Chapter 37: Father Xie’s Shock

Grandpa Qi introduced the concept of bathrooms to Xie’s parents: one upstairs, and for the master bedroom downstairs—Xie’s parents’ room—an en suite, plus another bathroom outside. After reviewing the plans, Xie Yunfeng actually moved his room from upstairs to downstairs. As he explained, Xie Yuanfeng and Xie Yihuang were girls, and he didn’t feel comfortable sharing a bathroom with them; there should be a distinction between boys and girls, after all. Xie’s father agreed this made sense, so they swapped the furniture and beds between the two rooms. Xie Yuanfeng, taking the opportunity, moved into Xie Yunfeng’s old room upstairs, mainly because this way, both her room and Xie Yihuang’s faced the sun in the same direction.

Xie’s father didn’t mind; he was happy to let them rearrange things as they liked. Once the rooms were all sorted, Xie’s father began preparing to invite people to their housewarming banquet.

In the countryside, after weddings and funerals, the most important celebrations are birthday feasts for elders and housewarming banquets. These four types of events are held with great ceremony. Of course, there are also smaller celebrations, like a baby’s first-month banquet, but those are not as grand as a housewarming or an elder’s birthday.

Xie’s father calculated and said to Xie’s mother, “I’ve figured it out, we’ll need about eight tables for our housewarming banquet. I’m thinking we should prepare two extra, so it makes ten tables in total. What do you think?”

Xie’s mother agreed, “That’s fine. For the cook, shall we ask Old Seven?” Every family hosting a banquet would budget for one or two extra tables, just in case.

Old Seven was just a nickname; his surname was Guo, and he was the seventh child in his family, who had moved to Xiezhang Village from elsewhere. He worked as a chef and now ran his own small restaurant, which did good business. Whenever there was a banquet in the countryside, people usually invited him to handle the cooking.

Xie’s father nodded, “Tomorrow I’ll find Old Seven and have him prepare a menu. Then I’ll ask Jianjian to help buy the ingredients.”

At this time, rural banquets weren’t contracted out. Each family prepared their own tables, chairs, and ingredients; the chef mainly came to cook, which was considered a form of help.

“Alright. Then we’ll have Jianhua borrow the tables and chairs. The downstairs hall can fit three tables, the courtyard five, and the two extra tables can go in the upstairs hall. Does that work?” Xie’s mother discussed the arrangements with Xie’s father.

The space was indeed sufficient, so Xie’s father had no objections.

During this time, Xie Yihuang was still living with the Qi family, but two days before the housewarming banquet, she returned to Xiezhang Village, since as the host, she needed to stay at home for these days.

Even at home, she kept up her studies. Observing her reading and studying so diligently, Xie’s father was at first unaware, but then he inadvertently glanced at her books and was stunned, “Ah Yi, you’re learning so much! Did Grandpa have you study all this?”

Xie Yihuang looked at the book in his hand, “It’s nothing special, just what Grandpa taught me. Dad, don’t worry.” She never considered that she was learning things her own father couldn’t understand; in fact, she had already surpassed him in knowledge.

Xie’s father stared at her, “I can’t make sense of any of it, can you really understand?” After all, he had graduated junior high, but he couldn’t decipher her books.

“These are all in classical Chinese, it’s normal if you can’t read them. If you’re interested, I’ll find you a copy in modern Chinese tomorrow—you’ll understand that.” Xie Yihuang answered directly, thinking her father was just curious.

He waved her off, “No need, you just keep reading.” He wasn’t a student anymore, so there was no point. Still, his shock was beyond words.

Xie’s father felt somewhat deflated. When Xie’s mother came in and saw his distracted look, she asked casually, “What’s wrong, you look startled?”

“Wife, did you know? Today I discovered that I can’t understand any of the things our Ah Yi is studying. What on earth is my father-in-law teaching her? Such profound stuff for an eight-year-old—can she really understand it?” Xie’s father felt he had a chest full of words to pour out to his wife.

Xie’s mother glanced at him, “You’re overthinking it. I only finished elementary school, you junior high. My father’s abilities are enough to teach even a college student these days, so what’s there to worry about him teaching our daughter?” It had to be said, Xie’s mother had a big heart.

Xie’s father was also unconcerned and had full confidence in his father-in-law, “I’m not worried, but I do think our dad is a bit too amazing. Our daughter hasn’t been studying with him that long, and already she’s reading books I can’t understand. It means she’s surpassed me.”

Xie’s mother was curious too, but she was pleased her daughter was so capable, “We don’t know much about studying anyway. We agreed to let my father teach Ah Yi, so it’s not our place to interfere, as long as she’s healthy, law-abiding, and on the right path.”

In this, Xie’s mother had a sound approach—she knew her own limitations and always gave her child free rein. But with Grandfather Qi teaching Xie Yihuang, she knew just how capable her father was. That was why she had never objected to letting Xie Yihuang learn under him.

“Alright, let’s leave our daughter’s affairs alone and focus on preparing for the housewarming banquet,” Xie’s mother changed the subject.

Here, the housewarming banquet was called the “thanks banquet”—to express gratitude to all who had helped them, to the neighbors who endured the noise and dust during construction without complaint, and to all the villagers who lent a helping hand as they built their house.

In short, the thanks banquet was to thank everyone, both openly and quietly, who had cared for and supported them.

Early in the morning, Xie’s father went to find Old Seven to finalize the menu, then took it to Qi Jianshe to help purchase the ingredients. Since Jianshe sold fish and knew many produce vendors, he could naturally get the freshest ingredients at the best prices.

Xie Yihuang, meanwhile, stuck to her routine. Even while staying at home, her days were strictly organized: up at five for morning exercise, then breakfast, followed by self-study of high school subjects, then other knowledge; in the afternoon, half an hour of horse stance practice, and later, lessons in chess, tea brewing, and arts like painting in the evening.

In sum, her day was packed from start to finish. Xie Yuanfeng would see her exercising early in the morning and still studying into the night—a thorough, well-rounded education that left her tongue-tied in awe.

“Ah Yi, you learn so many things—aren’t you ever tired?” Xie Yuanfeng asked curiously.