Chapter 54: The Zhu Family's "Affection

In addition to these heavy dishes, Meng Yulan had also prepared dumpling filling early on. She prepared the pickled cabbage and pork dumplings following the standards used for the Si Gai Lian feasts first; if there wasn't enough, they could deal with it later. In the cellar beneath the granary, there was still surplus pork belly.

To put it this way, the standard for today's celebration at Yue Feng's house was much higher than the hospitality standards for a mayor visiting the countryside. In this era of material scarcity, today's meal could be considered the absolute ceiling.

The women from several families had come to help with the arrangements, so the work wasn't particularly exhausting. Yue Feng and the other men didn't lift a finger at all; they were all crowded onto the kang in the east room, cracking melon seeds and chatting, enjoying a life that couldn't be described as more prosperous.

As a key player in today's 5v5, Xiao Tao was exceptionally boastful in the room.

Returning home, he originally thought he would be disciplined by his father, but Li Wentong only mentioned it briefly during lunch. He told him that in future fights, he wasn't allowed to charge in alone as it was easy to suffer losses, and that he should maintain unity and advance or retreat with his brothers.

"Brother Feng, we fought with the Zhu family today, and they definitely won't let this go! We still need to be on guard; those people from the Zhu family aren't anything good!" Xiao Wen took a chance to whisper a reminder to Yue Feng.

"They dare! I'll turn their world upside down! If they dare to show their teeth again, we'll beat them again!" Xiao Tao said with full confidence, his eyes wide.

Yue Feng naturally knew what kind of people the Zhu brothers were. Relying on the fact that their family had many males, they were used to acting like bullies in the village, and they rarely suffered losses from minor frictions.

If you were going to offend them, you had to offend them to the death. Today's fight, especially the slap Yue Feng gave Old Man Zhu, had completely dragged the Zhu family's reputation through the mud.

However, Yue Feng knew that the Zhu family was merely a paper tiger; internally, the family members were not as united as they appeared on the surface.

In his past life, Yue Feng remembered one incident very clearly. Zhu Dahai had gone to the forest farm to work, got into a fight with some vagrants, and later they came to the village and broke his leg.

Zhu Jianshe had called his brothers intending to go to the forest farm to cause trouble, but the second and third Zhu brothers didn't show up at all. In the end, it was Wang Jianguo who went to negotiate with the forest farm in the name of the village committee.

Yue Feng took a casual bite of a roasted corn and said unhurriedly, "Since this matter has been mediated by the brigade and both sides have no objections, it means the matter is temporarily settled!

If they still dare to cause trouble, we'll just keep dealing with them! We have plenty of brothers; no matter if they come with soft words or hard tactics, we aren't afraid. Just be a little careful when you're alone!"

...

While Yue Feng and the others were lounging on the kang, eating and drinking while boasting, the atmosphere at Zhu Jianshe's house was extremely poor.

Not only did the culprit, Zhu Erhai, have a large bump on his head from where Xiao Tao had struck him with a stick, but he also had two clear handprints on his face.

At this moment, Old Man Zhu and Granny Ma were sitting in the main room of Zhu Jianshe's house, and the faces of everyone in the room were very grim.

"Dad, Erhai is your grandson. Using the family's geese to trade for a large eagle was just so he could go up the mountain to catch rabbits and pheasants in the future; he just forgot to tell you. We are all one family—saying the child stole your geese is a bit excessive, don't you think?" Although Niu Guihua's posture was somewhat low, her tone was not kind.

Old Man Zhu puffed on his tobacco pipe, and after a long time, he said, "Eldest daughter-in-law, let me ask you: how long has it been since you and Jianshe provided grain for me and your mother? When we split the family, what did we agree upon?"

"This... it's just that times are hard at home. Growing boys eat their fathers out of house and home, and with three kids all at growing ages, the family's grain supply isn't enough every year!" Niu Guihua knew she was in the wrong, but she still had to say the polite formalities.

"Knowing that times are hard for your family, your mother and I haven't come to ask for a mouthful of grain, have we?"

"No... no, you haven't!"

"Then, when Erhai went to my house to secretly take a laying goose to trade for that eagle, shouldn't he have obtained my and your mother's consent?"

"Erhai forgot to tell you; it wasn't intentional!"

"Fine. Since it's my own grandson and you say it wasn't intentional, I'll accept that. Then we'll consider those geese as having been bought by your family, alright?

I won't ask for much. The market price at the fair today was four yuan and fifty cents. You give me the money, and today's matter is settled!

As for the loss of face our Zhu family suffered in the village today, I'll just say it's because I, Old Man Zhu, failed to teach my children properly. It's my own fault!"

As soon as money was mentioned, Niu Guihua's face instantly darkened. Four yuan and fifty cents was not a small amount. Although they could produce it, Niu Guihua had no intention of using it; the money they had saved was meant for finding wives for the second and third sons.

"The... the family has no money!!" Before Niu Guihua could speak, Zhu Jianshe rejected her directly in a cold tone.

"No money? No money is fine too. This large eagle was traded for geese, right? I'll take the eagle, and I'll sell it for whatever I can get!" Old Man Zhu said, glancing at his son with drooping eyelids.

"Erhai and I have already stayed up several nights training this eagle. If you take it now, won't it be all for nothing? How about this: consider the money a loan. Once your grandson makes money from falconry, he'll pay you back!"

Zhu Jianshe proposed a plan that could only be described as outrageous.

He wouldn't give the money, and he wouldn't give up the eagle; he'd pay whenever his grandson made money.

Old Man Zhu looked at his somewhat estranged son and said, "Fine. Erhai, write me an IOU! After a whole winter of falconry, you should have earned this money back. I'll come to collect the debt with that note at the end of this year!"

With things said to this extent, there was not a shred of father-son affection left. Zhu Erhai didn't dare to argue and obediently wrote the IOU for his grandfather, finally managing to dismiss the old couple who had come to demand accountability.

Once the grandparents left, Zhu Jianshe shut the main door and took the military belt off the wall. Subsequently, screams of "Dad! Mom!" from Zhu Erhai could be heard coming from the house.

This beating was so severe that Zhu Erhai couldn't get off the kang for three days—but that is a matter for later.

...

Before five o'clock that afternoon, the feast at the Yue family was almost ready. Yue Feng pulled his father to the door and asked in a low voice, "Dad, how about I go and invite my uncle over?"

Yue Lei's first reaction to his son's words was some resistance; after all, Yue Lei was not the type who enjoyed flattering village leaders.

But on second thought, his son's suggestion was not without reason.

With so many heavy dishes prepared, inviting one more person was nothing more than adding an extra pair of chopsticks; there was plenty for everyone.

When Wang Jianguo handled the conflict between the two families today, although it appeared on the surface that he was being impartial, Yue Lei knew that he was slightly biased toward the Yue family.

For example, when Yue Feng slapped Old Man Zhu, if Wang Jianguo hadn't spoken up to suppress the situation, there was no telling how things would have developed. Xiao Tao might have been carrying a knife, but he might not have been able to hold the field.

Now, the Yue family held the moral high ground and had also caused the Zhu family to lose face. Using the opportunity of the family's victory celebration to invite Wang Jianguo over for a drink was a move that could be made.

"Alright, go ahead!" Yue Lei nodded in agreement.

Having aligned with his father, Yue Feng immediately turned and left the house, heading straight for Wang Jianguo's home.