allonlinenovel Chapter 141: Visiting Relatives Before the Lunar New Year
Chapter 141: Visiting Relatives Before the Lunar New Year
The red jacket is a little big for Xinxin, reaching up to the upper part of her calves, but it looks very nice. In fact, little girls look pretty good in red.
Sure enough, a big red silk flower was soon tied on Xinxin's head.
This was bought by Li Meir for Li Yuer, but she rejected it mercilessly.
Li Yuer took out a silver longevity lock from his arms and placed it on the head of Hainiu's bed.
"Mother, this is the New Year gift my elder brother and I bought for the sea cow. The sea cow had a hard life, and both you and the sea cow have suffered. I hope this longevity lock can help the sea cow grow up safely."
Fan picked up the longevity lock and rubbed it carefully, her eyes full of admiration, "You are so thoughtful. Hainiu will surely grow up safely with brothers and sisters like you to protect him from the wind and rain.
Look at his little face now, he looks much fatter than when you were little. You were heavier than him when you were born, but now he has surpassed you when you were little."
"Haha." The manatee had some kind of sweet dream and suddenly laughed, and the whole family laughed along with him.
The family is happy and harmonious. They are no longer like when Li Yuer first traveled through time, with a sad face, dull eyes, and few words, living like a walking corpse all day long.
"Our family is now living a good life, but we must not forget the relatives and friends who have helped us." Old Mrs. Cai pointed to the basket in the corner and said, "These are the New Year gifts that my husband and I have divided up. We plan to give them to the families who have a good relationship with our family.
If they ask where it came from, I will say that it was sent by my brother. I will say that my family did some small business with the Cai family and made some money.”
Old Mrs. Cai has a very good grasp of the ways of the world and the relationships between people and relatives.
The largest gifts were given to the two uncles' families and the village chief's family. Each family received two pounds of pork, two pounds of white rice, two pounds of white flour, half a pound of brown sugar, twenty eggs, one pound of lard, and a piece of gray linen, which could be used by both men and women.
All together, it's more than 700 coins, which is considered a large sum of money.
The remaining cousins and those who were on good terms with him received: one pound of pork, one pound of rice and flour, ten eggs, and eight feet of fine linen.
Old man Li stood outside the boat with the copper pipe and tobacco bought by his grandchildren. He was afraid that the smell of smoking on the boat would choke his family.
He took out a lighter, lit the tobacco, and took a deep puff. The pure fragrance instantly spread from his mouth and nose to his forehead.
"Good smoke!"
Somehow, Old Man Li's eyes turned red and his nose felt sore, as he was thinking of an old story.
In the dense smoke, he seemed to see the scene before his father passed away.
His father used to be a tall man of eight feet, but eventually he became as thin as a skeleton. People living by the sea usually suffer from rheumatism when they get older, especially men who go out to sea.
Even at the moment of his death, Dad was still in so much pain that he couldn't sleep for whole nights.
At that time, his last wish was to have a puff of cigarette and a good sleep before he died.
Unfortunately, my father never realized this wish until his death.
Old Mrs. Cai shouted, interrupting Old Man Li's recollection: "Old man, have you finished smoking? If you have, come back quickly to give the New Year gifts. Don't be too late!"
"got it!"
Hearing his wife's familiar call, Old Man Li secretly wiped his eyes: the greatest blessing in his life is to marry a good wife and have a group of filial children and grandchildren, especially Yu Baoer, who is extremely smart. Yu Baoer must be the reincarnation of a child prodigy in front of the Sea Goddess, sent by the Sea Goddess to their family to save them from suffering.
He thought that he would not have to follow his father's old path in his life.
The eldest wife of the Li family was also preparing New Year's goods at this time, and the eldest daughter-in-law, Zhu, was happily counting eggs.
"Father-in-law, you said to give five to each family, right?"
Li Youfu squatted in front of the kitchen shed chopping wood and nodded, saying, "Yes, thanks to my second son, I made a little money a few days ago, so I am much better off this year."
Zhu quickly and skillfully put the eggs into the basket and even put straw under it to prevent it from bumping into anything while walking.
"Is my brother home?"
As soon as we reached the boat, Old Lady Cai gave us a signal.
"Yes! Yes! Why not?"
Li Youfu's wife has passed away for several years, and the housework is usually done by his daughter-in-law Zhu.
Several people came out to greet Mr. and Mrs. Li who were visiting as relatives.
When Li Youfu took the basket from Old Man Li, it was so heavy that he stumbled.
He was surprised and wondered what the second brother had given him and why it was so heavy.
Zhu made some sweet soup for the two of them. They couldn't afford it in previous years, but this year she weighed a few ounces to entertain guests during the New Year.
Li Youfu’s eldest son, Li Fuhou, quickly got a small stool for the two to sit on.
Li Youfu stared at Old Man Li for a while and said, "Second Brother, how come you have gained a lot of weight?"
People living by the sea eat fish all year round, which lacks oil and water, has excess protein and insufficient fat, and are relatively thin. Once they gain weight, it is usually not a good thing, as they may be suffering from edema due to illness.
Old man Li waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry, brother. I am really fat, not sick."
Old Mrs. Cai said, "He came back to the mainland with me a few days ago. He can eat pork every now and then, and there's enough rice. It's strange that he didn't get fat."
"Really? People on land have a much better life." Li Youfu sighed in his heart. His second brother was a lucky one. Among the three brothers, he was the eldest and the most capable, the third was the smartest, and the second was dull and born in the middle, so he received relatively less love from his parents.
Unexpectedly, by some strange coincidence, my second brother married a girl from land, and his wife's dowry was the largest in their Tuwozi village.
The dowry included buying a boat, some furniture, and a set of silver headwear. It must have been at least 10 or 18 taels.
He is really happy for his second brother that he can still do business with the help of his mother's family.
"My second brother and his wife are blessed with good fortune, and their future life will be good."
Old man Li said modestly: "It's all thanks to your second brother and sister-in-law."
Old Mrs. Cai glanced at Li Yanqing, who was standing aside and looking a little shy.
"Qing is fifteen this year, right? You should pay the fish tax next year."
Speaking of his eldest grandson, Li Youfu said with a smile: "That's right. When we buy a boat in the spring, it's time for him to start a family and a career."
Li Youfu's family was not wealthy, so he did not save enough money to buy a boat for his son. They did not separate and lived together.
After two generations of saving, now it is finally enough for the eldest grandson to buy a small black-sailed boat.
After chatting for a while, Mr. and Mrs. Li said they would go to their third brother and ninth brother's house, picked up the return gift from the eldest brother's house, and then left.
After the two men walked away, Zhu opened the lid of the basket and couldn't help but exclaimed.
"Father, husband, look."
The two of them took a look at the basket full of pork, rice and noodles, and opened the long thing that Old Lady Cai had wrapped in a reed mat.
"It's linen, a whole bolt of it!"
Fine linen costs fourteen coins a foot, and a piece of cloth is about forty feet, which is half a tael of silver.
Li Youfu's hands were shaking as he touched the linen. He thought for a moment and said, "Cut off eight feet of linen, pick up ten eggs, and pack a pound of white flour and fine flour each. Have Daqing go to Fanjiatuozi to deliver them to Lao Wang's family."
Fanjiatuozi is a large island southeast of Rabbit Island, almost facing Yuge Wharf to the south.
Zhu looked at her father-in-law and husband, and seeing their happy faces, she felt a little uncomfortable with the Wang family. Finally, she couldn't help but said, "Father, husband, we haven't gotten married yet, so it's probably not appropriate to give so many gifts."
"Ah!" Li Youfu sighed heavily and said, "The third daughter of the old Wang family is a good one, pretty, skillful and filial. Although their parents are a little powerful, we are marrying their daughter, not Mrs. Wang.
If his third daughter wasn't a little speechless, it would never have been our Daqing's turn. Her two elder sisters who married in the town years ago have implied in their words that they wanted to marry their younger sister off to a family on land. If our family doesn't show some effort, this marriage will probably be in vain.
Daqing is not young anymore, and our family is not well off. If we cancel the engagement, even if it is the man, his reputation will be damaged, and I don’t know when I will find the right one next time.”