In the living room, Li Weihao and Li Weiyan were vying to hold their niece. Seeing Li Weixin arrive, the cousins waved Li county magistrate and Captain Tian over to eat breakfast.
Holding her younger son's wrist, Tian Jing asked her elder son, "You're all back, why isn't Lu Shi back?"
The cousins said in unison, "He's on a mission."
Li Weixin's face fell.
Tian Jing asked Yu Ziyu, "Ziyu, where is Xiao Bo?"
"He's in the room coaxing Siji."
"Go call him out."
"Okay."
When Li Weibo came out, Tian Jing asked him the same question, "Xiao Bo, you're back, why isn't Lu Shi back?"
Li Weihao and Li Weiyan suddenly looked at Li Weixin, who had remained motionless beside Captain Tian, and thought, this is bad.
Li Weibo was a bit confused but still gave the rehearsed answer, "He's on a mission."
Tian Jing released her younger son and called out towards the door, "Lu Shi, come in."
As soon as Han Lushi appeared at the door, the Li family understood.
Magistrate Li and Captain Tian personally led a mixed gender double-team attack on the four Li family 'golden diamonds'.
Ouyang Meihua and Li Liguo rolled up their sleeves to continue the second half.
Li mother cheered from the side, "Beat them hard!"
Li Min took out a rolling pin, "Mother, don't incite them, you do it yourself."
Li mother pushed the rolling pin and her daughter away, "Get out of the way!"
Han Lushi quickly took a shower and came out, holding his daughter to watch a martial arts film.
It turned out he had been tricked by his four brothers-in-law, who had told him they were all returning to Kushan for the festival and that Lili and Xuanxuan had already gone.
He never expected his four brothers-in-law to play such a trick on him. He didn't call Lili, just packed some clothes and left the dormitory. Not seeing the Li brothers, he assumed they had already gone back to Kushan.
It wasn't until he returned to Kushan and met his mother-in-law that he realized he had been fooled.
Serves him right!
He knew his brothers-in-law were jealous of him. This time, apart from Li Weiyan being forced, the other three were not innocent at all.
Seeing her husband being beaten, Yu Ziyu gloated, "Xiao Bo, I don't think there's a 'law does not punish the masses' situation for us."
Li Weibo could only glare at the main culprit, blaming his youngest brother for the bad idea, as his wife teased him.
Li Weixin was annoyed. He had forgotten that his father held a 'high position' and couldn't take leave. He hadn't seen his parents in the capital and had forgotten to reconfirm their cover story.
Li Weixin looked at his niece in his brother-in-law's arms, thinking beauty was a dangerous thing!
...
On the morning of August 16th, Han Lushi and Li Weihao rejoined their team with the other five.
Tian Jing and Ouyang Meihua, the sisters-in-law, took advantage of Magistrate Li's holiday to arrange the bedroom that was being prepared as a bridal suite and to purchase necessary items.
On October 4th, the Li family returned to Kushan.
Passing through Beisheng Province, they dropped off Yu Ziyu and her son. The Li family then took turns driving without stopping and finally reached home by dark.
The next day, Damai and Xiaomai learned that Grandma had returned.
Xiaomai was close to her due date. With her pregnant belly, she and Damai went to the siheyuan to see Grandma.
Li mother quickly reached out to help her second granddaughter, scolding her elder granddaughter, "Damai, how dare you bring Xiaomai out?"
Xiaomai quickly comforted her grandmother, "Grandma, I feel very comfortable. You are all too nervous."
Li mother's gaze fell on her second granddaughter's belly, "Your baby has already engaged, and you're still running around."
Xiaomai smiled, "I'll be staying at the clinic starting tomorrow, don't worry."
Li mother insisted on Xiaomai sitting down on the sofa, "Don't run around. You'll eat lunch here."
"Okay!" Xiaomai nodded, "I miss Grandma's cooking."
Li mother nodded, "Alright, Grandma will cook you something delicious for lunch today."
Then she said to her elder granddaughter, "Damai, you all come for lunch today too. Give Fangfang a day off."
Damai returned to the clinic to tell Doctor Yang they would be eating at the siheyuan for lunch, and then took her son to inform Grandpa and Grandma Zhou.
Grandma Zhou immediately abandoned her husband and grandson and ran to the siheyuan.
Yuan Fang looked at his cousin, "Yulin, you've fallen out of favor."
Zhou Yulin's young heart had been struck countless times in the past few months, and it had long since transformed from fragile to hardened, "Brother Fang, only girls fight for favor."
Yuan Fang put on a stern face, "Please call me Brother Yuan Fang, or Brother Fang, thank you."
"I won't."
Zhou Yulin grinned at Yuan Fang, thinking, if you try to provoke me, I'll make you so angry you die.
Yuan Fang looked up at his mother, "Mom, can I change my name?"
"Yes," Damai nodded. Seeing the smile on her son's face, she continued, "You can choose between Yuan Fang and Yuan Yuan."
Yuan Fang's face fell, "Then I won't change it."
"Nyah nyah." Zhou Yulin stuck his tongue out at his cousin.
Yuan Fang clenched his little fist, "Yulin, your name is also a girl's name."
"I like it," Zhou Yulin didn't care about that. "My grandma said that when my mom had my brother, she named him Yuxiao, and if she had a sister, she would name her Yufei, like me, all with 'Yu'."
Yuan Fang stared at his mother.
Damai lowered her head and asked, "Do you want to be called Yuan Yufang?"
Yuan Fang grinned, "I want to have a younger brother named Yuan Bian."
With that, he ran off on his little legs.
Damai was speechless.
Grandpa Zhou burst out laughing, "Fangfang takes after his father's personality. He's usually very serious, but when he makes a joke occasionally, it's hilarious."
Damai was speechless.
...
Two days later, Xiaomai gave birth to a daughter, named Zhou Yufei.
Grandpa and Grandma Zhou were overjoyed, and Xiaomai was very well taken care of.
Li mother was at home, relieved, taking care of the baby and cooking, as her two daughters-in-law were renovating the villas.
Li Min and Chen Suozhu occasionally visited their eldest son and daughter-in-law at the hot spring valley, and would scold their eldest son a few times if they had nothing else to do.
Most of the time, they were helping out in Kushan. Li Min helped with cooking, and Chen Suozhu helped buy materials and run errands.
Tian Jing's renovation was simple: plaster cornices on the ceiling, spray white paint, replace the tiles on the entire second floor, and buy a set of all-wood furniture, and it was done.
Ouyang Meihua was not as decisive as her sister-in-law, because she had two houses to renovate.
She and her husband planned to live on Village Road Two. The villa on Village Road One would be renovated for their eldest son, and their eldest daughter-in-law would move in. It would be inconvenient for her and her husband to live in the same building.
Time passed amidst the Li family's busyness...
After the Kushan scenic area closed for the season, the eviction work in Zhangshan Village and Zhonghe Village entered its final stages.
All eviction contracts for both villages had been signed, and all residents were to move out by December 31st. Aodu Group would deliver new apartments to the villagers within three years.
Villagers would receive a one-time compensation of 3,600 yuan for rent. If the delivery of apartments was delayed, Aodu Group would continue to pay rent to the villagers, and the delay in apartment delivery would not exceed six months.
The villagers of both villages began to arrange their moves. The old houses in the first and second villages of Kushan were rented by the villagers of the two villages.
No household in the original Kushan village was willing to rent to the villagers of the two villages.
This was because there were no idle houses in the village. The old courtyards were designated as having historical and cultural characteristics, and the villas were the bridal homes for their children. Even if they were not bridal homes, no one was willing to rent out their villas.
Planting vegetables and raising chickens and rabbits in the front and back yards of the villas could earn one or two thousand yuan a year. Who would care about your one or two thousand yuan in rent?
...
During the scenic area's holiday, Yuan Feng came down the mountain with Xiao Yuan to prepare to cook for Li Weihao's wedding. Upon seeing Yuan Feng and Xiao Yuan arrive, Grandma Zhou immediately asked her son to invite Xiao Yuan to cook.
For her granddaughter's full moon banquet, she had already asked Sister-in-law Niu and a few other women to help. However, if Xiao Yuan could come and cook, Sister-in-law Niu and the others would be happy, and the villagers would also be pleased.
Zhou Chenbin invited Xiao Yuan to cook, and Xiao Yuan naturally agreed, as the Zhou family and the grand-aunt were in-laws.
Although the Zhou family was not from the village, Zhou Chenbin was the village head, and Xiaomai was a villager. Therefore, for the full moon banquet of the girl, each family contributed a thousand yuan as a gift.
Grandma Zhou felt a bit embarrassed. When she and the villagers exchanged gifts, she was quite calculating. Apart from the Li family, she had only given out five hundred yuan at most.
So, after the banquet, she asked Xiao Yuan to prepare a lot of semi-finished dishes and delivered them to each household as a thank you.