Chapter 214: Chapter 210: My Dear Sister

After the meal, Lin Changyou wrote down Lin Lan’s birth characters and gave them to Li Xiangyang. The group discussed when to go to Shilian. Since Lin Lan couldn’t get away from her business, they decided that Brother Yong and Lin Yuezhen would return to Shilian first tomorrow to get the necessary certificate, then come back to East Market to register their marriage.

Once Lin Yuezhen and Brother Yong returned from Shilian, it would be Li Xiangyang and Lin Lan’s turn to go back.

Watching Li Xiangyang and Brother Yong leave, Lin Lan suddenly remembered what her great-grandfather had told her during the Ghost Festival. She grew a little worried. ’If there’s a truly skilled Bazi master in this day and age, there’s a good chance he’ll figure out that the original owner of this body died young.’

But then she had another thought. ’So what if he figures it out? I’ll just deny it to my dying breath. This is the new society; no one would dare tie me up and burn me as a demon. If the Li family is superstitious about it, I’ll just return their things, and we can part on good terms!’

Having made up her mind, Lin Lan went back to kneading dough to make pumpkin cakes.

Lin Changyou took some bamboo strips and slats to their private plot, where he reinforced Lin Lan’s fence and then weeded with a hoe.

When Wang Zhixue and his brother arrived, Lin Lan gave them their goods. Then, she packed the pastries for her stall into the pushcart and went to the kitchen. She took out the pig’s trotters that Li Xiangyang had cleaned, cut them into large chunks, and put them in a pot of cold water to boil over high heat until the scum rose to the surface.

In a clay pot, she brought more than half a pot of water to a boil and added some jujubes, goji berries, Job’s tears, rehydrated dried mushrooms, and a few slices of cured ham…

She then rinsed the blanched pig’s trotters with warm water until they were clean and added them to the clay pot along with some scallion segments.

Lin Lan said to Lin Yuezhen, “Sister, once the pig’s trotters in the clay pot come to a rolling boil, turn it down to a simmer. Let it stew until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender.”

Lin Yuezhen came in carrying some marrow bones and gestured, “Should I make a broth with these?”

Lin Lan nodded. “Yes! Make a broth. Before six o’clock, go to the Zhao family’s place in the Second Production Team and pick up the sweet-skin duck I ordered. Take one over to Third Sister’s house. Oh! And the duck blood. Ask him if he has any duck intestines. If he does, buy a jin.”

Lin Yuezhen nodded in agreement. Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang then left, pulling the pushcart.

Lin Yuezhen minced the meat for meatballs, then took a basket to the vegetable garden to pick pea shoots and cut lettuce. After washing them, she placed them in a bamboo sieve to be used for hot pot that evening.

When Little Douzi came home from school, he took Lin Changyou with him to the Zhao family’s house to get the sweet-skin duck and blood pudding. Not long after the grandfather and grandson left, Lin Lan closed her stall and returned home.

Lin Yuezhen told her the pig’s trotters were done stewing and the bone broth was ready. Lin Lan asked her to arrange the washed vegetables on separate plates.

She lit the charcoal she had saved in the stove’s firebox, then loaded it into an iron brazier at the base of the hot pot table, which was insulated with clay and a wooden box. The two of them carried the hot pot table into the main hall and poured the pig’s trotters into a copper basin, ready to start eating as soon as the others arrived.

Lin Lan minced scallions, ginger, garlic, and cilantro. She scooped out a spoonful of fermented black beans and chopped them finely. Then, she mixed everything with chili oil, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and Sichuan peppercorn oil to make a large bowl of dipping sauce.

A little while later, Little Douzi and Lin Changyou came home carrying a sweet-skin duck, duck blood, and duck intestines.

Lin Lan brought a pot of water to a boil and covered the charcoal fire in the stove. She cut the duck blood into small pieces and dropped them into the boiling water, simmering them for a few minutes. She scooped out a piece with a slotted spoon and cut it open. Seeing no raw redness inside, she removed all the cooked duck blood, rinsed it in clean water, and arranged it on a plate.

Brother Yong arrived shortly after, and then Old Li and Li Xiangyang came as well. When Lin Lan saw Old Li’s cheerful expression, she knew the Bazi master hadn’t figured out her origins.

“Old Li, please, come in and sit down!” Lin Changyou said with a smile, ushering Old Li into the main hall.

Old Li, his face creased with a wide grin, entered the main hall with Lin Changyou. He handed over the auspicious dates the master had calculated for Lin Changyou to see.

“The master compared their birth characters,” Old Li said. “He says Lin Lan and Xiangyang are a superior match. He picked the dates for us: the engagement will be on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the wedding banquet will be on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month next year.”

“Excellent! We’ll follow the dates the master picked for them.”

The two men began discussing the arrangements happily. When Lin Changyou heard about the substantial betrothal gift Old Li had prepared, he was at a loss for words. He silently decided he would go home and discuss it with his sons to prepare some more dowry for Lin Lan.

Lin Lan and the others brought the dipping sauce, bowls, and plates into the main hall. The pig’s trotters in the copper pot were already boiling, releasing waves of fragrant aroma.

The tender, gelatinous pig’s trotters were full of collagen. There were also fragrant dried mushrooms, crisp lettuce leaves, fresh pea shoots, and silky-smooth duck blood…

Despite the cold weather, they were all sweating from the heat of the meal. Lin Changyou and Old Li agreed that eating hot pot on a cold day was indeed an excellent idea.

Little Douzi held a duck leg, his mouth greasy with oil. As he ate, he asked Lin Lan when she was going to make barbecue.

****

「The next morning」

Early the next day, Brother Yong, Lin Yuezhen, and Lin Changyou took a bus back to Shilian. They planned to eat at Lin Changyou’s house before going to Lin Guohui’s home to tell them about the wedding on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and invite them to the celebration.

After heading up the mountain, they ran into Lin Guoliang halfway. After exchanging pleasantries, Lin Guoliang said to Lin Changyou, “Dad, it’s a good thing you came back early. I was planning to take a bus this afternoon to bring Qiaohui over to Little Lan’s place!”

“Qiaohui’s here! How are your aunt and uncle?” Lin Changyou asked.

“What’s good about it!” Lin Guoliang shook his head repeatedly. “They’re eating potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cornmeal for every meal, and they still don’t get enough to eat.”

After hearing this, Lin Changyou asked, “Did you ask them if they have any of those large white beans?”

“They do. They have dried mushrooms, beans, and old winter squash, but they just can’t sell them for money. I told my aunt to plant more of those large white beans next spring, and we’ll go buy them then.”

“Good. You should make another trip into the mountains in the spring.”

Lin Guoliang nodded and looked at Lin Yuezhen. “So, Yuezhen and Ah Yong are having their wedding banquet?”

Lin Yuezhen blushed and nodded. Brother Yong smiled and said, “It’s on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Big Brother, you have to come to our place for the feast.”

Lin Guoliang laughed heartily. “Of course! I’ll definitely be there!”

Chatting and laughing, the group arrived at the Lin family home.

Lin Changyou saw Qiaohui crouching by the well, washing vegetables. He smiled and said, “Qiaohui, you’re here!”

Qiaohui stood up, grinning and nodding. “Second Uncle, you’re back!” The little girl was delicate and pretty, just too thin.

When Wu Shufen saw them, she hurried to kill a chicken and wash vegetables to prepare lunch.

A little while later, Zhao Xiaohui and Zhang Xiuqing also came over to help.

Before the meal was ready, Lin Guohui arrived at Lin Changyou’s house. He said to Lin Yuezhen with a broad smile, “Sister, Chunlan and I heard you were back, so we killed a chicken especially for you. Please come to our house to eat.”

Two days earlier, they had heard from the Zhao family’s eldest sister-in-law that Lin Yuezhen had found a rich man in the city, that she had learned to make pastries at Lin Lan’s house, and that the Lin family had even bought a storefront in the city.

After hearing this, the couple began to scheme. They wanted to go to Lin Lan’s house immediately and find Lin Yuezhen. Never mind how much betrothal money her man would give; at the very least, she had to teach them the skills Lin Lan had taught her. They wanted to make and sell pastries too, to earn big money, buy a house, and get the “three turns and a sound.”

Lin Yuezhen’s heart filled with mixed emotions. She looked at him for a long moment, then shook her head and gestured, “We’re not going to your house to eat. Brother Yong and I are having our wedding feast on the eighth of the twelfth lunar month. Come if you want, don’t if you don’t.”

“Sister, my dear sister!” Lin Guohui cried, tears streaming down his face. He slapped himself twice across the face. “I’m not human! I shouldn’t have treated you like that! We’re brother and sister, connected by blood and bone! I’m begging you, please forgive me! Otherwise, how will I ever be able to face Mom and Dad in the afterlife?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep