Chapter 79: Li Ze's Wedding 2.0

After handing the cotton to San Jie and the others, Zhang Ping'an went to the general store to buy a few items commonly used for weddings, placed them all in the studio, and planned to take them back together when the time came.

Wang Lao's translation work had also finished half a month ago; Zhang Ping'an gained a great deal by comparing the vernacular version with the classical Chinese text, and he managed to fully digest the contents of the ten books in one week.

The reason he could do it so quickly was mainly because Zhang Ping'an had flipped through them so many times before that he could almost recite the classical Chinese version by heart.

It was also through the comparison of these ten classical books that Zhang Ping'an could understand most of the remaining Yin-Yang Medical Arts Chapter, though he still had to wait for his master to finish translating the rest to compare it with his own understanding, which would deepen his impression.

Two days flashed by, and the quilts and cotton-padded jackets were finished; Zhang Ping'an packed them directly into the vehicle, and with only three days left until Li Ze's wedding, sending them over early would allow them to prepare sooner.

"San Jie, Si Jie, I'll send these things back first, and I'll come back to pick you up in two days."

"Alright."

In an hour and a half, Zhang Ping'an arrived at Fang Family Village.

"Brother Fang, these are the things you need in the cart, plus the remaining 710,000."

"Good, thank you, Ping'an, otherwise I would have had to make another trip. By the way, I shot two wolves the day before yesterday; are you buying them?"

"I am, I buy all meat."

"That works. I've already skinned the wolves and simply smoked the meat. I also have some old cured meat; I'll bring it all to you in a moment."

Because Fang Dahu had been lying in bed for over a year, his family's savings had been almost entirely spent on his medical treatment, and most of his cured meat had been sold off cheaply, so he was now in urgent need of padding his pockets.

"Deal."

Not expecting such an unexpected windfall, Zhang Ping'an decided to take all the cured meat and then hand in a little bit each time.

Fang Dahu went into the house and brought out two wolves, three pig hind legs, two deer legs, and quite a few wild pheasants and rabbits.

"Brother Fang, you really have quite a lot of stock."

"Hahaha, if I hadn't been lying down for over a year, there would be even more. You decide the price for these."

Fang Dahu trusted that Zhang Ping'an would not cheat him, so he felt at ease handing these over to him.

"Deal. However, I don't have a scale right now, and I only have 130,000 on me. How about this, Brother Fang: you trust me, so I'll take the goods first, give you this 130,000 now, and I'll make up the difference the next time I come."

"Deal, I naturally trust you, Brother Ping'an."

Thus, Zhang Ping'an set off again with a cart full of goods, and on the way back, he had already put all the cured meat into the space.

Three days flashed by; Zhang Ping'an and Lao Jia set off early, riding a tricycle and taking their family to the eldest sister's house. This was the wedding vehicle, and there was even a brand-new Bicycle in the back.

"Eldest Sister, Brother-in-law, when Dongxu got married, I bought him a watch, but I think a Bicycle is more practical in the countryside, so I took the liberty of buying one for Xiao Ze."

"This, Ping'an, you should return the bike; it's too expensive," said Brother-in-law Li Huaijin.

"Cuihua, Huaijin, since it's from Ping'an, you should just accept it. Ping'an caused you no shortage of trouble when he was little; he has the ability now, he's an elder, and besides, it's already bought."

"This, you brat, why don't you thank your uncle?" Zhang Cuihua said to Li Ze with a smile and a scolding.

"Hehe, thank you, Uncle." Li Ze stepped forward and touched the Bicycle, unable to put it down.

Both of Li Huaijin's brothers looked at Li Huaijin with envy, sighing one after another about why they didn't have such a generous brother-in-law.

At 8:30, the Li family rode one Bicycle and two tricycles; the super-luxurious configuration drew frequent side-glances from passersby. Fang Dahu felt proud in his heart looking at this lineup; his son-in-law was outstanding, and as the father-in-law, he had even more face.

"Father, I've come to marry Xiaoyu."

"Mm, come in."

At this moment, Fang Xiaoyu was sitting on the bed, nervously clutching the corner of her clothes; she became even more nervous after hearing the sound of firecrackers outside.

"Xiaoyu, I'm here."

"Brother Ze."

"Mm, let's go out; everyone is waiting outside."

"Alright."

After everyone finished eating the sugar-water eggs, they set off to return. Once the lively crowd dispersed, Fang Dahu felt empty inside, and Fang Xiaojun felt the same.

"Father, why don't you find me a stepmother and give birth to two more younger brothers? The house could be livelier," said Fang Xiaojun, acting like a little adult.

Although Fang Xiaojun was only twelve, after more than a year of experiencing the warmth and coldness of human relationships, he had become much more sensible and deeply understood the importance of having brothers in the family. If his father hadn't survived and his sister hadn't persisted, they would likely have been sent to the Welfare Institute.

If he had two older brothers, guarding this home would certainly be no problem. Of course, his father was better now, but with his sister married off, the house was cold and quiet, which was why he suggested his father marry a stepmother, and he was willing to be the brother who guarded the home.

"You silly child, let's talk about this later."

"Father, I'm serious."

"Alright, alright, alright, I will if there's a chance." Fang Dahu didn't take Fang Xiaojun's words to heart, treating them only as the naive words of a child.

Li Huaijin's side had already started busily preparing the dishes. Unlike in the city, the atmosphere here was full of life; friends, relatives, and neighbors—almost everyone from the village would send one person from their family to come and help.

With the sound of firecrackers coming from the village entrance in the distance, everyone knew the bride had arrived. Zhang Ping'an scattered candy on both sides of the crowd at the brother-in-law's house, and Li Ze successfully passed through the crowd with the bride.

Fortunately, most people were just there to watch the excitement, and there were no bad customs of hazing the bridal chamber yet, otherwise Li Ze would have had a hard time that night.

As the bride's side, Zhang Ping'an did not participate in the welcoming and sending off; he had already stolen the show by gifting a Bicycle. After eating in the afternoon, the family said goodbye to the eldest sister and the others and returned.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was mid-July of '52. Zhang Ping'an had graduated from the second year of junior high, and of course, Damao had graduated from elementary school.

After being nourished by three bottles of wine, Xu Damao had become much sturdier and was now a bully in elementary school. Of course, his grades were also respectable, but he didn't plan to continue to junior high, choosing instead to learn projection from his father.

Xu Fugui used to be the driver for Lou Bancheng, and his wife was Lou Xiaoe's wet nurse. It wasn't difficult to arrange for Damao to be a projection Apprentice Worker at the Rolling Mill, so fifteen-year-old Xu Damao embarked on the journey of learning a craft from his father.

Zhang Ping'an's mother gave birth to another boy, named Zhang Xile. For the sake of his mother and younger brother, he went home almost every few days just to provide the freshest Space Ingredients.

Dong Dani also gave birth to her third child. Giving birth had a significant impact on her, especially now that she was over forty, so she needed to take extra care of her health.

Fortunately, she had the nourishment of Zhang Ping'an's Space Water over the past two years, otherwise, giving birth to a third child would have been difficult. It wasn't just Dong Dani's situation; most women in this era were like this.

In four months, Lao Wang had translated another forty books. Zhang Ping'an compared them and found they were about the same as his own understanding, with only minor discrepancies.

Lao Wang also benefited greatly from the translation, research, and study during this period, and his medical skills reached another level.

"Ping'an, the more I read these medical books, the more they seem like a summary by several masters, like, like a copy of the Ming Yongle Encyclopedia."

Although Wang Lao didn't know much about antiques, these books didn't look like products of the Ming Dynasty; the yellowed paper looked more like it was from the Republic of China era.

"Master, you are right. I have a similar feeling. This doesn't look like something one person could accomplish; it looks more like the crystallization of the hard work of the medical officials of an entire dynasty."