033, sour words

033, sour words

“Ohhh—”

A rooster crowed in the distance, followed by a series of rising and falling rooster crows.

Lu Mingfei woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing that morning. As he awoke, he gazed at the empty rooftop, thinking back to the years he had spent in this world. He remembered his parents, who had unexpectedly passed away in his previous life, and the parents in this life who treated him like their own son. To him, both his parents in his previous life and his current one were his closest relatives.

In his previous life, he was unable to protect his parents. In this life, he would never let those damned people murder his parents again, so he had to become strong, strong enough to survive in this world and protect his parents and family.

Just as his mind was full of random thoughts, he heard the sound of the door opening in the opposite room, and knew that it must be his mother getting up. He stopped thinking about it, threw off the quilt, got up, found his clothes, put them on, opened the door and went out.

Liu Sanniang, who was fetching water in the yard, heard familiar footsteps and turned around to see that it was indeed her own child coming out. She smiled and asked, "Why doesn't Qilang sleep a little longer?"

"Mother, I've had enough sleep." Lu Mingfei walked towards his mother and asked, "Mother, did you sleep well last night?"

"I slept very well. I haven't slept this long in years." Liu Sanniang said this with a relaxed smile on her face. This was the most restful sleep she had ever had in all the years she had been married to the Lu family. She didn't have to worry about getting up early to prepare breakfast for the family of more than 20 people, and she slept until the rooster crowed.

Lu Mingfei thought that if they were to start a food business, they would have to get up very early, and he was afraid that his mother would never be able to sleep so late again. After thinking about it, he discussed with his mother: "Mom, why don't we set up the stall in the afternoon from now on? We can do business in the afternoon and evening." After saying this, he immediately thought this was a great idea.

If they set up the stall in the afternoon, they will have enough time in the morning to prepare the items for the stall and they don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to work.

After understanding what her son meant, Liu Sanniang couldn't help but laugh and said, "Who would go out to do business in the afternoon? We should set up our stall earlier in the future and occupy a good spot on the street, so that business will be good."

"Mother is still thinking about making money as soon as possible. When your father's health improves in a while, your father and I will work hard together to make money to support your education."

After setting up a stall with her son for two days, Liu Sanniang finally understood some of the ins and outs of doing business in the city. She had only heard her husband and children talk about it before, but she had never experienced it herself. So she now knew that the morning market on South Street was from morning to noon and dispersed after the afternoon. People only came out to buy vegetables in the morning. If they went out in the afternoon, wouldn't there be no one buying things on the street?

Therefore, Liu Sanniang would definitely not agree to her son's suggestion to set up the stall only after he had done so.

"Mom, there's no rush for me to study." Hearing his mother's refusal, Lu Mingfei felt a little regretful, because if he set up the stall in the afternoon, he could sleep more in the morning. You know, he is still a child and is still in the stage of growing up. If he doesn't sleep more, he will not grow tall.

Liu Sanniang drew water from the well and washed the child. "Come and wash your face and rinse your mouth. I'll go and cook breakfast first. We'll go out to the street to buy some food later. I'll also bring a bowl of meat to your Uncle Lu and Aunt Xu so they can taste it."

The well that was cleaned yesterday now has more water in it after a night.

After Liu Sanniang told her children to stay away from the well and not to come here to fetch water, she went to cook breakfast first. She asked the children to watch the fire on the stove and went back to her room to take care of her husband who was lying in bed and unable to get up.

***

“Knock knock—”

When Lu Mingfei was watching the fire outside, there was a knock on the door. He originally thought that someone was knocking on the door next door. When the second knock sounded, he realized that someone was knocking on their door.

"Is that someone knocking at the door?" he asked as he came over.

"We are the craftsmen who worked at your house yesterday. We are here today to finish the work that we didn't finish yesterday." The old craftsman outside the door responded.

Liu Sanniang, who was in the house, heard the voices outside and came out to ask the child. After learning that the person outside was the craftsman who had worked at home yesterday, she opened the door to the yard and let him in.

The old craftsman came in and greeted the host, then he and his grandson pushed the cart outside the door into the yard.

When two strange men came to the house, Liu Sanniang did not close the door to the yard, but left it open to prevent others from gossiping about their family.

After the porridge in the pot was cooked, they had to heat up the meat they had stewed last night before eating it. However, as soon as the meat in the pot was cooked, the fragrance filled the whole yard and even drifted outside, and the neighbors who got up early could smell the fragrance.

At this time, the neighbor next door came to ask if he could come in to get some water.

Liu Sanniang didn't know how to refuse others, let alone that she was just coming to their house to fetch a few buckets of water to take home, so she nodded and agreed: "Oh, sure, come in and fetch it."

"Thank you, thank you." The neighbor's aunt came in with a bucket of water while thanking us. She smelled the aroma of meat and smiled and said, "We smelled the aroma of meat last night. It was so delicious that we couldn't sleep all night. We were wondering who was cooking meat. It turned out to be your house."

I don’t know if the latter sentence is a compliment or envy, or if there is something else in it.

Liu Sanniang smiled and didn't respond. She knew that people's hearts were different, especially after what happened at home. Even her family would be like this, let alone outsiders.

When the aunt saw that Liu Sanniang didn't respond, she went to fetch water with an embarrassed look on her face.

Liu Sanniang brought the food into the house and called her son to come and eat. Then she took a bowl of rice into the house and fed it to her husband.

After the family of three had breakfast, Lu Mingfei discussed with his mother and decided that his mother would go out alone to buy the things they would need for their stall tomorrow, while he would stay at home to supervise and look after his father.

As for their original small stall, they would not open it for the time being because many things were sold out. His father was unable to work now and could not restock them, so they might as well put all their energy into the new stall.

As for the original stall, he would wait until his father recovered and was able to work, and then his father would go out to run that stall. Now he and his mother were in charge of the food stall. The family had two stalls and earned two incomes. This way, at least they didn't have to worry about rent every month.

After Liu Sanniang packed up her things at home, she saw that it was already bright outside. She took her purse and put it in her arms. She put the big bowl of braised meat into a small basket, covered it with a lid, and prepared to go out. Before leaving, she did not forget to remind her children: "Aniang is going out. Come back after buying things. If you see her at home, don't run out."

"Okay, Mom, I understand. You go ahead. I won't leave and will stay at home." Lu Mingfei sent his mother to the door, watched her leave, and then closed the door to the yard.

Many people came to their house to fetch water in the morning, and the last person who came to fetch water just left.

It seems that he needs to have his mother tell the neighbors not to come to their place to fetch water in the mornings. They should open the door at a fixed time in the afternoon for everyone to fetch water. Otherwise, they will have to get up in the morning to prepare food for the stall, and they will be working in the yard, so it will not be appropriate for these neighbors to come and go to fetch water.

Personally, he didn't want to open his well to neighbors, because who knows if anyone, jealous of their food business profits, would poison the well. It wasn't that he assumed anyone with the utmost malice, but the people who came to draw water this morning, smelling the cooking meat, said all sorts of things. Who knows how they'd frame their family later.

Does this mean they don't deserve to have meat in their family? Or is it someone's rule that they can't eat meat in the morning?

These gossipers didn't know that this pot of meat was a test dish they cooked last night. They didn't eat it all last night because they wanted to see how the meat would taste after being marinated overnight. There was also a portion that was to be given away, so it was specially left out.

But others don't understand them, and they don't have to explain anything because some people just love to gossip and talk about others. You can't change others, just be yourself.

***

After leaving home, Liu Sanniang carried a basket and went to the pancake shop to deliver something.

This time of morning was the busiest time for the pancake shop. Seeing that Boss Lu and Xu Yue Niang were busy, she said something to Xu Yue Niang, put down the basket, and went out to buy things.

After fewer customers came to the store to buy things, Xu Yueniang remembered that Liu Sanniang had sent them something earlier. "Hey, it seems that Sanniang just sent us something?"

"Found it. Here it is."

Xu Yue Niang found the basket that Liu San Niang had placed on the table, opened it and saw that there was a bowl of meat inside. "Hmm, it smells quite fragrant?" As soon as the meat was taken out, she smelled a fragrance. When she got closer to smell it, the smell became even more fragrant.

"Old Lu, smell it, this meat smells so good."

"How can meat not be fragrant?" asked Boss Lu.

"It's not the usual fragrance, this fragrance is special!" Xu Yue Niang brought the meat for her husband to smell.

Boss Lu took the bowl, sniffed it closely, and had to admit: "This aroma seems to be a little special! The meat seems a little cold, I will heat it up before eating." He touched the edge of the bowl and found that the meat was cold. There was a fire next to it, so he poured the meat into a small pot.