Chapter 111

Li Chengxi said, "What do you think, Manman? It's not that Li Mingcheng is just unwilling, is it? If Manman doesn't like him, just tell him straight out. He's not the kind of person who would get tangled up. I can guarantee that."

Lin Tao shook her head: "To be honest, Mingcheng's personality is much more pleasing to girls than you. When you looked so stern at the beginning, you could be regarded as a door god by others if you stood at the door. When I saw you for the first time, I couldn't help but feel scared in my heart."

Li Chengxi looked at Lin Tao: "Really? Then why do I remember that there seemed to be a little girl who went to her sister-in-law to ask about it?"

Lin Tao: "So you're still planning to come to Lu County to find me."

"Yes, I was thinking at that time, no matter where you are, I must find you, otherwise I may regret it for the rest of my life." Li Chengxi said seriously.

Lin Tao leaned in Li Chengxi's arms, thinking about what happened in the past, both of them couldn't help laughing. Fortunately, they found each other.

Continuing to talk about the issue between Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman, Lin Tao said, "But what I am most worried about is Zhang Sufen. According to Zhang Sufen's personality, she will probably be the first to object to this. So I told Manman not to rush to agree to Mingcheng and wait until he has settled all the family affairs before discussing this matter."

Li Chengxi said, "Well, let Li Mingcheng handle this. If he can't even handle this, then forget about dating."

After the two finished chatting about Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman, it was already late and the lights had gone out.

The room darkened. Li Chengxi lifted the quilt and hugged Lin Tao's slender waist.

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After talking with Lin Tao last night, Lin Manman found a pot the next day, scooped some soil, and planted the sunflower seeds sent by Li Mingcheng.

Then place the pot outside the balcony of the dormitory. Sunflowers are easy to grow, as long as they are given enough water and sunlight.

Even though she got a positive answer from Lin Tao, she was not in a hurry to write back to Hainan. Instead, she took advantage of the time when she was planting sunflowers to think carefully about her thoughts and sent a package to Xiangcheng, which contained things she sent to Aunt Fang and a letter.

Aunt Fang replied very quickly, and in the letter, she also supported her. She had grown up and could make many decisions on her own. But Lin Tao was right. Dating and getting married was not a simple matter between two people. It still needed the consent of the other party's parents.

Sunflowers are planted in spring and bloom under the bright sunshine two months later when midsummer arrives.

Lin Manman wrote back to Hainan at this time. Li Mingcheng sent a reply soon after receiving the letter, in which he assured her not to worry and that he would definitely resolve the matter.

Not long after, Lin Tao's family also received good news, that is, Li Chengxi was promoted to deputy brigadier.

Even though Lin Tao's family had known that this day would come, they could not hide their joy when they actually heard the news.

On such a happy day, the family must have a good meal.

Lin Changhai killed a duck with clean and neat movements. The duck, which had been struggling non-stop, became motionless after struggling a few times. He brought a bowl and placed it underneath to collect the blood.

Yueyue squatted beside him and watched, whispering, "Grandpa, the duck is bleeding."

When he spoke, his face was wrinkled into a ball, and it was obvious that he must be in pain.

Lin Changhai smiled and said, "Let mom roast duck for you tonight and give Yueyue duck legs."

Yueyue sipped her saliva. As soon as she mentioned delicious food, she immediately stopped caring whether the duck was in pain or not. She nodded like crazy: "Okay, Yueyue wants to eat duck claws too."

"Okay, give it all to Yueyue." Lin Changhai smiled lovingly at Yueyue, "Yueyue, eat more and grow up quickly."

"Yueyue has grown so tall!" Yueyue stood up, tiptoed, and stretched her hands higher than her head.

When Yueyue was little, she looked like Li Chengxi, but when she got older, she looked like Lin Tao. When Lin Changhai took care of Yueyue, it was as if he had gone back to the time when he took care of Lin Tao more than 20 years ago.

It's a pity that at that time he had to work in a factory to earn money for the support of his father and daughter. Factory vacancies were hard to come by at that time. He was assigned to the factory by the army after he was discharged from the army. Otherwise, it was very difficult for a countryman to work in a factory in the city at that time.

In order not to lose this rare job, Lin Changhai went to work in the factory when Lin Tao was just one month old. To be honest, if it weren't for Fang Min, I really don't know what I would have done.

Lin Changhai has always felt sorry for Lin Tao because he spent too little time with her.

But his daughter Lin Tao was sensible since she was young and always felt that her father worked hard. When he was not running long distances, Lin Tao would sit on the steps at the gate of the courtyard, waiting for him to come back.

Lin Changhai poured the boiled water into the basin and threw the bled duck in. He wanted to soften the duck's feathers so that they would be easier to pluck.

When Lin Changhai was frying the hair, Yueyue wanted to come over to help, but the water was too hot, so Lin Changhai didn't let her do it. Yueyue sat on the wooden horse and swayed.

Hearing the sound of the courtyard door being opened, Yueyue turned her head and saw Lin Tao coming back with a piece of pork in her hand. Yueyue jumped off the wooden horse and shouted, "Grandpa, Mom is back. What good things did you buy?"

Lin Tao said, "Today my mother is cooking braised pork with pork belly."

Yueyue was very happy to hear this answer, but after laughing, she asked again: "What kind of meat is Mama Braised Pork?"

She has never eaten braised pork yet!

"Broiled pork with soy sauce tastes better than braised pork," said Lin Changhai.

Braised pork with preserved vegetables is a staple dish in Xiangcheng. It can only be eaten during the Chinese New Year when the commune kills the New Year pig and distributes the pork.

Two months ago, Lin Tao dried some dried plums, which can be used now.

The pork skin must be blanched in a pan so that it will not have any fishy smell. The braised pork should be cut into larger pieces than the braised pork, but the thickness is thinner than the braised pork. Wash the dried mustard greens and squeeze out the water, then stir-fry with a little dried chili. The meat is first boiled and then fried. After this, the meat has been processed very fragrant, but this is not enough.

Cut the fried meat into slices as thick as the tip of a chopstick. There was a happy event at home today, so Lin Tao bought more than two kilograms of pork belly, which was just enough to fill a bowl. Then put the dried mustard greens on top of the meat slices and pour soy sauce on them, mainly to add color.

Then put it into the pot and steam it for more than two hours before the braised pork is ready.

It would take more than three hours to prepare a dish like this. Fortunately, Lin Tao had nothing to do at school today. After returning from school at around one o'clock, she went to the food factory to buy pork. It was just two o'clock in the afternoon when she got home. After finishing this dish, it was just the time for Li Chengxi to come back in the evening.

In addition to braised pork with preserved vegetables, Lin Tao also fried duck.

The duck was fried first, and then Lin Tao took out a duck leg and a duck foot and put them aside. This was for Yueyue to eat. Yueyue was still young and couldn't eat spicy food, so every time she made these dishes, Lin Tao would take out some for Yueyue to eat alone before adding the chili.

Add the remaining peppers and continue to stir-fry. The duck meat is very fragrant when it is fried well. In fact, both Lin Tao and Lin Changhai, father and daughter, like to eat duck heads. Duck heads taste delicious.

However, if duck meat is not handled properly, it will have a duck smell. Lin Tao has a unique technique to remove the duck smell. The ducks made by her have no fishy smell at all.

In addition to these two dishes, Lin Tao also fried some pink chili, which is made from corn flour and chili. Just like pickling sauerkraut, the pink chili can be pickled and fried after a few days.

Pour a little oil into the pan and fry the chili peppers into a pancake shape. After both sides are fried, take them out of the pan, cut them into slices with a knife, and eat them directly.

This is a dish from Xiangcheng, and it tastes really good. Lin Tao loved it the most when she was little. If Aunt Fang made spicy pink at home, she and Lin Manman would definitely eat it up secretly before dinner time.

Every time Aunt Fang saw this, she felt helpless, so she just made this dish as a snack for the two of them.

The family was poor at that time, and except for the time when Lin Changhai would buy them some peach cakes or something like that when he got his salary, they would look forward to the arrival of the eldest master who made popcorn every day.

The old man traveled everywhere, and only came once every six months. Every time he came, the children in the commune would bring a small bag of corn from home and a large cloth bag. The old man charged 20 cents for each popcorn. If you wanted something sweeter, you had to bring sugar from home.

However, white sugar is too expensive and people in the countryside are reluctant to use it. Moreover, even without adding white sugar, the popcorn is still fragrant and delicious to them.

Often a small bag of corn kernels can make a large bag of popcorn. Popcorn tastes fragrant and crispy and can be eaten for a long time.

While Lin Tao was busy here, Chen Shuifen came over and said with a smile: "Why did your family cook so many delicious dishes today? There must be a happy event at home, right? Did Captain Li get promoted again?"

Lin Tao had just cut the chili peppers, smiled at Chen Shuifen, handed her a piece of chili peppers, and said, "Well, Cheng Xi has been promoted to deputy brigade commander, where is Commander Zheng?"

"Old Zheng hasn't been promoted yet, so he probably has to wait a little longer. Your Captain Li is an outstanding graduate of the military academy. Do you know what everyone says about Captain Li? He is the youngest captain on the island, and now he has been promoted to deputy brigade commander. His future is bright." Chen Shuifen said, giving a thumbs up.

If it were someone else, if they knew that other people's men got promoted but their own men didn't, I guess those with a smaller mind would start to feel uncomfortable.

But when Chen Shuifen said this, Lin Tao really believed that she would not feel uncomfortable because of this kind of thing.

Chen Shuifen took a bite of the spicy pink and said, "This is quite delicious."

"It's pink chili. If you like it, just take some over and fry it in a little oil. It's not a big deal." Lin Tao said.

"Okay, get me some." Chen Shuifen nodded and said.

The two of them would give each other things from time to time. If you thought something in my house was delicious, you would take some back, and if I thought something in your house was delicious, I would take some back too.

Chen Shuifen: "Oh, I'll go home and get a bowl, otherwise it will be hard to put it in."

Lin Tao had already filled her own bowl and said, "It's okay, take it first, and ask Hong Xing to bring the bowl back later."

"Okay, that brat has smelled the fragrance of your house for a long time and was clamoring to come over, but I didn't let him. This brat failed the exam again and really pissed me off. All he could think about was food." Chen Shuifen was so angry when she talked about Zheng Hongxing.

林桃笑了笑，其實鄭紅星不笨的，他就是太愛玩了，學不太進去。而且是屬于打一下，就動一下的那種。就好比這回考試他考的不好，回去就被陳水芬揍了一頓，他記住了這頓揍，那麽下回考試的時候，成績又會突飛猛進一下，從五十幾分考到八十幾分。

Although it is not particularly good, it has improved rapidly.

Lin Tao has also thought about this problem and talked to Zheng Hongxing once. However, Lin Tao feels that Zheng Hongxing is actually a very thoughtful child. There are top talents in all 36 professions, and it is not necessary to achieve success in studies.

Chen Shuifen returned home and started planning to cook dinner. She planned to fry some chili peppers, make a braised fish, bake some pancakes, and stir-fry some leeks.

"Xiangyang, please help me return the bowl to your Aunt Lin's house." Chen Shuifen called out to the outside.

Zheng Xiangyang was about to agree when Zheng Hongxing quickly stood up from her chair and said, "Mom, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go and deliver the bowls!"

Chen Shuifen glanced at him and asked, "Have you finished your homework?"

"It's done. I've done it all, Mom. If you don't believe me, you can check it out." Zheng Hongxing assured.

"I'm busy right now, so I don't have time to check on you. Okay, when you're done, go and deliver the bowl to your Aunt Lin's house. I'm warning you, you little bastard, act like a starving ghost. Come back and eat later, otherwise I'll beat you up." Chen Shuifen said.

Zheng Hongxing swallowed his saliva and said, "I know. I'll just smell it."

Chen Shuifen scolded: "You are born in the year of the dog, and you still want to smell it."

Zheng Hongxing took the bowl and ran to the next room. Yueyue was very happy to see Zheng Hongxing and shouted, "Brother Hongxing!"

"Sister." Zheng Hongxing touched Yueyue's little head, "Where is the golden hoop that I gave you?"

Yueyue pointed inside the house: "Inside."

"Okay, as long as it's still there." Zheng Hongxing nodded, "Brother got another picture book. This time it's about the Monkey King making a scene in the Heavenly Palace. It's amazing. I'll come over and tell you about it after I finish dinner."

"Okay, thank you Brother Hongxing!" Yueyue blinked her big eyes, her face full of excitement. She likes Brother Hongxing reading comic books to her the most. The Monkey King and Nezha are both so amazing!

Zheng Hongxing walked in, saw Lin Tao and called out, "Auntie Lin, I'll bring the bowls."

"It's Red Star. Leave the bowl here." Lin Tao said with a smile, and picked up a piece of duck meat from the bowl, saying, "Eat quickly. Aunt Lin's family roasted duck today."

Gulp, Zheng Hongxing swallowed his saliva, but still shook his head: "My mother said I can't eat it... I'll go home and eat later."

"It's okay. Are you still embarrassed in front of Aunt Lin?" Lin Tao smiled.

Zheng Hongxing looked at the tempting duck meat that was emitting a fragrant and hot aroma. He couldn't help but took the duck meat and started eating: "Auntie Lin, it smells so good."

After eating, Zheng Hongxing wiped his mouth and went home.

Not long after Zheng Hongxing got home, Li Chengxi came back. Yueyue was so happy to see her father. She remembered what her grandfather had taught her today and couldn't wait to say, "Dad! Congratulations on your promotion... promotion... Grandpa, what did you get?"

How could she forget it so quickly?

Lin Tao just finished cooking the dishes. She came out with the dishes and said, "Dad has been promoted to deputy brigade commander. Now he is deputy brigade commander. Okay, the dishes are ready. Come and wash your hands and eat."

The family went to wash their hands. Lin Changhai had just finished feeding the sheep and went to pour water after washing his hands when he happened to run into Zheng Youde coming back.

At the gate, Zheng Youde smelled the fragrance coming from Lin Tao's house. He smiled and greeted Lin Changhai, saying, "Hey, Lao Lin, your captain Li has been promoted. You must have cooked a lot of delicious food at home, right? I can smell the fragrance from far away outside. Teacher Lin's cooking skills are really good."

Lin Changhai smiled and invited, "How about, Xiao Zheng, come to my house for a drink tonight?"

Zheng Youde shook his head and said, "Forget about it today. I'll go home and eat tonight. We can have a drink together next time."

Lin Changhai nodded: "Okay."

The two of them went back home. As soon as Zheng Youde walked into the yard, he couldn't wait to ask Chen Shuifen: "What delicious food did you cook at home?"

Zheng Xiangyang and Zheng Hongxing saw their father coming back, and hurried into the kitchen to help serve the dishes. Chen Shuifen took off her apron and said, "You can see for yourself. What delicious food there is, braised fish, pink chili peppers, pancakes, and fried leeks."

Zheng Youde washed his hands and entered the living room. When he saw the dishes on the table, he was a little unhappy and swore, "Is that all? And the cakes are cornmeal cakes. Look at the life of Teacher Lin's family, and then look at our family. Is this how we live? Only people in Teacher Lin's family live."

Zheng Hongxing was still savoring the duck meat he had eaten at Lin Tao's house. When he heard what his father said, he nodded hurriedly: "That's right, Aunt Lin's family is the way to live..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Shuifen slapped him on the back of the head.

Chen Shuifen said, "Zheng Youde, have you forgotten the time when we ate sweet potatoes together in our hometown? This is not like you."

This is the truth. Zheng Youde has experienced hardships in his life. He had a lot of hard times in the past. At home, he would eat whatever Chen Shuifen cooked, and he never complained that the food at home was not good enough.

And today we cooked a fish at home, so the meal is not bad. We can't always have big fish and meat, right? Even if we have money, we can't cook like this.

Then I heard Zheng Youde say, "Today is different. There is a happy event at home. I have been promoted to deputy brigade commander. I have to make something delicious to celebrate, right?"

Chen Shuifen's eyes widened. "You were promoted to deputy brigade commander? Old Zheng, is this true? Don't you lie to me just because Captain Li next door was promoted to deputy brigade commander?"

Zheng Youde glared at her and said, "What are you thinking? How could I lie to you about this? Besides, Li Chengxi is indeed an excellent person, but I, Zheng, have been a soldier for twenty years and have made meritorious contributions. I am six years older than Li Chengxi. He can be promoted at the age of thirty-three, but I can't be promoted at the age of thirty-eight? Really."

Zheng Youde felt a little unconvinced. Even his own wife thought he was incompetent. What was going on?

Then he reached out to take the cake: "Eat, eat."

In the end, the bowl of cake was taken away by Chen Shuifen. She smiled and said, "Wait a minute, I'll make something delicious for you three! There's a happy event in our family, we should celebrate it, I'll go kill a chicken!"

After saying that, she was about to kill the chicken. Zheng Hongxing quickly followed and said, "Mom, kill the duck. I want to eat duck meat!"

Chen Shuifen was very easy to talk to: "Okay, then kill the duck!"

At this time, Lin Tao's family had already had dinner, and Lin Changhai also put out the wine, and drank together with Mr. Li Chengqi, feeling very happy.

Yueyue ate by herself, holding the big duck leg in her left hand and the chopsticks in her right hand. She took a bite of the duck leg and then a bite of rice, and she ate with great relish.

Lin Tao asked: "Cheng Xi, who else got promoted this time?"

Li Chengxi knew who she wanted to ask, so he said, "Wang Yuanliang was promoted to deputy regiment commander, and Zheng Youde was also promoted to deputy brigade commander."

"Captain Wang got promoted? Yuting must be happy too." Lin Tao smiled. Xu Yuting always felt that it was she who had affected Wang Yuanliang's future, causing his slow promotion. If he failed to get promoted this time, she would blame herself.

Seeing her like this, Li Chengxi teased, "Why do I feel that you are happier if Wang Yuanliang gets promoted than I do?"

Lin Tao said, "What are you talking about? I knew you would be promoted a long time ago, so I'm happy in advance. Oh, by the way, Captain Zheng was promoted too? But just now Sister Chen came to tell me that he was not promoted."

But think about it, Chen Shuifen now works in the logistics department, and she always brings her lunch home to eat in the morning. The two brothers Zheng Hongxing and Zheng Xiangyang are both studying in school, and they also bring their lunch in the morning and eat at school at noon. Zheng Youde goes directly to the army cafeteria to eat, and his family does not come back at noon, so Chen Shuifen naturally did not know the news of Zheng Youde's promotion.

Anyway, everyone is happy this time.

On the other hand, Chen Shuifen was also worried about another thing.

A duck was roasted at home. It smelled delicious, but after eating it, Zheng Hongxing still felt that it was not as delicious as the one cooked by his Aunt Lin. But he didn't dare to say that. Being able to eat duck meat was already very good.

Chen Shuifen asked, "Old Zheng, I want to ask you, has Deputy Battalion Commander Shen Guobin been promoted this time?"

"Deputy Battalion Commander Shen?" Zheng Youde pondered who this person was, and then said, "Isn't he from the 13th Regiment? How would I know about the 13th Regiment? But I didn't notice this person on the list this time."

Chen Shuifen was delighted when she heard this: "No him? That's great. You don't know that Lin Hui was so proud at work today. She told everyone that her man was going to be promoted to battalion commander this time. If she knew that Shen Guobin didn't get promoted and was still the deputy battalion commander, wouldn't she be mad to death? You don't know that she hates people saying that her man is the deputy battalion commander. She gets mad every time she hears it."

Zheng Youde had just finished eating duck head and took a sip of wine. He said, "Come on, can you please stop making such noise? What other people are doing is none of your business. Can't you just take care of your own family?"

Chen Shuifen glared at him and said unhappily, "You know nothing. Do you know that Lin Hui deserves to be punished? I am such a good teacher, but she still wants to bully Teacher Lin and say bad things about Teacher Lin behind her back. She and Teacher Lin are cousins ​​and she used to bully Teacher Lin a lot. I am happy if she is not good."

Cheng You-te: "Okay, okay, okay, I can't say anything better than you, you always have something to say."

Chen Shuifen took the bowl of duck meat that was originally placed in front of Zheng Youde and placed it in front of the two sons, saying, "Zheng Youde, don't think that just because you have been promoted to deputy brigade commander, you can talk to me in an official tone. I hate it the most when you do this."

"What did I say? Didn't I say nothing..." Zheng Youde felt quite aggrieved.

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On the other side, at the Shen family, Lin Hui felt that Shen Guobin would definitely be promoted to full colonel this time. After being promoted to full colonel, his monthly allowances and subsidies would increase significantly.

Today at work, she was finally able to feel proud. Normally, people always called her "deputy battalion commander". She was irritated when they called her "deputy battalion commander". But now that Shen Guobin was promoted to battalion commander, when no one called her "deputy" anymore, she should add the word "deputy".

"Jiahao, take out the bottle of wine your father hid. There is a happy event in our family today. You are the eldest in the family. You should drink with your father later. Just a small sip." Lin Hui said, "Jiayi, go and help mom serve the dishes."

Taking another look at Shen Jiaping sitting on the steps at the door, Lin Hui withdrew her gaze unhappily and did not call him. This Shen Jiaping, after several years, was still not close to her.

But she didn't care, she had two children, Shen Jiayi and Shen Jiahao, which was enough for her. Shen Jiaping could be close to whomever he wanted, she had no right to control it and was too lazy to care. She even thought about letting Shen Jiaping go back to the countryside, so that he wouldn't be under her nose all day, which made her feel annoyed.

Shen Jiahao asked, "Mom, is there any happy event at home? Is it about Dad?"

Shen Jiayi said, "It must be because our dad got promoted! Mom, you said that after dad got promoted to battalion commander, he made me new clothes."

Shen Jiahao: "Then I'm going to go play outside the island and watch a movie."

"Okay, okay, mom knows everything. Mom will agree to whatever you want to do and satisfy you." Lin Hui said with a smile.

Just at this moment, there was movement at the gate of the courtyard.