After spending the clean and comfortable first day of the new year, the villagers began to visit each other to pay New Year greetings, either bringing some peanuts and melon seeds, or some home-made smoked fish and bacon. When they met, they started to say a series of auspicious words, and they didn’t need money. Jumping out. The happiest thing at this time is the children of each family. None of them look like the demon kings of the past. They are all very well-behaved. They are just waiting for the adults to be happy and reward them with three or five copper coins. Then come back. Save it, and when a salesman passes by with a load in the village, you exchange it for candy bars.
When it's time for dinner, the host will serve good wine and food and greet you warmly. The two parties will have a lively chat over wine. In this way, if you visit all your relatives and friends, this year can be considered a lively one. .
When it comes to visiting relatives and friends, the wife’s natal family is naturally the first priority, and the Chu family is no exception. Early in the morning on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the young couple packed up and set off in the bullock cart. In addition to Chu Li, there were many other people accompanying them. The third uncle and daughter of Chu Chu are easily persuaded.
It was still early when the Chu family arrived at the Shen family. Aunt Shen and the Zhou and Zhao sisters, who were going back to their parents' home today, had not gone out yet. Perhaps they were waiting for Shen Luzhu, the only daughter of the Shen family. The children returned home, and after meeting each other, they went back to their parents' homes.
Shen Luzhu has always had a close relationship with his two sisters-in-law. However, due to the short distance between his cousin and sister-in-law, Mrs. Liu, the two did not spend much time together. However, this did not prevent the two sisters-in-law from gathering together and chatting affectionately.
Since Mrs. Liu was beaten up by Shen Zeqi and Second Aunt Shen last time, she feels very good now. At least she is friendly to everyone in the Shen family on the surface, and she has never mentioned that she is a boss or not. Rhetoric.
The brother, sister, and sister-in-law chatted for a while, and Shen Luzhu and Shen's mother urged them to go out quickly, so as not to miss the time, make their parents' families anxious, and look disrespectful to their juniors.
Mrs. Zhou and Ms. Zhao stood up first. After saying goodbye, they went back to their parents' home with their men and their children to reunite. Ms. Liu also got up, but hesitant in her steps. Seeing that everyone else had left the house, she turned around and came back. , said to Shen Luzhu: "Sister-in-law, don't take what happened last time to heart."
After saying that, without waiting for Shen Luzhu to give any reaction, he turned around and ran out of the door as if running away, leaving the young couple confused. After thinking about it for a long time, they remembered that it seemed that Mrs. Liu did come when they returned to Shen's house last time. I looked for them and said some incomprehensible words, but it took a long time. At that time, the young couple also confirmed that their cousin was not in any trouble, so they put the matter behind them. If Mrs. Liu hadn't mentioned it again today , I really forgot about this one.
After sending his brothers and sisters-in-law and Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen out, only Aunt Shen, Father Shen, Mother Shen, and the Chu family were left in the Shen family. Only then did Shen Luzhu go to Mother Shen and ask about the last incident between his cousins. thing.
"Mom, you still remember that last time I came back, my cousin and cousin-in-law seemed to have some trouble. What happened next? I think everything is fine now."
Shen's mother was startled, and then she remembered what happened that time. Although she didn't specifically ask Second Aunt Shen what the reason was, she could think of what her second daughter-in-law, Zhao, had learned from her before, and she felt in her heart It was somewhat speculative. If she, as an aunt, asked too much about these matters of the younger generation, it would be embarrassing and might even affect the relationship between her family members, so she did not inquire.
However, Second Aunt Shen later spoke to Shen's mother. Although she did not elaborate on the reason, she did talk about Shen Zeqi's divorce and her own attitude. She wanted to call her sister-in-law and cousin Shen's mother helped her make an idea.
"It's been fine for a long time. It's not like you don't know your second aunt's temperament. How can you ask a junior like Mrs. Liu to control it? Not only did she beat Mrs. Liu hard, but her natal family didn't suffer anything at all. Well, that time I went to the Wang family in the same village to attend a wedding banquet, but I was ridiculed by your second aunt. Since then, Ms. Liu and her natal family have become much more honest, and nothing has happened to them since."
Upon hearing this, Shen Luzhu couldn't help but become even more curious. She didn't know what was going on. Shen Er Aunt even complained to the Liu family: "Then what's going on? My cousin-in-law also told me something." Yes, why do you want your cousin to go to my shop or something like that?"
Shen's mother didn't want to talk to her daughter about the twists and turns and Liu's little thoughts that couldn't be put on the table.
Then he expressed his opinion on the matter: "It's just a trivial mess. It's not a big deal if the doll is around the stove all day long! It's not a short time since Mrs. Liu married into our family. , but if compared with the time she spent at her parents' home, it wasn't that long. The temperament she has developed over the past ten years can change at any time. It's not that she can't understand when she gets into trouble and thinks wrong. , I just hope she can learn a lesson this time and live happily with Zeqi in the future, otherwise the family may not be able to tolerate her continuing like this."
The young couple stayed in Hexi Village until dinner, then drove the ox cart back to the Chu family's old house. The next day, they took Chu Li and Zheng Zheng to Grandma Cui's house. However, this time Uncle Chu didn't say anything. He refused to follow him any longer, and took Chu Xiuxiu to the next door yard to chat and have tea with his uncle and grandpa.
In this way, the young couple did not completely relax until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. They stayed at home and never went out. The west wing of the Chu family's old house once again became a place for Chu Ping and Zhao Cheng to hang out when they had nothing to do. On the days when work started, I stayed at Chu's house all day. The group of people either played cards or chatted, and the life was quite pleasant.
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the child Zhengzheng celebrated his second birthday. He was still young and could not understand the meaning of birthday. He only knew that there were many uncles, aunts and uncles in the house that day, and everyone treated him affectionately. They were kissing and hugging each other, and novel gadgets were constantly being handed to them. My mother-in-law even made a lot of delicious food for herself, which made her very happy.
The Chu family's old house was bustling, and there were knocks on the door. Chu Yi heard the sound and went to the yard and opened the door. He saw the man outside the door saying: "Boss Chu, have a happy new year! I haven't seen you for a long time, but you're welcome." Do you recognize the younger one?"
Chu Yi smiled and cupped his hands at the other party and said, "Brother Lin, happy new year! Come here today, but Boss Lin has something to explain, so let's go into the house and talk about it."
Seeing that the other party still remembered him, Brother Lin's smile grew wider. He followed the open door and saw the lively scene in the courtyard. He smiled and waved his hands and said, "No, no, I'm just here to bring a message to my boss and Boss Chu." By the way, if you have other matters at home, I won’t go in and disturb you.”
Chu Yi was not too polite and asked Brother Lin to speak frankly.
Brother Lin put his hands together and bowed and said: "My boss wants to invite you, Boss Chu, to come to the town for a get-together. I wonder if, Boss Chu, you will be free on the 14th? I was originally afraid that Boss Chu and your family have already returned to the county. If that's the case, Normally I would go to Changqing Street in the county town again in the afternoon, but now it seems that God has favored me and saved me from having to make another trip."
Chu Yi smiled and said: "In the first month of the year, paper money trading is very cold, so I'm not in a hurry to go back. I have nothing to do on the 14th, but I don't know where to find Boss Lin then?"
"My boss has already reserved a private room at the Immortal Drunken Restaurant in the town and prepared fine wine and food. We are looking forward to seeing Boss Chu at that time."
"I don't dare, please help Brother Lin tell Boss Lin for me. I will definitely go there on time that day."
Brother Lin nodded and said, "This is natural, then I won't disturb Boss Chu."
After seeing off all the relatives and friends in the evening, Chu Yi told his wife, who was leaning in his arms, about the matter: "Boss Lin from Lin Ji sent someone over today and said that he booked a restaurant in the town on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month. I wanted to get together with us, and I thought there was nothing else to do that day, so I agreed.”
Shen Luzhu remembered that someone did indeed talk to Chu Yi outside the courtyard gate during the day, so he nodded: "Maybe he still wants to talk to us about business matters. Boss Lin wanted to invest in his family's workshop, right? We rejected him, but now the business of our shop is better than before. I guess he wanted to keep in touch with us more, which is why today's matter happened."
"A-Zhu is right. I think so too. On the 14th, do you want to go to the town together? Maybe we haven't been to the town for a long time. The market in the town will already have stalls by then." It’s coming, and it’s approaching the Lantern Festival, so it will definitely be very lively.”
Shen Luzhu shook his head: "No, the Lantern Festival is coming soon, and the family needs to be prepared. It's hard to leave Zhengzheng and Ah Li at home. Besides, it's not convenient for the whole family to go with them. Boss Lin said Maybe I have something serious to talk to you about, so I’ll take my son and wait for you at home with peace of mind.”
Chu Yi was thinking about something thoughtfully,
He didn't say yes or no, he just said: "Let's talk about this tomorrow. Anyway, it's still a few days away. It's getting late. Let's go to bed quickly to avoid waking up early tomorrow." Come on, I’ll make you unable to sleep well.”
When Shen Luzhu thought of how he had been woken up by his fat son's "Taishan Crush" every day recently, he stopped talking, found a comfortable position, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning, the Chu family gathered in the west wing to play cards and chat to relieve their boredom as usual. They heard a knock on the courtyard door. Needless to say, it must be from the courtyard next door. Chu Yi got up and went out to open the door. After a while, Yuan Shuang and Qian were hugging each other. Two fat dolls carved in pink and jade walked in.
Shen Luzhu hurriedly greeted the two of them to get on the kang. Looking at the door that had been closed because there was no one behind him, he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled and asked, "Why haven't you seen A Ping?"
Qian put the child on the warm Kang, and while guiding Zhengzheng to play with the two little guys, she replied: "When I first entered the yard, I was stopped by Ayi. The two brothers were talking in the yard. Xu It’s time to come in soon.”
Although Shen Luzhu felt a little strange, he didn't ask any more questions. As expected, the door was pushed open again after a while, but only Chu Yi came in.
"Where's A Ping? Didn't I say that I was stopped by you just now to talk? Why did you, my husband, just come in on your own?"
Chu Yi explained with a smile: "I was just discussing with A Ping that this year's Lantern Festival we should go to the town together. He said that he would go back next door and ask Grandpa Tang and Grandma Tang what they think. We will go there on the 14th. In the past, I stayed for two nights to celebrate the Lantern Festival and then returned home on the 16th. What do you think of this proposal?"
Shen Luzhu smiled clearly. No wonder Chu Yi said last night that he would talk about this matter today. He had thought of this way.
Yuan Shuang is a lively person, and she has been holding back her pregnancy for nearly two years. When she heard the proposal, she immediately became interested. She shook Qian's sleeves and discussed in a low voice: "Auntie... …”
Qian knew her daughter-in-law's temperament, and she also knew that she had been depressed recently. She was also somewhat interested in going to the town to celebrate the Lantern Festival, but when she thought about the family, old and young, she still hesitated: "You My grandpa and grandma are getting old, and they are particularly inactive in this winter. Huanhuanxixi is still young and needs someone to take care of him. Isn’t it too much trouble for everyone to go to town this time? Otherwise, you and Chu Ping will go and play with you. That’s it, the two little ones can now eat some other things, I’ll bring them to you at home, there won’t be any problems.”
