Zhulan saw that Li realized the meaning so quickly, and her eyes were full of smiles. Li Shi’s reaction speed was getting faster and faster, not bad, not bad.

Dong Shi kept pressing the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief, but she still smiled. She found that the conversation between her mother-in-law and her dàsǎo was more interesting than the storybook!

Mingrui giggled very happily. Zhulan hugged Mingrui. The boy was amused by Li Shi’s wrinkled face. “Come on, call nǎinǎi, nǎinǎi.”

Mingrui was a clever child. Once he learned the correct way to address someone, no matter how you teased him, he would never call them otherwise again.

Mingrui just wouldn’t speak, clapping his little hands in delight. Zhulan tapped the little one’s nose and said, “Your whole family is full of clever ones.”

Li Shi sat aside depressedly, watching her daughter playing by herself, she became even more depressed. How come this girl has the temper of the child’s father? She was not like her at all when it came to pleasing her mother-in-law. Then look at the boy in the second child’s family. He could make his mother-in-law laugh after a little care. The mother-in-law was right. The second child’s family is full of clever ones.

Dong Shi stretched out her hand, “Mom, let me hold him.”

Zhulan handed it to Dong Shi, “He is a bit heavy.”

Dong Shi took it carefully. She liked children, but unfortunately, her zhízis and zhínǚs didn’t live with her and were not close to her. Speaking of which, she and her sister were not close either. When her sister married for the first time, she hadn’t been born yet. By the time her sister married again, they had grown even further apart. Her sister also didn’t come home often, so she really felt that the relationship between them wasn’t deep and stable, even if they were born to the same father and mother.

Therefore, she was unwilling to go to her sister’s house, not only because her husband was a commoner, but also because of the big age gap between the sisters, they could not talk to each other.

Zhulan watched Dong Shi teasing the child. Dong Shi was a patient person. Zhulan felt that Changlian was really lucky. His virtuous wife benefited three generations of descendants. Changlian had found a treasure.

Seeing that her mother-in-law liked to tease the child, Li Shi couldn’t help but touch her belly. She didn’t know if she was pregnant after all the hard work.

At lunchtime, Zhou Shuren still hadn’t returned. Zhulan felt reassured; if he hadn’t passed the exam, he would have come home long ago. This meant he must have stayed behind.

Li Shi was much smarter. She grinned and finally had the mood to fiddle with the vegetable rack.

It was dark in the afternoon when Zhou Shuren came back with Rongchuan and Mingyun.

Zhulan was holding a glass of hot wine. “Look, I asked the Second Zhou to buy some good wine. The wine is hot and waiting for you to come back for dinner!”

Zhou Shuren rolled up his sleeves. “I will go and wash my hands first. You go into the house. It’s very cold outside.”

“Oh!”

Zhulan put the wine on the men’s table and returned to her seat. Tonight, to celebrate the first happy event in Pingzhou, each family took money from their own private pockets to add a dish. Li Shi went to the restaurant to buy braised pig’s trotters, Zhao Shi asked Second Zhou to buy cabbage and leeks at the market, and Dong Shi was the richest and most generous. She bought a stewed goose in a large pot, which was divided into two tables. The meat in two small pots was also outstanding.

Zhulan swallowed her saliva reluctantly. The stewed goose smelled delicious, but it was a pity that no one in the village near her hometown raised it. Most geese were raised in the south, while ducks and chickens were more likely to be raised in the north. Of course, some people raised them, but only very few, because geese were too delicate when they were young and not easy to raise. The temperature in the north changed greatly, so gradually, few people raised them.

Zhulan had eaten it twice since she came to ancient times. Once in Pingzhou, Zhou Shuren brought it back from the restaurant, and another time she ate it in a restaurant in the county. After moving to Pingzhou, she was still thinking about when she could eat it again, but she didn’t expect Dong Shi could buy it.

Stewed goose was very famous, but the price was also very touching, half a tael of silver for a dish, too expensive!

Zhou Shuren washed his hands and came in and saw the goose at a glance. He was also greedy. There were many chefs in ancient times, and the chefs of each restaurant had their own unique skills. Stewed goose was a signature dish. He had eaten in two restaurants and they were both good.

Zhou Shuren sat down and said, “Rongchuan and Mingyun will go to the academy to study from tomorrow. We came back late because they were attending classes. Okay, let’s eat!”

As he spoke, Zhou Shuren picked up some goose meat with his chopsticks. He had been staring at the piece of meat. When eating a goose, he didn’t like to gnaw on the bones but liked to pick up the meat. There was so much meat on the goose, and it was satisfying to eat only the meat.

After Boss Zhou realized his father’s private side, he was not afraid of it for some reason when he saw his father picking up meat quickly. He picked up a piece of meat and put it in his father’s bowl, “Dad, this piece of meat is chewy, please try it.”

Zhou Shuren stared at the goose wings in the bowl. Wing meat was delicious, but it was not easy to chew. He thought to himself, “The eldest son has no vision. Didn’t he see that I only picked up the meaty parts to eat?”

Second Zhou didn’t know what was wrong with his eldest brother, but he only knew that his father only liked to eat meat. He wanted to save his eldest brother but couldn’t.

Zhou Shuren took a sip of wine, “Boss!”

Boss Zhou “Dad.”

His intuition told him that his father’s private talk was about his mother, and it had nothing to do with him. Dad was still his father, but it was a pity that he realized it a little late.

Zhou Shuren smiled, “You see Mingyun has entered the academy, and this winter Mingteng should also go to the academy. You are the father of two children, and all this time, you have been studying diligently. Today, I’m happy, so let me test you on this occasion. Come, use the goose wing to compose a poem.”

“Ahem.”

Chang Lian was choked by the wine. If he had known, he would not drink while watching the play. It would be easy to hurt himself. Seeing his father looking at him, he immediately lowered his head, fearing that his father would also drag him down.

Chang Zhi looked at his father with a hard-to-find expression. It was really a pity that his father could think of writing poems about goose wings. He would rather die than write poems on goosewings!

Rongchuan lowered his head and looked at the rice in the bowl. Well, it looks like dàsǎo was very happy when making these steamed buns, they had more white flour than usual.

Mingyun opened his mouth and finally closed it. It was not that he did not want to help his father, but it was really that his grandfather was obviously scolding his father. There was nothing wrong with a father scolding his son. As a grandson, it was better for him to be honest.

Zhulan continued to watch the show while gnawing on the goose. Zhou Shuren didn’t like gnawing on bones, but she did. She had to gnaw on more while her teeth were still good!

Boss Zhou’s face flushed red. How could he write a poem? No, even if it was about a whole goose, he couldn’t write a poem either. He did read a lot of books, but writing a poem was difficult for him.

Zhou Shuren asked, “Can’t make it?”

Boss Zhou, “Yes.”

Zhou Shuren put the wings in the bowl into Boss Zhou’s bowl, “Eat it, since you can’t make it, then eat it. Also, watch more when you do things in the future, and observe clearly before you start.”

Boss Zhou couldn’t react, he was too stupid, Dad doesn’t like to eat wings, “Dad, I remember.”

“By the way, Dad will tell you one more thing. Aren’t you growing vegetables? Starting tomorrow, write down what you do every day. When the vegetables grow, I want the whole growth process. You must observe carefully and write carefully. I want to see it.”

Boss Zhou, “.”

Dad was definitely not finding out that he could climb the wall again, but honing his observation skills. This was the dad he knew. The impression of yesterday’s dad was already vague!

Zhulan’s table was very good. Zhulan saw that Li Shi didn’t miss Boss at all. Now Boss was not as attractive as goose meat, so she silently sympathized with Boss.

(End of this chapter)

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