Chapter 246 246. Birthday Gift
We had lunch in the main square.
When Lei Li and Zhou Yi arrived, the square was already full of people who had come to enjoy the buffet, but the birthday boy had not come, so both adults and children were holding back and had not started eating.
The largest and most beautiful of the seventy tables is for the birthday boy.
Liu Ye'er, Lei Dashan, Lei Shengjiang, Miao Yurui, Xiao Zhouzhou, as well as Lei Jingsheng and Qingzhi had all arrived. When they saw Lei Li and the other two coming, they smiled and invited them to sit in the main seats.
"Brother Li, sit here with your mother!"
"Daddy, Daddy!"
"Brother! Come quickly! I didn't have breakfast and I'm starving. Come and have dinner!"
Lei Jingsheng got up late in the morning.
She thought that lunch was served early today, so she simply skipped breakfast and left some food in her stomach. Now she was starving.
Upon hearing this, Qingzhi quickly brought her some snacks to fill her stomach.
Lei Li heard her words from afar and scolded her with a smile, "This little girl! It's fine if she doesn't eat it herself, but she also doesn't eat it with Qing Zhi. She's starving herself to death."
"fine."
Zhou Yi said, "I will start urging them to eat breakfast every day starting tomorrow."
“Why urge them?”
Lei Li raised an eyebrow. "I'll tell her later, she's grown up, but she still needs someone to watch her while she eats. She's even less worrying than little Zhou Zhou."
The couple walked over while talking.
Next to the main table were seats for the Lei family's relatives and friends. Grandpa's family and Miao Fulang and his wife sat at one table, Zhu Zhuer's family and Liu Xiaocao's family sat at another table, and Tao Ge'er, who had married and moved to the next county, also came back with her husband and children.
Next to them are the old village chief's parents-in-law and the eldest son Niu Dashu and his wife, as well as the Guifulang family, Sanliuzi family and the Lei family, who are relatively close relatives.
The old village chief saw Lei Li and Zhou Yi coming, grinned, and greeted them,
"Brother Li is here! All the dishes are served. Is there anything missing? There are still many vegetables and meats on the stove. Let Brother Li prepare whatever you want!"
The Brother Li he was talking about is the chef.
Lei Li also agreed with the old village chief and said with a smile, "Today's food is delicious, everyone likes it. No need to keep Uncle Li busy. Uncles and aunts have been busy all morning. Are you all here for dinner?"
"Here we come! Everyone, come and eat!"
The old village chief said happily, and the others who came to the banquet nodded in agreement, saying that the big guys who were working had all arrived and they would get back to work after the meal.
“Just come and eat!”
Lei Li laughed.
He and Zhou Yi sat down at the main table, raised his glass and said a few brief opening remarks, thanking everyone for coming to his birthday party and thanking the folks for their help.
Then he drank the glass of wine.
The buffet has begun.
There were many people coming to the banquet, most of them were from this village and Silihe Village, a small number were from villages outside the two villages, some came specially from the county town, and there were also gentry and merchants who wanted to please and win over Lei Li and brought gifts to congratulate him.
However, Lei Li, who was worthy of being called the biggest local tyrant in Qingmi County, no longer needed to flatter them. He simply said thank you with a faint expression and left.
But we still have to give face to the magistrate.
The new magistrate was a Jinshi who had just passed the imperial examination last year. He was very young, just over 20 years old. He probably came from a prominent family. His speech and demeanor were very different from those of the scholars from humble backgrounds. He was graceful and knew when to act.
It's just that he sometimes speaks in a roundabout way, so most people can't figure out what he wants, and naturally he won't give people any room to talk.
In Lei Li's view, this little trick was nothing more than showing off one's sword in front of Guan Gong - not worth mentioning. He was not even afraid of the emperor and the empress, so why would he be afraid of a small county magistrate?
The new county magistrate is also a smart man. It is not difficult to talk to him, and he can see the direction of the wind better than Meng Yao did when he was the county magistrate.
Lei Li was not afraid of the new magistrate and wanted to keep his distance from them. However, the new magistrate wanted to rely on Lei Li's wealth and power to pressure and win over other merchants, so he naturally had to give Lei Li enough face and do his best.
Look, before Lei Li and his wife arrived, the new magistrate arrived with gifts and heartfelt words, as if he was sincerely wishing Lei Li a happy birthday.
"Thank you, Mr. Magistrate."
Lei Li stood up with a smile, clasped his fists and bowed, returning the magistrate's greeting very appropriately.
The new magistrate exchanged a few polite words, and Lei Li responded with a smile before sitting back down in the main seat, showing no intention of inviting the magistrate to sit in the main seat.
——The magistrate is an official, and Lei Li is a commoner. According to the rules, the magistrate should sit in the main seat.
The new magistrate did not comment and sat back with a smile.
Halfway through the meal, Lei Li felt full and asked Zhou Yi if he was full. Then the couple left, running faster than the new magistrate.
The gentry and merchants at the table studied the new magistrate's expression calmly. Seeing that he had a gentle smile and no sign of anger, but soon excused himself on the grounds of having official business, they understood what had happened.
As expected, a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake.
The new magistrate is still young, his skills are not strong enough, and his background is not big enough.
The Lei family is closely related to the Zhongchuan Meng family, and has a close relationship with the previous magistrate Meng. The Meng family also has the emperor's attention and support, and can be said to be in its heyday and very popular.
—
"I really don't like that new magistrate."
Lei Li curled his lips as he left the square. "Although Meng Yao is too upright and often very idealistic, after a few years of training, his skills have improved and he can hold his own. He also has a pure heart."
"This new guy is quite slick and manipulative. His eyes are full of calculations, and he pretends that others don't know. Even with the blink of an eye, I can guess what he's thinking."
"As long as it doesn't harm the people, being a little tactful isn't a bad thing."
Zhou Yi said, "It's better than being like Xu Xingzhe, who appears to be righteous on the surface but actually uses the people as stepping stones. If it weren't for the investigation later, who knows how many people he would have harmed."
"That didn't pull him down."
Lei Li snorted, "I thought his official career was over, but I didn't expect the court to send him to the foreign grasslands. He can still continue to serve as an official. It's really a good thing for him."
"Didn't Mengluo say that his job was very hard, raising horses?"
Zhou Yi said, "If you don't take good care of the horses, you'll be fined. If you take good care of them, there's no reward. You'll probably never be able to get transferred back. It's a very tough job."
"For someone like Xu Xingzhe, who is obsessed with profit and climbing up the social ladder, this is undoubtedly more painful than his death, especially since Meng Yao has also gone to the foreign grasslands."
"He has to watch his successor, the Qingmi County Magistrate, get promoted and become rich. As his predecessor, he held the same position and endured it for a full fifteen years. This is even more painful."
"Indeed."
Lei Li's mood brightened, and he smiled. "Let's not talk about the county magistrate anymore. Today is my birthday. What gift have you prepared?"
Every year on Lei Li’s birthday, Zhou Yi would prepare gifts carefully.
In the past two years, there was no money, so the gifts Zhou Yi gave were just a jade hairpin bought with the pocket money he had saved for a long time, or he took Lei Li out for a big meal.
Later, when he had more money and no shortage of time, Zhou Yi could give more gifts.
One year, Zhou Yi personally wound gold wire and made mother-of-pearl. He made a gold wire and mother-of-pearl box for Lei Li to put hairpins and jewelry in. However, Lei Li discovered that he had secretly hidden another batch of pocket money, and he was beaten for several days.
The kind of beating that used the butt to hit Zhou Yi's thigh.
One year, Zhou Yi ordered many precious flowers in advance and spent a huge amount of money to build a greenhouse so that flowers could bloom in winter. Unfortunately, Lei Li was not fooled by these "sweet words" and twisted Zhou Yi's ear with a smile.
Finally, they found out that Zhou Yi had borrowed money from Meng Luo to buy the flowers and that he no longer kept pocket money for himself, so they let Zhou Yi go and returned the money they had borrowed from Meng Luo.
So Zhou Yi's creditor changed from Mengluo to Lei Li.
For several months after that, Zhou Yi would be whipped by Lei Li with a small whip, and he would work for Lei Li with a grunt.
Of course, it’s not that brutal. It’s not really a whip. It’s more of a prop for acting.
But Zhou Yi hadn't expected that Lei Li would discover this kind of SM-like role-play in the ancient times when information was underdeveloped. He couldn't imagine how Lei Li would torture him in the modern era of information explosion...
I guess he died young, exhausted and exhausted?
In order to avoid debt and pay it back, Zhou Yi changed his mindset and stopped giving shiny gold things that cost a lot of silver. Instead, he gave something cheaper but more fancy that Lei Li would also like.
One year, Zhou Yi went to learn how to make colored clay figurines. Because Lei Li liked colored clay figurines, he bought a row of them and put them at home like a collection of figures, but the final results were a bit ugly.
Fortunately, Lei Li likes it.
One year, Zhou Yi collected the most beautiful leaves of the four seasons, carefully made them into specimens, and pieced together a color portrait of the thunder chestnut. Later, the thunder chestnut was eaten by insects due to improper storage, so he made a new one.
One year, Zhou Yi studied for a long time and finally mastered the technique of drawing interesting little figures. He spent a year drawing a whole book of portraits of Lei Li, bound it into a picture album and gave it to him.
Just like a modern photo album, every picture recorded is the most beautiful and meaningful moment in Zhou Yi's heart.
There were moments when Lei Li couldn't even remember when or what happened, but Zhou Yi still remembered and told Lei Li every detail.
Lei Li was so moved that he burst into tears——
No way.
Lei Li looked at the album, was silent for three seconds, and then said, "...Your painting skills need to be improved."
Seeing Zhou Yi depressed, Lei Li chuckled and teased him with a smile, "I'm kidding, the painting is very beautiful, I like it very much, but I like it even more...my husband took off his clothes and painted on me tonight."
"My husband, do you think it's okay to paint peach blossoms?"
"My husband loves peach blossoms the most. All the balms he buys are scented with peach blossoms..."
Zhou Yi thought at that time, it was not that he liked peach blossoms, but Lei Li's smile was clearly like the bright and beautiful peach blossoms in full bloom, a beautiful spring scene.
One year Zhou Yi planted a peach tree with his own hands. The next year, he used the newly grown peach branches of the tree to make a peach wood hairpin. Lei Li liked it very much and wore it in her hair for a long time.
One year...
It has been exactly twenty years now.
Lei Li thought that no matter how hard Zhou Yi racked his brains, he would have run out of ideas. Otherwise, what else could he give him? He already had everything he needed.
Is it possible to give him a third child?
Lei Li thought with a bit of malice, if there really is a third child, Zhou Yi will probably collapse, right?
Zhou Yi was already exhausted from taking care of Zhou Zhou and balancing Xiao Sheng Jiang, and now there’s another one. Zhou Yi feels like he has lost all hope in life, haha.
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