After such an incident occurred during the New Year's eve, everyone's mood was affected.
When they returned to their house, it was just the three of them. Yu Yan and Min Rui went to her parent's house.
"Are you hungry? Should I cook some delicious noodles for you?" Zhou Chengkang asked her with a smile.
When one is in a bad mood, eating delicious food makes them feel better. But the two just ate dinner at the Zhou's and were not hungry at all. Zhou Chengkang was drinking before the incident happened as well.
"I'm not hungry right now." Li Qinghe shook her head.
Zhou Chengkang dragged her to the kitchen, "You're not hungry now but you'll be hungry by the time the noodles are ready to be eaten."
That was true. It would take quite some time to prepare the noodles.
Li Qinghe took Xiyu along with her to light the firewood. The sun was about to set and the room was getting chillier. With the fire burning from the stove, they would not feel that cold. The mother and son sat near the stove and watched Zhou Chengkang knead the dough for noodles.
The family occasionally chatted with each other. By the time the noodles were ready, it was already dark outside. The family of three sat around the table in the warm room. The noodles mixed with Li Qinghe's fried bacon smelled fragrant and looked delicious. The three chatted and laughed from time to time while eating the noodles. The atmosphere was filled with warmth.
When they were eating happily, someone knocked on their door. Zhou Chengkang got up, but Li Qinghe held him down, "I'll go to check instead."
When she opened the door, she saw that it was the Zhou family. She guessed that the eldest brother Zhou had come to apologize.
"Qinghe, what were you doing? Why did it take you so long to open the door?" Mrs. Zhou was about to enter while talking to her, but Li Qinghe stopped her, "We were having dinner."
Mei Hua stepped forward with a smile, "We also haven't eaten yet."
Mei Hua spoke first, which meant that she was willing to give in first.
Though she was willing to give in, why should Li Qinghe also follow the same?
"It's not the mood for us to celebrate New Year's Eve together today. Let's talk about it some other day." After she finished speaking, she raised her hand and was about to close the door.
"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Mei Hua stepped forward, "We are a family. It's fine if you forgot to prepare food for us. We will not care about such things considering that we are a family. But why won't you let us come in?"
"Why would I let you come in?" Li Qinghe sneered, "Don't you know? Others may come inside my house today, but you and your family are never welcomed in my house starting today."
"Qinghe, we are all family. Your elder brother-in-law was indeed a bit impatient and said some wrong words. But it was because he was anxious that his child was missing. Don't think too much about it. I especially brought them here, and asked your elder brother-in-law and sister-in-law to apologize to you." Mrs. Zhou had a flattering smile on her face as she spoke. Li Qinghe felt a little sour in her heart but this time she didn't intend to give in. She still blocked the entrance and said, "Mother, we can talk about it on another day. We are having dinner and I don't want to make everyone feel uncomfortable on New Year's Eve."
As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her hand and closed the door again.
The door was closed but she could hear Mei Hua speak from outside, "You are too shameless. How can you shut the door in our mother's face?"
Li Qinghe picked up the broom next to her from the ground, opened the door, and hit Mei Hua violently, "It's not me, you are the shameless one. Every New Year we wouldn’t be able to have a good day because you have no conscience at all!"
The broom was picked up from the ground. Though it was dry, it was covered in dust and was quite dirty.
Mei Hua screamed to stop. Li Qinghe hit her a few times more before finally stopping. She then looked at elder brother Zhou, who was silent at the door from beginning to end, "Don't say I'm too much. You guys are also quite excessive. I just wanted to have a good New Year's Eve. Who provoked whom first?"
She eased her tone a bit and looked at Mrs. Zhou, "If mother wants to stay with us, she is most welcomed to come in. From next year, don't ask us to celebrate New Year with you and your family together ever again. I used to put up with you guys when you used to argue before, but from now on I don't plan on doing that at all or else our year will definitely not be good."
"Let me speak bitter words up front. If you want to come in you can come in, but don't speak good words about the elder brother-in-law. If you think that you can bring us and them together, then let me tell you, it will never happen."
Mrs. Zhou got annoyed and said, "Why are you such a stubborn kid?"
Li Qinghe argued back, "Can't I fight for my husband? A four-year-old child was thrown into an old forest. Not to mention encountering a wolf, even a fall could have been fatal to him." She looked at eldest brother Zhou, "Originally, we forgot about this matter. But the eldest brother-in-law is the only one who still remembers it. This can be regarded as treating us as your enemy, right? If it's like this, then how can you still expect for all of us to get along?"
Zhang Haiyao followed behind them, and with a gloating look on her face, she said, "I told you to talk about it tomorrow, but you insisted on coming today. Who wouldn't get angry when they encountered such a thing? It's totally legit if you are not allowed to enter their house!"
Li Qingmiao also hid in the back and did not dare to speak.
Elder brother Zhou's face turned ugly, "Where is fourth brother, I will personally explain it to him. If we don't talk clearly about today's incident, we all will have knots in our hearts for the rest of our life."
"It's too late for that now." Li Qinghe said seriously, "Since you guys dared to do such a thing in the first place, the knots are already created in our hearts. From now on, let's just be ordinary relatives."
After speaking, she raised her hand and closed the door again.
On New Year's Eve, unless someone has a very close relationship, only those who can be regarded as a family, would celebrate together. As for the rest.., it was better to keep them outside the door.
When she went inside the house, the father and son duo looked up at her. Zhou Chengkang pulled her to sit down. Although she shut his brother out, he knew that she did it for him.
He comforted her in a low voice, "Qinghe, don't be angry anymore. In fact, I really forgot about the matter too."
"Don't talk about it," Li Qinghe put away the bowls and chopsticks, "Grind the ink and let's practice calligraphy.”
The next day, early in the morning, there was a knock on the door. Li Qinghe slept late at night. Hence, she couldn't even open her eyes. Zhou Chengkang went to open the door, but he quickly came back and lay down beside her.
Li Qinghe's eyes were still closed but she was awake and asked, "Who was knocking at the door so early in the morning?"
Zhou Chengkang pulled her into his warm embrace, "It's cool outside and there's no one. Go back to sleep."
After sleeping for a long time, they got up to wash up and went to Li's house with the New Year's gift.
When they arrived, Liu Lanhua and Zhao Dashan were already there. They soon started having their lunch.
Li Fu was very happy. He was very fond of his two sons-in-law. Not only did they help him out with work in the field, but they were also good to his daughters. Especially Zhou Chengkang, seeing that their life was getting better and better, he didn't need to worry about his daughter after she got married.
The villagers knew what had happened in the Zhou family yesterday. They knew that eldest brother Zhou's daughter went missing and it took them a long time to find her.
Li Fu asked with a smile, "Where did the kid run off to and hide yesterday?"
Yesterday, as soon as they heard that Xili was found, they returned home without asking where she was hiding. Zhou Chengkang casually replied, "She was just being playful and came out by herself after some time."
Li Fu just asked some more questions to pass the time. He then went in to bring out the wine and asked his two sons-in-law to drink with him.
They drank until the afternoon. Seeing this, Mrs. Liu asked, "Qinghe, isn't the fifth child Zhou coming back?"
"Probably." Li Qinghe helped her with washing the dishes and was not in a hurry at all.
Seriously speaking, the first day of the new year was indeed the day when a married girl returns to her natal family, but the Zhou family had already separated. So fifth sister Zhou should prepare four gifts when she returns to her natal family, one for each of her brother's family.
She only prepared one gift last year when she returned to the Zhou house the previous year. In fact, it was okay if they had just prepared a gift for Mrs. Zhou. It was reasonable and the brothers also had nothing to say about it. But Li Qinghe didn't want to get involved with them anymore. There were many people and many rights and wrongs were done. In the future, even if fifth sister Zhou wants to associate herself with her and her fourth brother, she can come to their house herself.
Seeing that she was not in a hurry, Mrs. Liu didn't ask any more questions.
Zhao Dashan had no other relatives in his family, so he usually stayed there until dark. Last year, Li Qinghe's family left early, but this year they also stayed until the afternoon and didn't leave.
There was a knock on the door. On a day like today, even the neighbors would not easily come to their house.
Liu Lanhua went to open the door and a few moments later brought Li Qingmiao in.
Li Qingmiao came to look for them on purpose, and said in a low voice, "Fifth Sister is here, mother told me to go and find you and ask you to come back with her quickly."
Li Qinghe pointed to the living room, "I'm still drinking here, so I can't go."
"Are you really that angry?" Li Qingmiao pulled her aside and asked in a low voice, "I know that the elder brother-in-law and sister-in-law are not good to you but mother has always been good to you. She is an elder and it's New Year's Day today, so don't make a fuss about it and upset an elder."
To make Mrs. Zhou happy, she would have had to give in to herself. Li Qinghe was a person who would give in to some people, such as Mrs. Zhou, but even she has a bottom for tolerance.
Li Qinghe said calmly, "I didn't do anything wrong. If she is unhappy, I can't help it." She looked at the person in front of her, who wasn't just her second sister-in-law but also her cousin. The two often played together when they were young. She lowered her voice and said, "I don't want to get involved with the elder brother-in-law and sister-in-law anymore. When they were attacked by thieves, we ran back and forth to help them. Now, look at how they repaid us for it!" Just by mentioning this didn’t mean that Li Qinghe had no idea.
Mei Hua said that they were robbed because they had let Zhao Tianfu go. This time no one mentioned it, but it didn't mean that Li Qinghe didn’t remember it deep in her heart.
These were the things others did not know, but the family was aware of. They were in a stalemate, and Li Qinghe and Mei Hua directly turned their heads and left. After that, they did not speak again.
Li Qinghe whispered, "If it weren't for the fact that he is the big brother, we would never have any contact with him."
"All right." Seeing that she couldn't persuade her, Li Qingmiao did not force it anymore, "I have to go back now though. You and I are very different, your second brother is already considered as a half-married woman......" She thought, "A little while later in the afternoon, we will come and visit your house as well. "
This meant that she wanted to come to the house with the New Year's gift, Li Qinghe couldn't help but laugh, "We two are so close, you don't need to bother, right?"
Li Qingmiao also laughed, "That's not okay. The gift is to express our emotions. Remember to go back and cook. You have to treat us to a good meal when we come."
This was just a light hearted joke.
After seeing off Li Qingmiao, Liu asked in a low voice, "Was there a fight in Zhou's family yesterday?"
"Yes." Li Qinghe nodded.
Since Li Qingmiao and second brother Zhou were coming to their house it was not fine to stay there any longer, as that would delay them to prepare for their arrival. The two said goodbye and went home and began to prepare meals.
It turned out that not only did Li Qingmiao's family come, but fifth sister Zhou also came with her family.
The child who was not even a year old yet, was very troublesome to handle. The children were playing and the atmosphere was good in the house. During the visit, fifth sister Zhou hesitated several times to speak about the fight, but each time she tried, she was stopped by Zhao Liyuan. Once when she spoke about it, he interrupted her.
It could be seen that Zhao Liyuan didn't want her to get involved in the affairs concerning the brothers.
In fact, such a thing was not good for anyone to talk about. To put it bluntly, if Zhou Chengkang and his eldest brother were not blood-related, and thus the feud between them would have caused their relationship to be severed for a lifetime.
In the evening, they sent the two families off without bringing up what had happened yesterday.
This year, the weather was good. The sun was shining brightly in the morning on the second day of the new year. So the two simply took their son to the field. Not only them, but most of the people in the village had also started to work in their fields. The main thing was the work in Li Qinghe's field. Although many people were hired to work, as long as they started to work, they could work for several days and earn a lot of money. At least they could eat a few catties of meat.
As a result, Mrs. Zhou found no one at their house when she arrived. She went around the house, to the field and found the family of three there. She smiled and stepped forward, "I was wondering where did you all go? You guys are working in the field. But there's so much work to be done and you can't possibly do that all by yourselves."
"We'll do as much as we can." Zhou Chengkang said casually. He did not ask her the reason for her visiting them.