The twenty-ninth of the twelfth lunar month, and several families were still very busy.
Unlike the busyness of the twenty-eighth of August, today their main tasks were preparing the New Year's Eve dinner and the dishes for the upcoming festival.
There was no shortage of meat at home. Grandma Su had asked Su Laosan to buy over two hundred catties of pork a few days prior.
A portion of this meat was minced, intended for making dumplings on New Year's Eve.
The rest would be used for dishes like braised pork, fried crispy pork, and fried meatballs.
In short, the New Year's Eve feast was to be as lavish as possible.
Besides pork, lamb, beef, and chicken also needed to be prepared in advance to save trouble on New Year's Eve.
The scale of the Su family's preparations astonished Li Jianhong and the other two.
The Su family was preparing nearly three hundred catties of meat for the New Year alone.
Their entire family didn't consume twenty catties of meat in a whole year.
The Su family truly had good conditions to be so generous.
"Fry some extra meatballs. We need to send them to the orphanage tomorrow. The children will definitely like meatballs," Grandma Su instructed Su Laosan and his nephews, who were chopping meat.
"Mother, it's enough. Don't worry," Su Laosan replied, his hands not stopping as he chopped meat and responded to his mother.
Over thirty catties of meat had been minced. Ten catties were set aside for dumplings, and the remaining twenty catties would be used to fry meatballs, which was more than enough.
After all, fried meatballs had other ingredients, and twenty-odd catties of meat could produce a large basinful of meatballs.
"We should also send some fish and shrimp over there. Dongguo meat will likely be liked by the children. The spicy meat is too much for the children, so just a little..." Grandma Su muttered her plans for what to send to the orphanage as she worked.
Hearing Grandma Su talk about sending so much meat to the orphanage, Qi Xiaofang gasped.
The Su family was truly too generous.
If it were her, she certainly wouldn't be willing to give away so much.
Many hands made light work. Even with so much meat, a day of hard work brought a sense of accomplishment.
All the meat that could be processed had been.
"When we were young, we used to make cured meat. We'd slaughter a pig for the New Year. Besides what we ate during the festival, the rest was pickled in a large vat and could last until June or July of the next year," Grandma Su said with great nostalgia.
"Mother, if you miss that taste, we can buy some more meat and pickle it."
Su Laosan couldn't help but suggest this as he listened to his mother's reminiscing.
This suggestion, however, earned him a glare from Grandma Su.
"Look how foolish you are. Back then, it was because we had no way to preserve it. Now, if you want fresh meat, you can buy it fresh. At the very least, we have refrigerators for storage, don't we?"
Cured meat was tasty, but it was never as good as fresh.
It could only be used in stir-fries; for dumplings and the like, the flavor wasn't as good as fresh.
Su Laosan sheepishly touched his nose and dared not speak again.
He was used to it; no matter what he did, his mother thought it wasn't done well, unlike his siblings, whose actions were always praised by their mother.
Liang Xiu couldn't help but smile, looking at her husband.
Why couldn't he learn from their daughter? See how well their daughter understood the old lady's temperament? No matter what she said, the old lady thought it was good.
After finishing these tasks, it was time to prepare dinner.
Grandma Su said, "I remember your second father and second mother were on the evening train. Your aunt and her family also seemed to be on the evening train. I'm just not sure if they'll make it in time for dinner."
"Grandma, we should start preparing. We can't wait for them to arrive before cooking," Su Sangong suggested.
Grandma Su nodded, "You're right. We'll have rice for dinner tonight. Make plenty. If they arrive late at night, we can just make fried rice."
"Grandma, I feel so greasy, I don't want to eat anymore."
Perhaps from being surrounded by the smell of meat all day, Su Xiaotian no longer felt like eating.
Although the meat was good, after a whole day, it was enough.
"My dear, that won't do. How about Grandma makes you a couple of cold dishes to help with the greasiness?" Grandma Su quickly said.
Su Xiaotian thought about how Grandma Su had already been busy for most of the day and couldn't bear to let her continue working hard because of her.
"Grandma, I'm fine. I'll just eat a little something later."
"How can that be? No matter when, eating is important," Grandma Su insisted on making some refreshing cold dishes for Su Xiaotian.
Liang Xiu smiled and said, "Mother, it's not necessary. Wait a moment, let her eat a couple of fruits first, and she'll be fine for the meal."
This little girl, spoiled by everyone in the family, was becoming more and more pampered.
However, Liang Xiu didn't dare to say this in front of Grandma Su, so she could only secretly give Su Xiaotian a meaningful look.
Su Xiaotian smiled and hugged Grandma Su's arm, "Grandma, my mom is right. I'll find some fruits and eat them with Xiaobei and the others in my room."
Grandma Su readily agreed and urged the girls to go back to their room to eat fruits.
Qi Xiaofang and Qian Xiaobei felt a bit embarrassed and insisted on helping with the cooking.
"There's not much to do. The meat is all ready. You girls go play."
Grandma Su felt for her granddaughter and also for the other girls.
Just as everyone was politely refusing, Su Manxiu's family and Su Ciliang and the others returned.
Grandma Su forgot about letting the girls rest and busied herself inviting her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren inside to rest before dinner.
"You didn't tell us the specific train times earlier, otherwise, we could have picked you up."
Su Manxiu placed the large bags and packages on the kang and said, "Mother, with so many of us, we can find our way. Why would we need picking up?"
Grandma Su ignored Su Manxiu and hugged her little grandson, kissing him affectionately.
The little fellow was robust and very cute, truly endearing.
However, no matter how much everyone liked the little one, he only stayed by Su Xiaotian's side.
Wherever Su Xiaotian went, he followed like a little shadow.
With her daughter arriving, Grandma Su chatted with her, while Liang Xiu busied herself in the kitchen preparing the meal.
Qi Xiaofang and the other girls watched, feeling it was impolite to let Liang Xiu prepare dinner for so many people alone, so they also proactively went to help.
Seeing several young girls in the house, Su Manxiu thought they were the future wives of the family's nephews.
Who knew that when she asked, she found out they were Su Xiaotian's classmates.
"Mother, I think these girls are all quite good. If they could get to know Ciliang and the others, it wouldn't be bad."
Su Manxiu had a good first impression of the girls and secretly told Grandma Su.
The nephews in the family were no longer young, especially Sangong and Ciliang, who had graduated over a year ago and should be getting married.
Grandma Su said, "It's best not to interfere with the affairs of our children and grandchildren. Things are not like they used to be."
Su Manxiu smiled and said, "Mother, your judgment is quite good. Look at the three daughters-in-law."
Grandma Su looked at her daughter after hearing her words.
Her judgment of her daughters-in-law was good, but her judgment of her sons-in-law was truly not great.
Fortunately, Manxiu had made a good life for herself now.
It was just a pity about Manxiang...
Grandma Su didn't want to dwell on these sad thoughts. Some things were in the past, and they were in the past.
No matter how sad she felt, Manxiang would not come back to life.