Chapter 42 "Your mother is worried about your future...

While Chen Pan was excited and happy at school, Chen Aiguo and his wife, who returned to the store with the contract, also felt a sense of daze, anxiety, excitement and disbelief.

"Is that all? Does this mean this shop will be ours?" Xu Chunhua said in a daze, sitting on the stool where she usually rested.

"Well, that should be it!"

This was the first time in Chen Aiguo's fifty-five years that he had ever bought a shop and signed a contract. Looking at the two thin pages in his hands, his face was filled with daze and uneasiness.

In addition to the trance and uneasiness, he also felt a little nervous, a little excited, a little unbelievable, a little scared, and some genuine joy and regret.

He couldn't understand how he could be so happy and excited and yet so fearful and regretful in such an occasion.

But this is exactly his mentality at the moment.

It was already past lunchtime, a rare quiet time in their shop.

Usually at this time, Chen Aiguo would take a short break and start planning to go out and buy vegetables, pork and beef for the next day.

Xu Chunhua would also take this time to take a short break and then prepare for the evening rush hour.

But no matter what happens at other times, at this moment they are just sitting on plastic stools in the store, doing nothing and not preparing anything.

Time slipped by little by little, and when it was almost four o'clock, Chen Aiguo slowly stood up. "I'll go buy the vegetables and meat for tomorrow. You take your time to cook the rice. We'll have rice tonight. You don't have to prepare any other dishes. I'll buy the cold dishes and meat from outside. Oh, and go buy a bottle of white wine and a fruit beer next door, and buy Panpan a bottle of Coke. Let's celebrate today."

"Okay, for the cold dishes, go to the store at the back of the market. They taste better. For meat, just buy a roast chicken and two sausages."

In town, a bottle of white wine costs three yuan, fruit beer costs one and a half yuan, and a bottle of cola also costs one and a half yuan. These are things that the Chen family doesn't necessarily buy during the Spring Festival.

But I was happy today, and since I've been in Liuping for a long time, I often see people going in and out of the next door to buy things. I also need to go out and buy what I need regularly.

Anyway, at this point, Xu Chunhua was magnanimous and did not object to anything. Instead, she told her husband which store to go to and what to buy.

Of course, when Grandpa Chen rode his bicycle and carried two baskets of vegetables to the Liuping Farmer's Market, Grandma Chen took advantage of the fact that no one was in the store and quickly went next door to buy some liquor, fruit beer and cola.

"The liquor is three yuan, I'll charge you two yuan. The fruit beer is one yuan and fifty cents, I'll charge you one yuan. The Coke is also one yuan and fifty cents, I'll charge you one yuan. Grandma, give me four yuan, and I'll also give you a bag of sausages, a bag of spicy noodles, a bag of fried peanuts, and a bag of sunflower seeds. Consider it a gift from me to buy your shop!"

Knowing why they bought these things, Qin Yang, who had already sent all the guests away, smiled and gave them a lot of snacks.

“How can this be—”

Grandma Chen, holding the ten yuan bill, immediately raised her hand to refuse because she had never expected the other party to give her so many things.

"Grandma, just take it. To be honest, you've done my family a big favor today. Selling the house to you makes my family feel really at ease. I'd rather be your neighbors than anyone else."

Qin Yang spoke sincerely, and seeing him say that, Grandma Chen smiled and didn't refuse.

But after taking the bulging plastic bag that the other party had stuffed in, Grandma Chen couldn't help but look up and asked, "Yangyang, your mother's condition hasn't worsened, right? Are you suddenly selling the house because—"

"No, no, my mom's reexamination results were good. I suddenly sold the shop because I wanted to use the money to quickly build another floor on top. A good friend of mine said that starting next year, we won't be allowed to add on to our house anymore. So I thought I'd finish this thing quickly before the notice comes out."

"Really? Will there be any accidents?"

Suddenly understanding what he meant, Grandma Chen tightened her grip on the plastic bag.

"It's possible, but in any case, it will definitely not be bad for us to build the third floor as soon as possible." Qin Yang's eyes were full of determination and confidence when he spoke.

"Yes, yes. Anyway, it's very easy to rent a house here. You really don't have to worry too much."

She couldn't help but feel happy, so Grandma Chen took the plastic bag and chatted with Qin Yang for a few more minutes.

It was not until someone from the shop next door came over and called out loudly that Grandma Chen reacted and quickly said goodbye to Qin Yang with the things in her hands.

"Two beef patties and two pork and green pepper patties!" The customer who came over said immediately when he saw her walking over.

"Okay, wait a minute. The beef patties are still in the pan. I'll get them now!"

Longcheng is also quite hot in June. Today's temperature feels almost 30 degrees Celsius. Just standing by the stove for a while, Xu Chunhua felt hot all over.

But even so, she kept smiling as she took the cake.

Even though she had never been to school and had never learned to read or write, after three months of continuous learning, she was able to correctly calculate the cost of four pancakes.

After receiving the money from the girl opposite and giving her the correct change, Xu Chunhua looked at the customer's back as she left, and her face was full of smiles again.

The Qin family next door will not lose money whether the house is demolished or not after they build it.

As for them, as long as they buy this place, it seems that they will not lose money regardless of whether it is demolished or not.

"When we get back, tell the old man to go back and take down the TV."

Grandma Chen, who had never thought about this before, suddenly had this idea.

Then she pulled the stool and sat down again.

After taking a short break, she looked at the wall of her home and murmured, "Should I also hang an electric fan where I work?"

Xu Chunhua leaned against the table, talking to herself.

After a while, she suddenly slapped her thigh and screamed, then immediately ran into the kitchen to cook rice and quickly prepare the pancakes she was going to buy in the evening.

Longcheng is a typical northern city, and the people here basically eat noodles every day. But occasionally, they also cook rice.

But the Chen family's custom is that whenever they cook rice, they must also cook a proper dish, at least one meat dish. So in the Chen family, cooking rice is as important as cooking ramen, both of which are very grand and solemn events.

That night, there were several dishes on the Chen Pan family's dining table. There was a plate of cold vegetables bought from outside, a plate of golden roasted chicken, a plate of red sausage that was rarely eaten in the Chen family, a plate of pickled cabbage stir-fried by grandma, and a plate of tomatoes mixed with sugar, exactly the same as the one from lunch.

Next to them, of course, was a bottle of baijiu that Grandma had bought earlier, a bottle of yellow and orange fruit beer that Grandma could drink, and a bottle of Coke that Chen Pan had never tasted in his life. Grandma Chen had specially soaked all three bottles of drinks with cold water from the kitchen, so they were, in a sense, iced.

"Old woman, do you want to send some to the neighbors?" After finding a wine glass for himself and bringing two cups to Chen Pan and Grandma Chen, Chen Aiguo suddenly asked.

"Then I'll serve them two bowls of rice and a plate of vegetables and have Panpan take them over."

Such were the customs of the countryside. They'd barely eaten chicken all year, and even this sausage was the first they'd had since Chinese New Year. But as they savored these delicious treats, they seemed to naturally think of others. Previously, they'd thought of Grandpa Chen and Second Grandpa Chen, the nearly eighty-year-old patriarch, and even occasionally Grandma Wang across the street. Now, they were thinking of the Qin family next door.

Anyway, by the time Chen Pan reacted, she was already holding two large iron bowls, one filled with white rice, and the other filled with meat and cold dishes.

"Brother Qin Yang——"

Even though she was used to being served food in the village, Chen Pan still felt a little uneasy. But then she thought of the time Qin Yang had served her food, the special business they'd made today, and the two bags of spicy noodles and pork skin that her grandmother had just stuffed into her schoolbag, supposedly from Qin Yang. She suppressed her inexplicable embarrassment and immediately shouted again.

“Hey!! Here it comes!!”

When Chen Pan called for the third time, Qin Yang came running down the courtyard's public stairs. This time, his hands were still stained with flour, and it was obvious that he had moved upstairs to cook today.

“Panpan——”

"Brother Qin, my family is making rice today. My grandma asked me to bring this to you. If you haven't had dinner yet, you can use this as a filling. If you don't want to eat rice for the time being, you can save this for breakfast tomorrow."

I don’t know what Qin Yang was going to say, but before he opened his mouth, Chen Pan said a lot.

"Well, it just so happens that we haven't made dinner yet!"

He smiled subconsciously, then Qin Yang went to the hut to find basins and plates.

The iron bowl that Chen Pan was carrying was particularly large. Qin Yang, whose hands were covered in flour, finally brought two of the largest plates in his house.

"You have this on your hands, are you kneading dough?"

After placing the two large iron bowls on the cash register, Chen Pan left them alone. But when Qin Yang came over with the plates and chopsticks, Chen Pan still made some small talk.

"I'm kneading dough, but not noodles. We don't have steamed buns at home, so my mom is teaching me how to make them."

There was a hint of embarrassment in his eyes, but in the end Qin Yang answered seriously while pouring the dishes.

"I'm good at making noodles and spicy hot pot, but I can't make steamed buns. My grandma taught me seven or eight times, but I still haven't mastered it."

While steamed buns (mo) are often referred to as steamed bread or flatbreads, in Longcheng, they're typically oversized, naan-like flatbreads made in aluminum pans. They're golden on the outside and incredibly crispy on the inside. The process of rolling and kneading the dough is meticulous, and the baking temperature is crucial. Simply baking a large flatbread in the aluminum pan takes over two hours.

Now in the countryside of Longcheng, making ramen, baking steamed buns, and making shoes are the most important criteria for others to judge whether a girl is suitable to be a good wife.

Generally, when people are looking at girls, they will ask if she can make steamed buns or ramen, and they will also look at the shoes that the girl has made herself.

Some families even show their daughters shoes when a matchmaker or other guests come over, or even have their daughters cook a bowl of ramen for everyone on the spot. If the family happens to have steamed buns made by their daughters, they will also bring them out to show others or show them off.

At that time, whether a girl’s noodles are thin or not, whether the stitching of her shoes is good or not, whether the pancakes she makes are delicious or not and whether they look good or not, will all become important bases for others to judge whether this girl is good or not.

As for Chen Pan, her grandmother had taught her how to make ramen noodles. As for shoemaking and sewing, since Chen Pan was young and still in school, her grandmother wasn't in a hurry at all. As for making steamed buns, every time her grandmother made them, she would subconsciously nag Chen Pan. She'd say that if she didn't make them well, her in-laws would dislike her and she wouldn't be able to find a good husband. But Chen Pan found it too troublesome to learn, so she never really studied it, and had no intention of continuing to learn it.

Anyway, at this moment, when Chen Pan heard Qin Yang was learning this, he lowered his head and suddenly smiled.

"Well, I told her to buy it directly, but my mother wouldn't listen. She insisted that only homemade ones taste authentic."

The real reason was that his mother said that times have changed and that boys who can cook and make steamed buns will have a big advantage in finding a partner in the future, so she forced Qin Yang to learn. Qin Yang couldn't persuade his mother, and he felt sorry for her because she was sick and had to undergo a major operation, so he had no choice but to learn.

This kind of thing felt particularly embarrassing, but Qin Yang cleaned up the Chen family's dishes very quickly afterwards.

After washing the two large bowls and wiping them with paper towels, Qin Yang filled them with half a bowl of melon seeds and half a bowl of candy, then immediately handed both bowls to Chen Pan.

"Your mother is worried that you won't be able to find a partner in the future, so she's training you in advance!"

Chen Pan should have taken the things and left at this point. But seeing Qin Yang's hands stained with flour and his cheeks slightly red, the 30-year-old woman's soul in Chen Pan suddenly took over, and she said this in a rude way.

Then when she finished speaking, she saw the boy opposite her face suddenly turn completely red.

"Hahahaha!" Taking advantage of his young age, Chen Pan didn't restrain his emotions at all. He just turned around with the things in his hands, laughing loudly.

“…”

Feeling like he was being laughed at by some little brat, Qin Yang, who appeared to be an adult at the age of eighteen but was actually only sixteen, helplessly raised his hands to cover his burning cheeks.

"Panpan, what's wrong with you?"

The voice of Grandma Chen from next door could be heard faintly.

"It's okay, it's okay. My family just bought a shop today and I'm just feeling really happy! It's okay, Grandpa and Grandma, let's eat quickly."

Qin Yang listened carefully, making sure that the impish little girl wasn't talking nonsense. He half-closed the door of the store and quickly went upstairs with the things in his hand.