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Chapter 79: 搏厜
(Moving in)
After the new house was built, Zhao Zheng’an and Zhong Ziqi spent two days shopping for household items. The big ones were furniture such as wooden beds and dressing tables. The small ones were kitchen utensils, a needle and a thread.
When they had finished shopping, they decided to find a date to move in.
It was a village custom to invite relatives and friends for a meal when they were moving to the new house. After that, on the propitious day, at noon, they would officially enter the house and move in.
Neither of them knew anything about auspicious dates. Zhao Zheng’an drove his carriage to the town to find a person to calculate the date and coincidentally, there was an auspicious day on both of these two days. Zhao Zheng’an hurriedly bought back all the bowls and chopsticks, vegetables and meat he needed.
As for settling down on a new house’s dinner celebration, Zhao Zheng’an and Zhong Ziqi would definitely not invite the Zhong and Wang families but they would invite Zhao Amu and the others to come over for a meal. However, Zhao Amu and the others were so busy, they probably didn’t have the time either.
“I don’t care anymore!  Whoever can come just come then. It’s just a ceremony, remember to invite Li Zheng’s family too.” Zhong Ziqi said.
Zhao Zheng’an nodded: “Yes, I know. I’ll go to Zhao Amu’s house later and ask him if he can spare some time to help you prepare everything needed for the ceremony.”
“Hn.” Zhong Ziqi nodded his head.
When Zhao Zheng’an went to Zhao Amu’s house, they were having dinner.
“Zheng’an, you’re here! Have you eaten yet? Would you like to have dinner at our house?” Zhao Amu greeted Zhao Zheng’an.
Zhao Zheng’an greeted Zhao Amu and Zhao Baogen before he sat on the Kang bed, shaking his head: “Amu, I’ve dinner already. You guys just eat, don’t mind me!”
“Zheng’an ah, when is your family going to move? Have you found the auspicious date for it?” Zhao Amu asked as he ate.
Zhao Zheng’an smiled and said, “Coincidentally, I was just about to tell Amu and Uncle Bao Gen about it! I’ve had a teacher tell me that the day after tomorrow is an auspicious day. So, the day after tomorrow, you and Uncle Baogen, whoever has time, come over ba!”
“Who else you invite to come?”
“I haven’t gone to the other’s yet, I’ll invite Li Zheng’s family and Zhao Er Shu, also Huang Amu’s family but I don’t know if they could come or not. There’s not even ten people yet.”
Zhao Amu nodded: “I’ll go then! Let your uncle (refer to Zhao Baogen) go to the town. His mouth is sealed, moreover he can’t cook, so if he comes, he’ll just be sitting around. If I go I can help Ziqi to prepare the food.”
“Amu, look at the way you are talking about Uncle Baogen. Uncle Baogen, he just doesn’t like to talk but if he comes, he could help me accompany Li Zheng and Second Uncle Zhao to have a drink which is also good.” Zhao Zheng’an thought it was funny as he said this.
Zhao Amu covered his mouth and laughed, “Just with that ability of him to hold the liquor? He’ll be down only after several drinks. You might as well go drink it yourself!”
Zhao Baogen was being sarcastically talked to by his wife so he was rarely embarrassed and glared at Zhao Amu. He said in a sullen voice: “Just eat yours!”
“Fine, fine,fine, I won’t say anymore, eat, eat!”
Zhao Ning and the others who sat besides him also could not stop secretly laughing at them.
On today’s auspicious day, Zhong Ziqi got up early in the morning to cook. Zhao Amu also came over early in the morning to help him with cooking because they had to eat before noon today therefore both of them had to cook early so they could eat it early too.
“Ziqi, how many dishes would you like to make?” Zhao Amu rolled up his sleeves and came over to help.
“How about eight dishes?”Zhong Ziqi asked Zhao Amu while he chopped the vegetables.
“Eight dishes are enough since there aren’t many people too, unable to finish all the food.”
“If we can’t finish all the food, save it for leftovers then!” Zhong Ziqi said with a smile. The main reason for cooking the eight dishes was because the number eight was a lucky number.
By the time the sun came up, around seven or eight o’clock, one after another, Li Zheng and the others arrived.
Zhao Zheng’an naturally had to stay in the house to talk with Li Zheng and Zhao Er Shu. The Li Zheng family’s wife also came into the kitchen to help.
“Oh, you’re here too? You didn’t go to your shop?”The Li Zheng family’s wife was quite surprised to see Zhao Amu here.
Zhao Amu laughed ‘He he.’: “It’s to congratulate the house-moving right? Besides, Ziqi’s body is not convenient to do a lot of work now. No matter what, I have to come over and help him as his ‘Amu’.”
After hearing what he said, Li Zheng’s wife immediately looked at Zhong Ziqi: “What’s wrong with Qi Ge’er? Is he sick?”
Zhao Amu didn’t wait for Zhong Ziqi’s reply, then he smiled and replied, “You say, what else can it be?”
The Li Zheng family’s wife was puzzled over it at first, after that he was completely enlightened and said, “Could it be that Qi Ge’er is pregnant?”
“Exactly, he is! It’s been a few months now.”
“Really? This is a good thing. How come I never heard it before from Zheng An?” The Li Zheng family’s wife said happily.
“Amu, Zheng’an and I, we thought it wasn’t a big deal, so we didn’t spread it around.” Zhong Ziqi rubbed his nose and said with a smile.
“These two children…” The Li Zheng family’s wife shook his head and didn’t say anything more. Their family’s affairs were complicated, it was not appropriate for him to scout out into it too much.
Three people could work faster than one person. Soon, eight dishes were ready before noon.
Then, one by one, the dishes were served by three of them.
There was a custom here that when there were many guests, as a ger, they were not allowed to be at the table. They had to serve the meals beside the table while eating there.
But Zhong Ziqi didn’t agree with the custom.It was fine to separate the table since he didn’t want to eat on the same table with the rough old men either, it would be noisy and he would lose his appetite. He might as well set up another table in the kitchen. The three of them would sit in the kitchen and eat. As for the problem of adding dishes, he would leave it to Zhao Zheng’an, he believed that he could still manage well.
“Ziqi, your cooking is so delicious!”
The Li Zheng family’s wife praised it in amazement. It was the first time he had eaten Zhong Ziqi’s cooking. The taste of his dish, compared to what he had been cooking for decades, he could not catch up to it.
“It’s all my own blind research.” Zhong Ziqi talked irrelevantly.
“If you ask me, you have to have that talent (innate skill) to cook. Look at us, we’ve been cooking for so many years, but we’re not as good as a child who has only studied cooking for two or three years.” Zhao Amu shook his head with a sigh and said to the Li Zheng family’s wife.
“That’s true, even if I had to cook for another twenty years, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Qi Ge’er’s skills.” The Li Zheng family’s wife nodded in agreement. He had never heard that Zhong Ziqi’s mother, Shen, was an excellent cook, this was Zhong Ziqi’s own skill. Except for his talent, it seemed to have no other explanation for it.
Zhong Ziqi just smiled at his words, then he changed the subject seamlessly.
Because they were in a hurry
so the men in the room didn’t drink a lot of wine. It was almost noon when everyone dispersed.
Then, the group went to the new house.
At noon, the auspicious time had arrived. Zhao Amu got a fire pan from somewhere and placed it on the ground: “Ziqi, Zheng’an, you two, step over first! Wang Ding1.”
“Okay.” Zhao Zheng’an and Zhong Ziqi nodded their heads.
Zhao Zheng’an lifted the hem of his cloth, with his long legs, he was the first one to step over. After that, he hurriedly turned around and helped Zhong Ziqi to cross over too. Then Zhao Amu, Li Zheng and the others also stepped over the basin one by one, before they entered the new house.
“You two have made such a big place, don’t you guys feel it is too empty?” The Li Zheng family’s wife said.
But Li Zheng shook his head, thinking that it would be nice to have a bigger place to live in and it would be convenient to put things in too.
“These two have a plan, they say they want to plant the fruit trees all around here. You say, living a simple life like this, who can compare to them in this matter?” Zhao Amu said.
“That’s right, this is also what people say as ‘The hard times are over, the good times are just the beginning’.”
Everyone nodded in silence, remembering how hard life had been at the beginning, how difficult their life used to be.
“Let’s not talk about that. Let’s go inside and have a look!”
Zhong Ziqi said with a faint smile, inviting them inside to have a look and inevitably, he received a lot of praise.
The furniture, tables and chairs were all excellently crafted and decorated with floral patterns and colours. It was especially beautiful to look at, they knew it clearly in their hearts that all of these definitely cost a lot of money.
……
Li Zheng and the others had been out for most of the day, after taking a look around Zhao Zheng’an and Zhong Ziqi’s new house, they left to go back to their own home. Zhao Zheng’an and Zhong Ziqi stood outside the door to see them off.
“Ziqi ah, I’m going back too. There are still chickens at home that haven’t been fed yet.” Everyone had left, only Zhao Amu was left. He couldn’t stay anymore either. At home, there was still a lot of work for him to do.
“Wait a minute, Amu!” Zhong Ziqi called out to him : “There’s a lot of food left at home. If you don’t mind, take some back with you ba!”
Zhao Amu waved his hand: “Keep it for yourselves ba! “
“There’s plenty! We won’t be able to eat it all and it’ll go to waste if it goes bad.”
Zhao Amu hesitated for a moment before nodding his head : “Okay then!”
To say that he didn’t like it, he actually really didn’t. In the village, when a family had a happy occasion, the leftover food was always given to some of their close friends so it was not unusual. However Ziqi’s food was all good meat and vegetables therefore he felt kind of too much if he took it home with him.
After sending Zhao Amu away, Zhong Ziqi and Zhao Zheng’an were thoroughly relieved. Zhong Ziqi in particular had been busy since morning so he was already tired.
“Go inside and rest for a while ba!” Zhao Zheng’an took him towards the room.
“Hn… I’m going to rest for a while… I’m so sleepy…”
Last night, he slept a little late because he and Zhao Zheng’an had a crazy time. He was really tired after getting up so early this morning.
“Sleep for a while! I’m going to clean up the kitchen over there.” Zhao Zheng’an said gently.
“Hn…okay.”
Zhong Ziqi collapsed on the Kang bed in the new room, rolled the quilt over him and closed his eyes. In a short while, he fell asleep.
Zhao Zheng’an shook his head dotingly and went out.
1
[ (旺丁) The basic explanation of “Wang Ding”, it means that people are prosperous. In ancient times, Feng Shui often determines whether it is “旺财旺丁/ Wang Cai Wang Ding”, in which Wang Cai means hoping to make more money, so Wang Ding means hoping to have more…male (Children), as we know that in ancient times, the continuation of patriarchal ideology is very important. ]