Zhu Cuilan and Zhang Lanzhen were chatting about family matters outside when they suddenly remembered that there were still some fresh vegetables stewing in the pot, so they hurried back into the house to see how the meal was cooking.
Zhao Luochuan had already set up a table in the courtyard. The bright moon was hanging high in the sky above his head, and there was a fire for lighting. Even at night, the whole courtyard was still brightly lit.
The three brothers were sitting in front of the stove, laughing and joking. Yang Donghu saw Zhang Lanzhen and called out with a smile, "Auntie."
Zhao Fangchu followed behind him and shouted.
"Hey." Zhang Lanzhen smiled. She and Zhao Fangchu were not very familiar with each other. They had only met briefly a few times. However, Zhao Fangchu was good-looking and his words were sweet and sweet, which made it easy for people to like him.
It had been a long time since she had seen Yang Donghu. Back then, Zhang Lanzhen lived in the same village with him and had often seen him being abused. She couldn't bear to see him suffer, but now that he had escaped the hell and was being well-fed by the Zhao family, she felt relieved. She sat beside him, holding his hand as usual, and then she asked in surprise, "Hey, it's so hot in this room, why are your hands so cold?"
"Well, kids love to play and make trouble. I don't know what Dachuan and I were thinking, but we went into the water to catch snails and accidentally fell in. We drank ginger tea and haven't recovered yet."
Zhu Cuilan stirred the pot twice with a spatula, estimated the time, covered the lid, wiped her hands with her apron, and responded to Zhang Lanzhen with a smile.
Zhang Lanzhen rubbed his hands. All mothers have the same feelings and say the same thing: "You still have to pay more attention. If you don't pay attention when you are young, you will get sick a lot when you are old."
Yang Donghu listened to her words which were exactly the same as Zhu Cuilan's, laughed secretly, and nodded in agreement.
Zhu Cuilan was afraid that their clothes would be splashed with sparks if they were not careful, so she let them go out to make a fuss. The three of them were all dressed in bright clothes and were at the age where they loved to look pretty. It would be ugly if they got a spark on their clothes when they went out.
Zhang Lanzhen took the fire poker from Yang Donghu and drove the three people out.
The whole yard was filled with the aroma of meat. The fat on the lamb leg flowed along the texture of the meat into the jumping flames, making a sizzling sound.
The Zhao family hadn't cooked at noon, so they were hungry. Now, the aroma filling the yard made their stomachs growl.
Even though Yang Anchen worked as a teacher for wealthy families in the town, mutton was hard to come by. Even if there was any in the town, it had been reserved early. Moreover, mutton was expensive. The money for one pound of mutton was enough to buy several pounds of pork.
Even if you feel like eating a delicious meal, pork is the first choice. It is normal not to eat mutton for a year or two.
The Yang family made dumplings in the evening to satisfy Yang Anchen's craving for food when he came back from town. Zhang Lanzhen put twice as much fat in the meat filling as usual, and they were all fried, so they didn't taste greasy at all.
The dumplings tasted delicious. Yang Chaoren ate more than 40 of them by himself. He felt bloated on the way here, but the aroma of the mutton made him feel empty in his stomach. The dumplings he had just eaten no longer tasted as delicious as before.
Zhao Luochuan sprinkled the last handful of spices on the lamb leg and shouted to everyone to eat. The table in the yard was used for entertaining guests during the New Year, and it was moved out again today because there were so many people. Even so, it felt crowded when sitting together.
Neither family has the bad habit of not allowing girls and boys to sit at the table to eat. Since there are no outsiders present, they can sit together and enjoy the meal more.
After taking two sips of rice wine, Zhao He and Yang Chaoren felt a little tipsy, and their voices became louder. They played finger-guessing games back and forth, making the game very lively.
The women who don’t drink alcohol won’t drink to fill their stomachs like them. Isn’t the big leg of lamb on the table tempting enough?
The lamb leg was roasted whole and served on the table as a whole. With his future daughter-in-law and her family present, Zhao Fangyu had the opportunity to show off. He didn't eat much of the lamb, but just stood up and took a knife to divide the lamb among the people present.
"Fang Yu, sit down and eat. You've been tired for so long, but you haven't even eaten anything yet." Zhang Lanzhen sat opposite Zhao Fangyu next to Yang Anjin. Seeing that he was busy for half a day and still couldn't take a break, she felt a little sorry for him and quickly asked him to sit down.
Zhao Fangyu raised his knife and a piece of fat and lean lamb leg slipped from the tip of the knife. He picked up the meat and put it in front of Zhang Lanzhen, but his eyes couldn't help but fall on Yang Anjin who was eating meat quietly beside him. He smiled and said, "It's okay, auntie, I'm not tired."
As he spoke, another piece of meat fell, and this one unsurprisingly caught Yang Anjin's eye.
Every time he divided the meat between two people, he would turn his chopsticks to Yang Anjin. There was still a lot of meat in the bowl, so he waved his hand quickly: "Give it to Auntie, I still have some."
How could Zhu Cuilan not see her son's little thoughts? She felt in her heart that it was not easy for this wooden head to open up. She smiled at Yang Anjin while thinking: "You eat, you eat more. You are too thin now. It would be better if you were a little fatter."
Zhao Fangyu didn't want to be too obviously partial, so he divided the food among the others on the table.
The amount of meat each person could get was limited, and it couldn't be much more. All the meat that Zhao Fangyu didn't have time to eat went into Yang Anjin's bowl.
Fortunately, there were many other side dishes on the table, so the wine never ran out, and each man present took turns to drink a lot of wine.
Yellow wine itself has a strong aftertaste, and it was mixed with the white wine that Zhao He brought out. Mixed wines are easy to get drunk. Zhao Luochuan has a good alcohol tolerance, but his head is a little dizzy at this moment.
He only ate one piece of the meat in the bowl and gave it all to Yang Donghu. Even after Zhao He and Yang Chaoren took turns forcing him to drink several rounds, his stomach was still empty.
He took a few bites of fresh vegetables and the burning sensation in his stomach eased a little.
Yang Anchen was a scholar and had a low alcohol tolerance. He kept his eyes open and tried hard to stay sober, while holding on to the table to steady his body. No matter who pushed the wine to him, he would wave his hand and refuse to drink it.
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