Chen Lie felt that Da Wa's picky eating habits needed to be improved, so he picked up a bowl full of bitter melon for him and said, "You must eat all of this bitter melon, and I'll make meat for you in a couple of days."
When it comes to meat, there is no kid who doesn’t crave it.
The eldest child swallowed his saliva and said, "It's a deal then. I'll finish eating the bitter melon, and you can cook meat for us in a couple of days."
He picked up the bitter melon and swallowed it in small bites as if he was being tortured, completely unaware of the cunning that flashed across Chen Lie's eyes.
After dinner, Ning Tang took the three little ones to continue cleaning the house.
Chen Lie replaced all the bed sheets and quilt covers in the house with new ones. He put the replaced sheets and quilt covers in a wooden basin and scrubbed them in the yard.
The weather in February is cold and windy even in the afternoon at Hailang Island.
Chen Lie's hands repeatedly scrubbed the sheets in cold water. After all the sheets and quilt covers were washed and hung on the clothesline to dry, his fingertips were a little red from the cold.
Ning Tang couldn't help but say, "Let's buy a washing machine later."
On the way back, they passed by the Overseas Chinese Store in Jiang City, so Chen Lie and Ning Tang took their three children to have a look inside. They happened to see that washing machines were on the market and were selling like hot cakes. What? Bai Lan's single-tub washing machine, Toshiba's double-tub washing machine, which made Ning Tang jealous.
If it weren't for the fact that not only money but also Overseas Chinese Coupons were required, she would have wanted to buy one on the spot.
Chen Lie has washed his own clothes since he was a child, and later he took care of the clothes of his three children. He thinks washing clothes is just a convenient thing, so he is not interested in machines that can help people wash clothes.
He wanted to say that he could help Ning Tang wash clothes, but then he thought about going out to sea and he couldn't be there all the time.
Ning Tang was alone on the island. In addition to washing her own clothes, she also had to help the three little ones wash their clothes. Occasionally, she had to wash the curtains and bed sheets. The workload was still very impressive.
Just buy one, your family doesn’t lack that much money.
Besides, we already have a fan, so why not get a washing machine as well?
A house can't always have only one appliance, it would look better if you had another one.
So when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he changed his tone and said, "Okay, when the time comes, let's buy one, and then we can both free our hands and relax."
It took a whole day to clean the entire two-story building.
After doing housework for a day, Chen Lie, Ning Tang and their three children were exhausted and slept soundly at night.
The next day, as soon as Da Hu heard that Da Wa had returned to the island, he immediately came to play with him.
He took off his shoes and entered the house. Seeing that Chen Lie and Ning Tang were there, he was no longer as nervous as he had been the first time. He smiled at them and said hello, "Hello, Uncle Chen, hello, Aunt Ning."
Chen Lie nodded and said, "Come and play with Da Wa. He's upstairs. I'll call him down."
"No, no." Da Hu waved his hands repeatedly, "I'll go up and find him."
After saying that, he didn't wait for the two to answer and ran upstairs.
Ning Tang said, "Let's make corn pancakes with the corn kernels that Mom asked us to bring back, and then call them down to eat."
Chen Lie soaked the dry corn kernels in hot water, added glutinous rice flour and starch, evenly coated each kernel of corn, then fried them in a frying pan into pancakes. After taking them out of the pan, sprinkled them with sugar while they were still hot, and then cut them into fan shapes with a knife.
Without anyone calling them, Da Wa and Da Hu were attracted by the alluring fragrance and came down.
The eldest boy glanced over and saw that the second girl and the third boy had already started eating. Each of them held a small piece of corn pancake in their hands and ate it with relish.
He couldn't help but inhale the tempting aroma, "What is this?"
"Corn pancakes." Ning Tang said, "Come here, both of you. Eat them while they're hot. If they get cold, they won't taste as good."
Chen Lie gave a piece to Da Wa and Da Hu respectively. They took a bite and first tasted the sweetness of sugar, then the fragrance of corn. It was extremely delicious.
Da Hu praised while eating, "It's delicious, Uncle Shen, you are really good at cooking."
Chen Lie was happy and gave him another piece. "Eat slowly, there's more."
Da Hu asked, "By the way, what is this made of?"
He couldn't help but feel curious. Could it be the same as the dried shrimp, seaweed and mint soup that Aunt Ning treated him to last time, made with cheap prawns, a handful of seaweed caught with a fishing net, and wild grass grown in the yard?
The eldest child saw through it and said, "It's made from the corn kernels my grandma gave me."
"Grandma?" Da Hu suddenly remembered that his eldest son went back to his grandma's home in Shangang Village during the Spring Festival this year, and a trace of envy flashed across his eyes.
Captain Qi and Zeng Xinlan had a quarrel with their family over borrowing money. Even though Captain Qi's hometown was much closer to Hailang Island than Shangang Village, they did not bring Dahu back for the New Year this year.
The eldest child said, "Yes, my grandma and grandpa are very nice. They make delicious food for us every day and buy fun things for us. In addition to corn kernels, grandma also gave us dried red sausage, black fungus, wild mushrooms... and made something delicious. I called you to come and eat it."
Da Hu nodded repeatedly, "Okay, thank you, Da Wa." His big eyes were full of envy, "I really envy you for being able to go back to your hometown for the New Year. I didn't go back for the New Year this year and stayed at home doing homework the whole time."
After saying that, he looked at Da Wa and said, "By the way, Da Wa, have you finished your homework? Let's check the answers."
"Homework?" The eldest child looked dazed.
Da Hu: "Yeah." He blinked and asked softly, "You didn't write it, did you?"
As expected of a good brother who is so close that he can wear the same pants as the other, Dahu accurately guessed Dawa's character.
He certainly didn't write it.
Da Hu panicked and urged Da Wa to go upstairs. "Hurry up and take down your homework. I'll accompany you. School starts tomorrow, and Teacher Zhou's ruler is not easy to punish."
The emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is. Anyway, the eldest son is not anxious at all.
He was in a very good mood and waved his hand, "Let me finish this corn pancake first."
Chen Lie sneered, "Take your time to eat. If you can't finish your homework, not only will your teacher Zhou treat you to a ruler, I'll also treat you to stir-fried pork and bamboo shoots."
The eldest child nearly got a piece of cornmeal stuck in his throat. Teacher Zhou was just trying to scare them, but Chen Lie was serious. He hurriedly said, "I'll get the homework down and do it."
Ning Tang held him back and poured him a glass of boiled water. "Drink some water before you go."
The eldest boy drank the boiled water in two or three gulps and finally swallowed the corn cake. He quickly ran upstairs to get his homework and do it.
The boy spread out his homework, picked up his pencil, and said to Erniu, "Erniu, hurry up and write, or your teacher will slap you on the palm of your hand."
He looked at Sanwa, and Sanwa looked at him cutely.
The eldest child was speechless and choked. "You... forget it, you don't have to write." He held up his little face and sighed. "I really envy the third child. He's still in the Red Education Class and doesn't have winter vacation homework."
Seeing that Erniu had not gone upstairs to get her homework yet, Da Wa urged her again.
Erniu said cheerfully, "I don't need to write anything. I don't need to write anything. I finished my winter vacation homework before going back to grandma's house."
The little girl is very hardworking. She thought that she would go back to her grandparents' house during the Spring Festival and would definitely not have time to do her winter vacation homework, so before leaving, she took time out in advance to finish all her winter vacation homework. Now she can eat corn cakes leisurely.
The eldest child howled, "Then why didn't you remind me?"
Erniu tilted her head. "I reminded you, ah, you forgot? I asked you if you wanted to do your winter vacation homework together, and you said you wanted to go out and play with Brother Dahu and asked me to leave you alone."
Big Brother was silent for a while, and then he finally remembered.
During the early winter vacation, Erniu stayed in her little room every day doing homework. Da Wa asked her if she wanted to go out and play together. She said she wanted to do her homework and asked Da Wa if she wanted to do it together.
Big Brother thought that the winter vacation had just begun and there was plenty of time, so why should he do his homework so early? So he had a great time playing with Da Hu.
During the Spring Festival, they went to Shangang Village again. Ningde took him and the three kids to play so hard that they had no time to do their homework at all.
So... the homework was not changed at all.
The eldest child had a sad face and wailed, "Heaven wants to kill me!"
School starts tomorrow. He has two winter vacation homework books: Chinese and math, and he hasn't done a single word! How long will it take to catch up?
Ning Tang was delighted and passed by, "Big Boy, keep going, I'm rooting for you. With just one pen and one night, you can create a miracle."
Da Wa was speechless and glanced at Ning Tang with a resentful look in his eyes, "Mom, you only know how to make sarcastic remarks."
Ning Tang glanced at him and said, "Are you having fun in Shangang Village or am I having fun in Shangang Village? Are you the one who owes homework or am I the one who owes homework?"
The eldest child pouted, "Wuwuwu...it's me."
Ning Tang patted his head. "Good to know. Hurry up and do your homework, or you'll be punished by Teacher Zhou's ruler and Captain Shen's stir-fried pork and bamboo shoots."
Her response was the big baby's sobbing.
After an entire afternoon and an evening, the eldest child finally finished all his winter vacation homework.
Judging from his brisk steps when he returned home at noon on the first day of school, it can be seen that this kid must have successfully passed the test.
The eldest boy who successfully passed the test was so proud that his tail was raised to the sky. He made a fuss here and there, which made Ning Tang want to send him to Mrs. Luo's house to help with farm work and harvest vegetables.
However, Da Wa's good mood only lasted until the afternoon.
In the afternoon, Chen Lie came back from the army and walked into the house carrying the vegetables he had just bought.
The eldest child circled around him, repeatedly saying, "Hey, Dad, you're off work." "Is it heavy to carry all the vegetables?" "You promised me two days ago that you would cook meat for us, right? Today is the day."
Chen Lie only took one glance at him and saw what this kid was up to. He sneered, "Tell me, did you finish your winter vacation homework and pass it with your teacher Zhou?"
If he hadn't finished making up for it, he would have been afraid that Shen Lie would beat him up and would have hidden far away. He would not have been hanging around Shen Lie the moment he entered the room.
The eldest child chuckled and gave a thumbs-up. "Dad, you're really good at guessing it."
Chen Lie said, "You don't even need to tell me who I am. I'm your father. Just stick your butt out and I know you're going to poop..."
The eldest child quickly reached out and made a gesture to stop him, "Don't say that, we still have to eat later."
Ning Tang was amused. "When we were in Shangang Village, you and Dezi were using firecrackers to blow up cow dung every day. Why didn't you tell me?"
Big Brother looked pale. I didn’t notice it at the time, but now when I think about it, don’t I feel sick?
Chen Lie continued, "But you're right about one thing, Big Boy. I've decided to cook meat for you tonight."
"Really?" Big Baby's eyes lit up.
"Really." A barely perceptible cunning glint flashed in Chen Lie's eyes. "I promise, you'll definitely like it."
The eldest son is not stupid. He can see that his father is up to something bad.
But he wasn't afraid at all.
No matter what, as long as there is meat to eat, it’s fine. Besides, meat is meat. Even if it is burnt, it is still meat. How bad can it be?
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