Zhulan knew who Li inherited her loud voice from, so she nodded and said, "This time she is going to the capital to take the exam. Whether she 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'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's third aunt got the point, "You have a house in the capital?"
My goodness, how much is a house in the capital worth? I was angry that my mother-in-law favored the eldest wife. Such a good marriage was given to the eldest wife. Now, not only does she have to rely on the eldest wife to say good things to build relationships, but she also has to please her niece. I feel uncomfortable just thinking about it.
Mrs. Li Xu's heart was pounding. Her daughter was so lucky. Who knows, in the future she might have a father-in-law who is an official. Oh, thinking about it this way, the Li family also has 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 the Li 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 a suitable daughter-in-law for her son. It was not easy for the old lady.
Mrs. Li 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's third aunt felt jealous when she saw her niece'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 dishes!"
Li was thinking about going home to pick vegetables. "Thank you, aunts. I was just thinking about going home to pick vegetables with my mother!"
Zhulan smiled and said to Li: "Stay for dinner today, and you can decide on the food."
Li cried out, the four branches of the Li family together had quite a few people, "Mom, can you bring the child to eat too?"
She didn't see the Li family's children, they must have stayed at home.
Zhulan was generous not only because she 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 will come back less and less often, and the Zhou family will 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 scarcest. The Zhou family sent wild animals to Xu Jinshi's family, to the Wu family, and to Zhao Bo, in exchange for a lot of favors for the Zhou family!
Zhulan smiled and said, "Come and have dinner."
Li Xu 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's hand and said, "Come and have a good time today. Mother-in-law, you don't need to say anything more. Just listen to me today."
After that, Zhulan said to Li: "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. We will have to buy them again when we go to the county tomorrow.
Li responded, "Mom, I'm going out with the vegetables."
"Go ahead."
Li was very strong and carried the three baskets out without any effort.
Li was weighing the dishes in her mind as she walked. The 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 took the basket to the kitchen and came to Zhao. "Sister-in-law, mother asked me to buy some chickens. I was thinking of buying some eggs. Can you give me some money?"
Zhao 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 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!"
He 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 my brother go to Zhoujia Village to buy some meat and pick up my sister and her family."
Li accepted the money and said, "You are very thoughtful. Okay, I will talk to your eldest brother."
Mrs. Dong 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 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 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."
Mrs. Dong stopped talking. Although her sister-in-law didn't know much about other things, she knew the most about kitchen matters.
Li'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 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’s 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 are still a few dogs that were bought at the beginning, and they are 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 are still very energetic. As for being thin, it is 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 picked up Xuemei's family.
Zhulan didn't notice Xuemei's belly 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?"