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Liu Yinyin couldn’t resist and took a big, playful kiss on her son’s chubby little cheek.
The moment he pouted and was about to cry, she quickly let go.
Gu Yanyan’s little face turned red from his mother’s kisses, but fortunately, he wasn’t a fussy baby. He whimpered a couple of times, but in the end, he held back his tears.
Liu Yinyin couldn’t help but laugh.
If Jiang Cuihua saw this, she would definitely nag her again—saying that kissing a baby’s cheeks like this would make him drool excessively in the future.
Liu Yinyin had heard this so many times that her ears were practically growing calluses, but she just couldn’t help herself.
After all, babies were the most fun at this age.
That afternoon, Jiang Cuihua went around the village and managed to borrow a total of 220 eggs. She also brought back some good news.
“Your third uncle’s family is butchering a pig tomorrow morning. The villagers can bring things to trade for pork.”
Uncle Liu had raised two pigs—one was handed over to the collective, and the remaining one was being used to barter with the villagers for household necessities.
Liu Yinyin paused from playing with her son. Butchering a pig? Now that was really good news.
They were hosting a banquet tomorrow, and pork was a must.
Gu Cheng only received a limited amount of meat ration coupons each month—just two pounds. This month’s coupons hadn’t been used yet, as the previous ones had been spent on pig’s feet to help Liu Yinyin recover postpartum.
Originally, Gu Cheng had planned to pull some strings to buy pork from the meat processing plant. But now that someone in the village was slaughtering a pig, it would be much more convenient to get it locally.
Liu Yinyin thought for a moment and asked, “Mother, can I trade for more pork from Third Uncle?”
“Of course,” Jiang Cuihua replied with a smile. “Since you’re hosting a banquet tomorrow, it’s perfectly reasonable to get extra pork. Besides, he’s your close uncle—how could he not help you out?
Just tell me how many pounds you want. I’ll have your father talk to him, and he’ll set some pork aside for you. No problem at all.”
Liu Yinyin hesitated for a moment before testing the waters. “Could I buy half a pig?”
She definitely wanted to get more pork, and she was also thinking about stocking up on cured meat.
“…Half a pig?” Jiang Cuihua was momentarily stunned before giving her daughter an amused yet exasperated look. “Why don’t you just buy the whole pig?”
“Can I?” Liu Yinyin’s eyes lit up.
“What do you think?” Jiang Cuihua playfully scolded her. “If it were in the past, maybe. But this year, very few people in the village are butchering pigs, and everyone has their eyes on the few who are.
If you take all the pork, what will everyone else eat? That would cause public outrage!”
For rural folks, eating meat was a rare occasion—most only got to have some when pigs were butchered at the end of the year.
Everyone was looking forward to it. If her daughter really bought that much pork, it would be far too conspicuous.
Jiang Cuihua explained, “The most you can get is ten pounds of pork. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s your uncle doing the butchering, even that much wouldn’t be possible. Other families would be lucky to trade for just one or two pounds.”
Ten pounds of pork was quite a lot—more than enough for the banquet.
Only her daughter’s family was well-off enough to afford that much; most people wouldn’t even think of buying so much pork.
Liu Yinyin sighed. “Alright, ten pounds it is.”
A couple of days ago, she had also ordered five fish from Li Chunfang. Now, with pork secured, they had everything they needed for the feast.
Liu Yinyin and Gu Cheng had discussed it and decided to host five banquet tables. The menu was set:
Each table would have twelve dishes—six meat and six vegetarian.
Meat dishes:
Vegetable dishes:
The staple food would be cornbread.
There was no choice—at this time of year, fresh vegetables were scarce, so they had to make do with what was available.
The next day, before dawn, the couple got up early to start preparing.
The Liu family also came over to help. They needed to grind soybeans to make tofu, boil eggs, and prepare the red sugar cakes.
Later, Gu Cheng had to deliver gifts to the Gu family.
By around eight o’clock, Gu Cheng went to the village to pick up ten pounds of pork and five fish. After that, he took one hundred red-dyed eggs and fifty red sugar cakes and headed to Shili Village.
Since they didn’t know exactly how many relatives and friends Gu Cheng had on that side, Jiang Cuihua specifically told him to bring extra.
The sun was shining brightly, and villagers were gathered outside their homes, enjoying the sunshine.
When Gu Cheng arrived at the Gu household, he saw his father and mother sitting at the entrance.
“Father, Mother,” Gu Cheng greeted them while unloading the gifts. “I’ve brought the gifts for Yanyan’s full-month celebration—two red-dyed eggs and one red sugar cake per person. I’ve prepared fifty sets. There are many relatives in the village I don’t recognize, so please help me distribute them.”
Father Gu stood up and asked, “Didn’t we say the family would prepare these things?”
He had mentioned this to Gu Cheng before, but since Mother Gu hadn’t given her approval, and she was the one who managed the household, he didn’t take it seriously.
Mother Gu, sitting calmly, didn’t say a word. She hadn’t even seen her grandson yet—why should she prepare anything?
Gu Cheng saw through the situation but didn’t expose it. Instead, he simply said, “It’s not a lot. It doesn’t matter who prepares it.”
Thinking about their family’s situation, Father Gu sighed and said, “I’ll have your eldest brother deliver them door to door later.”
Gu Cheng nodded. “Father, we’re hosting a banquet at home today. Yinyin wants you all to come over for a meal.”
Father Gu knew his grandson’s full-month celebration was around this time. He quickly replied, “Your elder brother is up in the mountains chopping firewood. I’ll go call him back, and we’ll get ready to go.”
Originally, Father Gu had suggested hosting the full-month banquet at their place, but Gu Cheng refused, saying the baby was still too young, and the cold weather made traveling inconvenient.
“I’ll go call my brother,” Gu Cheng offered.
“Alright, he’s in the back mountain.”
After Gu Cheng left, Father Gu cleared his throat and said to Mother Gu, “Stop just sitting there. Go pack some gifts.”
“What gifts?” Mother Gu asked indifferently.
Father Gu glared at her. “We’re going to our grandson’s full-month banquet. Do you really think we should go empty-handed? Pack some eggs and white flour. Isn’t there also a piece of cotton cloth? Bring that too—it’ll be good for making clothes for the baby.”
Showing up empty-handed would be embarrassing, especially in another village.
Mother Gu scoffed and remained motionless. “I’m not packing anything, and I’m not going.”
For Mother Gu, the most important things in life were money and pride. The fact that her grandson’s full-month celebration was being held at the maternal family’s place was unbearable for her.
Her pride had no place to rest.
She refused to go to Liu Village—it would just make her a laughingstock.
Father Gu, annoyed, snapped, “Fine! If you won’t do it, I’ll do it myself!”
Mother Gu, unmoved, repeated, “If you want to go, go. I’m not going. I refuse to lose face like that.”
She had already hidden away all the valuable items in the house, so she wasn’t worried about Father Gu taking anything.
When the two brothers returned, Father Gu had already packed the gifts and even changed into a fresh set of clothes.
Mother Gu, on the other hand, hadn’t moved an inch from her chair.
Gu Cheng glanced at her, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “Mother, you’re not coming?”
Miumi[Translator]
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜 I’ll try to release 2 or more chapters daily and unlock 2 chapters every Sunday. Support me at https://ko-fi.com/miumisakura For any questions or concerns, DM me on Discord at psychereader.