Chapter 323 - 319: Toe-Curling Awkwardness
For a moment.
Aunt Leng and her group were frozen at the kitchen entrance. They couldn’t sit, nor could they leave. And going into the kitchen was out of the question—there was no room left.
After all, they were Leng Yuan’s own second and third aunts. There was no way they could justify sitting down to eat while other villagers were busy helping out.
The five of them were at a loss for words.
They felt an intense shame, as if they had been stripped bare for all to see.
’How could this be so awkward?’
Inside the room, Gu Jiaojiao was by the window. She and Chen Ruoyu sat side-by-side, peeking through a crack and watching the scene unfold outside.
Gu Jiaojiao put her book down. The commotion outside was far more interesting.
Chen Ruoyu’s toes curled with second-hand embarrassment. ’How could anything be this awkward?’
Luckily, Aunt Leng was thick-skinned. She lifted her head and offered the crowd a weak chuckle.
They offered one right back.
Nearby, Leng Qiushou wished he could just bury his head in the sand.
A few years ago, his aunt had arranged a job for him at the commune office, making him the envy of the village. Even when the village head and the brigade leader went to the County Town for meetings, they would greet him with big smiles.
He’d been respected for so long; when had he ever been so publicly humiliated? At that moment, he wished he could just faint on the spot.
Leng Yuan paid the Leng Family no mind whatsoever, continuing to entertain his other guests as if they weren’t even there.
Chen JianShe watched the Leng Family flailing about like clowns and couldn’t stop laughing.
’It’s like the Leng Family was afraid it wasn’t lively enough here at Brother Leng’s place, so they rushed over to provide some comic relief.’
Even back when he was just a farmer in the village, Leng Qingtian had never felt so humiliated. Unable to bear the mocking looks from the crowd, he reached out and tugged on Aunt Leng’s sleeve.
"Ma, let’s just go home!"
Go home.
Aunt Leng hurriedly spoke.
"No, we can’t go back."
Today was a crucial opportunity. Their goal was to let everyone in the village know that the Leng Family and Leng Yuan had reconciled.
’If they left now, reconciliation my ass.’
Aunt Leng took a deep breath and walked over to Leng Yuan.
"Leng Yuan, I didn’t realize everyone was already so busy. We would’ve been here earlier, but your grandmother isn’t well."
Aunt Leng had fabricated the excuse on the spot.
The excuse sounded much better this way. At least they were delayed because of an elder. If people found out they had come late on purpose, the humiliation would be immense. They did have some sense of shame, after all.
Seeing Aunt Leng make her apology, Third Aunt Leng’s eyes scanned the courtyard, and she quickly found something to do.
She rolled up her sleeves and walked over to the large iron pot that had just been set up.
For a village wedding with many guests, a household’s regular pots were certainly not big enough.
Villagers had special, oversized pots just for festive occasions, which could be propped up on stones to cook over a fire.
Because it was still early, the pot had only just been set up and the ingredients had been chopped, but the cooking hadn’t yet begun.
Third Aunt Leng rushed right over, rolled up her sleeves, and got straight to work.
At this point, she no longer cared about doing too much work; she was more afraid of having nothing to do at all.
As she skillfully scrubbed the pot, she said with a smile,
"Leng Yuan, don’t you worry. Your Third Aunt will definitely make sure this meal is cooked right."
Without giving Leng Yuan a chance to reply, she called over to Leng Qiushou and the others to bring over firewood and immediately got busy with the communal pot.
At rural banquets, everyone ate from the big pot. In the winter, that meant a stew of cabbage, bean sprouts, pumpkin, tofu, pork, and vermicelli noodles.
A stew made in a pot like this had the authentic taste of a proper feast.
But looking at the amount of ingredients, it seemed to be far too much.
If they cooked it all, there would surely be a lot left over.
After all, there were only thirty or forty people present, but there was enough food for seventy or eighty.
However, after the earlier embarrassment, how could Aunt Leng and Third Aunt Leng dare to question anything? They simply got to work and started cooking the large pot of food.