Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 679: Your face looks a bit strange, I can read your palm

Today, Old Xu's house was packed with people, from 7 o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock.

The grand occasion was comparable to Xu Ning's wedding. The house was bustling with people and the seemingly chaotic scene was actually very orderly. The north kitchen and the west room belonged to the old women, who were making bean buns. The men were chatting and greeting visitors in the east room, the reception room, or under the plastic shed. The children were making snowmen and having snowball fights in the yard.

Xu Long, Xu Feng, Jin Yumantang, Wang Biao, Liu Tianen and Huang Lin have all returned home, but Yang Yusheng has not come back. He has been very busy in the city these two days, and it seems that he is studying how to make progress.

At this moment, there were about 50 people inside and outside Old Xu's house. In addition to his own family, there were people from the village, such as Chang Danian, Du Shoucai, Li Feng and others, as well as Old Qian, Liu Xuemin, Zhao Lan and two children who came from the street, and Chai Bing and his third sister-in-law, Chai Hongyan, and Chai Baotong who came from Wang Xing.

Seeing that it was almost 10 o'clock, Xu Laonian started to prepare to kill the roe deer. Then the men got up and moved to the backyard, and three or five of them worked together to capture the roe deer, and they used the white knife to go in and the red knife to remove, bleed it and skin it. After completing the whole process, they threw the meat into the pot and stewed it.

Sun Cuiping, Zhao Lan and Chang Juan were cutting pickled cabbage. They certainly wouldn't have called so many people for a meal of tofu buns, so they had to prepare at least a few dishes. Last night, Liu Lizhen had already arranged the table, with a total of eight dishes, including roe deer meat stewed with pickled cabbage, braised salmon, deep-fried flat fish, donkey meat in sauce, old hen stewed with hazel mushrooms, duozi meat, pot-fried pork, and three kinds of stir-fried dishes...

But when the old woman was preparing the dishes, she ended up making 10 dishes and added two cold dishes, one was salt-fried peanuts and the other was cabbage hearts mixed with vermicelli.

Steaming sticky bean buns is quite time-consuming. Even though Liu Lizhen had prepared the stuffing and dough yesterday, it is still quite hard to wrap them. After one pot of bean buns after another came out of the pot, Wang Biao, Liu Tianen and other boys took the lids to the wooden rack in the yard. It only takes a moment for the steaming sticky bean buns to harden. After two hours, they have been frozen hard. This thing is comparable to an ice cube. If you hit it on someone's head, it will form a big bun.

It was really unbearable to stay in the house because it was too hot. The fire wall and the kang were so hot that they were scalding. Liu Lizhen opened both the back and front windows, but the hot air turned into white smoke when it came out of the house, and she couldn't see anyone at all.

After working until about 2 o'clock, the Xu family officially started the feast. There were three tables in the reception room, two tables in the east room, and two tables in the west room, a total of eight tables. Why eight tables? There was also a large round table in the dining room.

There was plenty of cigarettes and alcohol. At first, Xu Laonian arranged for them to drink Wuliangye, but Chang Da Nian and Ma Liu were not very keen on it and only wanted to drink Sanlouzi.

That's how it is with drinking, you can't mix it with anything else, otherwise you'll feel dizzy and uncomfortable after drinking. So middle-aged and elderly people drink Gaolianghong, while young people like Xu Ning and Chai Bing drink Fengcheng Laojiao. When Chai Bing came over, he brought a box of soda, and the children sitting on the kang in the west room each held a bottle of soda.

Since it was Zhou Hui's first time at Old Xu's house, Liu Lizhen was quite caring towards her. She originally didn't want her to drink too much, but this woman had a good alcohol tolerance and drank two and a half taels of liquor as if nothing happened. Old Jiang said at the table that she could drink about one kilogram of liquor with a concentration of more than 50 degrees by herself, which was more than that of normal men.

After Zhou Hui felt the atmosphere of Old Xu's house, her every move became free and easy. She joked with everyone and quickly integrated into the family. From this, we can see that this woman is quite good at dealing with human relationships. According to Xu Laonian, Old Jiang really found a treasure.

While drinking, everyone mentioned the misunderstanding caused by Zhou Hui giving mooncakes to Du Manzhi. Zhao Yue'e covered her mouth and laughed when she heard it. She said frankly that she was scared at the time and really thought Du Manzhi had a mistress. She never thought that the box of mooncakes was actually for Lao Jiang.

After this was said, everyone burst into laughter and the atmosphere became lively. Xu Ning glanced at Wu Haitao while chewing on a roe deer bone. He found that Xiaotao's eyes were directed towards Meng Ziyan's table, and the reflection in his pupils was exactly Pan Xiao!

It must be said that sometimes fate comes so cleverly. Before Xu Ning could say anything, Wu Haitao leaned over and asked, "Brother, there is a girl at my sister-in-law's table whom I have never seen before."

Xu Ning raised his glass and deliberately ignored him, saying, "Brother He, Brother Yong, shall we go?"

"Let's go!" Everyone at the table raised their glasses and took a sip happily.

Wu Haitao could only follow the crowd, but he felt uncomfortable drinking the wine. When he took a sip, it tasted a bit bitter.

He glanced at Pan Xiao again, then leaned closer and asked, "Brother, whose family is this girl at my sister-in-law's table?"

Xu Ning frowned and said, "What for? That's the one that Jun hired to take care of the child. Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Hey, she looks familiar to me. Is she married?"

Guan Lei continued, "She has no partner now, and her brothers are all working in our house. What do you mean?"

Wu Haitao covered his face and said, "What else can it mean? Touch my chest, my heart is pounding..."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "You can do whatever you want, but I have to tell you in advance that her family conditions are not that good. You can see that she looks good and has a good personality. She has lived in our village for such a long time, and she basically stays at home to take care of the children. She rarely goes out."

"Ah, then...then please introduce me to him."

Xu Ning waved his hand: "Why introduce me? I'm just sitting here eating. If you want to get to know me, just go and talk to me yourself."

Wu Haitao looked a little constipated and said, "I don't know how to talk either."

Xu Ning said: "What's the big deal? Just say you look familiar..."

Wang Hu continued, "The next sentence is, I think I read your palm. Raise your hand and I'll take another look at it."

"Hahaha……"

Half of the people at the table burst out laughing after hearing this. Palm reading is a traditional skill of these brothers, because all of their relationships started with palm reading, hand in hand, mouth to mouth, and although they didn't have any big events before marriage, they had experienced some small touches before marriage.

Wu Haitao gritted his teeth and nodded: "Okay! I'll go talk to her later. Just now you said her brothers were working in the field? Which field?"

"We are just standing there."

"Ah...if I go to work in the field, can I get in touch with her brothers?"

"Are you really going? The work in the field is very tiring. Don't just work for two days and then run away. If you do that, I won't be able to pay you."

"I can't possibly run away! I came here to prove to my parents that I am not incapable of enduring hardship."

Wu Haitao's expression was very serious, and it seemed that he had already thought about it before following Guan Lei here.

Xu Ning and the others didn't say anything, but just patted him on the shoulder and gave him a few earnest reminders, so that he could be mentally prepared in advance.

At this time, Xu Feng ran over like crazy and said, "Second brother! I heard that Brother Jun and Sister Cuiping are dating?"

Yang Jun was chewing pickled cabbage nearby. He almost spit out what he had in his mouth when he heard this. He ate it twice and said, "Feng, your brother Jun is right here."

"Oh my god, who is this? Jun seems to be a different person. He looks more handsome than before."

Yang Jun grinned upon hearing this, raised his hand and touched his face awkwardly, "Really? You're more handsome than before?"

"That's not the case, otherwise why wouldn't I recognize it?"

"Hahahaha... This is the first time I've been praised in all these years. It makes me feel really good!"

Xu Feng smiled and said, "That's because they don't have good taste. Look at how good my sister Cuiping is."

Xu Ning looked at his little sister talking and felt a little happy in his heart. This showed that Xu Feng's transfer to the city to study was not in vain. Not only did she make progress, but she also gained skills in speaking and was no longer as stiff and awkward as before.

"If you've finished eating, take Baozhu out to make a snowman." Xu Feng pouted and said, "I haven't chatted with Third Brother yet."

"Third brother has to stay here for one night, let's talk in the evening, go quickly..."

After Xu Feng left, Yang Jun was still smiling. It seemed that Xu Feng's words really touched his heart.

Chai Bing said with a smile: "You three are all like my uncle, you can chat and get things done..."

"Third brother, I am sorry for showing off."

Xu Ning raised his glass and suddenly said this, making Chai Bing laugh. Why?

Everyone present here is smart. Everyone knows the difference between polite words and what is said from the heart. The purpose of these words is to cover up for Xu Feng.

Xu Laonian, Meng Quezi, Chang Danian and others were sitting at the same table. They were talking about all the trivial things in the past. The topic could be traced back to thirty years ago, so it’s better not to mention them.

The more they drank, the hotter they got. When this group of people got together, there was no rest. One person started talking and another one came on stage. Everyone wanted to tell a few stories. After all, what was the purpose of getting together? Wasn't it to have fun?
At around 7 o'clock, the old woman fried a lot of tofu buns in a big pot in the north kitchen. Both sides were golden and crunchy. She stuffed some sugar into the filling, picked them up with chopsticks and put them into her mouth. They were quite delicious and comfortable.

Before he even swallowed it, Xu Ning grinned and praised the quality of this year's tofu, saying it was not sticky and was chewy. Liu Lizhen was also very happy when she heard that.

Long before it got dark, the old women went to the courtyard and put the frozen tofu into the sauce jars in the lower house. Old Xu's family stockpiled five jars, Old Wang's family stockpiled three jars, and the other two jars were put into sacks by Liu Lizhen. After everyone left, they gave some to each of them.

The table was removed, and the old ladies gathered around the pot to wash the dishes. Liu Lizhen pushed Pan Xiao and said, "Xiao, go back and heat the kang first."

"Hurry up, I'll go back after I finish washing the dishes. Auntie, you take a rest."

"Oh, not tired! Go ahead, go back and heat the kang, you are not needed here. Think about coming over to eat tomorrow morning, don't stay home to cook."

Han Fengjiao, Wu Qiuxia and others all said so, so Pan Xiao grabbed a rag, wiped his hands, and walked out of the house. As soon as he reached the plastic shed, someone chased him from behind.

Wu Haitao followed her out the door and said bluntly, "You look familiar to me. Were you in Qing'an before?"

Pan Xiao was startled by the sudden voice, looked back and shook his head: "No, I've only been here for less than three months."

"Ah, where are you from? My family is Wanye, my name is Wu Haitao, what's your name?"

Outside the plastic shed is the woodshed. With the light from inside, one can see Wu Haitao's eyes shining. Pan Xiao was a little dazed because she knew she was there to help. She didn't dare ignore Wu Haitao because he was a guest of Old Xu's family after all.

"Pan Xiao, my family is from Changshou Laoshanzi."

After the conversation ended, Wu Haitao suddenly didn't know how to continue the conversation. He wondered if he really wanted to read the palm of his hand. Wasn't this a bit too radical?

But now the two of them were awkwardly standing outside the plastic shed, which was not a good idea. Wu Haitao remembered what Xu Ning had said before, and said, "Your face seems a little strange to me."

Pan Xiao touched his face and said unsurely, "Is it strange? It seems to be..."

“It’s really pretty!”

Immediately, Pan Xiao's heart skipped a beat and his face turned red.

"..."

She stood there stupidly, at a loss as to what to do, looking at the person in front of her with mixed emotions.

Even a brainless person would understand the meaning of this sentence. Pan Xiao thought to himself: How can this guy be such a hooligan?

But due to the Xu family's reputation, Pan Xiao did not dare to say it. He just stood there for two seconds and said, "I have to go back to light the fire."

Seeing Pan Xiao was about to turn around and leave, Wu Haitao hurried forward and said, "It's dark here, I'll take you back."

Outside the courtyard, Xu Feng and others saw Wu Haitao chasing Pan Xiao out. She raised her hand to her mouth in a trumpet shape and shouted, "Brother Tao! I have a flashlight here, take it."

After saying that, Xu Feng ran away quickly, stuffed the flashlight into Wu Haitao's hand, and blinked at him twice when turning around.

Wu Haitao said with a smile: "Tell Junge that I'm sending Pan Xiao back to heat the kang, and I'll take Dian Baozhu with me when he comes back."

"OK!"

Pan Xiao had already walked out the door, and Wu Haitao hurriedly followed him. When they reached the bridge, he said, "I'm going to work in the Lengchang tomorrow. I heard that your brothers are all in the Lengchang?"

"Well, Jun-ge has a good heart."

Wu Haitao asked, "Has your brother ever thought about finding you a husband?"

"..." Pan Xiao said nothing.

The two walked forward in silence until they entered the gate of Old Wang's house. Pan Xiao then said, "I'm here. You can go back soon."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Why don't you invite me in to have a drink of water? Besides, I have a unique skill. Through you, I can tell when your brothers will get married and how many children they will have in the future. Do you believe it?"

Pan Xiao was a little moved when she heard that. She was not worried about herself, but only about her brother and two younger brothers. This was because Pan Yan's nickname was Chicken Claw, and he was a little disabled. It was extremely difficult for him to find a partner in this era, unless he was very rich and had a good family background.

"real or fake?"

Wu Haitao laughed and said, "Why would I lie to you? Just go into the room and turn on the light, and I'll take a look for you."

Pan Xiao entered the room and pulled the light cord. When the light in the room came on, Wu Haitao turned off the flashlight, sat on the edge of the kang, raised his hand and said, "Stretch out your hand, let me take a look."

She raised her hand half-believingly, and was immediately grabbed by Wu Haitao. Their eyes met immediately, and they could only hear their hearts pounding. Pan Xiao blushed a little. It was the first time for her to be touched by a stranger other than her family in all these years. It felt a little strange.

“Your hand…”

Before Wu Haitao finished speaking, Pan Xiao retracted her hand, because her hands were covered with calluses and frostbite, which in Northeastern dialect are called "mountains".

(End of this chapter)