Chapter 1551: Reunion Dinner ( 1 )

Amidst the flying rumors and the busy villagers, another day passed.

Today was Lunar New Year’s Eve, and every family, including Li Chenmo’s, was busy cleaning their house and preparing for the reunion dinner.

At this moment, Li Chenmo and his children were busy sweeping the yard. Lu Jueyu always cleaned their home using a vacuum cleaner and a mop machine that used a battery whenever she was alone. So they only had to sweep the yards and clean the windows.

While they were busy cleaning, Lu Jueyu was pasting some couplets on their door frames. When she was done, she went to the kitchen and filled up their half-empty jars with grains, seasonings, flour, and sauces. Having a full rice jar meant that they would have an abundant harvest and food next year.

Afterward, she took out the ingredients prepared for the reunion dinner from her space. Some of the ingredients had been processed and only needed to be cooked, such as marinated pork ribs and marinated chicken. As for the vegetables, they were freshly picked from the greenhouses.

Time flew fast as one was busy with work. When they finished cleaning the house and preparing the ingredients, it was already three o’clock in the afternoon. Before they went to Father Li’s house, the family took a shower and changed into a set of new clothes.

This year, Lu Jueyu prepared a set of new clothes for the Li family and the Lu family as a New Year’s gift. As for her husband and children, she prepared three sets of new clothes, a woolen hat, a pair of gloves, a pair of shoes, and a thick cotton-padded jacket for each of them.

After Li Chenmo loaded everything into his bicycle’s cart, the family locked the door and went to the Li family’s house. Although they didn’t ride on the bicycle, using the cart was easier than carrying the bamboo basket by themselves.

With Dong Li pushing the bicycle and Dong Huang sitting on the bicycle’s seat, Li Chenmo only had to support his wife as they walked slowly.

Today’s weather was good. Despite the cold weather, the sun shone brightly, giving them a rare warmth during the winter.

As they walked, the villagers saw them bringing so many things with them. Seeing this, Aunt Zhao waved her hand and greeted them, "Jueyu, ah, are you going to your father-in-law’s house?"

Hearing this, Lu Jueyu turned to her, nodded, and replied, "We will have a reunion dinner with the family."

Aunt Zhao smiled and said, "That’s great. The road is slippery, be careful when you are walking."

"I will pay attention to it, Aunt Zhao," Lu Jueyu replied with a smile.

Forty minutes later, they arrived at Father Li’s house. At this moment, Li Lingyun and Pan Meijia had already arrived and were busy helping Li Chenze and Zhang Dongmei in the backyard.

It had been almost three months since Zhang Dongmei gave birth to her daughter. With her mother’s care and eating so much nourishing food and drink, her body was recovering well. Even the past internal injuries caused by childbirth were healed.

Li Chenmo and Dong Li carried the ingredients to the backyard while Dong Huang went to Father Li’s bedroom to play with her little cousin. As for Li Jingqian and Li Jingxu, the two of them were sent to deliver a New Year’s gift to their relatives by their parents and hadn’t returned yet.

Since Lu Jueyu’s condition made it inconvenient for her to move around freely, she sat near the kitchen with a brazier on the side. While her sisters-in-law worked in the kitchen, she helped them pick the vegetables while roasting some sweet potatoes for snacks.

When the sun was setting in the western horizon, Li Jingqian and Li Jingxu finally returned from their relatives’ house.

Seeing that their third uncle’s family was here, the two of them rushed to the kitchen while shouting, "Mother, we are back!"

Hearing their voices, Zhang Dongmei checked them out from the window and said, "Go wash up and get ready for dinner."

"Okay!"

This year was the first New Year’s Eve that Li Lingyun spent with his family. So, the dishes they prepared this year were more lavish than usual.

Besides roasted whole chicken and braised pork belly, they also prepared steamed fish with mushrooms and pickled vegetables, dumpling soup, Mapo tofu, fried noodles, sweet rice balls, mushroom and leek spring rolls, and nian gao.

At six o’clock in the evening, the table was full of dishes that they had to combine two tables into one so they would have more space to place a bowl of steamed rice and the utensils.

When everyone took their seats, Father Li looked at his descendants with a satisfied smile and said, "This year, everyone has worked hard. For the many years to come, I don’t hope for any wealth or glory, just for my children and grandchildren to have a safe and healthy life."

After he said that, he took out a stack of red envelopes from his pocket and handed one to his children and grandchildren. Even his daughters-in-law also received one.

"This is just a small blessing from me as your father and grandfather. Take it," Father Li said.

Since he had said so, they accepted the red envelope and said, "Thank you, Father."

"Thank you, Grandpa!" the children said in unison.

Father Li nodded and said, "Alright, let’s eat before the dishes turn cold."

While the Li family was having a warm, lavish reunion dinner, Zhang Ermu was surprised by An Xuyuan’s sudden visit.

Seeing the visitor, Zhang Ermu said, "Comrade An, what brought you here so late?"

Although he agreed to let his sister and An Xuyuan get into a relationship, it didn’t mean he agreed for him to visit during the reunion dinner. Without a formal proposal, it was inappropriate for him to join their family’s reunion dinner.

An Xuyuan noticed the hint of displeasure in Zhang Ermu’s tone, but he chose to play dumb and said, "Brother Ermu, my family sent over some New Year’s gifts for Yulan and your family. So I came to deliver it."