Zhulan knew who Li Shi inherited her loud voice from, so she nodded and said, “This time we are going to the capital to take the exam. Whether we can stay in the capital in the future depends on the result of the head of the family’s spring exam. I can’t predict the future situation.”

Li Shi’s second aunt asked, “Isn’t the Spring Examination next year? Why are you leaving this year?”

She really didn’t understand what the Spring Examination was. She only heard from the head of the household that her eldest brother’s relative had become a juren and that he took part in the Spring Examination in order to become an official in the future. Only then did she know what the Spring Examination was.

Zhulan explained, “We have a house in the capital. If we go there early, we can get well and prepare for the Spring Examination, so that we don’t get sick and miss the Spring Examination next year because we are in a hurry to travel.”

Li Shi’s third aunt got the point, “You have a house in the capital?”

My goodness, how much was a house in the capital worth? She was angry that her mother-in-law favored the eldest room. Such a good marriage was given to the eldest room. Now, not only did she have to rely on the eldest room to say good things to build relationships, but she also had to please her zhínǚ. She felt uncomfortable just thinking about it.

Li Xu Shi’s heart was pounding. Her daughter was so lucky. Who knew, in the future she might have a qīnjiā who is an official. Oh, thinking about it this way, the Li family also had a relative who is an official!

Zhulan smiled. The men in the Li family were straightforward and their daughters-in-law were shrewd. Zhulan didn’t dislike Li Shi’s aunts. They were cunning but never crossed the line. Zhulan admired the deceased old lady Li even more. The old lady must have spent a lot of effort to find suitable daughters-in-law for her sons. It was not easy for the old lady.

Li Shi also remembered that there was no food at home, so she came over from the kitchen and said, “A few aunts are here too!”

Li Shi’s third aunt felt jealous when she saw her zhínǚ’s clothes. She wore such nice clothes even when cooking. Then she looked at the pearl hairpin on her head. She felt jealous but had to smile. “Yes, look, I brought a lot of vegetables!”

She was thinking about going home to pick vegetables. “Thank you, aunts. I was just thinking about going home to pick vegetables from my mother’s garden!”

Zhulan smiled and said to Li: “Stay for dinner today, and you can decide on the food.”

Li Shi cried out, the four branches of the Li family together had quite a few people, “Mom, can they bring the children to eat too?”

She didn’t see the Li family’s children, they must have stayed at home.

Zhulan was generous not only because they came to congratulate, but also because of the care the Li family had taken for the house over the past six months. She took a quick look along the way and found that there was no grass in the yard, and there was not a speck of dust on the tables and chairs, which showed how sincere Li’s family was.

In the future, their family would come back less and less often, and the Zhou family would have to rely on the Li family to look after the house and the land. In addition, the wild animals sent by several branches of the Li family really helped the Zhou family a lot when Pingzhou City was sealed off. This meal must be eaten.

When the city was closed, meat was the most scarce. The Zhou family sent wild animals to Xu Jinshi’s family, to the Wu family, and to Zhao Bo, and they gained a lot of favors for the Zhou family!

Zhulan smiled and said, “Come and eat.”

Li Xu Shi said hurriedly: “This is not possible. It’s embarrassing enough for us to stay.”

She knew how many children there were in the Li family. If all of them came, there would be five or six tables for the Li family alone. Wouldn’t that be eight tables for this meal?

They just came to take a look and didn’t expect them to stay for dinner.

Zhulan pressed Li Xu Shi’s hand and said, “Come and have a good time today. Qīnjiā Mu, you don’t need to say anything more. Just listen to me today.”

After that, Zhulan said to Li Shi: “It’s not dark yet, tell the eldest brother to buy some chickens and kill them.”

After returning from Pingzhou, Zhulan bought more than 20 kilograms of marinated pork and ten roast chickens. She had intended to give half of them to her eldest daughter, but now she has to eat them all today. She can only buy the ones for her daughter in the county tomorrow.

Zhulan also brought back a lot of food, and it looks like they will be gone for today’s dinner. The oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc. were all brought back from Pingzhou, so they will probably be gone for a meal. They would have to buy them again when they go to the county tomorrow.

Li Shi responded, “Mom, I’m going out with the vegetables.”

“Go ahead.”

Li Shi was very strong and carried the three baskets out without any effort.

Li Shi was weighing the dishes in her mind as she walked. Her three aunts brought a wide variety of dishes, including not only vegetables grown in the yard but also mushrooms and fungus. It was not difficult to cook for eight tables in the evening, and there were three ready-made dishes, so it was actually quite easy.

There were eight dishes on the table, including braised pork, roast chicken, braised pig’s trotters, chicken stewed with mushrooms, stir-fried cabbage with fungus, scrambled eggs with peppers, and stewed potatoes with beans.

Li Shi took the basket to the kitchen and came to Zhao Shi. “Sister-in-law, mother asked me to buy some chickens. I was thinking of buying some eggs. Can you give me some money?”

Zhao Shi was washing the dishes. She put down the bowl in her hand, wiped her hands, and untied the purse beside her. “How many chickens and eggs do you want to buy, sister-in-law?”

Li Shi counted with her fat hands, “We need to cook for eight tables. We only need to buy six chickens to stew mushrooms, and one hundred eggs. We also need to boil eggs for the children for breakfast tomorrow!”

Zhao Shi took out a tael of silver and said, “Sister-in-law, Zhoujia Village is not far away, and the butcher should still have meat. We have a horse carriage, so let brother go to Zhoujia Village to buy some and pick up my sister and her family.”

Li Shi accepted the money and said, “You are very thoughtful. Okay, I will talk to your eldest brother.”

Dong Shi interrupted, “Sister-in-law when we cook for eight tables tonight, should we prepare the staple food first? What will you prepare for the staple food?”

Li Shi was thinking about mixed flour steamed buns, as she didn’t bring back much corn flour. In Pingzhou, corn flour was either used to make porridge or to make pancakes for a change of taste. Most people ate white flour steamed buns and rice. Well, after arriving in Pingzhou, the Zhou family’s food improved dramatically.

Li Shi coughed and said, “We don’t have enough flour to make steamed buns. It’s a good opportunity for your eldest brother to go to Zhoujia Village to exchange some for us.”

Dong Shi stopped talking. Although her sister-in-law didn’t know much about other things, she knew the most about kitchen matters.

Li Shi’s sisters-in-law believed that their sister-in-law was not bragging and that her words really counted. They were happy and envious at the same time!

Zhulan and Li Xu Shi chatted for a while, and then the wife of the head of Lijia Village came and brought some vegetables and eggs. She knew that Zhulan’s family was worried that they would have no vegetables to eat.

It was not that Zhulan forgot about the vegetable garden in the house. She didn’t entrust it to the Li family because she had her own concerns.

The Zhou family had already helped the Li family a lot, so let’s forget about the vegetable garden. So Zhulan had left it empty.

By the way, there were still a few dogs that were bought at the beginning, and they were still raised in the house. The Zhou family left food for the dogs, and the Li family took good care of the dogs. The big dogs were still very energetic. As for being thin, it was inevitable. Zhulan’s family often had bones to eat when the dogs were young. After Zhulan’s family left, the Li family had no bones to give to the dogs, so they could only eat the leftover food. The dogs naturally became thin without meat to eat.

When Zhulan’s family came back, the happiest ones were the big dogs!

Half an hour later, Xuemei came with her child. Zhulan then realized that Boss Zhou had gone to Zhoujia Village to buy chickens and pick up Xuemei’s family.

Zhulan didn’t notice Xuemei’s belly the last time she came back. This time Xuemei was wearing thicker clothes. Zhulan looked at Xuemei’s belly and asked, “Why is your belly so big?”

(End of this chapter)

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