Chapter 202: Eating and Taking

Lin Qi used red beans from the black market to induce labor and got four sacks. She ground red beans to make soy milk yesterday and soaked 20 to 30 kilograms of red beans in hot water last night. She put the red beans in the pot and steamed them this morning. She planned to make some red bean paste and make red bean paste buns.

She made the noodles early in the morning.

While she was busy with these things, the vines would wrap around the children, bringing them around her so that they could watch her work.

The four children are now almost four months old, and their understanding of the world has become clearer.

Sometimes they stared at their mother, and sometimes they slapped the vines, pointing here and there, and babbling.

Lin Qi knew that they were bored of staying in one place, so she would control the vines to take them around the yard, taking them to see chickens, rabbits, and deer... With the four siblings together, they didn't need Lin Qi to accompany them, the four of them could keep each other company.

Sometimes when she saw them talking to each other, Lin Qi even wondered if they had a language system that she couldn't understand.

Chu Guoan's mother, wife, son and daughter arrived at eleven o'clock. Each of them rode a bicycle with a child on the back.

Lin Qi was steaming buns when she heard a knock on the door.

She glanced at the children drinking milk in the cradle and walked quickly towards the door.

Lin Qi and Chu's sister-in-law had met before. When she saw Chu's sister-in-law, Lin Qi knew the identities of the other three people. She greeted them one by one, "Aunt, sister-in-law, Xiaowei, Xiaojing, you are here, please come in."

"This is Qiqi, you are so pretty." Aunt Chu came up and grabbed Lin Qi's hand, looking at Lin Qi's face carefully with her eyes, feeling both fondness and amazement.

When Mrs. Chu looked at her mother-in-law, she couldn't help but feel a little sad. Her mother-in-law didn't like her so much when she first met her.

"Xiaowei and Xiaojing, don't just stand there like idiots. Call someone quickly. Call auntie." Mrs. Chu reminded her two stunned children.

"Mom, my aunt looks only sixteen or seventeen years old. Shouldn't I call her sister?" Chu Wei asked doubtfully.

Chu Jing nodded in agreement, "That's right, I'm eleven years old, my brother is thirteen, and my aunt is only in her teens, so I should call her sister."

"Auntie is 23 years old this year, not a teenager." Lin Qi corrected Chu Wei and Chu Jing with a smile.

This time, not only Chu Wei and Chu Jing, but also Sister-in-law Chu and Aunt Chu were a little surprised.

"You're already 23, I can't tell, you look as young as a 17 or 18-year-old girl." Mrs. Chu was envious. She gave birth to a child at the age of 18, so she's already 31 this year. In the past few years, everyone's life was not easy, and people aged quickly. Now life is better, but old is old, and it's even harder to get younger.

But even so, she was still good, thinking that she looked young among her peers. Until now, when Lin Qi was 23 years old...

Shouldn't women who work in the fields have dark, rough and spotted skin? Why is she so fair and fresh?

Mrs. Chu really wanted to ask Lin Qi for the secret of maintaining her health, but it was too late today. "Your brother Guoan is in the hospital alone. He can't stay without someone to accompany him. I'm going back first and will come back in the afternoon. Xiaowei and Xiaojing, be good, okay?"

Xiao Wei and Xiao Jing nodded and said in a long tone, "I know--"

After watching Mrs. Chu leave, Lin Qi began to lead people home.

"Auntie, your house is so big." Xiaowei exclaimed sincerely.

"It's big, but a little empty." Aunt Chu felt it was a pity to leave such a large piece of land empty.

"There used to be quite a lot of rooms, but they were demolished after we moved in, leaving only four," said Lin Qi.

"Ah, why tear it down?" Chu Wei was puzzled. Isn't it good to have more rooms? Like his family, he just wants to have an independent room. There are six people in his family, three rooms plus a living room, one for grandparents, one for parents, and he can only share one with his sister.

But his situation is relatively good, he doesn't have a separate room, but at least he has a separate bed. Unlike his classmates, who are teenagers and still have to sleep with their parents, brothers and sisters, that's really miserable.

"The house is too old and has not been maintained for a long time. Many rooms have become dangerous, so it was demolished." Lin Qi said. Hearing the child crying, she quickened her pace.

"Oh, why are the children crying? Go and check them out." Aunt Chu also quickened her pace.

"They were drinking milk just now, so they must have peed or defecated." Lin Qi said.

"You're the first one to cry again." Lin Qi poked the fourth child's face. The fourth child was the weakest and the most clingy when he was born. He was always the first to cry when he was not around for a while.

"Wow, there are really four dolls!" Chu Jing exclaimed.

Lin Qi just smiled when she heard her say this.

"These four children are so good-looking!" Aunt Chu's eyes lit up. The chubby white children are the favorites of their grandparents.

How come it's so plump and clean?

"You and your wife have been raising these four children yourselves?"

"Well, we don't have any elders around, so we've always been raising our own children."

"What did you eat to grow so well? For four children, breast milk is not enough, right?"

"I don't have breast milk, so I was fed goat's milk since I was born." But later they switched to deer milk.

"They can grow so well by drinking goat's milk. If I had known earlier, I would have given Xiaowei and Xiaojing goat's milk to drink." There was a hint of regret in Aunt Chu's tone.

"I think Xiaowei and Xiaojing are growing up very well and look healthy." Lin Qi was speaking the truth. They were only in their early teens, but the two children were already 1.56 meters tall, much taller than she and Xu Hexiao were at the beginning.

When Aunt Chu heard others praising her grandchildren, her eyes narrowed into slits with smile.

Lin Qi changed the diapers for the four children and put them back in the cradles.

"Aunt, we will help you look after your younger brothers and sisters, you go and do your work." Chu Wei said. Dad said that we came here today to help aunt look after the children.

"Okay, then I'll trouble Xiaowei and Xiaojing." Lin Qi walked towards the kitchen while talking, "Let's have lunch at my aunt's house. What do you want to eat?"

"We brought food with us." Aunt Chu opened the basket she had been carrying since she entered the house. There were four lunch boxes in the basket. She opened the four lunch boxes one by one. They were filled with pork stewed with cabbage, minced meat and eggplant, fried fish cubes, and braised pig's trotters. "We brought food with us. You just need to cook some rice."

Lin Qi raised her eyebrows, "There are ready-made buns. Do you want to eat buns or rice?"

"Just the buns will do, and heat up the dishes."

"Okay, the fire is still burning. I'll pick out the buns and put the vegetables in the steamer. It will be ready soon."

The steamed buns were just out of the steamer, and they were still steaming. Lin Qi made quite a lot of them, filling two large baskets.

"Your wood stove is great, the food is delicious." Unlike those who live in high-rise buildings, they can only burn coal. A coal-burning stove cannot steam so many buns at a time.

"Food cooked on a wood stove is indeed more delicious. You can try the steamed buns I made, filled with red bean paste."

Aunt Chu took it with a smile, "The red bean paste filling is good, I like the red bean paste filling."

Lin Qi lit the stove in the living room, moved the cradle into the living room, and placed two baskets of buns on the dining table in the living room.

"There are plenty of buns, so eat as much as you can." Lin Qi greeted them and turned around to pour out three bowls of hot water with honey.

There were indeed a lot of buns, more than a hundred.

"Our family only makes so many buns during the Chinese New Year." Chu Jing leaned close to her brother's ear and whispered.

Chu Wei also lowered his voice, "Aunt's family should be very rich."

The two siblings huddled together and whispered. Although the buns smelled delicious, they were very restrained and only took a small bite.

"The red bean paste filling is really well made, soft and sweet." Aunt Chu praised.

The Chu Wei brothers and sisters nodded repeatedly, "It's delicious."

"I just made the red bean paste this morning, and there's still a lot left. I don't need it for the time being, so I'll give it all to you," said Lin Qi.

Aunt Chu smiled a little embarrassedly, "It's not good for us to eat and take at the same time."

"It's just some bean paste filling, not something expensive, so don't be so formal." Lin Qi didn't care.

Aunt Chu disagreed with her, "Red beans and sugar are both good things for nourishing the body."

"Since it's a good thing, you should take it back. It would be a waste if you keep it with me."

"Really?"

"I made so many buns today, I don't know when I can finish eating them all by myself, no need."

"Okay then, I'll shamelessly accept it from your aunt."

By the time Lin Qi and others finished their lunch, the four children had fallen asleep.

Lin Qi took the four children back to their room to sleep, and then came to the hall to accompany Aunt Chu and the other two.

"The children are very well behaved. They fall asleep by themselves after eating and don't make any noise." Aunt Chu exclaimed in amazement. Children who can fall asleep by themselves are so worry-free and so rare.

When talking about the child, Lin Qi became gentle and said, "He is very well behaved."

In the afternoon, Lin Qi and a few others moved their chatting place from the living room to the kitchen. While burning firewood, Lin Qi suggested roasting sweet potatoes.

"We've just eaten, why are you roasting them again?" Aunt Chu blocked Lin Qi's hand, preventing her from putting the sweet potatoes into the fire.

"It takes time to bake sweet potatoes. By the time they are done, you will be hungry. These are the sweet potatoes I brought from the countryside. They are very sweet and you can't find them anywhere else. You can try them."

"Thank you, auntie. I like roasted sweet potatoes the most." Chu Jing said sweetly. They have a stove at home, so it is very difficult to eat roasted sweet potatoes.

"You're welcome. Eat as much as you can. There's no shortage of sweet potatoes at my aunt's house."

Aunt Chu: “…”

I didn't help much after coming here, and I just wasted their food.

In the evening, Chu Wei and Chu Jing walked out of Lin Qi's house, holding their waists.

"What happened to them?" Mrs. Chu, who came to pick them up, was dumbfounded.

"They are full." Aunt Chu said unhappily, but she couldn't help feeling uneasy in her heart. Not only were her grandchildren full, she was not much better off. Lin Qi was too enthusiastic and kept persuading her, so she couldn't resist.

But having said that, the food at Lin Qi’s house is really delicious.

Mrs. Chu's expression was a little complicated. "Do we usually starve you?"

"Mom, the food at my aunt's house is so delicious that we can't control ourselves." He drank five bowls of sugar water alone.

Chu Jing also nodded, "Yes, it's delicious. Mom, we brought a lot back. You'll know when you try it later. You can't stop eating it."

Mrs. Chu looked at the baskets in their hands. There was one when they came, and now there are three. Chu Wei noticed his mother's gaze and took the initiative to introduce, "That basket is buns with red bean paste filling. The buns are also red bean paste filling. They are very delicious. They are the best red bean paste buns I have ever eaten. That basket is roasted sweet potatoes. We roasted them this afternoon. They are fragrant and sweet, and they are full of syrup. This basket is raw sweet potatoes. Auntie said that raw sweet potatoes are very delicious when steamed or boiled in sugar water."

After saying that, Chu Wei licked his lips and said, "Mom, let's cook sweet potato soup tomorrow."

Mrs. Chu's expression was indescribable. She ignored her son and daughter who loved to eat and looked at her mother-in-law, "You just let them eat and take away so much of other people's food?"

Aunt Chu was too guilty to look her daughter-in-law in the eye. "It's so delicious. I want you to have a taste too."

Sister Chu: "..."

"We won't eat or take Qiqi's things for free. I decided to make two hats for each of the four children when I get back so that they can wear them in winter." Aunt Chu said.

"Okay, I'll give you the ticket when I get home tonight, and you can choose the fabric and cotton yourself."

Mrs. Chu and her mother-in-law first sent the child home, and then rode their bikes to the hospital.

"We're having steamed buns and roasted sweet potatoes tonight." Mrs. Chu came in with a plate of steamed buns and a plate of roasted sweet potatoes.

Looking at the steaming buns and sweet potatoes, Chu Guoan was a little confused. "The canteen only cooked this today. There are no other dishes?"

"This is not from the cafeteria, it's from Qiqi's house. Our mother, son and daughter ate and took away, and brought back three baskets of food from Qiqi's house." Mrs. Chu was angry and amused, "When I went to pick them up, they came out of someone else's house holding their waists, their stomachs were bulging, and they were not afraid of bursting. But let alone them, even our mother ate a lot, I saw her walking with a bulging belly. I was afraid that they would have indigestion and feel uncomfortable, so I said to give them some hawthorn water to drink, but they said it was fine, they were full and their bodies were warm, and except for being a little bloated, there was no other problem."

"Your body is warm?" Chu Guoan seemed to be thinking about something. He took a bun, put it in his mouth and took a bite. "It's really delicious. You should try it too."

The couple ate more than a dozen buns and seven or eight sweet potatoes and felt full.

"It is indeed a little warm, but if you don't feel it carefully, you won't be able to notice it easily." Mrs. Chu was just surprised.

Chu Guoan's expression turned cautious. "These buns, sweet potatoes and oranges have similar effects."

Mrs. Chu's eyes widened. "What's going on? Could it be that they put something in the food? How about we ask a doctor to check it out?"

Chu Guoan shook his head. "No need. Even if they put something in the food, it must be a good thing. The doctor checks my body every day and says that I recover faster than they expected. I conclude that it is most likely because I ate those oranges. Now we have sweet potatoes and buns at home, and I still have about 20 kilograms of oranges left. You pick up 10 and send them to Lao Guan later. Lao Guan has been transferred to the general ward, but his condition is not very good. After only a few days, he has lost a lot of weight. He said that the pain from the wound kept him awake all night. Eating oranges can relieve the pain, and it should allow him to sleep well."

He went to see Lao Guan today, and felt very sad when he saw how haggard he looked.

"Okay, I'll send it to him now." Mrs. Chu agreed.

"Lao Guan's son will come to guard at night. You should supervise him to eat and then come back." Chu Guoan reminded.

"Okay, I'll peel them for him. I'll leave after he eats two."

"When you bring the buns and sweet potatoes tomorrow, bring some for Lao Guan as well."

"There are quite a lot of buns and sweet potatoes, but we have a large family and they are consumed quickly. Especially the sweet potatoes, your son and daughter are watching them closely. I don't know if they will bring them to the hospital tomorrow, they are eager to cook sweet potato soup."

Chu Guoan's mouth twitched when he heard this, "Then you can bring less, four buns and four sweet potatoes each, and Lao Guan and I will share them."