Chapter 336: Crowds of Guests

She pointed to the braised dishes in the kitchen: "Don’t worry about troubling us, all these dishes are ready-made. Later we’ll just fetch a roast duck from Aunt Daya’s house and it will be all set."

Qin San Lang did not refuse and readily agreed: "Alright, I’ll go call Grandpa and Er Lang and then we’ll come over."

He had been killing fish for more than an hour, his body stinking of fish, very unpleasant. He had to go home, take a bath, and change his clothes.

Qin San Lang went home, immediately bathed and washed his hair. Just after he finished and returned to the hall, Elder Qin came back. Seeing the cake on the table, he curiously ate a piece, a slight frown forming: "A bit too sweet."

Qin San Lang, while drying his hair, replied: "It is a bit sweet, but delicious."

"Delicious?" Elder Qin looked at Qin San Lang, somewhat surprised. This boy had never liked sweet and greasy things since he was little, but now he actually says this cake tastes good.

Elder Qin gave Qin San Lang a once over, then looked away and said nothing, silently finishing the cake in his hand.

"Grandpa, Third Grandma knows that today is my birthday, and she wants us three generations to go to her house for dinner."

Elder Qin was often invited to Gu Jinli’s house for meals by Third Grandpa, hearing that he laughed: "Just right, they’re hosting your birthday celebration, so it saves me the trouble."

Although things are much less grand than before, he didn’t want to let San Lang feel slighted, after all, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Elder Qin stood up, tapped on the door to the right, and said to Qin Er Lang inside: "We’re eating at Xiao Yu’s house, today is San Lang’s birthday. It wouldn’t be proper for you, as his brother, not to go."

In the past, when everyone ate together, he could excuse himself with work or being too tired, but not tonight.

Qin Er Lang was annoyed that Qin San Lang had gone to do odd jobs at Gu Jinli’s house today, feeling it was beneath him, and he didn’t want to eat at Gu Jinli’s house. But knowing he couldn’t avoid it this time, he had to get up and follow Elder Qin and Qin San Lang to Gu Jinli’s house.

Gu Jinli’s house had already prepared the meals. Although busy, because it was Qin San Lang’s birthday, the food was particularly lavish. Gu Jinli secretly kept three fish aside and made iron plate grilled fish.

Qin San Lang’s eyes lit up when he saw the iron plate grilled fish on the dining table. He liked eating grilled fish, but he thought all the fish had been cut into pieces to make fried fish. He didn’t expect Xiao Yu to have kept three fish to make his favorite grilled fish.

"San Lang, eat up, you like grilled fish the most, don’t you? It was specially made for you, have some quickly." Gu Dashan pushed the grilled fish towards Qin San Lang and pointed at the roast duck: "The roast duck is good too; crispy skin, tender meat, very juicy."

"Eh, thanks, Uncle Dashan." Since Qin San Lang escaped, he had never thought he’d get to celebrate his birthday again, but today, so many people celebrated it for him, stirring an indescribable emotion in him.

Everyone cheerfully celebrated Qin San Lang’s birthday.

After the meal, the Qin family did not leave immediately, but waited for other families to arrive and discussed the shop’s opening tomorrow.

Mrs. Chen was the happiest: "We have already tidied up the shop during the day, both the front and back kitchens’ stoves are operational. Tomorrow, Sister Daya just needs to bring her braised dishes pot directly over, there are enough stoves to use."

Gu Daya’s house needed many stoves for braising, but the shop had two kitchens, each with six stoves, enough for both parties to use.

Previously, Mrs. Chen had been discontent with Gu Daya’s house temporarily moving into their shop to sell braised dishes, but today she was happy, and even her words were spoken with a beaming smile.

"The only issue is that the shop doesn’t have a well dug yet, and it’s inconvenient for us to get water; we still have to fetch it from Xuanhu Fang." Mrs. Chen was most dissatisfied with this, as fetching water was a physically demanding task. Now that two families are sharing one shop, there’s a lot of water needed every day.

After speaking, Mrs. Chen deliberately glanced at Gu Daya.

Gu Jinli couldn’t help but want to roll her eyes, while Qi Kangming said, "Aunt Da Gui can rest assured, I’ll fetch water for the shop every day in the future."

What Mrs. Chen was waiting for was exactly this remark, and she quickly smiled and praised, "Oh, Brother Ming is so sensible. Alright, the task of fetching water for the shop is now yours."

"Third Grandpa, Father, when will our shop’s well be dug?" Gu Jinli asked. In ancient times, access to water was indeed a big issue, and the well needed to be dug as soon as possible.

Third Grandpa said, "Your father and I have already found a suitable spot for the well, but we’ll need to wait a bit longer. The well-digger and his family have to finish harvesting wheat and planting soybeans and sweet potatoes before they can start working on it."

It was mid-June, and those who planted wheat were busy with the harvest, then hurriedly planting a round of soybeans and sweet potatoes. They couldn’t come right away.

After Master Yuan and his team finished building the first shop, they too had to go home to harvest wheat and plant soybeans. After the busy farming period, they would come back to build a shop for Gu Daya’s house.

Third Grandpa continued, "I checked the fields yesterday, and our families’ soybeans are also ready to be harvested. In a few days, once we’re less busy with work at the shop, we’ll need to harvest the soybeans and plant another round."

Farming was of utmost importance for farmers. Even though their families had opened shops and their business was growing, they could not abandon their duty as farmers.

The families discussed a lot about the opening of the shop tomorrow and then went home to rest.

The next day, during the early hours before dawn, the families got up, with Gu Daya’s family rising especially early. They moved their seasoned meat pots, one by one, onto a handcart and pulled the cart to the town’s shop.

Now that there were nine pots of seasoned meat, Gu Daya’s family couldn’t carry them all at once. It was Gu Dashan and Third Grandpa who carried four pots on their shoulders, following behind to help deliver them to the town.

The other families were also moving stuff: white tofu, dried tofu, fried tofu, spices, baskets of bean dregs, buckets of soymilk, and preserved tofu, all had to be transported to the town’s shop.

With only one handcart among the families, it was clearly not enough. Fortunately, Village Chief He and He Shiliu sent over their family’s oxcart and handcart. The Qin Brothers also made several trips with two fast horses. After four hours of hard work, they finally managed to bring all the items to the shop.

After transporting the goods, the families went back to get ready, putting on their new summer clothes before heading to the town’s shop together.

Gu Yumei dressed with particular care today, even applying a bit of rouge. Her cheeks looked significantly redder.

Mrs. Chen instructed her at the side, "When you meet the Yuan Family People, be tactful. If they don’t take a liking to you, I’ll deal with you when we get back. Also, Chang Errui is a decent young man. Smile more when you see him and don’t put on a sour face, else he won’t like it."

Gu Yumei was very averse to Mrs. Chen saying these things to her, but because of the shop’s opening, she was in a good mood. Hearing these words, she did not resist but smiled and agreed.

The families, old and young, hurried along and finally arrived at the town’s shop at the beginning of Si hour.

When they arrived, a crowd had already gathered outside the shop, all those who knew about the shop’s grand opening came especially to support. Everyone was waiting to buy their goods as soon as the shop opened, a true sign of a house full of guests.