70: Raising a wife, the whole village is inhaling the aroma of stewed meat.

The two rooms in the east wing were for the use of Zhou Qingwen and his wife.

The south wing was given to the eldest brother and his wife, while the west wing was given to the second brother and his wife.

There is only one kitchen, but it has two large stoves and a small stove in the middle.

That was a secret opening left by Zhou Qingwen.

It is used to heat up porridge or soup for children when there are children present.

Or, if there's an emergency, a bowl of cooked food can be prepared for someone else. Normally, there's just an iron kettle for boiling water.

It's very convenient.

After Zhou Qingwen made these arrangements, everyone in the family finished their tasks and went door-to-door to notify the family.

After walking around all night, the whole village knew that tomorrow was the Zhou family's housewarming banquet.

In the evening, the eldest sister-in-law, the second sister-in-law, and Yu Yalan, the three daughters-in-law, along with Liu Yue'e, the mother-in-law, were all busy in the kitchen.

There was scrubbing, cutting meat, washing vegetables, peeling potatoes, and so on.

While everyone was busy, Zhou Qingwen took several portions of half-pound rabbit meat, which weighed about seven pounds.

After skinning and removing the internal organs, it weighed five and a half pounds.

Therefore, Zhou Qingwen divided it into twelve parts.

They each took four portions from their eldest and second eldest brothers and went to the Zhou family's relatives' place to exchange for the vegetables.

If we don't prepare a lot of dishes for the housewarming banquet, what will we serve them?

Therefore, we went to exchange it with a relative of the Zhou family.

The benefits were also given to relatives on the family side.

When the relatives saw Zhou Qingwen arrive with meat, they were all very welcoming.

The eldest brother's side is the same, and the second brother's is almost the same.

Therefore, the three brothers all brought back quite a few dishes.

The items include dried wood ear mushrooms, dried radishes, dried bamboo shoots, processed dried sweet potato leaves, dried green beans, various beans, and peanuts.

The three brothers each brought back a large basket of vegetables.

Liu Yue'e then tidied them up again, putting the similar ones together.

That way, there will be enough for cooking tomorrow.

We were busy until almost 11 p.m. before we finally finished, washed our faces, and went to bed.

However, these were all new beds, and the whole family was so excited that they couldn't sleep!

Zhou Qingwen had planned this all along.

He pressed Yu Yalan's fair body to the side and, well, he got busy...

The moon looked blushing tonight.

Clearly, the Zhou family members were overly excited and did a lot of that kind of work.

It wasn't until late into the night that I finally fell asleep, my breathing becoming even.

Early the next morning

Liu Yue'e happily went to the south room and called out, "Eldest daughter, get up quickly, it's time to get to work!"

The eldest sister-in-law, Zhang Huayu, immediately responded, "Yes, Mom, I'll be there in a bit."

"it is good."

Liu Yue'e went to the west door and called out, "Second son's wife? You'd better get up quickly, it's time to get to work."

"Okay, Mom, I'm getting dressed, I'll be right there."

"it is good."

Liu Yue'e walked to the house on the east side: "Third son's wife, are you up yet?"

"Mom, she's getting up and getting dressed. She'll comb her hair in a bit."

"OK."

Liu Yue'e went to the kitchen and busied herself making breakfast.

Breakfast included steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat and water, wolf meat buns, and a pot of corn porridge that was incredibly fragrant—the kind that's neither too thin nor too thick, with a rich corn aroma.

Yu Yalan was the last one to be called, but she had the responsibility to cook, so she got up very quickly.

Once in the kitchen, I prepared some soaked dried green beans, added some minced ginger and a little bit of minced wolf meat, and stir-fried them until fragrant.

I also took some dried radish, stir-fried it with wolf offal, and it smelled delicious.

Breakfast consisted of only two dishes.

These two dishes are meant to be eaten with steamed buns.

The meat buns are served two per person, and they are made a little smaller.

Zhou Jinfeng was wandering around the kitchen early in the morning, trying to get some meat buns, when Liu Yue'e slapped his hand and said, "Don't steal them! You can eat them at breakfast later, okay!"

"Grandma, I'm hungry."

Yu Yalan smiled and said, "Come on, have you tried some of the food your third aunt made? Is it cooked yet?"

Zhou Jinfeng glanced at the piece of glistening wolf meat in Yu Yalan's shovel and immediately said with a smile, "Let me try it!"

Zhou Jinfeng popped a piece of wolf meat into his mouth, chewed, and said, "Third Aunt, your cooking is delicious! It's so good!"

Yu Yalan smiled and said, "Yes, eat more later."

"Okay, sure!"

Zhou Jinfeng turned and went out of the kitchen. His eldest and second sisters-in-law hurried over and asked, "Mom, third sister-in-law, what are we doing?"

Liu Yue'e immediately said, "Eldest daughter, you make the corn porridge; second daughter, you're in charge of serving it."

Liu Yue'e immediately chopped up a handful of scallions she had washed, grabbed a small handful and sprinkled them into Yu Yalan's pot: "Adding a handful of scallions will enhance the flavor."

"it is good."

Yu Yalan also gently stirred it with a spatula.

The whole pot of food was ready.

Once everyone was seated, the sound of eating could be heard.

It was only around six o'clock in the morning.

The Zhou family members get up before five o'clock.

Most rural people get up around this time.

After breakfast, Liu Yue'e cleared away the dishes, while her three daughters-in-law went to the kitchen to get busy.

Before long, several of Yu Yalan's sisters-in-law and aunts who were not very close to her arrived. A little while later, several familiar women from the eldest son's family and the second son's family also arrived.

Soon the kitchen will be too crowded to fit.

Several people came out into the courtyard to help wash the vegetables.

Two large pots of steamed buns were steamed in the pot!

We were busy until nine o'clock in the morning when a lot of customers started to arrive.

People in the village, relatives and friends, the brigade leader, and so on.

The people in the cowshed were very conscientious; not a single one of them came.

Fearing that the other side would be lonely and sad, Zhou Qingwen bypassed the crowd and brought a basket of good vegetables and meat, along with two packs of cigarettes and a bottle of liquor.

Yu Xiongwei was deeply moved.

He kept saying, "You child, why did you come today? Don't come during the day! Don't you know I'm a 'black element'? A bad element!"

"Dad, what are you saying? I believe you're good, and there will definitely be a chance for you to be exonerated in the future!"

A glimmer of hope flashed in Yu Xiongwei's eyes, but it quickly faded again: "Stop talking, go now, go back quickly, and don't come over during the day, understand?"

"Okay, Dad, Mom, eldest brother, sister-in-law, second sister, I'm leaving."

"Go back quickly."

Chen Sufang wiped away her tears: "Qingwen feels like my own son, he's so close to us."

The eldest brother laughed and said, "Mom, a son-in-law is like half a son, so just treat him like a son who cares for you."

Chen Sufang said with a smile, "Quickly, put all these dishes away."

The eldest sister-in-law laughed and said, "Mom, leave it to me."

"Hey, take it to the kitchen."

"it is good."

Yu Xiongwei glanced at Zhou Qingwen's retreating figure. "You could say Qingwen is our family's savior!"

The eldest brother, Yu Mingliang, also glanced at Zhou Qingwen's retreating figure in the distance: "Dad, if I ever have the ability in the future, I will definitely repay my brother-in-law."

"Okay, I'm relieved to hear that."

Yu Xiongwei glanced at it and said, "Today is a special day for your brother-in-law's family, let's have a drink together!"

"Okay! Alright!"

Zhou Qingwen returned home and began entertaining his relatives, friends, and some of his classmates.

Just then, a classmate said, "Qingwen, do you know? That village beauty, Luo Xiuqin, I heard she fainted three times from crying during your wedding!"

Zhou Qingwen's eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "Why bring her up?"