Chapter 998: Engagement
Everyone was genuinely satisfied with the meal.
Before the meal began, Lv Beiguang handed over the engagement gifts he had prepared to Li Xue. "Child, I hope you and Guodong will support each other and love each other. As your elders, we have no demands, just wish you peace and prosperity."
Li Xue, a bit excited, accepted the engagement gifts from Lv Beiguang one by one.
"Uncle, don’t worry, we definitely will."
Lv Beiguang was truly delighted. His son had found a good partner, and he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his heart.
Li Yunqiao also stood up and, with a smile, took out a red envelope and a fountain pen.
Wei Kaiyun smiled, knowing this pen was more valuable than all the gifts Lv Beiguang had prepared.
Guodong also smiled as he accepted them, "Your father is right. As your elders, we don’t have any demands, just wish you health and safety."
"Uncle Li, I will treat Xue well in the future, for a lifetime."
Li Yunqiao laughed heartily and patted Guodong’s shoulder. "Good, I believe you. I believe the two of you will have a good life together.
And if Xue ever does anything wrong in the future, you can tell me."
The gathering became a bit urgent, "Uncle Li, Xue’er is so good, how could she do anything wrong? We will both understand each other; no matter who has a problem, we will seriously reflect on it."
Guodong spoke sincerely. After a few months of getting along with Li Xue, he truly liked this girl’s character—not as domineering as Aunt Jiang and Jing Chu, nor as timid and fearful as ordinary women.
Li Xue’s personality was just right for him. In Guodong’s heart, a wife should be like her.
The Li Family was naturally satisfied with Guodong’s response, and Lv Beiguang had no objections. He sincerely hoped that his son could have a happy and loving family.
This simple ceremony was also considered over, and Lv Beiguang invited everyone to eat.
"Make yourselves at home. Xinyu has prepared a feast, and on this happy day, it’s our way of thanking everyone for their heartfelt blessings for the two kids."
At the table, amidst the sound of glasses clinking, though everyone was a bit embarrassed at first, once they tasted the first bite, no one cared about appearances anymore.
After all, nothing was as real as a table full of good food.
Yang Zhongyi was thinking about toasting to Li Yunqiao and Lv Beiguang to congratulate them.
"Thank you, Xiao Yang." Lv Beiguang, although a bit flushed from drinking, could handle his alcohol pretty well; he just didn’t drink often.
Wei Kaiyun still stuck to one or two drinks, no more. He had to drive back later, and he couldn’t risk it with the most precious people on board.
"Xiao Yang, don’t drink anymore; you have to drive back this afternoon. Don’t you know the rules?" Wei Kaiyun quietly warned Yang Zhongyi.
"Brother Wei, just two glasses for me, I won’t even toast Guodong."
"As long as you know your limit."
The boys’ tables were truly about grabbing what they could. Du Fengying kept an eye on them, noticing when they ran out of dishes and bringing out what she had set aside in the kitchen.
She sighed inwardly; the kids she usually saw were like Jianbin and those three, always eating gracefully, but now she witnessed the boys’ ferocious appetites. Truly, they were not to be underestimated.
Even the extra two bowls of meat were set before them. The braised giblets she had prepared were also sliced and brought out, but still, they were quickly consumed.
"Shi Jing, are you eating just this little?" Cheng Lin asked while eating, trying to look after his little brother.
"I’m full, Cheng Lin, you continue eating."
Jianbin and the others put down their chopsticks, watching the others gobble food, and couldn’t help but swallow hard, wondering if they were still hungry. But seeing that there was little food left on the table, they decided to leave it and eat more at home instead.
Zhao Xiaoli’s table was relatively better off, but they weren’t slow either, especially for the favored canned hawthorn fruit; the two pregnant women loved it. Jiang Xinyu got up and poured out a bottle.
"Teacher Jiang, where did you buy this canned fruit?"
"I picked the hawthorns myself from the mountains and made the canned fruit myself. I brought a few extra bottles this time, Sister Lu, take some when you go back.
I thought you might love this, so I specially brought more."
"Thank you so much. I won’t be polite then. Next year I’ll go pick hawthorns myself and make some canned fruit."
"Sure, making canned fruit is actually very simple. When the time comes, I’ll send you the hawthorns so you don’t have to go to the mountains."
"Okay, thank you. I’ll start preparing sugar now."
"Haha, isn’t it a bit too early? Won’t it melt by summer? Also, brown sugar won’t work; you need white sugar, and you’ll need rock sugar too."
"Alright, I’ll frequent the marketplace more often then."
An hour later, all the food brought over was completely finished.
Jiang Xinyu was quite satisfied, saving her the trouble of taking anything back. But there was still a big bowl of rice left. That, she left for the Li Family, who wouldn’t mind it.
Red Army saw Jiang Xinyu. "Teacher Jiang, after today’s meal, I won’t need to eat for a whole week." He was so satisfied that he even hiccuped with satisfaction.
"As long as you’re satisfied."
"Very satisfied. I’ve never had so many good dishes before, and today I got to taste them all at once. This is happiness, pure happiness."
"Your happiness is quite simple, but that’s good too. Contentment brings constant happiness."
Except for Lv Beiguang and Li Yunqiao who were chatting, everyone else pitched in to help, so the cleaning was done quickly.
Even though they felt they brought a lot, now everything was gone. All the plates, bowls, and dishes were stacked together, feeling like there wasn’t much, fitting into just two baskets.
Jiang Xinyu asked Du Fengying to boil water, so the kids could have some tea: milk tea for the women and regular tea for the men.
With that, the boys cheered excitedly, "Teacher Jiang, let me live with you. Your life is so wonderful, let me be your son." Hongling ingratiatingly coaxed Jiang Xinyu.
"Sure, I have no objections. I’ll talk to your dad in a bit, and from now on you’ll be part of my family," Jiang Xinyu replied with a smile. This Hongling was quite cheeky.
Hongling was left speechless, not knowing what to say, but his eyes sparkled as he gazed at Jiang Xinyu, resembling a little puppy with his adorable, pleading look.
It was already past two in the afternoon, and Li Yunqiao stood up to say his goodbyes. Knowing they all still had to return to the Li Family Village.
"Brother Li, I’m going to buy tickets today and have to leave tomorrow. Take good care of the two kids from now on."
"Don’t worry, Brother Lv. They’re like our own children."
"I’m too far away to manage things, so please keep an eye out, speak up if Guodong is out of line. After all, they’re like our own children." Lv Beiguang truly felt at ease now.