardly, "Really not this time, the third brother told me when he came back last night."
"They're still busy over there. I'll go back first." Mother Zhou walked out of the yard carrying a basket and saw Zhou Huaian and three others coming towards her.
Zhou Huaian took a few quick steps and asked, "Mom, are my eldest brother and the others back?"
"You're back. It's a good opportunity for you to come back and help." Zhou's mother smiled and asked, "How's business going?"
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "When we left, we heard that five guest rooms were rented out. Sister Xu said that there were five people just after the opening, which was already good."
Zhou's mother said disappointedly: "Only five people?"
"All five rooms are single rooms, and one night costs twenty-five. Are you still not satisfied?" Zhou Huaian looked at her with a smile, "Mom, you are too careless!"
"You didn't explain yourself clearly, and you still say I'm careless!" Zhou's mother rolled her eyes at him, "I didn't know it was five dollars a night, I thought it was just a few dimes a night!"
"How much is it a night? Do you think it's what my grandfather said, about the big bunk beds in the old society?" Zhou Huaian said with a smug smile, "Let me tell you, my cheapest room is one dollar and fifty cents a night."
"You are the only one who can do this!" Zhou's mother laughed so hard that her mouth couldn't close, but she said something disdainful. (End of this chapter)
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