novelraw Chapter 282 A chapter of blatant lies!
Chapter 282 A chapter of blatant lies!
Chapter 282 Lying through your teeth!
Not only did Madam Yang find it outrageous, but in the main room, Clan Chief Gu was also stunned after hearing Gu Lianshan's words.
He scrutinized Ah Gou closely, growing increasingly alarmed. Then he looked at Gu Lianshan and asked hesitantly, "Was what you just said a fit of hysteria, or were you just making things up to amuse me?"
Gu Lianshan: "...Uncle, you know me. Am I an unreliable person?"
"You are!" Chief Gu said earnestly, "Over the years, I've cleaned up countless messes for you!"
Gu Lianshan felt guilty for a moment, but he quickly straightened up again.
"This time it's for real! Everything I just said is true!"
After saying that, he glanced at Ah Gou, signaling Ah Gou to speak.
Ah Gou nodded in agreement, indicating that what Gu Lianshan said was indeed true.
At the same time, his mind raced, recalling the pitiful words he had said to Gu Lianshan earlier. He repeated them word for word, leaving the clan leader Gu stunned.
You may not believe Gu Lianshan's words, but since the person in front of you is saying the same thing, it's probably true.
Clan Chief Gu looked at Gu Lianshan again, his mind now filled with only one thought: ever since that bastard left that place, it seemed like his luck had turned around.
Life is getting better and better, and now they have even recognized a kind-hearted and honest young nobleman as their nephew!
That's incredibly lucky!
To be honest, Chief Gu was a little envious.
"Uncle? Why aren't you saying anything?" Gu Lianshan asked, puzzled.
Chief Gu's heart skipped a beat. "What do you want me to say?"
"Of course, it's about choosing a date. You pick a good day! I'll set up a few tables and we can all have a good time together."
My nephew sent over several miniature sheep! Each one was incredibly plump! They tasted absolutely delicious! I'll chop one up and cook it so everyone can have a taste!
Short-legged sheep...
Chief Gu subconsciously swallowed. His family was quite well-off, but even so, they couldn't bear to buy dwarf sheep to eat.
The last time we ate dwarf lamb was last winter. This year, there have been many natural disasters, and our harvest has been much smaller, making life more difficult.
After winter arrived, let alone buying dwarf sheep, we only ate regular mutton once, saving the rest to entertain relatives during the Chinese New Year.
Upon hearing Gu Lianshan mention eating mutton, his craving immediately kicked in.
"Wait here, I'll go get the almanac."
Chief Gu got up and went to his study, took out a book that looked like a booklet, and flipped directly to the last page.
"Today is the third day of the twelfth lunar month. The most auspicious day recently is the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, which is suitable for visiting relatives and friends. I think we should go with the seventh day?"
“Alright! Then let’s set it for the seventh day of the month. I’ll go back and have the old man write the invitations, and we’ll start sending them out tomorrow.”
"Invitations?" Clan Chief Gu paused. "Alright, something more formal will make it seem more dignified."
Upon hearing this, Ah Gou immediately declared, "It doesn't matter whether it's a grand affair or not, as long as all the relatives come for a meal, that's fine!"
"That won't do! It has to be a grand affair! It's just that it's inconvenient on a snowy day. If it were a day without snow, we would at least hire an opera troupe to perform for a few days!"
They sent so many valuable gifts and gave him six hundred taels of silver. If he doesn't hold a grand banquet, those gifts will be too much for him to handle!
Chief Gu understood Gu Lianshan, and he immediately understood what was going on when he saw him like this.
This Gu Sanlang must have given quite a few gifts; that bastard is probably quite well-off now. Just listen to his tone of voice; it's clearly different from before!
The more the clan chief thought about it, the more upset he became, so he simply chased him away: "Go back and write the invitations. My eyelids start twitching every time I see you!"
“A twitching eyelid means wealth is coming! This is a good thing, I’m doing this to bring you good fortune!” Gu Lianshan was extremely shameless.
Chief Gu's face immediately darkened: "Get out! Get out! If you're going to bring me good fortune, then something else is really going to happen!"
Gu Lianshan smiled and teased him a couple more times until he annoyed the man, then he took Ah Gou out of the house.
Yang, who was talking to her daughter-in-law in the east wing, came out to take a look when she heard the commotion. She saw that Gu Lianshan was about to leave with that young nobleman, so she smiled and went over to see them off to the courtyard gate.
"The date has been set?"
"It's all set! It'll be on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month. You'll bring your whole family over then. I've prepared a whole dwarf sheep! And I've bought several jars of fine wine! Please do me the honor of having a few cups!"
Madam Yang laughed: "Don't worry, I'll definitely go! Just for the mutton and the fine wine, I have to go and have a good meal!"
These words made Gu Lianshan extremely happy.
When hosting a banquet, I'm not afraid of having friends and family eat there; I'm afraid of having no one come!
After talking with Madam Yang for a while at the gate of the courtyard, Gu Lianshan hummed a little tune and hurried home.
The snow was still falling. The uncle and nephew walked slowly, one after the other. Gu Lianshan took the opportunity to instruct Agou, "You can't hold your liquor. You're bound to get drunk at the banquet. If you don't want to get drunk, you'll have to be sweet-talking and know how to coax people!"
Ah Gou glanced at him, not quite believing his words.
Gu Lianshan added, "You should coax those people who come to toast you, preferably so much so that they lose their bearings, and they'll definitely stop trying to get you to drink!"
That's clearly unreliable.
Ah Gou would never believe that now.
He said, "On the day of the banquet, I will dress up in a luxurious style. Just this outfit will be enough to intimidate them, and no one will come to offer me a toast."
Gu Lianshan: ...He forgot that Gu Sanlang is a noble young master. With his rich and luxurious attire, all those troublemakers have to behave themselves!
Upon returning home, the uncle and nephew went straight to the main room and told their third uncle about the date chosen by the clan leader.
The old man had no objection to the date chosen by the clan chief: "The seventh day is good. After the seventh day comes the Laba Festival. This day is good! And today is the third day, so there is enough time and it is convenient to prepare."
"That's what I think too." Gu Lianshan also felt that the date was well chosen.
He said, "I was thinking that since it's a proper banquet, invitations are essential. But I'm not good at writing invitations, so I'll have to leave that to you."
Upon hearing the words "invitation," Uncle San sighed with emotion: "I've written countless invitations for people in the village, but I've never written one for my own family."
I thought my life would just stay like this forever, but I never imagined I'd actually be writing my own wedding invitations. I guess my life has been worthwhile.
"You're talking nonsense again," Gu Tang suddenly said. "Your good days are just beginning, why are you saying such discouraging things?"
Gu Tang was roasting tangerines on the stove. She was using long bamboo chopsticks to stir the tangerines around the stove. She was very dissatisfied with the old man's words and took a moment to look up and glare at him.
Third Uncle didn't argue with her, but just smiled and nodded repeatedly: "You've misunderstood. Tang girl is right. My good days are just beginning, and I shouldn't say such discouraging things."
Gu Lianshan breathed a sigh of relief: "That makes sense! You should think carefully about how many people we want to invite, who we should invite and who we shouldn't. Write down the families you want to invite."
I also need to think about it, and we need to consider who we should invite and who we shouldn't invite, and then we'll come up with a total amount.
"One invitation per family, we need to calculate carefully before writing them, not too many, not too few." "We do need to think about it..." Uncle San frowned, "In this cold weather, we don't even know if it will snow on the seventh day of the lunar month, it'll be difficult for relatives from afar to come."
Gu Lianshan had already thought this through: "We won't invite relatives from far away. We'll only invite relatives from our own village and those from neighboring villages. That's all we'll invite."
He paused for a moment, then looked at Ah Gou and asked, "Do you have any relatives you want to invite?"
relative?
Ah Gou shook his head: "I have no relatives here, I live alone."
"If that's the case, we won't be able to invite many people." Gu Lianshan roughly calculated in his mind, "Five tables will be enough!"
"Five tables isn't a small number," Ah Gou thought, "It's about right. Many relatives can't come, so being able to gather five tables isn't a small number!"
“Sanlang is right, we should write the invitations according to the number of people for five tables.”
The old man already had a list in his mind. He asked Gu Ping'an to get a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and soon wrote down many names.
He handed the paper filled with writing to Gu Lianshan, asking him to take a closer look and see if there were any names that needed to be added or removed.
The names written by his third uncle were all people he knew well. Gu Lianshan read them carefully and then added a few more names, finally managing to gather enough people for five tables.
Once the people to be invited were decided, the third uncle found some red paper and wrote out the invitations.
While the old man was writing the invitations, Gu Lianshan called his son and asked him to come with him to the west wing and east wing to see what dishes were available at home.
On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, a table must have at least twelve dishes; that's what makes it respectable and grand!
Gu Tang's roasted tangerines were ready. She peeled one, ate it, and put the rest on a plate. She then presented the plate to her third uncle and told him to eat some.
Uncle was busy, so he nodded absentmindedly, focusing on writing the invitations.
Seeing this, Gu Tang stopped bothering him and turned to walk outside.
As she passed Ah Gou, she subtly winked at him, signaling him to come out with her.
Gu Tang gestured for him to come out, originally wanting to ask him where the things he delivered today came from.
As they approached the corridor, they saw her father emerge from the west wing and beckon to Ah Gou, asking him to come over and help devise a menu for the seventh day of the month.
Ah Gou didn't move, but looked at Gu Tang, wanting to see what she thought.
Gu Tang: ...What could she possibly mean under her father's gaze?
He secretly waved to Ah Gou, signaling him to hurry over.
With Gu Tang's permission, Ah Gou smiled and headed towards the west wing.
Winter dishes are limited to a few options, and the meat dishes, besides chicken, duck, and fish, are mainly pork and lamb.
As for vegetarian dishes, there are even fewer. First, there are cabbage and radish, which are found in every household, and then there are various dried mushrooms.
Gu Lianshan and Agou racked their brains, cooking these dishes individually, stewing them separately, or mixing them together. By the afternoon, they had actually managed to put together twelve dishes.
To verify that these hastily put together dishes were edible, Ah Gou, along with Gu Lianshan and his son Gu Ping'an, went into the kitchen to cook and taste the dishes they had put together.
If the taste is acceptable, then it passes.
If the taste isn't good, then we'll have to come up with another dish.
Gu Tang followed behind and ate quite a lot, some of which were extremely delicious, while others had strange flavors.
She ate her fill of whatever she liked, then went over to Gu Ping'an and followed him out with the dog.
Now that the snow has stopped, let the puppies go outside to poop and pee.
We ate dinner early at home today, so it's still not dark outside.
Gu Tang, feeling comfortable in her warm clothes, suddenly decided to play in the snow and started drawing pictures on it with a stick.
Unfortunately, her drawing skills were not very good. She could only draw stick figures when drawing people, and her dogs were drawn as deformed creatures.
Seeing his second sister's painting skills, Gu Ping'an became proud and also took a stick to paint on the snow. With just a few strokes, he sketched the puppies' appearance and spirit, which was much better than Gu Tang's!
Ah Gou brought out a dish that was about to be served—fried mutton meatballs—and presented it to Gu Tang with a solicitous expression, asking her to try it and see if it suited her taste.
But now Gu Tang was competing with Gu Ping'an. She pointed to the two paintings on the snow and asked Agou to give his opinion.
Ah Gou paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Which one did you draw?"
Gu Tang glared: "Why ask so many questions?! Just give your comments, why are you asking so many questions?"
Understood!
Ah Gou understood perfectly, and without making a sound, he pointed to the distorted picture and began to praise it lavishly.
"This is wonderful! The artistic conception is extraordinary! The momentum is overwhelming! The meticulous brushwork is as graceful as a swimming dragon! It's truly a rare and excellent painting. It's such a pity that it's painted on snow instead of on paper!"
Gu Tang: ...
Gu Pingan: ...
What does it mean to flatter?
That's called flattery!
What does it mean to lie through one's teeth?
That's called lying through your teeth!
Gu Ping'an was amazed, clicking his tongue twice, and couldn't help but give Ah Gou a thumbs up: "Cousin, your eloquence is superb! And your vision is even more unique! I truly admire you!"
"Not at all, it all comes down to my cousin's amazing drawing skills!" Ah Gou said with admiration, as if it were the truth.
Then, he picked up a meatball with his chopsticks and fed it to Gu Tang's mouth: "It's not hot anymore, have one and try it, then we'll continue drawing!"
Gu Tang kept a blank face, took two steps back, and moved away from the meatball. She didn't want to talk to him at all right now.
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?" Ah Gou was a little uneasy. This reaction was wrong. Why did it look like he was angry?
"My second sister is full and probably can't eat anymore, so I'll try it!"
Gu Ping'an, being very easygoing, simply reached out and took the meatball from Ah Gou's chopsticks, then stuffed it into his mouth, nodding as he chewed.
"Delicious! This is great! I love it!"
Ah Gou stared at him expressionlessly.
This isn't for you!
Which one do you like?!
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't look at me! Turn around and look east, there's an oxcart coming!"
Gu Pingan pointed behind the two of them, signaling them to turn around and look.
Ah Gou's ears twitched; he could already hear the creaking of the wheels and the crunching of his feet on the snow.
Gu Tang looked back and saw that there was indeed an oxcart coming this way.
One person was leading an oxcart, which was loaded with goods and had another person sitting on it. Behind the oxcart were four other people whose faces were not clearly visible.
As the oxcart drew closer, Gu Tang recognized who the group of people were.
She whispered, "It's Uncle Shunzi and his family. The person sitting in the car should be the bride."