Chapter 549 - 564: In Preparation

A genuine iron pot stew with griddled flatbreads gave An Ning’s stomach a taste of home.

After the meal, the family sat behind the house to cool off. An Guoming went to fetch a watermelon from the well. He failed on his first try, and again on his second.

"Second Brother, stop wasting your energy. What were you even thinking trying that!"

An Guoqing patted the dust off his pants, walked to the well’s edge, and skillfully swung the rope. In one smooth motion, he had the watermelon from the well secured.

The next second, he started pulling it up. An Guoming watched from the side, saying, "Eldest Brother is still the best. Go, go, go!"

An Guoping sidled over and whispered in An Ning’s ear, "I get the feeling Second Brother did that on purpose."

"Your feeling isn’t wrong."

An Ning replied with a smile.

An Guoming’s constitution had indeed been average, but he had been diligently exercising for many years.

He also stuck to eating the medicinal cuisine prepared by Master Tang, and An Ning would secretly help regulate his health from time to time. As a result, An Guoming was truly no longer as weak as he used to be.

An Guoqing hauled the watermelon up. His wife was already waiting, kitchen knife in hand.

CRACK! The moment the tip of the knife touched the watermelon, it split open on its own.

The dark green rind cracked open, revealing red flesh dotted with jet-black seeds. Everyone knew this was the watermelon of their dreams.

Thin rind, black seeds, and you could tell just by looking that it would have that perfect sandy texture.

At this moment, the ever-perceptive Hei Dan’er came forward. He delivered the cut watermelon slices one by one, first to his grandparents, then to his second uncle, his aunt, and his youngest uncle, then his parents, and finally, to himself and his two brothers.

With so many people, the watermelon seemed to disappear in no time.

"Dig in, everyone! There’s another one in the well. We grew them ourselves in our own patch."

"Delicious."

"Mom, I’ve never eaten a watermelon this sweet, not even in Beijing."

Both An Ning and An Guoping gave it high praise. The whole family’s faces and hands were red and sticky from the juice, but no one cared.

After the two watermelons were finished, the rinds were thrown to the pigs. In the village, truly nothing could be wasted.

Next, everyone discussed what needed to be done the next day. The wedding was just three days away.

"We’ll slaughter the pig tomorrow first. The house needs to be decorated. We’ve already taken care of all the cleaning. Tomorrow, putting up the ’double happiness’ characters and all that—we’re leaving it to you kids."

An Sancheng laid out the plan, and An Ning and An Guoping readily agreed.

In the village, a wedding involved three banquets. The day before the wedding, you had to treat everyone to a meal. This spread didn’t have to be particularly lavish; it all depended on the family’s financial situation.

The main feast was on the wedding day itself, usually consisting of sixteen, eighteen, or even twenty dishes.

The wedding ceremony was always completed in the morning. In the afternoon, there would be another meal to thank all the people who had helped with the work.

In other words, tomorrow would be the last relatively quiet day for the An family. The day after, the banquets and feasts would begin.

An Guoming and Yin Xuemei’s wedding would be held right in the village. They had hired a local master chef to prepare the feast. The tables, chairs, and benches were all borrowed, and most of the ingredients were provided by the An family themselves, so the flavor was guaranteed to be excellent.

Cooling off behind the house, chatting, the family sat outside until the sky was filled with the colors of sunset.

"Tomorrow will be a good day. The weather’s been great these past two days."

Seeing such a beautiful view was enough to lift anyone’s spirits.

When it got dark, An Sancheng built a small bonfire in the courtyard and added some mugwort leaves from the yard to smoke out the mosquitoes.

They stayed out until well past eight-thirty, when the sky was completely dark. Only then did everyone return to their rooms to wash up and get ready for bed.

The *kang* in An Ning’s room wasn’t too hot, but it wasn’t cold either.

In June, it wasn’t yet scorching hot in the village, especially at night. As long as the front and back windows were open, a cool little breeze would blow through, chilling the skin.

Especially in the latter half of the night, you had to cover yourself with a thin blanket or quilt.

Even if you didn’t cover your whole body, you had to at least cover your stomach. That was the bare minimum.

The comfortable temperature and familiar surroundings allowed An Ning to have an excellent night’s sleep.

She was woken up in the morning by the crowing of a large rooster.

When An Ning came out of her room, Hei Dan’er glanced at his wrist, then at An Ning, shook his little head, and walked away across the courtyard with his hands behind his back.

Amused, An Ning asked An Guoping, who was brushing his teeth beside her, "Is he giving me grief for waking up late?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"But he doesn’t even have a watch!"

An Ning’s single sentence made Hei Dan’er, who was halfway across the courtyard, freeze awkwardly for a moment.

The courtyard was bustling with activity all morning—people brushing their teeth, washing their faces, sweeping the yard, and hanging up laundry.

The yard was pure chaos, with chickens scattering and dogs tearing about. You could even hear the tofu seller’s calls from the gate. It was a morning unique to the village.

An Ning joined in the fun, drawing water from the well. The icy well water instantly refreshed her.

For breakfast, they had sorghum rice porridge with steamed potatoes and eggplant, all mixed with a savory chili and egg sauce. It was incredibly fragrant.

Add to that some scallion tofu mixed with a green pepper and meat sauce, and An Ning was so absorbed in eating she didn’t even want to look up.

After breakfast, An Sancheng and An Guoqing prepared to go catch and slaughter the pigs.

They were slaughtering two pigs in total to provide some meat for tomorrow’s feast. But that wouldn’t be enough, so An Guoming had also ordered pork knuckles, trotters, and offal from the butcher.

After An Sancheng left, Uncle An’s wife, nephew, and niece came over.

Everyone gathered in the house to cut paper window decorations and make paper garlands. The bright red color was wonderfully festive.

Many hands make light work. In less than two hours, every window and door in the An family’s house was decorated with "double happiness" characters.

The aunt’s hands were exceptionally skilled. She could cut out little figures wearing ancient wedding attire and even cut out festive phrases like "A Match Made in Heaven" and "A Hundred Years of Harmony."

They hung the large and small cutouts on the walls and pasted them on the doors.

Around noon, the men returned from slaughtering the pigs. Hei Dan’er was the first to run into the courtyard, shouting that it was time to eat meat!

Lin Cuihua came out of the house and looked speechlessly at Hei Dan’er.

"You little rascal, when have we ever been short on meat? Do you really have to be this excited?"

"Grandma, this is different! Our family’s pigs are especially delicious."

Hei Dan’er’s words made Lin Cuihua recall the taste of her own pork. For once, she actually agreed with him. "You’re right!"

Hei Dan’er definitely couldn’t handle praise. He started jumping around like a little monkey.

A moment later, An Guoqing drove a three-wheeled truck into the yard. The truck bed was lined with a large plastic sheet, and on it lay half a pig carcass.

The pork quivered, a perfect mix of fat and lean. It looked delicious just by sight.

"Jiang Xia, you all should come over for dinner tonight. You’ve been busy all day."

"Hey, you got it! I’ve been craving a bite of this meat."

Jiang Xia, who had helped with the slaughter that morning, agreed without a moment’s hesitation, not acting like a stranger at all.

Jiang Xia went back to change his clothes first. Before leaving, his gaze fell involuntarily on An Ning, only this time, their eyes met.

In an instant, Jiang Xia’s neck turned a little red. He awkwardly averted his gaze, pretending nothing had happened.

Seeing the blushing Jiang Xia, An Ning had only one thought: ’He’s so innocent, I almost don’t have the heart to make a move.’