Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 180: Congratulations

"I know, I know, do I look like the kind of person who’s stingy?" Mrs. Chen flipped the bean dregs cakes in the iron pot, speaking discontentedly.

Gu Dagui was shocked and saw in her eyes a clear message saying, you are indeed stingy.

Even Gu Defa, who was tending the fire, looked up at her, but fearing his own mother, he quickly lowered his head to tend the fire more vigorously, afraid of being scolded by Mrs. Chen.

Yet, he still got scolded by Mrs. Chen, "Why burn such a big fire? The cakes are almost burnt, do you think firewood is free? Use a smaller fire for your mother."

Then she yelled at Gu Yumei, who was sitting on the stool shaping the bean dregs cakes, "Hurry up, how can you be so slow at shaping cakes? With your skills, you’ll just be scolded when you go to your in-laws. What are you sitting for? Stand up; it’s faster standing up."

She instructed again, "Make them smaller, don’t shape them so big, these are for giving away, making them big is a loss."

Gu Yumei felt unwilling in her heart, but didn’t dare to argue with Mrs. Chen, she could only stand up to shape the bean dregs cakes.

Seeing Mrs. Chen scold as if she’s unmatched under heaven, Gu Dagui hurriedly slipped out of the kitchen, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, thinking why did he marry such a fierce wife?

Actually, he was the one who fancied this wife himself, otherwise given her family’s situation, she definitely would not have entered their household. His father was the village chief, and as the son of the village chief, he lived a privileged life.

Gu Dagui glanced into the kitchen and saw Mrs. Chen bustling about non-stop. Thinking that she had been up before dawn to make bean dregs cakes, truly hard-working, he thus went to borrow a metal plate from Gu Jinli’s house, placed it on the stove, and stoked the fire to make bean dregs cakes.

Pouring oil in, with a sizzle, as the oil started smoking, he put the bean dregs cakes in, and began to slowly fry them. After frying them golden brown on both sides, he added a bit of water, waited for the water to dry out, sprinkled some seasonings, and fried them a little while longer before they could be removed from heat.

The couple each managed a pot frying bean dregs cakes, one pot could fry about ten or so, exhausting Gu Yumei considerably.

"Brother Wang, where did you vanish to? Come over here and shape bean dregs cakes for your mother!" Mrs. Chen shouted, and Gu Dewang hurriedly ran into the kitchen, helping Gu Yumei shape the bean dregs cakes.

The family was busy until third quarter past the hour, finally completing the two hundred catties of bean dregs cakes assigned to their family.

The remaining two hundred catties of bean dregs cakes were being made by Gu Damu’s family.

After finishing the bean dregs cakes, Gu Dagui put them in baskets, carrying them load by load to the workshop.

Gu Damu also brought over the bean dregs cakes his family had made. They put all the bean dregs cakes together, there were fully ten baskets, enough to distribute to the villagers even if everyone from the village came to offer congratulations.

"There’s still an hour left until the auspicious time, those who haven’t changed clothes hurry home to change into new clothes, you all should get ready, today is a big day for our families." Third Grandma urged everyone.

Mrs. Chen and her family had been busy from early morning and hadn’t changed clothes. Hearing this, they hurriedly went home to change. By the time of the Snake, thirty-something people from seven families were all back at the workshop, waiting for the guests to arrive.

He Laoguo, He Dazhuang, He Tugou, and He Shengzi’s families were the first to arrive, each bringing their families and carrying gifts.

Each family brought quite generous gifts, consisting of half a bolt of cotton cloth, twenty eggs, and a packet of caramel.

Third Grandpa busied himself saying, "We are all from the same village, there was really no need to bring so much."

Old Guo laughed and said, "Today is a big day for Brother Gu’s family, we can’t be too stingy."

As he spoke, he handed over his family’s congratulatory gift.

Gu Dashan took it and placed it on a table beside, while Gu Jin’an hurriedly recorded Old Guo’s family’s congratulatory gift in the ledger. These were all social courtesy that had to be noted down as they needed to be reciprocated later.

After recording the gift from Old Guo’s family, the families of He Dazhuang, He Tugou, and He Shengzi also presented their gifts.

"Uncle Guo, Uncle Yang, Brother Dazhuang, please have a seat over here first, and we will unveil the plaque when the auspicious time arrives," Gu Dashan led Uncle Guo and the others to sit down on a long bench on the left side of the courtyard.

He Laoyang, He Shengzi’s grandfather, was of the same generation as Old Guo, Old Tian, and Village Chief He, but his health wasn’t good, and he usually didn’t go out. However, today was the grand opening of the Gu Family Workshop, and as He Shengzi’s grandfather, he personally attended.

Third Grandma was leading Mrs. Cui and several other women and children to the wing room on the right: "Sister-in-law Guo, Sister-in-law Yang, Dazhuang’s wife, Gou’s wife, let’s go sit inside. Let the men chat outside."

"Eh, eh," Mrs. Zhou, Old Guo’s daughter-in-law, hunched over and still a bit reserved, supported by her own daughters-in-law, entered the room.

Mrs. Lao Fang, the wife of He Laoyang, was holding her granddaughter’s hand and following behind Mrs. Zhou.

He Dazhuang’s wife was quite eloquent and responded to Third Grandma: "Third Aunt Gu, we are not guests but rather employees of your household, almost like family. You really don’t need to entertain us. Just let us know if there’s any work to do, I, along with Gou’s wife and the young sister-in-laws here, are all young and capable of working."

The workshop required manpower to grind spices, and after some time liaising with the Gu, Qin, and Luotian families, they trusted the workers from these four families enough to select some daughters-in-law to grind spices in the workshop.

Now Old Guo’s three daughters-in-law, He Dazhuang’s wife Mrs. Yang, He Tugou’s wife Mrs. Tang, including He Shengzi’s grandmother and sister, all were contracted workers of the workshop.

Third Grandma laughed and said: "Alright, you ladies talk with our sister-in-law here first, I’ll go outside with Dashan’s wife to see how things are going."

The sister-in-law that Third Grandma mentioned was Old Mrs. Yan. Since Old Mrs. Yan wasn’t in good health and had a weak voice, she was staying in the wing room to entertain the girls and younger children.

"Eh, you and Sister-in-law Dashan go ahead with your work, we will chat with Aunt Gu," He Dazhuang’s wife saw off Third Grandma and Mrs. Cui and then returned to sit and talk with Old Mrs. Yan and others.

Gu Yumei was also there but didn’t interact with Mrs. Yang and the others. In her eyes, these families were just employees of her family, whereas she was the daughter of the Dong Family. Sitting with them was already below her status.

In the courtyard, Village Chief He also arrived with He Dacang and He Jinseng.

"Brother Gu, congratulations, congratulations," said Village Chief He, looking at the ’Grand Opening’ sign and the red cloth on the Gu Family Workshop, feeling very enthusiastic internally. Thinking of the Gu family’s good business benefiting their own, his smile widened: "This is a small token from my family, please accept it, Brother Gu." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

He Dacang handed two hefty baskets to Gu Dashan beside, with Gu Dashan taking them.

Third Grandpa, seeing the baskets, was startled and sighed, "This gift is too generous, it must have been costly for your family."

The gifts from Village Chief He were the most generous. One basket contained a piece of cotton cloth, a piece of gourd cloth, and the bottom was layered with eggs; the other basket had a jar of wine, two packs of caramel, and a two-pound piece of pork belly.

Village Chief He waved his hand: "What cost? Spending money for Brother Gu’s family makes me comfortable."

Using the tofu and spices from the Gu family, they had made quite a lot of money and hoped to earn even more through the Gu family in the future, hence even sending lavish gifts was worthwhile.