Chapter 155

On the other side, Wu Mei suddenly shouted at the door, scaring the others. Xu An asked, “What’s up, Meimei? What are you shouting for?”

Wu Mei clapped his hands and said, “I forgot to invite Xu Ran to dinner tomorrow.”

Hearing that, Xu An patted Wu Mei on his shoulder gently, “It’s fine. I’ll invite them over tomorrow. Don’t worry.”

It seemed to be the only solution. Wu Mei patted his forehead, wondering why he had such a bad memory.

Xu An persuaded, “Alright. Don’t think so much. We just need to tell them. Now, we should boil some water for our kids. They are going to sleep.”

“Oh!” Hearing Xu An’s words, Wu Mei realized that it was late enough to go to bed now. Anything should be done tomorrow.

…

The next morning, Xu Ran received a message when he was enjoying the snow outside, which was that Xu An and his family wanted to invite them to lunch. Well, Xu Ran didn’t have to prepare for lunch at home today.

Of course, he still had to have breakfast at home.

Xu Ran told his families about this during breakfast and decided to bring all the vegetables they had left last night.

However, Liu Tong stopped him. He said, “Wu Mei must have invited Wu Lan and Liu Qing. It’s not proper to send all the vegetables to Wu Mei. Moreover, we don’t have much vegetables in our field. What about just keeping these vegetables and eat them at dinner tonight?”

Xu Ran was bewildered, ‘Why so many people would treat us to meals since it is not the Spring Festival yet.’ He thought for a while and agreed with Liu Tong, who was of more worldly wisedom, so he nodded and said nothing.

It turned out that Liu Tong was right.

They were treated by Wu Mei on twenty-seventh, by Liu Qing on twenty-eighth and by Wu Lan on twenty-ninth. Then, the day after that was the New Year’s Eve.

People should eat dinner at their own homes on New Year’s Eve. Zhuo Yun told Qin Shuwen that this trip was well worth it, as they had had different meals at different places. It was really a happy thing for foodies.

On the New Year’s Eve, people usually got up early in the morning. There must be enough chicken and fish, and pig heads should be boiled. There should also be many other fried dishes. Anyway, the table must be full of delicious food.

When they were enjoy the hearty meal, Xu Ran made a summary for himself and his family, and then he especially extended gratitude to Shao Yu and Gao Quan.

And this made the two feel a little bit shy.

Gao Quan was fine, but Shao Yu was quite emotional after a few words. He said that he had a good life here and was very satisfied.

Xu Ran also said another thing, which was, Shao Yu and Gao Quan didn’t need to call him “master”.

Xu Ran said, “Shao Yu and Gao Quan, just call me and Liu Tong by our names from now on. Thank you for this year.”

Shao Yu stood up instantly and replied, “Please don’t, master. We can’t imagine our lives if you hadn’t bought we two back. Thank you!”

“Please call me by my name. There’s no ‘master’ anymore. We’ve been living together for almost a year and we’re quite familiar with each other. It’s strange to call me master,” Xu Ran said.

“Then, how should we call you?” Shao Yu was in a dilemma. It wasn’t proper to call Xu Ran by his full name, and it was also weird to call him “Ran”.

Xu Ran thought the same. Then, he replied, “Just call me Xu Ran. Anyway, I’m quite used to being called in this way.”

“Xu Ran,” Shao Yu called and Xu Ran showed him a smile without saying anything.

After finishing this conversation, Xu Ran turned to Zhuo Yun and his spouse.

Actually, the only topic was Zhuo Yun’s departure. Xu Ran asked, “Are you going to leave in January, Zhuo Yun?”

Zhuo Yun nodded. “Sure. Although it’s a little cold and tough in the north, it would be the good time to sell the sausage and bacon you’ve prepared. I can also help you find the fruit trees if I came back early.”

Xu Ran replied, “Sounds good! Please tell me if you’re ready so that I can make the full preparation.”

“Sure, please help me look after Shuwen when I’m not here.”

“Don’t worry. Shuwen’s also my good sworn brother.I will definitely take good care of him!”

Zhuo Yun smiled after hearing Xu Ran’s promise. “That’s right, thanks!”

Xu Ran responded, “Don’t worry, bro. To be honest, if we weren’t good friends, you wouldn’t spend the New Year’s Eve with me, right?”

Zhuo Yun didn’t answer him, but obviously, he agreed with Xu Ran.

Tangtang and Guoguo were as good as gold all day, and Xu Ran had no problem with them, so he remained silent.

After lunch, they have to “put the food in the branch (a kind of traditional New Year custom that people would make a cleavage in the branch and put their leftover into it, wishing for a good harvest in the coming year)” as they did last year. Although they didn’t harvest much last year, they still wanted to develop this habit. When they had a fruit tree of their own, they could put the food in it.

Zhuo Yun was interested in this custom, so he followed others to the mountain. Then he heard that Xu Ran and his two sons murmuring to the tree like they were chanting scriptures. Then they dug a hole in the tree to stuff the food. Zhuo Yun felt it weird and refused Xu Ran’s advice of having a try by himself.

They did the same thing year by year, but each year was as happy as the first year.

It was the second year Xu Ran spent in this world. This year, he had his own house, a family, children and friends. He regarded here as the place where he could live and work in peace.

His wish was very simple, which was to spend each year in the future like this year. He wanted to have a happy dinner with his families, put the food in the branch with his kids and go to visit Liu Tong’s dead parents’ tombs.

Xu Ran needed to go to their tombs, no matter how unwilling he was to pass by Liu Tong’s eldest uncle’s house.

Little Baozi was being looked after by Shao Yu and Zhuo Yun. Then, Xu Ran’s family of four went to Liu Village to visit Liu Tong’s dead parents.

They brought the same things as those of last year. However, they left earlier this time because there was no place to stop their carriage, so they needed to get there on foot. More importantly, Xu Ran was afraid that those insane people would rob their carriage.

Xu Ran asked Tangtang and Guoguo to bring two dogs together with them for safety. If there was a fight, they didn’t need to attend it by themselves.

Xu Ran’s idea was quite brilliant.

Liu Tong knew that Xu Ran didn’t want to see his eldest uncle, but he could do nothing but hope that there would be no one in his uncle’s house.

However, things always went contrary to people’s wishes.

When they arrived, they saw Liu Tong’s uncle and his families were already waiting in the middle of the road, and they could even see them from afar.

Xu Ran frowned and asked Liu Tong, “Is this the only way, Tongtong?”

Liu Tong seemed unhappy and he shook his head, “Ran, there is indeed another way, but it’s too far. We would spend much time on it and return home very late. Let’s go on this road, Ran, you don’t have to care about them. If they really do something, we’ll turn to the village head!”

The most depressing thing for Xu Ran was his lunatic relatives! Yes! Quite a few lunatics!

Hearing Liu Tong’s words, Xu Ran replied, “In that case, let’s go. Let’s see what they can do?”

Liu Tong held the basket while Xu Ran held two children. Just as they took a few steps forward, Liu Tong’s uncle came over, “Hey, isn’t this Liu Tong? Are you going to visit your parents? What’s in your basket? Let me check…”

His action was exactly the same as that of his last year. He was stretching his hands into Liu Tong’s basket.

Last year, he had greeted Xu Ran at least, but he was ruder this year. He robbed Liu Tong’s basket without even greeting him.

Xu Ran glared at Liu Tong’s uncle furiously, “How dare you eat food for Tongtong’s dead parents? What if they would come to you tonight? After all, they are watching you in Heaven now.”

Xu Ran said these words with a lowered voice, which sounded sinister. Liu Tong’s uncle immediately retracted his hand the moment he touched the basket.

Seeing this, Liu Tong took the opportunity to walk away from his uncle.

Xu Ran said, “If you really don’t have meat, it’s OK to eat these, but you have to let us visit the tombs first. If you make up your mind to stop us today, don’t blame me for being rude.”

Xu Ran’s words irritated Liu Tiezhu, who dashed over, “Being rude? How rude? Don’t forget that my dad’s Liu Tong’s uncle. It’s fine if you don’t respect your uncle, but how can you be rude to us? Don’t you believe that I can take you to the village head now!”

Liu Tiezhu looked thinner and paler than before, but what he said made him like another person now.

However, Liu Tiezhu failed to scare Xu Ran. “Go the village head? Sounds good! Let’s talk about Tongtong’s field, OK?”

Hearing that, Liu Tiezhu lost his imposing manner immediately.

He waved his fist at Xu Ran; the latter ignored Liu Tiezhu and took Tangtang’s and Guoguo’s hands walking ahead without looking at him.

Then, another person was waiting for him in front.

Xu Ran was rendered a little speechless. There were many people waiting for them along this road, and they had to tackle problems one by one.

Now, the person standing in front of Xu Ran was Liu Piao, who was obviously looking at Xu Ran shyly.

Xu Ran held his forehead. It wasn’t his cup of tea.

Xu Ran asked Liu Tong to walk in front of him. Compared with Liu Tong, Liu Piao was really a dwarf. Seeing Liu Tong’s cold face, Liu Piao was speechless with horror in his eyes.

Liu Tong pushed Xu Ran aside, letting him and two kids walk ahead. Liu Piao was stunned and couldn’t say a word.

The other two people, Liu Tiezhu’s spouse and Liu Tong’s uncle’s spouse, dared say nothing when they saw this.

Then the four people finally passed the road.

When they reached the tombs, Xu Ran finally felt better. He told Liu Tong’s parents that they had a new baby, little Baozi. They hadn’t visited them for a year, during which their baby had come to this world for over a month. How time flied!