Chapter 68 Chapter 68 Part 2
Shen Yinyin was a good cook. She took charge of the cooking tasks with a wave of her hand and ordered her family members around. Zhao Zhengyang chopped wood, Zhao Zhenghui fetched water, Zhao Tingting washed vegetables, and Zhao Xingguo was even worse off. He was given a hoe and was asked to tidy up his private plot on the second day of the New Year.
As the host, Shen Moer and her family didn't have to do anything but sit and wait for dinner.
Shen Moer originally wanted to go wash vegetables with Zhao Tingting, but was sent back by Zhao Tingting, who said that as a young apprentice, it was her duty to work at her master's house during the New Year holidays, and she refused to give Shen Moer a chance to help.
Fu Mingze was even more helpless. Zhao Zhengyang and Zhao Zhenghui were indeed brothers. They both said the same thing: Well, I can't compare to you in studying, and you can't compare to me in working. Let's go, go, go and take a rest.
Shen Shaoyuan simply took some tea leaves from his room, brewed a pot of tea in an enamel pot, sat in the recliner where Shen Moer usually sat, and drank tea while basking in the sun.
He poured a cup for Shen Moer and Fu Mingze. Shen Moer took a sip from the enamel cup, her face changed slightly, and she subconsciously glanced at Fu Mingze. Fu Mingze stood and took a sip, hesitated, and said: "This tea... is good."
Shen Shaoyuan paused for a moment while holding the enamel cup, and was silent for a few seconds before saying, "This is a wild tea tree I found in the mountains. I picked it before Qingming Festival. Qingming tea is naturally good."
Shen Moer twitched her lips. This was indeed Mingqian tea, but it was tribute tea from Yunkai County in Daliang.
Ever since she found bird's nest, sea cucumber, fish glue and ham in the treasure house, her father has also become fond of treasure hunting. Especially now that it is not convenient for her to enter the treasure house, her father can do so. He would search the treasure house at night and find a lot of things. He found the tea himself.
Normally he would drink it secretly by himself, but today he was so happy that he forgot about it and poured it for his son-in-law as well.
Fu Mingze: "... Dad, can you make tea?"
Shen Shaoyuan said calmly, "What's so difficult about this? It's just stir-frying. We can drink it at home. We don't need to worry about the heat. It's good enough. But I didn't expect that the tea is so fragrant. It must be that the wild tea tree is growing well. Alas, I was in a hurry that day and didn't remember the way. I don't know if I can find it when I go back. If I can find it, we can go and pick some in the spring."
Fu Mingze took another sip of the sweet and clear tea and nodded: "Indeed, this tea tree is really good."
He actually felt that this was too coincidental, but Shen Shaoyuan said it too naturally. Moreover, if Shen Shaoyuan had not picked and processed the tea himself, it would be unlikely for him to buy tea of this quality. So after thinking about it, Fu Mingze accepted Shen Shaoyuan's statement.
As for why Shen Shaoyuan hadn't taken it out before, it wasn't surprising. These days, food is in short supply, and non-staple food is even more so. For things like tea, firstly, people wouldn't buy something that wouldn't fill their stomachs, and secondly, the production was very small, so it was hard to buy even if they wanted to. It was normal for Shen Shaoyuan to not be willing to take out such good tea to drink.
Shen Shaoyuan glanced at Fu Mingze, looking distressed but reluctant to give up: "I still have some, I'll get some for you later."
After thinking for a while, he said, "Send some to your parents later."
I really feel sad. Everything that Daliang brought here has to be eaten in small amounts.
But now that it has been made public, it is only right to send some to my in-laws.
Fu Mingze: "...Okay, thank you, Dad."
I can see that you are actually reluctant to let go.
Shen Moer drank the water slowly, looked at Fu Mingze, then looked at Fu Mingze again, and sighed secretly. Her Fu Zhiqing really had no guard against his father-in-law!
"Hey, Old Seven, are you all here?" Shen Xianghong walked in.
Shen Shaoyuan looked at this cheap fourth sister and smiled faintly: "That's right, where can we go in the first month of the year?"
Shen Xianghong walked into the yard and looked around. She thought that Shen Laoqi had really become rich and lived in a blue brick and tile house. She smiled and said, "Last time, Mo'er got married and happened to run into Lingling. You know the tempers of my second brother and his wife. They care about face and are stingy. I thought you and Mo'er would be more generous and would definitely not care about these things, so I stayed there. Our Xiaoqin came to the wedding and always said that Laoqi's family cooked a good meal when she went back!"
Shen Xianghong couldn't help but feel fortunate that she had invited Lu Xiaoqin to the wedding banquet. Otherwise, she would have offended people like Shen Shengli's family, and it would have been difficult to talk to them again.
Lu Xiaoqin twitched the corners of her mouth uncomfortably.
The banquet was well prepared, and there were some leaders of the commune present at the banquet. It was pretty much the same as any other banquet hosted by the commune, except that the host was Chen Moer, which was a bit awkward just thinking about it.
It is said that you should not hit a smiling person. Shen Shaoyuan looked at Shen Xianghong deeply and raised his chin: "Sit down."
Shen Xianghong pulled Lu Xiaoqin to sit down and said, "Mo'er is really capable. She doesn't need anyone to worry about her at all. Unlike our Xiaoqin, she doesn't even have a job and can only eat idle meals at home."
Lu Xiaoqin moved her butt awkwardly. Of course she wanted to have a job, but she felt uncomfortable asking someone she looked down upon for a job.
Shen Shaoyuan said nothing and asked Fu Mingze to pour a glass of boiled water for the mother and daughter. Fu Mingze glanced at the enamel pot next to his father-in-law and couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips.
It's obvious that he's reluctant to give them tea.
Shen Xianghong, who knew nothing about it, was quite happy and asked her son-in-law to pour them some hot water. This was treating them as guests. Although Shen Shaoyuan did not respond to what she said before, Shen Xianghong believed that as long as she appealed to his emotions and reasoned with him, Shen Shaoyuan would definitely agree to arrange jobs for his nephew and niece.
Although it was Shen Moer who could arrange the work, Shen Xianghong felt that a little girl could not understand anything, and she would have to ask her father for help in making decisions.
Moreover, Shen Moer was a junior, so Shen Xianghong still felt a little awkward asking her to speak with the juniors. However, she felt justified in speaking to Shen Shaoyuan. They were all legitimate nephews and nieces, so what was wrong with giving a helping hand?
But soon Shen Xianghong found that she was too happy too early, because no matter what she said afterwards, no matter how she tried to lead the topic to her daughter, Shen Shaoyuan did not respond at all, and just played Tai Chi to avoid the topic again.
She tried in vain to find topics to talk about over and over again, but Shen Shaoyuan easily avoided them with just a few words.
When it was almost lunchtime, Shen Shaoyuan said directly: "The old man's meal is ready, aren't you going to eat? It's not good to keep people waiting."
This was a clear way of driving people away. Shen Xianghong suppressed her anger and said with a dry laugh, "We are all brothers from my mother's family. It doesn't matter whether we eat at the old house or yours. Let your brother-in-law go to the old house to eat. Xiaoqin and I will have a meal at your house. Old Seven, you won't be reluctant, right?"
Now that things have come to this, most people would have agreed to it, but Shen Shaoyuan was not an ordinary person. He would never force himself to do something he was unhappy about because of embarrassment or the opinions of outsiders. He always did things as he pleased.
So he was not embarrassed at all, and said very sincerely and frankly: "But we don't usually interact with each other, I didn't expect you to come over for dinner, and my family didn't cook for you."
Shen Xianghong was so angry that her face turned pale and she turned away angrily. Lu Xiaoqin glared at Shen Shaoyuan and hurriedly followed.
Shen Xianghong and her daughter left angrily. Shen Yinyin shouted "eat" in the kitchen and brought out two dishes. She said as she walked away, "Shen Xianghong is so funny. She thinks she has a bigger face than Shen Shengli, right?"
Zhao Xingguo and Shen Yinyin were indeed a couple. They came in just in time for dinner, leaned their hoes against the courtyard wall, drew some water, and said as they washed, "Why did I see Lu Yiping walking outside alone in the breeze? He was sneezing from the cold."
Shen Yinyin sneered: "You are just being arrogant and refusing to beg for help."
Shen Moer said calmly: “My aunt never asked me. If she had asked me directly, I would have told her that the pre-selected workers were also full.”
Shen Yinyin laughed loudly: "They are both mother and daughter. They are very humble to come and ask your father a question."
The lunch was quite sumptuous. Chen Yinyin and her friends brought a piece of bacon and some winter bamboo shoots and made a bacon and winter bamboo shoot dish. The winter bamboo shoots were fresh and tender, and the bacon was salty and fragrant. This dish alone was enough for everyone to have a bowl of rice. In addition, Chen Moer and her friends had prepared half a chicken and a fish. The chicken was stewed with wild mushrooms, and the fish was braised. Then they made fried eggs with leeks, and the freshest green vegetables in the frost-bitten winter. The meal was so filling that both families were full.
Zhao Zhengyang was bored after dinner, so he suggested going for a walk in the back mountain. A group of young people immediately agreed. Shen Shaoyuan thought that if he stayed at home, he might have to deal with Shen Xianghong and the like, so he simply suggested that everyone go together.
When the two families went out, they happened to meet Wang Qiutong and Zheng Jiamin on the road. The two were arguing about something the previous second, but the next second when they heard that they were going up the mountain, they immediately stopped arguing, one grabbed Shen Moer and the other grabbed Fu Mingze, and followed with a thick face.
There were exactly ten people in the group, walking through the village to the back mountain, looking quite impressive. But it was Chinese New Year, and many people visited relatives and friends, and many of them gathered together to have fun, so it was not surprising.
"Zheng Zhiqing, where are you going?" When they arrived at a group of houses near the back mountain of the village, they met a group of people and a girl holding a basin of clothes. The girl looked delicate and weak, and when she looked up at people, her cheeks were slightly red, and she looked shy.
Zheng Jiamin said carelessly: "Comrade Xu Wei, let's go to the back mountain for a walk."
Xu Wei glanced at Shen Moer, then at Shen Shaoyuan, and asked embarrassedly: “It just so happens that I have nothing to do, I wonder if I can follow you?”
Wang Qiutong pulled Shen Moer's arm, pouted and muttered: "Didn't you just wash the clothes? You don't need to dry them, how come everything happened?"
Her voice was not loud, but it was not loud enough for others to hear. Xu Wei's face changed slightly, she lowered her head, and murmured, "I, I just thought that everything would be fine after hanging the clothes. If, if it's troublesome, forget it."
Seeing that she was about to cry, Zheng Jiamin immediately said, "Comrade Xu, don't be sad. Wang Qiutong just said that casually. She is straightforward and didn't mean anything else. If you want to go together, why don't you go hang the clothes quickly? I'm here. No, Fu Mingze and I are waiting for you here."
Fu Mingze was grabbed by him and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He said calmly: "What nonsense are you talking about? I have to be with my wife."
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