Chapter 117

It was time for lunch. Aunt Fang and Uncle Shen were worried that Li Mingcheng was hungry, so they gave him some dumplings first.

"Let's wait until evening and cook something delicious," said Aunt Fang.

Li Mingcheng took a bite of the dumpling that looked like a gold ingot. The dumpling skin was thin and the filling was large. It was filled with pork and cabbage. The meat flavor was very strong and it was especially fragrant with the soup.

Li Mingcheng: "Auntie, these dumplings are delicious. I have never eaten dumplings as delicious as these. The canteen chefs in our army are not very skilled. The dumplings they make are far inferior to the ones you make."

Aunt Fang smiled at the compliment and took out the chopped pepper sauce she made to make some for Li Mingcheng. They always eat dumplings with some chili, otherwise it doesn't taste good if they are eaten dry.

Li Mingcheng looked at the bright red chopped pepper sauce, and one could guess how spicy it was just by looking at it. He couldn't help but swallow his saliva and was about to decline.

Lin Manman, who was standing by, saw this and said, "Mom, Mingcheng is from Shanghai, and he didn't go to Sichuan to study like my brother-in-law did. He can't really eat spicy food."

Li Mingcheng nodded: "Yes, Auntie, you really scared me."

Aunt Fang said, "I thought you two brothers could eat spicy food. If you can't, then don't put this. I heard that you Shanghainese eat dumplings with vinegar, right? How about I go get you some vinegar?"

Li Mingcheng: "No need, Auntie. Vinegar is only added to steamed dumplings, not boiled ones. This is already delicious."

Uncle Shen joked, "But if you want to be a son-in-law in Xiangcheng, you have to know how to eat chili peppers. We can't have Hunan cuisine without chili peppers."

Li Mingcheng said with a stiff face: "Uncle, don't worry, I will definitely eat more chili in the future, and I will let Manman supervise me then."

Aunt Fang laughed and said, "Okay, stop joking like that. Mingcheng is almost scared. Shanghainese people don't eat chili peppers since they were young. It seems that they have to put sugar in the dishes they eat to make them taste sweet."

We had dumplings for lunch, and in the evening, Aunt Fang and Uncle Shen prepared dinner together.

When the commune slaughtered the New Year pigs, they went to buy two pounds of pork. Uncle Shen's factory had issued a lot of meat coupons before, so Uncle Shen went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy pork and a pig's trotter, which he used to smoke into bacon and bacon pig's trotters.

In the evening, Uncle Shen took down the rotten pig's feet hanging on the beam of the stove, soaked them in boiling water, scrubbed the black layer on the top clean, and then took out the axe at home to cut the pig's feet.

Pig's feet must be cut with an axe, otherwise the kitchen knife at home will not only fail to cut it, but the blade will also be bent.

Using an axe to cut pig's trotters is a strenuous job. In the past, when there was no man in the family, Aunt Fang could only try not to smoke and marinate pig's trotters during the Chinese New Year. If Lin Manman wanted to eat marinated pig's trotters, she could only ask Lin Changhai to help cut them.

Since she married Uncle Shen, she no longer had to worry about many things at home. Although at the beginning when she married Uncle Shen, many people in the village gossiped behind her back, saying that she didn't remarry when her husband just died, and now the daughter has grown up so much, she is forty years old and wants to remarry again, it's really an old tree blooming or something like that.

It was harsh, but she just pretended not to hear.

Later, Lin Manman went to the island to serve as a soldier, and fewer people said this. I don’t know if it was because her daughter Manman had made progress, or because time had passed, so naturally no one discussed it anymore.

She didn't care about these things, just like many people in the village spread gossip about her and Lin Changhai. She was upright and honest. She and Lin Changhai were innocent. Now she is married to Shen Yongxing. She and Shen Yongxing have no family, and their children agree to this. They live their own lives. How can it bother others?

She always felt that as long as she lived her life well, she could let others say whatever they wanted. She couldn't control their mouths and would get angry for nothing. It would be better not to take their words seriously from the beginning and she would be more comfortable.

They took out the dried black fungus that Lin Manman brought and soaked it in warm water. This kind of black fungus is quite big, but tastes more fragrant than the small ones. It was specially prepared by Lin Tao for them.

Stew black fungus and pig's feet together.

Uncle Shen went to kill another chicken, and Aunt Fang planned to make her famous spicy chicken. However, considering that Li Mingcheng could not tolerate spicy food, she used less chili and the chili she used was not too spicy, a little spicy but not unbearable.

When the commune slaughtered the New Year pig, Aunt Fang asked Uncle Shen to buy a pair of large intestines because Lin Manman liked to eat stir-fried large intestines. It was winter now, the weather was cold, and then it snowed, so they simply buried the large intestines in the snow. Now it was still very fresh when it was dug out of the snow.

Even if it is frozen, you have to put it in warm water to thaw it.

Uncle Shen had just finished plucking the chicken and was about to cut it up. When he saw Aunt Fang preparing to clean the large intestine, he quickly said, "Leave it there and let me wash it. The large intestine is difficult to wash."

Aunt Fang said, "I'll do it. You have to cut the chicken and prepare the large intestine. How long will it take for dinner to be ready? This is Mingcheng's first time at our house. We can't let him go hungry."

After hearing this, Uncle Shen stopped.

Aunt Fang smiled. This man loved her very much. He was afraid that the colon cleansing would be too smelly, so he didn't let her go. But when she was raising her daughter alone, she did everything herself. Why should she be afraid of such a small thing?

The sumptuousness of today's dinner even exceeded that of New Year's Eve.

There are pig's feet stewed with black fungus, stir-fried large intestine, and spicy diced chicken. It also comes with two vegetarian dishes, one of which is cold sour radish slices. It tastes particularly refreshing. If you eat too much meat, you can have a bite of the sour radish slices. It is sour and refreshing and very delicious.

While Aunt Fang and Uncle Shen were busy in the kitchen, Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman were sitting by the fire in the main room chatting. During this time, Li Mingcheng wanted to show himself and wanted to help, but was soon driven out of the kitchen by Aunt Fang.

Li Mingcheng told Lin Manman some interesting stories on Hainan Island. Lin Manman was amused and laughed non-stop. Of course, this was largely due to the sacrifices of his comrades, because he told Lin Manman many embarrassing stories of his comrades.

Lin Manman found it funny and couldn't help asking, "Why are you talking about your comrades? Don't you have any such experiences?"

"I have one too." Li Mingcheng said, "The letter I sent you at that time was actually written after I wrote many letters. It was the first time I wrote such a letter, and I was afraid that I was too euphemistic and you wouldn't understand my feelings, so I wrote a letter like that. But thinking about it afterwards, I always felt that it was corny and hypocritical. I was afraid that you wouldn't like it, so I went to the post office the next day to get the letter back, but I didn't expect that it had already been sent."

"Later, you never wrote back to me. I waited anxiously every day until two months later when I finally received the melon seeds and reply you sent me. When I saw your letter, I was so excited that I jumped out of bed and hit my head. I almost pushed the person sleeping on the upper bunk off the bed." Although Li Mingcheng thought this was embarrassing, he still told Lin Manman about it.

Because of this incident, he was laughed at by his comrades for more than a month. Even now, if they think about it, they still laugh at him from time to time and say that he has "iron head skills".

Li Mingcheng touched the top of his head and said, "There was a big swelling on my head at that time, and there is still a mark on it now."

Lin Manman's heart skipped a beat when she heard this. How painful it must be.

She stood up, walked over to Li Mingcheng, and said, "Let me see where it is."

Her hand touched Li Mingcheng's hair. Li Mingcheng's hair was coarser and harder than hers, while her hair was finer, softer and smoother. But after touching it for a while, she couldn't figure out where it was.

Then I heard Li Mingcheng laughing and saying, "I was kidding you. It has healed after applying the medicine for half a month. It was not broken at the time, so there is no scar."

Lin Manman withdrew her hand and her face turned a little red.

It seemed like he was lying to her, but she believed him and even felt sorry for him.

At this time, the meal was ready. Aunt Fang and Uncle Shen came out with the dishes and put them on the table. Lin Manman said angrily, "You are lying. I will ignore you. I will go serve the dishes."

Li Mingcheng followed and helped serve the dishes: "I was just joking with you. I won't do this again in the future. Don't be angry."

Lin Tao is a good cook, and Aunt Fang is also good at cooking. After all, Lin Tao learned all her cooking skills from Aunt Fang. Although she has natural talent, Aunt Fang, her teacher, is also a very good cook.

After eating it, Li Mingcheng naturally praised it highly.

Aunt Fang joked, "Mingcheng, you are so talkative, there must be a lot of female comrades in your army who like you."

"Ahem...ah..." Li Mingcheng never expected Aunt Fang to ask this question, and quickly said, "Auntie, don't worry, I usually deal with gay men."

Aunt Fang smiled and said, "Auntie, I'm just joking with you. Your sister-in-law wrote to me about you. I know you. You're a good kid."

It was already past six in the evening when we finished dinner. It gets dark early in winter and it was already dark outside. Plus the weather was bad with strong wind and snow outside.

Uncle Shen said, "Why don't you stay at home today? There's a room available anyway."

After he married Aunt Fang, he renovated the house and built an extra room. He originally planned to let his daughter-in-law live there when she came back. Now it was a perfect place for Li Mingcheng to live.

Li Mingcheng subconsciously looked at Lin Manman after hearing this and said, "It's okay, uncle. How about I go live in the city? It's not very convenient here. I don't know if the guesthouse is open now. I can't find a place. I'm not familiar with the place. But it's okay. I should know after asking."

Aunt Fang said, "What's so inconvenient about it? You and Manman have already confirmed your relationship. Once you finalize the marriage, you'll be a family. It's okay for you to stay at home for one night."

Lin Manman pursed her lips and said, "It's getting dark, and it's inconvenient to go to the city, so let's stay here."

Lin Manman took the initiative to keep him, and Li Mingcheng was very happy. He quickly agreed, as if he was afraid that Lin Manman would change her mind halfway.

He knew that Lin Manman was slow to warm up and was often reluctant to express her feelings. Every time she acknowledged him, his heart beat fast.

Aunt Fang was about to make the bed, but Lin Manman said, "Mom, let me do it."

Lin Manman went to make the bed and took out a thick quilt. This was a new quilt in the house. Although the outer cover was a bit old, it was washed cleanly.

Li Mingcheng followed in, took the quilt from Lin Manman, and said, "Let me do it."

He had been in the army for so long that he had mastered the technique of folding quilts, and he could fold them quickly and neatly.

Lin Manman looked around the house. This room was usually unoccupied, so there was only a bed and a small table, nothing else.

Lin Manman said somewhat embarrassedly: "This place is a bit shabby."

Li Mingcheng said, "It's okay. When we were on a mission, the place we lived in was even worse."

"Are you going on a mission again? I heard from my sister-in-law that you were going to follow your political commissar to do political work?" Lin Manman asked.

Li Mingcheng: "I went there later. At the beginning, I also had to fulfill my mission."

The two talked about other things for a while. Lin Manman felt that although she and Li Mingcheng had already confirmed their relationship, they were not married yet. Uncle Shen and her mother were both in the main room, so she couldn't stay here for too long. She let Li Mingcheng have a good rest and came out of the room.

Not long after Lin Manman returned to her room, Aunt Fang came.

"Mom." Lin Manman called out.

Aunt Fang smiled, sat on the bed, reached out and held Lin Manman's hand, and said, "Mom just discussed the matter between you and Mingcheng with your uncle Shen, and I think what your uncle Shen said makes sense. You see, both of you are in the army now, and you can only take leave to visit your family during the Chinese New Year. Why don't you settle the marriage now and get married during the Chinese New Year? What do you think?"

Lin Manman blushed and whispered, "Isn't it too early?"

"It's not too early. Since Mingcheng's mother has agreed to this and you like him, it's not a bad thing to settle it first." Aunt Fang said.

Lin Manman thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll listen to you and Uncle Shen."

Although Lin Manman nodded, her heartbeat accelerated involuntarily after she said this. Boom, boom, boom, boom, Lin Manman felt that her heart was about to jump out of her throat.

Similarly, Li Mingcheng was lying on the bed, thinking about what happened between him and Lin Manman, and couldn't help but smile.

Finally, I felt sleepy and couldn't help falling asleep.

The next morning, they had rice noodles. Aunt Fang cooked a big pot of rice noodles and used the leftover vegetables from last night as the sauce. Lin Manman mixed a bowl of pork intestines noodles, while Li Mingcheng liked the marinated pig's feet he had eaten last night more, so he picked up two more pieces of pig's feet and put them in the bowl, mixed them with the rice noodles and ate them together. Every bite was satisfying.

After breakfast, Uncle Shen went to fetch water.

In winter, a layer of ice formed on the surface of the water. Uncle Shen used stones to break the ice on the river surface and then took buckets to fetch water. Li Mingcheng took the job of fetching water, carrying two full buckets of water and walking very quickly.

Uncle Shen smiled and said, “That’s good to be young.”

After fetching water, Li Mingcheng was here for the first time, so Lin Manman took him around the village. On the way, the villagers met Li Mingcheng and couldn't help asking Lin Manman: "Manman, is this your boyfriend? Wow, the boy is so handsome! You two look really good together."

Lin Manman has always been a quiet person in front of the villagers. She shyly lowered her head and said nothing.

Li Mingcheng, on the other hand, found it easy to strike up a conversation with the old ladies. He introduced where he was from, where his troops were stationed, and how great Taohua Village was, better than Shanghai.

Those old ladies had never been to Shanghai, but they knew that Shanghai was a big city among big cities. When they heard Li Mingcheng say that this place was better than Shanghai, they smiled happily.

Before long, Li Mingcheng won the favor of the toothless old ladies in Taohua Village who loved to gather together and gossip about other people's affairs, and they all praised him.

Of course, some people don't like it.

When Old Lady Lin came back from Shengshan Island last time, she wanted to show off in front of the villagers. However, when she opened the bag, it turned out to be a bag of salted fish. After losing face in front of so many people, she got angrier and angrier and had a stroke within two days.

At this moment, she walked past Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman with a crooked mouth and limped, glanced at them with her triangular eyes, and snorted.

Li Mingcheng was puzzled. He had just gotten along well with the group of old ladies, so why did this old lady sneer at him?

Li Mingcheng: "Why is she like this?"

Lin Manman glanced at Old Lady Lin. She hadn't actually seen Old Lady Lin since she came back, but her mother had already told her that Old Lady Lin had suffered a stroke, and that it was her most beloved granddaughter, Lin Hui, who had made her angry.

Because of how Old Lady Lin treated her sister Tao in the past, Lin Manman felt relieved when she saw Old Lady Lin like this.

In response to Li Mingcheng's doubts, Lin Manman explained that this was Lin Tao's grandmother, and also talked about how badly Grandma Lin treated Lin Tao in the past.

After listening to this, Li Mingcheng said, "Let's go, walk faster and catch up with her."

Although Lin Manman didn't understand what Li Mingcheng was going to do, she still did what he said.

Mrs. Lin had a limp after suffering a stroke and walked slowly. Although the two of them had just stopped to talk for a while, they soon caught up with Mrs. Lin.

Li Mingcheng did nothing but talk about how well his brother and sister-in-law were doing on the island. His brother was promoted to deputy brigade commander, and his sister-in-law was now the dean of education. She was no ordinary teacher. The students in the school liked her very much, and she was named an excellent teacher every year. He also said that Uncle Lin was enjoying himself on the island. He didn't have to do anything every day, just go fishing, and his life was very comfortable.

Lin Manman found it funny, but she understood what Li Mingcheng meant. He was saying these things on purpose to annoy Old Lady Lin. She also followed suit. Every time Li Mingcheng said something, she echoed it.

Old Mrs. Lin was so angry that her face turned ashen, and her already crooked mouth became even more crooked, but she walked very slowly and just listened to Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman showing off all the way.

It would be fine if it was fake, but she knew it must be true!

Lin Tao must be living a very good life on the island. Last time, she wanted to go and extort money, but Lin Tao escaped. She couldn't get over this and wanted to go again, but she had another stroke. Now she couldn't even walk a few steps out of the village, let alone travel a long distance to the mountain city!

She was not convinced in her heart. How could Lin Tao, who was in a coffin, live a good life? Lin Hui grew up under her care, so why didn't she live such a good life!

She also couldn't think of Lin Hui. When she thought of Lin Hui, she would think of the bag of salted fish, and her heart ached even more.

Looking at the trembling figure of Old Mrs. Lin, Lin Manman and Li Mingcheng did not continue to follow. That was enough. If they continued talking, it would be bad if they really made her angry.

Lin Manman chuckled and said, "You are so old, why are you still like a child?"

Li Mingcheng said, "You were the same just now. If I were a child, you wouldn't be much older than me."

Lin Manman said: "No way, I was just cooperating with you."

Li Mingcheng looked at Lin Manman: "Then we cooperated quite well. Does this mean that we have a good understanding of each other?"

Lin Manman raised her eyes and glanced at Li Mingcheng. Their eyes met. She quickly looked away and changed the subject, saying, "Let me take you to the front. That's our old house."

Their old house was already very dilapidated, with a hole in the roof and having been in disrepair for many years. There were three rooms in total, and the east and west wing were both in ruins, leaving only the roof of the main room intact.

Her mother said that because her brother died here, her mother refused to live here no matter what she said. After a long argument, her family was willing to build a new house. In fact, many people in the village had built new houses at that time, but their old houses were too old and the roofs were all thatched.

Lin Manman couldn't help but sigh when she talked about the past: "Because of this, we severed ties with my grandparents. Later, when they passed away, I didn't cry, really not a single tear..."

Li Mingcheng quickly comforted her: "Manman, what happened in the past is in the past, and things will get better and better in the future."

"Yeah." Lin Manman nodded. She also believed that everything would get better, and it was already getting better now.

Her mother found Uncle Shen who loved her, and she...

That’s right.

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The engagement ceremony in Xiangcheng is very simple. The two families just have a meal together and then exchange the birth dates of the two young people, and then it is considered engaged.

Li Mingcheng's parents were both in Shanghai, so it would be both troublesome and unrealistic for them to come to Xiangcheng at this time, so they gave up.

Aunt Fang and Uncle Shen got up early in the morning, cooked a sumptuous meal, and the family sat together to eat.

After changing their birth dates, the two were officially engaged.