By afternoon, the new house was finally completed—blue bricks, small tiles, covered corridors, and a central courtyard. Seeing all this, Li Menglan felt as though she had traveled back to the Ming or Qing dynasties, suddenly seized by a sensation of reversed time and space.
While there was still time, Li Menglan had the villagers help pave the courtyard—apart from the areas she had reserved—with similarly sized pebbles. The main road outside the courtyard was done the same way. She also had her father, Li Dazhu, and her younger maternal uncle, Zhang Wenli, pull a stone roller to press the pebbles neatly into the ground.
Looking at her new home before her, a satisfied smile finally appeared on Li Menglan’s face.
Four blue-brick houses connected by covered corridors. Though the center of the courtyard was still empty—save for a few leafless trees, it was truly barren—Li Menglan was nevertheless very satisfied.
On the left was a rectangular open space, lavishly paved with blue bricks. This was the area Li Menglan had prepared to use as a grain-drying yard. On the right was an artificially dug fish pond; it wasn’t very large, at most around five fen of land.
Li Menglan planned to plant some lotus roots inside, or perhaps raise fish. She had already inquired—lotus flowers still existed here in the Yunliang Kingdom, but no one ate lotus roots. Everyone only knew to eat lotus seeds, unaware that lotus roots were also an exceedingly delicious ingredient.
Besides this, Li Menglan had reserved several open spaces of varying shapes and sizes. She planned to open up a few small flower beds in her courtyard so that in the future, she could learn from wealthy people—admiring flowers and indulging in cultured elegance. That wouldn’t be bad at all.
By next year, Li Menglan could already imagine how beautiful her home... would be.
In the evening, the Li Dazhu family set up over a dozen banquet tables in the new house. There was no helping it... sixty percent of Shangliang Village had come.
Old Master Zhao and Zhao Qingyun were naturally arranged by Li Menglan to sit together with her grandfather, maternal grandfather, younger uncle, and others. Although Li Menglan had not personally cooked tonight’s meal, she was the head consultant in the kitchen.
Though there were a few extra outsiders present, all the seasonings had been ground by Li Menglan beforehand, so there was no worry about anything leaking out.
Li Fujin, Old Man Zhang, Zhang Wenli... they were all honest, simple farmers who had never seen a wealthy person in their lives, let alone someone of such distinguished status as Old Master Zhao. Once Old Master Zhao and his grandson Zhao Qingyun took their seats, the Li and Zhang families all became extremely reserved.
Even if Old Master Zhao was inclined to build a good relationship with Li Menglan’s grandfather and maternal grandfather, the timing was off, so he had no choice but to resign himself and drop the matter.
Because she had known beforehand that the Zhao family’s old master and young master were coming, Li Menglan had specifically bought seven or eight chickens and made a large pot of Saliva Chicken.
Braised pork hock, cold dressed pig’s head meat, hot and sour pork intestines, twice-cooked pork, braised eggplant, plain stir-fried cabbage, steamed fish, garlic stir-fried pork lungs... and finally that famous Sichuan dish—Saliva Chicken!
The villagers of Shangliang Village had never eaten so well even during their own New Year celebrations; one by one, they buried their heads in their food and ate heartily.
Old Master Zhao was a true foodie. He truly hadn’t expected that the Li family would use such abundant dishes to entertain the villagers. When the final dish—the Saliva Chicken emitting an enticing aroma—was brought to the table, Old Master Zhao, being a shrewd old fox, more or less guessed at the reason for the Li family’s lavish spread... it probably had something to do with him, didn’t it!
A piece of chicken entered Old Master Zhao’s mouth. The fragrant, spicy texture made him cry out in satisfaction; especially after that numbing sensation spread through his mouth, Old Master Zhao fell deeply in love with this feeling.
Old Master Zhao said with a face full of emotion, “You two old brothers are truly fortunate to have a good child like Girl Lan—so considerate, sensible, and filial.”
Uh... Old Master Zhao’s words delighted Li Fujin and Old Man Zhang, but... Zhao Qingyun was depressed!
“Grandfather, must you be so sentimental? People who don’t know better might think your grandson is terribly unfilial.” Zhao Qingyun truly had no way to deal with his old urchin of a grandfather. He could only lift his head and stare speechlessly at the sky—unfortunately, what he saw was the roof.
This remark from Old Master Zhao caused Li Fujin and Old Man Zhang to simultaneously relax, no longer so reserved.
“Our Li family must have done countless good deeds in previous lives. Heaven sent us such a good granddaughter.” Li Fujin’s face was full of emotion, and when he mentioned his granddaughter Li Menglan again, the wrinkles on his face couldn’t hide his overflowing smile.
Old Man Zhang also nodded continuously. “Indeed. Girl Lan takes care of even this maternal grandfather of hers so thoroughly. Though she is a granddaughter by the maternal line, there is no difference from a paternal granddaughter.”
Such an impressive large courtyard, such spacious brick and tile houses... everything before their eyes was something that Old Man Zhang and his son Zhang Wenli had never even dreamed of.
Old Man Zhang suddenly remembered something, and the smile on his face grew even brighter. “Heh... that girl also said that once the house was built, she would find a wife for her little uncle—for this old man’s youngest son. Perhaps by this time next year, this old man will be able to hold a grandson!”
Old Man Zhang’s words carried a faint note of hope.
“Father, I think you must be drunk, right?” Zhang Wenli was young and thin-skinned. Being spoken of like this by his own father, an unnatural flush of red spread across his face.
“Haha... taking a wife and continuing the family line is a major matter. What is there for you, boy, to be embarrassed about?” Old Man Zhang was amused by his son’s appearance.
“Old Master Zhao, this rural place has nothing good to entertain you with. I hope you will forgive us!” Li Fujin raised the wine cup before him toward Old Master Zhao and said respectfully.
“Right... right... right!” Old Man Zhang also raised his wine cup.
The wine was nothing special—just rice wine brewed casually by the villagers for their own drinking—but it was sweet, fragrant, and mellow. One had to admit... Old Master Zhao really quite liked this kind of countryside rice wine.
Zhang Wenli also said to Zhao Qingyun, “Young Master Zhao, Girl Lan has always been under your care. Wenli thanks you here first, Young Master Zhao.”
Whether Li Fujin, Old Man Zhang... or Zhang Wenli, everyone in the Zhang and Li families knew that their family could have what they had today was closely related to the Zhao family’s old master and young master before their eyes. A person must know how to be grateful—isn’t that so?
“Ai... this old man is sixty-eight this year. It seems I should be a few years older than you two. You should stop calling me Old Master Zhao one after another. If you two younger brothers don’t disdain it... call this old man Old Brother!”
Old Master Zhao was indeed worthy of having been a general for several decades. He acted cleanly and decisively, truly possessing a soldier’s style; he settled the matter with a single stroke right then and there.
Li Fujin and Old Man Zhang were both people who had weathered storms. Who was sincere? Who was false? They still had the eyesight for that. The two naturally saw that Old Master Zhao sincerely wanted to befriend their families.
Leaving aside what calculations the other party might have, at the very least, right now he was sincerely befriending them. Li Fujin and Old Man Zhang readily changed their form of address: “Old Brother Zhao!”
“Old Big Brother!”
Over here, Old Master Zhao, Li Fujin, and Old Man Zhang... the three old men chatted happily together!
On the other side, Zhang Wenli—under Zhao Qingyun’s forceful manner—was honorably promoted to become someone’s “little uncle.”
Zhao Qingyun had said that he was Lan’er’s Big Brother Zhao; therefore, naturally, Lan’er’s little uncle was also his little uncle. Zhang Wenli was slow-tongued and couldn’t outtalk Zhao Qingyun.
By the time Li Menglan and her mother had finished seeing off the congratulating villagers one by one and returned, the grandfather-grandson pair of Old Master Zhao and Zhao Qingyun had already thoroughly blended in with the men of the Li and Zhang families.