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Qi Chong was startled by the scream and quickly put down the firewood to check what was happening. He saw Qi Rong rushing over, holding a three-foot-long black snake, swinging it around. Yuan Qingmiao was so frightened that her teeth were chattering, but Qi Rong remained calm, inspecting the snake to see if it was alive while muttering, "On a cold winter day, why are you out here looking for death instead of hiding in your hole?"
Seeing that it was a non-venomous snake, Qi Chong felt a bit more at ease. His younger brother made even snakes tremble in his presence. However, since their father had died from a snake bite, he still felt uneasy and stepped forward to take the snake from Qi Rong. He crushed its head and broke its spine before handing it back.
Qi Rong took the snake and said, "Big Brother, let's catch two chickens this afternoon and make a pot of dragon and phoenix stew."
Looking at his brave brother and then at Yuan Qingmiao, whose face was pale with fear, Qi Chong couldn't help but recall Yu Chunmiao's first encounter with a snake. A smile unconsciously crept onto his lips; it was quite fitting.
After he finished speaking, he left. Qi Rong called out, "Then it's settled! We'll have it for dinner."
A bowl of dragon and phoenix stew sat in the center of the dining table. Qi Rong picked up a piece of snake meat and placed it in Yuan Qingmiao's bowl.
"Ah! I don't want that; you take it!" Yuan Qingmiao dove into Zeng Yulan's arms, looking at the snake meat in her bowl as if it were poison.
Before Qi Rong could explain, Zeng Yulan said, "This is good stuff! When you were little and had those nasty bumps on your head, you got better after drinking snake soup."
Qi Rong chewed on the snake meat and asked with his mouth full, "What’s a nasty bump?"
Zeng Yulan explained, "It means your hair fell out in patches and you had lumps. Nothing worked until you drank a bowl of snake soup, and then you got better."
After thinking for a moment, Qi Rong replied, "Having nasty bumps would be so ugly!"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Qingmiao burst into tears and ran back into the house while wiping her eyes. Zeng Yulan hurried after her.
Yu Chunmiao was giggling at the table while Qi Rong remained oblivious to the trouble he had caused, happily enjoying his dragon and phoenix stew.
Qi Chong shook his head with a sigh and kicked his brother under the table. "You brought this on yourself; why don’t you go apologize?"
Qi Rong looked confused as Yu Chunmiao wiped away her tears from laughing. "This is something Qi Rong can't handle right now; you should just go talk to her."
Qi Chong snatched the chopsticks from his brother's hand and said in front of the girls, "Calling someone ugly will only hurt their feelings! Go apologize!"
Qi Rong quickly glanced around before slapping his forehead and running outside.
"I'm sorry, Yuan Qingmiao! I didn't mean to say you're ugly; you're not ugly!" Qi Rong called out from outside their door.
Yuan Qingmiao was feeling a mix of emotions, partly annoyed at her mother for revealing embarrassing childhood stories, and partly upset by the ugly word Qi Rong had used. Zeng Yulan, with her modern mindset, understood the importance of apologizing to her daughter. "I was wrong, dear. I won't say such things again. Qi Rong is calling for you; let's go eat."
The more they tried to coax her, the more stubborn she became, lying silently on the bed. Qi Rong thought for a moment and decided to enter the room. "Yuan Qingmiao," he said gently, "I didn't mean it. Please don't be mad and skip your meal. If you want, you can hit me a couple of times—three punches would be fine; I can take it."
Zeng Yulan added, "Your Qi Rong Brother didn't mean to upset you. How do you think he feels right now? Will you still play together in the future?"
It was clear that adults had a way of comforting children. At that moment, Yuan Qingmiao recalled how earlier in the day, while they were on the mountain, she had called out, and Qi Rong had rushed over to help her catch a snake. She felt sorry for him; having grown up with just her mother, she had never experienced the protection of a man in her family.
That feeling of safety had filled her small heart with warmth and completeness. Understanding both sides, she slowly got up, wiped her tears away, and said, "Qi Rong Brother, will you still take me out to play?"
Seeing that she was no longer angry, Qi Rong smiled broadly. "Of course! Let's eat now. Tomorrow I'll take you to make bamboo boats; I promise you won't encounter any snakes."
He took her hand and led her back to the kitchen, where instead of serving her snake meat, he offered her Dong Sun instead. "Here, this is bamboo shoots I picked out just for you; they're delicious!"
The family watched the two children interact lovingly and felt a sense of relief and joy. Family is all about loving one another. Qi Yunzhen had always taught them what love meant—he loved his wife and his children, setting a great example for his three sons.
Pei Qingxuan had been busy these past few days, hardly having time to rest as he helped the villagers with their farming needs. He was very professional; when the soil was too sticky, he advised them to add lime fertilizer. If they hadn't plowed deeply enough, he suggested they plow again. If drainage was poor, he helped them fix the ditches.
Half a month passed as he worked alongside the villagers to cut bamboo and weave straw to prepare for building seedling greenhouses. The winters here weren't too cold, but frost at night could easily kill young seedlings.
Yu Chunmiao and Qi Chong brought pearls to Lu Ziyan's house. The milk tea with added pearls had a richer texture; each serving brought in two coins in profit for the Qi Family.
On the day Qi Yuan returned home with Wu Shengnan, it happened to be New Year's Day—a time for family reunions. Qi Yuan carried a jar of wine and cheerfully announced, "Let's all have a drink together!"
Yu Chunmiao shook her head vigorously; she remembered all too well the hangover from that day—it had been quite unpleasant.
Qi Chongtu recalled the jar of wine in the cupboard, but there was enough wine on the table, so he didn’t plan to take it out.
Yu Chunmiao chewed on the crispy and tender squirrel fish, looking at Qi Yuan with anticipation. "Yuan Er, can you carve words?"
"Carve words? Not really, but I can chisel some patterns. As a carpenter, I know how to make auspicious cloud designs and simple window edge patterns, but I've never carved words."
Yu Chunmiao thought for a moment and said she wanted a set of mahjong tiles. The tiles would all have patterns, with Arabic numerals replacing the dots, and East, South, West, North, and the Red Dragon would be represented by their initials for Qi Yuan to try out.
"That works," she continued. "Sister-in-law, I have a favor to ask you. Once you're done with your busy days, I'll draw the patterns for you."
In just a few days, Wu Dayong would return and still have to deal with his wedding preparations, so the mahjong project would need to be postponed.
Zeng Yulan also knew that Qi Yuan was a carpenter and had something she wanted. "Qi Yuan, Aunt wants a tea tray as well. Could you make one for me?"
She wanted a water-retaining tea tray that wasn’t available on the market.
Chen Ruolan teased her, saying, "What do you mean by asking for a favor? Just tell him what you want as long as he can make it."
Wu Shengnan stuffed her mouth with food she had never seen before; it felt like her mouth was too busy to keep up.
"Exactly! My Husband is amazing; he added a wedge to the bed so no matter how much it moves, it doesn’t budge at all."
Qi Yuan quickly covered her mouth and whispered in her ear through clenched teeth, "Little Ancestor, why do you say everything?"
At the table, aside from the two children, everyone understood and neither laughed nor joined in.
"Let’s drink!" Qi Chong raised his wine bowl to help his brother avoid the awkwardness.
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