Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 499: Ten tables, perfect, notify one by one
Xu Ning stood up with the cup in his hand and turned around to toast. Since he and Meng Ziyan had announced their wedding date, he had to express his gratitude and invited everyone to come to his wedding! If you need anything, just let me know. If you need anything, just ask. No need to be polite...

Meng Ziyan was carrying the wine jug very diligently. Whenever someone's glass was short of wine, she would rush forward to fill it up, saying: "Uncles, brothers, please drink more and eat more food."

The gentlemen praised Meng Ziyan for her virtue and said she was a perfect match for Xu Ning. In the future, while Xu Ning was working outside to earn money to support the family, she would definitely be a good wife and helper by taking care of the housework at home.

The house was very lively and the festive atmosphere lasted for more than half an hour. Xu Laonian and Meng Quezi raised their glasses one after another with smiles on their faces.

Meng Quezi and Liu Fenfang used to like Xu Ning. First, he fished Meng Ziyan out of the reservoir. Second, Xu Ning was very good at doing things. With such a capable son-in-law, people would look up to him wherever they went. But Xu Ning was not willing to deal with Meng Ziyan before, so the old couple was very depressed. Their daughter was not bad looking and had a very good personality. Why didn't they like her? You also spent all day playing with money and hanging around.

Later, Xu Ning showed his true feelings to Meng Ziyan and said frankly that he would marry her in the future, which made the old couple very happy. The most important thing was that their daughter had good taste. Now Xu Ning no longer played with money. Although he picked up the wine, he was not annoying when drinking, and he was moderate. He was also good at making money. In less than a year, he stuffed three thousand into Liu Lizhen's hands...

This made Meng Quezi and his wife very satisfied, and the more they looked at Xu Ning, the more they liked him! Now that the wedding date was set, Meng Quezi and Liu Fenfang felt at ease.

Meng Quezi asked: "When will Hu Zi and Hua get married?"

Han Fengjiao smiled and said, "After we finish putting up the beam, we have to go to Wanye to make a decision."

Liu Fenfang came up to him and whispered, "The date has been set, but Hua's elder sister and aunt are not here. Jiao'er has to go over and discuss it with them."

Although Guan Lei is Guan Hua's eldest brother, his words are not very effective in such matters. Besides him, Guan Hua has two elders, Wu Zhouquan and Han Fang. Wu is Guan's father's sworn brother, so he is like a real uncle. Wu has to make the decision on the marriage matters of the three children. How can Han Fengjiao decide it on her own? That would be too disrespectful to Wu Zhouquan and Han Fang.

So Han Fengjiao only asked about the approximate wedding date today, but didn't make a final decision...

Xu Laonian suddenly put down his wine glass and said, "Hey, I just remembered now after drinking, weren't you three here to find a day to raise the beam?"

Liu Lizhen clapped her hands fiercely: "Oh my god, that's exactly what happened!"

Sun Lianfang said with a smile: "My aunt was overwhelmed by the news of my brother and sister-in-law's marriage."

"Yeah! Well, today is the 6th, and the beam raising ceremony is on the 10th, which is the twelfth day of the sixth lunar month. That day is a good day."

Han Fengjiao asked, "Can you catch up?"

"Hurry up! We can finish building the wall in two and a half days, leaving one day for plastering and other things, which is more than enough!"

Xu Laonian smiled and said, "Then we have to prepare some good food for lunch on the 10th. We are all very tired after building the house for such a long time, so we must have a good drink."

Lao Zhang said, "Hey, big brother, that's just the amount of effort you put in. Besides, my sister-in-law keeps giving me good food and wine all day long. I won't feel tired no matter how long I work."

"Not a bad thing!" everyone echoed.

Liu Lizhen said: "When the time comes, invite all your family members over, and we'll have ten tables together to celebrate properly."

"Sister-in-law, my home is far away, so you can just call the people in our village." Lao Zhang said.

Xiao Liu said: "My wife is on the street, she definitely can't come."

Xu Laonian took a bite of food and said, "When you get home tonight, talk to your wives and children and come over when you have time."

"Yeah, let's get together and have some fun."

Xu Ning said with a smile, "Let's have ten tables, that's perfect. Uncle Zhang, Brother Liu, don't say your homes are far away, don't you have cars now? You can drive to each village to pick them up. Don't say you don't have time, now that you've finished farming, is there anything else you need to do at home?"

Liu Lizhen nodded and said, "Not bad, come and have a bite."

After Lao Zhang, Xiao Liu and other foresters nodded, Xu Ning said, "I will notify every household in the village later. Brother Feng? Can your child go out? Let your sister-in-law bring him over for a walk, and ask your eldest sister-in-law to come over earlier to help my mother and the others with the chores..."

Li Feng was stunned when he heard this. His wife was the younger sister of the Chang brothers, and everyone in Qing'an Village knew about the grudge between Xu Ning and the Chang brothers.

But after Xu Ning said this, everyone nodded and exchanged glances as if to say: Er Ning's magnanimity is impeccable. He treats each matter one by one. He has grievances with the Chang brothers, but it has nothing to do with Chang Lihong. He has grievances with Li San and Li Shan, but it has nothing to do with Li Feng and Sun Cuiping.

Xu Laonian replied, "Feng, listen to your brother. Ask him to tell your wife later. You can talk to her when you get home."

Li Feng nodded, blushed and smiled: "Yeah, OK!"

Recently, Lao Jiang, Li Feng, Liu Daming and Da Laba have not been collecting and selling meat because they have no time. They have lost a lot of money due to the delay. But Li Feng did not complain. Instead, he was the first one to arrive in the morning. Sometimes he even slept in the shack at night, keeping an eye on the red bricks, wood, steel bars and other things. He really put in a lot of effort.

Yu Kaihe's family consists of an elderly couple. He usually helps the Xu family with work, but Liu Lizhen has not forgotten his wife. She would serve two small bowls of food at almost every meal and ask Sun Lianfang to send them to his wife. As for the remaining families, except Lao Jiang and Jiang Qiuer, they would sometimes send some dishes to the Niu family. For example, half a basin of radish and vermicelli stuffed buns prepared a few days ago was sent to the Niu family.

Niu Li and Niu Le did not come to help every day. Sometimes they would get odd jobs in the field, so they went out to earn money. After all, their father was in poor health. Even if their stepmother could take care of the housework, without an income source, the family of five would have to starve.

The others are Lao Wei, Lao Zhao and Lao Bai. The latter two are the spouses of Aunt Zhao and Aunt Bai, and they both work in the forest farm.

There are also the Chang family, the Du family, the Huang family, the Tang family and the accountant in Qing'antun, the Hu family, the Deng family, and Li Ye's family in Taipingtun. Together, they are enough to set up ten tables!

After the meal, the masters drank some tea and then went to the construction site. The women washed pots and pans in the outer room, while Xu Ning rode his donkey around the village.

He first notified Chang Danian, then went to tell Du Shoucai, and went to the former Dong's house, now Li Feng's house, to meet Chang Lihong and Sun Cuiping. Xu Ning did not enter the house, but just said a few words at the gate of the yard.

Chang Lihong was a little surprised to hear this. She was willing in her heart, but she was afraid that her two brothers would make trouble. She was also worried that Chang Danian would look at her and turn around and leave, so she said, "I have to stay home to take care of the child. This child is making trouble. So, let my sister-in-law go over and help."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Haha, I know what you are thinking, but I call Li Feng brother, so you are my sister-in-law. Don't worry, my uncle has nothing to say. Besides, didn't you secretly send vermicelli to my uncle twice in the past two years?"

"Oh, stop talking about vermicelli. I'm embarrassed to talk about it. Two handfuls are enough for two meals. Later, there was really nothing to give as a gift. My father-in-law is quite stingy. He kept looking for things in other people's houses. I didn't even dare to go out of the door, for fear that others would point fingers at me."

Xu Ning waved his hand: "It's okay, you guys are alone now, there's not much to say in our village. Come over at noon on the 10th, you guys help with the work, my mom will be more relaxed."

"Okay! Then I'll go early with my sister-in-law and the child."

Chang Lihong and the Chang brothers are from the same mother, but Chang Lihong is more reasonable than the Chang brothers. When Li Shan beat Sun Cuiping, she protected her. When Li San treated Li Feng unfairly, she gritted her teeth and kept silent. She only said a few words when she couldn't hold it back any longer. After hearing Xu Ning's invitation, Sun Cuiping kept nodding with a smile on her face. Since Li Shan's death, her good days have come. Although there are many inconveniences in living with her brother-in-law and there are inevitable gossips, she is clear-headed. The mountain has collapsed and she is liberated. So no matter what outsiders say, she is always cheerful.

He rode the donkey backwards for fifty or sixty meters and stopped at the door of Old Yu's house. Aunt Yu was picking soybeans in the yard, preparing to go to Old Qin's house to grind some tofu and make a pot of tofu.

Aunt Yu's original surname was Zhou, but she didn't have a real name, only a nickname, Niya. After she married Yu Kaihe, she was called Yu Zhou.

"Oh, you don't have to help. Just go there before the lunch break!"

Aunt Yu said with a smile, "I have nothing to do at home anyway, so I'll go over and help add fuel to the fire. Otherwise, I'll be bored by myself."

Xu Ning did not argue with her. This old lady was quite pitiful. She and Yu Kaihe had no children all their lives. She adopted a girl and married her off. Sometimes she didn't come back for two or three years. People in the village said that this girl was a wolf cub. In fact, it was not the case. The main reason was that she didn't find a good and sensible man.

A woman married to the provincial capital, without a job, taking care of the children at home all day, how can she have a say if she doesn't make money? Didn't Yu Kaihe know that the son-in-law was coming, so he asked Xu Ning to prepare some meat, and tried every means to please his son-in-law, why? Isn't it just to make his daughter suffer less?

Pushing the donkey to the door of Lao Niu's house, he shouted twice at the top of his voice, and then saw a middle-aged woman supporting an old man with white hair and a slightly bald head slowly walking out.

"Oh, I was wondering why there was a magpie calling this morning. It turns out there was a rare visitor..."

Niu Baotian is really talking nonsense. In early July, the magpies in Northeast China are in the molting period and very few of them come out.

But the meaning of his words was very straightforward. Didn't you see that it was the widow Zhang Yanfang who helped him out of the house? This showed that Niu Baotian really treated Xu Ning as a distinguished guest.

Seeing him leave the house, Xu Ning said with a smile, "Haha, what a rare guest! You better stay away! I'll just say a few words and then I'll leave."

"Stop it, come inside, let's talk inside!"

"I really won't go in. I have to go to Taiping. This is what's going on. My new house will be put up on the 10th, and a few tables will be set up at noon. You all can go over and have a drink. Let's have some fun."

"Oh my god, the house is already under construction so soon? I really didn't notice it. Then...then can you let your aunt go over? My legs and feet are not very convenient."

"What's the inconvenience? There's a donkey riding backwards! You can sit in the front and I'll pull you over."

"Okay! Let your aunt go there early to help out."

"Okay, I'll be leaving first."

Niu Baotian and Zhang Yanfang smiled and nodded. He got on the donkey and the engine started to roar. Then he disappeared without a trace.

The two turned around in the courtyard and walked slowly back into the house. Niu Baotian said with a smile, "Thank you, big brother. From now on, we can relax a little more."

"Why? Just because Lile helped build the house?"

"No, there are so many people in our village who want to help but can't find a way to start a conversation. Big Brother Yu has a good relationship with Xu Er. He asked Li Hele to help build the house. Didn't you hear a few days ago that Xu Er was going to open a workshop? Big Brother Yu said that he and Lao Wei were helping to recruit workers. If Li Hele can get into Xu Er's workshop, they will be permanent workers and won't have to do odd jobs. Then they will earn at least 40 to 50 yuan a month. In less than half a year, our family's life will be a little better."

Zhang Yanfang cried with joy, wiping her tears and said, "If this is true, our family's hard times will be over."

"Why are you crying again? Blame me for my poor physique, which made you suffer with me."

Zhang Yanfang shook her head: "I am not suffering. If you don't want me, Manman and I will die..."

This is a couple who got married later in life. Although there is a huge age gap between them, they have a good relationship. Niu Li and Niu Le also respect their stepmother.

Why? Because if you look around the whole village, you will find that as long as the family conditions are poor, there are few clean ones. They are all dirty and smelly. But Lao Niu's family is very clean. Even though they are poor, the yard, the floor, the kang edge, the bedding, and the clothes are always clean. There is no dirt even around the washbasin.

Xu Ning did not go to Taiping immediately, but turned back to the military headquarters and called Lao Qian, Liu Xuemin and Xu Long to inform them.

Lao Qian said that his wife and children were in school and couldn't come on the 10th. Liu Xuemin said that she would go with Lao Qian and Lao Jin. Xu Long said that Hu Zhibin had come to the city to work and he would go and tell him. If Third Uncle and Sun Jishan were free, they would also come.

"Ask Brother Yan and Brother Du. Aren't you three on good terms? Building a house is a big deal. We must notify everyone when entertaining guests."

"Do you need to tell me that? Don't worry, I will tell you everything I need to tell you."

After the two brothers hung up the phone, Xu Ning called the Chai family in Wangxing, the Sun family in Sandaohe, and the Wu family in Wanye. All three families agreed immediately, but Wu Haiquan was too busy at work. He said he would try to spare a day, and don't blame him if they really couldn't come.

Just as he was about to call Wang Minfu, Xu Laonian walked in with his hands behind his back. Seeing him dialing the number, he asked, "Have you told me everything?"

"Ah, I'm calling your in-laws now, what are you going to say to them?"

"I'm here, do you think I should tell you?"

As soon as Xu Laonian looked at his expression, Xu Ning knew that his father was making trouble again. He smiled and left his seat, handed the microphone to Xu Laonian, turned to Du Shoucai and said, "Uncle, look at my dad, he's like a child. Is he still making trouble over such a small matter?"

"You have done your job as a father. How can a father not be picky?"

Du Shoucai drank his tea and said something fair, then put down his teacup and said, "Dalin, don't be petty with the child. You will be laid off sooner or later, so you should give way to him when you should."

"I know, brother. I didn't quarrel with him." Xu Laonian looked up and asked, "Have you called your Uncle Guo and Grandpa Zhang?"

"No, you have to tell me. I don't have the strength to do that."

"Hmph, get out of here right away and go to Taiping to tell your uncles Hu and Deng."

"okay."

Xu Ning responded with a grin, then ran out of the garrison.

(End of this chapter)