If it weren't for that idiot Yan Zheng not knowing how to seize the opportunity, wouldn't Xiaoxi have become their real family?
When Wenxi heard "Brother Qiang", she couldn't help but chuckle. She remembered watching an animated film in the Qin family in the 21st century, and the main character seemed to be "Brother Qiang".
"Second Brother Xiaoxi, what's the situation with Yan Qiang? When will they be able to come back?" Mother Yan asked with concern.
Her eldest son and daughter-in-law work away from home and rarely come back. They also don't have time to raise their child. She is really worried that Lili will not be close to her parents in the future.
“Actually, Brother Qiang and his wife planned to come back for the Spring Festival last year, but unfortunately, his wife found out she was pregnant a while before the festival, so they couldn’t make the long journey back. However, she will be giving birth soon, and they should be able to come back after the baby is born!” Pei Jingzhou said.
Yan's mother knew about her daughter-in-law's pregnancy because Yan Qiang would write back whenever something happened. Yan's mother now hoped that her daughter-in-law would give birth to a boy this time, so that she would have both a son and a daughter, and then she would have both a grandson and a granddaughter.
After having tea and chatting for a while at the Yan family's house, Wen Xi and Pei Jingzhou left without waiting for Yan Zheng to return.
After leaving Yan Zheng's house and walking to the roadside, Wen Xi asked curiously, "Second Brother, what position does Brother Qiang hold in your area? Why is he so busy? He doesn't even care about his own parents and daughter."
“Yan Qiang is an engineer there, and his wife is a nurse at the base. They met and got married there. The conditions there are extremely harsh, with no food or vegetables, and it's not suitable for a child’s growth. They can’t even take care of their daughter. If this pregnancy results in a boy, they will send him back to his parents to be raised,” Pei Jingzhou said.
"Second Brother, what's your position?" Wen Xi asked curiously. "You're so capable, your position must be quite high, right?"
“Junior engineer,” Pei Jingzhou said.
"Wow, that's amazing! My second brother is already a junior engineer at such a young age. He'll definitely be even more amazing in the future. Second brother, you must work hard so I can benefit from his success." Wen Xi patted Pei Jingzhou on the shoulder, looking at him with a face full of admiration.
If she has a powerful older brother, does that mean she can just lie back and relax like a couch potato?
Pei Jingzhou smiled somewhat awkwardly. So his younger sister admired him that much?
It was almost noon, and it was getting hotter and hotter. The two of them didn't stroll around the town. Wenxi didn't buy anything and walked back. Halfway there, Pei Jingzhou was worried that Wenxi was too tired, so he carried her back on his back.
Ever since Wenxi said she wanted crayfish, eels, and snails, Shen Jiaojiao, Jiang Yue, Zhao Yuanyuan, and Zhao Huihui went out every night with flashlights and wooden buckets.
A few days passed, and Wenxi had accumulated quite a few of these things at home. She decided to hold a gathering and asked Qin Mi's subordinates to bring her pig offal, bones, and trotters that morning, without requiring any tickets. She asked them to bring as much as possible.
That morning, Qin Mi's subordinates brought the items over. Wen Xi and the others cleaned and tidied them up, then hung them in the well to chill.
Since the gathering is scheduled for the evening, the food can only be processed in the afternoon. With the temperature so high now, it will probably smell bad if left out until the afternoon.
In the afternoon, Lin Yiwan, Tian Shengnan, Song Lan, Zhou Bai, Wang Xinru, Gu Huai'an, Li Jianguo, and Lu Mingxiu all came to help. Together, they processed crayfish, snails, and river snails...
Wen Xi didn't explicitly say that Xu Mengying shouldn't come, and she didn't know why Gu Huai'an didn't bring Xu Mengying. It was a good thing that Xu Mengying didn't come, as Wen Xi was also afraid that this troublemaker would cause a ruckus for everyone.
Wang Xinru was cleaning crayfish like everyone else when she suddenly cried out in surprise. Everyone knew she had been pinched by a crayfish, and they couldn't help but burst into laughter. Lin Yiwan picked up a pair of scissors and snipped off the crayfish claw, freeing Wang Xinru's hand.
Fortunately, the crayfish she caught wasn't an old one that had been around for several years, so it wasn't very dangerous. It just turned red from being pinched, but the skin wasn't broken.
"Wang Xinru, go and remove the shrimp veins," Lin Yiwan said.
Everyone came one by one, and they worked together to process the crayfish. After the crayfish were processed, Wenxi went to the kitchen to cook the crayfish, while everyone else moved on to the next one.
The four of them caught a lot of crayfish over the past few days. Wenxi paid for them as if she had bought them from them. She cooked the crayfish in two flavors: spicy and garlic, so that everyone's tastes could be taken care of.
Some people can't eat spicy food, so they eat garlic instead.
There were more snails than usual, because she had started catching them in the river bend several days in advance. Wenxi really didn't want to keep owing everyone favors, and she was also afraid that people would say she didn't know how to be grateful, so she decided to cook more snails today and give a whole basin of snails to each of the families who had visited her, so that they could eat their fill.
Wenxi uses two pots to cook at the same time, which greatly improves work efficiency.
"Xiaoxi, are you tired? Why don't you let me do it?" Pei Jingzhou said.
Wen Xi shook her head. "I'm fine. If I'm tired, I'll rest on my own. I'm not stupid."
After all the crayfish were cooked, Wenxi called everyone over to eat them first, since crayfish taste best when hot. Wenxi served everyone a bowl of crayfish, and everyone found a cool spot to eat.
Wang Xinru had never seen crayfish before and didn't know how to eat them. Seeing Lin Yiwan peel the meat from the crayfish tail and eat it, she also started to eat them.
She fell in love with it after eating a few, and then ate them very quickly.
There were just too many crayfish, and the house didn't have enough space to hold them all, so Wenxi filled a wooden basin the size of a washbasin with crayfish and had Pei Jingzhou accompany her to deliver them to Chang Qingqing's house next door.
They all visited her in the hospital, and after she was discharged, they often came to visit her at home.
Then he sent a potted plant to Lin Yiwan, Ge Chenglan's family, and a few other families. Once only his own family had left to eat, he stopped sending them.
Wenxi didn't send any to Donghua. Donghua lives alone, and even if she received a whole pot, she wouldn't be able to finish it. So Wenxi told Donghua to come over for dinner after school in the afternoon.
Wenxi is no longer short of money and doesn't rely on these things to make money, so she doesn't mind letting everyone know that these things are edible. Besides, she only sent crayfish to a few families, so a few more people knowing that crayfish are edible won't have any impact on them.
Afterwards, Wenxi started making snails. There were many snails, and after making a pot, Wenxi and Pei Jingzhou quickly delivered it to everyone so that they could eat the snails while they were hot.
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