...

After taking a nap, He Wan started preparing dinner with Zhang Cuicao.

Zhang Cuicao looked at the meat on the cutting board and pondered what dish to make.

"Stir-fried green beans with pork, smashed cucumber, stir-fried green peppers with pork, and how do you cook chicken?"

He Wan said, "Let's stir-fry it, and add some potato chunks, shiitake mushrooms, and dried green beans. It's a large portion, so everyone will be satisfied."

"I'm afraid I won't cook it well and it will be a waste."

"If there's meat to eat, even if it doesn't taste good, we'll still finish it. I have some chili peppers in my garden, I can leave a few. Wang Xiaorong and the others, do you want some chili peppers?"

"We can eat the pork from the front yard too, so let's make it spicy. We can also make a few cold dishes, that way we won't have to use up all the pork."

"We can pickle the rest and eat it tomorrow."

"OK."

He Wan soaked the dried green beans and helped Zhang Cuicao peel potatoes.

After they finished work, a table was set up in the backyard.

The tables were rather small, so two tables were set up.

He Wan also called Qin Xuxiang, and invited Xie Meihui to come along as well.

Although Xie Meihui was a bit selfish, at least she knew to ask Qin Xuxiang for help.

"Wow, this is such a feast today! It's like celebrating the New Year." Li Zheng looked at the chicken on the table and the pot of rice in the room.

Excited, I quickly ran to the well to wash my face; I couldn't wait any longer.

The others, seeing that it was rice, were tempted and also complained that they were too wasteful: "You could have just eaten some steamed buns, why did you make so much rice? We are all grown men and we have big appetites, how much grain is that?"

Zhang Cuicao said, "So, not much rice is steamed, and if we're not full, we eat steamed buns."

Wang Jianguo nodded and asked with a smile if he could sit down.

He Wan said, "Sit down, sit down. You men sit at the table, sit on the right. The portion on the right is bigger, it was prepared especially for you."

Xue Zhenzhen and Su Ranran helped serve the dishes and rice.

Everyone tacitly brought over their own rice bowls.

Just then, Li Weidong came over carrying a basket.

“Zhang Zhiqing, Xiao He Zhiqing, I’m here.”

"Comrade Li, what brings you here?"

"I heard from Xiaohe... cough cough, Sister Zhiqing said she's treating everyone today, how could I be left out? You won't be unhappy, will you?"

Zhang, the educated youth, smiled and said, "Welcome, welcome."

He was the village bully; he could be friends with those educated youth, so who dared to say anything?

He Wan came out carrying the dishes and asked, "What did you bring?"

"Soda, and a dozen or so eggs that my mom prepared."

Upon hearing that it was soda, Wang Xiaorong rushed over to take a look and said with a smile, "We're in luck today! Let's take the soda to the water and chill it for a while."

"OK."

Zhang Cuicao said, "We don't have time to make the eggs, the pot is occupied."

Seeing the two tables laden with food, Li Weidong said, "Keep these for later. I'm not taking them back."

He Wan didn't stand on ceremony with her and let Zhang Cuicao stay.

After the group sat down in a lively atmosphere and had just picked up a few bites, a very abrupt sound came from behind them.

Chen Qing's door creaked open.

Then Liang Shurui and she came out of the house.

He glanced at them coldly, then walked towards the front yard without looking back.

Liang Shurui glanced over here, wanting to say something, but was pulled away by Chen Qing.

The male comrades at the educated youth settlement were also quite embarrassed, since it wasn't them who were treating.

However, this awkwardness ended after the two walked out of the backyard.

Instantly, the lively atmosphere returned, and now nothing could stop them from eating meat.