Chapter 305: No Bragging
Zhulan knew who Li inherited her loud voice from, and nodded, "This time she is going to the capital to take the exam. Whether she can stay in the capital in the future depends on the result of the head of the family's spring exam. I can't predict the future situation."
Li's second aunt asked, "Isn't the Spring Examination next year? Why are you leaving this year?"
She really didn't understand what the Spring Examination was. She only heard from the head of the family that her eldest brother's relative had become a groom and that those who took part in the Spring Examination would become officials in the future. Only then did she know what the Spring Examination was.
Zhulan explained, "We have a house in the capital. If we go there early, we can get well and prepare for the Spring Examination, so that we don't get sick and miss the Spring Examination next year."
Li's third aunt got the point, "You have a house in the capital?"
My goodness, how much money is a house in the capital worth? I was angry that my mother-in-law favored the eldest wife. Such a good marriage was given to the eldest wife. Now, not only does she have to rely on the eldest wife to say good things and build relationships, but she also has to please her niece. I feel uncomfortable just thinking about it.
Li Xu's heart was pounding. She thought her daughter was so lucky. Who knows, in the future she might have a father-in-law who is an official. Oh, when she thought about it, the Li family also had a relative who was an official!
Zhulan smiled. The men in the Li family were straightforward and their daughters-in-law were shrewd. Zhulan didn't dislike the Li aunts. They had a lot of small calculations but they would never cross the line. Zhulan admired the deceased old lady Li even more. The old lady must have spent a lot of effort to find a suitable daughter-in-law for her son. It was not easy for the old lady.
Mrs. Li also remembered that there was no food at home, so she came over from the kitchen and said, "The aunties are here too!"
Li's third aunt felt jealous when she saw her niece's clothes. She wore such nice clothes even when cooking. Then she looked at the pearl hairpin on her head. She felt so jealous, but she had to smile. "Yes, look, I brought a lot of dishes!"
Li was just thinking about going home to pick vegetables. "Thank you, aunties. I was just thinking about going home to pick vegetables with my mother!"
Zhulan smiled and said to Li: "Stay for dinner today. You can decide on the food."
Mrs. Li exclaimed. There are quite a lot of people in the four branches of the Li family. "Mom, do you want to bring the children to eat too?"
She didn't see the Li family's children, they must have stayed at home.
Zhulan was generous not only because she came to congratulate, but also because of the Li family's care for the house for more than half a year. She took a quick look along the way and found that there was no grass in the yard, and there was not a speck of dust on the tables and chairs. It can be seen how honest Li's family is.
In the future, they will come back less and less often, and the Zhou family still has to rely on the Li family to take care of the house and land. In addition, the wild animals sent by several branches of the Li family really helped the Zhou family a lot when Pingzhou City was sealed off. This meal must be eaten.
When the city was closed, meat was the scarcest. The Zhou family sent wild animals to Xu Jinshi's family, to the Wu family, and to Zhao Bo, in exchange for a lot of favors for the Zhou family!
Zhulan smiled and said, "Come and have dinner."
Li Xu said hurriedly, "That's unacceptable. We're embarrassed enough to stay."
She knew exactly how many children there were in the Li family. If all of them came, there would be five or six tables for the Li family alone. For this meal, there would be eight tables!
They originally came to take a look and never expected them to stay for dinner.
Zhulan held Li Xu's hand and said, "Come and have fun today. Mother-in-law, you don't need to say anything more. Just listen to me today."
After that, Zhulan said to Li: "It's not dark yet, tell the boss to buy some chickens and kill them."
After returning from Pingzhou, Zhulan bought more than 20 kilograms of braised pork and ten roast chickens. She was originally planning to give half of it to the eldest daughter's family. But, she had to eat it all today. She could only buy the rest for the daughter in law in the county tomorrow.
Zhulan also brought back a lot of food, and it looks like it will be all for dinner tonight. The oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, etc. were all brought back from Pingzhou, so it is estimated that they will be all for a meal. I will have to buy them again when I go to the county tomorrow.
Li responded, "Mom, I'm going out with the vegetables."
"Go ahead."
Li was very strong and he carried the three baskets out without any effort.
Li was weighing the dishes in her mind as she walked. The three aunts brought a wide variety of dishes, including not only vegetables grown in the yard, but also mushrooms and fungus. It was not difficult to cook for eight tables in the evening, and there were three ready-made dishes, so it was actually quite easy.
There were eight dishes on the table, including braised meat, roast chicken, braised pig's trotters, chicken stewed with mushrooms, stir-fried cabbage with fungus, scrambled eggs with chili peppers, and stewed potatoes with beans.
Li took the basket of vegetables to the kitchen and came to Zhao's side. "Sister-in-law, my mother asked me to buy some chickens. I was thinking of buying some eggs. Can you give me some money?"
Zhao was washing the dishes. She put down the dishes, wiped her hands, and untied the purse beside her. "How many chickens and eggs do you want to buy, sister-in-law?"
Li counted on her chubby hands, "We need to cook for eight tables. Six chickens stewed with mushrooms are enough. One hundred eggs are needed. We need to cook eggs for the children for breakfast tomorrow!"
He took out a tael of silver and said, "Sister-in-law, Zhoujia Village is not far away. The butcher should still have meat. We have a horse carriage. Let my brother go to Zhoujia Village to buy some meat and pick up my sister and her family."
Li took the money and said, "You are really thoughtful. OK, I will talk to your eldest brother."
Mrs. Dong interrupted, "Sister-in-law, when we cook for eight tables tonight, should we prepare the staple food first? What are you going to prepare as the staple food?"
Li was thinking about mixed-flour steamed buns, as she didn't bring back much cornmeal. In Pingzhou, cornmeal was either used to make porridge or to make steamed buns for a change of taste. Most people ate white flour steamed buns and rice. Well, after arriving in Pingzhou, the Zhou family's food intake improved dramatically.
Li coughed and said, "Steamed buns. The flour we brought back is not enough, so let your eldest brother go to Zhoujia Village to exchange some for him."
Mrs. Dong stopped talking. Although her sister-in-law was confused about other things, she knew the most about the kitchen.
Li's sisters-in-law believed that their sister-in-law was not bragging, and that her words really were the final say. They were happy and jealous at the same time!
Zhulan and Li Xu chatted for a while. Then Mrs. Li Zheng from Lijia Village came and brought some vegetables and eggs. She knew that Zhulan was worried that she would have no vegetables to eat.
It’s not that Zhulan forgot about the vegetable garden in the house. She didn’t entrust it to the Li family because she had her own concerns. The Zhou family had already helped the Li family a lot, so let’s forget about the vegetable garden, so Zhulan had left it empty.
By the way, there are still a few dogs that were bought at the beginning, and they are still raised in the house. The Zhou family left food for the dogs, and the Li family took good care of the dogs. The big dogs are still very energetic. As for being thin, it is inevitable. Zhulan's family often had bones to eat for the dogs. After Zhulan's family left, the Li family had no bones to give to the dogs, so they could only eat the leftover food. The dogs naturally became thin without any meat to eat.
When Zhulan's family came back, the ones who were most happy were the big dogs!
Half an hour later, Xuemei came with her child. Zhulan then realized that Boss Zhou had gone to Zhoujia Village to buy chicken and picked up Xuemei's family.
Zhulan didn't notice Xuemei's belly last time she came back. This time Xuemei was wearing thicker clothes. Zhulan looked at Xuemei's belly and asked, "Why is your belly so big?"
(End of this chapter)