057 – Young Mother Joins the Household
In the twinkling of an eye, it came to the day Lei Daqiang married Wei Wei.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie informed Yue Dong in advance that they would not go to the shop. Since that night Lei Tie ruthlessly taught a lesson to those two men, no one looked for trouble with the restaurant anymore. There was nothing to worry about if they did not go to the shop for few days.
After breakfast, they dressed up and came to the old house together. Compared with the previous few days, there were some changes in the old house. There were two red lanterns hanging under the eaves of the courtyard gate. Several red “囍[1]” characters were pasted at different positions on the courtyard gate, the central room and the external wall, portraying the auspicious festive.
When Qin Mian walked closer, he looked at the house and wondered how the whole family would live after Miss Wei joined in? Could it be that every time Lei Daqiang wanted to be with Wei Shi, he would rush Du Shi to Lei Chuntao’s room or divide his bed in two with a cloth curtain?
At the thought of that kind of funny scene, Qin Mian laughed silently. The more he thought, the more he laughed.
“What are you laughing at?” Lei Tie patted him on the head.
Qin Mian promptly said: “Nothing, nothing.” There was still a smile on his face.
Lei Tie did not ask anymore and pulled him into the yard.
The auspicious time was near dusk, and therefore the courtyard was still relatively quiet right now. In regard of their father taken a wife, Lei Xiangren and the other younger generations were very embarrassed and quietly did things at hand.
“Eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law; you two are here.” Lei Xiangli came over.
Lei Tie waved his hand, “Continue with your work.”
Lei Xiangli sighed and went out of the courtyard. “I’m going to borrow tables and chairs.”
Qin Mian and Lei Tie walked around. There was no need to help and they also did not want to see Du Shi’s “everyone owed her 500 taels” face. Thus, they turned back home.
Qin Mian suggested, “Let’s go to buy some tofu and a fish.” Although Green Mountain Village was far away from Running Water Town, there were wine workshop, tofu workshop and fish farms in the village. It was very convenient to buy wine, tofu and fish. In this regard, he thought it was not too bad to transmigrate to Green Mountain Village.
Lei Tie pointed his chin to the left side of the small path to let him go that way.
“Brother Tie and sister[2] go for a walk?” Wu Di came face-to-face as he teased.
Lei Tie nodded slightly.
Quan Mian nodded politely to Wu Di and the other three villagers who were walking with him.
“We’re going to the other end of the village to buy tofu. Where are all of you going?”
Wu Di said: “I heard that Old Zhao and his wife are fighting. We’re going to ‘try to stop people from fighting each other’. Hahaha…”
Qin Mian said: “Old Zhao and his wife have a small fight every day and a big fight every three days. It’s nothing new in our village, right?” This married couple was a pair of wonder in their village. They would not feel comfortable without fighting for a day, but after each fight, they still went out arm in arm the next morning. They behaved intimately, comparable to modern people. The villager all understood that the two had a good relationship, and fighting was more like a special way for them to express their feelings for each other.
“It’s not the same this time,” said a young man beside Wu Di while laughing. “It’s said that this time is because Old Zhao didn’t go home last night, but came back this morning with a red lip’s print on his clothes! Hahaha…”
Another person urged: “Quick, go have a look!”
“Brother Tie and sister, we’re going first!” Wu Di waved his hand as he was pulled away.
Qin Mian shook his head. This Wu Di really did not look like a married man.
The two slowly swayed forward and bought fish and tofu before going home.
At noon, Qin Mian cooked three dishes: braised tofu, braised fish, and stewed cabbage with pork.
As before, after Qin Mian ate well first, Lei Tie cleaned up the rest of the rice and dishes.
Why doesn’t he get fat? Qin Mian was envious as he thought so.
After lunch, they took a walk to help digestion and then took a nap on the bed for a while. When they vaguely heard the sound of the festive suonas approaching, they quickly tidied up and went to the old house.
As expected, it was the bride escorts returning home. The sound of firecrackers exploded outside the village crackled for a long time.
This sound of firecrackers told people that the bride was coming soon, reminded the family to prepare the welcoming of the bride, and also informed the guests that they could come.
At the old house, Lei Xiangren, Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xiangli, Zhao Shi and Qian Shi greeted the guests at the door. The three Lei brothers were responsible for male guests, Zhao Shi and Qian Shi were responsible for female guests, and Lei Chuntao was responsible for entertaining the children. All of them were busy. Lei Xiangzhi was still in school. Meanwhile, Du Shi had not appeared. She was said to be sick.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie rushed forward to help receiving gifts and inviting the guests to the courtyard.
The bride escorting procession was getting closer. At the front of the line were six men in red clothes. Some were beating gongs, some were playing drums, and some were blowing suonas with their cheeks bulging. How very festive. Behind them was Lei Daqiang, who was tied with a big red flower, grinning from ear to ear and looking like he was ten years younger. Next to Lei Daqiang was a red four manned palanquin. Naturally, the bride was sitting in this palanquin.
There were about five to six men and women behind the palanquin, in which they all carried new bamboo baskets with the character “囍” pasted on. Needless to say, the basket contained the bride’s dowry that included rice, flour, cloth, brand-new small furniture, and etc.
When the procession arrived in front of the gate, there was another burst of firecrackers, “Crackle–”
“Here comes the bride–” The children screamed in excitement, frolicking and blocking the palanquin to prevent the palanquin from approaching the courtyard gate.
Lei Daqiang had been prepared. He grabbed a few handfuls of sweets from a basket and threw them away.
The children cheered and ran to pick up the sweets, and the palanquin landed smoothly at the gate.
After getting off the palanquin, the bride and Lei Daqiang pulled along the red “joy” ribbon together as they entered the gate.
The guests crowded in to watch the excitement. The yard was full of people making an unnecessary racket and loudly jeering.
Qin Mian also wanted to get closer, but he could not occupy a space. On tiptoe, he saw that after the bride stepping over the brazier, she and Lei Daqiang completed the ceremony according to the instructions of “the first kowtow is for the heaven and earth, the second for the parents and the third for each other“. After that, she was sent to the bridal chamber.
Nevertheless, the kowtow for the parents was towards the memorial tablet of Lei Daqiang’s parents.
After the bride was sent to the bridal chamber, the bridegroom Lei Daqiang was pulled to drink by the villagers.
Whether it was the host or the guests, they tacitly did not mention the reason for Du Shi’s absence.
This was the busiest time. The hired cooks were cooking in an orderly manner. Qin Mian and Lei Tie arrange the guests to sit down and help serve the dishes.
From time to time, Qin Mian looked towards the outside of the gate and whispered to Lei Tie: “Did they miss the time?”
“Don’t worry. It’s been arranged.” Lei Tie pacified.
Almost at the same time as his words just finished, outside came the approaching sound of horse’s hooves, and then someone shouted: “Eating Savory Restaurant offers ten portions of spicy hot pot!”
The courtyard suddenly quieted down, and a few look of surprised, shocked or admiration fell on Qin Mian and Lei Tie at the same time.
Lei Tie’s face was expressionless, while Qin Mian was smiling, maintaining the basic courtesy.
After a short while, ten energetic young men went into the courtyard one by one. The first two men each held five unlit charcoal stoves, followed by two men carried a sack of charcoal together, two men carried five large double-eared pots, two men carried four bamboo baskets with different dishes, which were meatballs, fillets of fish, chicken pieces, quail eggs, mushrooms, vegetables, potatoes and tofu. The last two men jointly carried a bucket-like big wok. All the ten men were hired by Qin Mian.
The crowd stood gazing at each other and talked in low voices while hardly hid their excitement.
“Old Lei’s eldest son and eldest daughter-in-law have good prospects ah. This is a big spend!”
“I think all those dishes will cost 700~800 Wen!”
“Lei Tie and his wife are very kind. The father and stepmother forced them to split and move out, but they still don’t forget to repay the kindness of parents’ upbringing.”
Hearing these words, the corner of Qin Mian’s mouth invoked a subtle smile.
After putting down the things, the ten helpers put a charcoal stove on each table in an orderly manner, lit the charcoal and put the pot on it, poured the boiled thick soup, and then skillfully divided all kinds of hot pot dishes into ten portions and distributed them to each table.
“Old Lei produced a good son, ah.” Some people admiringly said.
When Lei Daqiang’s ears caught that, he felt proud. Blushing and laughing, he patted Lei Tie on the shoulder and said three good words of praise.
However, he did not know that the sick Du Shi hiding in the house looked at the people –smiling and laughing– in the yard with red eyes. When she also saw Qin Mian’s smiling face, she felt that everyone was satirizing her. Her hands clenched into fists as there was a burst of pain in her chest. The pain almost made her vomit blood. She squeezed a few words from between her teeth, “Lei Daqiang–”
Xiao Shi, her sister-in-law, sat with her and quickly comforted her: “Younger sister-in-law, there’s nothing you can do about it. You should think positively. I’ll go out and have a look.” It was said that the hot pot was very delicious, and she craved it very much. If she was a step slower, she might lose her share.
Wei Wei, who was sitting in her new room, also heard someone shouting “Eating Savory Restaurant offers ten portions of spicy hot pot” outside, and the pretty face under the red veil gave a pleasant smile.
Zhang Dashuan walked to Lei Tie and laughingly teased, “Spent a lot today.”
Qin Mian minutely smiled and looked at the direction of the house with unclear meaning, “As it should be.”
“Brother Zhang, go and sit there.” Lei Tie invited Zhang Dashuan to the table.
After the ten young men prepared the dishes, Qin Mian took out a string of money from his sleeve pocket and handed it over, “Great work. This is for you to buy wine. You all come back tomorrow morning to move things.”
“Many thanks, small boss.” The few guys joyfully expressed their thanks and left.
At this time, the fire in the charcoal stove burnt up, thus the smell of hot pot immediately became strong and attractive. The atmosphere in the courtyard seemingly spurred by the aroma and turned enthusiastic. The villagers kept toasting Lei Daqiang and wished him a happy wedding.
The Lei three brothers also did not escape the fierce toasting offensive.
Qin Mian escaped with the excuse that he could not drink. Lei Tie always had a cold face, so no one dared to pull him in. Therefore, the two men were able to dine leisurely. Occasionally, they invited young people such as Zhang Dashuan and Wu Di at the same table to drink and eat.
“Brother Zhang.” A flush-faced drunk villager at the same table patted Zhang Dashuan on the back, “I heard that you made bamboo sticks for Lei Tie’s hot pot shop. Can you make a lot of money in a day?”
Qin Mian and Lei Tie looked at each other and then bowed their heads to eat, acting as though they did not hear it.
Zhang Dashuan’s chopsticks paused for a moment before he went to pick up the dishes in the hot pot. Laughing, he said, “This is because my brother Lei and his wife think highly of me. Eat the dishes, eat the dishes!”
Note:
[1] double happiness (similar to 喜喜) / symbol of good luck, esp. marriage
[2] Not blood-related. The common address for a friend’s wife
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