Chapter 76

Zhong Jing looked at Zhou Wen in front of her. Her husband Zhou Wen was a university professor. He used to wear decent clothes and even wiped off the dust on his shoes. Now he was wearing dirty and patched clothes, and his face was red and excited.

She felt sad and humiliated.

She said: "They are all very good people. It is impossible for them to be like what you said. You can't slander others just because you have low self-esteem."

"I feel inferior inside. Yes, I feel inferior inside..." Zhou Wen turned his face away and squatted in the corner.

After a long while, he saw Zhong Jing was about to leave, and shouted: "What are you going to do? Are you going to have New Year's Eve dinner with others? No, I won't let you go!"

Zhong Jing turned her head to look at him, swallowed back the tears in her eyes, and said, "I'll go tell Teacher Lin and the others that I won't be going that day. Are you satisfied?"

*******************************

Although it was already dark, Lin Tao could still see that Zhong Jing's eyes were a little red.

"What's wrong? Did you have a fight?" Lin Tao asked.

Zhong Jing took a breath and shook her head. "It's nothing. We just argued for a few words. He has always been a quiet person. He thinks it's fine for just the two of us to have the New Year's Eve dinner together. He's not used to having more people. Teacher Lin, I'm really sorry. I have to go to the canning factory to take over tomorrow. I don't have time to look for Sister Chen and Teacher Xu. I have to trouble you to explain it to them for me."

Lin Tao could guess that things were not as simple as Zhong Jing said.

But it was not convenient for Lin Tao to ask further about other people's family affairs, especially when the other party was obviously unwilling to reveal too much.

She smiled and waved her hands, saying, "It's okay, it's nothing."

Before Zhong Jing left, he took out another piece of bacon and gave it to her: "We were planning to make Xiangcheng bacon for everyone to eat at the New Year's Eve dinner. It's a pity that you can't come. I'll give this piece to you to take back and cook for yourself."

"That's embarrassing." Zhong Jing declined.

Lin Tao pursed her lips and said, "Why should I be embarrassed? I ate a lot of the fish you sent me."

Zhong Jing originally wanted to say that fish were not worth much on the island, and they had more fish than they could eat. But after thinking it over, she decided not to say anything. She accepted the bacon, thanked Lin Tao, and then went back with the flashlight.

*********************************

New Year’s Eve was particularly lively.

Lin Tao changed Yueyue's bright red jacket and tiger-head hat early in the morning.

The boy seemed to know that today was special. For the first time in his life, he did not sleep in and woke up early.

As usual, we had a simple breakfast in the morning. Lin Tao cooked a pot of noodle dumplings, which everyone ate with great relish.

Although everyone agreed that each family would make three dishes, Lin Tao made two large dishes because there was an extra adult in her family. The other vegetarian dish was naturally stir-fried Chinese cabbage with pork lard. If we didn't add oil to the Chinese cabbage at home, we wouldn't be able to finish it this winter.

Lin Changhai takes care of the children, Li Chengxi helps, and Lin Tao just cooks, feeling quite content.

After discussing it, they decided to have the New Year's Eve dinner at Chen Shuifen's house.

Chen Shuifen's house is about the same size as Lin Tao's own house. The main thing is that Chen Shuifa said she wanted to stew a goose in an iron pot for everyone, and also make pot stickers. Pot stickers are better eaten hot, so we might as well have the New Year's Eve dinner at their house.

The big goose in Chen Shuifen's family was fat and liked to peck people. When Zheng Hongxing was a child, he was chased and pecked by the big goose several times.

When I was a little older, Zheng Hongxing would chase the goose with a stick. The goose was scared and ran around everywhere with goose feathers flying everywhere. For several times, it didn't dare to enter the yard.

I raised this goose for almost a year and finally killed it.

When Chen Shuifen was killing the goose in the morning, Lin Tao heard Zheng Hongxing next door making a fuss and not letting her do so, saying that the goose was his good comrade and could not be eaten.

Chen Shuifen said angrily: "If you don't kill it and eat it, your good comrade will be exhausted to death by you. You chased it every day and plucked out half of its hair. It looked quite plump two months ago, but now you see it has become so skinny due to exhaustion. It's just bones when you eat it!"

Zheng Hongxing cried for a while, but when the goose was really burned and the aroma came out, the child stopped pretending to be a spear with wood, followed his brother's footsteps, and sniffed: "What a nice smell!"

******************************

When we went to Chen Shuifen's house, everyone saw Yueyue wearing a bright red shirt and a tiger-head hat, and they all praised her for being so pretty, saying that she looked like a doll in a New Year picture.

The living room of Chen Shuifen's house usually looks quite spacious, but after two tables were placed in it, it looked a little crowded.

The men sat at one table, and the women and children sat at another. The men wanted to drink, so there were a few more side dishes such as cold jellyfish and fried peanuts on the table. The other dishes were the same.

Xu Yuting's family prepared a shrimp pot, a turkey leg and bamboo shoot soup, and a crab with egg custard.

"My husband Wang Yuanliang and I are not very good cooks, so you just have to make do with the food." Xu Yuting said generously.

The men waved their hands and said, "It's delicious, how can you say your cooking skills are bad?"

Chen Shuifen cooked goose stewed in an iron pot, fried clams and pot stickers. Putting so many dishes together was an unprecedented sumptuous feast.

In fact, every family only cooks two or three dishes at most during the Chinese New Year, and the dishes they cook are used as side dishes. But when the three families eat together for the New Year's Eve dinner, the dishes are put together, which looks special.

However, no matter how special it is, you can still enjoy good food and drink during the New Year. After the New Year, the food will still have to be the same.

It's because they are in the army, the men are getting paid, and the women are not left behind. Everyone is getting paid, so naturally their lives are better than others.

Lin Tao had long been thinking about the iron pot stewed goose made by Chen Shuifen. After she started eating, she ordered a goose wing.

The goose was tough to chew, but it tasted delicious. Chen Shuifen's cooking skills were really good. After finishing a goose wing, Lin Tao joked that she also wanted to learn how to cook goose stew in an iron pot from Chen Shuifen.

Chen Shuifen was quite happy that Teacher Lin wanted to learn from her, and said with a smile: "No problem, I'll teach you how to do it when I have time."

Xu Yuting had eaten Chen Shuifen's cakes before, but she had a Shanghainese stomach and was not used to cakes. But when she ate the goose stewed in the iron pot, she said it tasted good.

Seeing Lin Tao said she wanted to learn how to cook this dish, I also said I would learn it and stew it when the time comes.

Zheng Hongxing prefers the pickled fish made by Lin Tao to the goose stewed in the iron pot. The fish used by Lin Tao only has big fish bones, no small fish bones. When Li Chengxi processed the fish, he had already removed the fish bones, so it was okay for children to eat it.

Zheng Hongxing said as he ate: "Auntie Lin's cooking skills are still good. The dishes she cooks are delicious."

Lin Tao looked at Zheng Hongxing who was flattering her, his face was red from eating, and after one bite, a corner of the pot sticker was broken. She smiled and said, "That's because you eat too much of your mother's cooking. If you eat my cooking every day, you will also think it is not delicious. I think your mother's cooking is very delicious."

Zheng Xiangyang is already in the second grade and has grown a lot taller than last year.

When I am with Zheng Hongxing, one of them is quiet and the other is a chatterbox.

Before dinner, Lin Tao fed Yueyue.

The little guy played with grandpa for a long time in the afternoon and refused to sleep. Now he fell asleep soon after feeding.

When Xu Yuting and Wang Yuanliang came, Xiao Qingming was already asleep. Now he was sleeping with Yueyue, each in a small bed.

There were a lot of people in the living room at this moment, and everyone was talking to each other, so Xiao Qingming was woken up.

I slowly climbed up and sat on the small bed. I saw Yueyue lying next to me. I reached out to touch her little hand, then went over to kiss her face.

However, as soon as she stole a kiss, she was caught by Zheng Hongxing.

Zheng Hongxing's eyes widened, and he quickly put down the hot pot in his hand, not caring about eating anymore. He slid down from the stool, ran to Xiao Qingming, and said fiercely: "Qingming! You are a boy, and your sister is a girl! Boys can't kiss girls, and you can't kiss your sister!"

Xiao Qingming had just woken up and was still a little groggy. He was suddenly coaxed into silence by Zheng Hongxing.

A child this old can more or less understand some common words, but Zheng Hongxing said such a long string that he was a little confused...

After thinking about it, Xiao Qingming came over, gave Zheng Hongxing a kiss on the face.

Zheng Hongxing's face was greasy from the food he had eaten, and Xiao Qingming kissed her face all over with the grease.

Zheng Hongxing was stunned by the kiss from little Qingming, and asked Lin Changhai: "Grandpa Lin, can a boy kiss another boy? Qingming kissed me, just once, on my face."

He was also making some very exaggerated movements.

Lin Changhai was drinking and chatting with a few marines when he was called by Zheng Hongxing. He turned around, looked at him, nodded and said, "Yes!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone burst into laughter.

******************************

The women at the table ate quickly, while the men wanted to drink, and they were still chatting even when the food on the table was cold.

Not long after Lin Tao finished her meal, Yueyue woke up. Lin Tao picked up Yueyue. Yueyue looked very surprised to see so many people in the room.

Zheng Hongxing sneaked into the house, waved to Zheng Xiangyang and said, "Brother, come here quickly, brother, I have something good to show you."

Zheng Xiangyang walked into the house, pointed at the bundle of firecrackers like he was presenting a treasure, and said, "Brother, look what this is."

Zheng Xiangyang guessed what Zheng Hongxing was up to and said, "Stealing firecrackers? My mother will beat me up, so I won't steal them."

"It's okay. If mom wants to beat me, I'll let her beat me alone." Zheng Hongxing said seriously.

Not long after, the two brothers came out of the house again.

After running outside, Zheng Hongxing found a wooden stick, took out the matches he had stolen from his pocket, and handed them to his brother: "Brother, draw this."

Zheng Xiangyang lit the match, and Zheng Hongxing passed the wooden stick to him, lit it up and produced sparks, then took out firecrackers from his pocket.

The two brothers had already taken the firecrackers apart one by one, and filled their pockets on their clothes and trousers.

Zheng Hongxing took out a firecracker, lit it and threw it far away with a "pop" sound.

Chen Shuifen, who was chatting with Xu Yuting and Lin Tao, immediately walked to the door, put her hands on her hips and yelled at them: "Those firecrackers were meant for your father to set off on the first day of the new year. You two little brats stole the firecrackers, and you're asking for a beating on New Year's Eve, right?"

Zheng Youde was drinking happily and in a good mood. He said to Chen Shuifen, "Forget it, forget it. It's New Year's Day. Just let them go."

After hearing this, Chen Shuifen didn't say anything.

Zheng Hongxing set off a few more gunshots outside the house. Lin Tao and Xu Yuting covered Yueyue and Xiao Qingming's ears respectively. Who knew that Yueyue was not afraid of the sound of gunshots at all. She seemed to feel uncomfortable with her mother covering her ears, and she stretched out her little fleshy hand and pulled her mother's hand down with all her strength.

Seeing this, Lin Tao stopped covering her ears.

She gave birth to a brave boy named Li, who has been brave since he was young and is not afraid of anything.

Yueyue was not afraid, but the chickens in the yard were clucking in fear. Zheng Hongxing and Zheng Xiangyang just set off a few firecrackers at the door and then ran out, saying that they were going to fry cow dung with others.

Military families don't raise cattle, so there is definitely no cow dung. However, there are people who raise cattle in the fishing village, and Zheng Hongxing and Zheng Xiangyang went there to play.

Today is New Year's Eve, and many children on the island are out playing. They are not afraid of the dark, and everyone is holding a flashlight.

Seeing that the two brothers were no longer outside, Lin Tao asked Chen Shuifen, "Zheng Hongxing and Zheng Xiangyang don't seem to be outside anymore. Is everything okay at this late hour?"

Chen Shuifen waved her hands and said, "Boys are used to it. They must have gone to play with others. Today is New Year's Eve, so let them have fun. Let them do whatever they want."

Chen Shuifen said it was okay, so Lin Tao didn't say anything.

I think it's okay, at most I'll just run around the island.

At this time, the men had also eaten and drunk enough. Chen Shuifen rolled up her sleeves and prepared to clean the table, but Xu Yuting pulled her back, winked at her, and said to Wang Yuanliang: "Wang Yuanliang, you men clean up yourselves."

Wang Yuanliang's face turned red from drinking, and he burped and said, "Okay."

Li Chengxi had no intention of eating and drinking enough to rest and let Lin Tao do the work. This was not possible for him. He glanced at Lin Tao and saw her standing in the corridor holding her daughter. Her features were soft and beautiful.

Wang Yuanliang nudged his arm with his elbow and whispered, "If you want to watch it, wait a while. Watching it in front of so many people, you will be too conspicuous."

Li Chengxi retracted his gaze and said, "Go wash your dishes."

Zheng Youde also went to pack up. Lin Changhai wanted to go too, but was persuaded by the three to go back. Li Chengxi said, "Dad, go sit down and rest for a while, or go to the door to get some fresh air. We'll take care of this."

The men began to work in an orderly manner. Xu Yuting raised her eyebrows at Chen Shuifen and said, "Look, you are still too used to Captain Zheng. Now you are doing well."

Chen Shuifen finally learned her lesson. Although Zheng Youde has been willing to do housework since she got a job, many times Chen Shuifen couldn't remember to ask Zheng Youde to do it.

She thought it was good that Zheng Youde could help look after the children and weed when she was busy, but she didn't expect he could be so useful.

The men cleared the table and washed the pots and pans, while the women sat on the kang, eating melon seeds and chatting.

This was the first time that Lin Tao sat on the kang, and she found it quite strange.

People in Xiangcheng don't sleep on a kang. Li Chengxi is from the south and doesn't sleep on a kang, so his family doesn't have one. Chen Shuifen is from the north, and there are no kangs in the north, so they can't survive the winter.

"It's quite warm to sit on this kang," said Lin Tao.

Chen Shuifen smiled and said, "Of course it's warm, there's a fire burning underneath. You won't get cold if you sleep on it in the winter. Teacher Lin, Teacher Xu, why don't you just sleep on the kang at home?"

Xu Yuting said, "Is there a fire down there? It won't burn us, will it?"

As she said this, she looked down with some concern.

This made Chen Shuifen laugh so hard that she fell backwards: "Teacher Xu, you are so funny..."

Xu Yuting was so confused by the laughter that she couldn't help blushing. She said, "There are no kangs in Shanghai. This is my first time sitting on one. It's normal to be worried. What's so funny about that?"

Lin Tao explained: "We won't get burned, unless the kang collapses and we fall into the fire."

Of course, the kang is not that easy to collapse, Lin Tao was just making an analogy. If it really collapsed that easily, it would be their bad luck if it collapsed at this time instead of other times.

By the time the men had packed up, it was almost time. Yueyue had fallen asleep in Lin Tao's arms, and Xiao Qingming had been yawning. After a few words, everyone planned to go home.

Lin Changhai was in a good mood today and drank a little too much. When Lin Tao, Xu Yuting and Chen Shuifen were chatting, they noticed that he fell asleep in the living room and was snoring.

Lin Tao told him to go home and sleep first. Now Lin Tao carried Yueyue and Li Chengxi back together.

In fact, it was only a matter of a few steps. Li Chengxi saw that Lin Tao had been holding Yueyue for so long, and was afraid that her arms would be sore. This little girl was not light: "I'll hold her."

Li Chengxi had drunk a lot of wine today, and he reeked of alcohol. Lin Tao wrinkled her nose and said, "Come on, you reek too much of alcohol. It's only a short walk, so I'll carry you."

"Okay, then I'll massage your arm later." Li Chengxi said.

Lin Tao nodded casually, not noticing that Li Chengxi's gaze became deep when he looked at her.

After returning home, Lin Tao put Yueyue into the small bed to sleep.

At noon today, the whole family took a bath. Today is the last day of the year. It is a custom in Xiangcheng that you must take a bath on this day to wash away the bad luck of the year and have good health and everything goes well in the new year.

But Li Chengxi drank so much alcohol that the smell on his body was too strong.

Especially when Li Chengxi hugged her from behind, kissed her fair neck, and his breath smelled of alcohol in her ears.

Lin Tao knew what he wanted to do, and she didn't intend to refuse him, but she couldn't do it with such a strong smell of alcohol. She gently pushed him, lay on his chest, and said, "Go wipe your body."

Li Chengxi chuckled, his voice deep and pleasant: "I'll go right away."

Just when Li Chengxi went to wipe himself, the two brothers Zheng Hongxing and Zheng Xiangyang from next door had already returned.

Lin Tao heard Chen Shuifen next door cursing angrily: "You little bastard, I just changed your clothes today and you came back covered in cow shit, you want to be beaten? You feel uncomfortable if you don't get beaten on New Year's Day, right?"

Then came Zheng Hongxing's unconvinced voice: "Just wait, I will teach Tietou a lesson tomorrow for daring to sneak up on me!"

Then Chen Shuifen slapped him on the head and looked for a stick to get rid of Zheng Hongxing: "You dare to go tomorrow? If I don't give you a break, you won't know who you are anymore, right?"

Zheng Youde came out and said, "Alright, alright, don't hit the child on New Year's Day. It's just that the clothes were dirty. I'll wash them tomorrow, okay?"

Chen Shuifen put her hands on her hips and said, "Just get used to him. Okay, of course. You three have a good relationship, so you can wash it."

Zheng Youde: "I will wash it if I want."

The noise over there gradually died down, and Lin Tao smiled when she heard it.

In fact, when she first discovered that her neighbors were Chen Shuifen's family, because she was not familiar with them, she felt that Chen Shuifen was loud, reckless, and too enthusiastic, and wondered if they could get along well in the future.

But I didn't expect that they could talk to each other and have such a good relationship.

If it was the Lin Tao of the past, she would not be like this, because of her status, she has always been a man of few words. Now that I think about it, I have become more talkative and more cheerful, no wonder Aunt Fang said she has changed a lot when she came over last time.

Just as I was thinking about something, the door was pushed open.

Li Chengxi walked in wearing only a sweater. He looked cold in this cold winter night. Lin Tao quickly pulled back the quilt and told him to come in and warm himself up.

But as soon as Li Chengqi reached the bed, he held her in his arms.

Only then did Lin Tao realize that the other person was very warm, like a hot stove, and not cold at all.

Li Chengxi took a shower, but the smell of alcohol on his body was still not easy to dissipate, but it was much lighter than before. The faint smell of alcohol was quite pleasant. Lin Tao took a breath and let Li Chengxi hold her tightly. The new stubble on Li Chengxi's chin rubbed her delicate cheeks, which was a little itchy.

Lin Tao dodged, but was embraced by Li Chengxi again.

*********************************

I was very tired at night and had no dreams all night.

Li Chengxi drank some wine last night and made quite a noise. Fortunately, Lin Changhai drank even more and snored loudly all night. No wonder Li Chengxi was so bold. He would torture anyone he caught.

Until the next morning, Lin Tao still felt a little tired.

"What time is it now?" Lin Tao opened her eyes dazedly, lifted a corner of the curtain and saw that it was already light outside, so she asked. Her voice was a little hoarse and nasal.

It’s not because of a cold or anything, it’s just that my throat became hoarse last night and I haven’t recovered yet.

"It's just past eight o'clock, it's still early, you should sleep a little longer." Li Chengxi said in a low voice.

Noticing the red marks on Lin Tao's body, he realized that he had tortured her last night.

"It's past eight o'clock. I have to get up quickly to make breakfast, otherwise Dad will wake up soon." Lin Tao said as she was about to lift the quilt and get up.

Li Chengxi covered her with the quilt again and said, "Sleep for a while. I'll make breakfast."

"You do it?" Lin Tao's eyes fell on Li Chengxi, looking him up and down with a teasing expression, and said, "Captain Li, can you do it?"

As soon as she said this, Lin Tao knew she had said the wrong thing.

Because Li Chengxi's eyes darkened, he hugged her and whispered in her ear: "Why don't you try again?"