Song Kaiji's biological father died when he was very young, so young that he had no memory of his biological father. When he was three years old, his mother remarried with his stepfather. From the time Song Kaiji could remember, his stepfather played the role of father in his life.
The stepfather had no biological children of his own and always treated Song Kaiji as his own. Song Kaiji's mother once considered changing Song Kaiji's name to his stepfather's, but she was very conflicted because Song Kaiji's biological father, who died young, was also the only child in the family.
Both her ex-lover and her current boyfriend were people she truly loved, and Mother Song found it difficult to choose between them.
Song Kaiji still remembers that his stepfather touched his little head and comforted his wife with a gentle smile: "Even if you don't have the same surname as me, Xiaoji is not my son?" He picked up Song Kaiji and let him ride on his neck: "I believe that the father-son relationship between us is not limited to the same surname, right, son?"
Little Song Kaiji didn’t understand what the adults were discussing. He just hugged his stepfather’s neck affectionately and giggled.
However, his stepfather was open-minded, but some people were not open-minded for him, or had other ideas. For example, his stepfather's elder brother, whom Song Kaiji also called uncle, was always critical of Song Kaiji and his mother.
Song Kaiji also saw his uncle scolding his stepfather: "You have too much money to burn, raising a son for others! If it's a girl, it's fine. But when the boy grows up, will you buy him a house, a car, and a wife? Not to mention not changing the surname, even if you change the surname, it's not our Li family's child! Either you have another child with her while you are still young, or if you can't," the uncle pushed his own child and said: "This is the child with our Li family blood!"
Whenever the stepfather encountered this situation, he would just smile innocently, never argue, and be nice to Song Kaiji as usual when he came home.
Mother Tang served the chicken that had been stewed for an afternoon. This was a dish that Shen Qing had been eyeing for a long time, and she had watched the video countless times. Wash the whole chicken, marinate it with soy sauce, pepper, sugar, and oyster sauce. If you have an oven, you can bake it for a while until the skin is crispy. If you don't have an oven, fry it in 50% hot oil until the skin is golden. Whether it's roasted or fried, it's delicious and has its own flavor.
Boil the pig's trotters and stir-fry the sugar color, then pour in soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rock sugar, cooking wine, etc. and simmer with water - it is best to use Huadiao wine instead of cooking wine. When it is half cooked, use another casserole, put the pig's trotters on the bottom of the casserole, put the whole chicken on top of the pig's trotters, pour the water for stewing the pig's trotters into it, covering the chicken, and add the spices, ginger slices, bay leaves, cloves, angelica, etc., cover the lid and simmer on low heat for two to three hours, until the collagen of the pig's trotters is completely dissolved in the soup and soaked into the chicken, the meat becomes rich and fragrant, and it is crispy and boneless when the chopsticks are inserted, then you can increase the heat to collect the sauce.
During the process of collecting the sauce, you can use a spoon to pour the thick stewed soup on the chicken continuously to ensure that every piece of chicken is covered with amber soup. Shen Qing was so greedy when watching the video, and now when the casserole is on the table and the lid is lifted, his mouth is watering.
"You know what, it's hard to cook, but it smells so good." Mother Tang served them rice while telling them what happened today: "I stewed the chicken, thinking it would take two hours to stew, and it would be a waste of time to sit there, so I went outside to look around and ask for information. In the end, I didn't find your parents, but I met those two people. They said they just came yesterday, and they were indeed from your family." Mother Tang glanced at Song Kaiji: "You didn't tell me about the others, so I wasn't sure if they were really your relatives, so I didn't dare to bring them back."
The last time Song Kaiji brought Tang's mother into the base was still vivid in his mind. There were countless people pretending to be someone else in order to sneak into the base. Song Kaiji looked unhappy and nodded slightly: "It's okay, even if it's true, I won't necessarily bring them into the base. But, are there only the two of them?"
"Yes, I went to their tent on purpose, and there was no one else." The people that Tang's mother met were the two children of Song Kaiji's uncle. They were Song Kaiji's cousins, but in fact, they had no blood relationship with him. And because their father had a lot of complaints about Song Kaiji, the two children followed suit: children are the best at reading adults' expressions!
These two bullied Song Kaiji a lot when he was a child, and his stepfather's parents, although not as open-faced as his uncle, were still quite tolerant, but once a conflict arose, they would of course side with their own grandson. Later, Song Kaiji's stepfather found out and rarely brought Song Kaiji to family gatherings, so Song Kaiji hadn't seen them for a long time.
Before the end of the world, Song Kaiji didn't want to see them. But now, in order to get news about his parents, he had to go there. Song Kaiji felt very uncomfortable, and he always had a bad premonition. The fairy chicken that others ate without even raising their heads lost its taste in their mouths.
Shen Qing sat next to him and ate for a while. Seeing that Song Kaiji didn't move his chopsticks much, he picked up a piece of pig's trotter for him: "Try this, it's also delicious, and tastes different from chicken. You fainted for so long today, eat more to replenish your body." Seeing that Song Kaiji's smile was forced, he comforted him: "If they are really your relatives, bring them back. We can afford to raise two more, so you don't have to worry too much about me."
Song Kaiji shook his head: "I'm not worried about that..." After hesitating for a moment, he whispered to Shen Qing about his family affairs: "If they came with my parents, I would have to bring them in for my father's sake. After all, they are my father's nephews." In the words of his uncle, they are the children of the Li family. "But they came by themselves, and I don't know how their parents are doing... I'm really annoyed with them, and I'm afraid they will rely on me."
Why are there only the two of them? Where are the uncle and aunt? Although they haven't seen each other for many years, Song Kaiji knows these two siblings very well. With just the two of them, can they get to the Hongcheng base smoothly?
Shen Qing was stunned, biting his chopsticks. With his living environment and what he had seen since he was a child, he had never seen a man willing to raise a child brought by his wife from her ex-husband's family like this. There were families in the village who had to adopt boys to carry on the family line, but they also had to let the children change their family names! Like Song Kaiji's father, who didn't care about blood ties or family names, but only loved Song Kaiji sincerely - Shen Qing couldn't help but think of his own father, revealing an envious look: "Your father is so good to you."
He is not his biological father, but he is better than his biological father.
"Yeah." Song Kaiji murmured, "I miss him too."
If it weren't for his father, he wouldn't care if Li Liang and Li Li died on the roadside. But Li Liang and Li Li have come from their hometown, will the main group arrive soon? Song Kaiji is full of hope, hoping that his parents will arrive in the next batch. If his father sees that he didn't care about his nephew, will he be disappointed in him...
Shen Qing understood Song Kaiji a little. If he had met Zhao Shuanzi, Shen Qing would have helped him no matter how annoying he was for Aunt Guixiang's sake. Besides, this was Song Kaiji's father, who was much closer to him than he was to Aunt Guixiang.
"Well, why don't you just take them to the base instead of bringing them back home. Once they are in the base, they shouldn't die so easily." Anyone who can go all the way from their hometown to the Hongcheng base must have some skills, right? Shen Qing gave Song Kaiji some advice in a low voice: "If your father has any objections later, just say that I didn't allow you to bring strangers home casually. Your father loves you so much, he will definitely not blame you."
Song Kaiji was a little hesitant. He subconsciously didn't want his father to have a bad impression of Shen Qing. But at the same time, he felt that his father should be reasonable. As a boss, Shen Qing shouldn't let strangers into the team casually. Isn't that right? Dad would definitely not have a problem with Shen Qing because of this: "Okay, then I'll say this!" He looked at Shen Qing and smiled with two tiger teeth: "Thank you, boss!"
Outside the base, in a shabby and leaky tent, Li Liang had half a tortilla stolen from him. He cursed at the door of the tent for a long time, but no one paid any attention to him. But as soon as he entered the tent, a stone hit their tent.
While Li Liang was cursing, Li Li quickly stuffed her half into her mouth and swallowed it before advising him, "Brother, stop cursing. If someone comes to retaliate, we won't be able to defeat them with just the two of us."
Li Liang was furious: "I only had half a piece of cake left, and someone stole it before I even had a bite. And I can't even complain!" He looked at Li Li: "Where's your half? Give me some!"
"How would I know yours would be stolen? I've already finished eating." Li Li showed him her pockets which were cleaner than her face. Li Liang's face changed and he wanted to curse again. Li Li quickly said, "You really need to change your temper. What kind of world is this now? If you hadn't had a conflict with someone before, our father and second uncle and second aunt wouldn't have..."
"Shut up!" Li Liang said fiercely, "Don't mention this matter again!"
Today they met a middle-aged woman who was looking for the parents of a man named Song Kaiji. After much questioning, they confirmed that it was their cheap cousin: "That damn woman, she refused to take us into the base no matter how we talked to her! If she had taken us in, how could I still live here and my cakes be stolen?!"
Li Li was silent for a while: "Brother, do you think Song Kaiji will really take us into the base? After all, we have no blood relationship with him. And what about my second uncle and second aunt, if he knew about it..."
"Didn't I tell you not to mention that again?" Li Liang scratched his hair angrily. He thought for a while with a gloomy face, and then said, "If what that woman said is true, Song Kaiji will have to come to us just for the sake of Second Uncle and Second Aunt. Then we will say that we have news about Second Uncle and Second Aunt and keep him hanging."
"When he comes, you can cry and beg him. Although he is not Second Uncle's biological son, he is as soft-hearted as Second Uncle. For Second Uncle's sake, he can't ignore us!"
Li Li's face was not very good. She didn't want to cry and beg Song Kaiji! But the world was like this. In order to survive, there was no other way, so she could only agree reluctantly. Li Liang approached a little closer: "Also, remember, keep that matter to yourself!"
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