Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12105

Yang Ruoqing and Xiaohua watched as their parents meticulously prepared a rabbit meat dish, and the two sisters exchanged a smile.

“Our parents treat everyone equally,” Yang Ruoqing said.

Little Flower smiled and nodded.

Yang Ruoqing turned to Yang Huazhong and Sun Shi and said, "Father, Mother, you can arrange this rabbit yourselves. We won't be coming over tonight."

"Why aren't you coming over? Come and eat with us!" Mrs. Sun said hurriedly.

Yang Huazhong added, "Yes, you're heading to Jiuhua County tomorrow, so this meal is our farewell dinner for you!"

Yang Ruoqing shook her head: "Hey, it's just a normal trip, no need to make a big deal out of it."

“We won’t be coming over tonight. Aunt Mei brought over a roast duck today, so we’ll have something to eat.”

Unable to dissuade her, Madam Sun had no choice but to go with Yang Ruoqing.

Xiao Hua said, "Mom, don't worry, we'll just send a bowl of rabbit meat to our two nephews later."

……

It was dinner time in the east room of the old house.

On the table was not only a roasted duck with tea oil, but also a bowl of fragrant and spicy braised rabbit.

In addition, there were two bowls of rice and a pot of liquor.

Old Yang and Tan were eating roast duck and rabbit meat, and drinking liquor. Old Yang smacked his lips, savoring the taste of the liquor.

"Oh my, old woman, life is getting better and better!"

Tan took a small sip of liquor and felt a very spicy sensation in her mouth, followed by a slightly sweet aftertaste.

Hearing Old Yang's words, Madam Tan pursed her lips and smiled.

"Old man, when are we going to use that stove? I'm getting impatient," Tan said again.

Tonight, we'll be using the stove in the fourth room to cook the roast duck and rice.

While cooking on the stove in the fourth house, that Liu was still muttering to herself, implying that they had used too much firewood from the fourth house because the fire was too hot. Can you believe it? She even had to nitpick over such trivial matters!
Old Yang now knows exactly what kind of fart Tan is letting out just by looking at her with her buttocks sticking out.

I bet he borrowed the stove in the fourth room at night and got yelled at by the fourth daughter-in-law again!

"I've already spoken to Xu Yuanming today. We'll officially start cooking on the eighth day of the second lunar month. We'll prepare a few dishes and invite the third and fourth brothers over for a meal, and that'll be it."

"As for my daughter and son-in-law, I've already given them a heads-up. Whether they can come or not is up to them. I won't force them," Old Yang said.

Mrs. Tan sat there counting the days on her fingers, "Oh dear, only 5 days left! It'll be over soon!"

“Then in the next few days, let’s go and prepare some more things, like firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and so on. Even though our kitchen is small, it’s small but complete!” Tan suggested.

Old Yang nodded happily in agreement.

It's strange how things work out. When they first met, he was just 20 years old and she was only 15 or 16.

Back then, they rented a house in the alley behind the shop where he was an apprentice accountant in the county town after they got married. They made all the pots and pans themselves, and their eldest son, Yang Hua'an, was born...

Back then, when he came home after a day's work, he would open the door and find that although the house was small and the stove was simple, it had all the necessary pots, pans, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. That feeling of home was so real that it gave him the energy to keep working.

Later, the children were born one after another. Then they returned to Changping Village, bought houses and land, raised the children, and helped them get married and have children.

As the family grew, the small kitchen was replaced by a large public stove, and he no longer worked in the fields, leaving the work to his young and strong sons.

The old woman no longer went into the kitchen to do the cooking, leaving it to her daughters-in-law.

When they later separated their family property, the two elders hadn't touched the pots and pans in the kitchen for over 20 years, and they were simply too lazy to do so anymore.

So they lived with their sons, rotating monthly, eating whatever their sons ate.

Nearly thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Unexpectedly, now that the two are both over 80 years old, they have rebuilt their own small stove. They don't mind going into the kitchen at all. In fact, the old lady is even more excited and looking forward to lighting the new stove than he is, hoping to cook her three meals a day herself again at such an advanced age.

Life is truly amazing; a person's thoughts come and go in waves.

Things I initially resisted later turned into something I looked forward to and enjoyed. Conversely, things I once cherished and treasured lost their appeal over time.

"My wife, I don't want anything else now, I just hope that we can both get better health." Old Yang drank another cup of wine, his throat was burning and his chest was churning with heat.

"For us old folks, the greatest blessing in our later years, frankly speaking, is that our children are filial, which comes second. Guess what comes first?"

Tan lifted her eyelids to look at Old Yang's flushed face, and scoffed, "I don't know, but you know everything. Tell me!"

What else could it be? We've already laid the groundwork so thoroughly, so the most important thing is health, isn't it?

Tan chuckled to herself. This old man was good at everything, except he liked to show off what was in his belly.

Fine, if you like to show off, I'll let you. I don't understand, but you do; you're the king of knowledge, so you explain.

Indeed, Tan's words had given Old Yang a great deal of emotional value.

Old Yang said with a sigh, "Our first priority should be our own health."

No matter how filial your children and grandchildren are, or how much money they give you, you still need to be healthy enough to spend it.

"Not only do we need to have good teeth, but we also need to have good hands and feet to be truly blessed. When people get old, they can still take care of themselves, cook for themselves, eat by themselves, and look after themselves. This is not only a blessing for themselves, but also a blessing for their children and grandchildren!"

"Yes, you're right, old man! You're amazing! You see things very clearly!" Madam Tan praised Old Yang several more times in one breath.

Old Yang's emotions were further ignited, "I'm serious, these past few days I've been going to the Luo family's house at the village entrance to chat with Luo the blacksmith. You have no idea, that blacksmith kid..."

Well, he's used to calling him "Old Yang," after all, he's more than 20 years older than Luo the blacksmith and watched him grow up. Calling him "kid" just comes naturally to him.

"What happened to the blacksmith's son?" Madam Tan asked, taking a bite of rabbit meat as she did so.

The rabbit meat was cut into small cubes, which made it easy to chew.

Old Yang sighed and continued, "I saw that the blacksmith has more white hair than both of us combined!" "Hiss! That can't be right? Are you blind or something?" Tan asked back, but her everyday, colloquial language... was something only Old Yang was used to and could accept.

"I'm not blind, I saw it clearly. Not only did I see it, but Old Sun saw it too, and Old Jiang saw it too!" Old Yang said.

“When we came back, we all said that the blacksmith was really too saddened by his sister’s death, and it damaged his heart.”

"Not only are there white hairs on his head, but his face and body are also frighteningly aged."

"We didn't dare say this in front of Qing'er and Tang Yazi. We were all worried that if Qing'er and Tang Yazi couldn't get the blacksmith out of this mess, the blacksmith probably wouldn't last much longer!"

Upon hearing this, Madam Tan frowned slightly. She spat out the remaining bits of rabbit bone in her mouth, wiped her mouth, and said, "What do you mean by 'helping him get through this'? No one can help him with this kind of thing; he has to get through it on his own!"

“You’re right, the old woman is right, we have to rely on ourselves.” Old Yang also agreed with this statement.

"What we're talking about now isn't who we can rely on, but the blacksmith. If he can't hold on this time, he probably won't last long. His body has been ruined too much!"

Instead of showing any sympathy, Ms. Tan shook her head and said, "It just means he's a coward and not thinking straight!"

"To sacrifice yourself for a younger sister who's already married is cowardly!"

"If he were to be more cheerful and fall asleep in one go, that would be a blessing. But if he falls ill and becomes a burden on his family, unable to take care of himself, just you wait and see. Not only his wife, Wang Cuilian, but even his dutiful nephew and niece-in-law will eventually start to despise him!"

“There’s a saying that goes, ‘There are no filial sons at the bedside of a chronically ill patient.’ No matter how filial and patient Tang Ya Zi and Qing Ya Tou are, they will eventually be worn down. Moreover, the blacksmith didn’t get himself into that state for the Luo family. He sacrificed himself purely for Luo Da E. Old man, think about all the disgusting things Luo Da E did to Tang Ya Zi and Qing Ya Tou back then… right?”

Old Yang didn't respond. Instead, he listened to Tan's analysis while holding a wine cup and gulping down one mouthful of wine after another.

Finally, Madam Tan slammed her chopsticks down on Luo the blacksmith's arm. "You old geezer! You were saying you wanted to take care of yourself, but with the way you drink like it's some kind of magic potion, you probably want to go see the King of Hell sooner! Stop drinking, or I'll smash your wine jug!"

"Alright," Tan said, "not only did she stand up, but she also grabbed the wine pot next to Old Yang."

Old Yang could only manage an awkward smile as he held his empty wine glass.

"Okay, okay, don't smash it. I'll drink again tomorrow. That's enough for tonight."

"Don't drink too much tomorrow either. You talk a good game about others, but when it comes to yourself, you don't care at all. Let me tell you, if you get sick from drinking, I won't care about you. I'll throw you into the pigsty to fend for yourself!"

……

That night, at the Luo family's house, in the backyard dining room.

Tonight's meal was very plentiful. In addition to the roasted duck with tea oil brought over by Yang Huamei and Xu Yuanming, there was also a full bowl of spicy braised rabbit meat that Yang Huazhong had brought over earlier. The rabbit meat was cut into cubes and potato chunks were also added.

The two little ones, Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, were overjoyed. However, even though they were drooling over the two dishes on the table, they both tried their best to resist taking a bite.

The two little ones' eyes lit up the moment Luo Fengtang walked in from outside.

Has Grandpa arrived?

"Is it time to eat?"

Yes, that's the Luo family's rule. If the elders haven't started eating, the younger generation can't pick up their chopsticks, unless there are special circumstances.

Yang Ruoqing was carrying several bowls of rice from the kitchen behind the glass door next door when she saw that there was no one else behind Luo Fengtang.

Not only did the blacksmith Luo not come, but Wang Cuilian also didn't come.

"What's going on? Why didn't Uncle and Aunt come?" Yang Ruoqing asked in surprise.

She held a bowl of rice in each palm, and then held another bowl of rice in the gap between her two hands, so she could bring three bowls of rice at once. This was one of her special skills.

Sometimes, if the bowls are small, you can even hold four bowls!

Luo Fengtang came over and took the bowl of rice from her hand, saying, "Let's eat first. We'll leave some food for them later, and I'll take it over to check on them."

Should we check it after we send it over?
What does that mean?

Does this mean they won't eat it?

"Let's deliver it now. Even if Uncle doesn't have an appetite, Auntie must be hungry," Yang Ruoqing said, adding that Auntie was just keeping Uncle company.

Yang Ruoqing asked Shaoyao to prepare rice for two people, and took some of each of the dishes on the table to send to Wang Cuilian and Luo the blacksmith.

I didn't say much else.

At the dinner table, children are the most innocent and naive. They don't understand the adult world, nor do they know what has happened at home recently. Their happiness comes from the change of taste at the dinner table tonight, with roast duck with tea oil and rabbit...

While eating, Luo Fengtang and Yang Ruoqing also looked after the two children. Although the two rarely communicated, Luo Fengtang still put some food into Yang Ruoqing's bowl twice during the meal.

One leg was the duck's front leg (the two hind legs were given to the two little ones).
Another time it was a spoonful of rabbit meat, the real deal, without even half a piece of potato mixed in.

"Eat it yourself, no need to put any on my plate." Yang Ruoqing glanced at him briefly, meeting his gentle gaze.

However, there was a hint of weariness in his eyes.

Yang Ruoqing felt sorry for him. During this time, everyone's attention was focused on Luo the blacksmith, fearing that he might do something rash due to excessive grief, and also worried that excessive grief would damage his health.

However, they overlooked the fact that Luo Fengtang was actually the most exhausted one among them...

After the two little ones had finished eating, Yang Ruoqing wiped their mouths clean and asked Rong Gu and the others to take them for a walk in the yard to digest their food.

The canteen quieted down, leaving only Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang.

"Tang Yazi, tell me, what exactly happened earlier?" Yang Ruoqing's gentle voice rang out.

Luo Fengtang finally raised his head, glanced at Yang Ruoqing, and gave a wry smile: "Qing'er, there's something I need to say that might affect your mood. After all, you've been preparing for that matter for so long..."

"You mean, the trip to Jiuhua County might have to be postponed?" Yang Ruoqing asked.

Luo Fengtang's eyes were full of surprise, but he quickly came to terms with it.

Between him and his Qing'er, there was always a tacit understanding. Whenever he wanted to say something, she could always anticipate it in advance. It was a kind of tacit understanding.

“Yes,” he nodded without hesitation, “Judging from my uncle’s condition, let alone going on a long trip to climb mountains and go on a tour, I think he would even have trouble walking around the backyard.”

Yang Ruoqing's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she put her chopsticks back on the table. No matter how good the food was, she had no appetite.