Chapter 78

Jiang Huihan turned her head and looked over. Zhang Xiangqian was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, smiling.

He walked over and took a candied haws without saying anything. He ate it and commented: "This is my first time to eat apple-flavored candied haws. It tastes good. Xu Zhao, you are a hidden talent. I have known you for more than ten years, but I didn't know you had such a unique skill. Next time you have such a good thing, remember to notify me in advance. I almost didn't get to eat it."

There were only four apples on a string of candied haws. Zhang Xiangqian finished it in less than a minute. Still not satisfied, he saw that there were still three strings in the iron basin. He reached out for it eagerly, but Xu Zhao slapped his hand mercilessly, causing him to cry out in pain.

"You hit me so hard that I broke my bones. Do you still have any brotherly love? I just ate a string of candied haws from you. Why are you so stingy?"

Zhang Xiangqian covered his hands and looked at Jiang Suihan who was standing aside and watching the show, eager to seek an ally: "Xiao Jiang, do you think he is very stingy? Every time I eat something delicious, I think of him. When I was in middle school, I would share half of the meat buns with him. People are fickle. He is the deputy regiment commander, and I am just a small battalion commander. I can't compare, I can't compare."

Such poor acting is really eye-catching.

Jiang Suihan said quietly, "Originally these five strings of candied haws belonged to me. Now that you've eaten one string, I have one less string to eat. Which side do you think I should be on?"

Zhang Xiangqian choked a little. In his excitement, he forgot that they were husband and wife. However, he was not embarrassed at all. He chuckled and said, "Sister-in-law, you are really humorous. I just tasted it for you. You can try it too. The ones sold here are a little worse than those bought outside, but the taste is almost the same. It's delicious."

Xu Zhao glanced at him indifferently, his eyes revealing that it was time for him to get out. Zhang Xiangqian was thick-skinned and insisted that he would be willful for once tonight, but he would not do as you wish, so he was bound to be a light bulb.

Jiang Huihan's face turned a little red. She must have fed Xu Zhao candied haws just now, and Zhang Xiangqian must have seen it, because he was everywhere.

Zhang Xiangqian talked to himself: "I just saw your aunt. She is not going back to the capital for the New Year this year? Did she quit her job in the capital, or has she retired? Your mother has been staying here to take care of your wife, and your father has no objection? Aren't there only two grown men, your grandfather and your father, spending the New Year together in your family? That's too boring."

Xu Zhao felt as if there was a fly buzzing in his ear, which was very annoying: "Why are you talking so much? Get out of here now."

Zhang Xiangqian didn't want to get out of here. "Brother, I'm concerned about you. You're cold on the outside but warm on the inside. You can't handle it if I'm a little sentimental. How old is your son? My son was very loving today. He put a candy in his pocket and said it was for your son. I've never had a whole candy from him."

Jiang Huihan listened silently, secretly complaining in her heart, these words sounded a bit sour.

Is this jealousy of the unborn baby?

How much resentment did Zhang Xiangqian have towards his son for not giving him a whole candy? He was still talking about it during the New Year.

Xu Zhao stuffed a bunch of candied hawthorns into Zhang Xiangqian's hand and said coldly, "Get out of here now."

It was just a matter of talking, and I got a string of candied haws. This deal was not a loss.

Zhang Xiangqian ran away happily with the candied haws in his hand, wanting to give it to his son to make him happy. On the way, he couldn't help but eat one. It had been many years since he had eaten it when he was a child, so he couldn't even remember what the hawthorn candied haws tasted like, so he tried it for his son first.

My son is young and has a difficult stomach to digest, so he can't eat too much. His mother doesn't allow it either, so she only leaves two for him and one for his wife.

I feel that I am such a good father and husband.

Jiang Suihan looked at the remaining three strings of candied haws and felt a little worried: "Take them home?"

There were many people and children in the cafeteria. If someone wanted it, it would be embarrassing to refuse, but she wanted to keep it for herself and eat it slowly.

Xu Zhao said he had a way. He took Jiang Huihan in through a small door on the other side of the cafeteria and found an empty corner where there was a wooden cabinet that looked a little shabby. He opened the cabinet, put the candied haws in it, and then closed the cabinet again.

Jiang Huihan was a little worried and kept looking back: "Will someone take it away?"

Xu Zhao didn't show any worry on his face: "There's a hole in the back of this cabinet. It was originally unwanted. It's fine to leave it in there. No one will open it."

As soon as I came out, I heard Dai Jia's voice: "Come quickly, the dumplings are cooked."

There were exactly two empty seats next to Dai Jia. Jiang Huihan sat over there and Xu Zhao sat on her left.

Youyou sat obediently in his mother's arms, licking the candied haws in his hand from time to time, and his little face was a little dirty.

Dai Jia smiled and said, "I haven't thanked you for the candied haws yet. Youyou likes them so much that he can't bear to eat them. He almost ate all the sugar on the outside."

She just ate one, and it tasted really good. To be honest, she was a little envious of Jiang Suihan. Look at Xu Zhao, he could do everything and was willing to do it without feeling ashamed. Unlike Zhang Xiangqian, he only had a mouth and kept chattering every day. Sometimes he could make people happy, but sometimes when she was in a bad mood, he would still chatter beside her. She was very annoyed by his noise and wished she could kick him aside to be alone.

Jiang Suihan was teasing Youyou: "Is the candied haws delicious?"

Youyou raised his little head. His mother took him to school almost every day this semester. He knew everyone in the office. He said in a soft voice, "It's delicious."

Dai Jia glanced at Jiang Suihan's belly and joked, "You don't have to be envious. You've been pregnant for four or five months, right? You should be giving birth in May or June. Your own babies are the cutest."

Jiang Suihan nodded: "Four and a half months, it's still early."

She agreed with what Dai Jia said at the end. Of course, one's own children are the cutest. In the past, she just thought children were cute and interesting and made them happy, but if she were asked to take care of a child, she would not be happy. Children are sometimes like little angels, but once they start to make a fuss, they are like little devils, which is so painful.

Xu Zhao served Jiang Huihan a bowl of dumplings. There were not many dumplings, only five or six in the bowl. The dumplings were quite big, and she had to eat several bites of each. They were just taken out of the pot and were still hot.

Jiang Suihan picked up one and took a bite. The skin was a bit thick, but the stuffing was well-seasoned, with cabbage and pork filling, and a little more cabbage. She didn't eat dumplings very often, and only made them twice after her mother-in-law came. Naturally, she was generous with the ingredients when making them at home. There were cabbage and pork fillings, leek and egg fillings, and sauerkraut and meat fillings, all of which she had eaten at home.

When she ate the second one, her expression changed and she secretly pulled Xu Zhao's sleeve. Xu Zhao turned sideways, lowered his head and asked her, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Huihan said depressedly: "There is fat."

Xu Zhao knew that she didn't eat fatty meat, not even meat with a little bit of fat. Others preferred fatty meat because lean meat was too dry and didn't have much oil.

She put the dumpling she had taken a bite of into his bowl: "Do you want more?"

Jiang Suihan felt that the probability of eating fatty meat was very high, and didn't want to try them one by one, so she shook her head and said, "No, I want to eat glutinous rice balls."

Xu Zhao poured all the dumplings from her bowl into his bowl, then got up and went to the kitchen.

Dai Jia asked curiously, "Where is Xu Zhao going?"

The weather is cold and the dumplings will not taste good if they get cold.

Jiang Suihan whispered, "I want to eat glutinous rice balls. He went to help me get some."

You can choose between glutinous rice balls and dumplings, or you can order a little of each, but you can't eat too much. There are a lot of people and the army doesn't have that much food. We are just providing a venue and spending some food tonight so that everyone can have a happy New Year.

Dai Jia ate while feeding her son: "Don't you like dumplings?"

Jiang Suihan was embarrassed to say that she couldn't eat dumplings with fatty meat, so she changed her explanation: "I don't know what happened tonight, I felt a little greasy when I ate meat, and I always wanted to vomit."

Dai Jia looked at Jiang Huihan with a bit of pity. It was a rare opportunity for her to have white flour dumplings with meat, but she couldn't eat them. Her luck was really bad.

"You're still vomiting after more than four months. You've had this symptom for a long time. When I was pregnant with Youyou, I ate everything with relish and never vomited. My mouth was always busy and I wanted to eat. You're the opposite of me. I thought you didn't like dumplings."

A sister-in-law nearby also became interested and forced herself into the conversation: "From your accent, you are obviously from the south. It seems that you don't eat dumplings there. What do you eat during the Chinese New Year?"

Seeing that they seemed quite curious, Jiang Suihan briefly introduced: "On the day of the New Year, you have to eat a completely vegetarian breakfast. You can't eat any meat. You can eat spinach, bean curd and rice. Lunch and dinner are similar to normal days. It's more casual. For the New Year's Eve dinner, families with the means will kill a chicken for the whole family to eat together. Those with less means will buy some pork to take home and try to eat the best."

Dai Jia: "The customs in your hometown are quite special. We don't have so many rules here. We eat noodles for breakfast on the first day of the New Year. It can be plain noodles or with meat. It's fine as long as it tastes good. I thought everyone liked pork."

Jiang Suihan: "We also eat pork. We like to eat both chicken and pork. There are many ways to cook chicken, such as boiled chicken, salt-baked chicken, soy sauce chicken, ginger and scallion chicken, and crispy chicken. There is a saying in my hometown that no feast is complete without chicken. You can imagine how much we love eating chicken."

The sister-in-law couldn't help swallowing her saliva: "You southerners really know how to eat. In our family, we always make chicken soup or stew chicken. What you said makes me drool. I really want to try them one by one."

Jiang Suihan pursed her lips and smiled: "Sister-in-law, if you have the chance, you can come to our place. There are many delicious foods and you will definitely not be disappointed."

The sister-in-law sighed in disappointment: "It's all good to think about it. We can only wait and see if the child's father has a chance to be transferred there."

After eating the sesame rice dumplings that she had been craving for all night, Jiang Suhan was very satisfied. After watching the show for half an hour, she felt sleepy.

Xu Zhao looked at her watch and it was her usual bedtime, so he pulled her and the two of them quietly got up and slipped away. Jiang Leyun and Su Ying were still there, and they both wanted to finish watching all the shows before going back. The mother-in-law mainly wanted to find someone to chat with, while her brother was just having fun.

At noon, the whole family has already taken a bath, so there is no need to take a bath again in the evening.

Xu Zhao brought a basin of hot water, soaked the towel in it, wrung it dry and handed it over. Jiang Huihan washed her face comfortably, and he also washed his face with the hot water she had used to wash her face.

Jiang Suihan noticed from the corner of her eye that the back of his hand seemed to be a little red, and thought it was because the water was too hot and burned it red, so she grabbed his hand and took a closer look: "When did your hand get burned?"

As soon as she asked the question, she immediately realized that he must have been accidentally scalded while making candied haws. There was a red and swollen area on the back of his right hand, and there were blisters, which looked painful.

Jiang Huihan was angry and anxious. She was angry that he didn't tell her about the burns. If she hadn't found out, he would definitely continue to hide it. She said anxiously, "I'll go find you some medicine."

There is a medicine box at home, which contains some commonly used medicines and is placed in the study.

Xu Zhao held her back: "I'll go."

When he came back with a white tube of ointment, Jiang Huihan asked him to sit down with a stern face, took the ointment from his hand, unscrewed the cap, squeezed a little ointment onto her index finger, and carefully applied it on his wound.

She moved gently, her eyes focused, and looked up and asked him, "Does it hurt?"

Xu Zhao rubbed her head: "It doesn't hurt."

Jiang Huihan frowned. That was hot oil. It had caused blisters. How could it not hurt?

She did not expose his words and continued to apply the ointment. The wound was not big, and she was worried that if she applied too little, the ointment would not be effective enough, so she applied a thick layer. The tube of ointment was new and had never been used before, and she used up one tenth of it after just one use.

She examined both of his hands carefully, not leaving out any corner. Only a small area of ​​skin on his right hand was burned. After applying ointment on the wound, she lowered her head and blew gently on it.

"Will this be better?"

Xu Zhao raised his lips and said, "Much better. It doesn't hurt that much anymore."

Jiang Suihan looked at him seriously and said, "Don't let the wound get wet for the next few days. Do you hear me?"

How could Xu Zhao dare not refuse?

It felt like time passed very quickly, and it was the end of May all of a sudden. Jiang Huihan had not been to school for the past two months, and Principal Cai hired a new teacher, a new family member who was from the same province as Jiang Huihan, so they were from the same hometown.

After dinner, Su Ying talked about Xu Zhao: "He should be back in the next few days, right? I don't know if he can catch up."

Two months ago, Xu Zhao went out on a mission. The political commissar originally didn't want him to go, but considering that Jiang Suihan was about to give birth in two months, he stayed at home to take care of her.

Xu Zhao disagreed. Everyone has difficulties. If someone demands special care for every little thing, then how can there be any discipline in the army? He is a soldier, and soldiers should obey orders.

Although Jiang Suihan really wanted him to stay at home with her, she also understood that it was his responsibility. She just asked him to come back as soon as possible because she wanted him to be with her on the day of delivery.

She touched her belly and said silently in her heart: "Baby, please wait a little longer until daddy comes back, okay?"

In the middle of the night, Jiang Huihan suddenly woke up, her stomach ached and her forehead was covered in cold sweat. She was in so much pain that she almost couldn't get up. She reached out and touched her pants, and they were wet.

I slowly moved to the door and shouted loudly for my mother-in-law to come over.

These days were Jiang Suihan's pregnancy period. Su Ying was worried and uneasy, and could not sleep well at night. When she heard her daughter-in-law calling her, she was startled, woke up immediately, put on her shoes and ran out in a hurry.

When she saw her daughter-in-law's expression, she said with certainty, "You are about to give birth."