Chapter 414 - 348: Wang Meilan Explodes
For the first few years, Lin Xiangshun had lived at Zhao Jun's family home. The two of them slept on the same kang bed, and he treated Zhao Jun like his own flesh and blood.
The Zhao Family didn't treat him like a stranger, either. Just then, the matchmaker arrived. As the elders of the family, Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei were both inside, but with a large brown bear and a large black bear laid out before them, it was inconvenient to come out and greet their guest.
Since Lin Xiangshun was right there, Wang Meilan called out for him to help entertain Liu Tiezui.
Upon hearing her, Lin Xiangshun quickly set the skinning knife in his hand on top of a nearby wall. He hastily wiped his hands a couple of times on his work clothes and strode toward the courtyard gate, calling out, "Aunt Liu, you're here! Come on in!"
Normally, custom dictated that Lin Xiangshun should call Liu Tiezui "Auntie," preceded by her husband's surname.
But Liu Tiezui had fallen ill as a child and never married, so Lin Xiangshun just called her Aunt Liu.
Liu Tiezui was under five feet tall, with a hunched back and a bad leg. She wobbled her way inside.
But her voice was anything but small. The moment she entered the courtyard, she yelled, "Well, look at you, Shunzi! You're here!"
"Yes, Aunt Liu." Lin Xiangshun stepped forward, gently supporting Liu Tiezui's arm with his right hand while gesturing inside with his left. "My Second Aunt is in the yard."
Liu Tiezui took a few steps farther in, just as Wang Meilan was coming out from behind one of the bears.
While still a ways off, Wang Meilan reached a hand out to Liu Tiezui. "Sister, come on over!"
Liu Tiezui took two more steps forward and saw the three bears—large and small—in the courtyard. She jumped. "Good heavens! How many bears did you get?"
"Three of them!" Lin Xiangshun chimed in with a grin. He knew Liu Tiezui was here today about Zhao Jun's marriage prospects, so he made sure to praise the young man. "Xiaojun went up the mountain yesterday and got three bears all at once! Tell me, how impressive is that?"
"Tsk!" Liu Tiezui clicked her tongue in amazement. She raised a hand and pointed at Zhao Jun twice. "This boy is really something else. I was just telling the Ma Family today, whichever family gets him as a son-in-law will have truly hit the jackpot!"
"That's for sure!" Before Wang Meilan could even open her mouth, Jin Xiaomei chimed in from the side, "And our Xiaojun has a good job, too."
"Isn't that the truth," Liu Tiezui agreed, her eyes darting between the brown bear and the black one.
"Son!" Wang Meilan clapped Zhao Jun on the arm. "Go cut a Bear's Paw off for your Aunt Liu. We'll have it sent to her house later."
"You got it," Zhao Jun replied. But before he could make a move, Li Baoyu had already grabbed a knife and started cutting a paw from Da Hei, the big black bear.
"Oh, no, you don't have to." Liu Tiezui repeated her refusal, but seeing that Li Baoyu wasn't stopping, she turned to Wang Meilan. "Really, Sister, why are you being so formal?"
Wang Meilan just smiled and took Liu Tiezui by the arm. "Come on inside, Sister. Whatever you have to say, we can talk in the house."
"I won't go in!" Liu Tiezui glanced at the bears filling the yard. 'To get inside, I'd have to walk around them and step over them.' With her bad leg, she didn't feel like making the trip.
So Liu Tiezui got straight to the point with Wang Meilan. "Sister, I just got word back from the Ma Family. Their daughter is of age now, too. You should see when your husband has a day off work. You can bring the boy over so the two families can meet and talk things over."
"Wonderful!" Wang Meilan was overjoyed and beamed. "I'll ask Youcai when he gets home from work today. Once we settle on a day, I'll let you know ahead of time."
Even though they all lived in the same village, customs had to be followed. When the day came for the two families to meet, the matchmaker had to be the one to lead the Zhao Family to the Ma Family's home.
Furthermore, the date couldn't be set by the Zhao Family alone; they had to consult the Ma Family, which meant Liu Tiezui would have to act as the go-between.
That's why Wang Meilan said she would let Liu Tiezui know in advance once her family had a potential date in mind.
"Alright, alright." Liu Tiezui looked around and saw that Li Baoyu had already removed the Bear's Paw. "Well, Sister, I'll let you get back to it. You have so much work to do. I'll be heading home now."
"Leaving so soon!" Wang Meilan said quickly. "You're not coming in to sit for a while?"
"I can't," Liu Tiezui said with a smile. "Once we get this settled for our boy, then I can relax."
You had to admit, the woman really knew what to say.
Wang Meilan laughed at that. She pointed at Zhao Jun and said, "Son, hurry up and take that Bear's Paw over to your Aunt Liu's."
A Black Bear's paw weighed over ten pounds once removed. A woman of Liu Tiezui's build couldn't possibly carry it herself.
The words were barely out of Wang Meilan's mouth when, before Zhao Jun could even reply, Lin Xiangshun offered, "Second Aunt, I'll go! I'll drive Aunt Liu home!"
On any other day, if Lin Xiangshun ran into Liu Tiezui on the road, a simple hello would have been the extent of their interaction.
But today, for the sake of Zhao Jun's marriage, Lin Xiangshun was pulling out all the stops.
And so, the group saw Liu Tiezui to the door. Zhao Jun personally helped her into the passenger seat, Li Baoyu placed the Black Bear's paw in the back of the vehicle, and Lin Xiangshun drove her home.
Watching the vehicle disappear around the bend, Wang Meilan happily patted Jin Xiaomei's arm. "Oh, Sister-in-law," she laughed, "I'm just so thrilled."
Jin Xiaomei smiled at Zhao Jun. "Look at you, Xiaojun, see how happy you've made your mother."
Wang Meilan was indeed happy, and she was full of energy for the rest of the afternoon's work. By the time they finished skinning the three bears, it was already two-thirty.
But Wang Meilan seemed tireless, insisting on preparing a big meal and inviting the Li Family and the Lin Family over for dinner that night.
She might not have been tired, but Lin Xiangshun and Jin Xiaomei certainly were.
Lin Xiangshun said, "Second Aunt, let's skip it for tonight. Wait for Second Uncle to get back so you two can discuss when to go to the Ma Family and settle things for my brother. Once it's all decided, then we can celebrate with a meal."
"That's right," Jin Xiaomei quickly chimed in. "It's not like we're strangers. We can eat together any time."
Wang Meilan thought about it and agreed they were right, so she didn't insist. Instead, she divided all the meat into three equal shares, one for each family.
Even then, it was more than any one family could possibly eat. They would probably end up giving a lot of it away.
After Lin Xiangshun and his mother, Jin Xiaomei, went home, Wang Meilan told Zhao Jun to clean up the yard while she went inside to render bear fat.
Tonight, Zhao Jun's family was having red-braised bear meat for dinner.
They used leg meat from the brown bear, cut it into large chunks, and stewed it until tender enough to be pierced by a chopstick. Then they took it out, sliced it thinly, and red-braised it in soy sauce.
The bear meat braised this way was rich but not greasy, and so tender it melted in your mouth, having absorbed all the flavor of the sauce.
Zhao Jun picked up a large slice of bear meat and placed it on his bowl of rice. The sauce from the meat instantly soaked through the grains. He shoveled a mouthful of meat and rice together, and a feeling of pure satisfaction washed over him as the aromas of meat and rice mingled on his tongue.
As the mother and her three children were eating, the front door opened and Zhao Youcai walked in, empty-handed.
Seeing Zhao Youcai, both Wang Meilan and Zhao Jun froze for a moment. But then he spoke: "How come you started eating without me?"
"Who knew if you were even coming home? Did you think we could afford to wait?" Wang Meilan retorted. Still, she got up to fetch a bowl and chopsticks for him, while Zhao Jun hopped off the kang bed to get the wine jug and a cup.
Zhao Youcai sat down on the kang, took the bowl and chopsticks from Wang Meilan, and then waited for Zhao Jun to pour his wine.
Zhao Jun had just unscrewed the cap on the wine jug when he heard Wang Meilan say to Zhao Youcai, "Liu Tiezui came by today. She wants to know when you can get a day off from work so we can pay a visit to the Ma Family."
"Oh. Alright." Zhao Youcai tapped his chopsticks on the table, then turned to pick up a piece of bear meat. "We'll go whenever I have time."
"What?" Hearing that, the color drained from Wang Meilan's face. She pointed a finger at Zhao Youcai and yelled, "You have all the time in the world to go screw around and hunt, but no time to take care of important business?"