Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family - Chapter 228
Chapter 228: Chapter 226: When A Person Is Despicable without Limits, Tearing Clothes Reveals Heartbreaking Stories
Even if Liu Sisi didn’t want to go, following tradition, she went to the old house early in the morning a day before the Double Ninth Festival to help out.
The bride price was naturally sent there early.
With the silver hairpins, silver earrings, and two taels of silver as a gift, along with other pre-prepared items, Ms. Zhao’s face finally looked somewhat better.
Liu Sisi then took out the two sets of autumn clothes prepared for Ms. Zhao and her father, which finally made Ms. Zhao smile.
Elderly Mr. Di held the clothes unwilling to let go for a long time, his mouth shivering as he repeated: “Good, good! Good… ”
Ms. Zhao flipped through the clothes and finally nodded with some reluctance: “Why isn’t there any clothes for Ah-Bao? You people from Third Son’s family always mess things up? Is it really that hard to buy two sets of clothes for your own brother?”
This remark made Liu Sisi’s heart tighten, and she almost couldn’t speak.
Then, she lightly smiled: “Mom, what are you talking about? According to tradition, my little brother will be the bridegroom tomorrow. The bridegroom’s clothes are prepared by the bride. Even if I’m ignorant and don’t know about etiquette, I can’t break the rule and let others gossip, right?”
With the parents, elder brothers, and sister-in-laws all alive and well, having Third Sister-in-law prepare the bridegroom’s clothes would make people laugh behind their back, wouldn’t it?
Ms. Zhao really is getting more and more shameless!
Ms. Zhao was blocked and couldn’t continue, her eyes shifted and she immediately got angry: “When did I say to let you prepare the bridegroom’s clothes? Isn’t it just regular clothes for the family? You as the Third Sister-in-law…”
“Mom! Sisi’s husband Ye Lei is still lying in the room!”
There was a flash of coldness in Liu Sisi’s eyes: “Husband has been sick for so long, it seems that mom and little brother have never visited him, have they?”
To be precise, aside from Elderly Mr. Di visiting, on the second day, nephew Di Cheng led Di Wei by the hand and secretly came to visit Di Yelei during the noontime.
They sat for a while and then left, making the excuse that they had something to do at home.
In the basket they brought, there were only four wild duck eggs.
These wild duck eggs were taken by Di Cheng when he went up the mountain and secretly kept, then quietly brought over during Ms. Zhao’s nap.
Now that Liu Sisi suddenly mentioned this matter, Ms. Zhao was speechless and couldn’t say a word.
Seeing things going the wrong way, Elderly Mr. Di picked up his crutch and struck Ms. Zhao: “What the hell are you doing!”
“Mother-in-law, I don’t know if these clothes fit you well? Do you want Sisi to take them back and exchange them?”
With a faint smile on her lips, a cold light quickly flashed in her eyes!
Since you’re picky, then don’t wear these clothes!
When buying the clothes, she originally only planned to buy them for her father-in-law. After thinking about it, she decided to include her mother-in-law as well.
But this woman has no bottom line and even wanted her to prepare a set for Di Ah-bao!
That’s too greedy.
Ms. Zhao naturally heard the sarcasm in Liu Sisi’s words and quickly wrapped up the clothes and put them away.
“Very good, these clothes fit perfectly. I like them very much.”
What’s not to like! If she didn’t like them, she’d have nothing to wear! Ms. Zhao’s eyes shifted, and a plan formed in her mind.
“You, from the Third Son’s family, since everyone else is busy helping out. Since you can’t carry things on your shoulders, why don’t you just go to the kitchen and help?”
The work in the kitchen may seem simple, but after a long day, it’s exhausting and one can barely straighten their back.
Liu Sisi didn’t argue, as she had prepared to be ordered around today.
So she followed Ms. Zhao’s instructions and went to the kitchen to help.
Originally, the bridegroom’s family and friends would have gone to the bride’s house to ‘knock on the door,’ and the bride’s family would have sent the large dowry items to the bridal chamber. Fortunately, Di Yelei was still lying in bed, and Di Gaoyuan had slipped away early, leaving no trace. Di Ah-bao was a useless fellow, so this custom was intentionally or unintentionally ignored by everyone.
By noontime, the bride’s family brought some household items and placed them in the bridal chamber.
Liu Sisi glanced at the guests but didn’t come out of the kitchen to greet them.
Instead, Guihua, who was also helping out, started grumbling!
“Why do I see that all the people who came are sturdy men? They all look like the thugs from the brothel!”
Weren’t the thugs outside the brothel all like that?
“Hush—Sister Guihua, be quiet!”
Liu Sisi hurriedly leaned over and whispered, “Their ears are very sharp, and if they hear us, we’re in for a hard time. We’d better not gossip.”
Upon hearing this, Guihua quickly nodded.
The two exchanged glances and then focused on running back and forth in the stove area, minding their own business and not paying attention to what was going on outside.
After the group settled the bridal chamber according to tradition, they began the feast.
When it was time to serve the dishes, Liu Sisi instinctively hid in the kitchen and wouldn’t go out. Instead, she sent out other village women who were helping in the courtyard.
But it was easy for her to slack off since she was busy at the stove!
The meal was easy to manage, but after the guests left, Liu Sisi found another problem!
To save money, Ms. Zhao had assigned all the miscellaneous tasks in the kitchen to her alone!
She really made the most of it!
Liu Sisi was so busy that she hadn’t had time to fill her stomach after working for half a day!
In the afternoon, the hired cook arrived.
In total, there were one head chef and four assistants who had immediately started to slaughter a pig upon arrival.
To save money, Ms. Zhao had them make ‘nine big bowls’ using only half a pig that weighed just over a hundred pounds for thirty tables. It was really difficult for them!
‘Nine big bowls’ was a popular saying, usually referring to nine, twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty-four dishes. The number of dishes was determined by how much material the host provided. What Ms. Zhao ordered for the cook was twelve dishes and thirty tables.
Locals usually prepared by slaughtering pigs, chickens, and ducks for weddings and the ‘nine big bowls’ in advance. However, Di Ah-bao’s wedding was quite sudden, so the old house didn’t have time to prepare, and the slaughtered pig was only half-grown. There was not enough raw material to serve twelve dishes for thirty tables.
No wonder the chef’s face was longer than a horse’s.
He kept directing his apprentices, setting up stoves outside the courtyard and preparing to cook. On the other hand, he was processing the pig offal for the dishes.
Liu Sisi quickly peeled the taro they were going to use to line the bottom of the large bowls. Only half of the two carry baskets of taro were peeled, and the sight of all the piled-up vegetables gave her a headache.
