Han Qingsong also took time to accompany Lin Lan and bring the children back to the Lin family village.
The eldest sister-in-law of the Lin family, Wang Lianying, did not return to her home and stayed behind to help Old Lady Lin entertain her daughters and sons-in-law. Lin Lan’s second sister-in-law, Tang Hehua, did not want to help entertain the guests and found it annoying, so she took her children back to her maternal family for some peace and quiet.
Soon, the sisters of the Lin family came over with their men and children.
They have to go to work on weekdays, so unless there were special circumstances, the sons-in-law rarely had the opportunity to visit. There was no need to work during the New Year. Out of etiquette, no matter how the son-in-laws usually behaved, they would always show up on this day.
This was also considered one of the basic forms of etiquette among relatives.
Because Han Qingsong was present this year, his brothers-in-law came as well and not a single child from each family was left behind.
Eldest Sister-in-law Lin purposely went back to her parents’ house yesterday. She knew that Han Qingsong was coming today, so there was no way that she was going to miss the opportunity.
Although it was troublesome to entertain guests, the process of doing so was also considered a point of improving relationships. After a few more visits, everyone’s true feelings would show.
Lin Lan also prepared gifts for the children. There wasn’t a need to make them extra special as a few cents per person and a few pieces of candy were enough to make them happy.
Dawang now had a good relationship with his elder cousin Laixi. When they met, he was invited to go fishing in the reservoir. In winter, the Brigade would create holes in the ice to catch fish, which was also very interesting.
Eldest Sister-in-law Lin gave her son some money and asked him to take his siblings to buy some big fish. Lin Lan and her other sisters would bring one back each.
When the boys came back during dinner, the room that was full of men and women was still full of chatter.
The men talked about work, points, harvest and asked Han Qingsong about the cases that they were handling.
The women just talked about their mothers-in-law, men and children. Their conversations practically revolved around those messy topics.
Eldest Sister Lin and Second Sister Lin’s families were ordinary people and there wasn’t anything too special that happened all the time.
Lin Mei’s family was a little different. In modern terms, her man was a pretty mama’s boy who ate soft rice(1).
(T/N: A term used to describe a man, usually someone who was handsome, that relies on his wife/girlfriend to get by either financially or literally)
In the past, Lin Lan’s sense of superiority came from the fact that she was prettier than her Third Sister and that her man was more capable than her Third Brother-in-law.
When the Zheng mother-in-law married her son to Lin Mei, it was because she was capable and fierce. She had the ability to run the family and make a living.
Zheng Yaozu was handsome and fair. Not to mention he was also tall and thin but also gentle and elegant. As an added bonus, he too had several years of education. It’s a pity that his academic performance was merely average, so he was pretty much deemed a useless scholar and couldn’t handle heavy workloads either. Besides enjoying writing unfashionable poems and songs that talk about romantic affairs, he didn’t really do much at home. It would become a problem once his parents pass away since he couldn’t live by himself.