Chapter 117

Xu Ran told the family about his plan of moving, which had been approved by everyone with the only request of picking a good day to move.

Xu Ran rubbed his nose, thinking about what they said about picking a good day and wondering how they could be so superstitious. Nevertheless, since the whole family had agreed, his objection would be invalid anyway. Thereby, he had to ask the old man from the last time to see which day was appropriate for moving.

The moving day was set on August 14th, which made Xu Ran laugh after hearing it at the time and said, “We might even be able celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in a new house.”

Mid-Autumn Festival was also celebrated here on August 15th. After all, the moon was roundest on that day, but there was no such custom as eating mooncakes.

After Xu Ran learned about the date, he went home in a hurry to prepare for the move, for which he also had to invite people to a meal. This time, it would be the whole village. If he needed to set up tables, he would probably need more than twenty tables.

Apart from the meal, he would also need to clean the house before they move, and moving some large furniture to the new house would also be a huge project.

Now that the new house has yet to be occupied, it would be strange for them to ask someone to do the cleaning, so his family had to do the cleaning themselves bit by bit.

With so many people cleaning two houses, they would definitely finished the work before the 15th.

Fortunately, Xu An was already familiar in making the wheelbarrow, and that Xu Zhen and Xu Fa could also help. The lists of orders for the wheelbarrow were sent by several village heads from the few nearby villages, so it shouldn’t be too troublesome to deliver them in a batch.

The only trouble was that they couldn’t finish all the wheelbarrow orders in time, and that people from the Xu Village still didn’t get theirs.

Decisively, Xu Ran asked Xu An to find someone in town to help make the wheelbarrows, and in the meantime, he began to take apprentices.

The apprentices were led by Xu Fa and Xu Zhen and began with some simple work. As a result, the people whom they solicited from town started to make wheelbarrow with Xu An.

However, the process of wheelbarrow making had been broken down into steps. No one would made a wheelbarrow from scratch to finish, given that it would be quicker for one thing and that no one would be able to steal the craftsmanship for another.

Xu Ran thought it was simple. Whoever wished to stay would only need to sign a contract and he then would learn to make wheelbarrows with monthly payment.

Nevertheless, they would need to sign a three-year contract. In three years, wheelbarrows would probably be a common thing in the street. Thereby, he really had no need to worry.

A monthly salary of one tael of silver was quite tempting and two people had agreed on the spot while the other three people said they would think about it. He couldn’t force people to take the job and he had to respect other people’s wishes. He had done all that he should anyway.

On August 12th, Xu Ran’s new house had finally been cleaned up and they were able to move the furniture in it. Xu Ran was so exhausted that he could not stand up straight.

The newly renovated house was brushed with limewash some of which had even stained the floor. The floor was made of quartzite and it certainly did not look good when stained with whiteness. Therefore, Xu Ran requested that all of them be clean which took some effort.

However, it was also worthy. The brightly lit house was such a joy to the eyes.

The large furniture which Xu An made for Xu Ran had almost been done. As for the small pieces, he could take those from the bamboo cottage for the time being until Xu An had the time to make the new ones.

Except from the part of disassembling the bed, Xu Ran’s family moved all the furniture on their own.

Xu Ran felt that after the moving, he became so skillful in every way.

As for the meal on the 14th, he had handed over all the work to Wu Mei and his Ge’ers.

Since Shao Yu wasn’t a local, he wasn’t sure which dishes should be served. Thereby, all he could do was to help out and learn.

As for Liu Tong, Xu Ran would not let him go anyway.

If it were last year, Liu Tong would be the first to show up at these events whenever there was any. Helping in a banquet would mean a meal of free food as well as a few coins for the work.

A generous family would even give excess food to the people who had helped in the kitchen. Liu Tong used to acquire the meat for Tangtang and Guoguo by helping out in the kitchen. Otherwise, the brothers would have no chance at all to eat any meat in the year.

He had been living a hard life and he had to work even when he was pregnant with Tangtang and Guoguo. Now that he was being served by others, Liu Tong found it a bit strange and had always wanted to help out.

After being seen by Xu Ran, he had been scolded by Xu Ran for many times but he had not changed.

Later on, Xu Ran stopped scolding him and merely asked him to take care of himself. After Xu Ran said so, Liu Tong began to restrain himself instead. Xu Ran said he didn’t want to say any more.

Such a meal for the whole village cost another fortune. With a dozen of tables full of guests, it would take half a pig to serve them. Nonetheless, Xu Ran really went to purchase half a pig in the village. It was slaughtered on the morning of the 14th. For the other half of the pig, villagers had bought some while the rest had been taken to town for sell.

There were still quite a lot of vegetables in the field in August. In addition, Xu Ran’s family had planted two batches of vegetables which were just ripe to eat at this time.

The people who came to the banquet would also bring something over. They were not rich families so they would bring what they had at home and there was no competition over the gifts. It all depended on their relationship in the days.

Xu Ran didn’t mind that either. He knew that the gifts he received would not worth half of the cost of the meal anyway. It was held for auspicious omen and to celebrate their new house.

On his way to town, Xu Ran also bought a lot of firecrackers which were a luxury for people in the countryside, but Xu Ran felt that only celebrating their moving with firecrackers would make it more auspicious, so he bought some with two taels of silver. The firecrackers went on for a long while on the 14th.

Qin Shuwu also came and gave 50 taels of silver to Xu Ran as gift, which was quite generous. Zhuo Yun had to take care of Qin Shuwen and he couldn’t come here.

Xu Ran was too busy to greet Qin Shuwu and he hurriedly asked Qin Shuwu to take care of the two children. Qin Shuwu liked Tangtang and Guoguo very much, so he didn’t mind Xu Ran’s carelessness.

At noon, when the banquet started, the village head shouted for Xu Ran in a loud voice. People who didn’t have the opportunities to drink alcohol were excited today and insisted on toasting Xu Ran while saying a lot of good words.

As for the promise he made to Liu Tong, Xu Ran had replaced all the alcohol with water. Since everyone in the village knew that Liu Tong was pregnant and it was reasonable that Xu Ran did not drink alcohol.

The banquet had lasted for quite a long time. There were many dishes and quite a lot of food so the food was more than enough. People who came were quite satisfied with the meal.

However, Xu Ran did not see anyone from the Xu Family came this day nor did he invite them. With Elder Daddy Xu’s temper, there was no telling what he might say. The least Xu Ran wanted was to quarrel with Elder Daddy Xu on such a day.

They had made too many dishes at noon. Even though everyone had eaten as much as he could, there was still quite a lot left. Now that the weather was so hot, Xu Ran let them each pack some home.

After packing up and sending people away, Xu Ran saw someone he didn’t want to see.

Xu Houcai who might be the only person in the Xu Family who had thought of him, even if it was only a moment.

Xu Ran still called out, “Dad.”

However, Xu Houcai was excited when he heard Xu Ran’s words. Xu Ran had not called him Dad for many years. When Xu Ran was still foolish, he had liked this son very much. However, after he became foolish, the burden of the family grew heavier, and the only love he had for him had been destroyed by the reality of life.

Seeing that Xu Houcai didn’t say anything, Xu Ran asked, “Dad, what are you here for?”

“No, no, I just came over to take a look. I heard that you has moved into a new house.” Xu Houcai did not dare to look at Xu Ran when he said it, and Xu Ran realized that he might have something to ask for by coming here!

Xu Ran said bluntly, “Dad, if there’s anything you need, just say it. If I can help me, I will help as much as I can, as long as your request is reasonable.”

“No, there’s nothing. I’m just here to have a look.” Xu Houcai was still unwilling to say anything.

However, Xu Ran didn’t want to talk to him anymore. Holding his tongue was the kind of behavior that Xu Ran hated very much.

Seeing that Xu Ran was about to leave, Xu Houcai quickly called out to stop him, “Ran, where are you going?”

Xu Ran had already stepped out of the door when he said, “Dad, if you have nothing else to say, I’ll go out first. I still have things to attend to.”

When he heard Xu Ran say he was going out, Xu Houcai became anxious. “Ran, I have things to say but I feel it hard to speak out.”

Xu Ran found it a little amused. He had said it like that and if it was really difficult for him to say, he would have stopped talking.

However, this was the biological father of the original owner after all. At that time, he had thought about giving him a part. Thereby, Xu Ran stopped and said to Xu Houcai, “Dad, just tell me!”

“Well, you know that we had sold all our fields in order to treat Zhang Yue. Now that we don’t have any land at home, we have no harvest at all. I’m wondering if we could use a few mu of your land. Don’t worry, I’ll pay you the rent on time.”

Xu Houcai was being careful when he said it, fearing that Xu Ran would disapprove, but the way he looked made Xu Ran feel a little sad. This person used to be the pillar of the family, but unfortunately, his spouse was not virtuous and his son was not filial. That was why he came to a sticky end. He had to talk carefully to his own son. Xu Ran felt pity for him.

However, this sympathy didn’t last long before it got dissolved by a sudden voice.

“Rent? Xu Ran is my son. His land is also ours. Just ask him to transfer the name of the land to yours. No way we would give him the rent.”

If it weren’t Elder Daddy Xu who intervened, who could that be? Xu Ran was having a headache. He had thought that the family would not come today and it turned out that they were waiting here.

Xu Ran was even more sympathized with Xu Houcai now. His Daddy should really be the one who accounted for Xu Family’s nowadays situation. The Xu Cheng from his childhood memory was not like this. It was unfortunate that this person had such a Daddy.

Xu Ran glanced behind Elder Daddy Xu and didn’t see Xu Cheng so he figured he hadn’t come. Xu Ran thought he would have probably given Xu Houcai the land for rent if Elder Daddy Xu had not jumped out and said those words.

However, it was good that Elder Daddy Xu had interrupted since he really didn’t have to worry about getting involved with the Xu Family because of his softness.

Xu Ran ignored Elder Daddy Xu and strode away. In any case, there was still a door in the courtyard with people at home and they couldn’t follow them in anyway.

Xu Ran heard the cursing from Elder Daddy Xu behind him as well as the sighing of Xu Houcai.