Madam Luo and Madam Miao welcomed Su Tang and her brother inside but then wanted to quickly return to the kitchen to boil some water to serve to the guests. Looking at them bustling about, Su Tang hurriedly tried to pass the basket she had brought along with her over to them and said, “Here, take this to the kitchen too.”
Naturally, Madam Luo and Madam Miao didn’t dare to directly accept such a thing, instead, they both looked over at their mother-in-law, Madam Zhou. When Madam Zhou saw that Su Tang had brought gifts along she also felt a bit embarrassed to accept them, so she said, “Tang’er, why are you still so polite with us? Are you treating us as outsiders?”
Su Tang immediately replied with a smile, “Sister-in-law, it isn’t that we’re being polite with you, it’s just that while we were coming over we happened to see a man by the roadside selling wild fruits. Xiao Nuo and I both felt that the fruit looked fresh and wanted to have a taste, so we bought some to bring along, both as a gift and also so that we could satisfy our own cravings.”
At her side, Su Nuo put on a serious expression and nodded along like a little adult. He said, “En, sister-in-law you must let my nieces here wash and prepare these fruits. I wanted to eat a few several times along the way but each time my sister stopped me.”
When they heard the siblings say that it was just some wild fruit from the mountains sold by a peddler on the side of the road, Madam Luo and Madam Miao opened the basket to take a look. They found that there really were just some simple wild strawberries inside. Although they were common fruits, the bright red color did look very appetizing.
Of course, this was a very deliberate choice on Su Tang’s part. She knew she couldn’t bring anything too expensive along as a gift, but it also wasn’t appropriate for her to visit completely empty-handed. She knew that the gift was too expensive it might create a feeling of burden on her hosts, so in the end she decided to buy some wild fruits on the way. It was a cheap gift but still quite delicious when eaten fresh.
“Quickly wash these up and prepare them for everyone, it’s rare to see such excellent strawberries at this time of year.” When she saw that the gift was only some common wild fruits Madam Zhou immediately relaxed and asked her daughters-in-law to prepare them.
After their mother-in-law spoke up, Madam Luo and Madam Miao both nodded and didn’t dare to delay. They took the basket and headed to the kitchen to find some water to wash and prepare the fruit, at the same time, Madam Zhou herself led the sibling pair over to the main room.
“Sister Tang, Brother Nuo, why have you come over at this sort of time? Is something the matter?” After they all sat down, Madam Zhou asked curiously.
“I came this time because there is something I want to discuss with Brother Qiang. Because our house collapsed during the winter we had to leave and have been living in town for a long time, but I’ve always wanted to come back and build a new house. Then we can…”
While this was going on, Madam Lu had already hurried out to the family fields to find Su Yongqiang and call him back. When Su Yongqiang heard that Su Tang and her brother had come over, he quickly put down his work hurried back. Thus, Su Tang hadn’t even finished her sentence when he suddenly arrived from outside and interrupted in a shocked tone, “You plan to build a new house?”
“Brother Qiang!” When they saw he had arrived, Su Tang and Su Nuo stood up together and greeted him.
Su Yongqiang gave a nod of acknowledgment and then took his seat beside Madam Zhou. Once he sat down he looked over at Su Tang and Su Nuo and saw that they were now wearing lighter spring-style clothing. The clothing seemed to be made of high-quality fabric, and Su Tang was all in white while Su Nuo was all in black.
Overall, their appearances seemed very neat and clean, and their complexions looked ruddy and healthy. From a glance, it could be seen that they were living well.
“That’s right. Ever since our family’s home collapsed in the winter I had always been planning to re-build it sometime after the New Year. It’s just that recently the family has been busy with raising seedlings for the Luo family, so I had decided to temporarily set those plans aside. But now that the seedling job is over, I’ve come to ask Brother Qiang what we need to do to be allowed to build a new house in the village. Also, I still haven’t been able to go out and bring my brother’s family back to be buried in the ancestral grave and I want to do that, but I’m not sure how.”
Su Tang’s tone immediately turned serious. She had come to have an important discussion about her family’s affairs with Su Yongqiang this time, which was why she had brought Su Nuo along to include him. Both building a new house in the village and moving Su Yonghe and his family’s remains home were serious events for their family.
Although Su Nuo was still young, he was also a member of the family. Moreover, he had recently celebrated his birthday and he was already seven years old, so Su Tang was trying to bring him along more so he could know about the big events happening within the family.
“Yes, Brother Qiang, my sister and I are going to build a new home.” The little guy had been very happy ever since he learned that his sister was planning to build a new house for them, so now he looked very excited.
Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou could also see the happy expression on Su Nuo’s face and the hopeful look in his eyes and they both couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed that letting these two children be adopted into Su Laochuan’s household back then had really been the right decision. Although they may have an adverse fate, it was clear that they would have good lives so long as they worked hard.
Now it seemed that Su Laochuan’s family would really be able to be propped up by these two little children.
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