Fang Qiao nodded in agreement with Cheng Baidong's suggestion: "It's good to sell the house to Third Aunt, so that it won't be coveted by certain people. Find some time to talk to Third Aunt about it."
"good."
After discussing the house, the couple huddled together for a private chat. Seeing that Cheng Bodong's hands were getting increasingly restless, Fang Qiao gave him a playful glare: "Our daughter is watching with her eyes open, where are you touching her?"
“She’s so young, she doesn’t understand.” Cheng Baidong’s face drew closer and closer.
"I...I just finished my postpartum confinement period..."
"I won't touch you, I'll just give you a kiss first..."
"Hmm..."
Fang Qiao feigned reluctance, her voice gradually lowering.
*
With the Lantern Festival approaching, Fang Qiao went to town to send money to her parents' home and also bought some glutinous rice flour and black sesame seeds at the supply and marketing cooperative.
Glutinous rice flour is rare, not only is it very expensive, but it is also in limited supply, with a maximum of half a jin per person. Fang Qiao and Cheng Baidong went to the supply and marketing cooperative in two separate trips to collect a full jin.
Making black sesame-filled glutinous rice balls is very simple. Just wash the black sesame seeds to remove dust and impurities, stir-fry them with peanuts and walnuts in a wok until cooked, then crush them into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle. Add cooked flour and dissolved sugar water, mix well, and set aside. Finally, gradually pour honey into the prepared filling, kneading until it becomes sticky and not loose. The filling is now ready.
Making glutinous rice balls is even simpler. Just roll the filling into a thin pancake, cut it into small squares, dip it in glutinous rice water, then coat it with glutinous rice flour. Repeat this process five or six times until the filling is fully covered with glutinous rice flour. Roll it into a round ball and you're done.
Fang Qiao used one pound of glutinous rice flour to make 50 large Yuanxiao (sweet rice balls). She gave 15 to her third aunt's family, 10 to Wang Yun, and kept 25 for herself.
When Fang Qiao brought Yuanxiao to her third aunt, her aunt thanked her profusely and held onto her, insisting that she give her a bowl of her own fried crispy leaves.
These days, oil is precious, so we only make a little fried food to enjoy during the Chinese New Year.
Fang Qiao felt embarrassed to accept her things, as her aunt's family was struggling financially, and quickly waved her hand, saying no.
“A few burnt leaves aren’t worth much, why are you being so polite with your third aunt?”
Auntie San grabbed Fang Qiao's arm and pulled her into the kitchen, lowering her voice as she said, "Qiao, Bai Dong told me everything about your house. It's such a nice house, furnished, yet he only asked me for three hundred yuan. That amount of money wouldn't even buy bricks and tiles outside. I've taken a huge advantage of you just for this house. Not to mention the red handkerchief you gave Xiao Jing before the New Year, and now you're giving me Yuanxiao (sweet rice balls). I really don't know how to thank you enough. If you don't take this little bit of burnt leaves, I'll feel so guilty."
Since her aunt had said so, Fang Qiao couldn't very well say no.
She took the bowl full of burnt leaves from her aunt and said with a smile, "Then I'll take it back and bring the bowl back to you later."
"Okay, take it first, come back for more when you're done eating. There's plenty more at home." Auntie smiled and saw Fang Qiao out the door.
My third aunt's house is right next to Cheng Guihe's house. As soon as I stepped out, I saw several unfamiliar faces coming out of Cheng Guihe's house.
Fang Qiao had never seen these people before, so she asked her third aunt in a low voice, "Who are these people? I've never seen them before."
Auntie lowered her voice and explained to Fang Qiao, "That's the head of Daxuzhuang Village, and the other one is the matchmaker who introduced Cheng Yajun and Jiang Moli. They said that the Jiang family is no longer breaking off the engagement, and they are now discussing the wedding date."
Fang Qiao was surprised: "With the two families having such a falling out, can this marriage still go ahead?"
"Of course! They even burned down the house and still got married. The Jiang family is really tolerant." When it came to gossip, Auntie San simply followed Fang Qiao home. Once they were far away, she whispered, "That wall wasn't soundproof. I vaguely heard them in the yard saying that Jiang Moli was bullied by Cheng Yajun, and her period was ten days late. She's probably pregnant, which is why she agreed to the marriage."
Fang Qiao's eyes widened in disbelief upon hearing this: "Really?"
Jiang Moli is such a shrewd person, how could she be willing to suffer such a loss?
Auntie pursed her lips: "We'll find out soon enough. After all, you can't hide a big belly forever."
"That's true."
Fang Qiao sighed.
It's unbelievable that after going through so much trouble and drama for almost three months, these two finally got married.
But this is for the best. One is hypocritical and the other is ruthless. Being tied together saves them from harming others.
The brick factory will start work on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. Cheng Gui and his family will have to go to work at the brick factory after celebrating the Lantern Festival at home. Jiang Moli's pregnancy cannot be delayed, so the two families met and discussed it, and hastily set the wedding date for the Lantern Festival.
Without any musical instruments or wedding attire, Jiang Moli was only wearing a slightly worn red jacket when Cheng Yajun picked her up on his bicycle and took her to the dilapidated mud house in the east wing.
The east wing was originally where Cheng Hongmei and Cheng Yajun lived together, separated only by a curtain.
In preparation for Cheng Yajun's wedding, Cheng Hongmei moved out of the east wing, and Cheng Guihe set up a four-poster bed in the room on the west side of the main hall where grain was stored, where Cheng Hongmei would sleep from then on.
Cheng Hongmei felt wronged, and Jiang Moli felt even worse.
The man she wanted to marry was Cheng Yajun, the one from her dreams who inherited a brick house and a large sum of money, not a penniless cripple.
If it weren't for Cheng Yajun bullying her on the first day of the Lunar New Year, causing her period to be delayed and her parents to discover something was wrong, she would never have agreed to this marriage, even if it meant death.
The banquet held by the Cheng family was not very respectable. There were only three dishes and one soup on each table. The only meat dish was a stew of potatoes and chicken. When you picked it up with chopsticks, it was all potato starch. There was no chicken in sight.
Jiang Moli was so angry that she lay on the wedding bed and cried. But when she buried her head, she smelled a strong smell of sweat. When she lifted the quilt cover, she saw that the quilt inside was old and yellowed.
The mattress under the sheet was also old, stiff and clumpy, and had been used for who knows how many years. It was also very narrow, only about 1.2 meters wide, and didn't even reach the edge of the 1.5-meter double bed.
Only the exposed sheets and duvet cover on the entire bed were new; the rest of the bed, which was not visible to the naked eye, was all old.
Seeing this, Jiang Moli was overcome with grief and cried even harder.
Cheng Yajun got married, but his family didn't send any invitations, so Fang Qiao and Cheng Baidong pretended not to know.
Rural people value harmony above all else. To put it bluntly, it means that regardless of right or wrong, you must be magnanimous. Even if things have escalated to the point of complete breakdown, if the eldest brother doesn't attend his own brother's wedding, there will still be nosy people gossiping and saying you're petty and don't care about the bigger picture.
However, Cheng Baidong didn't care.
Anyway, the couple was about to leave this small village, so they weren't afraid of what others would say.
Early on the morning of the Lantern Festival, Cheng Baidong lit the fire, Fang Qiao put the glutinous rice balls into the pot, and the family shared them. However, they did not expect that an unexpected 'guest' would come to their house just halfway through the morning.
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