Lan Er's cooking skills were good in one aspect.
More importantly, the chili peppers the Mo Family had planted in the fields had matured over the past few days.
At present, the chili peppers were still green instead of having turned red, but using them to stir fry dishes did not affect the taste. On the contrary, there was a different texture.
Over the past few days, dishes made with green chili peppers appeared on the Mo Family's dining table almost every meal.
Although the chili peppers were spicy, they went extremely well with rice. The family members sweated profusely from the spiciness every day, yet they could not resist the craving for this taste.
The Mo Family had been running a cold rabbit meat business for over half a year. The sisters-in-law all knew that one of the most important seasonings for cold rabbit meat was chili peppers.
Seeing that the chili peppers had matured, everyone was curious why the ninth younger sister had not let them be harvested.
After asking, they found out that the chili peppers would gradually turn red after growing for a period of time. By then, picking and sun drying them meant they could be stored until next year when the chili peppers matured again.
Understanding the reason, the sisters-in-law then gave up the idea of immediately going to pick chili peppers.
Anyway, the vegetables grown on their own land could be eaten casually by the family, and there was such a large quantity that not only could they be used to feed the family, even selling some was fine. There was absolutely no need to worry that there would be no chili pepper seasoning to make cold rabbit meat next year.
On this day, in Old Lord Mo's courtyard, a stir fried dish of green chili peppers and pork belly had also been prepared. Everyone was about to start eating when Yu Er's voice sounded from outside the door.
"Old Madam, Master Meng is here."
When she heard Meng Huaining had come, Mo Hanyue shyly lowered her head and sat behind her eldest sister-in-law.
There were seven days left before their big wedding day.
Since settling the wedding date with her, Meng Huaining had not come to visit. If he had not been caught up with all kinds of matters, he would have come to see his future little wife earlier.
Following Lan Er's words, Meng Huaining had already walked into the main hall.
He was about to pay his respects to Old Lady Mo when he noticed an elderly man with innate dignity sitting beside her. Not only that, on either side of the elderly couple sat two middle-aged men with unfamiliar faces.
Meng Huaining was stunned. His first reaction was to look towards Mo Chuhan.
"This is our father," Mo Chuhan introduced.
Father?
Meng Huaining reacted quickly. Without overthinking, he hurriedly knelt before Mo Qing and Old Lady Mo.
"Junior pays respect to Old Duke."
Mo Qing liked the demeanour of this young man before him. But when he thought that his precious daughter would become this person's wife in a few days, he felt somewhat unhappy.
As for the matter of this fellow not having come to see him after he returned to the Mo Family for so long, he could not blame the other party for that.
It was him who had insisted on not letting Mo Chuhan say anything.
Although he felt unhappy inwardly, as an elder he could not make things too difficult for his future son-in-law.
"Mm, rise." His voice was cold, making even the Mo family members feel somewhat unaccustomed.
Meng Huaining did not feel anything wrong with that.
After all, his future father-in-law was once the Commander-in-Chief who led thousands of troops and the first Duke of Da Shun.
Meng Huaining respectfully stood up, keeping his head lowered to maintain a humble attitude.
However, from the corner of his eye he did not give up observing everyone.
Although his future father-in-law's body seemed somewhat emaciated, his hair white, appearing ten to twenty years older compared to Old Lady Mo, his extraordinary bearing and prestige were still difficult to ignore.
As for the two middle-aged men sitting beside the elderly couple, similarly, the innate dominance they exuded simply could not be concealed.
At the same time, a shocking guess appeared in his mind.
Could it be that these two were the Eldest and Second Eldest Brothers of the Mo Family?
Meng Huaining did not dare to stare directly at the father and sons as he was their junior. Moreover, he would become the Mo Family's son-in-law in a few days. So Meng Huaining was extremely careful not to overstep any boundaries.
Therefore, he maintained his slightly lowered head posture and waited for his elder to speak.
This gave Meng Huaining the opportunity to observe everyone.
He could see that the appearances of the two middle-aged men bore some similarities with the other Mo brothers.
Now that Old Duke Mo had come back alive, it was no longer too shocking if the Eldest and Second Eldest Brothers of the Mo Family were also alive.
The only thing Meng Huaining felt strange about was why the whole world knew that people who had died in battle were appearing alive one by one.
Could there be some earth-shattering conspiracy behind this?
Countless question marks had appeared in Meng Huaining's mind at this moment. Just as he was pondering, Mo Qing finally spoke.
"I heard your grandfather was the former Senior Minister?"
Meng Huaining quickly pulled back his thoughts and respectfully answered: "This junior's grandfather was indeed former Minister Meng."
Mo Qing was not unfamiliar with former Minister Meng at all. After all, the two had been colleagues in court for many years.
Although one had been a civil official and the other a military commander, they were both loyal and righteous people and had good impressions of each other.
As the grandson of Minister Meng, his character must also be quite good.
Especially after he returned to the northwest, everyone in the family, including his wife, had praised what an outstanding young man Meng Huaining was.
Now seeing the man standing before him, his etiquette done extremely properly, Mo Qing found it somewhat difficult to pick faults with him.
Then looking at his own precious daughter hiding behind her eldest sister-in-law while sneaking glances at Meng Huaining from time to time - if there were not so many people present, this girl would certainly find him to plead not to bully this young man.
Before meeting Meng Huaining, Mo Qing had thought of countless ways to make things difficult for him.
Now seeing his daughter's pleading gaze, in the end, he softened.
To put it bluntly, it was because he could not find faults with the other party, so he had no way to attack...
Although he had given up the idea of trying to make things difficult for his future son-in-law, Mo Qing still did not look very happy.
He pointed at an empty seat at the table and said, "Since you've come at the right time, have a meal with us!"
Facing his future father-in-law, Meng Huaining was still somewhat cautious. However, he deliberately concealed the nervousness he felt.
After greeting the elderly couple again, he obediently sat down in the seat Mo Qing had designated.
Old Lady Mo knew that her husband was being difficult with their son-in-law, so she introduced Meng Huaining to the eldest son and second son in order to ease the atmosphere and deflect everyone's attention.
That stubborn old man had been told countless times that their future son-in-law was an outstanding young man that the whole family looked favorably upon, yet he still would not approve of him.
Well, if he was unwilling to be polite to the young man, Meng Huaining could simply ignore him...
Seeing that his mother-in-law was bailing him out, Meng Huaining gave her a grateful smile.
At the same time, he also confirmed his previous guesses.
The sons of the Mo Family who had died were now all alive.
This was the first time meeting two uncles, so Meng Huaining naturally could not escape having to greet them properly.
Unlike their father, the eldest and second eldest brothers smiled and nodded at him.
Meng Hui Ning's mind which had previously been full of thoughts was soon distracted by the enthusiastic offering of stir fried pork belly with green chili peppers from the Mo brothers.
