That evening, when Juhua saw her brother return with Zhang Huai, she smiled at them and said, "You’re back late. If you’d co back earlier, you would’ve seen so many girls. Li Changxing and the others ca over and didn’t want to leave, but after just a few words, they couldn’t handle it and ran off scared. The girls have strength in numbers!"
Qingmu asked what had happened, and Juhua recounted the story to them in vivid detail.
Upon hearing that the group of girls had scared away several waves of boys, he and Zhang Huai exchanged a glance and laughed. "Good thing we weren’t back then, or how could we even swallow our food? Li Changxing is as thick-skinned as they co. He should’ve taken the opportunity to stay. Since when is he so easily embarrassed?"
Juhua laughed. "I have no idea! Anyway, it was obvious they didn’t want to leave, but every ti one of them said a word, izi and the others would burst out laughing. They laughed until the boys were blushing, so they had no choice but to run off." The mory of the scene still made her chuckle.
Seeing her so cheerful, Zhang Huai felt overjoyed. ’Juhua is finally like the other girls. She dares to talk to people, and others want to co and play with her. From now on, she won’t be timid or cry because people mock her, will she?’
He smiled gently at Juhua. "Then you should thank your brother and . If we’d co back earlier, I’m afraid those guys wouldn’t have left. Wouldn’t that have ruined your fun?"
Juhua laughed. "Isn’t that the truth? I was just thinking that if my brother ca ho, he’d probably have to go hide outside again. Li Changxing and Liu Sanshun were definitely hoping for him to co back. You’ll see, tomorrow when he runs into you, he’s going to complain—he and Big Mouth had already agreed to eat here, but they ended up running off after just one sentence from Lin Zi."
Mother Yang, who was standing nearby, found this amusing and chid in, "Your Uncle Old Cheng and his wife are such honest folk, but their two little girls are quite sly. Lanzi is a little less so, though."
She then asked Qingmu, "Why didn’t the Tutor co?"
Huai Zi chid in with a laugh, "The Tutor can’t be in two places at once—every family wants to invite him for a al. He had lunch at several houses, drank too much, and spent the afternoon sleeping it off. And he was already invited out for dinner tonight."
As they were speaking, Li Changxing ca running in from the courtyard with a THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. He said to Qingmu and Huai Zi, "Co on, let’s go to my place for dinner—we’re just waiting for you two! I looked all over and had to ask Yangzi just to find out you were ho." He then turned to Juhua with a grin. "Juhua, it’s just a bunch of guys coming tonight, so I’m sure you wouldn’t want to co. But when spring arrives, I’ll catch so Huang Shan and bring them to you."
Juhua smiled. "It’s all right, you guys go ahead. It’s cold, and I’m too lazy to go out anyway."
Zhang Huai and Qingmu didn’t really want to go, but Li Changxing grabbed them and refused to let go. "Lots of people are waiting! If you two don’t go, just imagine what everyone will say about you tomorrow. They’ve got a score to settle with you, too—" He directed his complaint at Qingmu. "If you had just co ho earlier today, we could have all eaten at your house! Instead, we got chased away by a pack of girls. If you don’t show up tonight, they’ll be furious. Liu Sanshun was looking for you all morning and couldn’t find you, so he ended up having to eat at Big Mouth’s place."
Juhua started laughing again, and even Mother Yang couldn’t stop chuckling at Li Changxing’s frustrated expression. ’Ah, these lovestruck boys...’
Seeing no way out of it, Qingmu had no choice but to go along.
Zhang Huai cursed his luck internally. ’I had it all planned out to have dinner and talk with Juhua, and that damn Li Changxing had to co and ruin everything.’ He could only glance at Juhua, his heart full of reluctance, before following them out the door. He was still thinking, ’The food at the Li Family’s house won’t be as good as Juhua’s cooking anyway. It’s no great loss if I don’t eat!’
Country folk always loved a lively New Year. No matter how poor a family was, everyone would gather to eat, drink, and be rry. Whether there were many dishes or few was beside the point; no one was keeping score.
With all the rich food at the house this year, Juhua found she didn’t have much of an appetite. So, she said to Mother Yang, "Mother, for dinner tonight, can we just have so simple greens and tofu?"
Mother Yang replied, "I already cooked the greens. I had a feeling you’d want so greens with tofu, so I’ve already prepared it. With a few pickled chili slices on the side, it’ll be perfect with the cornal porridge."
Zheng Changhe was sprawled on Qingmu’s bed, his face flushed red. "Greens sound good, very good," he said repeatedly. "Huai Zi’s father really poured the drinks at lunch. I’ve got a fire burning in my chest and could really go for so cornal porridge."
Mother Yang shot him an exasperated glare. "So if soone tells you to drink, you just drink? Thinking the alcohol is free, so it would be a waste not to drink it, is that it? Your leg just healed, and you already dare to mistreat your body like this."
Juhua also added gently, "Father, you really should drink less. It’s bad for your health."
Seeing that both his wife and daughter were chiding him, Zheng Changhe hastily promised, "I definitely won’t drink when I go out for New Year’s visits tomorrow. I’ll just say the doctor told not to."
User Comments
0 comments from readers