Chapter 76: Chapter 76: A Joyful Gathering

Today’s banquet was prepared by Lin Xiaomeng as the head chef, with several aunties helping out.

There were nine dishes and one soup in total, making a perfect ten for good luck.

Chicken stewed with mushrooms is a must-have dish at northern weddings.

Two old hens mixed with wild pheasant meat were stewed into two big iron pots, enough for every table to have a big bowl. Potatoes were added, and all the meat was cut into small pieces—after all, there were ten tables to serve.

A pound or so of fatty pork was sliced thin and stir-fried into twice-cooked pork. Each table only got a few slices, just for the taste, but the flavor was decent.

The last meat dish was fish from the river—free for the taking.

Lin Xiaomeng decided to make two big pots of braised fish with tofu, again a bowl for each table. The fish was cooked through and flavorful, reminiscent of the fish hotpot you’d find in later years.

As for the rest, there was steamed eight-treasure rice, pickled vegetables with cornbread, fish-flavored eggplant, vinegar cabbage, cold wild greens, stir-fried mushrooms, and tomato egg soup.

Lin Xiaomeng’s cooking was quite good—even with such large quantities, the food was tasty.

All you could hear was the sound of people eating heartily.

It was rare to have such a good meal with meat, and since everyone had brought a gift, they were determined to eat their fill to make it worth it.

Many people even snuck pieces of meat into their clothes to take home for their families.

Most had brought their own bowls, planning to bring some food back for their children.

Xu Huaian was very thoughtful, using his long arms to keep serving Gu Qinghuan and the two kids, worried they wouldn’t be able to get any food themselves.

This drew frequent glances from Chen Fengqin, who winked and teased, “Qinghuan, you’re so lucky! There’s no one else in the whole village who dotes on his wife like this—he protects you like you’re his eyeball!”

Gu Qinghuan blushed at the attention.

Their table was made up of the village’s most respected families, and with the brigade leader and women’s director present, everyone ate with a bit more restraint—no one was sneaking or fighting over food.

At the other tables, everything was already picked clean—everyone was either stuffing themselves or stashing food away.

After the meal, Gu Qinghuan pulled Xu Huaian away—they were guests now, no need to stay and help.

For the next while, the family focused on “putting on autumn fat”—eating well to prepare for winter.

Xu Huaian, with his military background, recovered quickly. His leg was getting better, and he was able to go back to work in the fields.

He became the family’s main—and only—laborer.

The two kids often tagged along to pick up things in the fields, enjoying themselves, and spent a set time each day learning from Zhong Zijun.

Next spring, they planned to send the kids to the commune’s elementary school.

Gu Qinghuan became a bit of a “floating population”—she did everything except fieldwork.

Using errands to town as an excuse, she’d go up the mountain to gather wild goods, buying and selling to earn some money, and bringing back supplies for the family.

Now, the household lacked nothing to eat or drink. They even had meat almost every day, cooked in different ways.

Most of the meat came from the traps and snares Xu Huaian set—there was always something to bring home.

They couldn’t finish it all, so they dried a lot of the meat and stored it in the cellar for winter—it would be delicious then.

She didn’t plan to use the animals she was raising in her space just yet—better to let them breed for now.

In her previous life, Gu Qinghuan had been a food blogger, so she kept coming up with new dishes, completely winning over the two kids’ appetites.

One night, something worth mentioning happened: the two elders showed up in the dark, each carrying a basket full of schisandra berries.

They’d heard schisandra could be sold for money, so they’d used their spare time to pick enough to fill two baskets, and brought them over for Gu Qinghuan to help sell.

Of course, Gu Qinghuan agreed.

Unexpectedly, the two elders said that she should keep the money from the sale for herself.

They’d estimated that the two baskets weighed about three hundred jin (150 kg). At ten cents a jin, that was thirty yuan.

If they did this a few more times, they could make a hundred yuan to pay back what they owed their granddaughter.

It was to make up for the money they’d borrowed for their daughter’s arm treatment back then, when they’d had no other choice.

Gu Qinghuan immediately understood what the two elders meant—they didn’t want her to feel inferior in her marriage because of that hundred yuan, or to be looked down on by her in-laws.

Even though Xu Huaian would never do that, the elders’ thoughtfulness was deeply touching.

They were old, yet still willing to go through all this trouble for their granddaughter’s sake—this kind of love meant more than anything.

Zhong Zijun hadn’t expected her parents to go to such lengths for her, and she hugged her mother and cried her heart out.

Even though she was middle-aged and in a tough spot, with loving parents above and caring children below, she suddenly stopped resenting fate for her hardships.

Adversity reveals true feelings—after this ordeal, the family would only get better from here.

The first reply they received was from her eldest uncle.

In his letter, he sent greetings to everyone, especially thanking his niece for her help, and said that with the help of locals, they were getting by.

But there was one problem: Aunt Bai Jie was in poor health, plagued by illness, and coughed constantly in winter.

He also asked where Gu Qinghuan’s supplies and money were coming from—probably worried she’d gotten them through improper means.

Gu Qinghuan was relieved to hear he was receiving the supplies safely.

She sent another package with dozens of jin of fine grains. Even if they didn’t eat them themselves, they could trade them for more coarse grains—much more cost-effective than sending coarse grains directly.

She also included wild goods they’d recently collected: hazelnuts, pine nuts, wild mushrooms, hickory nuts, and so on.

She packed up two dried wild pheasants and rabbits as well.

She’d already sent money before, so she didn’t include any this time.

The most important things were the spiritual spring water and medicine.

Based on Zhong Ziyan’s description of the illness, Gu Qinghuan bought several courses of special medicine from the vending machine, removed the packaging, wrapped them in plain kraft paper, and wrote out the instructions.

Besides Bai Jie’s special medicine, she also bought a bunch of common medicines for colds, fevers, diarrhea, etc., packaged and labeled with instructions.

As for the spiritual spring water, it was hard to transport, especially in this era. If it spilled on the way and ruined the medicine, it would be a huge loss.

After thinking it over, Xu Huaian suggested using the water to make some food to send over—the effect would be about the same.

Just like with the persimmons before, though those were too soft to mail easily.

Actually, the dried nuts and wild goods from her space also contained the effects of the spiritual spring water, and were very good for people.

The vending machine’s previous stock had long since sold out, earning thousands of rave reviews.

Gu Qinghuan agreed with Xu Huaian’s idea, so she made some long-lasting foods and packed them up to send.

It was another big, heavy package.

When the couple received it, they were stunned.

Through her niece’s letter, they learned she’d gotten married to a retired soldier who treated her well and was willing to help her family through tough times.

They couldn’t help but sigh: “It’s easy to find treasures, but hard to find true love.”

Though their niece lived in a poor, remote area, she’d found such a good marriage—surely a blessing from above.

They wrote back with their congratulations.

Bai Jie even sent her own family heirloom—a jade pendant she’d always worn—as a wedding gift for Gu Qinghuan.

Since their niece now relied on others, they worried that helping them might make her husband resent her, so they wanted to offer something in return.

That jade pendant was the last valuable thing Bai Jie owned. She hadn’t sold it even when they couldn’t afford food, but now she was willing to part with it."