"What do you mean by that?"
"Didn't you see Lao Le and that girl constantly greeting people? Apparently, that's someone's 'son-in-law.' I asked my son; two girls together, having a baby is possible, even if it's IVF… but it still requires a man's...things, right? I reckon they paid for high-quality stuff, otherwise, why is the baby so beautiful?"
"This works?"
"What can't you do with money?"
...
The whispers and comments about the child, some loud and some soft, all reached Shen Wuqiu's ears. Although some of the comments were unpleasant, Shen Wuqiu didn't take them too seriously. After all, everyone talks about others behind their backs, and everyone is talked about behind their backs.
It's harmless and there's no need to fuss over it.
By noon, almost all the relatives and neighbors had arrived, and the hall and courtyard were packed with people, creating a lively atmosphere.
Shen Wuqiu didn't have time to greet everyone individually, so she left the task of attending to the guests to her father, Shen Wujun, and Gu Lingyu.
The banquet began at 12:28.
Before the meal began, someone in the crowd started a commotion, urging Mr. Chen to say a few words.
Mr. Shen declined several times, but in the end he took the microphone and stood on the steps in the corridor.
Some mischievous young people in the village said that Shen's father wasn't standing high enough, so some carried bricks and others carried stools. In the end, they managed to build a temporary stage for Shen's father so that he could perform.
Suddenly standing out from the crowd, Mr. Shen felt quite uncomfortable. Holding the microphone, he stood awkwardly on the chair, and after a long while, he managed to say with difficulty:
"First of all, thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend my granddaughters' one-month celebration..."
A note from the author:
Yesterday, I listened to my divorced friend's grievances, which made me angry and frustrated with her lack of ambition. It left me feeling very resentful.
So, sisters, don't listen to married women complaining anymore.
I don't think we can understand it at all.
Chapter 102
Unprepared, Mr. Shen thought he had nothing to say, but once he started, a flood of emotions welled up inside him.
"...At this time last year, I was lying in the hospital. The doctor said the surgery was successful, but I didn't feel well. At that time, I thought I had no other desires. As long as I could live to be a grandfather, I would be content..."
As he expressed his genuine feelings, the originally noisy crowd gradually quieted down.
"When my family wasn't well-off, I thought that giving my children enough material things was a way of showing them love. But after experiencing the aftermath of my own death, I realized that money and material possessions... aren't actually as important as we thought."
Then I realized I wasn't a good father, but Qiuqiu was a good daughter. Her return rekindled my life, which was like ashes, and that's why I can now gather with everyone here..."
Mr. Shen spoke very slowly. He wasn't a very good at expressing himself, and his words didn't fully express his true feelings. So, everyone present thought it sounded bland, but he was overwhelmed with emotions.
As he spoke, his eyes welled up with tears, but fearing he might lose his composure in front of everyone, he paused for a moment to compose himself before continuing:
"To be honest, I'm especially happy and proud today. It's not just because I have a wonderful daughter, but also because my wonderful daughter gave me four chubby and healthy granddaughters. I bet you can't find any children in the entire Jingrong Town who are more adorable, well-behaved, and sensible than my four granddaughters."
Upon hearing this, some close friends in the quiet crowd began to tease, "I think we're not here today for your granddaughter's one-month celebration, but to hear you brag. What do you all think?"
"I think so too..."
Listening to everyone's teasing, Mr. Shen laughed so hard that fine lines appeared at the corners of his eyes. "As the saying goes, when people have a happy occasion, they are in high spirits and want to show off their good fortune."
As he spoke, he beckoned to a cat in the audience, "Lingyu, come here."
Gu Lingyu didn't understand his meaning, but she still obediently walked to his side.
Mr. Shen held the microphone close to her, "Come on, say something for everyone to hear?"
Gu Hanhan was baffled, but luckily a flash of inspiration struck him, and he suddenly displayed his emotional intelligence for a moment, saying, "Dad."
"Yes," Mr. Shen responded in a generous and loud voice, then picked up the microphone and spoke again: "I haven't had a chance to properly introduce him to everyone before, so today I'll take this opportunity to show off my wonderful 'son-in-law' to you all."
Neighbors all live in the same village, and given their family's prosperity, there were bound to be people in the village keeping an eye on them, and they had all heard some rumors.
In their view, Mr. Shen should have tried his best to keep this matter to himself, so his public and explicit talk about it was quite unexpected.
Mr. Shen knew what the villagers were thinking. To be honest, if his daughter could choose again, he wouldn't have agreed so easily, let alone supported her. But now that the deed was done, and their children were already born, and not just one. Besides, this "son-in-law" wasn't an ordinary person. Even if he really didn't want to support her, he was powerless to do so.
Rather than hiding it and letting the villagers gossip behind his back, he figured it was better to put it out in the open and be frank. After all, Qiuqiu still had to carry on his business and live in the village until he died. It was a bit unfair for that cat to follow Qiuqiu around without knowing why.
Having figured this out, Mr. Shen spoke frankly: "I know everyone is a bit puzzled about my 'son-in-law,' wondering why he's a girl. To be honest, when I first saw this 'son-in-law' Qiuqiu brought me home, I was also quite surprised. How could a perfectly normal man have a female body? It turns out Qiuqiu told me that her partner is a girl..."
His humorous tone amused the audience, instantly turning the previously somber atmosphere into a cheerful one.
Shen Wuqiu, who was feeding Da Mao and Er Mao milk in the room, also smiled, but as she smiled, she couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat.
The old father has never been a witty or humorous person, but now, for their sake, he is going to great lengths to persuade everyone to accept things that even he himself finds hard to accept.
As if sensing her mother's change in mood, the little boy drinking milk in her arms spat out his cherry, tilted his head back, looked at her with his big, watery eyes, and waved his little hands, making a "ee-ya...oh..." sound.
Shen Wuqiu snapped out of her daze, took her flailing little hands in hers, and gently stroked them against her face with affection: "Baby, are you full?"
"Mmm..." Big Hair made some noises and then took the little cherry back into its mouth.
Perhaps it's a mother's heart that connects with her daughter, but Shen Wuqiu seemed to understand what her daughter meant, and couldn't help but lower her head and kiss her little hand. "Baby, don't worry, Mommy isn't unhappy. Mommy just feels so lucky, everyone around me loves me so much..."
In the courtyard, Mr. Shen didn't care about everyone's teasing and continued, "At first, even I, a narrow-minded old-fashioned person, found it hard to accept. I thought that since ancient times, people have always believed in the balance of yin and yang. What would it be like for two girls to live together?"
But my daughter had finally come home, and I couldn't bear to kick her out. So, I thought again, what do girls look for in a partner? Isn't it just to find someone to take care of them, someone to rely on when they're old? It doesn't seem like it necessarily has to be about the gender. What do you all think?
There was a two-second silence in the audience. Stephen Chow, who was taking pictures with his phone, looked around, put down his phone, and clapped: "That's right, Uncle is right."
Then, one after another, applauded in agreement from the crowd.
Whether everyone's feelings are genuine or not, Father Shen doesn't really care. He's just seeking superficial harmony so that, at least in the future, when people gossip behind each other's backs, no uninformed person will be misled by exaggerated rumors.
After the appetizers were served, Mr. Shen pulled Gu Lingyu to stand before him. "Now, let me formally introduce my 'son-in-law' to everyone. His surname is Gu, and his name is Lingyu. My four granddaughters, two take his surname, and two take the Shen family name. From Da Mao to Simao, their names are Shen Ji, Gu Xiang, Gu Ru, and Shen Yi. I hope these children will have a blessed and peaceful life."
After saying that, Mr. Shen handed the microphone to Gu Lingyu, "Lingyu, would you like to say a few words to everyone?"
It was rare for Gu Hanhan to feel embarrassed. Holding the microphone, he didn't know what to say for a moment. He pretended to cough to clear his throat before speaking: "Please rest assured, dear friends and family, I will definitely treat Qiuqiu well for the rest of my life..."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at her blank expression. Someone in the crowd shouted, "So, does this mean you're marrying Wuqiu? Or is it that you've married into the Shen family?"
These words immediately caused an uproar in the crowd:
"That's right. When Lao Le divided the family property, Wu Qiu confidently declared that as long as she kept the land in our village, she would only look for a husband who would marry into her family."
"They're all girls, it doesn't matter who marries whom. If Wuqiu is going to marry, then there's no need for him to become her son-in-law."
"..."
Gu Lingyu did recall this matter somewhat. Hearing the discussions below, she said directly, "Marriage is the same, anyway, I'm her cat...person, it's fine if I marry into her family, you can calculate it however you want, anyway, wherever Qiuqiu is, I'll be there. How do you put it again?"
Stephen Chow quickly added, "A woman follows her husband's lead."
Gu Lingyu: "Yes, that's it, a woman follows her husband's lead."
Everyone said, "Well, it's not up to you to decide. The elders of the Gu family have to come and give us their opinion today."
Looking at the bustling crowd, Mr. Shen also had a bit of a "watch the show" mentality. He smiled and looked at the Gu family sitting below the stage. Compared to his family, the number of relatives and friends from the Gu family today was not that many, only two large tables. Besides Gu Lingyu's brothers and sisters-in-law, he heard that there were also a few elders from their clan.
“In-laws, everyone has asked your elders to give their opinion.”
Gu Junshan stood up, nodded to everyone, and said, "Thank you all for your kindness in coming to the children's wedding banquet today. As for Ayu and Wuqiu, whether they marry or have their sons marry into the family is entirely up to Ayu herself."
After all, the daughter is the clan leader and the mountain god, and they have no right to interfere with her decisions.
Everyone said, "We've all witnessed it today, so your daughter from the Gu family is now part of the Shen family."
Gu Junshan raised the paper cup in front of him, "Then I'll have to trouble everyone to take care of me from now on."
Perhaps it was his innate divine aura, but everyone present gave him a lot of face and raised their glasses.
A scene of harmony.
Mr. Shen breathed a sigh of relief, then spoke a few more words into the microphone, and his speech came to an end, officially beginning the banquet.
According to village custom, at a full moon celebration like this, the parents are expected to go from table to table to offer toasts.
After calming the child down, Shen Wuqiu handed the child over to Su Yunzhi to take care of, and then took Gu Lingyu to toast each table.
Just as the banquet was in full swing, a woman arrived with several stylishly dressed young men and women. Seeing Shen Wuqiu, she called out from afar, "Wuqiu, you have classmates here..."
Shen Wuqiu looked in the direction of the voice and was taken aback when she saw who it was. But she quickly recovered and greeted them with a smile: "Class monitor, what brings you here?"
"What? You're not welcome?" Before the man in front could speak, the woman with exquisite makeup behind him spoke first.
His raised eyebrows and half-smile didn't look friendly, and his tone was also barbed.
"Welcome, welcome," Shen Wuqiu said with a smile.
The man standing in front wasn't very tall, and while he wasn't particularly handsome, he had a refined and scholarly air about him. He was none other than Chen Haoyu, the class monitor of Shen Wuqiu's university.
“Zeng Min has always been like this, so don’t take it to heart,” Chen Haoyu said, trying to smooth things over. “She got married and had a child without saying a word. If Zhou Xingxing hadn’t mentioned it in the group chat, we wouldn’t have known at all.”
Shen Wuqiu: "It's nothing serious."
Zeng Min: "If getting married and having children isn't a big deal, then what is? I think you just don't welcome us."
Gu Lingyu, who had come up to greet his wife, couldn't help but smile veiled sarcasm and said, "We welcome those who come to offer their sincere blessings."
Shen Wuqiu knew her cat's temperament well, so she quickly led everyone to a prepared table, "I didn't know you were coming, so I didn't wait for you..."
Chen Haoyu: "No need, we were the ones who were being presumptuous."
"It's not abrupt at all, you're all so kind." Shen Wuqiu invited them to sit down and asked, "Would you like something to drink first? Besides the beverages on the table, we also have some sweet wine that we brewed ourselves. It's not too strong."
"No need to be so polite." Chen Haoyu looked around. "Let's register our gift money first. Everyone knows that we came in person, and many people asked us to bring their gifts."
Shen Wuqiu didn't care about their gifts, but it was a favor they owed, and it would be bad to refuse, so she didn't delay and directly called Shen Wujun over.
After Shen Wujun received the gifts and registered them, Chen Haoyu and the others finally sat down to eat the banquet. Shen Wuqiu also called Zhou Xingxing over.
Chen Haoyu, being an experienced person, could tell from the sight of the banquet tables filling the entire courtyard that she had many guests. He didn't keep her talking for long, but after exchanging a few pleasantries, he urged her to go and greet the other guests.
Shen Wuqiu didn't stand on ceremony, but as he was leaving, he seemed to remember something and said, "Oh right, I forgot to introduce you. This is my wife, Gu Lingyu."
"???" Clearly, the four people who arrived were completely unaware of the situation, each with a petrified expression. Finally, Zeng Min spoke up: "No wonder you didn't like anyone who pursued you back then, so you're gay?"
Shen Wuqiu frowned almost imperceptibly, then nodded: "Okay, you guys eat first, we'll talk later."
After greeting Chen Haoyu and the others, he led Gu Lingyu to continue offering toasts.
As soon as the two of them left, Zeng Min turned to Zhou Xingxing and said, "Back in college, you were always following her around. You didn't happen to like her, did you?"