Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 136 Wedding Banquet

The matchmaker smiled and pushed Zhou Ning onto the bed, teasing him, "Brother Ning, don't look. Those brats are blocking the door. It won't be easy for your man to get in."

Zhou Ning was so embarrassed that she covered her face with a fan. The people around her also started to laugh, and the room was suddenly filled with laughter.

Song Chunsheng was not so optimistic outside. Before he reached Zhou Ning's house, the intersection was blocked by a group of young people, who urged him to finish a jar of rice wine. The alcohol content of the rice wine was not high, but his stomach was bloated. If Song Chunsheng really drank it all, he would have to vomit it out. He could only use a trick and pretend to drink and vomit at the same time. Only the first sip of the wine was actually swallowed. After drinking it, he turned the jar upside down, and Gu Fengyue, who followed him, stepped forward cleverly and gave red envelopes to everyone.

After receiving the red envelope, everyone stopped making things difficult for Song Chunsheng and started to urge him to go in. Song Chunlin was a little dizzy after drinking, and his steps seemed to be walking on clouds. When he arrived at Zhou Ning's door, he straightened his face, raised his hand carefully and knocked on the door.

A voice from inside asked him who he was looking for.

Song Chunsheng summoned up his courage and shouted, "I'm here to take Zhou Ning home!"

As if he felt that his sincerity was not enough, Song Chunsheng raised his voice a little: "Wife, I'm here to pick you up!"

"Oh oh oh wife, I'm here to pick you up!!!"

The unmarried young people started to make a fuss and shout, and Zhou Ning inside felt a little embarrassed. He was at a loss as to what to do when the outsiders started howling again, shouting for him to open the door.

After a series of wolf howls, the door finally opened. Song Chunsheng hurriedly distributed red envelopes to the people in the room. No matter who he met, even the babbling baby got one.

After distributing the red envelopes, those people didn't want to make things difficult for him and made way for him. When he walked in front of Zhou Ning, Zhou Ning covered his face with a fan. Song Chunsheng couldn't see anything and just laughed foolishly.

After successfully picking up the new husband, the team happily turned a corner, circled the village, and then returned to the Song family from another road.

Song Chunlin and his three kids were waiting at the door. He heard the sound of gongs and drums from a distance. Seeing that the carriage was about to arrive at the door, Song Chunlin immediately asked Song Xiaojiu to go back and report the news. He ran to the intersection, took out small firecrackers from his bag and set them off. The people around him didn't understand why, but the sound of firecrackers added a bit of liveliness, so no one cared what Song Chunlin had lit.

Listening to the sound of firecrackers coming closer and closer, the Song family all sat in the main room, waiting for the new husband to arrive.

Farmers' wedding ceremony does not have as many formalities as those in large families. The newlyweds step over the fire basin and walk on the bag of descendants all the way to the main hall, worship the heaven and earth, then worship their parents, and finally the husband and wife worship each other. The newlyweds enter the bridal chamber, and the wedding banquet officially begins.

The Song family's banquet consists of nine large bowls, symbolizing longevity. There are braised pork elbow, sweet and sour fish, boiled chicken, roast duck, four-happiness meatballs, garlic spareribs, and dry-fried lotus root. The only vegetarian dish is cold-mixed shredded vegetables. The soup is white radish, kelp and bone soup. There is plenty of steamed buns and rice as the staple food.

Such a sumptuous banquet was rare in the surrounding area. Although farmers also had nine large dishes at their banquets, half of them were vegetarian dishes. For a family as generous as the Song family, it was difficult to find many guests.

"The Song family is really generous. Look at all the chicken, duck, fish and meat. My family has never eaten like this during the Chinese New Year."

"How dare you say that? I could smell the meatballs you fried during the Chinese New Year through the wall."

"I just fried some meatballs, but you keep talking about it. My meatballs are vegetarian, and they can't compare to the big meatballs from the Song family. They're full of meat."

The Song family not only had a lot of meat and vegetables, but also large portions. Each dish filled a big bowl. For the villagers who rarely ate meat on weekdays, it was indeed better than what they ate during the Chinese New Year, and everyone enjoyed the meal very much.

After the banquet started, it was the groom's turn to propose toasts. Although Gu Fengyue was young, he could drink better than Song Chunsheng, so he was the main force in resisting the drinking. However, the wine in their jugs was diluted with water, so it didn't taste like much alcohol, so they just offered it for the sake of courtesy. However, after a round of drinking, several young men were drunk and their faces were red, especially Song Chunsheng, the groom.

They were having a lively time here. Outside, not far from the Song family's gate, Liu Huaer was biting her handkerchief and glaring angrily at her brother and sister-in-law who were trying to stop her.

"I just went in to say congratulations, isn't that okay?"

Aunt Liu said firmly: "No."

Liu Huaer's eyes flashed with resentment. This time, the Song family did not invite their Liu family to the wedding, but instead invited people from another branch of the Liu family who they were not very familiar with. Liu Huaer suspected that it was Aunt Liu who was behind this. This woman must be jealous of her and didn't want her to have an easy life.

The more Liu Huaer thought about it, the more unbalanced she felt. She looked at Uncle Liu with grievance, "Brother, are you just going to let this woman bully your sister? I'm your biological sister. I just wanted to say congratulations to Chunsheng. Why is she making things difficult for me?"

Looking at his sister's bright red dress, Uncle Liu had a blank expression on his face: "No one would wear red to congratulate someone on their wedding. And what are those things on your head? Flowers and gold hairpins. I'm not blind or stupid. Are you really just trying to say congratulations by dressing yourself like this?"

Liu Huaer's face froze when her brother exposed her purpose, but she still defended herself: "It's a wedding, I can't wear my usual rags, wouldn't that be embarrassing for you?"

Aunt Liu snorted coldly, "Put away your little tricks. If the clothes you wear on a daily basis are rags, then what are your brother and I wearing? Rags? How dare you say you don't have good clothes to wear? First, take off those hairpins on your head. If you sell them all, they will probably be worth a lot of money. Then you can buy as many new clothes as you want."

Seeing that her brother and sister-in-law were not willing to give in and were even planning to get her jewelry, Liu Huaer couldn't help but raise her voice: "You want my hairpin? You're dreaming. Who the hell are you? I was just lucky to marry into our Liu family. If you hadn't interfered, the wedding banquet would have been held for me. You bastard...ah!"

Liu Huaer covered half of her swollen face and looked at her brother in disbelief.

"You actually hit me? You hit me for a stranger?"

Uncle Liu was furious. "I'm going to hit you, you unfilial thing. When you were born, your parents were old, and your sister-in-law just got married and was busy taking care of you. You can say that your sister-in-law raised you, but that's what you said about your sister-in-law? She's an outsider, but what are you? You're just an outsider who hasn't married yet. I'm going to say this today, are you going to go back with us or not?"

"No, I'm not going back!" Liu Huaer yelled and rushed between the two of them, trying to force her way in, but she was no match for the couple.

The couple, who had been doing farm work all year round, held her up on both sides like they were catching a chick, and did not let go even though she screamed and yelled.

There were people watching the fun around, and when they saw Liu Huaer being taken away, they kept cursing and pointing at them.

"The Liu family's daughter is useless."

"It's useless. The last time he made a scene at the Song family, he almost announced to the world that this girl can't be married."

"I heard that Old Man Liu wants to find her a man in town. Is this true?"

Someone sneered, "If the people in the village don't like her, won't the people in the town be able to choose? I heard that later, Old Man Liu asked several matchmakers to ask. When they heard it was Liu Huaer, they immediately refused to do it, saying that she was so obsessed with the eldest son of the Song family, and they were afraid that she would not live a good life after marrying her."

"What kind of life are you living? You're probably worried that she'll be cheated on."

There was another burst of laughter from the side. It was really possible when I thought about it. The laughter here continued even after the three Liu family members left.

The Liu family's incident was just a small episode. Except for Song Chunlin, who had been emitting spiritual power, no one in the Song family knew that they had been here. When Song Chunlin saw Liu Huaer in a red dress and with pearls and jade on her head, he knew that she was here to cause trouble. Fortunately, Aunt Liu and the others were clear-headed and came to catch her as soon as they found Liu Huaer running out, so as not to disrupt the happy event.

Song Chunlin snorted coldly. Liu Huaer was lucky. If she really came in to disrupt the situation, Song Chunlin wouldn't mind letting her see why the flowers were so red.

Song Chunsheng was entertaining guests outside while Zhou Ning was sitting in the house feeling somewhat bored. Because the house had been rebuilt, the rooms were even bigger than the original ones. Considering that Song Chunsheng would get married in the future, the house was not only spacious, but also had a cloakroom next to it. Turning the corner from the cloakroom was the bathroom. From the moment he entered the room, Zhou Ning was very curious about this small room and was wondering what was behind the door. When he couldn't help but walked over and pushed open the door, he found that it was bright inside, with a huge bathtub, and a strange chair. Next to the door was a basin-like thing.

Zhou Ning touched it curiously and found that the basin was actually made of ceramic.

Just when he was wondering, there was another knock on the door. Zhou Ning hurried out and sat back on the bed. He straightened his clothes and shouted, "Come in."

Outside the door was Song Chunlin, with his two younger brothers. The three of them were lying on the door, and each of them stuck his head in to look inside.

"Where's my sister-in-law?"

"Xiaobao is so stupid, my sister-in-law is in bed."

"Oh."

"Okay, okay, have you forgotten your mission?"

The two kids said in unison: "I haven't forgotten."

Song Chunlin nodded with satisfaction, then brought the two of them in, carrying a huge food box.

Song Xiaojiu and Song Xiaobao also each held a small basket filled with fruits and big steamed buns.

"Sister-in-law!" The little Bao, who looked like a milk ball, held the basket in front of Zhou Ning like he was presenting a treasure. Zhou Ning took it with a smile, and did not forget to pinch the cub's chubby face, making Song Xiaobao cover his face in embarrassment.

Song Chunlin took out the dishes from the lunch box one by one, including sweet and sour fish, boiled chicken, roast duck, braised pork elbow, radish, kelp and bone soup, a plate of cold dishes, and the fruits and staple foods in the hands of the two children. Song Chunlin even took out a few cups of hot ginger milk tea and filled the small table.

The two little guys looked at the milk tea cup and knew that it was delicious. The second brother often drank it secretly without others’ knowledge and always said that children couldn’t drink it. Humph, he was lying.

Zhou Ning stared at the large table of dishes in front of him in amazement, and asked Song Chunlin hesitantly: "Is there anyone else coming?"

Song Chunlin shook his head: "No, there are only a few of us. My mother was afraid that you would be bored waiting alone, so she sent a few of us to accompany you. Sister-in-law, please sit down. You have been busy all morning and you must be hungry."

Having said that, Zhou Ning was indeed a little hungry. His stomach growled as he smelled the delicious food.

The two human cubs climbed onto the chairs skillfully and sat down obediently, staring at Zhou Ning with their big round eyes. Zhou Ning finally reacted and picked up a piece of meat for each of them with his chopsticks, coaxing them: "You must be hungry too, eat quickly."

The two little guys then picked up their spoons and started eating. Zhou Ning's heart softened when he saw his brother eating obediently, and he picked up a piece of meat for Song Chunlin as well.

Song Chunlin thanked her with a smile: "Thank you, sister-in-law!"

Song Xiaobao and Song Xiaojiu also shouted: "Thank you, sister-in-law!"

The child's voice was loud. Zhou Ning smiled embarrassedly, picked up his chopsticks and started eating.

The cakes he had eaten in the morning had long been digested. Zhou Ning was now extremely hungry, and the Song family's dishes were so delicious that he ate too much without realizing it. When he stopped, more than half of the plates on the table had been cleared, and only one-third of the milk tea was left. He even had half a steamed bun left in his hand, but he really couldn't eat any more.

Song Chunsheng just came back from toasting. Seeing his younger brothers getting along well with their husbands, Song Chunsheng was also happy. He walked quickly to Zhou Ning and sat down. He first asked him if he was full. When he saw him nod, he took the remaining half of the steamed bun in his hand and ate it.

Seeing him eating his leftovers so naturally, Zhou Ning couldn't help but pull his sleeve: "I can finish it. There are new ones here."

Song Chunsheng finished half of the steamed bun in just a few bites, and then picked up a new steamed bun.

"Aren't you full? If you eat any more, you'll have a stomachache. If you can't eat anymore, don't force yourself. Just give it to me."

Zhou Ning thought to himself, there was never a time in the past when he couldn't eat. He was always hungry.

Zhou Ning enjoyed his first meal at the Song family's house. Song Chunsheng still had to entertain guests, so he ate a little to fill his stomach, then cleared the plates and took them out, leaving the three little ones here to keep Zhou Ning company.

The wedding banquet lasted until dark, when the guests who came to congratulate left. Aunt Song and Qinshi Song settled the wages for the people who helped in the backyard and packed up the remaining untouched dishes for them to take back.

The Song family has always been generous when hosting banquets. Those who came to help ate and took away food. Everyone took away two large bowls of meat. There was still a lot left in this pot, enough for their family to eat for three or four days.

So many dishes could not be finished in a short time, it would be a pity to throw them away, and if they were eaten for three days in a row, the person would probably vomit. So Amao Song had no choice but to call Song Chunlin and ask him to put the remaining dishes into the space and take them out when she wanted to eat them.