Chapter 145

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After shopping, Xu Ran went to the Zhuo Mansion to confirm with Zhuo Yun about the time for Qingshu’s hundredth day celebration (a traditional activity to celebrate a baby’s completion of its first one hundred days of life).

Only after hearing Xu Ran’s question did Zhuo Yun realize the matter, “But I didn’t seem to have told you when my little darling was born?”

Xu Ran shook his head, “No, you didn’t. I only thought of it when I went back yesterday. I asked Tongtong and he told me that Qingshu was born on the tenth of September. I counted the days. Qingshu should be a hundred days old on the twentieth of this month.”

Zhuo Yun nodded, “It’s the 20th of this month, but we lack workers in the mansion right now. We can’t manage this by ourselves. Well, I’ll book a room in a restaurant and there won’t be any trouble.”

“This is a good method. Though it will cost more money, you can free yourselves and don’t need to care for too much.”

“Yeah, let’s decide to go to Mr. Chen’s restaurant,” Zhuo Yun said.

“Do you want me to add some food to the banquet?” Xu Ran asked.

Zhuo Yun waved his hand, “No. I know the food you will add are all the signature dishes sold in Mr. Chen’s restaurant. There’s no need to show them up. I’m afraid that after this meal, someone will come to my house to scrounge free meals off us every day.”

Xu Ran thought about it and agreed. What he could add to the banquet was something like potatoes and dried bamboo shoots. It was fine for dried bamboo shoots, but if he took too many potatoes once, it would be easy to bring trouble on Zhuo Yun.

Xu Ran then suggested, “How about this way? The 25th will be my baby’s full month celebration (a traditional activity to celebrate a baby’s completion of its first month of life). You guys are free then, so why not go to my place that day while we can also have a good celebration for Qingshu.”

“Well, let me discuss it with Shuwen first. If he agrees, I have no objection.”

“Alright, then you can discuss it with Shuwen. And I’ll go back first,” Xu Ran said.

“Okay. Take care and bye,” Zhuo Yun sent Xu Ran to the gate.

……

The winter days at home were always fast, and in the blink of an eye, the days from the 16th to the 20th had passed.

Today, it was Qingshu’s hundredth day celebration. Xu Ran got up early and dressed himself up. Then he helped dress the two children. As a result, when the father and sons stood together, they looked smart and attractive.

Today’s celebration would be a joyous moment. Xu Ran had taken out the red jackets that Tangtang and Guoguo wore for the New Year’s Eve and let them wear them. The two children were good-looking originally. As they put on the red jackets, they immediately became more energetic and turned to two rich young masters.

The two children were obedient to Xu Ran and dressed themselves as he liked. After everything was done, Xu Ran clapped his hands and touched his chin to enjoy his work.

Xu Ran said to Tangtang and Guoguo, “You two can go and show Daddy.”

Both Tangtang and Guoguo looked at the red jackets on themselves and also thought they were good-looking. And they happily left.

Liu Tong saw Tangtang and Guoguo running into the room and asked them, “Why haven’t you started off yet?  It will be too late if you don’t leave now.”

Guoguo turned around and asked Liu Tong, “Daddy, do you think my brother and I look good today?”

Liu Tong also noticed the red jackets on them. He praised them with a smile, “Very good-looking. Both Guoguo and Tangtang look good.”

Guoguo threw himself to the bedside, “Dad asked us to wear the red jackets and he let us come here to show you.”

Liu Tong replied, “Well, no matter what, our Tangtang and Guoguo look good. Today you are more handsome.”

Hearing this, both Tangtang and Guoguo were happy that they were about to jump up onto Liu Tong.

Liu Tong was then holding little Baozi in his arms. He was afraid that they would hurt Baozi, so he quickly stopped them, “Don’t jump, or you might hurt your little brother. Go downstairs! If you don’t go, Dad will leave now.

Then the two children thought of the reason why they wore the red jackets today. They waved to Liu Tong as well as little Baozi and went downstairs.

And they happened to meet Shao Yu downstairs. They asked Shao Yu the same question as they had asked Liu Tong.

Shao Yu was amused by them both. He also praised them for their good looks.

At last, Tangtang and Guoguo were satisfied and ran quickly to find Xu Ran.

Shao Yu went upstairs to Liu Tong’s room and told him what had just happened.

Liu Tong smiled after hearing this, “They had just asked me about it and they went to you again. I wonder whom they learned this habit from. They are men, but they love so much to be attractive.”

Shao Yu argued, “Who said that men can’t be attractive? I think they get this habit from the young master. Didn’t they say that the young master took the red jackets out for them?”

Liu Tong thought of what Guoguo and Tangtang had just said and smiled lightly, “I also think they learned from Ran, but Ran was not like this before.”

Hearing Liu Tong’s words, Shao Yu casually asked, “What was the young master like before?”

“Well, before! He was a fool. He had been a fool before I married him. At that time, I was sold to their family by my eldest uncle… ”

For some reason, Liu Tong suddenly wanted to talk about what had happened in the past. At that time, though he felt life was miserable, he never thought about leaving alone. Now, the past turned to a memory. For the past seven years, he had guarded the family and spent the time with them.

Luckily, the day he had been looking forward to finally arrived – Xu Ran had recovered and began to prosper; they were now living a happy life, and he himself had given birth to the baby in his arms.

Softly, Liu Tong was telling the story of their past, while Shao Yu was sitting by the side listening attentively. At the time when Shao Yu came to this house, he saw that the family were living happily not worrying about food or clothing. He had never imagined that they had experienced those seven bitter years. He thus felt inexplicably sad for them.

It was really lucky that Xu Ran had recovered, and their life had become better. Everything was fine now…

…

Speaking of which, Xu Ran and his two sons leisurely arrived at the town. Xu Ran knew that Lin Xi was coming today, so he drove very slowly hoping that he could meet him on the way. However, he didn’t see anyone all the way from the village to the town.

So when they got to Mr. Chen’s restaurant, it was already crowded with people everywhere.

Zhuo Yun was standing at the gate to receive his guests when he saw Xu Ran.

Xu Ran walked over with Tangtang and Guoguo. He was just about to say something when Zhuo Yun started complaining, “I say that you know I will be very busy today. Why didn’t you come over to help me earlier?”

Xu Ran was speechless but to turn to the sky. He felt sorry because he had completely been inconsiderate of this.

However, Zhuo Yun only complained in speech, and his attention had soon turned to Tangtang and Guoguo.

He stroked their heads and bent down to talk to them, “Tangtang and Guoguo, why do you look so good today? You are wearing red jackets!

Tangtang, who had been serving as the diplomat for them both, explained, “Dad said that today is a happy day for Brother Qingshu. That’s why he asked us to come in red clothes.”

Zhuo Yun took a glance at Xu Ran and said, “I didn’t expect you to be so thoughtful. In that case, let Tangtang and Guoguo stand by my side and distribute happiness candies. You should go in and serve the guests.”

Zhuo Yun sent Xu Ran away with that casual remark. He then took Tangtang and Guoguo to his side.

There was a table behind Zhuo Yun. Housekeeper Zhuo was busy registering something there. And Zhuo Yun taught Tangtang and Guoguo how to distribute happiness candies.

Actually the custom was somewhat similar to that in modern times. The housekeeper was keeping a record of the gifts sent by the guests. All the happiness candies would be handed out at the gate of the restaurants in token of gratitude, so that they didn’t have to send them when eating.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Xu Ran walked into the restaurant. There was a red character of “happiness” hanging at the entrance of the restaurant. All the guests had received invitation cards, and Mr. Chen arranged for a few people to do the reception work. It was quite a grand occasion.

Many guests were coming and Qin Shuwen was very busy there. Xu Ran found he was holding his baby while a group of Ge’ers were around them.

With a glance, Xu Ran was now able to tell whether the person was a Ge’er or a man, because the red mole on a Ge’er’s ear was too obvious. It could easily be seen as long as his ear was revealed, and a Ge’er’s clothes were usually brighter in color. Up till now, Xu Ran didn’t make a fool of himself for this.

Seeing that Qin Shuwen was busy, Xu Ran didn’t go to greet him. Instead, he wanted to ask Mr. Chen which was the room that Zhuo Yun had booked and whether there were other customers coming for dinner today.

Mr. Chen was very busy too, and he didn’t stay at the counter at the moment. At last, Xu Ran found him in the kitchen.

As soon as Mr. Chen saw Xu Ran, he seemed to get his savior, “Xu Ran, help me keep watch on the kitchen. Don’t let anything go wrong with them. I’ll go out and take a look. There are probably many customers outside. I have to arrange to dish up now.”

Without giving Xu Ran a chance to respond, he quickly walked out.

Xu Ran touched his nose and felt helpless. He was only here to ask Mr. Chen which was Zhuo Yun’s private room.

However, since Mr. Chen had gone out, he should be able to help the guests outside. And Xu Ran himself had to stay to watch the kitchen!

The chefs were old people who had been working here for a long time. They were very familiar with their tasks. Thus it was completely unnecessary for Xu Ran to stay there.

Xu Ran took a look at the dishes that were ready there and found they all looked very good, with perfect color, smell and taste.

There was also salad. Although the weather was very cold and few people might like to eat it, salad would always appear on the tables of the banquet.

The salad was not set very well on the plate. Xu Ran picked up a plate and quickly designed a pattern on it. Then, he asked the two busboys to set the salads on the plates again.

Although they were quite reluctant about the task, they had to admit that Xu Ran had done much better than them. They had to follow Xu Ran’s instruction.

The banquet was started at exactly noon time, which was considered as an auspicious moment.

Therefore, the kitchen was bustling with activity. In the town, when people held a banquet, there were always eight salads and eight hot dishes on each table, which was quite luxurious.

Besides, there were so many customers today. The staff in the kitchen had to take a lot of effort in their work.

Soon, Xu Ran saw two waiters come to dish up the food.

They first dished up salads and then the hot dishes. They had to make a few trips to the kitchen to serve all the eight salads. Xu Ran took this opportunity to go out for a look.

At this time, he found firecrackers had been set up outside the restaurant. Maybe they would be exploded when the dishes were ready on the tables. After that, the guests could sit down and eat.

Xu Ran found at every table there was alcohol. He guessed that a competition in drinking wine would be inevitable later when eating.

By the time he returned to the kitchen, the staff had already started to dish up hot dishes. Suddenly, Xu Ran noticed that two dishes were not prepared.

He stopped the waiters who were about to take food out and said, “There are two more dishes that haven’t been prepared. Don’t serve them so quickly. It will be not good if there is no food to serve in the course. Take them slowly. It’s best that after you dish up the six hot dishes and the other two dishes just come out.”

The two waiters didn’t say anything but nodded in agreement.

Xu Ran then told the chefs to hurry up with the other two hot dishes.

After about a quarter of an hour, the remaining two dishes were ready, and the two waiters just finished serving the other six hot dishes. Thus Xu Ran finished his task and didn’t have to stay in the kitchen. With his hands behind his back, he walked out to watch the fun.