Chapter 155 Will it bear peaches? It will bear big pomelos! ...
The security guards refused to supervise him, and Lou Lan had no choice but to let Wang Xiaohei play inside the community, which was safer than leaving him outside.
"Do you know how to open the door? Do you know how to get home? If you're hungry, just go home and eat something, okay?"
Wang Xiaohei nodded.
"Auntie is leaving now. Go play under the shade of a tree. Don't stay in the sun all the time, okay?"
Wang Xiaohei continued to nod.
Lou Lan turned and left.
Wang Xiaohei peered at her through the iron fence from the doorway until he could no longer see her, then slowly turned and walked toward the only withered little tree in the yard.
...
As soon as the children entered the welfare home, they looked around curiously and chattered excitedly.
Wow! It's a tree!
A little girl pointed to the row of trees of different heights and shapes in the front yard.
Wen Xingmou was particularly proud, “This is my tree.”
"Your tree?" the little girl asked.
Wen Xingmou picked up the wooden sign hanging on the tree. "See this? It says 'Wen Xingmou's' tree on it."
"Your name is so difficult, I don't really recognize it."
A little boy who had just graduated from kindergarten came over and exclaimed, "I recognize it! I recognize it! Let me see! Wow, it really is 'Wen Xingmou's Tree'!"
Wen Xingmou said, "Because I chose the sapling, I planted the tree, and I water it every day, so it is my tree."
"I don't have any trees."
"I also want a tree, so I can water it every day."
The children were very envious.
Will it bear peaches?
Wen Xingmou: "It will bear big pomelos!"
"Wow, I love big pomelos. The big pomelos peel can even be made into hats."
"I also like pomelos."
An Shisi: "Come and see my tree! My tree is the tallest."
Wow! That's really tall, taller than my dad.
"right!"
"We don't have any trees on our property."
"I'll go home and have my dad plant it."
"You have to grow it yourself."
“Then I’ll plant them myself. I want to plant trees that bear big, juicy peaches.”
"Anything is fine. My older brother said we can plant whatever trees we want."
"Wow, there are so many cats here, big ones and small ones!"
"Wow, really! There's even a black kitten!"
Wen Xingmou, acting like a little master of the house, introduced to everyone: "Yes, we have Afu, One Two Three Four Five Six, and also Little Blue, Little Orange, Little Black, Little Flower, and also Polite and Well-mannered. When my older brother comes back from grocery shopping later, we'll also have a big fish and a clever loach!"
"Wow, is your house a zoo?"
"right!"
...
When An Fusheng returned from grocery shopping, he found a yard full of children.
Before he could even ask any questions, he heard An Shisi say, "Wow, look, my older brother is back! My older brother is back in a tricycle, isn't he cool?"
Wow! It really is a tricycle!
"I like this tricycle."
"Let me see, let me see."
I was surrounded as soon as I entered.
An Fusheng: "..."
"Aunt Lou!"
No response.
"Ji Fengnian!"
"ha?"
A head popped out from the second floor.
An Fusheng: "Come down and take care of the child."
"I was busy picking green beans this morning, and I haven't finished cleaning yet. Wait... why are there so many children? Where did they come from?"
An Fusheng: "I don't know either!"
An Shisi was directing the children to climb onto the vehicle, saying, "This is my older brother's vehicle. You can all get on if you want to play. It's super cool to ride around in a tricycle!"
An Fusheng: "..."
Fortunately, Bai Mangmang finally got up and went downstairs.
Bai Mangmang has made great progress in English this semester, ranking third in the class in the final exam. Now she's quite proud of herself, getting up early if she wants and sleeping in if she wants, and not allowing anyone to say a word against it.
"Wow, Sister Mangmang is awake!" An Fusheng said, sticking his head out of the car window. "Let's go play with her!"
"Hey, Sister Mangmang, you're up?" Wen Xingmou was the first to rush over.
Bai Mangmang coldly replied, "Mm."
Bai Mangmang is the least loving child in the whole family; she never treats her younger siblings like children when playing with them.
Family members usually take care of the younger ones subconsciously. For example, if Bai Miaomiao has something that Wen Xingmou says she likes, Bai Miaomiao will give it to her if it's not particularly important. When Ji Fengnian takes his younger siblings to pick vegetables, he will put sun hats and gloves on them in advance and hand them baskets. During the vegetable picking process, he will worry about whether they are hot or whether their baskets are heavy.
Bai Mangmang was completely different. Her younger siblings had been envious of her toys for a long time. If she didn't want to let them play with them, she wouldn't let them. When she took her younger siblings to work in the vegetable garden, she would let them get their own baskets from the storage room and pick the vegetables themselves. If they picked too many and couldn't carry them, they would find a way to do it themselves. She would even ask them to help carry her baskets and help transport the vegetables she picked.
An Fusheng often saw Bai Mangmang leisurely drinking mung bean soup, leaning against the back door of the kitchen and directing several children to move vegetables. Xiao Ba, in particular, was sweating profusely while moving cucumbers, as if he had achieved some great feat.
I don't know why, but all the younger kids really enjoy playing with her.
The children all rushed to the white expanse, and An Fusheng was finally able to drive the car to the kitchen door to unload the vegetables.
The vegetables can be supplied entirely by their own garden. When buying groceries, they mainly buy meat, mushrooms, and bean products, which is enough for An Fusheng by himself.
The restaurant business is booming, and everyone works non-stop, so they're exhausted every day. An Fusheng has set strict working hours for them: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with no fixed weekends off, but they must take two days off in lieu of work; no extra shifts are allowed. Groceries need to be bought early to ensure freshness, but it's not yet working hours, so An Fusheng does it all by himself.
"What are they here for? Why aren't any of their parents here, not even Aunt Lou?" An Fusheng asked.
Wen Min went to a meeting this morning, and Wen Yue was also not seen, so there are no adults in the house, only children?
An Fusheng found it a bit scary.
A group of children were so attracted by all the things as soon as they entered that they forgot what they came for.
Upon hearing An Fusheng's question to Bai Mangmang from afar, they all began to rack their brains to recall: What am I here for?
"They came to help pick vegetables." Wen Xinglin had been feeding the chickens in the corner.
"Picking vegetables? With so many people, they'll pick all our vegetables in one go," An Fusheng said.
"Yes, we're here to pick vegetables."
Finally, someone remembered.
"right!"
"right!"
...
I remember everything.
“Many of the vegetable leaves are covered in fuzz, and they’ll make your hands itchy if you touch them,” An Fusheng tried to dissuade them.
Without his parents around, An Fusheng was a little worried. Parents these days spoil their children too much and won't let them off the hook if they make even the slightest mistake.
“It’s okay, my mom dressed me in a long shirt and long pants,” one of the little girls said. “My mom said she’s going to pick lots of vegetables.”
“Me too.” Another little boy took off his backpack and pulled out a sun-protective shirt.
They all came prepared, so why did only one parent come? Was it pre-arranged? Is it some kind of independent education program for children? I haven't heard Wen's mother and Lou's mother mention it before.
Is it really okay for a four- or five-year-old child to do farm work alone? Do parents these days really cherish their children?
An Fusheng felt that theory and reality were disconnected.
"Have you had breakfast? If you have, go get to work. I'll grab a bite and be right there," Bai Mangmang said bluntly.
Surprisingly, several children said they hadn't eaten breakfast yet because their parents hadn't gotten up and hadn't given them money to buy breakfast.
An Fusheng: It seems that theory and practice really cannot be generalized.
...
Summer days are long and dawn breaks early. An Fusheng went out to buy groceries at six o'clock and returned at a little past eight. The restaurant opens at nine, and no one has arrived yet. With so many people around, everyone can prepare the food quickly. An Fusheng doesn't have to worry about preparing the food, so he doesn't have much to do. However, An Fusheng doesn't dare to prepare food for other people's children.
Bai Mangmang went to the kitchen and brought out a bowl of shrimp wontons. Instead of going to the dining room, she sat on a low stool in the yard to eat, while a group of children surrounded her, drooling.
"Sister, what is this? Is it delicious?"
"Sister, what does it taste like?"
"Sister, what kind of filling is this?"
An Fusheng felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Fortunately, Lou's mother finally returned.
As soon as Lou Lan entered the door, she saw a group of children surrounding Bai Mangmang, their noses sticking out and their mouths opening and closing in sync with Bai Mangmang's eating movements. Several of them were practically drooling into Bai Mangmang's bowl.
“They all look so hungry, let’s share one with them,” Lou Lan said to Bai Mangmang with a smile.
Bai Mangmang said without pausing, "My older brother said he doesn't know if they can eat our food."
Lou Lan said to An Fusheng, "They can eat it. Get them some; look how hungry they are."
With Lou's mother saying that, An Fusheng could happily go and cook wontons for them. To be honest, he was almost at his wit's end watching them.
Before long, all the children were eating wontons.
Wow, it's really delicious!
"Thank you, big brother! These wontons are so delicious! Can I come back for more tomorrow?"
"I want to come too."
"I want to come too! My mom says you can get anything you want by working. Picking vegetables is working, and we can exchange them for delicious wontons, right, big brother?"
An Fusheng: "..."
Half an hour later, the group of children finally got to the main event of the day: picking vegetables.
Lou Lan borrowed some sun-protective clothing from An Shisi, Wen Xingmou, and Wen Xingrui for those who didn't have it.
If you don't have enough baskets at home, you can use insulated bags used for packing takeout instead.
Ji Fengnian finished cleaning and then came down to help the children pick vegetables. He has been helping the children pick vegetables every day and is very experienced.
Lou Lande took Wen Xingrui to receive rehabilitation treatment. Seeing that the child was obedient and followed instructions, she handed them over to Ji Fengnian.
...
After a few months, Wen Xinglan has learned to walk and talk, and is now fully integrated into the group of older children in kindergarten. He even goes to pick vegetables when he sees everyone else doing so.
Armed with the safety scissors I bought for him, he spotted a big eggplant as soon as he got to the field. He ran over to cut it, but after cutting for a long time, he couldn't even break the skin of the eggplant stem.
Wen Xinglan threw down the scissors, picked up the eggplant, and bit it with her mouth.
When Ji Fengnian came on patrol and saw this, he picked him up and brought him back. "The stem of this eggplant is hard to begin with, and you even picked a big one. You can't even cut it with scissors, are you sure you can bite it off? Why don't you go pick some cherry tomatoes over there?"
Wen Xinglan held onto the eggplant tightly, refusing to let go, "Brother, please help."
"You still know to ask for help."
Ji Fengnian picked up the scissors and snipped, and the eggplant landed steadily in Wen Xinglan's arms. Wen Xinglan screamed with joy.
"Let's go pick cherry tomatoes over there, everyone's over there."
Wen Xinglan put the large eggplant into the bag, then grabbed a handle, dragged the bag, and excitedly ran towards the cherry tomatoes, muttering, "Cherry tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, here I come!"
...
There were so many vegetables in the garden that it dazzled the children, but what attracted them most were the large and brightly colored fruits and vegetables.
Ji Fengnian led everyone to the cherry tomato patch at the beginning. The cherry tomatoes were yellow, red, and green, and the children were immediately attracted. They were all happily picking cherry tomatoes, but at some point, a few of them ran to the chili pepper patch next door.
Ji Fengnian saw this and rushed over to stop them, but some children had already started touching the chili peppers and were crying from the spiciness.
"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey! Ugh! My tongue is burning! Someone help me!"
"What do you mean your tongue is burning and you're crying? You're the one who's crying. I told you to pick cherry tomatoes, but you picked red chili peppers instead. I told you to use scissors, but you insisted on biting them."
Ji Fengnian carried the crying child back to the kitchen. "Brother, quickly give him something to eat to relieve the spiciness. He cried because he ate raw chili peppers."
An Fusheng casually broke off a banana and offered it to him, saying, "Have a banana."
The child stopped crying for a moment, then said, "I want water."
"Drinking water doesn't relieve the spiciness, but bananas do, and they don't irritate the stomach. Once you eat them, the spiciness is gone."
"But I don't like bananas."
"But bananas are amazing, they can save you."
The little boy reluctantly took a bite of the banana, chewed and chewed, and his eyes slowly brightened. "My tongue is healed!"
An Fusheng said confidently, "Right?"
"Bananas are amazing! I'll never hate bananas again!"
"You brat, your mom tried everything to get you to eat bananas but you wouldn't. Turns out she didn't give you any chili peppers!"
A male voice came from the kitchen doorway.
An Fusheng turned around and saw a strange man.
"Dad!" The little boy ran towards the man. "You're finally up! I've done so much work. Is Mom up yet?"
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