Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 11988

"Auntie, what are the little brothers doing? Are they going to eat wedding cakes?" Xiuxiu asked again. Speaking of wedding cakes, she had plenty. She had almost filled an entire wooden box with them, probably hundreds of them.

Xiuxiu got up to open the box and get the wedding cake, but Yang Ruoqing stopped her with her words.

"Don't take it, they don't want to eat it, they want you to help them touch their teeth."

Touching teeth?

Xiu Xiu immediately understood, and her smile became even gentler.

"Okay, I'll wash my hands and then I'll touch your teeth."

Yuanyuan shook her head and grabbed Xiuxiu's wedding dress sleeve: "Sister, you only let me touch your teeth, let brother find the little bride next door to touch your teeth."

Tuan Tuan nodded incessantly beside her, even keeping her mouth tightly shut to avoid being touched by the bride.

The two brothers had already decided on the arrangement of touching teeth and assigning the bride on their way here.

"Okay, one for each person."

Here, Xiuxiu washed her hands, pulled Yuanyuan into her arms, and gently stroked his gums.

A three-year-old child has only just grown in all their baby teeth and is not yet old enough to lose them, but this ritual must still be performed.

While Xiuxiu was touching Yuanyuan's teeth, Yang Ruoqing and Madam Sun watched with smiles on their faces.

After they finished touching each other, Sun continued to tidy up Xiuxiu's things, while Yang Ruoqing took the two children to Xiuhong's room next door.

The same dialogue, the same astonishment, and the same actions were repeated as Xiu Hong held Tuan Tuan in her arms.

Unlike Xiuxiu's natural demeanor, Xiuhong was very shy because it was her first time being a bride. So, when she touched her teeth, her face was flushed the whole time, as if she were drunk.

The person with perfect fortune in this house is Jiang Guiling. Obviously, Jiang Guiling arrived earlier than Sun Shi. So when Yang Ruoqing stepped into the house with her two children, Xiu Hong's makeup was more than a step or two behind Xiu Xiu's, who was just a wall away. In fact, Xiu Hong's downy hair hadn't even been wrung out yet.

"Sister Qing'er, it's really because my second brother and sister-in-law think highly of me and let me be the blessed person," Jiang Guiling said, taking advantage of the moment when Xiu Hong was touching Tuan Tuan's teeth, as she came over to talk to Yang Ruoqing with a silk thread in her hand.

"This is my first time doing such a wonderful job, and I have absolutely no experience. I'm really afraid that I'll do something wrong and become a laughingstock." As she spoke, her fair fingers deftly manipulated the silk thread between them.

"Don't take on a job you're not qualified for." Yang Ruoqing smiled faintly: "Since you dared to take on this task, you must be fully confident that you can handle it. Don't be nervous, just do your best."

As she spoke, Yang Ruoqing glanced at the movements of Jiang Guiling's fingers and immediately lost interest in continuing the conversation.

She clearly knew everything, and she had secretly practiced at home before taking on this job. She had even inquired about the procedures for becoming a "Quanfuren" (a person with perfect fortune) from Bao Suyun, Sun Shi, and her own family...

We're already quite familiar with each other, so why does he have to say these overly humble, insincere things to me? It's pointless to have a conversation.

On the other side of the big bed, Xiu Hong finished rubbing Tuan Tuan's teeth, then grabbed two handfuls of candy and stuffed them into the brothers' pockets.

At this moment, more footsteps and voices gradually came from outside. Many women and children from relatives' homes came over, and the house suddenly became crowded and lively.

With several wishes fulfilled, Yang Ruoqing and her son left the house, holding hands with Tuantuan and Yuanyuan.

Once outside, Tuantuan and Yuanyuan met other friends, including Xiaoshunzi and his friends from the Sun family next door. So the friends went together to Xiaosanzi and Yongxiao's room to wake them up and play together.

Cao Bamei had been busy in the courtyard for a while. She had already seen Yang Ruoqing when she came over earlier and greeted her. Now she was busy coming over again and inviting Yang Ruoqing to sit in the main room.

Today, the Luo family members are guests who have come to offer their congratulations, and Cao Bamei should fulfill her duties as the host.

"Come back for tea later, I have to go home first." Yang Ruoqing replied to Cao Bamei verbally, and quickly walked past the guests who arrived one after another, perfunctorily responding to the greetings from all directions, and left the courtyard of the small second room.

Once they reached the main road outside, Yang Ruoqing didn't head towards the Luo family's residence. Instead, she planned to go to the third house to see if Xiaohua had returned.

She said she would come back today when she left yesterday. If she doesn't come back soon, I'm afraid the conflict between her and Da'an will become uncontrollable.

Soon, Yang Ruoqing arrived at the gate of her parents' home, only to find that the gate was locked.

What's going on? Where did the whole family go?
I remember that before, when Sun was in Xiuxiu's room, Yang Huazhong and Da'an seemed to be drinking tea in the main room. Two of Feng'er and his siblings came back yesterday, leaving Jun'er to stay overnight at the grassland with Hua'er.

When those children came looking for Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan before, Fuwa was among them.

The problem now is, where are Xiaohua and Jun'er? Haven't they come back yet? If all else fails, I'll go to the grassland myself and see what's going on.
Just as she was pondering this, a familiar voice called out to her from behind: "Sister, why are you standing at the door?"

Upon hearing the voice, Yang Ruoqing turned around abruptly and saw the familiar figure of Xiaohua.

To her relief, Xiaohua was wearing a blue floral apron around her waist and sleeves to protect her arms from oil stains.

"Hua'er, when did you get back?" Yang Ruoqing's gaze softened even more as she looked at the little flower walking towards her, feeling a sense of joy at having found something she had lost.

“I’ve been back for a while now. Last night, Mother took my place in helping out in the kitchen. Today, Mother wants to be the one to enjoy the blessings, so I had Shengnan bring me back at the crack of dawn.”

As they were talking, Xiao Hua had already come to Yang Ruoqing's side. "Sister, come in and sit down. I just happened to be going home to change my shoes."

"well."

Yang Ruoqing followed Xiaohua into the main room, and then accompanied her to the backyard to change her shoes.

During this process, Yang Ruoqing didn't dare to mention Da'an at all, for fear of upsetting Xiaohua.

Xiao Hua didn't mention it, silently changing her shoes and then putting the shoes she took off in the yard to dry.

During this process, Yang Ruoqing took the initiative to ask about Feng'er and Jun'er's whereabouts in order to break the somewhat awkward silence.

“Feng’er and Da Shunzi are together. Isn’t Da Shunzi going to take the provincial examination next year? He said he’s looking for Feng’er to get some advice.”

Da Shunzi is the eldest grandson of the Sun family. He is two years younger than Feng'er and has been living and studying in Huguang County with his father Da Jie and mother Huang Mao for a long time.

Later, Da Jie was promoted to magistrate of Huguang County and served as magistrate for three years. During this period, Da Shunzi also passed the examinations for the title of Tongsheng and Xiucai, and became a qualified Xiucai.

It's just that the Sun family, the Yang family, and the Luo family have produced one Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), Tanhua (third-place scholar), and Zhuangyuan (first-place scholar) in succession...

So whether it's Da Shunzi passing the imperial examination to become a Xiucai, or Hong'er and Tie Dan from the Yang family both passing the examination to become Xiucai, these joyous events that should have attracted much attention now seem to have become commonplace in everyone's eyes.

It can only be said that everyone's threshold has been raised. Passing the imperial examination is just something to be mentioned briefly, and even the banquet is no longer necessary.

The real attention and even the hosting of banquets should begin with passing the provincial examination!
"What about Jun'er? Where is Jun'er?" Yang Ruoqing asked Xiaohua again.

Xiaohua smiled and said, "I got up too early today. He was still sleeping, so I didn't wake him."

"After breakfast, I'll go to the pasture to pick him up." "So, Jun'er isn't going to eat at the second son's banquet this morning?" Yang Ruoqing asked again. To be honest, Jun'er has come all this way home, and children would definitely enjoy such a lively occasion, but he's going to miss it.

If Jun'er hadn't stayed overnight on the playground with Xiaohua last night, he wouldn't have missed today's lively occasion...

Xiaohua looked a little regretful, but there was nothing she could do; she had arrived too early to take the children.

She was helping out in the kitchen right now, but couldn't get away because she and Da'an were having a cold war, so she didn't want to ask Da'an to pick her up.

Furthermore, Da'an had stood at the kitchen door for a moment earlier, and Xiao Hua knew he wanted to talk to her, but she pretended not to see him and didn't want to talk to him. After standing there for a while, Da'an was invited by his second brother and the others to sit down in the main room...

"Sister, I have to go now. We can talk later if anything comes up." Xiao Hua straightened up, said this to Yang Ruoqing, and turned to leave.

Yang Ruoqing followed behind her to the main room and saw Madam Sun coming in from outside.

"mother."

"mother."

Sun was preoccupied with something on her mind, and she walked with her head down, deep in thought.

Upon hearing the sisters' voices, Madam Sun looked up and her gaze fell on Xiaohua. Madam Sun smiled with concern, but at the same time, she was a little cautious: "Hua'er, are you tired? If you are, take a rest. No one will dare to say anything to you."

There were quite a few women helping out today, including members of the eldest branch of the Yang family. They could slack off a little without anyone saying anything.

Xiao Hua shook her head: "I'm not tired at all, Mom. Aren't you living a life of perfect happiness over there? How come you have time to come back?"

"Oh, I've almost finished my business there. Now I'm just waiting for the banquet to start so I can change Xiu Xiu's embroidered shoes and put on her red veil, and that'll be it!"

Xiao Hua nodded, then glanced back at Yang Ruoqing. "Sister, you talk to Mother, I'll go to the kitchen over there."

"Okay, go ahead!"

"Flower..." Madam Sun couldn't help but call out to Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua stopped in her tracks. "What's wrong, Mom?"

Sun's expression was complicated, and he seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

Yang Ruoqing quickly winked at Sun Shi, suggesting that at this time, it was best not to mention or say anything. They should deal with the morning banquet first, then go home and talk about other things behind closed doors.

Fortunately, Mrs. Sun was still willing to listen to advice. She swallowed back the words that were about to come out of her mouth and forced a smile at Xiaohua: "It's nothing, I just told you not to work too hard."

Xiao Hua could easily see that Sun was hesitant to speak, but she really didn't want to talk about that topic right now.

Besides, there are still many things to do at the second wife's place, and with everyone else around, she can't be absent for too long.

Watching Xiaohua's departing figure, Sun's smile was truly a mixture of joy and worry.

The joy comes from the fact that Xiaohua is still willing to come back to this home and is still willing to help out in the second room.

The worry is something everyone understands without me having to say it.

After Xiao Hua left, Madam Sun sighed deeply. With Yang Ruoqing, she had nothing left to hide or conceal.

"Qing'er, if only all this trouble hadn't happened!"

"Mother, things have come to this point, there's no point in saying more, let's go back inside."

"Okay, fine!"

On the way back to the main room, Madam Sun told Yang Ruoqing something with a worried expression: "This morning, Hua'er came back from the pasture and went straight to the second room without even entering the house..."

what?
Yang Ruoqing was a little stunned.

He didn't even step inside his own home; he was still avoiding Da'an, not giving Da'an any chance to communicate privately.

Yang Ruoqing even suspected that after the banquet in the morning, Hua'er might use the excuse of going back to the grassland to pick up Jun'er to hide there and not come back, and then avoid Da'an.

"Mother, what are you coming back to do?" she asked Sun Shi again.

Sun said, "My stomach is a little upset, I came back to use the restroom."

“Okay, then hurry over after you’re done. I need to go to the grassland to pick up Jun’er,” Yang Ruoqing said.

Yang Ruoqing did not go to the grassland alone; she went with Luo Fengtang in a horse-drawn carriage.

When they arrived at the pasture, Jun'er had just woken up. Duo'er was helping Jun'er get dressed, and Yang Ruoqing was keeping him company. Xiang Shengnan and the cattle dealer were serving tea to Luo Fengtang in the main room.

Yang Ruoqing originally thought that Hua'er had stayed overnight here and must have told Duo'er about it.

As it turns out, judging from Duo'er's reaction, Xiao Hua probably didn't mention that matter at all last night.

Hua'er... she's really good at keeping things to herself! If she hadn't mentioned this, any other woman, including Yang Ruoqing herself, would probably have spilled everything long ago.

After dressing Jun'er properly and feeding him some hot water, Yang Ruoqing took him out of the house and onto the horse-drawn carriage driven by Luo Fengtang at the door, heading back to Changping Village.

Jun'er rubbed his eyes and sat in Yang Ruoqing's arms. Seeing that Xiao Duo hadn't gotten into the carriage, he tilted his head up and asked Yang Ruoqing, "Auntie, isn't Auntie coming with us?"

Yang Ruoqing patted Jun'er's little head, which was covered by a hat: "Auntie will come again in a few days."

"Oh!" Jun'er half understood, then leaned out the window to watch the fleeting scenery outside the carriage.

Although there's really nothing to see along the roadside in winter, and everything is withered and desolate, that's from an adult's perspective.

In a child's eyes, the colors of the world don't change with the seasons.

Yang Ruoqing held Jun'er in her arms, while also pondering other things.

She had secretly brought Jun'er back without Hua'er's knowledge. Although one reason was to ensure that the lively child wouldn't miss the exciting wedding, another reason was her own selfish motives.

To put it bluntly, it's a bit selfish to bring the child back and thus 'manipulate' Hua'er, so she no longer has a reason to hide in the meadow.

Sigh, this is a well-intentioned "manipulation." Even if Hua'er resents her as the older sister, she accepts it.

I just hope this whole mess will pass quickly, and that the young couple can get back together soon.

Even if a broken mirror is mended, cracks will remain, but time, like an eraser, will gradually fade and repair the scars.