Chapter 45 Cake

"Boom boom boom"

Zhao Dalong, wearing a military green cotton jacket, knocked on the door of Wang Xiuren's rented house.

Zhang Guixiang set up a stall selling Spring Festival decorations until December 23rd. With a bulging wallet, she put on her newly bought bright red cotton jacket and happily followed Zhao Dalong, carrying a plastic bag.

Wang Xiuren opened the door and invited them in to sit down

"Sister-in-law, Brother Zhao, come in and sit down!"

Lin Qiu quickly made two cups of tea and placed them on the coffee table, "Brother Zhao, sister-in-law, please have some tea!"

Wang Shan saw the visitor and ran over, "Uncle, Auntie!"

"Shanshan is so good!" Zhang Guixiang touched Wang Shan's head and took out a red sweater from the bag. "Shanshan, come and take a look. Do you like it?"

Zhang Guixiang put the sweater in front of Wang Shan and compared it to hers. "Make it a little bigger, so you can still wear it next year."

When Wang Shan saw the giant panda knitted on the sweater, she couldn't help but poke it with her fingers, and she couldn't hide the love in her eyes.

"I've asked my sister-in-law to spend money again!"

Lin Qiu took the sweater and looked at it carefully. "Sister-in-law, you are really good at knitting! I can't knit such beautiful clothes. Shanshan, did you thank your aunt?"

Wang Shan leaned on Lin Qiu and continued to look at the panda. When she heard her mother's words, she looked up and smiled at Zhang Guixiang and said, "Thank you, auntie!"

Zhang Guixiang waved her hands, "Don't thank me, this is just a small contribution from me!"

"We should thank you!" Zhao Dalong picked up the teacup and took a sip. "During this period of time, I have been following you to set up a stall to sell Spring Festival couplets. Your sister-in-law has earned a lot of money for the New Year. This year, thanks to your sister-in-law, I can also have a good year!"

Hearing Zhao Dalong's joke, Zhang Guixiang couldn't help but pat him on the shoulder.

Lin Qiu and Wang Xiuren started laughing. Although Wang Shan didn't know what everyone was laughing at, she laughed along with her tiny teeth showing.

"Brother Zhao, sister-in-law, when will your bus leave tomorrow?"

After laughing, Wang Xiuren started asking about the business.

"The bus will be at around 8 o'clock tomorrow night. I'll sleep on the bus and get home by then!"

Zhao Dalong was very excited when he talked about going home. "I'll go to your and Lin Meizi's house after I get home and pack up!"

"Then thank you, Brother Zhao and Sister-in-law!"

"It's not a big deal!" Zhao Dalong felt that helping to bring some things was nothing, "Is there anything else you want to bring?"

"It should be nothing, right?" Wang Xiuren looked at Lin Qiu.

Lin Qiu thought about it and realized that the clothes he was going to take back had already been packed and sent to Zhao Dalong’s rental house, so nothing should have been missed.

Oh, right!

There are still some New Year gifts that have not been given.

Lin Qiu took out two hundred-yuan bills from the bedroom and handed them to Zhao Dalong. "Brother Zhao, please help take a hundred yuan to my family. This is this year's New Year's gift. As for the tribute to my parents-in-law, I will send it back when the time comes."

"Okay, I promise to deliver it to your parents!"

Zhao Dalong took the money and put it in his trouser pocket. "We came here today to see if you have anything else to bring, and to say goodbye."

"It's getting late now, and we still have things to pack, so we won't stay here any longer. Let's drink together after the New Year is over, brothers!"

Zhao Dalong stood up and patted Wang Xiuren, "Little Wang, Sister Lin, your sister-in-law and I wish you a happy new year in advance!"

Wang Xiuren and Lin Qiu quickly stood up.

"Brother Zhao, sister-in-law, you too! Come home and spend the New Year with your family!"

"Then we'll go back first, see you next year!"

“See you next year!”

Although they said they would see each other next year, the next day Wang Xiuren sent Zhao Dalong and his wife to the train with the tea eggs and egg cakes prepared by Lin Qiu.

Watching the train carrying a load of wanderers on their journey home, Wang Xiuren felt empty inside.

Being a stranger in a foreign land!

Then I thought that at least I still had my wife and daughter by my side, and I felt a little better.

In the next few days, Lin Qiu continued to run the newsstand and clearly felt that as the year drew to a close, there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the street.

Wang Xiuren and Wang Shan started their vacation, but the father and daughter were not idle either. Wang Xiuren and Wang Shan set up a stall at the entrance of the community every day and sold Spring Festival decorations like crazy until New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Eve, just after dawn, Wang Xiuren held Lin Qiu and did not let her get up. He quickly put on his clothes and ran to the vegetable market to buy vegetables.

After Wang Xiuren got up, Lin Qiu still got up with a sleepy face, washed up, and went to the newsstand.

There were basically no pedestrians on the street. Occasionally a local would come by, buy newspapers or magazines, and then hurried home.

Lin Qiu didn't want to stay here during the New Year, so he closed the door of the newsstand before eight o'clock. She didn't rush home, but walked towards the pier on the commercial street.

The only cake shop on the whole street was still open. The owner was a young girl. When she saw Lin Qiu coming in, she said, "You came just in time. The cake is freshly made, too!"

This shop is not far from Lin Qiu’s newsstand. The owner of the cake shop often goes to the newsstand to buy fashion magazines. As time goes by, Lin Qiu and her will chat from time to time.

"Xiao Zhou, business is booming!"

As life gets better and better these days, it is not enough to have just chicken, duck, fish and meat on the New Year’s Eve dinner. Now it is considered trendy to have a cream cake on the table.

Zhou Ying had received sixteen orders today and was so busy that she had no time to exchange pleasantries. She could only reply perfunctorily, "Congratulations!"

Lin Qiu paid the money in advance, and seeing that she was really busy, he didn't bother her and walked home carefully carrying the cake.

When I opened the door, I saw only Wang Shan sitting on the sofa playing with building blocks.

"Shanshan, where's your dad? Hasn't he come back yet?"

"Dad came back from buying breakfast and went to buy fish!" Wang Shan raised her head and answered.

"Mom, what are you holding in your hand?" Wang Shan put down the building blocks and stared at the cake box in Lin Qiu's hand curiously.

"It's a cake!" Lin Qiu carefully placed the cake on the table and patiently told Wang Shan: "Didn't Mom tell you? Today is Dad's birthday. When Dad comes back, you have to say happy birthday to him!"

"Okay, when Dad comes back from buying fish, I'll say happy birthday to him!"

At this time, Wang Xiuren was queuing at the seafood stall, waiting for the boss to spare some time to fillet the fish.

The vegetable market was packed today. Even a strong man like him was squeezed to the limit. He thought it was a good thing that Lin Qiu and Shan Shan didn't come over. Then he thought about what else he hadn't bought.

After the boss prepared the fish fillets, Wang Xiuren squeezed into other stalls to buy crispy duck and salt-baked chicken, and then carried the purchased ingredients back to the rented house.

As soon as the person reached the door, Lin Qiu could already hear the footsteps. She quickly lit the candles on the cake, then took Wang Shan's hand and stood by the table waiting.

The moment Wang Xiuren opened the door, Wang Shan let go of her mother's hand, rushed over, hugged her father's legs and shouted, "Happy birthday, Dad!"

Wang Xiuren stood at the door holding a plastic bag, looking stunned, obviously not understanding what was going on.

It was Lin Qiu who urged, "Don't just stand there like an idiot. Come over here and blow out the candles!"

Wang Xiuren was like a piece of wood. His daughter led him to the table and blew out the candle. Still no one said anything. They just stared at Lin Qiu blankly.

"Today is your birthday, why are you in a daze?"

Lin Qiu took the plastic bag from Wang Xiuren's hand. Wang Xiuren was born on New Year's Eve, that's right!

"This is the first time I celebrate my birthday so formally!" Wang Xiuren came back to his senses.

When Wang Xiuren celebrated his birthday in the past, his family was busy preparing for the New Year and almost no one paid much attention. On the birthdays of the other brothers, Li Xiuying would specially cook an egg to show her appreciation. But on his birthday, not only was there no egg, but Li Xiuying even said, "There's so much food to eat during the Chinese New Year, so don't waste another egg!"

After marrying Lin Qiu, they were not that familiar with each other in the first year, so they could not remember birthdays. In the second year, Shanshan was born, and everyone was busy with the child and the New Year, so no one mentioned birthdays on purpose.

Lin Qiu noticed the flash of sadness in his eyes, picked up Shan Shan and put her in his arms, "Shan Shan, kiss daddy."

Wang Shan pouted her little mouth, moved close to her father's face, and gave him a kiss.

Wang Xiuren hugged his daughter tightly with one hand and Lin Qiu with the other, resting his chin on the top of her head, and said without any flirtatious words: "I think I am very lucky to marry you, and you also gave me such a good daughter."

"Why are you saying this?" Lin Qiu pursed his lips uncomfortably. "I'll go put the things down. Cut the cake quickly, or the cream will melt!"

Lin Qiu went to the kitchen to put things away. Wang Xiuren put his daughter down, cut the cake into three pieces, and handed the largest piece to his daughter.

"The cream has melted a little!" Lin Qiu took the cake handed over by Wang Xiuren.

"It's still delicious!" Wang Xiuren forked a piece of cake and put it in his mouth, "It's just expensive!"

A tiny thing is more expensive than meat!

Wang Shan ate it in small bites, and in her mind she upgraded the cream cake to the most delicious thing in the world.

Here, a family of three was eating cake affectionately, and two families far away in Hunan Province were also talking about them.

"I wonder if Qiuqiu and the others have prepared the New Year's Eve dinner properly today?" Zhou Qing muttered as he made fried dough twists. "These two girls can't taste the fried dough twists!"

"Don't worry, my sister and the others will definitely prepare a lot of delicious food!" Lin Ping was making a fire while wearing the yellow tweed coat that Lin Qiu had sent back.

"How can I feel at ease? Your three sisters are the only ones not at home. Pengcheng is so far away, and I don't know how they are doing."

Lin Ting looked at the guest who was beginning to worry again and hurriedly comforted him, "Qiuqiu and the others must be doing well! Look, she even asked Xiao Zhao to send us clothes and money. Xiao Zhao also said that Qiuqiu and Xiuren are doing well over there. Maybe they are taking Shanshan to eat delicious food!"

"After all, we can't see it, and we don't know what it is like!"

Zhou Qing also knew that people always sighed and worried during the New Year, but he was always worried about his daughter and her family who were not around.

"You're thinking so much. Let's go to the prefabrication factory early tomorrow morning. Qiuqiu will definitely call back!" Lin Ting patted Zhou Qing on the shoulder, "Hurry up and get the fried dough twist off the stove. It's almost burnt."

"oops!"

Zhou Qing didn't care about missing Lin Qiu's family, and hurriedly picked up the colander to fish out the fried dough twist.

Meanwhile, in Wangjia Village, Li Xiuying was stewing meat while complaining about Wang Xiuren to Wang Zongsheng.

"This second son is also like that. He hasn't come back for years and he made me lose face!"

Wang Zongsheng didn't join in this time. Instead, he glared at her and said, "Whose fault is this? It's all because you had nothing better to do than gossip with a bunch of sharp-tongued women!"

"I've already said it before, family disgrace should not be made public, and you and Pian Pian are so loud-mouthed that you're telling others about family matters!"

Li Xiuying shrank her neck when she was glared at, and muttered softly, "I only told you once that day, but I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that I ran into that Zhao guy who came to deliver something."

It's funny to say.

Ever since she knew that Wang Xiuren and his family would not be coming back for the New Year, Li Xiuying had discussed this privately with Wang Zongsheng. They all agreed that Wang Xiuren and his wife were having a hard time with this burden and they probably couldn't even afford the travel expenses, so they would not be coming back.

There's nothing wrong if it's just two people talking in private. But it just happened so well.

When Zhao Dalong came to deliver something on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, he happened to hear Li Xiuying sitting in the hall and chatting with a few old women.

"Alas, my second son hasn't come back this year." Li Xiuying pretended to be worried, "I told him a long time ago not to take his wife and sister Shan with him, but he didn't believe it! Now look, he can't come back this time, I guess he doesn't even have the money for the trip."

"That shouldn't be the case, right?" A kind-looking mother-in-law interrupted, "Xiu Ren and your wife both have skills, so how could they not earn money for the trip?"

"You don't know this!" Li Xiuying raised her voice, "My second brother's skills are not as good as the eldest brother's. He is just average. What's left for him to do with three mouths to feed?"

"My wife says she has a skill, but how much money can she make by bringing a baby over?"

When the bunch of old ladies heard what Li Xiuying said, they thought it made sense and agreed with her, belittling Wang Xiuren and Lin Qiu as if they were worthless.

Zhao Dalong couldn't listen any longer and interrupted, "Excuse me, is this Wang Xiuren's house? I'm Xiuren's friend, my last name is Zhao, and he asked me to bring something back."

After saying that, he took out two new sets of clothes and one hundred yuan and put them in Li Xiuying's hands in front of everyone.

"This should be Aunt Wang. Xiuren looks a bit like you!" Zhao Dalong said politely, "Xiuren and Miss Lin are very busy at work. The boss values ​​them very much, so they don't have time to come back. They specially asked me to bring back some New Year gifts!"

"Xiu Ren is the second in command in my house!" Li Xiuying was happy to receive the things and money, but she couldn't laugh anymore when she thought about how she had just complained to someone and was not only heard but also slapped in the face.

Li Xiuying forced a smile and said, "Thank you for bringing the things over, my friend Xiu Ren. Come in and have a cup of hot tea."

Zhao Dalong waved his hand and said, "Aunt, I will leave after the things are delivered. I have something else to do at home."

Zhao Dalong turned around and walked away. After taking three steps, he turned back and added, "Aunt, don't be so modest. Xiu Ren's cooking skills are really good!"

Then he left without looking back, leaving Li Xiuying with a red face.

Seeing this, the group of old women also dispersed in twos and threes.

Afterwards, thinking of this, Li Xiuying gritted her teeth and cursed Wang Xiuren and the man surnamed Zhao in her heart. If it weren't for them, how could she have lost face in front of so many people. Even the old man scolded her when he found out.

"You should be careful not to talk nonsense! Don't let others laugh at our family!" Wang Xiuren saw Li Xiuying mumbling and was a little unhappy. "And I think the second son should be doing well now. We should take care of him and stop talking nonsense!"

"My eldest brother is the one who is doing well!" Li Xiuying was not convinced. "My eldest brother has been smart since he was young, and he has made a lot of money this year! The second brother just had shit luck this year, and he will definitely not be able to catch up with the eldest brother in the future! The fortune tellers said that my eldest brother is destined to be rich and prosperous."

"Whatever you think, just don't tell anyone about it!" Wang Zong ordered.

Wang Zongsheng picked up a piece of crispy meat and put it in his mouth, chewing it carefully. He thought of his four sons. The eldest and the second seemed to have made a lot of money this year, the third also made a lot, and the fourth was also starting to make money. He felt very proud. In the entire Wangjia Village, who is as lucky as I am?