Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Xiangyang Ge

Lin Guoliang handed the hook to his nephew. “Know how to do this? Want your uncle to teach you?”

Little Douzi’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the two of them. “I do! Brother Kai has a hoop, and he taught me.”

Lin Guodong smiled and ruffled his fluffy hair. “Go on, then! Just run slowly so you don’t fall.”

“Okay!” Little Douzi hooked the metal ring with the iron pusher and began rolling it slowly around the courtyard.

Hearing the sound of the rolling hoop, Dahuang wagged his tail and barked insistently at it.

Wu Shufen said to the two brothers, “Guoliang, you two go cut down some bamboo and bring it back. We need to fence in the grove behind the house and move the chickens in there.”

The brothers agreed, grabbed their machetes, and went to the bamboo grove behind the backyard. They chopped down a large bundle of bamboo and used it to build a fence around the grove.

Once the grove was fenced in, the two brothers went out again, with Little Douzi on one of their backs, to find and cut paper mulberry and ramie leaves. They brought them home to dry in the courtyard.

When Lin Lan got home from her work, Wu Shufen and the old woman had already finished preparing the broad beans.

After the orchid beans were fried, Lin Lan left some at home and carried over thirty bags to the Eucalyptus Forest. She was surprised to find it wasn’t very crowded today.

She had just found her spot when she saw a woman in a Lenin suit walk up to the hunky butcher and call out in a syrupy voice, “Brother Xiangyang, I’d like a strip of meat.”

The handsome butcher didn’t even look up. “Money,” he said coldly. “If you don’t have any, get lost!”

The woman crouched down, pressing herself nearly against his body. “Brother Xiangyang~”

The butcher shot to his feet, bumping her and sending her sprawling onto her backside. Without so much as a glance in her direction, he walked away.

“Pah!” Flushed with shame and anger, the woman spat in his direction. “You stinking butcher! What’s there to be so smug about?”

The butcher didn’t even turn his head.

Lin Lan watched them with a surprised look. Zhou Xiaohong sidled up to her, a grin on her face. “No money, but she still wants meat,” she whispered, curling her lip.

“Who is she?” Lin Lan asked quietly.

Zhou Xiaohong glanced at the woman stomping away in a huff. “She was set up with Xiangyang and they dated for a bit.”

“So Master Li’s name is Li Xiangyang!” Lin Lan whispered.

Zhou Xiaohong glanced at her and chuckled. “Yep! His family lives right in town. Butchering is their ancestral trade. His dad was the first one to sell meat on the black market here, and now it’s his turn.

“His family’s well-off and he’s a stand-up guy, but because being a butcher has a bad reputation, he’s already twenty-five or twenty-six and still hasn’t found a wife. That woman was set up with him last year, but she looked down on him for being a butcher and gave him a real earful about it.

“I heard she then dated a string of guys from families that have been poor for generations, and that didn’t work out either! Now she’s realized a guy who can make money is a better deal, so she’s come crawling back. Talk about eating your words!”

Lin Lan laughed. “She passed on a practical-choice man for someone from a dirt-poor family? She must have gotten her head caught in a door.”

Zhou Xiaohong nodded with a laugh. “Exactly. Caught in a door. Little Lin, ’practical-choice man’—that’s a good one.” With the gossip over, they both got back to business.

After selling all her orchid beans, Lin Lan walked over to the eucalyptus tree where Li Xiangyang was squatting. “Master Li, I’ll take two jin of pork, please. Half fat, half lean would be best.”

Li Xiangyang glanced at her, then turned and walked toward the vegetable patch. He returned a moment later with the wrapped meat and an extra pork marrow bone. “Two-fifty. The bones aren’t selling, so I’m throwing it in. You can take it home and make some soup for your kid.”

Lin Lan took the meat and counted out two-fifty for him. “Thank you, Master Li.”

“Don’t mention it.” Li Xiangyang took the money and squatted back down in his spot.

Lin Lan said goodbye to Zhou Xiaohong, put the meat in her sack, and quickened her pace for home.

Zhang Yazhen came hurrying over, a wicker basket on her back. She paused for a moment when she saw Lin Lan, then walked straight past. After a dozen or so steps, she turned back to watch Lin Lan’s rapidly retreating figure, a thoughtful expression in her eyes.

Lin Lan didn’t spare her a single glance. She hurried home and found a large, square Eight Immortals table set up in the courtyard, one they had brought over from the old woman’s house.

On the table were several cold dishes: numbing-and-spicy chicken, salt-and-pepper peanuts, orchid beans, and some aged cured pork.

When Wu Shufen saw she’d brought back pork, she also made stir-fried celtuce with pork slices, minced pork with peas, and a flash-fried cabbage. After she was done, she counted them all up. Including the celtuce and chicken soup and the taro-braised chicken, there were nine dishes in total.

’Wu Shufen’s cooking is good enough to rival a professional chef’s,’ Lin Lan thought. The dishes were a feast for the senses, perfect in color, aroma, and flavor. Just looking at them made her mouth water.

Wu Shufen said to Lin Lan, “Little Lan, the food’s ready. Go see if your sisters-in-law and their families are here yet.”

Lin Lan nodded with a smile. “The hot dishes will get cold quickly. I’ll go hurry them along.”

WOOF WOOF WOOF! Dahuang started barking in the courtyard.

Little Douzi stopped his hoop, planted his hands on his hips, and scolded the dog. “Dahuang, that’s Third Aunt and Brother Kai! They’re family, you can’t bite them!”

Yang Liying and Yang Meihua laughed at his serious expression.

“Little Douzi, you guys got a dog!” a young boy’s voice called out.

Little Douzi nodded proudly. “My first and second uncles caught him to guard our house.”

Little Kai turned to Yang Meihua. “Mom! I want a puppy too.”

Yang Meihua smiled and tapped him lightly. “Later, you can ask your dad to have Little Douzi’s uncle catch one for you.”

Inside the house, the old woman laughed. “Well, speak of the devil. The moment we mention them, they arrive.”

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. Carrying a platter of cured pork, she walked to the kitchen doorway and saw that Yang Liying’s family of four and Yang Meihua’s family of five had all arrived.

“Oh! Did you all plan to come together?”

Yang Meihua laughed. “We just happened to run into each other at the gate.”

Yang Meihua had two daughters, one twelve and the other ten, and her son, Little Kai, was just under eight. He was a sturdy-looking boy.

As soon as Little Douzi saw Little Kai, he showed him the hoop, and the two boys ran off, whispering conspiratorially as they started to play.

Lin Guoliang pulled out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes and offered them to He Xianghua and Zhao Dehai with a smile. “Captain He, and you, Uncle,” he said, addressing Zhao Dehai, “thank you both for looking after my sister and Little Douzi.”

He Xianghua laughed. “Brother Lin, you’re being too formal. We’re all family. It’s only right that we look out for each other.”

“Of course, of course!” Zhao Dehai added politely.

The men continued to exchange polite pleasantries.

“Little Li, Little Kai, come get some candy,” Lin Lan said, pulling out the sweets she had prepared for the children.

Yang Liying washed her hands and went into the kitchen to help bring the dishes to the table. “Mother-in-law, your cooking looks so good it’s making my mouth water.”

“It’s as good as what you’d get from a ’Nine Big Bowls’ banquet chef,” Yang Meihua praised.

The old woman nodded with a chuckle. “Meihua has a good eye. My daughter-in-law’s father was a ’Nine Big Bowls’ banquet chef back in his day.”

Lin Lan glanced at Wu Shufen in surprise. She never would have known if the old woman hadn’t mentioned it today.

Wu Shufen smiled at everyone. “I just picked up a thing or two helping my father when I was a girl. Please, have a taste and see if you like it.”

Yang Meihua nodded with a smile. “It looks delicious!”

Lin Lan set up a smaller, square table in the courtyard for the children. She grinned at them and said, “You’re at your auntie’s house, so make yourselves at home! Eat whatever you like!”

“We will,” the two older girls answered shyly.

Lin Guoliang helped the old woman and Wu Shufen to the seats of honor at the head of the table. The old woman looked at He Xianghua and the others. “Everyone, sit down. See? I’m making myself right at home, so you should too.”

He Xianghua laughed. “Grand-aunt, we won’t stand on ceremony either.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep