Chapter 134: Unreachable Heights

  Soon the kitchen was filled with fragrance, and the villagers came one after another. Their eyes were full of surprise and admiration for the Zhong family's big house, but also with a hint of jealousy. Under Zhong Gensheng's leadership, they looked around every room, and when they arrived at the kitchen, they slightly exclaimed: "......Today is your family's Tuniang in charge of cooking? No wonder I didn't hear that your family was going to invite a chef!"

  But everyone thinks about it, this fried chestnut, this braised meat is not made by this girl, so she has a natural talent in this aspect, and you can't do anything even if you are jealous.

  One sniffed at the fragrance, one looked at the kitchen full of dishes and the contents of the four large pots, all eyes widened.

  Zhong Gensheng chatted with them and led them out of the kitchen. At this time, Shen Sisi and He Axiu were busy reacting and didn't have time to talk to these people again. They didn't even turn their heads, just kept stir-frying, putting food in pots, and serving dishes...

  Li Zheng and his wife brought the children along, and they exchanged warm greetings with Zhong Gensheng. Li Zheng's wife whispered to him, "Look at this big house, what else do you have to hesitate about? In short, our family's Chunxiang, you must think carefully..."

  He sat upright and drank tea, without saying a word. Then, looking at the magnificent house, he let out a faint sigh and said: "Where's Chunxiang? Let her go find Niu Xiaohua to play with..."

  Li Zheng's daughter was delighted and immediately pushed Chun Xiang to go find Niu Xiao Hua.

  Niu Xiaohua's house was easy to find. Although she was hiding inside, the house was still countable, and Chunxiang soon found her.

  Niu Xiaohua was overjoyed and said: "Quickly come in, how did you get here?!"

  Chunxiang smiled and said, "We rarely met before. When you were at home, you had to do chores every day, and I wasn't free to go play with you either. After you entered the Zhong family, it was even more inconvenient for me to come over. It's rare that the Zhongs are busy today, so I came to find you. What are you doing in the room? Why aren't you helping out in the kitchen?"

  Niu Xiaohua's eyes stung, Chunxiang saw her forcing a smile and immediately felt a pang in her heart, saying: "What's going on?! Were you beaten again?! Now that you've entered the Zhong family, your mother..."

  "She said she's my own mother for life, and I'll never be able to escape her grasp..."

  "Does it hurt?" Chun Xiang didn't know what to say either, she just felt angry in her heart but couldn't comfort her.

  Niu Xiaohua shook her head and smiled: "It's much better, Tuniu and Niang bought me medicine from Lai Tou to apply, it's much better, but now I still don't have any strength in my body. Niang and Tuniu are worried about me and won't let me go out..."

  Chun Xiang smiled and nodded: "The Zhong family is indeed unbeatable. Da Bao is also very honest..."

  Niu Xiaohua's face turned red and she said: "......How did you also learn to speak ill of others?!"

  Chun Xiang didn't dare to make this kind of joke, so she picked up her embroidery and looked at it saying: "The embroidery is still as good? But what's the point of doing these now? Does the Zhong family still need your money?"

  Niu Xiaohua said in a low voice: "It's not because of this, Tuni took away all the pocket money and embroidery money I made myself, even if it was just two more silver coins, she didn't leave me a single copper coin. I have no money on me... Mother said she would give me some, but how dare I take it? If she takes it away again, how can I live with myself?! So I thought of doing some embroidery to earn the money back, this is Tuni's money, how could..."

  Niu Xiaohua's eyes turned sour, and she forced a smile: "The Zhong family has been very good to me, giving me pocket money every month. But now I don't dare take it anymore, lest she remembers it and takes everything away from me again. I don't spend much money here either, just doing embroidery and selling it to the local girls and people back home to buy some things, that's my intention. I'm not capable of anything else, this is all I have..."

  Chun Xiang listened silently, not knowing what to say. Compared to Niu Xiao Hua, she was extremely lucky. She thought to herself that the Zhong family were all honest and good to her, just like how they treated Niu Xiao Hua. It seemed that even if she were to marry into this family, there would be no complaints. This kind of family had nothing to pick on, especially since Niu Xiao Hua was such a great sister-in-law, gentle and easy-going. None of the problems she worried about existed, and the Zhong family was also very wealthy.

  Chunxiang couldn't quite put her finger on the feeling in her heart, but she just felt that a family like this was beyond her reach. She had heard that Er Bao was still studying and if he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar-official, would he still look down on her, a village girl?

  It's said that Tuniang is good at everything, but she can't compare... the only thing she can show off is her embroidery skills.

  Chunxiang's heart was extremely complicated at this moment, and she simply stared blankly at the embroidery made by Niu Xiaohua.

  Niu Xiaohua didn't notice anything was wrong with her at this time, she was indulging in self-pity.

  Wang Tufu arrived soon, even bringing a basket of fresh dates. It wasn't until they entered the Zhong family home that Zhong Gensheng realized she had brought tools for slaughtering pigs that night. The remaining items in the basket were some fresh jujubes. He was delighted and said: "It's hard for you to think of bringing this, at this time of year, I don't know where you got such fresh things..."

  Wang Tufu smiled and said, "The jujube tree at home has just borne fruit recently. It's also unaware of what's going on. Compared to ordinary jujubes, it bears fruit much later. These winter jujubes are still very sweet. Although they're not worth much money, I grew them myself, so don't despise them. Let the kids try some fresh ones. Every day, I eat the earth eggs your family makes, and I feel embarrassed. The kids at home have also been tempted to want me to bring more food every day. I even think my skin is getting thicker..."

  "Where? This thing is not easy to get at this time, come on, let's put it in the storage room. These fruits are what Tuyi loves to eat the most, and I don't want to let guests eat them either..." Zhong Gensheng was extremely stingy, thinking that when Shen Sisi craved something, she could gnaw on a few of them. He actually wrapped the basket with cloth, not letting everyone see it, opened the storage room door and put it inside, then locked it again.

  Wang Tufu gave another hundred coins and smiled: "My gift is a bit less, don't be offended."

  "Not at all." Zhong Gensheng hastily asked Si Bao to put things away, then recorded the account, and smiled: "Quickly come in and sit down, have some tea, soon we'll be having dinner too, there are sunflower seeds on the table, don't be polite..."

  Wang Tufu came and went, familiar with many people in the village. He sat down without being formal and started chatting with the guests, telling jokes, of course, still talking about Wang Xiuzai's recent hot topic...

  Turen couple, and Erdogzi they also came, Erdogzi as soon as he entered the kitchen, smelling the fragrance, looking at the meat dishes, drooling with saliva flowing: "...... Tuni, do you want us to help? I'll help you wash the vegetables..."

  Shen Sisi wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned back with a smile: "Alright, let's go help my mother wash vegetables, she can't handle it alone..."

  "Cheng……" The movements of the two dogs and six people in a row were extremely agile, fetching water, washing vegetables very seriously, and quickly, even more efficient than doing chores at home. He Axiu smiled and took out a knife to chop vegetables. With these few people helping, she and Shen Sisi really relaxed a lot, and their movements could be slowed down a bit.

  The earthworm outside was eating dry vinegar and hummed: "This dog leg, working here is so sloppy..."

  His daughter-in-law just smiled and said in a soft voice: "You don't understand, if there's that kind of thing, we can marry her back home, then we'll be blessed..."

  He stared at his wife with a dumbfounded expression and sneered: "With that dog-like appearance of his, how could anyone possibly take a liking to him?!"

  His aunt was also speechless, looking at the Zhong family's style, the country girl seemed to understand everything and be good at everything, with a natural talent for cooking. Such a person, it's really hard to say what kind of person they might take a liking to...

  "Don't make such jokes in the future, what if the child takes it seriously and gets hurt... Er Gouzi is now grown up, take the opportunity to talk to him about marriage, lest he really has some thoughts, how can we deal with it?! Such a family... Tuniu hasn't even awakened yet..."

  Shen Sisi didn't even have a clue, and she never thought of having an affair with Er Gouzi, okay?!

  "......Alright, alright, I also know it's beyond our reach. Forget it, from now on I won't mention it again. I know that girl is destined for great things, we might as well give up..."

  Turen nodded and smiled, "You should also be more open-minded. Erdan following her around won't lose out, look at his proud appearance, in front of the village children he's like a little overlord, haha, among their generation, is there anyone with more prestige than our family's Erdan? Maybe he can become a leader in the future..."

  She glared at him, and Turen immediately shut his mouth. In fact, he was telling the truth, and it was what was on his mind. Apart from the few children of the Zhong family, which other child could surpass Erdan?

  "What about the three sons of the Zhong family, can your son take turns?!" His mother-in-law sneered and said: "Go, go drink tea and eat melon seeds, it's time to start dinner soon. Look at how fragrant these dishes are, you don't even know how delicious they are..."

  When it was time to open the table, Niu Laogen finally brought his family over, followed by a large group. Although they were all present, they were all very quiet because Niu Laogen had already scolded them at home before coming. As a result, everyone was well-behaved, but their eyes were not obedient at all. They couldn't help but glance around, especially Tian Guihua and his three daughters-in-law, whose eyes were fixed on the kitchen, drooling at the aroma and struggling to control their saliva. The three sons, however, were quite reserved, intimidated by their father's authority, and quietly followed behind Niu Laogen without daring to say a word.

  Zhong Gen Sheng smiled and said: "Come on, come sit down."

  Even if they didn't welcome Tian Guihua, there was no way around it now. They knew they couldn't escape this hurdle, so they might as well let them in graciously and talk about it later.