The Yang Family shot him a look. "If you’d said so from the start, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this."
By the second day of the New Year, it was ti for Qingmu to visit his maternal grandmother’s family.
The Yang Family asked Juhua, "Juhua, do you want to go to your maternal grandmother’s?" She noticed Juhua had beco much braver and thought to herself, ’Maybe she’ll want to go visit this ti.’ Ever since Juhua was old enough to be aware of things, she had never been to her grandmother’s house—in fact, she didn’t dare go anywhere.
Juhua knew that covering her face drew so attention, but revealing it made her the absolute center of focus, so she refused to go out. It wasn’t a matter of low self-esteem, but rather a desire to avoid trouble. Besides, she had no real wish to visit her grandmother’s family anyway. She had no interest whatsoever in making the rounds to see relatives.
"Mother, I really don’t want to go out. It’s so much more relaxing at ho. Besides, I never go, so Grandma and my uncles can’t bla for being rude. Even if I did go, it would probably be awkward. And who knows if Laicai will be out and about."
Seeing her daughter’s expression, the Yang Family knew she just found crowds tireso, so she didn’t push it. "Then don’t go," she said. "This whole business of visiting relatives is a real pain. I never liked it either. So families are so formal, with so many rules. Others are just full of hypocrites, and it’s infuriating to even look at them. Your eldest uncle’s wife is decent, at least. I can always have a proper al at her place when I go back each year. But your second uncle’s house? I can’t stand being there for a second."
Ever since Juhua beca a recluse, her mother hadn’t spent a single night away from ho. Even when she went back to her own family’s ho, she would only stay for lunch before rushing back. Once Qingmu was old enough, the heavy responsibility of making New Year’s visits fell to him.
Fortunately, the Zheng Family didn’t have many relatives. Besides the Yang Family’s side, Zheng Changhe was an only son, so Juhua had no paternal aunts or uncles. Zheng Changhe himself, however, still had two elderly great-aunts that required a visit every year.
They didn’t visit more distant relatives very often. As the crude saying goes, "The first generation is close, the second is distant, and by the third or fourth, the relationship is over." Though the words were rough, it held true; unless you got along exceptionally well, you rarely saw such relatives.
So, Qingmu and Zheng Changhe went out to make the New Year’s visits. The Yang Family and Juhua stayed ho, enjoying a leisurely ti. Their only chores were feeding the pigs and chickens and cooking their als.
The Zheng Family didn’t get many guests either. When they did, it was only distant relatives like a great-uncle or two.
These days should have been perfectly relaxing, but a custom forbade any needlework before the third day of the New Year. Juhua sat with her feet in a traditional foot warr, completely idle and growing a little bored. Fortunately, Little Shitou ca over to chatter away with her, which made things much better.
For so reason, the little boy loved talking to Juhua. Juhua never tired of his innocent chatter, and the two of them, one big and one small, had a wonderful ti talking. When Liu Xiaoi ca back from visiting her uncle’s family, Juhua’s boredom vanished completely. With i for company—and since it was past the third day, allowing her to pick up her needlework again—she could sew and chat, and the days flew by.
Liu Xiaoi said to Juhua, "These New Year’s visits are a total pain. My uncle’s house is full of people, and it’s so loud. I wanted to leave the second I got there. But my aunt was just too polite and insisted I stay the night. I ended up squeezed into one bed with four or five of my female cousins and didn’t get a wink of sleep."
Juhua laughed. "The fact that your aunt made you stay ans she likes you. If she’d ignored you, you’d just be upset about that instead."
i sighed. "Oh, my aunt is wonderful, of course. I didn’t want to stay because of my cousin’s wife—she was pulling such a sour face, scowling at everyone. It just makes you feel terrible looking at her."
Juhua asked in surprise, "She didn’t have to go back to her own family’s ho?"
i said, "Her mother’s gone, so she doesn’t want to go back. Fine, don’t go back. But it was only the second day of the New Year, and she brought over several of her own nieces and nephews. My uncle’s house is already full of people, and with all the New Year’s guests, wasn’t she just adding to the chaos? That kind of visit is supposed to wait until the fourth or fifth, or even later. And their family hasn’t even divided the household yet."
Juhua didn’t want to get dragged into the gossip, so she said, "Well, you’re back now, so out of sight, out of mind! Shi Tou, have you had guests at your house?"
Little Shitou was still looking at a book—sothing Juhua had encouraged him to do. When he heard Juhua’s question, he said, "Of course we do! Tons of them. They’re all grown-ups, with no other kids, and they’re so loud when they eat. I was so sick of it I told my mom I wasn’t going to eat at ho. I said I was coming over to Sister Juhua’s to eat and read my book."
Seeing him purse his lips with such impatience, Liu Xiaoi and Juhua both burst out laughing.
Liu Xiaoi, cracking open a sunflower seed, held one out to Juhua. "Did you buy these? The kernels are tiny. My family planted so last year and we got a huge harvest. The seeds were much bigger than these."
Juhua quickly said, "Oh, did you save any seeds for planting? Give so! I’ll plant a few in the little vegetable patch next year and harvest them for snacks over the New Year."
i laughed. "Of course we did! We picked out the best ones to save ages ago. I’ll bring so for you next ti. They’re easy to grow—you can just stick them at the edge of a field or along a ditch, they don’t take any effort. Just a dozen plants will give you a whole winnowing basket full."
Juhua was delighted. Sunflowers were beautiful when they blood, their huge, disc-like heads a cheerful sight. Even harvesting them—prying the seeds out of that giant disc—was an activity she enjoyed. ’I wonder why Mother didn’t plant any last year,’ she thought. ’We absolutely have to plant so this year.’
With Liu Xiaoi’s companionship and Little Shitou’s innocent interjections, the room was filled with constant laughter.
Qingmu stopped going out after the fourth day, and the house settled back into its peaceful, comfortable routine. This tranquility, however, was shattered on the fifth day by the arrival of a large group of guests.
Liu Xiaoi and Little Shitou took one look at the crowd of people, young and old, and imdiately bolted in fright.
The visitors were Juhua’s maternal grandmother, her eldest uncle’s wife, her second uncle’s wife, along with Laicai and Laishou. Her cousin Laixi had co as well.
Juhua saw them and thought, ’With this many people, they’ll probably just leave right after the al.’ So she didn’t worry about it. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to co to Qidian to vote for recomndations and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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