Chapter 44: As a Matter of Course
Hearing her daughter’s words, Ding Yuejun naturally agreed with a smile, and finally, the four people of three generations went out chattering and laughing.
As soon as Old Mrs. Jiang came out, she saw Yiyi and the others and hurriedly asked, "Yiyi, where are you all going?"
"Grandma Jiang, we’re planning to take a walk nearby to get familiar with the environment and then go to the nearest market to buy some groceries."
Old Mrs. Jiang smiled and said, "Let me take you around, I’m familiar with the place, and we can go grocery shopping together. I happen to need to go shopping too."
Seeing Old Mrs. Jiang’s enthusiasm, Ding Yuejun did not refuse, "Auntie, it won’t trouble you at all."
"It’s no trouble at all."
Old Mrs. Jiang waved her hand and then looked at Mo Xiaohong with curiosity.
"This is my eldest daughter, Xiaohong, and Shanshan is her daughter."
Mo Xiaohong had long heard of Old Mrs. Jiang, so she quickly greeted her.
Last night at the Jiang elders’ dinner, Mo Shan had become somewhat familiar with the two elders, so now seeing Old Mrs. Jiang, she proudly introduced, "Granny Jiang, this is my mom. She was working before, so she didn’t come, but when she rests in the future, she’ll come and live with us."
Seeing Mo Shan’s cute demeanor, Old Mrs. Jiang patted her head fondly and said with a smile, "So this is Shanshan’s mom, I’ll remember in the future." Then she warmly looked at Mo Xiaohong and said, "You have a good daughter."
Hearing Old Mrs. Jiang praise her daughter, Mo Xiaohong felt happy and started chatting more. The group chatted and laughed as they walked around the neighborhood.
Although Old Mrs. Jiang was a bit curious about how Yiyi’s family was all women with no men, she wisely didn’t ask much, as she valued the family’s character and not whether there was a man in charge. "Right in front is the market, it’s a bit hidden, and if it’s your first time, you might take a long time finding it."
Ding Yuejun nodded in agreement, "Thanks to Auntie, otherwise even if we asked people, we’d probably take a long time."
"I just happened to be going this way, so it’s convenient for us to go together. Let’s hurry up to buy groceries, otherwise, the market will close soon." After saying this, Old Mrs. Jiang headed straight to the fish stall, among other things. Her son’s family was coming over for dinner, so she needed to buy more.
Meanwhile, Ding Yuejun had many things to buy, so after parting ways with Old Mrs. Jiang, they started shopping.
"Xiaohong, let’s make sweet and sour ribs for lunch."
Hearing this, Mo Xiaohong quickly said, "Mom, let’s just have something simple. We don’t need to buy ribs." They’ll be living in town from now on, and everything costs money, plus her salary would not be available until the end of the month, so they needed to save.
Yiyi understood Mo Xiaohong’s concerns, although they indeed needed to be frugal, today marked their first day settling together in town, so they needed to have a good meal. "Sis, let’s have sweet and sour ribs for lunch. Shanshan and I both want to eat them, and later, let’s buy a fish to make braised fish for lunch too."
Mo Shan was also full of anticipation and couldn’t help but swallow.
Seeing her sister and daughter like that, Mo Xiaohong didn’t say much more.
Ding Yuejun still had some money on hand, so she bought a lot at once, besides the food for today, she also got rice, flour, cooking oil, and various seasonings. When everyone had their hands full, they reunited with Old Mrs. Jiang and went home together.
Meanwhile, Old Mrs. Mo had someone choose an auspicious date and hurriedly returned home to give a red paper to Mr. Mo, saying, "The date is set. Discuss with Guoping to see who we need to invite to build the house."
Mr. Mo looked at the date on the red paper, nodded, and said, "Alright, I’ll go find Guoping now."
Mo Guoping was at home, and upon knowing that Mr. Mo was looking for him, he quickly came over, "Dad, did you call for me?"
"Yes, your mom has chosen a date. We’ll start the groundwork three days from now. Time is tight, so we need to quickly organize the workers to prevent any last-minute rush."
Hearing this, Mo Guoping nodded in agreement, "Yes, we need to find the workers first."
The father and son discussed the craftsmen’s skills in the village and finally decided on Zhang Fei Hai, "Dad, let’s go with A Fei. He’s good at digging foundations and building frames. We can’t go wrong with him."
"Alright, A Fei it is, but make sure to ask if he’s available lately because many people are hiring him."
"Right, you should go ask him as soon as possible," Old Mrs. Mo urged.
Hearing the elders, Mo Guoping stood up and said, "Alright, I’ll go find him now."
"Guoping, what do you need to see A Fei about?"
As they talked, Mo Guowei walked in. He hadn’t been in a good mood for the last few days, so he’d been staying at his own place and rarely went to the main house. Today, feeling a little better, he decided to visit his parents and discovered them discussing matters with his brother.
Seeing Mo Guowei come in, Mo Guoping smiled and said, "Big brother, I’m about to ask A Fei if he can help build our house anytime soon."
"Building a house? What house?"
Seeing his eldest son’s confused face, Old Mrs. Mo explained briefly and finally said, "Guoping’s wife was sneaky. If it weren’t for your aunt telling me, I wouldn’t know about her owning a small restaurant. Fortunately, she’s finally taking out money to build a new house for the family."
"What... my sister-in-law opened a small restaurant in town? And we’re building a new house?" Mo Guowei was full of surprise.
He couldn’t have imagined such big events had taken place in these last few days without him hearing a word, "But building a new house costs a lot of money, right? Is it all coming from my sister-in-law?"
Old Mrs. Mo replied matter-of-factly, "Of course it’s her. Her family is already building a new house, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t. That small restaurant in town—Yafen has a share in it. If her brother can afford to build a house, then she surely can too."
"Sister-in-law is really capable."
Mo Guowei couldn’t help but praise her. After all, he couldn’t afford that much money to build a house, so Qian Yafen really was quite capable to earn that much.
"Hmph... Capable of what? If she were really capable, she’d build us two old folks a mansion to live in."
Old Mrs. Mo’s loud voice carried far, and as soon as Qian Yafen stepped into the courtyard, she heard it. Angrily balling her fists, her expression turned grim.