The custom of recognizing godparents is different in every place. In Liujia Village, the godparents prepare a sumptuous banquet, and the children prepare gifts for the godparents. After that, they recognize each other's relatives, and the matter is settled.
Because Liu's mother died of complications during childbirth when giving birth to Liu Mingyue, the relatives from her mother's side all disliked Liu Mingyue, and had even less good feelings towards Liu Dadong, so the two sides had long since cut off contact.
Liu Dadong is a man who has never seen the world. Apart from the villagers, he has no other acquaintances or friends, so he did not invite anyone else today.
However, in order to show her importance to this marriage, Aunt Xiu specially invited her brothers and mother from her natal family to come, making the family-recognition party more lively.
Mingyue prepared two new sets of clothes as gifts for the village head and his wife. She took Liu Dadong with her and walked 18 miles to the vegetable market on the street to buy them. The two sets cost more than 400 yuan in total, and they spent a long time bargaining.
Originally Liu Dadong was reluctant to spend the money, but Mingyue said that the gift had to be shown in front of the villagers. If he bought something too cheap, it would be embarrassing and outsiders would gossip about him. Only then did he grit his teeth and gave the money with a painful heart.
People in the village seldom buy new clothes. One reason is that they are reluctant to spend money, and the other is that there is no need. After all, they deal with land and mud every day, and they don’t have the time or occasion to wear new clothes.
However, receiving new clothes as gifts from others is naturally a happy thing, especially when the village head and his wife find that the clothes fit well and the colors are to their liking, they feel even happier.
Taking advantage of today's banquet, the village head and his wife happily put on new clothes, and told everyone they met that they were a gift from Mingyue to honor her.
After the villagers who came to help brought the dishes to the table and everyone sat down to eat, the village chief and his wife took Mingyue and held the wine glasses and went to each table to toast, acknowledging their relatives and changing their words, while also inviting everyone to eat and drink well.
The villagers privately said all kinds of things about this recognition of relatives. For example, the village head and his wife were calculating, and they went to curry favor with Yuewa after seeing that she had been admitted to a good school; another example was that Yuewa was filial, and when she was going to study abroad, she helped her father find a good backer; another example was that Liu Dadong's greatest blessing in his life was to have a good daughter, and so on.
However, in front of the village chief, Liu Dadong and others, everyone only said nice things.
"I knew Yuewa was a capable kid. He got into such a great school. He will have a bright future. You guys will all be happy when the time comes."
"Yue Wa, listen to the old man and tell you the truth. Your godparents still love you very much. Look how lively this banquet is. Don't forget them when you make money in the future."
"That's right. From now on, Yuewa should take better care of Junhaowa. The two siblings can help each other, and life will be better."
"I think Yuewa is an honest and capable man. Brother Chao and Sister Xiu are also good people. This marriage is really a good one!"
"Come, drink..."
The villagers' words really touched the heart of the village head and his wife, and they were so amused that they couldn't stop smiling.
The village chief drank the wine in his hand in one gulp, and then called out to everyone: "Don't just drink, eat more food, eat and drink well, don't be polite, just treat it as your own home."
Mingyue followed beside them, just nodding and smiling.
Naturally, the villagers were not polite. You have to know that the economy of the villagers was in recession and it was rare for them to have a feast. Everyone grabbed the meat and vegetables and ate them as if they were snatching them. Everyone had a mouthful of oil.
There were also some shameless villagers who had already started packing up the dishes, muttering to themselves, "My grandson likes to eat this, I'll take some back for his second meal." Such scenes were not uncommon, as there were two or three villagers doing this at almost every table.
Even though everyone knew that they packed up the food to take back for the whole family, no one stopped them or gossiped about it.
In a word: it’s all because of poverty.
In the face of poverty, face does not seem to be that important.
The banquet lasted for more than two hours before the villagers finally dispersed contentedly. The men all went to play mahjong or long cards, leaving only some women to help clean up the dishes and leftovers.
Mingyue naturally stayed to help pack up, and this move won praise from many villagers.
After cleaning up the lunch dishes, more than half an hour had passed. After thanking the aunts who helped one by one and waiting for them to go out and watch them play cards, Mingyue was finally able to take a break.
"Yuewa, are you tired? Come here and have a rest. You are just too honest. Others can't hide from these jobs, but you still take the initiative to do them. Sometimes people don't have to be so honest." Aunt Xiu handed an apple to Mingyue and said with some pity.
Mingyue took the apple and shook her head gently: "Godmother, I'm not tired, these are things I'm used to doing."
"You can't say that. Working is tiring. If you say you're not tired, you're just lying to yourself." Aunt Xiu held Mingyue's hand and continued, "Don't be like this when you're out there. If you rush to do everything, you'll only spoil others and let them exploit you. You have to learn to say you can't do something, and tell others that you're tired too. Don't take on everything by yourself. You're still a child."
Mingyue's heart moved, knowing that what she said was from the bottom of her heart.
Isn't that right? It is because Liu Mingyue takes on everything by herself that Liu Dadong has become accustomed to oppressing her.
"I understand, but godmother, I..." Mingyue agreed, with an expression of wanting to say something but stopping herself on her face.
Seeing this, Aunt Xiu patted the back of her hand and said softly, "What's wrong? If you have anything to say, just tell your godmother. We are all family, there is nothing to hide."
“Actually, there’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, but I didn’t think it’s a good idea, that is, that is…” Mingyue’s face flashed with hesitation and confusion, and her two hands were rubbing together nervously, but she didn’t say the next sentence.
Aunt Xiu was also a little nervous because of her attitude. She couldn't help swallowing and urged, "What's wrong? Why don't you tell me? Is there anything that we can't talk about?"
Mingyue closed her eyes, as if she had made up her mind, and finally said, "My dad asked me to go to school in our S Province and not to go to N Province. I, I don't want to..."
The two families have already recognized each other as relatives, and some things should be discussed openly.
Aunt Xiu was stunned for a moment before she realized what she said, and her brows suddenly furrowed.