Mu Ziwei and Li Qingqing, who couldn't stay in the house and came out for a stroll, as well as Song Guangye who ran to the backyard to reconcile with his girlfriend, couldn't help but come to the door of Meng Zhiyu's room when they smelled the fragrance.
After taking the chestnuts out of the pot, one person held a hot chestnut and blew on it to peel the shell. Mu Ziwei was the fastest. He threw the peeled chestnut into his mouth and chewed it for a few times, his eyes lighting up.
When the others saw it, they knew it must taste good, so they peeled the shells faster. When they put it in their mouths, they couldn't help but be surprised, "It tastes much better than cooking it."
"It's fried and added with sugar, how can it not be delicious?" Li Qingqing put the chestnut shell to her nose and took a deep breath.
In the afternoon, the sun moved westward, and Meng Zhiyu and a few others sat in the yard with paper and pens, writing and drawing non-stop.
Li Tingman has become obsessed with rope braiding these days. Li Qingqing found it interesting and sat aside to learn from her. Song Guangye also watched intently in order to reconcile with Li Tingman as soon as possible. Mu Ziwei lay on his exclusive recliner, feeling drowsy in the breeze.
"Meng Zhiyu." When Song Yun came from the front yard carrying a bag of brown sugar, he saw such a picture of peaceful and tranquil time.
"Song Zhiqing." Meng Zhiyu stood up and invited her to sit down.
"I went to the movies this morning. When I heard you were back, I came to see you." Song Yun had obviously been doing well recently. Not only was his face rosy, but he was no longer stern and expressionless like before. Instead, he was smiling.
The wind was quite strong today. Meng Zhiyu used a notebook to hold down the few pages he had written. "It seems like he really cares about you."
Just thinking of taking her to the movies can instantly kill 80% of the people in the team.
Song Yun couldn't help blushing. He took out a handful of candies from his pocket and distributed them to Meng Zhiyu and the others, inviting them, "My girlfriend and I are getting engaged the day after tomorrow. If you have nothing to do, come and join in the fun."
There is an unwritten rule in her hometown that the more people from the bride's family come during engagement and wedding, the more confident the girl will be, and the less likely the in-laws will dare to bully the new bride.
Her parents and relatives definitely couldn't come that day, so she could only invite these people from the same educated youth compound.
No one had any objection. This was a happy event. As long as they were not enemies who had never had any contact with each other, they would generally go if invited.
"Who is your partner?" Li Qingqing asked curiously.
"Wang Shunli, the son of our brigade accountant." Song Yun said.
Song Yun really liked the atmosphere in their backyard. She ate the fried chestnuts Meng Zhiyu gave her and sat there for a while before getting up and leaving. Meng Zhiyu left some brown sugar and stuffed two of the fried chestnuts he had given her, and put the rest in the share money.
Not long after Song Yun left, Aunt Wang, Aunt Li, and Aunt Niu came in from the back door carrying baskets.
"Oh, Zhiyu, I haven't seen you for two days. I miss you a lot." Before I even entered the door, Aunt Niu's loud voice rang out.
"Three aunts, we are so close to each other. Why do you need to bring gifts when you come to my place?" Meng Zhiyu stood up to greet them, looking at the baskets in their hands and chatting with them.
The three of them sat on the small stools that Li Tingman and Song Guangye had brought out. "We don't have anything good to give you. If it's too bad, it won't suit our friendship. If it's too good, it won't suit our family situation. So the three of us decided to fill a basket with the chestnuts we risked our lives to snatch for you."
"I like this thing, so I won't be polite with you." Meng Zhiyu didn't need anyone's help. He ran into the house with three baskets and poured the chestnuts into his backpack.
Then he held three empty baskets in one hand and a small bamboo basket filled with roasted chestnuts in the other, and said, "Come, please try my cooking."
"What? Isn't this just chestnut? I've been eating it for decades." Can you taste something different from it?
Aunt Wang and the other two didn't plan to eat it, but they couldn't resist Meng Zhiyu's enthusiasm, so they had to pick one up to taste it.
After swallowing one chestnut, she picked up the next one without Meng Zhiyu urging her to eat. Mrs. Niu quickly peeled the shell and asked, "Sister Zhiyu, how did you cook this? It tastes much better than what we cook."
The other two nodded, their hands and mouths busy, their eyes fixed on Meng Zhiyu, obviously wanting to know too.
"It's very simple. You boil it and I fry it." Seeing that they really liked it, Meng Zhiyu explained the steps in detail.
Mrs. Li and the other two listened attentively, and finally concluded, "It's not difficult to make, but it's a bit wasteful of sugar."
Meng Zhiyu smiled but said nothing. Delicious food must be processed with good ingredients, just like some people don’t like to eat original tofu, but like to eat stinky tofu or fried tofu with chili peppers.
Although they liked it very much, the three of them didn't feel comfortable competing with the little girl for the snacks, especially the more expensive ones.
After seeing the three people off, Meng Zhiyu stood up and stretched, intending to go back to his room or the library to study. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a little head sticking out from the back door that was not closed properly.
Almost everyone in the brigade knew that Meng Zhiyu fell ill and went to the hospital in the middle of the night. Lin had just made clothes for Meng Zhiyu at home, and Tuwa had nothing to do at home, so he went out to wander around to see if he could find something to eat.
On the way, he heard someone say that Meng Zhiyu had returned. He told Lin that and went to visit him, taking with him three duck eggs he had found by the river two days ago.
Their eyes met, and the boy who was trying to take a peek was caught red-handed. He immediately shrank his head a little embarrassedly. Meng Zhiyu looked at him with amusement, "What are you dawdling about? Come in quickly."
"Meng Yu, these are duck eggs I found by the river. They are delicious when cooked." Tuwa's hands were small, and a duck egg was bigger than his hands. He held it carefully in his clothes along the way.
Meng Zhiyu looked at the three dozen duck eggs on his clothes and took them out carefully. "Thank you, Tuwa. Please sit down first. I will put them into the house first to prevent them from being accidentally broken."
Seeing that she liked it, Tuwa secretly breathed a sigh of relief, nodded obediently, and sat on the bench nicely.
Li Tingman looked at the country boy who was much thinner than before, and couldn't help but feel pity for him. "This is the chestnuts fried by your sister Meng. Try it, it's delicious."
As she said this, she wanted to help Tuwa peel the skin, but he refused. Li Tingman did not force him. They had only met a few times and had never spoken to each other. They were not familiar with each other, and it would not be good to be too enthusiastic.
Meng Zhiyu put the big duck eggs away, took a small basket and filled half a basket with red dates, planning to let Tuwa take it back later.
Li Tingman followed in and took a look at the red dates. "I still have two kilograms of brown sugar. Do you want to take some back for him?"
"No, these red dates are enough."
Tuwa is not an ordinary child. He has experienced a lot and is even more mature and strong-willed than the average teenager. If they give him too much, he might think they are giving him alms, which will not be good for them.
Meng Zhiyu took out two apples, cut them into pieces and let everyone eat them. Li Tingman and the others had just eaten an apple each at noon, so they naturally knew who the apples were for.
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