20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 693 Interlude
The sun and the moon alternate, and Mid-Autumn Festival is here in the blink of an eye.

The Jiang family mansion was preparing for a dinner banquet, and they specially invited a cooking team and seven or eight temporary helpers to set up a tent and cook in the yard.

From early morning, Song Ma and Yingzi led the servants in the house to work busily.

The beef, mutton and river fish are all freshly slaughtered; the seasonal vegetables are all freshly picked.

It took about half a day just to prepare the ingredients, so I was naturally very busy and had no time to rest for a moment.

Jiang Lianheng only had a simple meal at noon and took a short nap. After waking up, he and his family gathered in the living room, eating fruits and snacks, chatting, and waiting for the reunion.

Xue Yingqing arrived the earliest, and then stayed in the yard with Kang Zheng and Lao Dao to chat with the guys.

Seeing her enter the room, Jiang Lianheng asked Hai Xinnian to stand up, introduced each other for a few words, and then instructed: "Xinnian, although this girl is young, you still have to call her little auntie in terms of seniority!"

After he finished speaking, Hai Xinnian remained silent.

Everyone was puzzled and looked sideways, only to see that the boy's face turned red and he was staring at Xue Yingqing blankly, as if he was in a daze.

It’s not Hai Xinnian’s fault that he suddenly lost his mind. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame Xue Yingqing for not being an ordinary person.

There is absolutely no logic in this.

Xue Yingqing is said to be 35 years old this year, but she looks nothing like old. Instead, she has become more charming and graceful.

With a face like this, it is difficult to fully express her beauty in elegant words and sentences.

Hai Xinnian was a vulgar man. When he saw Xue Yingqing, he didn't know how to describe it. He just felt as if he had been slapped hard in the face, and even the back of his head felt dizzy.

He was stunned for a moment, until everyone reminded him again, he suddenly came to his senses, bowed his head and said: "Hello, Auntie, I kowtow to you in the New Year!"

Everyone hurriedly stopped him and immediately burst into laughter.

Xue Yingqing took a look at Hai Xinnian, gave her a red envelope, and praised her with a smile, but his words were all polite and cold. As soon as they sat down, he still doted on Jiang Ya alone, holding the girl in his arms, kissing and hugging her, loving her like the apple of his eye.

Everyone looked at her and couldn't help but marvel at her.

After so many years, everyone has changed, but she is the only one who doesn't look old? I guess she must have some secret to keep her youthful look.

Xu Ruqing looked at her junior sister with a smile, and couldn't help but sighed: "Xiao Xue is still so handsome, she has been a beauty since she was young."

"Don't flatter me. I'm getting so old. I cried in front of the mirror this morning!" Xue Yingqing glanced at her senior sister and laughed strangely, "Then I thought, don't I have an old lady like you at home, who always has foam at the corners of her mouth? Why should I be old? Chuan'erhong, when I see you, my heart feels much brighter!"

Xu Ruqing was neither anxious nor annoyed, and said with a smile: "I am almost 60 years old, what are you competing with me for?"

"What do you mean? If you were thirty years younger, you would be able to be better than me?"

"No, no."

Seeing that his senior sister admitted it, Xue Yingqing was quite proud. He raised his hand and touched the hair accessories on his head, and said sarcastically: "Not bad, you have not lived in vain for so many years. You finally have some knowledge in your heart. You know that you are not as good as me. That means you have made progress and your mind is not confused."

In the Jiang family, she was the only one who dared to speak to Xu Ruqing like that.

But Xu Ruqing just let her junior sister be. Not only was she not annoyed, but she also entertained her attentively. She smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I'm not as good as you. Stop fiddling with your hair. Your new jewelry is nice. I saw it."

"Do you like it?" Xue Yingqing immediately took off the hair ornament and handed it to her senior sister. "If you like it, I'll give it to you. I have so many that I can't wear them all. You look so shabby. How about giving it to you?"

Xu Ruqing waved her hand and said, "You keep it. I am already this old. Why should I wear jewelry?"

"Oh, you're still ashamed?" Xue Yingqing snorted coldly, "I don't think you're worthy of her!"

Sisters from the same school always quarrel with each other when they meet.

This has been the case for many years and everyone has gotten used to it.

Although Jiang Lianheng didn't ask, he was curious in his heart about what the elder aunt had done to the younger aunt that made her still feel guilty and tolerate and try to please her in every way.

At this moment, Jiang Ya suddenly became interested again, grabbed Xue Yingqing's arm and shouted: "I have jewelry now too!"

As he spoke, he took out a pendant from his collar and showed it off with a smile.

Xue Yingqing held it in his hand, looked at it, felt its texture, and asked, "Oh, this should be an ivory carving, right?"

"This is a tiger tooth, a talisman!" Jiang Ya pointed at Hai Xinnian, "He gave it to my mom and asked me to get it!"

Hu Xiaoyan was afraid that the boy would be suspicious, so she said, "Your sister likes it, let her wear it for two days."

Hai Xinnian certainly had nothing to say. He also knew that Jiang Ya was his godmother's only child, and it was not considered disrespectful to give it to her.

Jiang Ya smiled and said, "Hey, can you tell me about beating the tiger again?"

"Hasn't this been told already?" Hai Xinnian scratched his head.

Jiang Ya refused, but said: "But my godmother hasn't heard it yet, please tell it again!"

"Godmother?"

Hai Xinnian frowned immediately and secretly went over the Jiang family's hierarchy again, thinking, isn't this a mess?

Thinking about it more carefully, and estimating the age difference between Xu Ruqing and Xue Yingqing, it doesn't seem strange.

When people from all walks of life meet by chance, if they are ranked according to their master-disciple relationship, the order is clear, but if they have good relationships, the age difference is not big, and many people even talk about their brotherhood behind their backs.

Although Xue Yingqing was of the uncle's generation, he was extremely respectful to Jiang Lianheng in front of outsiders, and only brought up their seniority to put others down when they were joking around.

Everyone felt a little reserved when watching Hai Xinnian, fearing that he would be too distant, so they all came to support him and asked him to tell some strange stories in the mountains and forests.

Seeing this, Hai Xinnian had no choice but to agree.

There are always secret stories and legends in the deep mountains and old forests, such as Black Mother, Mr. Hu San, and the yellow-skinned man asking for a title, and the old immortal coming down the mountain to catch his brother's horse...

Just pick a few short stories, even if Hai Xinnian is not good at speaking, just telling the stories in a straightforward manner is enough to be fascinating, especially for Jiang Ya and Jiang Chengye, who grew up in the city and have never known these strange things, so they were fascinated and stunned when listening to them.

Two cups of hot tea had just passed when the story of "The Gray Fairy's Repaying Gratitude" was told when a burst of laughter suddenly came from the courtyard.

Everyone looked out the window and saw Xifeng, with Guyu, chatting with Yuan Xinfa and others at the gate of the courtyard.

Li Zhengxi was holding two large net bags in his hands. They were wet and dripping, and were filled with fresh river crabs.

It is the Mid-Autumn Festival in August. The river crabs have all grown up and are very large, but now they are all trapped in the net. Their dark blue shells overlap and they trample on each other. Their claws and claws are bared and white foam is coming out of their mouths. It seems that they are still struggling and look very alive.

Li Zhengxi handed the net bag to the kitchen staff and asked them to put it in a water tank first and then steam it in the evening. Then he walked towards the mansion.

"Don't talk about it for now!" Jiang Lianheng greeted Hai Xinnian, "Get up and meet your uncle!"

Hai Xinnian did not dare to be negligent and immediately stood up to offer his seat to meet his third uncle and aunt.

Li Zhengxi forgot to prepare the red envelope and quickly turned to ask Guyu.

Unexpectedly, Guyu also looked embarrassed, and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Xinnian, I'll give it to you next time we meet!" Hai Xinnian hurriedly said, "Don't bother, Third Aunt. I didn't know there were so many relatives at home, and I forgot to bring gifts for you and Third Uncle."

Everyone was chatting and laughing, and no one took the matter seriously.

Hu Xiaoyan asked: "Xifeng, you and Nanfeng live so close, why didn't you come together?"

"Oh, I just went to look for him." Li Zhengxi responded, "Second brother told me to come over first. He sent someone to hire a rickshaw, but I don't know what he's going to bring here."

Jiang Lianheng laughed and said, "I guess he found some foreign stuff again."

Everyone nodded and said that it should be the case. After all, Nanfeng was close to foreigners and also liked those foreign goods with strange and lewd techniques.

Sure enough, just as Li Zhengxi sat down and smoked a cigarette, a noise was heard outside the courtyard gate.

Everyone looked around curiously, only to see Yuan Xinfa holding a large box in his arms. Wang Zhengnan led Cheng Fang behind him, and he kept telling him to be careful, "Old Yuan, go slowly, don't bump into anything. This thing is very expensive!"

As he was speaking, Yuan Xinfa walked in with a frown on his face and placed the box steadily on the coffee table.

Everyone gathered around to take a closer look, and saw that the thing looked more like a bellows, except that it had no air outlet and no push-pull handles. Instead, it had a dense network of small holes on the front and two rotatable metal buttons on the side.

"Second brother, what is this?" Li Zhengxi asked.

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Zhengbei said, "This is... This is a radio, right?"

"Look, our Captain Zhao is the one with the most vision!" Wang Zhengnan sat down, patted the radio, and said jokingly with a smile, "Yes, this is a radio. You don't need to play records. It can make sounds as long as it is powered on. It's almost common among foreigners now, but it's still a new thing here!"

Nanfeng was right. Foreign goods of this level were rare in the entire Fengtian, and the Chinese knew even less about them.

Bei Feng knew him because he was in the military camp.

Although wireless broadcasting is not a new technology, in the Far East it is still in the military stage and has not yet benefited civilian use.

After listening to Nanfeng's introduction, everyone became interested in learning that this thing can make a sound once it is powered on, and asked him to demonstrate it on the spot.

Wang Zhengnan did not keep the audience in suspense and immediately turned on the radio. Then he bent down and turned the button while searching for the band signal.

Everyone held their breath, afraid of missing the "miracle" moment.

However, after working for half a day, there was no sound of talking in the radio except the "crackling" sound of electricity.

"Is it broken?" Li Zhengxi asked.

"No!" Wang Zhengnan patted the radio. "When I tried it at home just now, there was still sound!"

"You need a radio to hear it!" Zhao Zhengbei said with a smile, "There's not even a civilian radio station in the three northeastern provinces right now, so how can we hear what's going on?"

Before he could finish his words, a faint voice suddenly flashed over the radio.

"I heard it, I heard it!" Jiang Ya shouted, "There was a sound, I just heard it!"

Wang Zhengnan hurriedly said, "Don't move, don't move. Look how excited my niece is. I'll make her suffer later."

As he spoke, he carefully adjusted the button.

Unfortunately, no matter how Nanfeng tried, the words on the radio were always hidden in the electric current, making it difficult to distinguish.

"What are you saying? I can't even hear it clearly." Sister Hua couldn't help but frown.

Jiang Ya and Cheng Ye said in unison: "This is Russian!"

"Russian?" Zhao Zhengbei muttered quietly, "That should be the radio station set up by the Russians in Harbin, right?"

Hu Xiaoyan wanted to test the two children, so she asked, "Can you two understand what is being said here?"

"I can't hear it clearly, it's too noisy." Jiang Ya shook her head helplessly.

Jiang Chengye leaned over the radio and listened silently for a while, but then said, "I only heard the word 'worker', and I don't quite understand the rest."

"Take it away, take it away!" Jiang Lianheng suddenly became a little impatient and waved his hands, saying, "It's a big holiday, why are you talking nonsense in the house? It's really bad luck!"

"No!" Wang Zhengnan explained, "Brother, there are not only Russians here, but also other countries!"

Having said that, he immersed himself in debugging for a while.

This time, the sound from the radio was much clearer than before, but the faces of Jiang Lianheng and others suddenly turned dark.

The language coming out of the loudspeaker was still not Chinese, but Japanese. Since we were born in Fengtian, we were particularly familiar with it. It was probably the radio station set up in Kwantung State. The word "Darini" appeared many times in it.

"Shut it down!" Jiang Lianheng suddenly yelled.

Wang Zhengnan also reacted immediately, turned the button hurriedly, and looked back nervously to see Xu Ruqing's reaction.

There was a sudden silence in the living room.

Although Xu Ruqing did not overreact, she still looked a little uncomfortable. She was afraid of spoiling everyone's fun, so she smiled and said, "It's okay, it's okay. The children like to listen, so just listen for a while!"

"I won't listen!" Jiang Lianheng glared at Nanfeng, "Take this thing away, take it away now!"

Wang Zhengnan was a little embarrassed and explained haltingly, "Brother, this... this is a really good thing. Whether it's doing business or getting information, we can't do without this radio. Although we don't have a radio station now, it doesn't mean we won't have one in the future. The government is already preparing to take over the Russian radio station, and Fengtian will have one sooner or later..."

Jiang Lianheng still had a gloomy face.

He understood the logic, but his aunt's condition had just improved in the past two years, and the family tried to avoid mentioning the Japanese. But now, they directly spoke Japanese words.

Seeing this, Hu Xiaoyan came to the rescue and said, "Why take it back? It's Nanfeng's gift after all. You can just leave it there and use it as a decoration!"

Xu Ruqing also advised: "Yes, yes, yes, don't be like this. It's a big festival, why are you so anxious? I'm not that picky. Can't we listen to something else?" He also said, "Nanfeng, don't take it away. Leave it here. I like it very much."

Wang Zhengnan couldn't make up his mind and hesitated for a moment, but in the end he took a sneak peek at Jiang Lianheng.

Jiang Lianheng never disobeyed his aunt, so he nodded immediately and smoked a cigarette in silence.

For a moment, everyone was speechless.

The originally joyous atmosphere seems difficult to return to its original state.

But at this moment, a figure suddenly passed through the yard, as short and swift as a mouse.

Then, someone poked his head out of the entrance hall, holding a roll of canvas under his armpit and a reel of film in his right hand. He walked into the living room excitedly and grinned, "Boss, sister-in-law, young lady, young master, aunt, and all the big brothers, happy Mid-Autumn Festival!"

Everyone was silent, looking somewhat awkward.

Jiang Lianheng looked over here with a sullen face.

Chuanghu's smile froze on his face. He immediately realized that he had come at the wrong time. He rolled his eyes and quickly took two steps back. He turned around in a circle as if he was lost. He sniffed twice and said to himself at the door, "Hey, the goose outside seems to be calling me. I'll go out and take a look!"

(End of this chapter)