The Peach Blossoms White by the Village Edge

Chapter 85: New Year's Greetings

Qu Qingjiang had thought that this New Year would be very quiet for the Qu family, but to her surprise, just after lunch, visitors began arriving with New Year's gifts.

The first to arrive with gifts was the son of the village head. Next came Qu Zhen, followed by Qu Zhen's younger brother, neighboring families, prominent local families, and then Lü Jijian, Yin Xiaoniang, and others, all sending gifts one after another.

The once quiet front gate of the Qu family suddenly became bustling with activity, which took Qu Qingjiang by surprise. She hadn't expected so many people to come for New Year's greetings. Since she hadn't prepared any gifts herself, she used the preserved meats and the candies and dried noodles Zhao Changxia had brought back as return gifts for the visitors.

These candies and dried noodles were rewards Zhao Changxia had received from completing a holiday event in the system. Neither she nor Qu Qingjiang were fond of sweets, so aside from using them in cooking, the candies were mostly intended for giving away. As for the dried noodles, they preferred rice and thus consumed them infrequently.

However, these items were enough to convey their heartfelt wishes as gifts.

Given that the Qu family was still in mourning, the visitors had brought appropriate gifts, such as dried fish, eggs, pastries, and tea, instead of cured meats.

As the sun began to set, Qu Qingjiang sent off the last guest. Lady Li finished sorting out the gifts received for the day and said, "The village head sent a basket of dried silver fish, Lü Sanjun sent eight cakes of tea, and your fourth uncle's family sent milk cakes from Changfangzhai..."

"What about the return gifts we gave?" Qu Qingjiang asked.

"Ten pounds of candied sugar, twelve bundles of dried noodles, eight pounds of polished rice, and seven pounds of preserved meats..." Lady Li replied.

After confirming that they had given equal value return gifts to each guest, Qu Qingjiang finally relaxed. "I thought no one would come for New Year's greetings and hadn't prepared any gifts. Thankfully, we still had something suitable at home; otherwise, it would have been quite embarrassing."

Just then, the big yellow dog at the door barked a few times. Qu Qingjiang went to open the door and saw two unfamiliar faces.

"Are you Le Niang?" the middle-aged man in front asked.

His gaze lingered only briefly on Qu Qingjiang's face, while the young man behind him looked rather unabashedly.

Qu Qingjiang frowned. "And you are?"

"I'm your second uncle, and this is your cousin Ah Qian."

Qu Qingjiang: "..."

She only had one uncle, Yue Yanfang. Where did this second uncle come from?

Then she remembered that the Yue family had collateral branches. According to the family order, the elder brother of the embroidery woman who had been specially trained by her maternal grandfather and had entered the Embroidery Academy was likely her second uncle...

Though she vaguely recalled this relative, she couldn't remember his exact name.

Yue Yanjie also knew that the families had had little contact over the years, so it was not surprising that Qu Qingjiang didn't recognize him. He introduced himself, "Although I am not from the same parents as your mother, our fathers were real brothers. In the clan, I am the second uncle."

Qu Qingjiang didn't doubt his identity and smiled slightly. "Second uncle, this is..."

"Naturally, we're here for New Year's greetings," Yue Yanjie's son Yue Qian said.