Early in the morning, the residents of the regimental headquarters' family compound smelled the aroma of meat as soon as they got up.
The aroma of this meat is so strong that you can smell it even inside the house.
The little kids, who were fast asleep, were all woken up by the aroma of meat.
The little kids, who had just woken up, sniffed and suddenly realized something. They hurriedly dressed, grabbed their bowls, and ran outside, and couldn't be stopped even by calling them.
This left their parents completely bewildered.
...
"Niu Niu, where are you going so early in the morning with that bowl?"
"Mom, I'm going to my aunt's house to have beef bone soup."
Niu Niu felt very guilty, so she quickly ran out.
When she ran into the yard, she subconsciously glanced at the pile of firewood at the base of the east wall.
"Niu Niu, don't go. What's so good about that beef bone soup? Come back right away."
Seeing her mother chasing after her, Niu Niu ignored her and hurriedly ran out of the yard.
"Hey? Niu Niu? Niu Niu?"
Li Shulan was furious when she saw her daughter run away.
Her husband is the battalion commander of the third battalion in the regiment, and he previously competed with Zhuang Mingcheng for the position of deputy regimental commander.
Although neither of them was ultimately selected, their relationship soured; otherwise, she wouldn't have deliberately targeted Lu Fangfang.
She had originally planned not to go to Lu Fangfang's place this morning, but now her daughter had gone instead.
If you drink someone else's meat soup, you'll owe them a favor.
When Lu Fangfang and Zhuang Mingcheng got married, shouldn't they have given each other some gifts?
The thought of this gave Li Shulan a headache; it was too late to say anything now.
Since her daughter had already gone, she thought about it for a while and decided to go too. Since she had to send gifts anyway, she figured she might as well take advantage of it.
"Old Song, I'm going out for a bit, I'll be right back."
Li Shulan said goodbye to her lover, took the enamel basin, and left.
When she passed by her own yard, she always felt that something was missing, but after looking around a few times, she couldn't find it.
...
Lu Fangfang's house was already bustling with activity.
Unexpectedly, instead of my sisters-in-law, a bunch of little kids showed up first.
These little kids, each holding a bowl and a spoon, craned their necks to look into the big iron pot, looking both cute and funny.
"It's not boiling yet, please wait a little longer."
Lu Fangfang couldn't stop laughing when she saw them.
Yang Yufeng was asked to bring out the table from the room, and she arranged for the little kids to sit behind it one by one.
Daya, Tiedan, Niuniu, and Yang Yufeng's two children—ten little rascals were sitting at the table, almost filling it to capacity.
Do you eat cilantro?
"I'll eat."
"I'll eat too."
The little kids all started talking at once, vying to be the first to speak.
"Auntie, I...I don't want to eat."
Niu Niu raised her hand somewhat shyly.
"Okay, then Auntie won't give it to you."
Lu Fangfang put away all their bowls.
After a while, the soup in the pot boiled. Lu Fangfang stirred it with a spoon and then ladled out beef bone soup for the little kids.
Remembering the firewood the children had given her, she scooped more beef into her bowl.
Wang Shufen and Yang Yufeng also came to help.
The two women took the bowls filled with beef bone soup and walked toward the children.
There was an enamel basin on the table with cilantro in it. They pinched some and put it into the soup, then placed it in front of the little kids.
"This bowl is for Niu Niu, don't put cilantro in it."
Lu Fangfang gave Yang Yufeng a word of advice, then looked at the little kids, "The soup is fresh out of the pot and still hot. Blow on it and let it cool down a bit before you eat it, so you don't burn yourselves."
She was mainly worried about Yang Yufeng's daughter, after all, she was the kind of person who dared to put her hands on the pot.
After watching patiently for a while, seeing that the little girl wasn't as crazy as she had been yesterday, Lu Fangfang finally felt relieved.
"Ahem, Fangfang, little sister..."
Yang Yufeng swallowed hard and handed over the bowl.
"Um?"
Lu Fangfang turned around and looked at the little kids, who now each had a bowl of beef bone soup in front of them.
"Mine... mine."
"Your sisters-in-law haven't even arrived yet, but you've already started eating."
Lu Fangfang looked disgusted, but she still took it, after all, the other person had been busy all morning.
She scooped a bowlful and handed it to Yang Yufeng.
"Sister Shufen, give me that small basin, I'll fill it up for you, you can take it back to Political Commissar Xiao to eat."
Wang Shufen didn't stand on ceremony and came over with a small basin.
There was nothing to be embarrassed about; she had been wanting to try the beef offal from the pot for a long time.
After Lu Fangfang scooped it up, she took the small basin and went back.
"Auntie, your soup is so delicious!"
"It's delicious, even better than my mom's cooking."
Upon hearing this, the kids all nodded in agreement.
"My mom's cooking is terrible."
"My mom too."
"Shhh."
Lu Fangfang broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly told the kids to focus on eating the meat.
She invited them to dinner to improve her relationship with her sisters-in-law, not to stir up hatred.
The little kid seemed a bit unsatisfied.
"Look, look, there are diced meats in my bowl."
"I have some in my bowl too, huh? What's this?"
Daya held chopsticks and picked up something that looked like a dishcloth.
"This is tripe, it's good stuff, eat it quickly."
Just as Lu Fangfang finished speaking, a commotion came from outside.
Turning her head, she saw several of her sisters-in-law walking in together, one of whom was her long-faced sister-in-law, Li Shulan.
"Comrade Lu, did my son come here?"
Lu Fangfang nodded and welcomed her sisters-in-law in.
Several women walked into the courtyard and saw the little boy sitting at the table like an adult, drinking beef bone soup. They were all at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Li Shulan walked up to Niu Niu and glared at her daughter, "You little glutton, didn't you just eat beef last night?"
Niu Niu kept her head down and ate heartily, completely ignoring her mother.
Li Shulan was even angrier, but she couldn't say much in front of everyone.
Holding the enamel basin, she walked directly towards Lu Fangfang.
"Huh? Why does it smell so good?"
Looking at the steaming hot iron pot, Li Shulan sniffed, quite surprised.
How can a few bits of beef bones and offal smell so good? How is this made?
Seeing Lu Fangfang stirring with a spoon, Li Shulan couldn't help but swallow. She then handed her a small enamel basin.
Lu Fangfang had a half-smile on her face.
Yesterday, someone confidently declared that beef bone soup was nothing special.
"Sister-in-law Shulan, I thought you weren't coming."
"I……"
Li Shulan couldn't save face, so she turned around and glared at her daughter again.
"Sister-in-law Shulan, I'm treating everyone to beef bone soup, it's not a waste of money."
Lu Fangfang added another sentence, still feeling uneasy about what happened yesterday.
Just as she was about to take the bowl from Li Shulan, Yang Yufeng barged in.
"Fangfang is not wasteful. You didn't see it, but oh my, Fangfang used beef bones to make a pot of beef tallow and filled a big jar."
"Spendthrift? Bah! Fangfang is a family-oriented girl."
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