Watching the sun rising higher in the sky, Cao Xiangnan was thinking about Qi Wanfeng in his heart, wondering if they had made it to the town. He had picked up a lot of snails, but he could see the fish in the water but couldn't catch them. He felt a little regretful, thinking that if he couldn't catch them today, he could catch them tomorrow. Anyway, the stream was here and he couldn't escape.
When he saw the bamboo basket he brought, he remembered that he had to feed the rabbits through the grass. The grass was picked by the three children, and they were put into the backpack together with the snails. Cao Xiangnan carried the backpack on his back, and seeing that it was about time, he took the children home.
Fortunately, after playing around by the stream for a long time, except for the second boy Jingbao's shoes, the clothes of the other children were not wet.
He took the three children to have lunch together and let them play in the yard. Cao Xiangnan fed the snails he picked up with clean water so that they could spit out the sand inside. They could be fried in the evening.
"You guys should sleep well and don't make any noise, okay?" He fetched water for the three children to wash their faces and feet, and sent them to bed for a nap. Cao Xiangnan deliberately gave a look to warn the second child of Cao Gang's family.
Jingbao was laughing on the bed and buried himself in the quilt. His little face looked like his mother Sun Bailian. His eyebrows and eyes were good-looking, but he was tanned by the sun, like a monkey.
Seeing that the three children were lying on the bed obediently, Cao Xiangnan went outside. As soon as he turned around, the two boys on the bed threw off the quilt and made a noise. He heard Kang Kang scolding, and knew that the eldest and second sons would keep an eye on him, so he ignored them. When he
came out of the toilet, there was no sound in the room.
Every time after going to the toilet, Cao Xiangnan always had a feeling that life was meaningless, and he felt that he needed to quickly get out the toilet paper. Recalling the papermaking technique he saw when he was studying history, he thought this method was feasible. He
went into the room and took a look at the three sleeping children, covered the children with quilts, and then went outside.
The first step in papermaking is to make pulp. After struggling for a long time, he finally succeeded in setting up a pot in the yard to boil the plants.
Cao Xiangnan looked up at the sun in the sky. There was no such thing as a clock in this world, so he could only judge the time based on the sun. He sat down on a stool, looking at the fire in the pot while scratching the ground with a branch. As he was scratching, he saw the outline of a bicycle. He stared at the ground in a trance.
A group of people in the town were buying rice at the grain store. After asking about the prices of several kinds of rice, Qi Wanfeng grabbed a handful of rice from the bag with the lowest price, put it under his nose and smelled it, then turned around and whispered to Sun Bailian standing beside him, "This is old rice that has been stored for a long time." "Well, it has a bit of smell. I think that one is better." Sun Bailian pointed to the rice that looked a little better in color, but this rice was naturally more expensive.
The copper plate in the wallet is getting less and less, so it is natural to save as much as possible, but if you just open a business now, if you don't make things better, it may affect the future. This rice is still the most critical thing.
"Boss, can this be cheaper?" Sun Bailian asked.
The short and fat boss in the rice and grain shop waved his hand and said, "Two boys, this is already the cheapest."
Qi Wanfeng and Sun Bailian discussed it quietly, and the two decided to buy a slightly better rice. The two boys bargained with the boss for a long time, and the boss also backed down. It happened that there were other grains in the shop, and they needed to buy mung beans together. Mung beans are cheap, so mung beans are equivalent to half buying and half giving.
"Oh, this business is really hard to do." The boss had a bitter face, and his big eyes showed the cunning of a businessman. He looked at the two boys who had bargained with him for a long time and said, "In the future, you must come to our store often to patronize our business."
"Next time you come, can we give you a discount?" Qi Wanfeng asked with a smile.
"Okay, if you buy more than 500 kilograms, we can discuss the price." Rice is not selling well now. Ordinary people are reluctant to spend money to buy rice. If they can find a stable big customer, it will be a good thing for their store. The boss made a big promise.
"Okay, it's a deal." Qi Wanfeng accepted the offer. He knew that since the boss said so, he knew that the price could be negotiated. Qi Wanfeng paid the money, and the man who had been standing there silently came over and threw the rice on his back easily.
After buying all the things they needed, they set off on the round trip.
Before the sun went down, they returned to Caojia Village.
"You're back. I was wondering why you haven't come back yet." Cao Xiangnan opened the door and was very happy to see the people who came back. "Yeah." Qi Wanfeng smiled faintly when he saw his husband.
"Come and have a bowl of water." Cao Xiangnan poured a large bowl of water on the table for each of them and brought it to them.
Cao Gang, who walked back to Caojia Village from the town with a bag of rice on his back, didn't change his expression at all. He took the water and drank it all in big gulps, and poured himself another bowl. Sun Bailian felt that she was half dead tired. She didn't want to move even when she sat on the stool. She drank two sips of water and didn't see her two boys. She asked, "Hey, where did the kids go?"
"They were sleeping in the house." Cao Xiangnan saw that Qi Wanfeng's face was a little pale and there was sweat on his forehead, so he was wiping his sweat with a handkerchief. Qi Wanfeng felt a little embarrassed to see strangers around, but seeing that Sun Bailian and the others didn't notice them, he let his husband wipe his sweat, feeling warm in his heart.
"Haha, thank you for your hard work. It's not easy to take care of three kids. Are my two boys well behaved?" Sun Bailian smiled and asked. "Not bad." Cao Xiangnan thought for a while and said.
The rice porridge in the pot had been cooked a long time ago. The most common rice in the family was reddish-brown rice. Cao Xiangnan had cooked the rice before they came home. It was already cooked now. All that was left was to stir-fry the vegetables before the meal could be served.
The snails in the basin that were fed with clean water had almost spit out all the sand, so they were just right for stir-frying. There was also the pork they bought from the town, half a catty. His mind was quickly thinking about tonight's dishes.
Fortunately, he did not live a luxurious life in his previous life, so although his life now is hard, Cao Xiangnan feels okay because he has the most important person by his side.
Of the three children sleeping in the room, the second kid woke up first, and as soon as he woke up, he was restless in bed and woke up the other two on the bed. An An was woken up by his brother and sat there in a daze for a while with his mouth pursed. Then he stood up and made a noise with his brothers.
"Kang Kang, Jing Bao." Sun Bailian went into the room when she heard the voice, and saw his two kids tossing around on the bed. He gave them a try with a look, and the two little guys immediately became obedient. The two boys hadn't seen their mother for a day, and soon they saw their mother coming back and called out happily, "Mom, Mom..."
"Don't shout, you two boys come down and put on your shoes." Sun Bailian walked over and picked up An An from Qi Wanfeng's family. He still liked obedient and well-behaved little brothers the most, and couldn't help but kiss him on the face.
An An blushed and felt embarrassed.
The aroma of cooking wafted from the kitchen. Cao Xiangnan stood in front of the stove, cooking. Cao Gang, a senior, put potatoes and braised pork in the hot pot for him. The smell was tempting. Sun Bailian, who came out of the house with the children, smelled the smell from the kitchen and curiously asked Qi Wanfeng, who was feeding the chickens, "What's cooking in there that smells so good?"
"I don't know. It smells like meat." Qi Wanfeng put the chicken feed on the ground. He was surprised to find two hens with a group of chicks today, just like Am with a group of children. This made him feel less worried.
Seeing the grass on the side, he grabbed a handful and gave it to the two rabbits.
"Am." An An saw his Am, ran over with his short legs and hugged his Am's legs. Qi Wanfeng's hands were dirty, and he didn't touch the child's head. He smiled and asked, "Has our An An woken up? Did you listen to your father today?"
An An was a little confused and didn't know whether to say yes or no.
"Huh?" Qi Wanfeng smiled when he saw his child like this. He went over to wash his hands, saw something strange on the side, opened the pot and took a look. He didn't know what his husband was cooking, so he covered it with a lid.
He turned around and held the child in his arms. He really missed his little An An after not seeing him for a day.
"Wanfeng, I also want to give birth to a little boy as obedient as your An An." Sun Bailian said with envy when she saw Qi Wanfeng holding his An An.
"Isn't it good to have two boys?" Qi Wanfeng asked with a smile.
"I still like little boys. When I was pregnant with Jingbao, I thought he was a little boy, but I didn't expect that he would still be a boy when he was born." Sun Bailian frowned, looking disappointed. So now he wants to give birth but dares not. What if he gives birth to another boy, won't he hang himself?
While they were chatting, the dishes in the kitchen were ready.
"Get ready for dinner." Cao Gang brought out the dishes and put them on the table and said.
The two boys who were playing ran over as soon as they heard that it was time for dinner, drooling at the meat on the table. Cao Gang warned his two boys, "Sit down." Seeing his two boys sitting down obediently, he went into the kitchen and brought out two dishes.
"Can this be eaten too?" Sun Bailian pointed to a dish of snails on the table and asked.
"Yes, it's delicious." Cao Xiangnan saw what Sun Bailian pointed at, picked up one, sucked the tail, chewed the front mouth, and sucked the meat out, saying, "Eat it like this, eat it a few times and you will be able to eat it."
Then he remembered that pregnant women should not eat this kind of thing. Cao Xiangnan looked at Wanfeng with a little apology and said, "Wanfeng, don't eat this, you shouldn't eat these things now."
"Oh, okay." His husband told him not to eat it, so he didn't eat it, and Qi Wanfeng didn't ask why.
"Why can't Wanfeng eat it?" Sun Bailian asked.
Cao Xiangnan's face flashed with embarrassment, and he organized his words before saying, "Wanfeng's current body is not suitable for eating this. People with weak spleen and stomach, and stomach discomfort should not eat this kind of thing. It's okay for us ordinary people to eat it."
"Oh, I see." Sun Bailian's eyes swept over Qi Wanfeng's belly, and she smiled.
Cao Xiangnan and Cao Gang were the ones who liked to eat snails the most at the dinner table. Sun Bailian gave up after sucking two and couldn't suck them out, and turned to eat something else. The three children ate the meat with their mouths full of oil, and their little faces were satisfied.