142. Illusion, all illusion

142. Illusion, all illusion

"Brother, I want more."

"Okay, wait, it will be ready soon."

There happened to be tender green leeks in the field, so Lu Mingfei asked someone to pick a handful of leeks. He then fried a few pheasant eggs, mixed them with the leeks as stuffing, and made fried leek boxes for everyone to eat.

But he was just selling the chive dumplings while everyone was eating, and he ran out of chive dumplings to satisfy everyone.

Seeing her eldest son standing here preparing food for them, Liu Sanniang stood up from the small stool she was sitting on and came over to her eldest son and said, "Come here, mother. Go and have a rest."

"It's okay, I'll do it. I sit and read at home all day, and I want to stand for a while, it's more comfortable. You go and sit, mother." Lu Mingfei didn't give the shovel to his mother, but stood in front of the makeshift stove to spread the leek dumplings for everyone.

"Yes, you go and sit down, we two will do it." Lu Youtian came over and persuaded his wife to leave, took the spatula from his eldest son, and took over the position of chef.

After handing the shovel to his father, Lu Mingfei did not leave, but stood aside and instructed his father to turn the chive box.

Xu Yueniang ate the chive dumplings and thought they tasted good, so she discussed with her husband: "This chive filling tastes good, why don't we use it as a filling for pancakes?"

Lu Qingfeng did not agree immediately because he felt that this was something made by his adopted son and it would not be good for them to use it casually.

Xu Yueniang also understood it all at once.

Lu Mingfei, who was standing nearby, looked up at his adoptive father and mother. Knowing what his adoptive father was worried about, he smiled and replied, "Well, that's fine. The cost of leek and egg fillings is not high, and we can add another sesame seed pancake flavor."

"Yeah, everyone is tired of eating braised pancakes all the time, so adding a leek and egg pancake will give everyone a change of taste. This thing smells a bit strong, but it tastes quite fragrant. If your store sells leek and egg pancakes, I will have to eat at least two a day." At first, Lu Youtian didn't like leeks very much, but after eating two bites, he found that it tasted unexpectedly delicious.

And it tastes better the more you eat it!

"Yeah, we can also make scallion pancakes. Scallion pork pancakes are also good." Lu Mingfei smacked his lips, missing all kinds of strong flavors. Like snail noodles?

Thinking of this, he looked towards the stream and asked his father, "Dad, are there any snails in the stream?"

"I haven't noticed this yet. Do you want to eat snails?" Lu Youtian asked.

"I remembered that snails can be made into a delicacy. If there are any, let's pick some up and take them home. I'll make a delicacy for everyone to taste." Should snail noodles be considered a delicacy? Lu Mingfei thought so.

"Oh, then let's go look for it together later to see if we can find it." When Lu Qingfeng heard his adopted son say that he would cook delicious food for them, he became very interested in the delicious food that his adopted son was talking about.

After the second pot of chive dumplings was cooked, they each got two.

By the time they finished the fourth pot of chive dumplings, both adults and children were satisfied.

Lu Mingfei fried the remaining chive dumplings and asked Ji Kang to take them and share them with others.

They were lucky and actually found some small mountain snails in the stream.

They picked up the snails, put them in a wooden barrel filled with water, and then put the barrel on a donkey cart and brought it back to the city.

They returned to the city before sunset.

They returned to the city a little late that day, and both families were too lazy to go home to cook, so they found a small restaurant in the city, had a meal, and then went home.

What was rare was that on this day, Lu Mingcong was coaxed back home by his adoptive father and mother.

As for the small mountain snails they brought back, Lu Mingfei took them home.

When he returned to their door, his father suddenly asked, "Why haven't you seen the door next door open?"

"..." Lu Mingfei didn't dare to say that someone else had moved in next door a long time ago, so he casually said to his father, "Maybe someone else opened the door and we didn't meet."

"Maybe." Lu Youtian remembered that in the past, the neighbor's maid would often come out to buy groceries, and he would also see the owner of the house out for a walk. But recently, he seemed to have not seen the maid out to buy groceries, nor the owner of the house out for a walk, which made him feel a little strange.

Liu Sanniang, who was walking in front, led the two boys into the yard.

Lu Mingfei and Zhang Qi followed behind his father, both of them one step behind.

Meeting Zhang Qi's gaze, Lu Mingfei blinked and showed an innocent expression.

Zhang Qi looked away, asked nothing, and said nothing.

***

So when Zhao Lang came to see him again at night and Lu Mingfei followed Zhao Lang to the yard next door for a midnight snack, he always had the illusion that he was doing something bad behind his parents' backs.

Illusion, all illusion!

Eat another skewer to calm your nerves!

He had just taken a bite of the mutton when he heard Zhao Lang across from him ask him, "The workshop has been built. Do you want to go out and take a look?"

"Okay, when are you going?" Lu Mingfei remembered that he had an appointment tomorrow, so he told Zhao Lang that he had a dinner date. "Apart from tomorrow, any other time is fine."

Zhao Lang nodded, looked at Lu Mingfei, and asked, "Who do you have an appointment with tomorrow?"

"It's Zhuo Ran, Ling Xuan, my senior brother, Feng Muchun and a few others. They are all candidates who took the exam with us twice. After this exam, we don't know when we will get together again, so we wanted to take this opportunity to get together." Lu Mingfei knew that after the college entrance examination, they might take different paths.

If they pass the college entrance exam, they will definitely have to find a place to continue their studies, so they may not be able to continue studying together. If they fail, they will each make their own arrangements.

"Then let's do it the day after tomorrow." Zhao Lang said.

"Okay, I'll clear the day after tomorrow." Lu Mingfei nodded, and the two of them agreed to go out of town together the day after tomorrow. Remembering that he had finished his exams recently and could continue practicing martial arts and horseback riding, he said to Zhao Lang, "Let's meet at your house next time. I want to pick up horseback riding and archery and continue learning them." Hobbies cannot be abandoned halfway!

"Yes, sure." Zhao Lang nodded in response.

After the two of them had a barbecue, Lu Mingfei went back to his own yard next door.

But he had eaten too much meat that night, and he couldn't fall asleep no matter how much he tossed and turned in bed. When he finally fell asleep, he heard the sound of his father and mother getting up and opening the door.

When he woke up the next morning, all the adults and children in the family had gone out, and he was the only one at home.

There was breakfast left for him in the kitchen, a bowl of steamed eggs, a stack of sesame cakes, and half a pot of porridge.

It was obvious that the steamed eggs were reserved for him that night. Lu Mingfei hadn't mentioned the idea of ​​leaving the delicious food for his younger brothers, as the children in the family would definitely have their own bowl each. So he picked up the bowl of steamed eggs and scooped it up with a spoon.

He remembered the small mountain snails he brought back yesterday. It happened that this half bucket of small mountain snails was placed in the kitchen. He came over to take a look and found that the snails in it were still alive.

He had an appointment with Ye Zhuoran and the others to have lunch at noon today, so he didn't have time to deal with these small mountain snails at noon and could only wait until he came back in the afternoon to deal with them.

He woke up quite late, and knowing that Ye Zhuoran and Zhang Lingxuan would come to pick him up to go to the restaurant, Lu Mingfei had no plans to go out. After breakfast, he rummaged around the house looking for wood. Once he found some wood, he took his tools and went to the study to do some handicrafts.

Now half of the handicraft room has been fenced off and used as Ruyi's bedroom, so they feel embarrassed to stay in the handicraft room to do handicrafts.

The lease of their yard here is until the end of this year, and it will expire in another six months.

After Lu Mingfei discussed the matter with his father and mother, they all agreed to move to a house with two courtyards. After all, the family had grown larger, and the courtyard was too small to accommodate them. If they had enough money by the end of the year, they would buy a new house. If not, they would continue to rent for another two years, and then consider buying a house after that.

If it were up to him, he would think renting a house would be fine, but his parents felt that without his own house in the city, he would not have a sense of belonging. Moreover, according to his parents, he was old enough and would be looking for a marriage in a few years. They felt that without a house, it would be difficult for him to find a marriage in the future.

Although he still felt like a child, his father and mother didn't seem to think so.

However, one of the main reasons he agreed to his family buying a house was because renting here was too expensive. Ten years of renting would be enough to buy a house here. So he didn't object to his family's idea of ​​buying a house.

But his family now had land outside the city. If they couldn't live in the city, they could build a house on their own land outside the city, right? If he didn't consider the issue of his and his brothers' future education, he actually felt that their family could live anywhere.

Of course, living in the city has its conveniences. At least he, A Nian, doesn’t have to walk too far to set up his stall and do business every day.

While his mind was wandering, he took the carving knife in his hand and made the frame and wheels.

“Knock knock—”

Just as he was thinking about all sorts of things and doing his handicraft, he heard someone knocking on the door.

"I'm here. Who's outside?" Lu Mingfei put down what he was holding and came to open the door.

"It's me and Ling Xuan." Ye Zhuoran responded from outside.

"Oh, you're here." Lu Mingfei opened the door and asked Ye Zhuoran and Zhang Lingxuan to wait for him in the study. He went back to his room to change into clothes for going out.

It didn't take him long to change his clothes, and he came to the study.

I saw Ye Zhuoran looking at something on his desk and asked him, "What is this?"

"Oh, I'm making some little gadgets." Lu Mingfei didn't explain too much and went out with Ye Zhuoran and Zhang Lingxuan.

When he left, he did not forget to close and lock the door to the yard.