Chapter 198 - 94 "Good Wealth is Hard to Give Up" (12000 words)_2
Chen Yan ate a whole bowl of braised chicken, tore off half of a steamed chicken, and forced himself to drink two more bowls of chicken soup, nibbling on a few pieces of chicken breast and a wing.
He felt like he was about to throw up.
Lu Sisi had tried her best to help, but how much can an eighteen-year-old girl really eat? After gnawing on a single drumstick, she was already full.
Chen Yan, feeling like his stomach was about to burst, could only support his waist as he got up to take a walk, pulling Lu Sisi out of the courtyard to stroll around the village.
They had just reached the corner when they saw a middle-aged man in his forties approaching from the roadside. Chen Yan recognized him as Uncle Niu’s oldest son and stopped to call out, "Uncle Niu."
The man looked at Chen Yan with a smile, his gaze falling on the hands of the young couple. Nodding, he said with a grin, "Xiaoyan, I wasn’t home when you delivered gifts to our house earlier. My dad asked me to bring you a return gift tonight."
With that, he extended his hand, and Chen Yan was taken aback.
One carton of milk, and also...
A live chicken struggling and twitching with outstretched legs.
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Chen Yan had delivered over a hundred gifts to the whole village this New Year.
On New Year’s Day, he received return gifts: five local chickens (four from the old village head’s house, one from Uncle Niu’s house).
On the second day...
In the afternoon, Chen Yan sat on a small stool under the eaves, watching Young Lady Gu in the middle of the courtyard, enthusiastically killing chickens with a cleaver in hand, iron basin, and small bowl in front of her...
In the corner of the courtyard, there were five, eight, ten...
Well, it wasn’t just chickens; there were also eggs and other things.
That day, Chen Yan’s family received at least fifty local chickens and over six hundred eggs in return gifts.
In the countryside, almost every household raises chickens. Giving a chicken and a few dozen eggs as return gifts is both convenient and practical.
In two days, nearly fifty chickens were slaughtered, giving Young Lady Gu a real thrill!
The most direct impression it left on Chen Yan was: after slaughtering so many chickens, Gu Qingyi, who previously seemed pent up with murderous intent, was now much more relaxed in her expression and demeanor.
In the afternoon, after plucking feathers, gutting, and cleaning chickens all day, Chen Yan looked helplessly at the mountain of chickens at home.
There was no way they could eat all of it—just three of them, over fifty chickens; how long would it take?
Fortunately, after processing, they didn’t need to put them in the fridge—the weather had just snowed, and the temperature was around minus ten degrees Celsius.
On the fifth day of the New Year, at midnight, Chen Yan set off a string of firecrackers to welcome the God of Wealth with the two girls in the courtyard. The firecracker noise outside didn’t die down until almost one o’clock.
When the day broke, Chen Yan took Lu Sisi up the mountain to the temple— the fifth day is for welcoming the God of Wealth. Villagers from ten miles around come to the temple to burn incense and pray to the God of Wealth.
The wild temple on the mountain didn’t originally have a statue of the God of Wealth, but the old monk was adaptable. Every year on the fifth, he would clear a spot in the main hall, hang up a portrait of the God of Wealth, and prepare incense and candles.
Villagers preferred to go to the temple to pray on the fifth—this activity also became an important annual revenue for the mountain temple.
Chen Yan thought it was rather absurd.
——Going to a Buddhist temple to pray to the God of Wealth! This is truly a unique aspect of Dragon Country superstition!
Gu Qingyi had no interest in getting rich. Initially, she was willing to go up the mountain to the temple—mostly to see those two demonesses.
But after hearing from Chen Yan that the temple would be crowded on that day, and the demonesses would stay away, hiding in the back mountain—Gu Qingyi lost interest and opted to stay at home basking in the sun.
Chen Yan pulled Lu Sisi out of the village, heading up the mountain. They encountered quite a few villagers along the way, who chatted enthusiastically, and everyone who saw Lu Sisi praised her.
Chen Yan estimated that by evening, the gossip about "Mrs. Huang’s grandson bringing home a pretty young city girlfriend" would definitely be the top story at the village entrance.
Lu Sisi, being shy and introverted, blushes whenever joked with by the villagers. She clings tightly to Chen Yan’s hand, responding cautiously.
Villagers, being naturally curious and it being the New Year, would ask questions about marriage and such.
When Lu Sisi anxiously explained that she was only eighteen and hadn’t graduated yet, the women in the village would smirk and say that eighteen was old enough—there were mothers that young in the village.
Lu Sisi, feeling incredibly embarrassed, wished she could dig a hole to hide in, clinging tightly to Chen Yan’s hand, too mortified to speak.
The villagers, seeing this, felt that she was indeed a well-bred, clean, and delicate girl from the big city, shy and mannered...
When they reached the mountaintop, the temple was bustling, the usually empty main hall was crowded with worshippers in front of the God of Wealth statue.
Many villagers lit incense and knelt outside in the courtyard, which was filled with people kneeling and smoke swirling.
The old monk wasn’t there, so Chuyi was busy running around, sweating profusely. After greeting Chen Yan, he disappeared in a flash.
Chen Yan, smiling, led Lu Sisi in line, finally praying before the God of Wealth’s statue, and then wandered around the courtyard.