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Chapter 73: 串门
Visit (Somebody’s home)
On the first day of the Chinese New Year, the atmosphere was a little milder than on Chinese New Year’s Eve, but the cheerfulness was still preserved.
Zhao Zheng’an and Zhong Ziqi naturally still had dumplings for breakfast, which were stuffed with pickled vegetables so Zhong Ziqi was able to eat it. Zhao Zheng’an didn’t dislike eating dumplings stuffed with pickled vegetables, and he ate them with relish.
After eating, Zhao Zheng’an tidied up the whole house and saw that Zhong Ziqi was bored so he proposed to go for a walk to Zhao Amu’s house. Naturally Zhong Ziqi agreed, he was bored to death.
After Zhao Zheng’an wrapped Zhong Ziqi up thickly, then two of them went to Zhao Amu’s house to visit their home. The four or five members of Zhao Amu’s family were sitting on the heatable brick bed, eating delicious food while chatting.
“Ziqi, you two are here! Come up and warm up on the kang bed (heatable brick bed)!” Zhao Ahmu got up and greeted them.
Zhong Ziqi smiled and sat on the kang, “Didn’t Brother Sheng and Ning Ge’er say that they were going back (to An Ning’s house) last time?”
An Ning smiled shyly at him.
“It’s because the in-laws said that we shouldn’t toss the kids back and forth during the New Year. It’s the same if they go back on the third or fourth day of the Chinese New year.” He also didn’t want the two children to spend the New Year over there, they had just gotten married and wanted them to spend the New Year together with him at home.
“That also makes sense.” Zhong Ziqi nodded.
“How are you doing these days? Are you feeling better? Did you vomit a lot?” Zhao Amu asked with concern.
Zhong Ziqi nodded, “Quite good.”
Zhao Zheng’an shook his head next to him: “What’s ‘quite good’? He vomits every day, he vomits whatever he eats. Whatever is the least nutritious, he could eat it.”
Zhao Amu laughed: “We’ve all been through this, let him eat what he can eat, just don’t starve. When I gave birth to our family, Zhao Sheng, it was just the time of living apart and separated from the main family. Our family was especially poor, we had nothing at all. We had to tighten the waist of our trousers if we wanted to eat some meat. I was also vomiting whatever I ate at that time but I loved to eat sour food. I could even eat rice soaked in vinegar. Every day besides porridge, I also ate salted vegetables (pickles) but you can see that our Zhao Sheng is also very strong, nothing happened.”
An Ning heard Amu talking about his husband and couldn’t help but poke him quietly, Zhao Sheng moved his body and gave him a silly smile.
Zhong Ziqi touched his own stomach: “I don’t think it’s a big deal either, it’s quite good to eat porridge and salted vegetables.”
Zhao Zheng’an, however, disagreed: “The divine doctor told me that his body is weak now. He needs to mend and take supplements regularly or else his body will get an ailment in the future.”
“That’s right, you need to take the supplement. It’s hard to give birth when you’re weak. You won’t have the strength.”
Zhao Amu had given birth to two children and knew the pain of childbirth the best. If the body was weak, then he would not have the strength. Therefore the child would not come out, the longer the time, it would be more dangerous.
Zhong Ziqi was a person who was afraid of pain. It could be seen from the fact that he had been hesitant to have intercourse with Zhao Zheng’an, therefore now when he heard the frightening moment of giving birth from Zhao Amu, he thought about that heartbreaking scenes he had seen on TV in his previous life ,he couldn’t help but shudder a little.
“Ziqi, Ziqi? What are you thinking about?” Zhao Ning patted Zhong Ziqi’s shoulder, seeing his expressionless face, he was wondering what he was thinking about.
Zhong Ziqi returned to his senses: “Ah….I didn’t think of anything.”
“By the way, Brother Sheng is married now. You are also soon, right?” Zhong Ziqi asked with a bad smile.
After he heard what he said, Zhao Ning suddenly blushed. Zhong Ziqi found it rare, if according to the past, Zhao Ning would certainly open his mouth to debate with him, however this time, he was shy? Did something happen to him that he did not know?
“Zhao Amu, have you and Uncle Bao Gen found someone for Zhao Ning?” Zhong Ziqi asked, trying to find out what the two people would say.
Zhao Amu smiled and said, “I didn’t have time to do that but I have a suitable candidate in mind. The problem is I don’t know if the person is willing or not.”
Zhao Zheng’an suddenly asked from behind Zhong Ziqi, “Is it Brother Lei?”
Zhao Amu also did not hide and nodded, everyone around here was his family and all were trustworthy, they would not go out and spread it to the outsiders: “I am quite fond of this child, honest and capable. I also know his family’s background and both Uncle Huang and Huang Amu’s personality let me free from worry. You say, if Xiao Ning married there, he certainly would not suffer, right?”
Zhong Ziqi was not surprised that Zhao Amu said something like that, he also thought that the two families combined by the marriage was quite good. The man was single, the ger was unmarried so it was reasonable and matching for them to stand together: “Then Zhao Amu have you talked about this to Huang Amu?”
Zhao Amu glanced at the person next to him, Zhao Bao Gen and shook his head: “This is also because I do not know if the boy likes our family Zhao Ning or not. He has been outside for around three or four years, I don’t know if he has someone in mind or not, the one he intended to marry. We also can not ruin it, right?”
Hearing this, Zhong Ziqi suddenly did not know whether to laugh or to cry: “Someone in mind? Brother Lei is in the military camp, where can he see a ger there ah? It’s very difficult to contact him, let alone a good match. If there really is, when brother Lei comes back, he will also bring the person back earlier. Even if something is delayed,he will certainly talk to Huang Amu and Uncle Huang. These days, you and Huang Amu are always together,so have you heard Huang Amu mention this?”
Zhao Amu hurriedly shook his head: “No, never heard him mention it but after you said that, I really feel relieved. Wait until the New Year passes, then I will find time to talk to your Huang Amu, see what he thinks.”
Zhong Ziqi took a look at Zhao Ning, who had been blushing ever since and didn’t move so he reached out his hand to pinch his face: “Look at our family Xiao Ning, ‘delicate as a flower, refined as a precious jade’ who also a ‘pretty ger from a humble family’. Even I can’t help loving him upon seeing his appearance. Who would not like him? Then he is blind at the moment.”
Zhao Ning immediately rolled his eyes at his words and slapped Zhong Ziqi’s teasing hand, “Can you talk properly? What with this flower ah and jade?”
An Ning covered his mouth and laughed, “Qi Ge Er is complimenting you on how good looking you look.”
Zhao Ning was extremely angry and said, “What he says definitely should never be taken literally, it’s all nonsense.” Every time he managed to tease him and made him run around in circles.
Zhong Ziqi was overjoyed, “Since you don’t like to hear this, let me say something else. Look at how Huang Amu usually likes you so much, he definitely agrees to your marriage with Lei Ge. You don’t have to worry about not being able to marry.”
Zhao Ning immediately exploded, if it were not for Zhong Ziqi being pregnant right now, he would have pounced on him: “You wait, when you give birth to the baby, see if I don’t fix you up severely.”
“Ai you, then I am looking forward to the baby staying in my belly for a few more days, to avoid domestic violence from you.”
Zhao Ning gave a ‘Humph!’ with his nose pointing up to the sky, indicating that he would not argue with him. A few people around them laughed as they watched the two bicker.
The first day of the Lunar New Year has passed. The second day of the Lunar New Year was the time to wish a Happy New Year and to visit relatives and neighbours. Zhao Zheng’an and Zhong Ziqi didn’t have much family apart from their parents and uncles.
As for the Zhong family, Zhong Ziqi did not intend to go there, as there was nothing more to do with them. As for Wang Cuihua and Zhao Cheng, Zhong Ziqi thought about asking Zhao Zheng’an to go back and bring some of the pastries and fruits he had bought for the New Year and throw in some money. Of course, the money should not be too much, just a few dozen,in case Wang Cuihua and Zhao Cheng thought that they take them too seriously. If it wasn’t for the fact that they had raised Zhao Zheng’an, no matter what he said, he would not have let Zhao Zheng’an go.
After that, Zhao Zheng’an went to visit Li Zheng and some of the closer clan elders. Nowadays, Zhao Zheng’an no longer needs to bow and bend his knee (bending and scraping to curry favor) to the clan elders. With his current status, people in the village were already at the level where they looked up to him, but Zhao Zheng’an still had the etiquette he should be having. Their family would still have to live in the Zhao Jia village so no matter what,they couldn’t offend these clan elders. Everyone could get along with each other politely and kindly so therefore in the future, if some problems occurred, they could also talk about it peacefully.
When the clan elders saw Zhao Zheng’an’s attitude, they were very satisfied with it, as it showed that Zhao Zheng’an still respected them, unlike some people when they were already rich, they were arrogant and didn’t care about anyone else. Zhao Zheng’an treated them well so they naturally treated him well too.
The Li Zheng family had the most visitors for the Chinese New Year. All the people in the village would go to the Li Zheng family to give them some New Year gifts to leave a good impression. Because of the crowd, Zhao Zheng’an didn’t stay there much and came out after saying a few words.
Zhao Amu’s family, Zhao Jiang’s family, Zhao Hai’s family, Zhao Er Shu’s family and Zhao Lan’s family, were all the families that Zhao Zheng’an had sent varying degrees of New Year’s gifts to them but Zhao Lan was the one that Zhong Ziqi came to his door personally.
Zhao Zheng’an was a man so naturally he was unable to visit Zhao Lan. Then there was Huang Amu in the city, Zhao Zheng’an also went there to send a gift.
There was another family, which Zhao Zheng’an only remembered after hearing Zhong Ziqi’s words. It was the family of the uncle who had sent him to the medical clinic when he was in danger.This uncle lived in a relatively remote place. The village was far away from their Zhao Jia Village. Besides the first time they thanked him, they never contacted him again. Zhao Zheng’an was not familiar with the road, so he inquired all the way here.
The uncle’s surname was Zhou and he was surprised to see him, so Zhao Zheng’an immediately explained his purpose for coming: “It’s New Year, I’ve come to pay my respects to the two elders.”
Uncle Zhou’s family consisted of five members. The couple had only one son, married a wife who gave birth to his child. Now the child could already run all over the place.The whole family were honest people, seeing that Zhao Zheng’an bringing with him a pile of things,they were quite uncomfortable. Zhou Da Shu and Zhou Amu hastily refused. Moreover, these things looked very expensive,with food, clothing and everything there.
Zhao Zheng’an naturally did not let it off easily: “This is a little token of my appreciation, you must accept it. If it wasn’t for Uncle Zhou sending me to the doctor’s at that time, I’m not sure if I would be able to survive.”
“That was just a coincidence, if it was anyone else, they would have saved you too.” Uncle Zhou simply and honestly said this.
Zhao Zheng’an tried his very best to persuade them, before then Zhou Da Shu and Zhou Ame accepted it in the end. Zhao Zheng’an could also see their overcautiousness so he didn’t stay too long and went back after exchanging a few pleasantries.
The time passed very quickly. Soon the eighth day of Chinese New Year arrived. When the others were still immersed in the joy of the Chinese New Year, their courtyard in the town was going to re-open the workshop.
Zhao Xue Mei, Liu Mei Feng and Qian Ling were already ready to go. However Zhong Ziqi was not allowed to go because of his pregnancy and it was also inconvenient, so Zhao Zheng’an didn’t allow him to go and told him to stay at home. He told him he would be back at home around noon.
Zhao Amu and Huang Amu were also open today. They had originally planned to open on the 15th day of the Lunar New year, but then he thought it was too late. Since they could make a lot of money if they could open the shop earlier, they also follow Zhong Ziqi to open on the 8th day.
Because all the restaurants have informed them, then on the 8th day of the Chinese new year, the restaurant owners, one after another, have sent people over to take the goods.