Indeed, as soon as the Liu brothers called out "Father and Mother," they introduced everyone to each other.
Father Liu took Wang Laozhu’s hand and started calling him "Old Brother," holding hands as they first entered the courtyard.
Mother Liu, also smiling, first greeted Old Granny Zhang as "Old Sister," and began to endlessly praise Wang Yongzhu, "Old Sister, this is your daughter, isn’t she? She’s so pretty! She looks just like a fairy from the New Year paintings. Old Sister, you are truly blessed..."
What did Old Granny Zhang love to hear most? Praise for her daughter!
Upon hearing this, she felt Mother Liu was a kindred spirit, and her smile bloomed like a chrysanthemum, "My dear Sister, I do love hearing that. Having my daughter is indeed the greatest blessing of my life..."
The two women inflated each other’s spirits, and the conversation became very lively for a while!
Once everyone was seated inside the house, the hosts and guests in their respective places, and tea was poured, after exchanging pleasantries, Wang Laozhu brought up his purpose for coming.
Father Liu had heard his son and daughter mention it last time, but since there were so few families willing to do this nowadays, he didn’t take it too seriously.
Seeing the Wang Family come in person so sincerely today, with the gifts they brought clearly selected according to the highest standards of peasant families, he was very pleased.
As hunters from Chongzi Gou for generations, they had little dealings with outsiders and tended to be wary of them.
Especially those traders who came to buy mountain goods, who, knowing the mountain people rarely left their village, would press for low prices and often shortchange them.
This made everyone reluctant to interact with people from outside the village, but now it seemed there were good families who understood proper conduct even beyond their mountains.
Therefore, he did not refuse, "Since Old Brother holds our Liu Family in such high regard, we shall become family!"
Upon these words, Wang Yongping immediately knelt down to serve tea to the Parents of the Liu Family.
He called out, "Godfather, Godmother, please have some tea!"
The Parents of the Liu Family accepted the tea and drank it, and Father Liu took a wolf tooth, strung on a thread around his neck, and put it on Wang Yongping himself.
"This is from the first wolf I hunted when I was young. It’s a good omen for us mountain hunters to wear this. I gave one to each of my children, and now that you recognize me as your godfather, I give this to you!"
Seeing how the wolf tooth had been polished to a shine and was clearly an old item, Wang Yongping knew that Father Liu truly considered him a son, with no second thoughts.
Moved, he knelt down properly and gave the Parents of the Liu Family several respectful kowtows, "Godfather and Godmother, rest assured, from now on I am your son too. Just command me as you would your own sons with any matter!"
The kowtows were earnest, even stirring up the dust from the ground!
The Liu brothers hurriedly helped Wang Yongping up, very satisfied with this honest and straightforward new godbrother.
The rites among the villagers were simple, and with that, the godparent relationship was formed.
Still, it was Wang Yongzhu who looked around the room and asked Mother Liu, "Auntie, how come I haven’t seen Sister Xiao Qiao?"
Mother Liu smiled, "In our mountain home, we don’t pamper our girls as much as you do in the outside world, she can’t sit still for a moment. If she doesn’t go up the mountain for a day, she gets restless as if she has lice. She went up the mountain early in the morning and should be back soon by the look of the sun."
As they were speaking, a tall girl walked into the courtyard, dressed in long clothes and trousers, very trim. Her hair was tied into a neat braid, a hunting bow on her back, and she was carrying several pheasants, with three or four hunting dogs following at her side, exuding a spirit of heroism!
If it wasn’t Liu Xiaoqiao, who else could it be?
As soon as Liu Xiaoqiao entered the courtyard, she sensed something was amiss, and upon lifting her eyes, she caught sight of a big oaf, being hugged by her two brothers, laughing like a simpleton.
As soon as he saw her, he blurted out, "Sister Xiao Qiao—"