Chapter 112 [VIP]
It took several people a while to stop crying.
Li and Fang Ling came out in such a hurry that they weren't wearing any thick clothes.
Wang Ying said, "Let's go inside first, it's cold outside, don't catch a cold."
Li wiped away her tears and said, "Yes, yes, let's go inside first."
A heater was lit inside the house, and the whole family sat around it chatting and drinking tea.
Old Liang and Fang Ling were old acquaintances. Seeing her come to Jizhou, he couldn't help but say, "Chen Jing really trusted you to come all this way alone."
“I was worried too, but I was even more worried about Huai’er if he didn’t come.” Fang Ling turned around and patted her son’s head. “We came with a caravan, and when we got to Jizhou, we took the official roads, so it was safe.”
Fang Ling said, "But you guys, didn't you say in the letter that you were heading back in November? Why did it take you so long to arrive?"
Chen Qingyan explained, "Not long after leaving Yangzhou, our group caught colds one after another. When we reached Xuzhou, we couldn't hold on any longer and stopped to rest for a few days before continuing our journey. After passing Xuzhou, we happened to meet an army that was also heading north. The general leading the army was an old acquaintance of my teacher, so we came back with them."
Chen Qinghuai continued, "We encountered a blizzard on the way, so we had to change our route and stay in nearby Sishui County for seven days before continuing our journey. The roads were covered with thick snow, making it difficult for vehicles to travel, but we still managed to return before the New Year."
These few words brought tears to Li's eyes again. She could only imagine the hardships they had endured on their journey. She held her two sons' hands and looked at them over and over. "You've lost so much weight. You need to take good care of yourselves now that you're back."
Chen Qingsong nestled beside his mother, regaining some of his childlike innocence.
The family members had so much to talk about when they got together, but their bodies couldn't take it anymore. Old Liang was yawning constantly, and Qingyan and the other two had dark circles under their eyes. They hadn't had a full night's sleep on the way back, and their bodies were already at their limit.
Wang Ying quickly got up and said, "Go take a bath and rest first. We can talk after you've rested."
"Yes, go and rest."
The servants had already prepared the bathwater, and after taking turns bathing, the group returned to their rooms to rest.
Because the courtyard was small, everyone lived together in cramped conditions. Li slept in the east room with Qingyun, while Wang Ying and Chen Qingyan slept in the west room with Yuanbao.
Fang Ling and Chen Qinghuai lived in three rooms in the west wing, while Liang Boqing and Qingsong lived in three rooms in the east wing.
The servants stayed in the front row of rooms, while the martial arts masters who accompanied us were arranged to rest at an inn. After such a long journey, they deserved a good rest.
After taking a shower, Chen Qingyan fell asleep immediately. Yuanbao circled around him, wanting his father to hug him, but Wang Ying pulled him aside, saying, "Shh, don't bother your father. He's exhausted from the journey, let him get some sleep."
Yuanbao pouted, looking aggrieved. "Didn't Father say that when Father came back he could play with me?"
I'll play with you tomorrow.
"Alright then, I'll go find my aunt to play." The little guy was quite obedient, and happily ran to the east room to find his grandma and aunt.
Wang Ying sat on the edge of the bed and dried his half-wet hair. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. With her lover by her side, she felt at ease.
In the east room, Li Shi and Fang Ling were altering clothes. Qing Song and Qing Huai had both grown taller this year, and the new clothes they had made were not quite right in their size. They were taking advantage of the free time to quickly alter the clothes so that they could wear them for the New Year.
Both of them seemed completely content with having their child by their side, and their tone of voice became much lighter.
"Huai is eighteen now, past his prime. Has his marriage been settled yet?"
Fang Ling nodded, "We've already decided on a candidate. It's Bai Yuqiu, the daughter of the Bai family in Laizhou, who is the same age as Qingyun. Her father, Bai An, and my husband were classmates, and they arranged their children's marriage many years ago. They've been exchanging letters for the past few years. We plan to finalize the engagement after Qinghuai finishes his imperial examinations."
The Bai family was also a scholarly family, and Bai An was the top-ranked candidate in the second class of the imperial examination that year.
However, due to his taciturn personality and dislike of pursuing an official career, he returned to his hometown of Laizhou and opened an academy. In earlier years, Chen Jing had also planned to send his son to study there.
However, he later met Liang Boqing, who was more compatible with his temperament. Coincidentally, his son also got along well with him, so he directly asked his son to become Liang Boqing's apprentice.
After discussing Qinghuai's marriage, the topic inevitably turned to Qingyun. Boys are fine no matter what; once married, they can stay close to their parents. But it's different for girls and boys. If they marry someone nearby, that's fine, but if they live far away, they might not be able to return to their parents' home even once in many years. Just thinking about it made Li Shi's heart ache.
"Qingyun's marriage is still unsettled. We had planned to find her a good family in town, but then there was a flood, and almost everyone in town died. Now that we're in the prefectural city, we don't know anyone here, so it's even harder to find her a suitable match."
Fang Ling patted her reassuringly, "Don't worry, now that Qingyan and Qingsong are back, once they pass the county exam next year and have earned their official titles, matchmakers will definitely come knocking on our door."
"I hope so... I don't dare to think too much about anything else. I just hope she doesn't marry too far away, so we can see each other often."
Chen Qingyun was playing with Yuanbao when she heard these words and felt extremely sad. She threw herself into Li's arms and said, "Mother, I don't want to get married."
"Silly girl, what girl doesn't get married?"
"I won't get married. I'll stay by your side for the rest of my life."
Yuanbao also joined in the fun, tugging at Li's clothes and saying, "I don't want Auntie to get married, I want her to stay at home and play with me."
Fang Ling burst into laughter at Yuanbao's antics, tapping his little nose and asking, "Do you know what marriage is?"
"I know, getting married means living in someone else's home."
These words touched both Li Shi and Fang Ling deeply. Indeed, once married, one lives in another's home, and when one returns to one's parents' home, one becomes a guest.
"Let's not talk about that anymore. They'll definitely need to eat something when they wake up. Qingyun, go ask your sister-in-law whether they want to eat at home or out tonight."
"Sigh." Chen Qingyan picked up Yuanbao and went to find Wang Ying.
Wang Ying was instructing the servants to put things away. The things that Old Master Liang brought from Yangzhou were too valuable. There were eight bolts of brocade alone. This kind of fabric was not only expensive, but ordinary people couldn't even buy it.
This is probably the earliest luxury item. I heard that a weaver can only weave one piece of brocade in a year, and she can't make a single mistake in the pattern, otherwise the whole piece of brocade will be ruined.
The patterns on the brocade were so exquisite that they were beyond words. They would reflect different colors of patterns depending on the light at different times of day. The owner of the Yang family business had such a garment. Although he wore it often, it was extremely precious. Every time he wore it, his servants would carefully clean and iron it before he could wear it again.
I don't know what the old man is going to do with so much brocade. If I leave it in the storeroom, it might get damaged by rats, so I have to wrap it up and hang it on the beam.
Besides the fabric, he also took a lot of high-quality Chinese medicine. The storage of these medicines is also a problem. He can put them directly into the experimental field, but he is afraid that it will be inconvenient for Elder Liang to use them temporarily.
"Never mind, let's put this box of things in the storeroom for now, and I'll ask Old Liang about it when he wakes up."
After locking the warehouse door, Wang Ying returned to the main room and saw Qingyun leading Yuanbao, who was waiting for him.
"Sister-in-law, Mom asked me to ask you whether we should go out for dinner tonight or stay home for dinner."
"Let them eat at home. They must be exhausted from their journey. They can eat at home and then rest in the evening."
"Okay, I'll go to the kitchen and ask Aunt Chen to prepare some food."
Wang Ying said, "I'll go, and I'll buy something else while I'm at it."
“Father, I want to go too.”
"No, it's too cold outside. You stay and play with your aunt and brothers, and help your father take care of him. Otherwise, he'll be so sad if he wakes up and can't find us."
Upon hearing this, Yuanbao immediately straightened his little face and nodded solemnly, "Yes, yes, Yuanbao will definitely take good care of Daddy!"
Wang Ying was amused by his serious little face, patted his head, put on her cloak, and took Uncle Chen out to buy things.
Liang Lao and Qingyan love hot pot, while Qingsong and Qinghuai prefer barbecue. Wang Ying plans to buy a freshly slaughtered live sheep, and they'll have half of it hot pot and half barbecue that evening.
Arriving at the butcher shop, I discussed it with the owner and bought a large, fat sheep weighing over 60 jin (approximately 30 kg), waiting for him to slaughter it on the spot.
The owner and his son slaughtered the sheep in less than half an hour, and even separated the lamb legs, lamb chops, internal organs, and sheepskin.
The sheepskin was useless to Wang Ying, so he gave it to the shopkeeper for eighty coins. The rest cost him a total of two strings of cash and four hundred coins, which he then loaded onto a cart and took back.
Living in the city is so convenient; you can buy whatever you want anytime. Wang Ying then asked Uncle Chen to drive the cart to the spice shop and buy some pepper and fennel seeds for the barbecue that evening.
Back home, while the meat was still slightly frozen, I had Aunt Chen slice it into thin slices. The hindquarters of the ten-pound sheep were sliced into five large plates of meat slices.
Wang Ying took out a lot of vegetables from the experimental field, including only the core of the bok choy, long strips of radish, and fresh spinach and coriander.
The meat is marinated in advance. The lamb leg is scored, coated with a pre-made sauce, wrapped in parchment paper, and placed in a bowl to marinate for several hours to allow the flavors to penetrate.
For the main course, soup noodles are prepared. There's a saying in Wang Ying's hometown: "Dumplings before departure, noodles upon arrival." This means preparing dumplings when leaving home and noodles when returning, both for good luck.
In the past, when he came back from school, his grandparents would prepare a big bowl of noodles for him. After eating the hot noodles, all his fatigue would disappear.
After preparing the meal, they waited until dark before gradually waking up.
Chen Qingyan sat on the bed, looking at the unfamiliar room and not knowing what year it was. It wasn't until she heard her son's voice outside the door that she came to her senses and quickly got up to open the door.
"Father!"
"Yuanbao~" Chen Qingyan lifted his son onto his shoulders, and the father and son beamed with joy.
Where is your father?
"Father is lighting charcoal outside, saying we'll have roasted meat later!" Yuanbao was already craving it, but it was too cold outside and Mu Tou and Chun Sheng were holding him back from going out.
Chen Qingyan had known about these two kids for a while, but this was the first time they had met. "Which of you is Chunsheng, and which one is Mu Tou?"
“Replying to your question, sir, I am Chunsheng, and he is Mutou.”
Chen Qingyan nodded. "Keep a close eye on Yuanbao. I'm going out to check on him."
"yes."
Chen Qingyan put his son down and gently pinched his little nose. "Daddy will be back in a little while."
"Um."
Outside, Wang Ying and Uncle Chen were making charcoal. They had forgotten to buy charcoal in their haste to go out, so they asked Chen Fang to go out for a walk. It was too late and the charcoal vendors had already closed, so they had to make their own charcoal.
However, we don't need much for our own use, so we only need a small basketful in a short time.
When Wang Ying saw Chen Qingyan come out, she asked, "Are you awake?"
"Hmm, this sleep felt like I was still in a carriage, constantly swaying."
Wang Ying laughed and said, "It will take a few days to adjust. Are you hungry? Let's eat right away."
Before long, the lights in the east and west wing rooms also came on, and the others gradually woke up.
Wang Ying instructed her servants to set up a large round table and invited Old Liang to sit at the head of the table.
Liang Boqing didn't refuse, and looked at the table full of hot pot ingredients with a wide smile.
The old man had no other hobbies, but he was quite picky about food. He had been craving this for a long time. Although Yangzhou also had hot pot, the way it was made and the taste were different from Wang Ying's. Now he could finally eat authentic hot pot.
Fresh slices of meat are put into the pot and simmer for a few moments until they turn white. Dipped in the pre-made sesame sauce, one bite is incredibly delicious.
"How can Wang Ying eat so much?" Liang Boqing praised her while immediately starting to cook the second piece of meat in the hot pot.
Outside, Uncle Chen and Chen Fang were roasting lamb chops and lamb legs. The lamb, which had been marinated all afternoon, was fully infused with flavor. When roasted over charcoal, it sizzled and dripped oil, and the aroma filled the air.
The kids love barbecue; they'll stand at the door, unable to move, just because they smell it.
Before long, the mutton was roasted, and Uncle Chen brought in a large plate of roasted meat, cut it into small pieces with a knife, and everyone picked it up and started eating.
The roasted lamb was even more flavorful, and Wang Ying also picked a lot of scallions and garlic to cut through the grease. Everyone ate until their mouths were greasy, and the joy of this moment was priceless.
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