sovbooks Chapter 336 - 334: Visiting on New Year’s Eve! Shameless Relatives Demand 500 Yuan for a Bride Price!
Chapter 336 - 334: Visiting on New Year’s Eve! Shameless Relatives Demand 500 Yuan for a Bride Price!
When his second cousin Qin Jian Country barged into the Gu Family’s gate, Lin Wan Yi was just preparing to stew some meat.
A thin layer of mist covered the windows in the Gu Family’s kitchen, while outside, everything was enveloped in whiteness, the inside was warm like spring.
In a half-person-high iron pot, meat was "gurgling" as it stewed. The rich aroma of the meat mixed with the overpowering scent of star anise and cinnamon, dominating every inch of the air inside the room.
Lin Wan Yi was holding a long-handled spoon, skimming off the froth from the surface. On her fair wrist, the jade bracelet that was entirely verdant looked so hydrated in the steaming mist, it almost seemed to be dripping with water.
Gu Yanshen stood right behind her, silently peeling potatoes. His tall figure seemed completely at ease in the not-so-spacious kitchen. His motions of peeling potatoes were as focused as when he dismantled a firearm, cutting the pieces evenly and stacking them neatly.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
The knocking interrupted the tranquility inside the house.
Gu Yanshen put down the knife in his hand, wiped his hands, and turned to open the door.
Standing outside were three people, two men and a woman, carrying a large bag whose color was indiscernible, huddling together and stamping their feet in the cold wind.
The leading man, around fifty years old, had hair combed slickly and a face full of smiles, craning his neck to peek inside the house. Seeing Gu Yanshen open the door, he paused for a moment and nodded: "You’re Yanshen, right? Ah, I’m your second cousin! Didn’t your dad mention me?"
Gu Yanshen looked indifferently at the three, scrutinizing them.
This "second cousin" of his, named Qin Jian Country, was a relative entwined through eighteen bends from Qin Lan’s family. Always keen to cling to relations owing to sharing the "Qin" surname.
The woman behind Qin Jian Country, with prominent cheekbones, gave him a forceful push and squeezed forward herself, shouting: "Oh, big nephew, why are you blocking the door, hurry and let us in, it’s freezing outside!"
As she spoke, she didn’t wait for an invitation and squeezed herself into the door.
The young man behind her, probably in his early twenties, with a look of impatience and defiance, slipped in as well.
In the living room, Gu An and Gu Ning, who were building blocks on the carpet, raised their heads together, examining these three uninvited guests with an eye as if looking at unfamiliar creatures.
"Ah, these are the dragon and phoenix twins? They really are handsome!" The cousin’s wife exclaimed upon entering, momentarily dazzled by the warmth and brightness of the room’s furnishings. Rubbing her frost-reddened rough hands, she handed over a greasy paper package.
"Here, Wan Yi, right? For our first meeting, your aunt brought you some candy."
Lin Wan Yi walked out from the kitchen, her gaze falling on that paper package. The package, warmed by the heat of her palms, already showed grease stains.
She politely accepted it and opened it to find pieces of garishly colored fruit hard candies, some already shattered into crumbs, sticking stickily to the paper.
On the coffee table was a plate of fresh strawberries, just washed by Lin Wan Yi, each plump, bright red, exuding a sweet fragrance.
In comparison, that package of candy looked even more shabby.
The cousin’s wife no longer looked at the package of candy; like a searchlight, her gaze sweeping from the wall clock, to the knitted cushions on the sofa, and finally to the bracelet on Lin Wan Yi’s wrist, ultimately settling on Gu An’s plump little face.
"This kid, such a clever one!" she loudly praised, extending her black and skinny hand, about to pinch Gu An’s cheek.
Gu An, holding his small wooden car, took a small step back, just avoiding her hand.
He lifted his head, his black and white eyes earnestly observing the hand the cousin’s wife had suspended mid-air.
"Auntie," he said solemnly, "there’s black dirt under your nails, and mom says that’s unhygienic, it’s got germs."
The room was so quiet, one could hear a pin drop.
The cousin’s wife’s hand awkwardly stiffened mid-air, unable to decide whether to withdraw it. Her face flushed to the color of liver, she moved her lips, for a long time unable to speak.
Her son, Qin Jianjun, let out a derisive laugh, quickly turning his head, pretending to look at the snow outside the window.
It was still the cousin Qin Jian Country who reacted quickly, slapping his son on the back of the head, laughing it off: "Kids don’t know any better! Just innocent words, innocent words!"
He turned his attention to Gu Yanshen, who was carrying tea out from the kitchen, trying hard to bring the topic back: "Yanshen, you sure are blessed! You’ve married such an accomplished wife, and even have dragon and phoenix twins! In our Old Qin Family, you are the most promising! Blood is thicker than water, we should get together more often!"
Gu Yanshen placed a cup of hot tea beside Lin Wan Yi, not even glancing at him.
He picked up an orange from the coffee table, his slender fingers digging into the peel, leisurely peeling it. The citrus aroma spread around.
He broke the orange into halves, carefully peeling away the white pithy strands from the top, and then fed the first translucent segment of fruit to Lin Wan Yi’s mouth.
During the whole process, he didn’t utter a word.
But that silent declaration came across more powerful than any words.
Qin Jian Country’s suggestion to "get together more often" just got stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down, and he awkwardly lowered his head.
Dinner was soon ready.
A large bowl of braised pork, a dish of steamed fish, a plate of vinegar cabbage, and a pot of steaming white rice.
The cousin’s family sat down, as if they hadn’t eaten for three days. Qin Jianjun directly scooped the meat pieces from the dish into his bowl, his chopsticks moving swiftly, splashing meat sauce everywhere.
"Delicious! So tasty!" The cousin’s wife exclaimed while stuffing her mouth with meat, chewing as she talked, "City chefs really are different! This meat, I guess it costs a dollar a pound, right?"
Lin Wan Yi just served food to the two children, not responding.
The meal, amid the Qin family’s ravenous devouring and the Gu family’s silent composure, carried an eerie atmosphere.
Finally, the bowl of meat was emptied.
Qin Jian Country poured himself another cup of the special wine Gu Zhen Guo kept here, downing it in one gulp, his face turning bright red from the drink.
He slammed the enamel cup down on the table with a "bang" sound.
"Yanshen, Wanyi!" Drawing on the courage from the alcohol, his voice grew louder, with a kind of assumed familiarity, "You both are big shots now! I’ve heard, Wanyi was commended nationwide in the exams this time! The prize money must have been substantial, right?"
Without waiting for their response, he lowered his voice, laying bare his intentions.
"You’ve seen our Jianjun, over twenty already, just started dating someone. But the girl’s family is unreasonable, asking for a dowry of five hundred bucks, and a brand new Butterfly sewing machine!"
He slapped his leg, his voice filled with grievances and accusations.
"We are just poor country relatives, how can we come up with so much money? You as elder brother and sister-in-law have become prosperous now, living in such a nice house and eating such delicious meat, you can’t just watch your brother’s wedding plans fall through and not offer help!"