Chapter 1389: Preparations
"Second brother, aren’t you going back home?" Cheng Lin teased Chaoyang with a smile.
Hongling immediately chimed in, "Of course, Brother Chaoyang can’t bear to be away from home, especially from Sister Jing Chu."
"You should call her sister-in-law."
Jing Chu’s face turned red at that, but she didn’t retort, which made Chaoyang even happier.
Li Yungui contributed with two sets of quilts, and Li Yunqiao provided four sets, totaling six sets of quilts, which is already quite a lot for this era.
Not to mention bicycles and sewing machines that were transported from the city even before they returned.
Lv Beiguang didn’t prepare much either, mainly because Li Xue didn’t want anything. She knew her father-in-law had gone into debt to buy them a house in the Capital. Besides, they really didn’t lack anything.
To avoid any misunderstandings from her family, she showed them the paperwork for the house purchase in the Capital.
But in reality, even without showing them, the Li Family wouldn’t have minded.
Guodong had over a thousand yuan ready for Lv Beiguang, but he was refused. He was told to keep it for himself. The young couple will need money for living expenses, especially since they will soon have a child. There’ll be more expenses.
Meanwhile, Red Army also brought firecrackers. They’re hosting an event together at the Li Family Village, so there’s no division, and Lv Beiguang had already given Li Yungui two hundred yuan, with all the collected money going to the young couple.
The Li Family were also busy putting up celebratory banners and tidying everything up. Qu Xiaoli wasn’t home; instead, she was at the brigade headquarters marinating meat and chicken. The fish could be dealt with the next day.
"Xiao Li, you’re making it look like marrying off a daughter." Da Guo’s wife joked with her friend.
"That’s exactly it, a daughter. I truly long for daughters, but I don’t have any, so I treat Xue as my daughter."
"That’s because you’re a kind-hearted aunt."
Qu Xiaoli just smiled. She genuinely adored her nieces and nephews, including her uncle’s kids, but when she was younger, Liu Cuilan wouldn’t let them get close.
"Yunqiao’s family sure has the means to throw a grand celebration."
Qu Xiaoli’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly answered with a smile, "My eldest brother-in-law doesn’t have much money. This is Mr. Lv putting out the money. After all, he’s marrying off his daughter-in-law. Naturally, he wants to go all out."
"It’s not Yunqiao’s family paying?"
"Cough, don’t say that. I’m only saying this because we’re close. My former sister-in-law used to give all her wages and coupons to her family from the time she married until their divorce. My eldest brother-in-law earned a good salary, but it wasn’t enough to support four kids, as you all saw. Whenever we visited, it was difficult to send them food. Their lives were really hard, despite appearances."
"I see. And Yunqiao never helped all these years?"
"You don’t know my eldest brother-in-law? He’s a shy person, so don’t bring up these bothersome matters. I don’t want to talk about it, especially not on my niece’s big day."
"Haha, we thought you were handling Yunqiao’s family arrangement."
"Mr. Lv has been busy with the winery since arriving here; where’s the time? I’m just a free person and a parent-in-law. Handling this is perfectly normal, isn’t it?"
"Of course, your second daughter-in-law also belongs to the Lv Family."
Everyone laughed heartily after they finished talking.
Over here, Li Yungui was busy with Hong Lin, Red Army, and Changhe, the four of them heading out to cast the nets. So that in the evening, they could have fish.
"Second uncle, this little boat is too shabby."
"Indeed, we’ll have it re-built this winter."
Anyway, neither family was idling.
Yang Run Tai observed Feifei running around, handling tasks, which was quite amusing. Her little face was flushed, making you want to pinch it.
"Feifei, we don’t need to stress ourselves anymore, let’s go play chess. There are so many people here, and you’re probably tired. I’ve already prepared the tea."
"Alright, I’ll let my mom know so she won’t worry."
The two went to the study. Yang Run Tai sat there, feeling like he was in his study in the Capital; the setup was really to his liking.
"Should we play chess or Go? Or maybe something simpler?" Yang Run Tai asked with a smile.
"Sure, what do you want to play?"
"How about Gomoku?" He had seen people play this in his previous life but had never played it himself.
"You know how to play Gomoku?"
Yang Run Tai nodded with a smile, "I’m not very good. I’ve just seen others play, but let’s give it a try?"
"Alright."
Feifei explained the rules of Gomoku to him. Both of them played swiftly.
Feifei won within moments.
"That was quick, come on, let’s play again."
They stayed busy until evening. After several people checked everything to ensure nothing was missing, they finally went back to eat.
Li Yungui laughed heartily while pulling up the nets, "Our Xue’er is truly blessed, the fish we’re catching are definitely enough."
Indeed, they were more than enough. Among the fish, there were over twenty weighing more than a pound each, and several weighing three to four pounds. The banquet the day after tomorrow would surely be grand.
"Second uncle, shall we cast more?"
"Yes, keep casting. No harm in abundance. It’d be great if each table had a big carp."
The group went again late at night, and though there weren’t as many, they still got ten or more fish.
"Alright, that’s it, we won’t cast the nets anymore."
Today was indeed a busy day. The meat from yesterday was being cut and sliced, mixed with sauce, and arranged with bean slices. When served tomorrow, the pork skin would be on top, with the bean slices below.
Thirty bowls of small meat pieces were prepared, and the chicken was also placed in bowls.
The helpers for lunch were eating the leftover odds and ends.
Yang Xiuqin’s announcement caused quite a stir at the educated youth point.
"Yang, this is wonderful, you won’t need to work the fields anymore." All the educated youths envied her.
"I happen to have an ancestral wine recipe. I figured it wasn’t much use in my hands anymore, so I gave it to Village Chief Li."
Everyone knew Village Chief Li was an upright person. He inspected my recipe and felt it was practical, so he gave me this opportunity.
Once it was explained, even those who were envious couldn’t harbor jealousy anymore. As long as they didn’t have an ancestral recipe, there was nothing they could do.
All the educated youths helped move her belongings. Shen Youjun even separated Yang Xiuqin’s food ration.
"Thank you all." Yang Xiuqin felt the educated youth at Li Family Village were alright. Although everyone had their thoughts, she hadn’t encountered any truly bad people.
Despite feeling uncomfortable inside, people kept it civil.
So they all congratulated Yang Xiuqin with smiles and then left.
Hou Wenhui stayed at the end, wanting to wait for Shen Youjun to come over. This matter really couldn’t be delayed anymore. If they confirmed their relationship, they could build a house in the village. It wouldn’t need to be of brick; even a clay hut would suffice as long as it was their own home.