Chapter 77
The cafeteria was crowded and noisy, so Xu Zhao took Jiang Suihan outside. The cold wind instantly made her feel much more energetic. The air inside was stuffy and she felt a little uncomfortable after staying there for a long time.
Xu Zhao helped her adjust her scarf: "Are you stupid? Come out when you get tired of standing."
He wondered if he hadn't called her just now, she would have remained standing and not found a reason to come out and find a chair to sit down.
With her scarf covering her mouth, Jiang Huihan spoke in a muffled voice: "I'm not shy, I just saw that it was almost done, so I thought I'd just bear with it."
Xu Zhao turned sideways, blocking most of the cold wind, and asked her: "Are you cold? Do you want to go in?"
Jiang Suihan shrank her neck and said, "Fortunately, there are too many people inside. I don't want to go in."
Xu Zhao put her hands into her coat pockets. The headlights were on in front of the cafeteria door, and the light was dim and blurry. Children were chasing each other, laughing and playing under the lights, and bursts of laughter could be heard.
Jiang Suihan looked at the children who were still playing outside in the cold weather and didn't feel cold at all. She suddenly felt a little envious: "It's better to be a child. You are carefree and have no worries. You only think about two things every day: eating and playing."
When we were young, we looked forward to growing up quickly every day so that we could do many things that only adults could do, and our parents could no longer fool us by saying that we were still children. But when we really grew up and entered the adult world, many people began to miss the time when they were children and their innocent selves.
Xu Zhao followed Jiang Huihan's line of sight and saw a little boy holding a bright red candied haws in his hand. A group of children surrounded the child, chattering and looking at the candied haws in the boy's hand with eager eyes.
Suddenly, a boy who was half a head taller than the little boy stretched his head forward, opened his mouth, and bit hard. The top candied haws went into his mouth. He hurriedly covered his mouth with both hands, pushed through the crowd, and ran away.
The little boy didn't react at first. He probably didn't expect someone would snatch his candied haws so blatantly in front of his other friends. He stared blankly at the candied haws that was missing. After several seconds, the little boy's dull little head turned.
Then, with a "wow" sound, a deafening cry suddenly rang out.
The corner of Jiang Suihan's mouth twitched, and she felt funny and a little speechless, and concluded dimly: "This is the result of showing off."
Poor thing, if he had finished eating it early and eaten it himself, there would be nothing for other children to do.
He was still young and didn't understand how treacherous human nature could be. Today's incident taught the little boy a very vivid lesson. I believe he will never forget it in his life. One night during the Chinese New Year when he was a child, a friend took away one of his favorite candied haws while he was not paying attention.
Xu Zhao couldn't help but curl his lips: "In the end, it was still carelessness."
The sour and sweet candied haws are extremely attractive to children. Some children may have never even seen them, let alone eaten them, but they just put them in their mouths without saying a word. This shows that their family education is lacking and not doing enough.
The little boy's mother ran out in a hurry and saw her son crying with his face covered with snot and tears. She was disgusted but could not just ignore him, so she wiped his face and asked about the situation. She learned that the child's father bought a candied haws for her son and another child snatched one away. She was very angry and took the child to settle the score with the boy's mother.
The boy's mother also came out. When she found out that it was her child who committed the sin, she smiled awkwardly, apologized quickly, cursed the little boy under her breath, and had to pay compensation.
Xu Zhao lowered his head and touched Jiang Suihan's belly, and said with emotion: "When the child is born, we have to educate it well. It can't take other people's things. It can't lose its manners and bottom line. I don't want to apologize to other children's parents like this in the future."
Mainly it's a bit embarrassing.
Jiang Suihan looked at him with amusement: "The child hasn't even been born yet, and you're already worrying about his future education. We agreed in advance that you will take care of the educational issues, and I will be responsible for bringing the child up happily. Strict father, kind mother, that's how we happily decided."
She felt that she was not capable of being a strict mother. She loved and cared for her child so much that she would not be willing to hit him. So she decided to leave such a difficult task to the father.
Xu Zhao tapped her forehead lightly. She had put all her efforts into him. Should he say she was smart?
"Why not a kind father and a strict mother? I think I have the talent to be a kind father. I'm worried that if I'm too strict, the child won't be close to me in the future. How about switching it up? You can be more strict and I'll be as gentle as possible at home. Wouldn't that be better?"
Jiang Suihan stared at him in disbelief: "No, I am so gentle, kind, elegant and generous, I can't ruin my good image in the eyes of my children. There must be someone who plays the good cop and someone who plays the bad cop in the family. I think white suits you better."
She is very self-aware and she really can't play the role of the good guy.
Xu Zhao tried hard to hold back his laughter: "I still think we can discuss this matter further. You are so smart, you must..."
Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by Jiang Huihan. With an expression that said that this matter was settled, she changed the subject very abruptly: "I want to eat candied haws."
In fact, she wanted to say it just now, but she was a little embarrassed.
Xu Zhao said helplessly: "Where can I get you some candied haws at this time of night?"
Jiang Suihan just wanted to embarrass him. Who was he who just teased her? She pulled his sleeve coquettishly and pretentiously: "Then you have to think of a way. I just want to eat. If I can't eat tonight, I will definitely not sleep well at night."
Xu Zhao still let her pull his sleeves and rub him: "Really want to eat it?"
Jiang Suihan nodded seriously: "I really want to eat it."
Xu Zhao rubbed her hat vigorously: "Wait."
Jiang Huihan quickly adjusted her hat, her hair messed up from all the force, and followed him and asked, "Where are you going?"
Xu Zhao looked around and found a stool from somewhere. He pushed Jiang Huihan to sit on it and said, "I'll go get some hawthorns and sugar. You just sit here. It's cold outside. Don't go out."
Jiang Huihan felt a little guilty and pulled Xu Zhao: "How about forget it? It's so troublesome. I won't eat the candied haws anymore."
She admitted that she had done some things recently. She always wanted to go against Xu Zhao and wanted to know how low his tolerance for her would be. However, the more he followed her wishes, the more guilty she felt. After she regained her senses, she began to reflect on herself.
Xu Zhao touched her somewhat cold face and said, "I've seen people make candied haws before. It's not difficult. Just wait here and don't run around."
Jiang Suihan muttered softly: "I'm not a child, I won't run around, I'll go with you, it's boring for me to stay here alone."
She was a little curious about how to make candied haws and wanted to see it with her own eyes.
Xu Zhao had no choice but to take her with him because she pestered him. There was sugar at home, but no hawthorns. However, there were some apples and oranges. He called Jiang Leyun and asked him to go home and get them.
When Jiang Leyun heard that her brother-in-law was going to make candied haws, her eyes instantly lit up and she excitedly pulled Zhao Xiaojun home.
Zhao Xiaojun's family had some uneaten hawthorns, so Wu Guihua gave Zhao Xiaojun the key to his house and asked him to go home and get them.
When the children nearby heard that there were candied haws to eat, they jumped and danced with joy. A group of children followed Jiang Leyun and Zhao Xiaojun.
Wu Guihua asked curiously, "Why did Xu Zhao suddenly think of making candied haws?"
Candied haws are a favorite snack for children. Xu Zhao is a grown man, so he shouldn't be making it for himself. Wu Guihua looked at Jiang Suihan suspiciously, and she felt that she had guessed the answer correctly.
Jiang Huihan was too embarrassed to say that she was greedy and wanted to play a trick on Xu Zhao, so she said ambiguously, "Just now I saw a child outside holding a candied haws. The children around him were drooling but couldn't eat it. Lele was making a fuss about wanting to eat it, and Xu Zhao said he had seen others make candied haws before, so he gave it a try."
Good brother, please lend me your reputation for a while.
Someone nearby interrupted and said, "Xu Zhao is too indulgent to his child. Hawthorns are picked from the mountains and are free, but sugar is so expensive. He tried it just for the child's words. If he fails, how much sugar will be wasted."
In other words, the Xu family is rich and doesn't care about this little bit of sugar.
At first, everyone thought that Xu Zhao's brother-in-law was just coming to live for a while, and would naturally return to his hometown when the time was up. Later, news came out that the elders of the Jiang family were all gone, leaving only Jiang Suhan and her brother. This meant that Xu Zhao had to support his brother-in-law forever.
Everyone was privately saying that Xu Zhao was bewitched by Jiang Suihan, and started raising a brother-in-law before his own son was even born. Later, when Xu Zhao's mother came, many people watched the show silently, speculating that Xu Zhao's mother might have objections to this matter. Who knew that the Xu family was peaceful and quiet, and Jiang Leyun was happy every day, not at all like a dependent. Everyone then realized that Xu Zhao was happy to raise a brother-in-law.
Now I have to make candied haws for my brother-in-law, just because he wants to eat them. This is not like being a brother-in-law. Even my own son doesn’t get this treatment.
Jiang Suihan said calmly: "It doesn't matter if I fail. Today is the New Year, and being happy is the most important thing."
When the chef in the cafeteria learned that Xu Zhao wanted to make candied haws, he made fun of him and cleared a stove for him to use alone.
Wash the hawthorn, dry it, cut a circle with a knife, divide the hawthorn into two, dig out the hawthorn core with a knife, and slowly pierce the hawthorn with chopsticks.
Peel the apples and cut them into small pieces. Peel the oranges and break them into segments. Use chopsticks to string them together.
Xu Zhao cut an apple and asked, "Do you want to eat it?"
Jiang Huihan nodded. She didn’t bring a water cup when she came, so she was a little thirsty.
Xu Zhao gave her the apple directly, as well as half an orange. Jiang Leyun looked at them eagerly, indicating with his eyes that he wanted to eat too.
Xu Zhao brought a bowl and put the chopped apples into a bowl. Jiang Leyun took it happily and shared half a bowl of apples with his friends. You had one piece and I had two pieces, he had one piece and I had two pieces. They finished eating in a short while, but no one wanted more at this time as they were all waiting to eat the candied haws.
After completing the preliminary work, Xu Zhao found an iron pot and put sugar into it. He didn't know the ratio of sugar to boiling water, so he could only try putting it in little by little.
For fear that the sugar will taste bitter, I dare not use high heat at the beginning. I simmer it slowly over low heat. Big bubbles will gradually appear in the pot. I continue to simmer until the big bubbles turn into dense small bubbles, turn yellow in color, and a caramel aroma comes out. Sprinkle in a handful of sesame seeds, and then quickly mix well with a large iron spoon.
Xu Zhao didn't let Jiang Huihan get close to him, fearing that she would get burned, so Jiang Huihan had to stand farther away.
Jiang Leyun and a group of children were guarding the door. They were thinking about the candied haws and had no intention of going out to play. They stretched their necks to look inside, and the more they looked, the more anxious they became.
Xu Zhao held the end of the chopsticks without the fruit on it, quickly rolled the hawthorn string in the sugar, then immediately took it out and placed it in an iron basin covered with oil paper next to it, repeating the above steps.
The freshly made candied haws were very hot. Xu Zhao asked the children to take the iron basin outside to dry for a while, and a group of people rushed straight to the canteen door.
Wu Guihua looked up and said with a surprised smile, "Xu Zhao really made it. It looks pretty good."
The person next to him smacked his lips and said, "There are so many. I wonder if there will be any left for us to taste."
Wu Guihua couldn't help but rolled her eyes at the man: "You are an adult, and you have the nerve to snatch this little food from a child."
The man smiled awkwardly and said nothing more.
Jiang Leyun swallowed unconsciously and stared at the candied haws in the iron basin: "Can I eat it now?"
A total of five iron basins were made, with about forty strings of candied haws. There were also many children gathered around, and there were estimated to be more than thirty children.
Xu Zhao counted out just enough for one string per person and asked Jiang Leyun to distribute them. There were still five strings left. He picked up one and gave it to Jiang Suihan: "The weather is cold, the candied haws can be kept for a few days, but don't eat too much."
Jiang Huihan was holding the string of candied haws. It definitely didn’t look as good as the ones bought outside, but she didn’t expect Xu Zhao to be so talented and actually made it.
She looked at him with sparkling eyes, her admiration naturally showing: "Is there anything you can't do?"
She can do it just by watching others do it once. She can only admire his hands-on ability.
Xu Zhao answered naturally: "It's not difficult at all."
Jiang Suihan looked at him speechlessly: "You are very Versailles, you know that?"
Xu Zhao: "Versailles?"
Jiang Suihan: "Being too modest is just showing off. You'll easily get beaten if you do that."
Xu Zhao: "Usually I'm the one who beats up others."
It turns out that sincerity is the eternal killer move.
The two people's brain waves were completely on different planes. Jiang Huihan skipped the topic and was about to take a bite of the candied haws. Thinking that it was Xu Zhao's contribution, she raised the candied haws to his mouth and said, "When you drink the water, you should remember the well digger. I am a very grateful person."
Actually, Xu Zhao didn't like this kind of sour and sweet food, but it was rare for her to feed him, so he looked up at her and opened his mouth to bite off the hawthorn on the top.
Jiang Suihan asked him hurriedly: "Is it delicious?"
Xu Zhao didn't answer and let her eat too.
"Hey, you two are hiding here showing your affection."
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