Zhou Shuren saw his in-law’s face turn pale and said, “In-law.”
Li Cong came back to his senses and wanted to ask his in-laws if they hired someone to look after the house and were worried about the Li family. He also said that he would help look after the house, but he failed to look after it and someone walked in. Would the in-laws be okay? Would they be dissatisfied with the Li family?
Zhulan and Zhou Shuren looked at each other. It was so easy to guess what the Li family was thinking. Their in-laws’ expressions changed and he hesitated to speak. This meant that he was thinking too much. Zhulan thought to herself that Li Shi’s brainstorming was also inherited. Without even speaking a word, the in-laws thought of all the possibilities to scare themselves.
Zhou Shuren suppressed the twitching of his mouth corners. He couldn’t mention the Zheng family, so he had to let the Yang family take the blame. “Many people from the Zheng family left, while our family has fewer people. My father-in-law was afraid that he couldn’t control the thieves and ruffians, so he hired someone to watch over them. My father-in-law wanted to take this opportunity to deter others, so no one would dare to steal from us in the future. We didn’t tell you in advance because we didn’t want to leak the news. When we move to Pingzhou in the future, we will still rely on you, in-law, to take care of us, and then we will feel relieved.”
Li Cong chuckled, relieved that his in-laws didn’t blame their family. “Alright then, it’s getting late. I should head back too. The magistrate is still waiting for news!”
The guard spoke up, saying they wouldn’t release the prisoners without the presence of the in-laws. The four young men were badly beaten, with no good spot left on their faces, and their arms were hanging limp. It wasn’t clear whether they were broken or what had happened. This just showed that their in-laws were not to be trifled with. If it were another family, they would have already caused a commotion.
Zhou Shuren stood up. “I’ll escort my in-law out.”
Li Cong waved his hand hurriedly, “No, no, stay.”
After saying that, he walked out of the door quickly. He even ignored Li Shi and drove the ox cart back.
The incident in Lijia Village spread throughout the nearby villages the next day, and they were very thorough in killing chickens to scare monkeys. Even if the man guarding the house didn’t show up, no one dared to hang out near the Zheng family house, for fear of being caught as a thief and getting beaten. Even if it was a trivial matter, you would be caught crying in jail, and won’t be able to find a solution. Who didn’t know that Zhou Xiucai and the county magistrate were in-laws?
Zhou Shuren’s background was carefully counted again. Well, the future in-laws of the county magistrate were a Xiucai and the son-in-law of the Yang family. The Yang family had a close relationship with the escort bureau. Many of the escort bureaus had seen blood. After counting, The Zhou family was neither easy to mess with nor easy to bully, and those with evil thoughts had completely given up their thoughts.
Since no one dared to approach the Lijia Village house, the Zhulan family slowly moved into the house. First, they moved the food, then the unworn clothes, etc. It took two days to move these, mainly because there was a lot of food, etc. It was only after moving that Zhulan realized how many dried vegetables she had stored and how many pickles Li Shi had made. Just Li Shi’s pickles made up a cart.
When Zhulan’s family officially moved, they didn’t have many things at home, so they borrowed two oxcarts and made the trip.
Zhulan gave Xuemei the key to her home. Xuemei and her husband had a few things and had moved them here in advance yesterday. They just needed to organize them.
Today they will stay at the house in Lijiacun for one night and help prepare ingredients for tomorrow’s banquet.
Xuemei and Jiang Sheng came to the house for the first time. Li Shi didn’t even unpack her luggage and dragged Xuemei around. Even though Li Shi was not smart, she didn’t miss the right path. Finally, Zhulan concluded that people with simple minds were clear-minded and would not be disturbed by external objects and get lost.
There were many rooms in the main house. Zhulan tidied up two other rooms in the main house and wanted her parents to live with them, but her parents were unwilling. After all, they were not Zhou Shuren’s parents. It was not good for her parents-in-law to live in the main house with them, so she finally cleaned up the yard next door for the Yang family.
The Yang family asked their neighbors to look after their house. Today, all the Yang family members came, and they planned to return home after enjoying the banquet tomorrow.
Zhulan had two sǎozi to help her, and she quickly unpacked and categorized her things.
Oldest Yang and Second Yang were not idle either. They drove the oxcart up the mountain to collect firewood. Zhou Shuren was embarrassed to leave his jiùgē1 busy, so he followed them.
The firewood from Zhulan’s family wasn’t brought along and was left for their daughter. Since they wouldn’t be in the same village in the future, it would be difficult for their son-in-law and daughter to transport firewood without an ox cart. They had already collected enough firewood for the winter. With just the four of them in the family, they only needed to burn in the main house. They could burn vigorously enough to last until next spring.
The house in Li’s village had ready-made furniture, while Zhulan’s family hadn’t brought theirs. There were also some unused jars and crocks left over from the old house. With all these belongings left behind, their daughter didn’t need to purchase household items, even though their family was not wealthy.
The meat and vegetables to be used for tomorrow were sent by Li Shi’s natal family, saying they were gifts to celebrate the move. They included a fattened pig that had been killed, and the vegetables were all grown in Li Shi’s natal family’s own yard.
Zhuan was very embarrassed. A pig was worth a lot of money. The Li family was not rich at all. She tapped Li Shi’s forehead and said, “Your eldest brother sent it to you, and you dare to accept it?”
Li Shi’s forehead hurt a little, so her mother-in-law tried harder, “Mother, my mother wants to thank you and Dad for your help. If I stop her, I will definitely get beaten when I go back to my parents’ house.”
Her own mother was not used to spoiling her, and she was beaten often when she was a child.
Zhulan knew that what Li Shi said was true, but the gift was indeed not light. “We have the meat for tomorrow, so don’t be idle. You are familiar with Lijia Village. Buy all the chicken and fish that you will use tomorrow. Come back and kill the rest.”
Twelve tables had been prepared for tomorrow’s banquet. Two tables were enough for the Zhou family, three tables for the Li family, and two tables for the Yang family. The remaining three tables were prepared for friends of Zhou Shuren from the county. The extra two tables are prepared just in case more people attend.
There was no need to borrow tables, chairs, plates, etc., the ones left by the Zheng family were enough.
Li Shi was very familiar with Lijia Village and quickly bought enough hens, rabbits, fish, etc.
On the first day of moving, Zhou Shuren spent the day gathering firewood with his jiùgē, while Zhulan and several sisters-in-law washed dishes and bowls. The daughters-in-law of the Li family helped Li Shi chop and cook meat. Even the children dared to help with what they could. Everyone was busy all day, and after hastily eating dinner in the evening, they all rested.
The next morning, Zhulan woke up feeling a bit groggy. She looked around the house, still feeling a bit disoriented from the move. The house was bright, which she wasn’t quite used to yet. As she moved, Zhou Shuren let out a grunt of pain, waking up from his sleep.
Zhulan stretched out her hand to help Zhou Shuren rub her waist, “Who asked you to show off, how long has it been since you worked?”
Zhou Shuren lay down and motioned to Zhulan to help massage, “Big brother and second brother helped collect firewood, and as the head of my family, I felt sorry to be idle.”
Zhulan said, “Can you compete with my older brothers in physical strength? They’ve been practicing martial arts all year round. Gathering firewood isn’t just any task. You can’t compare with them, and you need to know your limits.”
Zhou Shuren fell silent. He had realized that he had been a bit too eager to show off yesterday, acting foolishly. Seeing the disdain in his eldest jiùgē’s eyes, he had wanted to prove that he was tough and resilient. He had persisted until the end. Suddenly, he had laughed. He had truly regarded the Yang family as his own in-laws, which was why he had been especially eager to prove himself!
Zhulan helped rub it for a while and patted Zhou Shuren’s back, “I’m going to the kitchen first. You can lie down for a while.”
Zhou Shuren didn’t want to move anymore and felt uncomfortable all over. “Yes.”
During the meal, Zhulan looked at Zhou Shuren, who had a poker face and seemed tense. He was someone who liked to put on airs, pretending that everything was fine even when he was clearly uncomfortable.
Boss Yang was aggrieved. His father scolded him yesterday. He must have exhausted his mèifū2, but look at his mèifū, he didn’t do anything at all. He was scolded in vain!
Second Zhou was observant and could tell at a glance that his father was trying to show off his talent. He lowered his head silently so that his father wouldn’t notice!
After breakfast, Zhou Shuren couldn’t bear it anymore. He wanted to go back and lie down for a while. After a while, the guests would arrive, and he would be busy. This time he really got himself into trouble.
After Zhou Shuren lay down for a while, he heard the sound of the door opening and saw Zhulan, “Why are you back?”
Zhulan shook the medicinal wine in his hand, “Dad gave me the medicine and asked me to rub it on you so that you don’t get too tired today. You won’t be able to get up from bed tomorrow.”
Zhou Shuren was also concerned about saving face. “Everyone knows?”
Zhulan didn’t know whether Zhou Shuren had been the head of the family for a long time or was influenced by his thoughts in ancient times. This person was particularly concerned about his face, especially in front of the children, “Don’t worry, Dad gave it to me secretly.”
Zhou Shuren exhaled, as long as it didn’t affect his face, “Quick, help me massage it, the guests will come soon.”
Zhulan massaged Zhou Shuren with medicinal wine, and he felt much more comfortable with the warm sensation spreading throughout his body. Zhulan rolled down her sleeves and said, “You should lie down for a while. I’ll go out first.”
Zhou Shuren pulled Zhulan up and kissed her, “Thank you, wife.”
In the old house, it was cozy to kiss indoors, creating a certain atmosphere. Now, with the brighter surroundings, Zhulan felt a bit uncomfortable. She snorted and quickly closed the door, then hurried outside to greet Li Xu Shi who was about to arrive.
The Li family was the first to come, followed by relatives of the Zhou family, and the last ones were friends of Zhou Shuren from the county.
Today, Zhulan also met all of Zhou Shuren’s friends from the county, including the head constable and scholars from the county. The most important guests were the magistrate’s family. There were also representatives from the Dong family and some officials of the eighth or ninth rank from the county, all accompanying the magistrate’s family. Of course, some uninvited guests were curious about the Zheng family’s house and came on their own accord.
Zhou Shuren wasn’t foolish, so he wouldn’t allow people to wander around freely. Without him mentioning it, the magistrate, as a prospective in-law, showed some tacit understanding and simply sat down to drink tea. Those who were curious didn’t dare to bring it up either.
Zhulan’s important guest was Dong Lin Shi, and Xuehan had already taken Dong Chuchu to the backyard.
Zhulan accompanies Dong Lin Shi. Today, it was left to Li Shi to entertain the female guests. There was no need for Li Shi in the kitchen. Zhulan’s two zhíxífù3 were also good at cooking. Today they were the chefs.
Just as Dong Lin Shi suggested taking a stroll around, Li Shi entered the room. “Mother, please come over. I have something to tell you.”
(End of Chapter)
Footnote
- Wife’s elder brothers
- Younger sister’s husband
- Wife of nephew (sons of brother)
Translating one chapter one day at a time 
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