122 – Lei Xiangzhi’s Opinion about Family Separation
“Certainly willing.” Lei Tie nodded and looked at the brown bear while thinking: even if it doesn’t want to, make it willing.
The brown bear’s back felt chill.
White Spot nodded its head approvingly.
Lei Tie watched Qin Mian play with it for a while and thought that it would be better if his wife’s hands were touching him.
“Wife, I’m hungry.”
Qin Mian stood up and gave Lei Tie a hard kiss on his lips. Then, he looked at Lei Tie with a profound meaning, “How about that?”
Lei Tie was puzzled.
“As the saying goes, ‘when you’re in love, drinking water can make you full’. Are you full?” Qin Mian embraced the man’s shoulders and looked at him with a grin.
Lei Tie nodded and kissed him back. This time, the kiss was a little longer.
Qin Mian felt pleasingly sweet in his heart. He hugged the man’s waist.
Although Lei Tie used the spiritual spring water and his vital spirit to help the brown bear deal with the wound, because the brown bear was severely injured and lost too much blood, it would take a few days to recover.
Qin Mian grabbed a few chickens in the space to make rations for the brown bear and temporarily left it in the space with White Spot.
Out of the space, Lei Tie asked Qin Mian, “Wife, what to cook tonight?”
“Want to eat spicy diced chicken.” Qin Mian turned over the things in the basket, “You first clean up the pheasant, scrape the meat off the bone, and dice the meat. Then, trim the groundweed cleanly to eat with dumplings tomorrow.”
“Alright.” Lei Tie brought a small bench to kill the pheasant by the well.
Qin Mian went to the kitchen to soak the peanuts first.
……
Two days later, the old house hosted a banquet.
The old house was built with several rooms in the courtyard. The central room and patio could not accommodate a large number of people. Due to a large number of guests, more than one chef was hired, and one stove in the old house was not enough, so they had to build another stove. The grain-sunning ground was spacious enough that Lei Daqiang arranged the place for the banquet there.
The sun didn’t show up, and the sky was overcast. Fortunately, there was no sign of rain.
After breakfast, the villagers – who agreed to come and help – moved firewood, bricks, food ingredients, tables, chairs, benches, pots, and woks to the grain-sunning ground. One trip after another, the grain-sunning ground soon became lively. Lei Xiangren, Lei Xiangyi, and Lei Xiangli built a simple kitchen stove with logs and bricks.
At dragon hour (07:00), the chefs, who were specially hired from the neighboring village to cook for the banquet, arrived with helpers to deal with the ingredients. After a while, the smell of stewed bones, fried dumplings, roasted meat, and other ingredients wafted from the grain-sunning ground, which made the children whirled around outside the kitchen and didn’t want to leave. A few daring ones rushed in to steal a few dumpling balls but were caught by Zhao Shi, who then cursed and drove them away. As soon as she turned around, she reached out to steal the fried dumpling ball from the bucket.
Several chefs: Shameless.
Qin Mian sent Aunt Fu and Aunt Quan to help and hinted that they could find an excuse to leave if any of the people in the old house showed any excessive behavior.
At this time, three carriages came from outside the village and stopped at the gate of the old house. Lei Xiangzhi got off the carriage with Dean Huo, Teacher Gong, and Teacher Liu, as well as several schoolmates who had a good relationship with him. Lei Daqiang, Du Shi, and Wei Shi welcomed the guests into the house politely and warmly. After a while, Lei Xiangli appeared with Li Zheng and also entered the house. With such a few respected figures inside, Lei Daqiang and Du Shi did not make any disgraceful acts at all.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie were still at home.
Qin Mian was busy cultivating feelings with the brown bear. He carried water and fed it, working hard to keep it, while Lei Tie watched his wife and the brown bear cultivate feelings.
Near noon, when the banquet was about to begin, the two men went to the grain-sunning ground together.
There were more than ten tables on the grain-sunning ground; it looked quite spectacular. All the relatives came, from the oldest to the youngest, and none of them was absent. On one hand, they came to eat at the banquet. On the other hand, they took the opportunity to worm their ways into being friends with the Xiucais and teachers. The villagers came a little late. None of them was empty-handed. Some were carrying a handful of vegetables, while others were carrying a few eggs… Everyone dug the ground for food1, not some rich people. This was how they pooled resources together to return the treatment.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie hadn’t sat for a while when the carriage sent by Double Xiang House arrived on time. One after another, the staff took out several multi-layered food boxes from the carriage and put the steaming dishes on the two upper-class tables. At the same time, Qin Mian’s servants appeared with twenty wine jars.
One look at the ‘’Glimmer of Paradise’’ on the wine jar, everyone understood that this was the ‘’expression’’ of Lei Xiangzhi’s eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law. While envying Lei Xiangzhi, they were also a little excited – who didn’t know that the Glimmer of Paradise’s wine was good and expensive. Today was a rare opportunity.
After putting down the things, the staff of Double Xiang House and the servants went to Qin Mian and Lei Tie and saluted them in unison before leaving.
After a short while, Lei Daqiang led Dean Huo, Li Zheng, and the others over to the grain-sunning ground. With a smiling expression, the slick and smooth master of ceremonies went to arrange everyone to their seats.
With one look, Dean Huo and the others knew that the dishes on the upper-class table were from Double Xiang House. The dishes on this table included four cold dishes [hors d’oeuve], four desserts, and eight hot dishes [main course]; a total of sixteen dishes. In Double Xiang House, it cost at least 15 silver taels.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie had several associations with Dean Huo, Teacher Liu, and Teacher Gong, so the two went over to greet them.
Dean Huo had a very deep impression of them, and cheerfully said, “Don’t be too polite.”
Lei Daqiang looked around, quite angry. He specially sent a letter to the Deng family, and yet none of them came. He didn’t mind when Deng Shi’s relatives didn’t come in the past, but now his son had become a Xiucai, and they still wouldn’t come. It was clear that they didn’t attach importance to him.2
Thinking such, he couldn’t help but glare at Lei Tie secretly; he was not happy with this son.3
What kind of person was Lei Tie? He immediately noticed the old man’s glare and met it with indifference and calmness.
Panic, Lei Daqiang withdrew his line of sight.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie were seated on the medium-class table. At the same table were Lei Dagang and his son, as well as Lei Xiaoyun’s husband and son. Lei Xiaoyun’s husband and son were waiting for Lei Xiangzhi wholeheartedly and gave the cold shoulder to Qin Mian and Lei Tie. Qin Mian and Lei Tie also didn’t go to court a rebuff. After they toasted a cup of wine as a gesture of goodwill, they ate in silence.
The culinary skills of the few chefs were not bad; the dishes had distinctive flavors. Qin Mian and Lei Tie were very relieved to eat. When they were full, they walked home. In the evening, they came over again for dinner.
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