Time flew by, and soon Song County Magistrate arrived at Li Yao's house.
This winter, the policy of "substituting work for relief" had achieved great success, allowing him to finally put his mind at ease and properly celebrate the new year.
After noon, the two families busied themselves.
Braised pork belly, chopped meat for dumpling stuffing, hot pot ingredients...
All kinds of appetizing aromas mixed with billowing steam filled the entire courtyard, permeating it with the scent of the new year.
By mid-afternoon, Wang Er brought Wang San'er and Xiao Si to post spring couplets, door gods and window flower decorations. Li Yao also prepared several large baskets filled with various cooked meats for Da Zhuang to deliver to the old Wang family mansion.
"What's the use of bringing so much meat?" Wang Xueshi had become quite wealthy herself by now, with all three sons working for Li Yao and earning good money. Second and third son's wages were shockingly high.
Plus her own wages and what Wang Lao Tou made from ginning cotton, the family had never been so well-off. Naturally they didn't skimp on new year's goods.
Xiao Ya said, "Granny, my mother said what you've bought is yours, what we've brought is what we should give as filial respect."
"Well said, well said," Wang Xueshi said with great satisfaction, "Look at this daughter-in-law, so filial!"
Zhou and Shen Shi listened from the side, secretly laughing to themselves. Who was it that used to curse the eldest daughter-in-law as less than human everyday?
"How have you been lately?" Wang Xueshi affectionately took Xiao Ya's hand and asked, "You're not showing yet?"
Xiao Ya's face flushed as she said, "Not so soon, Granny."
"No hurry," Wang Xueshi said, quickly pressing a little red bundle into Xiao Ya's hand, "This is for the great-grandchild's clothes Granny is making. Take it."
"Granny, you shouldn't..."
"Shouldn't, what shouldn't?" Wang Xueshi said sternly, "Hurry back and rest, don't overexert yourself."
At her side, Shen Shi suddenly felt a little envious. This mother-in-law was being too generous, the child wasn't even born yet and she was already giving such a big red envelope.
She looked worriedly at her own belly. Although San Wang Yuen Kwok no longer worked as a dock laborer, he made money now, but the young couple spent even less time together than before.
She must make an effort over the new year.
After leaving the Wang family mansion, Da Zhuang and his wife delivered gifts to Lv Xiucai and the Village Head's family as well.
By the time they returned home, Li Yao had prepared a table full of sumptuous dishes for the reunion dinner.
Steamed fish is a must, signifying abundance every year. With drought everywhere, this fish was bought by Wang Yuen Kwok from Yizhou Prefecture.
There was also a platter of braised pork belly, platter of stewed meats, sweet and sour pork ribs, all kinds of stir-fried dishes.
To accommodate the Northern tastes of the county magistrate's family, there was also a crispy-skinned duck and dumplings stuffed with lamb.
After tasting Li Yao's roast duck, the county magistrate heaped praise: "I didn't expect Mrs. Li to be so skilled, just looking at the color, this duck is better than Quanjufu's!"
Li Yao took cooking seriously, so making a good roast duck was no problem.
"And the lamb dumplings," Song Zhe added, "are more fragrant than my mother's!"
"Now, now," the county magistrate's wife laughed, "you've embarrassed Li Yao with so much praise, hurry and sit down, dinner is starting!"
Li Yao emerged from the kitchen, originally wanting to invite Xia Xian to join the reunion dinner, but he stubbornly refused to come once he heard the county magistrate's family was present. So Li Yao had San Wang'er deliver food and dumplings to him.
She knew spending new year's alone did not feel good.
After San Wang'er returned, the two families officially started their reunion dinner.
Regrettably, this world had no TV or Spring Festival Gala, otherwise it would be livelier.
After dinner, the county magistrate's wife gave each child red packets, naturally not excluding Li Yao. Every child received new year's money.
Upon receiving the red packet, Wang San'er did not look very excited, staring straight at the bicycle in the yard instead.
"Mother, can I ride it?"
"Do you know how?"
"No, but I think it looks simple."
"Then try it."
Wang San'er tossed his red packet to Xiao Si, eagerly going to learn how to ride the bicycle.
But controlling the thing proved far more difficult than he imagined, falling over repeatedly at first.
After some pointers from Li Yao however, he soon managed to coast along.
"What is this contraption, quite novel!" the county magistrate asked.
"It's called a bicycle," the county magistrate's wife explained. "Li Yao said it's faster than a horse, and needs no feed. As long as a person has the strength, it can keep going without stopping."
"Faster than a horse?" The county magistrate was skeptical. "How can manpower compete with horsepower?"
"County magistrate," Li Yao smiled, "Why don't we have a contest?"
"Excellent, what do you propose?"
"You select some people to ride horses, I'll ride the bicycle," Li Yao said. "We start from He Wan Village, ride to Baichuan Market to collect a token, then race back to see who arrives first."
"Agreed! The winner will receive 5 taels of bonus from me! But beware, I'll have Captain Zhang join the race, he just bought an excellent horse."
"Mother, I want to race too!" Wang San'er was immediately enthused. "Can I ride your white horse? Please?"
"No."
Wang San'er's expression fell, about to go back to the bicycle, when Li Yao added, "But I bought a horse for you."
"Huh?" Wang San'er was stunned. "For me?"
"Yes, go take a look in the stables."
"Thank you Mother!"
With a horse, who cares about the bicycle? Wang San'er sped off like the wind towards the stables, soon leading out a lively little horse.
