First meeting
Jiang Qing blinked. "Isn't it because I haven't seen Uncle Lin for a long time? I'm just asking casually."
"He doesn't have time recently." Lin Nanyan lowered his eyes.
"Oh." Jiang Qing responded dryly.
When Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin moved to Jinhua Community, Jiang Qing didn't pay any attention to them at first.
After all, they are not neighbors who see each other every day, and there are several floors between them. From a spatial perspective, the relationship between the two families is completely unfamiliar.
The first time they met each other was on the night when Uncle Lin and his family moved in. Uncle Lin took little Nan Yan's hand and knocked on her door.
“Da da da—”
The sound of leather shoes trotting and dragging could be heard from inside the door. The door opened, revealing a round, fat face.
Xiao Nanyan's eyes fell on the little girl who suddenly appeared in front of him, from her ill-fitting high heels to the half of her face that was red from biting watermelon.
"Hello." He was the first to greet little Jiang Qing eagerly.
Little Jiang Qing tilted her head and ate the watermelon. She didn't spit out the seeds, but chewed it with big mouthfuls. While eating, she stared at the two strangers who appeared at her door through the iron fence with her big eyes without saying a word.
"Jiang Jiang, who's knocking on the door?"
The middle-aged woman's question came from behind the little girl, accompanied by the sound of approaching footsteps.
Xiao Nanyan looked in the direction of the voice and saw an aunt pinching dumpling slices and an uncle with flour on his hands appear at the door.
Little Jiang Qing raised her head, resting it on her mother's trouser leg, which was very close to her. Watermelon juice flowed down her neck and onto her clothes, soaking a large area. She replied obediently, "Mom, I don't know her."
This child is so slow. It took him so long to come back. She had already seen people. Wang Hong asked hesitantly, "Who are you..."
Lin Chongshan said enthusiastically, "We just moved into the second floor. Today is our first day here. We came in a hurry and don't prepare much. I'll give you some homemade buns to try."
When Wang Hong heard this, she quickly opened the iron fence and said, "So you guys are moving? No wonder I saw people coming in and out of the apartment building today. Come in quickly."
Little Jiang Qing pricked up her ears to listen to the adults talking. The watermelon juice was flowing everywhere, and her fingertips were sticky. She bit a corner of the watermelon with her little white teeth and secretly pulled her father's apron to wipe her two little hands.
In the middle of the conversation, she noticed someone was looking at her. She turned around and saw that it was the child who had been staring at her. Her little eyebrows unconsciously stood up.
The little girl with big grape eyes, holding a watermelon in her mouth, looked over with her nose slightly wrinkled. Little Nan Yan met her cute gaze and smiled brightly.
Little Jiang Qing looked at the fair and tender smiling face of the little boy, lowered her head, ignored her double chin, took a big bite of the red and sweet melon flesh, squinted her eyes in enjoyment, and glanced at the other person out of the corner of her eye.
Humph, this was given to her by her mother, no one can take it away from her.
The movements of the two children below did not attract the attention of the adults above at all, and the three of them were still greeting each other politely.
Wang Hong: "We're making dumplings at home. We use the best pork belly with the ginger filling, which is fat and lean. Why don't you try some?"
Lin Zhongshan: "No, we still have to go to other people's homes to give gifts. Let's wait for next time, if we have time next time."
Jiang Shanhai: "Okay, you must try my cooking when the time comes. Don't be polite to my family, neighbors."
Lin Zhongshan replied amiably, "How could that be? A distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. I will definitely come."
"This is your son, right? He's chubby and looks strong." Wang Hong's eyes dropped down, and she gave Jiang Shanhai a look to signal him to go inside and take out the wrapped dumplings.
Jiang Shanhai smiled naively, but walked in without slowing down at all.
Lin Chongshan noticed his movement at a glance and wanted to leave, but the hostess was praising his son, so he was embarrassed to turn around and leave with the child.
"Yes, my son, his name is Lin Nanyan. He has been eating a lot and defecating a lot all his life, but he has rarely been sick." He looked at the little girl in front of Wang Hong and praised her, "Your daughter is quite brave, not afraid of strangers at all, and looks smart."
"Yes, it's okay for children..." Wang Hong's eyes twitched. Before she saw her daughter, she hadn't noticed that her daughter looked really smart with her big red face that was bitten terribly, her wet and sticky little top, and the pair of high heels that didn't fit her feet but she insisted on wearing them secretly.
Meeting Wang Hong's gaze, little Jiang Qing took a bite of watermelon, looked at her doubtfully, took another bite, and looked back again. Two words were clearly written in her eyes: "Mom?"
Look at the little boy in the other person's hand. He is dressed neatly and cleanly, has a bright smile, and stands there obediently, like a doll in a New Year picture.
There is no harm without comparison. She ignored the stark contrast in style, forced her smile even harder, and continued, against her conscience, "...They're all cute. As long as they can eat and sleep, that's good."
Just then, Jiang Shanhai came out with a large box of dumplings. "They're uncooked, so you can eat them anytime you want when you get home. They're delicious with vinegar or chili dip."
Lin Zhongshan quickly declined: "This is too much. There are three of us in our family and we can't finish it. Just a little will do."
Wang Hong forcefully stuffed the dumplings into the person's hand and said, "It's just a few dumplings. Everyone can have a bite and then it's gone. Didn't you say you were going to give a gift to someone else's house? We won't waste your time. Go quickly."
As she was about to close the shop, Jiang Shanhai took the opportunity to stuff a piece of watermelon into Xiao Nanyan's hand and said, "It's hot, eat a piece of watermelon to cool down."
Seeing this scene, little Jiang Qing opened her mouth wide, stopped eating the melon, and stared blankly at the little boy opposite.
Little Nanyan was caught off guard when something large was stuffed into his hand. He lowered his head in a daze. When he looked up, he saw little Jiang Qing staring at him. He subconsciously showed his eight neat little baby teeth.
Across the iron fence, Lin Zhongshan wanted to return it but couldn't. He accepted it with a smile and said, "Okay, then next time I'll let you try my fried dough sticks. My wife's cooking skills are really good."
Wang Hong smiled and replied, "That's great."
The two adults finally finished their polite conversation and Lin Chongshan pulled little Nanyan downstairs.
He glanced at his son and asked, "How is it? Are you happy?"
Little Nan Yan nodded vigorously, with happy little stars in his eyes.
Lin Chongshan was also infected by his son's happiness. He picked up little Nan Yan and said, "We have a new home now. You should hang out with other children. You can't play in the mud by yourself anymore. It's not clean, okay?"
Little Nanyan replied obediently: "I know, Dad."
"Oh, daddy's dear son, why are you so cute." Lin Chongshan buried his head in his son's belly and took a deep breath, causing little Nan Yan to giggle non-stop.
"Dad, eat, eat watermelon." Little Nanyan twisted his body to avoid the itch, but did not forget to stretch out his hand and hold the watermelon close to his father's mouth.
Lin Zhongshan took a small bite of the melon flesh and said, "It's delicious and sweet. You can have some too."
Xiao Nanyan smiled and took back his hand, put it in his mouth, took a bite, chewed it in his mouth, and swallowed it.
Lin Zhongshan patted him and said, "Silly son, spit out the seeds. You can't eat the seeds."
Little Nan Yan looked at him blankly, chewing the food happily.
Lin Zhongshan: "...Forget it, it won't kill anyone anyway."
On the other side, Wang Hong closed the door and asked Jiang Shanhai, "Did the family downstairs move out? I saw their whole family a few days ago. They moved pretty quickly."
Jiang Shanhai returned to the kitchen and rolled out some dough. "The previous tenants were there. I heard from the landlord that they finally found a buyer, so they refunded the remaining rent to them and also paid an extra month's penalty."
"That family's rent was about to expire, and now they could get a month's rent for free. They quickly moved out the next day, fearing that the landlord would go back on his word."
Wang Hong put down the buns sent by the Lin family and asked, "So, the Lin family has settled here? It's not just a short-term rental?"
Jiang Shanhai: "Well, the three of them bought a house and are going to settle down here."
"It's pretty good," Wang Hong spread out the dough and stuffed it with stuffing. "The family that rented the house before didn't take good care of it. They always piled garbage in the hallway. Every time I went there, I had to tiptoe. No matter how many times I told them, they just wouldn't change."
"I think the new family is pretty nice now. The child is plump and clean, and looks friendly. I think it will be easier to get along with them than the previous family."
"I think so too, but if we can get along, then we can. If not, it doesn't matter. We are far away anyway," Jiang Shanhai is very open-minded. What happens to other families is their business, and their family will not get involved.
He raised a handful of flour and sprinkled it on the panel to prevent the dumpling slices from sticking together. Unexpectedly, a small head suddenly popped up in the middle. Before he could retract his hand, half of the handful of flour was spilled.
Little Jiang Qing blinked and spat out the powder in her mouth. She clung to the panel with her feet hanging in the air, her shoes hanging on her feet and unable to fall off. Her big eyes stared at Jiang Shanhai fiercely.
"Jiang! Qing!" Wang Hong roared like a lion. Looking at her daughter, whose head and body were covered in white, she roared, "Get down here!"
Little Jiang Qing's body trembled with fear. She didn't dare to look back. She relaxed her hands and her head slowly sank, leaving only her eyelashes dipped in flour exposed. They fluttered down as she blinked, but she persisted in staring at her father.
Jiang Shanhai quickly took the child down and brushed the flour off her body. "Jiang Jiang, why did you come over here so suddenly? Don't try to scratch the panel casually. It's very dangerous."
As the two adults walked and talked, little Jiang Qing followed them closely, but no one saw her.
She had no choice but to follow him into the kitchen and jumped up to scratch the panel, trying to make her father notice her presence.
Wang Hong felt deeply distressed when she saw her daughter's clothes that were all in a mess and her face that was covered in mud.
She kept giving herself luck and calming herself down: "Tell me, what are you doing? Why are you always looking at your dad?"
Little Jiang Qing vaguely knew that she was in trouble, and she shrank her head, but she still firmly put the thing in her hand right under her father's nose.
Jiang Shanhai looked at the unknown mixture in front of him that had turned white after being covered with flour and only a layer of melon rind was left. He was silent for a moment, then a determined smile appeared on his face.
"My dear, this is the watermelon that grandpa brought specially for you. Daddy won't eat it."
Wang Hong: ...
Looking at the scene in front of her, she suddenly understood something and looked at Jiang Shanhai like a fool. He really didn't understand his daughter's character.
Little Jiang Qing's face was red from being wiped with a towel by her father. Although she couldn't understand why her father would want to eat melon rinds, it didn't stop her from blinking and pouting, "Dad is partial."
Jiang Shanhai, who was inexplicably blamed: ???
Where did this come from?
Little Jiang Qing's eyes suddenly filled with tears, and she looked extremely aggrieved. "His, his melon is bigger than mine."
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