Siheyuan, a comfortable life under Zhengyang Gate

After having lunch at Ming Xiaofen’s home, Yang Yukun, Xu Jingping and the children followed Ming Xiaofen to her parents’ home in the next village.

Ming Xiaofen's uncle's family was there to pick up his daughter-in-law, and her parents-in-law and Zeng Wenjiang all came to help. She also wanted to bring Xiaoyanzi back to her family's family to attend the wedding banquet.

"Uncle Ming and Auntie are not at home?"

"They also have to help. My dad has to help with receiving gifts and keeping accounts, and my mom is in the kitchen cutting and preparing food."

When they arrived at Ming Xiaofen's mother's village, Yang Yukun, Xu Jingping and the children went to Ming Xiaofen's parents' home first.

Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping bought some things and also brought a ham for Ming Xiaofen's parents. They had to take the things to Ming Xiaofen's parents' house first.

"Xiao Kun, Jing Ping, please sit down for a while."

"Let's not sit down, Xiaofen. Let's go to your uncle's house to see the bride."

"That's fine. I haven't seen the bride either. I heard she's from the next town."

"Let's go."

After putting down their things, the group went to Ming Xiaofen's uncle's house where he was going to pick up his daughter-in-law.

Not far.

It's only five or six minutes' walk away.

People from the entire village gathered together, and it was very lively.

"Xiao Fen is here."

"Big brother."

"Xiaoyanzi, come here, let your uncle hug you."

"Xiao Fen is back."

"Auntie, have you seen my mother?"

"Your mother is in the kitchen chopping vegetables. Is this your friend?"

"my classmate."

"I remember they came when you got married."

"Correct."

"I'm back, Xiaofen."

"sister in law."

"Xiaoyanzi, let your aunt hug you..."

The group came to Ming Xiaofen's uncle's house where he came to pick up his daughter-in-law. When her relatives and friends from her mother's side saw her come back, they all greeted her, and Ming Xiaofen asked them to respond one by one.

The people who came to help warmly invited Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping to sit down.

"Wife, I'm going to pay the gift money."

"Row."

Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping brought the little ones and Ming Xiaofen back to her parents' home for a feast, but they couldn't eat and drink for free, so Yang Yukun came to the reception desk and took out ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to the person who received the gift.

"Xiaokun!"

Ming Xiaofen's father was responsible for writing the name, and when he looked up he found that it was Yang Yukun.

"Uncle Ming, long time no see."

"When did you come to Qianzhou?"

"It's just noon. Jingping and I came to see Xiaofen."

"Where's Jingping?"

"I'm warming myself by the fire in the yard with Xiaofen."

"Then you guys light a fire first, and we'll start the feast around three o'clock."

Ming's father wrote down Yang Yukun's name and gave a gift of ten yuan. In order to prevent the host from not being able to find the person, he also specially marked that this was Xiaofen's classmate.

"Uncle Ming, you go ahead and do your work."

"When the dinner starts, you and I will sit at the same table and we will have a couple of drinks."

"Got it."

After paying the gift money, Yang Yukun came to the courtyard and found Xu Jingping and the children sitting around a fire.

"Xiao Kun."

"Old Zeng."

Zeng Wenjiang was also sitting next to the fire, and Yang Yukun patted him on the shoulder.

"hiss……."

"What's going on? I didn't use much force, how could I hurt you internally?"

"My shoulder is rubbed raw."

The bride's dowry was quite large, and the journey was quite long, so Ming Xiaofen's family didn't have enough people to help carry the dowry, so Zeng Wenjiang, his father, and some young and strong laborers from the village came to help. Zeng Wenjiang was responsible for carrying the two-meter-high wardrobe, and walked more than ten kilometers along the mountain road.

Even though it was winter and he was wearing thick clothes, he was still sweating profusely and his shoulders were rubbed raw.

"Thank you for your hard work. Eat two more bowls of rice later."

"If I had known you were coming today, I would have asked you to help carry the dowry."

"We didn't arrive until noon, so we can't make it in time."

"I was really tired today. The road was difficult to walk on. Sometimes I couldn't even see the road when I was looking back. I almost fell into the ditch."

"Jingping, didn't you say you wanted to see the bride? Let's go see the bride."

"it is good."

"Mom, I want to go too."

Xu Jingping and Ming Xiaofen took the children into the house to see the bride, while Yang Yukun and Zeng Wenjiang sat by the fire and chatted idly.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the table was set and the meal began. Yang Yukun, Zeng Wenjiang, Zeng's father, and Ming's father drank at one table, while Xu Jingping brought the children to sit at the same table with Ming Xiaofen and the others.

"No more wine."

"I'll go get another pot. Don't worry, there's plenty of wine."

The pot of wine was quickly finished, and Zeng Wenjiang went into the house to get another pot.

"dad."

Little Zongzi ran to his father.

"Little Zongzi, are you full?"

"I am full."

"Where are my mom and my brothers and sisters?"

"There it is."

"Go and play. Dad will come to see you later."

Yang Yukun patted Xiao Zongzi's head and let the little girl go play.

"Xiaokun, drink some more?"

"Forget it. If you drink any more you'll get drunk. Let's eat something."

Seeing that Zeng Wenjiang was already drunk, Yang Yukun drank the wine in the bowl and ate three bowls of rice in a row.

After eating and drinking, Zeng Wenjiang and I found Xu Jingping, Ming Xiaofen and others at the edge of the courtyard.

After Ming's father and mother finished helping to clear the table and wash the dishes, the group went to Ming Xiaofen's parents' house and sat for a while.

After dark, the group left Ming Xiaofen's parents' home. Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping took Xiao Zongzi, Pingping, Xiao Yumi, and Hou Li back to the provincial government guesthouse.

…………

“Although this noodle shop has only been open for two months, the taste is really good. My husband and I have eaten here several times.”

Ming Xiaofen, holding Xiaoyanzi in her arms, took Yang Yukun, Xu Jingping, Xiaozongzi and a few other little ones into a noodle shop.

Today is Monday.

She took a day off.

Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping came all the way to Qianzhou to see her, so she had to take them around.

"It tastes really good." When the vermicelli came, Xu Jingping took a bite and found it was indeed delicious, better than the one they had eaten at the restaurant in Qianzhou before.

As for Qianzhou, Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping had been here twice before, once when Ming Xiaofen got married and once after Xiaoyanzi was born. They had visited this place thoroughly before.

After eating a big bowl of noodles, Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping took the little ones to revisit the old place. After strolling around for a while, they returned to Ming Xiaofen's home.

"Xiao Fen, Xiao Kun and I are planning to take Xiao Zongzi and the others back to the capital tomorrow."

"You're leaving tomorrow?"

"It's not long until the Chinese New Year, and the company has a lot of things to deal with during this period at the end of the year."

After dinner at Ming Xiaofen's house that day, while sitting around the fire, Xu Jingping told Ming Xiaofen that they would be leaving for the capital tomorrow.

They had been in Qianzhou for three days, and it was time to leave and go home.

"When do you leave tomorrow? Lao Zeng and I will take you there."

"I'm leaving early in the morning. You guys go about your business. No need to see me off. I'll call you when we get to the capital."

"Tomorrow morning, Lao Zeng and I will go to the provincial government guesthouse to meet you and treat you to breakfast."

"Okay, then we'll wait for you at the state capital guesthouse."

"You must wait for me. You can't leave secretly. We will meet again."

"Of course we'll wait. It's getting late, so let's go back to the guesthouse."

Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping took the kids back to the state government guesthouse. The next day, Zeng Wenjiang and Ming Xiaofen came to the state government guesthouse at dawn and invited Yang Yukun and Xu Jingping to have breakfast and to give them a formality. (End of this chapter)