However, the children didn't play at their house for long. After all, Liu Mingfeng and Wu Qiaoqiao had spent quite a bit of time shopping in the morning, and the family also needed time to tidy up. It was almost lunchtime.
Sure enough, soon the sounds of children calling for their parents could be heard from each house. The children in Wu Qiaoqiao's yard all went home for lunch. Since Wu Qiaoqiao and her family were preparing food for their dinner party that evening, they didn't prepare much for lunch. They simply ate a little something and then went to take a nap.
Of course, it was Feng Mingyue and her two friends, along with Liu Xiangjun and his group of four, who took a lunch break. As for Liu Mingfeng and Wu Qiaoqiao, they didn't rest. The two of them planned to reveal some of what they were doing during dinner tonight, such as writing a novel. Liu Mingfeng and Wu Qiaoqiao had copied some of Jin Yong's first novel last night, and copied it again at noon today. After they finished copying, they would put some of the paper in Liu Mingfeng's space, because there was a place in Liu Mingfeng's space where time would accelerate, so putting the paper there would age it.
It was last night, when the couple were together, that Wu Qiaoqiao learned that Liu Mingfeng's space had also been restored, and had become even larger than hers. After all, Liu Mingfeng's space could hold living things, while hers could not. Fortunately, Liu Mingfeng's space was restored, and the part that could speed up the time rotation was also restored, otherwise it would have been a bit difficult to do these things.
After waking up from their lunch break, everyone sat down and ate some fruit to refresh themselves. It was already past 4 o'clock when Liu Mingfeng and Wu Qiaoqiao started preparing with their families.
While they were busy, some of Liu Mingfeng's brothers who got along well with him also asked their wives to come and help. In particular, Political Commissar Sun, after learning that Liu Mingfeng was treating everyone to dinner that evening, even asked his wife Nie Ying to take the afternoon off so that she could help Wu Qiaoqiao at home.
When Nie Ying heard what her husband, Lao Sun, said, she nodded in agreement. So she didn't go to work this afternoon. After hearing the commotion at home, she brought over a basket of vegetables. She knew that although Liu Mingfeng had been transferred here last year, he often had to go on missions. He only had time to take care of things at home during his rest time, and he didn't have time to cultivate the land allocated to military dependents.
Because his family's land and Aunt Zhou's land were connected to Liu Mingfeng's, when they were tilling the land in the first half of this year, they asked Liu Mingfeng if he needed help. Liu Mingfeng said that he often had to go on missions and it was not good to always trouble them, so he decided to leave the land empty for now and wait for his wife to come over. Therefore, Liu Mingfeng's family did not have any vegetables.
As Nie Ying carried a basket of vegetables to Liu Mingfeng's door, the gate to Liu Mingfeng's left yard opened, and Nie Ying turned to see Aunt Zhou also coming out with a basket of vegetables. Aunt Zhou also saw Nie Ying and her basket, and the two smiled at each other.
The two of them walked to the gate of Liu Mingfeng's house and saw that the gate was ajar and that they could hear busy sounds coming from inside. So they didn't knock and just pushed the door open and went in.
As soon as they entered, they saw everyone busy preparing for dinner, while Wu Qiaoqiao was bending over in front of the oven, fiddling with something at the oven opening.
Wu Qiaoqiao also heard the door open. She looked up and saw her neighbors on both sides of the street. Aunt Zhou and Sister Ying came in carrying a basket of vegetables. She quickly grabbed a rag from the side, wiped the dust off her hands, and walked towards the two of them.
"Aunt Zhou, sister-in-law, what brings you here? And you've brought such a big basket of vegetables, you're too kind."
Upon hearing Wu Qiaoqiao's question, both of them laughed, with the straightforward Aunt Zhou answering first.
"I was just worried you'd be too busy, so I came to help you. As for the vegetables, you don't grow them yourself, right? I brought some over for you. Anyway, these are homegrown vegetables, so they're not worth much."
Upon hearing Aunt Zhou's reply, Wu Qiaoqiao knew that both of them were straightforward people, so she waved to Feng Mingran, who was slaughtering chickens over there, to take the vegetable baskets from their hands. Then she led the two of them toward the stone table in the courtyard.
“Aunt Zhou, as you said, there are so many of us here, why would we need the two of you to help? Come, come, sit here. By the way, where are the children? Why didn't you bring them?”
When Wu Qiaoqiao told the two women they didn't need help and invited them to sit down, they declined. They were there to help, not to just sit and watch. However, they couldn't resist Wu Qiaoqiao's gentle pull and were led to sit at the stone table. After they sat down, Wu Qiaoqiao opened a covered bamboo basket on the table, revealing some small cookies, walnuts, chestnuts, and pine nuts for them to eat. When she couldn't find a small hammer to crack the walnuts, she simply grabbed a handful and placed them on the stone table, cracking them open with her palm.
This move stunned both Aunt Zhou and Nie Ying. When Wu Qiaoqiao asked why the children hadn't been brought along, Nie Ying replied...
"Why bring them here? They're just causing trouble. By the way, you have four kids, would you like them to come over to my house to play?"
After breaking the walnuts open, Wu Qiaoqiao pushed them towards the two of them, indicating that they should eat them.
"Auntie, sister-in-law, eat up, don't be shy. These are all brought from our hometown, not bought with money. The four of them are practicing calligraphy in the study; they haven't finished their task for today yet."
When the two women heard Wu Qiaoqiao say that the four children were actually writing large characters, they both looked surprised. Seeing their reaction, Wu Qiaoqiao led them towards the study.
The three of them tiptoed to the study door. Wu Qiaoqiao deftly pushed the door open, and Zhou Da Niang and Nie Ying saw Wu Qiaoqiao's four children standing upright around four specially made small tables, writing something with calligraphy brushes. It was obvious at a glance that these four tables were specially made for the four children.
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