Chapter 42: Huang's Gift

  After returning from the head of the clan's house, Dabao and Lin Erniu rushed to Dabao's maternal grandparents' house on the other side. The maternal grandparents' house is in a neighboring village, not very far away, but it's also more than ten miles away. However, taking a cow cart is quite fast, and they arrived within half an hour.

  Dabao's grandma and grandpa saw Dabao and Er Niu coming, their faces bloomed with smiles. Er Niu and Dabao unloaded the things from the cow cart, Dabao's grandma scolded and said "Er Niu, what is this for? Your family just built a house this year, how can you still have so much extra money? You've come once already, why bring so many things again? Wouldn't it be better to leave these things at home for the kids to eat?"

  Two oxen have always been very respectful to their father-in-law and mother-in-law, who initially did not despise their poor family background and married off their only daughter. Over the years, they themselves have been very impoverished, but their father-in-law and mother-in-law have never complained about them. Every year, they still send some things over for their own children to eat. Now that their family is finally doing a bit better, of course, they should be more filial.

  The two cows also scratched their heads, laughing and saying "Father-in-law and mother-in-law, these things at home are still available, this is the child's mother who asked me to bring it over, you see there aren't many, just take it as a token of our intentions." As he spoke, he also pulled out 200 big coins from his pocket and gave them to Grandma Bao.

  Dabao's grandma was definitely unwilling to accept it, but she couldn't resist Er Niu's determination, so she finally accepted it. Just as they were chatting, Dabao's uncle and aunt came in with a few children, saw Er Niu and were also very happy. Uncle Huang Dashan looked at Dabao and said "Dabao has grown taller and fatter, I heard you're studying, how's it going?"

  Dabao answered one by one, and several little kids around him were asking him this and that, including a younger cousin of Dabao's who was only eight years old and the youngest son of Dabao's maternal grandmother.

  The eldest son is already 12 years old, the second son is also 8 years old, and the youngest daughter is only 6 years old. It's rare to see Da Bao normally, and now they want to take Da Bao out to play too.

  Dabao looked at Er Niu, and Er Niu smiled and said "You go play with Xiao Shu Shu and your cousin for a while, when you get home I'll come call you."

  The farmers were quietly watching and didn't say much, the conversation was mostly about farming matters. Dabao's aunt was a kind-hearted person, sitting on one side smiling occasionally chiming in with a sentence or two.

  On this side, Huang Shi also brought some gifts to Lin He's family with Lin He. Lin He's grandmother's house had already been sent early in the morning by Er Niu. With Lin He, Huang Shi only needed to send some to his brothers' houses. First, they planned to go to Xu Shu's house. Just as Huang Shi was about to leave with the gifts, Xu Shu's voice rang out from next door, "Er Niu's wife, are you home?"

  Huang's wife hastily welcomed her out and saw that Auntie Xu had brought a basket of things over, with several dozen eggs, a piece of cured meat, and a piece of cloth inside. She must have also come to give gifts for the Laba Festival. Huang's wife smiled and said, "Auntie Xu, you're really... I was just about to take our daughter He'er to your house, and look, you've arrived! It's really like this every year, we eat so much of your family's food, I'm getting embarrassed."

  Auntie Xu burst out laughing and said, "You're still telling me these things? What are you going to give me? Just let me take it back directly and save you the trouble of running around. You see, this year I'm not being polite with you, whatever you give me, I'll take it all!"

  Lin He felt that this Aunt Xu was indeed a straightforward person, she actually wanted to give them gifts at this time, people with such personalities are not common, but it can also be seen that Aunt Xu really didn't treat their family as outsiders, people like Aunt Xu's family are worth getting close to.

  Huang took out the gifts from his home and said, "The master's gift was taken back by the master himself on the eve of Laba Festival, so I didn't send it."

  She said that and put the gifts she had prepared for Aunt Xu's family into the basket that Aunt Xu had brought herself. Aunt Xu looked at those things and said, "Big sister, why do you bring so many things? It's just a gesture, you don't have to be so serious, we two families don't need to bother with these formalities."

  Huang said, "There's nothing special about these things, they're all from our own home. This dried pumpkin is dried by ourselves at home. Try some and take it back to your family's Er Gouzi to eat. If he likes it, come get more, it doesn't cost much."

  Auntie Xu looked at the dried pumpkin with a curious expression, "This thing is quite good-looking, so I won't be polite and will take these things back with a thick face."

  She stood there for a while and then left, saying she still had to deliver gifts to other relatives' homes and couldn't stay too long.

  When Huang brought Lin He to the Zhou family home, Mrs. Zhou was also at home. Seeing Huang enter, her face suddenly became a bit embarrassed. In fact, she also knew that during Laba Festival, one should send some gifts to their relatives, but there were not many things in the house to give away. She hadn't even gone to her own mother's house, and had only sent some things to her husband's family.

  Seeing Huang's wife come in with a basket, she knew that Huang's wife had come to give gifts. She hurriedly asked Huang's wife to sit down and said, "Second sister-in-law, I was also thinking of going to your house later, but I didn't have anything good to give as a gift. I embroidered a small purse for each of the children, including Da Bao. Let me go get them for you."

  Huang took out the lotus-leaf bags, and Lin He took over the few bags. Although the fabric was ordinary silk, the workmanship was indeed very good, and it could be seen that they were made with care. Moreover, each of the four people had a different color, and there were also embroidered patterns on them, which looked very beautiful.

  Lin He said sweetly, "Third Aunt, these embroidered pouches are really beautiful, I quite like them, this is actually my first embroidered pouch. My mother is busy every day and doesn't have time to make one for me, and I don't know how to do it myself. In a few days, I'll come over and learn from you how to embroider."

  Zhou heard Lin He say he liked it and was delighted, saying "Good, come over and I'll teach you."

  Huang's wife glared at her and said, "This little girl is blaming me for not making a purse for her. From now on, you can learn from San Niang instead, San Niang makes purses much better than I do."

  Huang took out the things in the basket and handed them to Zhou, but Zhou pushed them back. Huang smiled and helped her put the things away. "Third sister, we're all family, no need to think too much about it. Just take these things, you see how much Holuo likes those lotus-embroidered pouches you made for him? In his heart, they're probably more precious than anything else. That's what gift-giving is all about - the thought that counts."

  Lin He saw Zhou Shi like this, and her heart was also not good. Zhou Shi is a woman with strong self-esteem, and it's probably the most difficult time every year at this moment. At home, they can't take out decent things, and others send gifts but there's nothing to return, which is also distressing.

  It's almost New Year again, which is naturally more difficult. Alas, it's not easy for a woman without a man, and in such a feudal ancient times, it's even more difficult.