Zhou Xiaoyun’s Happy Life

Chapter 121 Tenth Birthday (1)

The new year seems to go by very fast, and everyone becomes one year older after this year.

Zhou Xiaoyun was a little emotional, four years had passed before he knew it. She is ten years old this year. Standing in front of the full-length mirror and looking at myself, it seems that I have grown taller over the years, and my childish face has begun to look like a little girl.

 Zhao Yuzhen and Zhou Guoqiang were discussing how to celebrate Zhou Xiaoyun’s tenth birthday.

 In rural areas, a boy's sixth birthday is usually the most important birthday. Zhou Xiaoyun couldn't figure out the specific reason, but he remembered that when his younger brother Xiaobao was six years old, there were six or seven banquets at home, and all the relatives and friends at home, all the good folks and neighbors came.

Since he was little, Xiaobao has left a small patch of hair on the top of his head, braided into a thin braid and hanging down the back of his head.

 There is an important ceremony on the sixth birthday: head shaving.

Zhou Guoqiang specially hired a barber. Amidst the sound of long firecrackers, the barber skillfully picked up the braid on Xiaobao's head and "clicked" it, then cut off the long braid that Xiaobao had grown for several years. Lost.

The cut hair is put into a small red bag and hung from the rafters. It is said that the person will grow taller in the future.

 Compared to the cautious birthdays of boys, girls are much more casual. But it’s only on the first tenth birthday that I invite my relatives and friends for a meal.

However, Zhou Guoqiang did not want to treat his daughter badly and wanted to take care of it.

Zhao Yuzhen has a similar idea. In the past, when her family was poor and had to make do with everything, it was inevitable that the children would be wronged. But now that my family's situation is getting better and better, I don't mind spending so much more money. No matter what, the banquet must be arranged well to make Zhou Xiaoyun's tenth birthday more beautiful.

The couple studied in the house all night and initially determined the guest list.

Zhou Guoqiang's two brothers and one sister, and Zhao Yuzhen's two sisters and one brother. Needless to say, they must be invited. In addition, we have to bring the old people from both ends. Next, everyone with whom we usually have friendly relations has to be invited one by one.

This banquet is organized by university students. If someone is missed due to negligence, they will be complained about. As the saying goes, "If you save money for others, you will be criticized." Even if you have money or not, you can't lose etiquette in public. It is a characteristic of rural people that they must give gifts when borrowing money.

 The next step is to busily go from the host's house to the west's house to inform everyone of the specific date.

Zhou Guoqiang spent the entire afternoon running errands. Fortunately, some people had telephones and could call to inform him. For example, the Zhou Min family in the city and the Zhou Fang family in the neighboring village can solve problems with just one phone call. It’s better to install a phone!

The farthest home is Zhao Yuzhen’s two sisters’ house. They were married far away from each other and there was no phone at home. Zhao Yuzhen had no choice but to ride her bicycle to her sister’s house to say something.

Zhou Guoqiang has met a lot of people in the past two years of doing business, and he actually invited nearly eight tables of people. This is not a small amount. Whoever gives a gift doesn't include the whole family, including the elder and the younger ones. You have to buy some vegetables to prepare them.

 After I was busy with entertaining guests, I had to buy vegetables. There was no need to go to the county market. I just found a few familiar vegetable stalls in the Xingwang market and asked the boss to bring back more vegetables.

Meat is of course indispensable. Pork plays the leading role. Zhou Guoqiang specially killed two more pigs to prepare everything from braised pork, croquettes, pork trotters to soup, and roasted trotters. Then he killed the chickens he had raised at home for more than a year. I bought eight or nine fish, and it took me two or three days to finish.

It just so happens that Zhou Xiaoyun’s birthday in the lunar calendar happens to be Sunday.

Zhou Guoqiang and Zhao Yuzhen got up early in the morning and got busy.

A few round tables were borrowed from various families in the village, and three of them were placed in the two side rooms of the main room and the courtyard. The last two could not be placed, so they were placed at Zhou Guofu's house next door.

Shen Huafeng and Zhou Guofu both came to help, and Zhou Fang and Wu Youde also came early with their two children.

Zhou Guoqiang and Zhou Guofu were busy with the heavy work of carrying tables and benches, and Wu Youde also followed behind to help.

Several women gathered together to do the dishes and they were extremely busy.

Where did the protagonist Zhou Xiaoyun go?

 Haha, stop looking for it! I'm helping with the dishes on the side!

 Fortunately, the children are all older and can help with things. Wu Mei had already gone to wash vegetables with Zhou Xiaoyun. Zhou Xiaoxia usually never did anything at home, but now seeing that everyone was busy, she was embarrassed to be lazy and pretended to do the dishes.

Dabao and the three boys Zhou Zhihai and Wu Lei were stronger and took turns digging small wells to continuously supply well water for Zhou Xiaoyun and others to wash vegetables.

 After a while, Wang Jingjing, Zhou Qianqian, and Sun Min arrived. The adults at home didn't come until lunch time, but they couldn't hold it in any longer and came to play early.

When she got here and saw Zhou Xiaoyun busy, Wang Jingjing raised her arms and called out: "Zhou Xiaoyun, here I come! If you have anything to do, just ask me, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Zhou Xiaoyun laughed and scolded him: "It sounds like a war. You can stay and play on the sidelines. Xiaomei and I are enough here."

I have never seen Wang Jingjing use idioms so smoothly in Chinese class!

The three of them came to see Zhou Xiaoyun. They didn't want to go aside to play. Instead, they all crowded next to the red plastic bucket to help wash the vegetables.

Sun Min accidentally dumped the water on Zhou Zhihai. Zhou Zhihai grinned and wanted revenge. As a result, several girls squatting by the bucket suffered.

Wang Jingjing was the first to jump up and started to fight with Zhou Zhihai. Coupled with Dabao and Wu Lei who were making noises, and Zhou Qianqian who was getting more and more helpful, how could she mess up her words this time!

Zhou Xiaoyun laughed happily, she was in the best mood today, she was happy no matter what!

 She remembered the time in her previous life when she was ten years old. She had a bowl of noodles in the morning and called her uncle, uncle, and aunt over for dinner at noon, and it was her birthday.

Zhou Xiaoyun was touched and happy that his parents paid so much attention to his birthday in this life. This was all because of his parents’ love!

No, two weeks before her birthday, Zhao Yuzhen took Zhou Xiaoyun to the county mall to buy beautiful new clothes. She also bought Zhou Xiaoyun a pair of leather shoes for the first time.

Zhou Xiaoyun chose a bright red coat for herself for the first time without objection from Ren Zhao Yuzhen!

 Putting on a red coat and looking in the mirror, I realized that I look pretty good in red, haha!

The cook is Shi Yongshou from this village, who is Shitou's second uncle. He often cooks for people who are hosting banquets. The host family buys the dishes himself and gives Shi Yongshou some wages to provide a meal.

 Shi Yongnian was good at pen calligraphy. He was invited by Zhou Guoqiang to be the bookkeeper, and Wu Youde was asked to collect money and distribute candy. The two moved a table and sat at the door, talking and laughing.

 Stone came with Shi Yong early, and he and Dabao had a lot of fun running around.

 (End of this chapter)