Chapter 146

After all the dishes were served, Mr. Chen personally went to the front gate to set off the firecrackers. The firecrackers circled around the entrance of the restaurant and rang for a long time. Zhuo Yun and Qin Shuwen stood together to receive the ones who came to congratulate them.

Xu Ran went to bring his kids back, then went to the table of the Qin Family’s elders and let Tangtang and Guoguo greet them one by one.

There were quite a few people in Qin Family. Plus kids, there were nearly two tables of them. After greeting them, Xu Ran took the two children to the table of the younger generation, and Qin Shuwu was also there.

Xu Ran beamed and said, “Brother Qin, why are you here too?”

Qin Shuwu pulled a long face. “They handed this group of children to me. Do you think I’m willing to sit here?”

Then the group of children looked up at Qin Shuwu together. Qin Shuwu immediately surrendered, “I definitely want to come here. I came here voluntarily.”

Then the group of children felt satisfied and continued to chat.

Xu Ran found it funny, “Brother Qin, it’s nothing. Don’t you see I’m sitting here, too? There must be someone watching so many children, right?”

Qin Shuwu nodded. “That’s right. By the way, why didn’t I see you just now? Where did you go to hide in order to slack off?”

‘To slack off? What the heck is that?’ Xu Ran said, “I was dragged to the kitchen to be an overseer the second I cme here. How could I slack off? Didn’t you see that Guoguo and Tangtang were with Zhuo Yun just now?”

“That’s right. Those two kids of yours are really sensible. They helped to hand out happiness candies at such a young age. And they are quite good at calculation.”

After Qin Shuwu praised Tangtang and Guoguo, he saw Xu Ran’s complacent expression. Qin Shuwu looked at him in disdain, “What is that expression? I’m praising the children, not you.”

Xu Ran was even prouder. “The kids are mine and I also taught them.”

‘Fine.’ Qin Shuwu had nothing else to say.

The two of them chatted on one side, and the group of children were discussing heatedly, but the two of them didn’t understand what the kids were saying anyway.

After a while, Mr. Chen finally announced the beginning of this meal, and then everyone started to take their chopsticks.

Before they had two bites of the food, someone started to make toast to Zhuo Yun, and then those who could drink all drank the toast.

Xu Ran was not interested in toasting. He had to go home later with the two kids, so he wouldn’t dare to say much.

When Xu Ran was just halfway through eating, he saw that Zhuo Yun was available, so he went over and gave Zhuo Yun the gift for Qingshu.

Zhuo Yun didn’t stand on ceremony, so he opened it on the spot. He even joked and said that Xu Ran was stingy, because the gift was made of silver but not gold.

Then Xu Ran replied and said that he was poor so he could only buy silver but not gold.

Qin Shuwen ran over to interject and said that he didn’t mind that Xu Ran was poor.

The people on the table busrt into peals of laughter. They were all familiar with each other, so it was nothing.

However, Xu Ran still seriously said that silver was better than gold to the child.

Zhuo Yun took off the gold longevity lock hanging around Qingshu’s neck and changed it to the gift from Xu Ran. The gold one was made by himself for Qingshu. Xu Ran took it and weighed it in his hand.

Zhuo Yun saw what Xu Ran meant and said proudly, “This is my baby son. Of course I should put more gold.”

Xu Ran returned the longevity lock to him and said, “Have you never thought that it might be too heavy for Qingshu to wear? He’s only one-month old after all.”

Then Zhuo Yun stopped talking.

Then Xu Ran stopped talking, too and returned to his seat with a smile.

This meal indeed took a long time to finish. The kitchen had heated up the dishes twice before the guests started to leave. Zhuo Yun’s friends were also pretty drunk, but they were still wanted to continue drinking.

Zhuo Yun himself was drunk too, and he started to talk recklessly. Qin Shuwen held the child and tried to stop him but failed. In the end, it was Qin Shuwu who dragged Zhuo Yun away.

As for the others, there were their family members who would take them back, so there was nothing to worry about.

Xu Ran thought about his family matters, and after dinner, he greeted Qin Shuwen and the rest of the Qin Family before going back.

After he got out of the restaurant, he didn’t head back immediately. Tangtang and Guoguo hadn’t come to town for a long time, so they extremely wanted to have a look around. Xu Ran took them to pick some things that they wanted, and bought for them.

When the father and sons got back home, they saw that there was another horse in the horse shed. Big Black did not welcome the extra one of its kind that came to snatched food with it. Xu Ran saw its actions and told Big Black strictly that if it bullied Lin Xi’s horse, Xu Ran would not give food to it. Then Big Black stayed quiet, at least on the surface.

When they came out of the shed, Tangtang and Guoguo immediately ran to the yard and shouted, “We’re back.” It seemed that they wanted the family to prepare an welcome ceremony for them.

However, Shao Yu, Mr. Hu and Lin Xi really came out.

Gao Quan probably went to the mountain to collect herbs again.

Tangtang and Guoguo recognized Lin Xi. After greeting Mr. Hu and Shao Yu, they obediently greeted Lin Xi as well.

Xu Ran also saw Lin Xi and asked with a smile, “When did you arrive? Have you eaten yet?”

Lin Xi called master Xu and answered Xu Ran’s question.

The group of people entered the living room. Xu Ran saw many things in it, so he asked Shao Yu, “Shao Yu, where did these things come from?”

Before Shao Yu could say anything, Lin Xi said, “Master Xu, these are New Year goods that my young master and master Zhao asked me to bring you. He said you don’t have to buy these.”

Xu Ran looked at these things and found that there was everything here. They were quite thoughtful, but he also had bought these…

‘This is kind of a waste!’

But Xu Ran didn’t say it out and told Lin Xi, “Go back and deliver my appreciation to your young master and Zhao Chen for me, please. They are considerate.”

“I will. Oh, by the way, here is this.” Lin Xi took out a stack of paper money and handed them to Xu Ran.

Lin Xi said, “These are also what young master asked me to give to you. He said that your plan is very good. Pot-stewed meat, cold dishes, and fried noodles are all sold very well.”

Xu Ran opened the folded money and had a look. The denomination was 100 taels. And there were up to five of those. Xu Ran knew that they could not sell up to 1,500 taels during this period of time, so they probably had given most of the benefits to him.

Xu Ran took two and handed the rest to Lin Xi. “Take it back and tell your young master that I know how business works clearly. I can’t take all of these. I won’t be polite when I could really earn so much.”

Since Xu Ran had given Lin Xi the silver drafts, he definitely wouldn’t take it anymore. Lin Xi couldn’t say anything else and had to take it.

Xu Ran patted him on the shoulder. “Just go back and tell your young master what I said. He won’t blame you.”

Lin Xi nodded. “Got it, master Xu.”

Xu Ran continued, “Stay here tonight and go back tomorrow. It’s not safe for you to travel at night, plus the weather is cold.”

“Yes, I know.” Lin Xi said.

Xu Ran asked Lin Xi to play chess with Mr. Hu and let Mr. Hu teach Lin Xi. He went upstairs and checked on Liu Tong as well as the child. Then he was busy preparing for the things that Lin Xi would take tomorrow. This time, there were really a lot. He had dried tofu and fermented tofu prepared all the time, but not chilli paste. After all, he was too busy. He should prepare some potatoes too, let alone the dried potatoes and dried bamboo shoots. And there were sausages. He wanted Lin Xi to take some sausages of each of the three flavors.

The rest was chess. Xu Ran prepared three booklets and ten sets of chess. All of them had to be taken away by Lin Xi.

After he finished packing up, Xu Ran wrote a letter to Lin Hua. In addition to the important business, he also asked about Zhao Chen and Lin Hua.

Xu Ran could see that Lin Hua’s dad and daddy also knew about this, but his attitude was not as tough as Zhao Chen’s daddy. Xu Ran suggested in the letter that Lin Hua could let his dad and daddy to talk to Zhao Chen’s family about this.

If it could be settled soon, the two of them wouldn’t have to suffer like this and set free their spouses instead of wasting their heady time of youth.

Xu Ran felt that the two of them were quite suffering, too. They probably had endured for quite a few years!

Even if they were forced to get married, they still endured like this. If they weren’t truly in love, no one would believe this.

Perhaps he couldn’t understand how scary the parents’ and the match-maker’s words could be before, but after transmigrating to this world, Xu Ran felt that he almost understood it. Take Liu Tong as an example. Just because the other party was his eldest uncle and his elder, he was sold without any ability to fight back.

He was sad and kind of glad. He felt sad because Liu Tong had been treated like this, and he was glad that the person Liu Tong married was him.

…

In the evening, Xu Ran took Baozi to meet Lin Xi and asked Lin Xi to tell Lin Hua and Zhao Chen that even if they couldn’t come to Baozi’s hundred-day party, they must send the gifts over.

Lin Xi smiled, saying that he would definitely tell them about this, and even asked Xu Ran about the date of the party.

Xu Ran pulled his fingers and counted the date to him.

While eating,it was always lively downstairs, and Liu Tong could only wait alone in the room for Xu Ran to bring him food, and then the two of them talked about something.

However, he was also very happy. After all, this kind of days was going to pass soon. In five more days, he would be able to go out. He might turn moldy if he had to stay in the room any longer.

After the meal, Xu Ran brought the food to Liu Tong with Baozi.

Xu Ran told Liu Tong that Lin Hua had sent him new year goods and money. However, he didn’t took all the money but only what he deserved.

Xu Ran sighed as he said this. Liu Tong immediately put down his chopsticks and asked him, “Ran, what’s wrong?”

Xu Ran thought about it and told Liu Tong about Lin Hua and Zhao Chen.

Liu Tong was a little surprised but he didn’t show any disgust. He said, “Can two men fall in love?”

So Xu Ran told him something about that it was not wrong to like someone with the same gender.

Liu Tong was silent for a longer time after listening. Just as Xu Ran thought he wouldn’t speak, he suddenly asked Xu Ran, “Ran, tell me if you are still my Ran? The fool whom I’ve been with for seven years?”