Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space-Chapter 452 - 341: Zhang Guofu’s Housewarming

At the end of February on the lunar calendar, Guo Fu planned to move into the county town and invited everyone to a housewarming party.

On Monday, Guo Fu informed his two younger brothers in advance to come over and help out over the weekend.

After discussing with Zhang the Second, National Day felt that the housewarming party wasn’t so simple. Their elder brother had been working for several months, and he had already established some social connections with his colleagues.

When the day arrived, besides relatives and friends, there would be at least a table of colleagues. The two didn’t heed their elder brother’s suggestion. Who would eat if there were only four or five tables?

Starting from Thursday when Mr. Zhang came to the city, National Day would head over there after work. The three brothers sat down to discuss, and the task ended up being taken on by National Day.

With Zhang Meili’s experience from last time, National Day arranged for a master chef, letting his father and eldest brother directly negotiate and present him with a list for him to prepare.

By the weekend, after a string of firecrackers, Mr. Zhang led Guo Fu’s family into their new home.

Five rooms, enclosed by earthen walls with a decent-sized courtyard. When Zhou Jiao and the kids arrived with Lin Juhua and first saw the new courtyard, they thought it looked quite nice.

This time, Guo Fu left the east room directly for their parents, with Xi Zi’s room right next to it. The couple stayed with their children in the west room, occupying two rooms.

By this time, a stove had already been built in the courtyard. The master chef and his apprentice had begun preparing the dishes. With Zhang Meili and her sister joining to help, the courtyard was soon filled with wafts of enticing meat aromas.

Huang Cuilan happily took Ping’an and pulled her two sisters-in-law into the main room. Inside, Mother Zhang was already chatting with relatives from the Huang and Zhang families.

Zhou Jiao and her sister-in-law greeted everyone. After handing the child over to Mother Zhang, she went into the courtyard. Seeing National Day coming towards her, she smiled, wondering what he had been busy with since he rushed over at dawn.

"Where’s the son? It’s too noisy here, why don’t you rest in your parents’ room?"

Zhou Jiao chuckled softly, "It’s fine. I’ll just stand here for a while. Mother is holding Ping’an; with Xi Zi there, there’s nothing to fear. About the gift, just like second sister-in-law, according to the warm house gift big sister-in-law gave us last time, wouldn’t it be too meager?"

Seeing so many people coming and going, National Day couldn’t say much, so he whispered back to her, "Listen to Mother. I’m free now, let’s go out for a walk."

Zhang Meili saw from afar that Zhou Jiao was about to walk over but was pulled away by her younger brother. Hearing her younger sister tease Xiao Wu, she hurriedly tugged at her. With so many people around, making jokes about her family’s little brother wouldn’t do. Nowadays, who wouldn’t be respectful when they see their Xiao Wu?

Zhang Meihao noticed and quickly changed the subject. As several cousins, including Zhang Qingshan, came over, the two sisters who were visiting as guests were also sent back to their room.

Other than that, Old Zhang’s family had nothing but a large number of people. By noon, even the two cousins brought their husbands and children over, making Mother Zhang secretly grateful for her youngest son’s preparations in advance.

Wave after wave of guests arrived, and the women began to follow Mother Zhang into the bedroom.

Originally, Mother Zhang planned to bring old quilts to the eldest’s house, but when National Day found out, he directly brought over a set of new quilts from his old home.

He figured that the courtyard in his village probably wouldn’t be lived in by his parents often. Should the new quilts be left to mold?

Seeing a group of people come in, Zhang Meihao quickly invited them onto the kang and pulled Zhang Meili outside. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, she whispered in Zhang Meili’s ear, "Sister, Xiao Wu has prepared new quilts, does this mean that our parents will live with big brother in the future? Why don’t they live with Xiao Wu?"

"Silly! Does Xiao Wu lack quilts? There are more people here; I’ll tell you later." Zhang Meili finished and glanced at the crowd—seeing Aunt Huang scrutinizing the room, she secretly laughed, as her parents wanted to first station themselves at the eldest son’s house. Did she really think that because the daughters live close to their parent’s house, they could insert themselves into Old Zhang’s affairs?

Zhou Jiao left the courtyard and followed National Day back to the street entrance, asking, "Big brother moved back. What about Xi Zi’s three brothers? Are they going to leave big sister alone at home to take care of everything?"

Upon hearing this, National Day sneered, "I’ve arranged everything. Since she doesn’t let the kids transfer schools, she’ll have to take care of it. She thought I would intervene again midway to handle the transfers. I ignored her. She’s a fool! After everything that’s happened, Dad is aware, and this time he’ll certainly give her a lesson. We’ll just pretend we don’t know."

Zhou Jiao gave him a sideways glance. Who was it that had been happily busy these past days? But thinking of Eldest Zhang, she ultimately didn’t say it out loud. Sigh... everyone has their difficulties, and Eldest Zhang owed his father-in-law’s family.

As more guests arrived, when the time was right, National Day led his wife back to the courtyard.

At this point, Huang Yaozong and his brother had already arrived. This time, Huang Yaozong behaved. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

National Day heard Huang Yaoguo greet him and smiled as he exchanged pleasantries, finding an excuse to check on the kids.

Throughout the housewarming party, National Day sat holding his son beside his two brothers-in-law. Watching his two brothers coordinating guest arrangements and setting the mood made him very happy.

With his second brother around, their family could move in a year or two, and their parents would be fine.

Uncle Zhang followed his gaze to Zhang the Second, Guoqiang, and after a moment, he smiled and shook his head. Turning to his relatives at this table, he said with a hint of envy, "My younger brother truly is blessed! Each son is capable of supporting the family."

"You’re not bad yourself. Aren’t your sons equally outstanding? Aren’t these youngsters helping today all children of you three brothers? Every child in Old Zhang’s family is capable," Father Huang praised.

Uncle Zhang sighed, "They’re all good children, but they still live their lives in the countryside, dealing with the fields every day. Muddy feet for life."

Mr. Zhang’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. What he feared had come true. He quickly laughed and said, "Brother, let’s drink. Children and grandchildren have their own fates. Let’s not talk about these things today. Let’s chat about happy things."

Uncle Zhang chuckled at this and began chatting casually with the honest brother-in-law beside him. This time, Zhang Dan Ni and her husband had brought their eldest son’s grandchild, making the Zhang family’s three brothers exceptionally happy. People grow old and often reminisce, recalling the sister who once protected them.

After three rounds of drinks, National Day saw his elder brother’s colleagues leaving, leaving only a few relatives. He found an excuse, picked up his son, and tugged Zhou Jiao to head home.

At the banquet table, he overheard several hints from other tables—they wanted to move into the city. Some things can’t be directly refused at the table to avoid hurting feelings, so he took the opportunity to leave. How much they understood was up to them.

On the way, Zhou Jiao mentioned how Huang Cuilan’s sister-in-law bluntly asked at the table which gifts Zhang Meili and her sisters had given, even taking several glances at herself.

Originally, she wanted to retort. Why was she meddling? As it turned out, the sister-in-law directly retorted, asking how much she had given.

Hearing this, National Day laughed, "That couple Huang Laoer is pretty smart. This time the Huang family gave big gifts, and Eldest Huang’s family felt proud. She merely looked at what we gave and felt it was unfair to her sister-in-law. Maybe Huang Cuilan said something again. It’s just social interaction. What’s anyone getting out of it?

In the future, unless necessary, we won’t come around here. In ten days or so, parents are likely to return to the hometown. Since the separation occurred, I won’t intervene in my two elder brothers’ household affairs anymore. This time elder brother came ahead to notify us, so we had to come. Didn’t you see even the cousins came to help?"

"I’m just worried you’d be upset. The eldest brother is such a good person; who would have thought big sister-in-law sided with her family so much. Before the separation, I worried about the second sister-in-law, never thought she’d reveal her virtuous true nature first." Zhou Jiao sighed.

These things she had never mentioned to anyone before, but today seeing Huang Cuilan present and not stepping in to explain, her heart felt stifled for Zhang Meili’s two sisters.

National Day chuckled quietly, not commenting. The issue with Huang Cuilan siding with her family is more about her weak character and being easily swayed. Just a little instigation and she believed she could run the house.

With his parents around, he didn’t worry about his elder brother. Moreover, even if the brotherhood no longer existed, he had done what a younger brother should; there was nothing to regret.