When the pears are green

Chapter 243 Homecoming Banquet

Jiang teased Jiang Huan and then told Jiang Qingzhou: "Qingzhou, your father has completely cleaned up the utility room, and I also re-laid the bedding yesterday. You and Huan'er haven't seen each other for a few days, so take them back to the room. It's too cold today, and we can't let our Huan'er get cold."

Jiang Qingzhou took Jiang Huanshu and held him in his arms. Jiang Huan lay on Jiang Qingzhou's shoulder and nibbled on the cloth strap hanging from his tiger-head hat.

Song Li hurriedly put the cloth belt behind Jiang Huan's back and took out a handkerchief to wipe the saliva from the corners of Jiang Huan's mouth. Jiang Huan, who was almost three months old, began to drool.

Jiang Qingzhou held Jiang Huan's little hand and waved to Zhang and Song Changhe. The two looked at the lovely Jiang Huan lovingly and urged Jiang Qingzhou to take Jiang Huan back to the room in unison.

Song Li walked behind Jiang Qingzhou and teased Jiang Huan. Jiang Huan reached out to hold Song Li's fingers, and the family of three entered the room one after another.

Jiang Qingzhou put Jiang Huan on the soft quilt and asked Song Li, who was sitting on Jiang Huan's left, softly: "Xiao Li, has Huan been good these days?"

Song Li held Jiang Huan's fingers and answered, "He is very well behaved. He refused to go to bed last night. I told him that you were coming today, and he slowly fell asleep."

Jiang Qingzhou stretched out his left hand and covered Song Li's hand, smiling and praising Jiang Huan for being a good boy.

"Ah, ah"

Jiang Huan opened his mouth and smiled, and saliva flowed down again.

While wiping Jiang Huan's saliva, Song Li asked Jiang Qingzhou: "Qingzhou, do we need to deliver tofu to the restaurant tomorrow? Huan'er has entered the saliva stage. When we get home, I will make some bibs for Huan'er with cotton cloth."

Jiang Qingzhou stroked Song Li's fingers and replied, "It will be delivered. After Qingye is done, Brother Jixiang will help deliver it to the restaurant. Chen Yuan and Ruyi will come to pick you and Huan'er up tomorrow afternoon. Their ox cart will have a carriage."

"Well, we must thank Chen Yuan and Ruyi very much. They have helped a lot. You go and warm the bed for Huan'er, and I will coax Huan'er to sleep." After Song Li finished speaking, she picked up the yawning Jiang Huan and walked back and forth in the room.

After a moment, Jiang Huan's little hand that was holding Song Li's clothes dropped down.

Song Li leaned over and put Jiang Huan into the somewhat warm quilt, then reached into the quilt and took off Jiang Huan's cotton coat.

Jiang Qingzhou hugged Song Li from behind and rested his chin on Song Li's shoulder.

Song Li held Jiang Qingzhou's hands around his waist and asked, "Qingzhou, what's wrong? How come you, as a father, are more clingy than Huan'er?"

"I also want Xiaoli to coax me. You don't know how cold I am lying in bed alone on a snowy night. I couldn't sleep all night, and my mind was full of you and Huan'er." Jiang Qingzhou's voice was filled with grievance, and he increased the strength of his arms.

Song Li coaxed Jiang Qingzhou in the same soft voice as she coaxed Jiang Huan.

Jiang Qingzhou listened to Song Li's dragging voice, and his heart felt as sweet as honey. However, this sweetness only lasted until the evening.

Because the bed in the utility room was too small, and because the west wing was a room shared by Song Li and Song Yue, Jiang Qingzhou, who was full of expectations, still had to sleep in a separate room from Song Li and Jiang Huan.

Jiang Qingzhou, who was a bit attached to his bed, did not sleep well. After the rooster crowed in the middle of the night, he could no longer feel like falling asleep and simply closed his eyes and waited for dawn.

Jiang Qingzhou got up early to help Song Changhe make tofu and asked Song Changhe who he was going to entertain today.

Song Changhe scooped soybeans into the feeding port and replied, "It's the same as you guys did back then, that is, Xiaoli's second grandfather and third grandfather's two families, about ten adults and children, three tables of food and wine will be enough, and half a pig will not be enough."

"Dad, if you can't finish it, just keep the rest and eat it slowly. It's cold now and it won't go bad. Eat more meat in winter so you won't be afraid of the cold!" Jiang Qingzhou pushed the millstone to reason with Song Changhe.

Song Changhe knew that he couldn't win the argument with Jiang Qingzhou, so he was thinking about how to get Jiang Qingzhou to take some of the pork away.

Just after breakfast, Song Yue and Wu Mingde arrived at the Song family with gifts in front of the villagers.

Song Changhe, along with Zhang, Song Xing and Song Li, hurried over to greet them. Zhang smiled and talked to the onlookers. After a few polite words, the villagers left one after another.

Song Changhe quickly took the basket from Wu Mingde, which contained six roosters pecking at the cage.

"It's so heavy, how did Mingde carry it?" Song Changhe asked Wu Mingde in disbelief.

Wu Mingde touched his nose and replied embarrassedly: "Dad, it was my second brother who drove the ox cart to the entrance of the alley. I just carried it for the distance of 20 to 30 meters."

These things are no problem for people who work all year round, but Wu Mingde has been studying since he was a child and has not been engaged in production. He is a thin scholar.

Song Changhe would naturally not laugh at his son-in-law, so he quickly asked Song Xing to take Wu Mingde to the main room to rest.

Wu Mingde handed the basket in his right hand to Zhang who was talking to Song Yue. The basket contained cloth and cakes.

Song Yue then took the basket from Wu Mingde's left hand and handed it to Song Li, saying, "Sister, here are some bibs and a tiger-head hat I made. I saw that the tiger-head hat Ruyi made for Huan'er was very beautiful and practical, so I thought I should make one for Huan'er too, so that they can be worn alternately. I saw Huan'er drooling a few days ago, so I spent the past two days making a few bibs, with fewer embroidered patterns and relatively plain."

Song Li quickly took the basket and told Song Yue with a smile: "Yueyue, I said yesterday that I would make a few bibs for Huaner when I got back. Now that you have made them, I don't have to bother making them anymore."

Zhang asked Song Li to put it on Jiang Huan, and also called Jiang Qingzhou over to talk to Wu Mingde.

Song Li walked into the room carrying a basket. No wonder they didn't come out despite the noise. It turned out that both father and son were asleep.

Song Li sat on the bed and took out the tiger-head hat on the bib. The tiger-head hat was red in color, with two piercing eyes embroidered on the front, and a five-color auspicious cloud pattern of green, blue, purple, red and white on the forehead. The top two ends were decorated with pink tassels, and the bottom was two red thin straps that could be tied at the chin when worn. The back was a long hat body that just fell to the child's back. The top of the hat body was a five-petal green lotus, and under the lotus were two blue three-finger-wide cloth straps embroidered with gourds and flower patterns. The hat was lined with light blue cotton cloth, and a thin layer of cotton was placed between the two layers of cloth.

There are ten bibs, all white. Five are in the shape of five-petal plum blossoms, with two plum blossoms embroidered on them, and a red ribbon at the opening to tie it up when needed. The remaining five are round, each embroidered with two small fish, and the ribbon at the back is blue.

Song Li put the things back into the basket, and finally she didn't have the heart to wake up Jiang Qingzhou, whose eyes were dark.

When Song Li was about to get up and leave, Jiang Qingzhou held Song Li's hand and said in a daze: "I heard the noise just now, but I was too sleepy to wake up. I feel much better now. You take care of Huan'er, I'll go to the main hall to entertain the guests."

Song Li held down Jiang Qingzhou who wanted to get up. Jiang Qingzhou hugged Song Li's waist and explained with a smile: "Xiao Li, I'm really not sleepy anymore. Xiaoyue made so many things for Huan'er and bought Huan'er a longevity lock. Huan'er's clothes were basically made by Xiaoyue. It's reasonable for us to go over and say a few words. Mingde is a new guest, so we should treat him with courtesy."

"You have finished speaking, so go quickly." Song Li struggled to stand up, urging Jiang Qingzhou with a smile.

After Jiang Qingzhou went out, Jiang Huan woke up crying. Song Li first changed Jiang Huan's diaper and fed him milk. Then she put a five-petal plum blossom-shaped bib on him, put on the tiger-head hat made by Song Yue, and went to the main room.

Song Yue held Jiang Huan in her arms and showed him off to Wu Mingde: "I said it was good-looking. Look how cute our Huan is."

Wu Mingde looked at the two similar faces, one big and one small, with a smile, hoping that he would also have a child who looked as much like Song Yue in the future.

Wu Mingde stood up and stretched out his arms towards Jiang Huan. Jiang Huan, who was not shy at all, leaned forward and asked Wu Mingde to hold him.

Wu Mingde picked up Jiang Huan awkwardly, and Jiang Huan reached out to grab the silver hairpin that Wu Mingde used to tie his hair.

Song Yue patted Jiang Huan's little hand, and Jiang Huan bit Song Yue's fingers angrily.

Song Li came forward and poked Jiang Huan's little face. Jiang Huan burst into tears with tears in his eyes. He asked Song Li to hold him in a wronged manner.

Song Li took Jiang Huan with a smile, and Jiang Huan still stretched out his little hand to pull out Wu Mingde's silver hairpin.

After Song Ershun and Song Sanshun's families came over, Song Tian and others went to help Zhang with cooking, leaving a few children standing outside the door to secretly look at Wu Mingde and Jiang Qingzhou, whom they had rarely seen.

When Song Liu saw Lianlian, he stretched out his legs and hid behind Song Hui.

There were still two tables of banquets in the main hall. Song Tian asked Zhang quietly, "Changhe family, where is your nephew-in-law from?"

Zhang frowned and asked Song Tian: "Second Aunt, why are you asking him? I heard he is from another place, but I don't know where exactly."

Song Tian glanced at Song Wan who was concentrating on eating, and whispered to Zhang: "Our Xiao Wan has reached the age to get married. The other day I saw that your niece's husband didn't look like a villager, so I thought of asking if there was anyone in his family who was about the same age as Xiao Wan."

After hearing this, Song Wan shook her chopsticks, and a piece of pork belly fell to the ground. She sighed and said to Song Tian: "Grandma, I'm still young."

"Child, I'm doing this for your own good. You don't care about Changming's family." Song Tian poked Song Wu who was standing beside her with chopsticks.

Mrs. Song Wu hid aside neatly and retorted softly, "Mother, Dad and Changming will take care of Xiaowan's affairs. You should pay more attention to Xing'er."

Song Tian wanted to get angry at Song Wu, but Song Wu pointed at Song Ershun who was not far away and asked Song Tian to look at her. Song Tian had to swallow her anger.

When the sun moved to the rooftops in the west, Chen Yuan and Ruyi arrived at the Song family to pick up Song Li, Jiang Huan and Song Xing.

Song Changhe was very grateful to Chen Yuan. Despite Chen Yuan and Ruyi's objections, he stuffed a large piece of pork, two dried rabbits and two roosters into the carriage.

Ruyi carried Jiang Huan into the carriage. Jiang urged Song Li and others to go back quickly. The sun sets early in winter, so if they set out now, they could still get home before dark.

Song Yue and Wu Mingde left the Song family after dinner. Song Changhe and Zhang sat in front of the brazier in the main room, looking at each other in silence. In the past, they found it annoying to have children around them, but now that they had all left, they felt extremely lonely.