Xu Yan looked bewildered. "No, how did you become my brother-in-law? I won't call you that even if you tell me to."
He took the things down. He hadn't earned much money from his last internship, so he gave a few hundred to his mother. He sent Xu Lai a red envelope, but she refused it.
So he bought some gifts this time, and his grandparents and sister each received one.
Xu Lai put on an apron and started cooking when she heard Xu Yan say, "Grandma, this is the massage chair I bought for you. Your back is often uncomfortable, so you can massage for half an hour every day."
"Grandpa, this is some wine and a carton of cigarettes I bought for you. Although I don't want you to smoke or drink, after all, your health is important, but I can't help it because you like it."
Grandpa and Grandma were very happy. When Grandpa heard the first half of the sentence, he pretended to hit him, but when he heard the second half, a smile appeared on his face.
Xu Yan took the gift to the kitchen. "Sister, this is for you."
Xu Lai glanced at him and said, "What about my share?"
Xu Yan moved a stool and sat down in front of the wood-fired stove to tend the fire, saying, "Of course, how could I forget you?"
Xu Lai wiped her hands clean, opened the gift, and saw it was a silver necklace. She tried it on and asked, "What do you think?"
Xu Yan smiled and said, "That must be excellent. My judgment is beyond question."
Xu Lai glanced at it a few times and then took it back, saying, "I really like the gift. Don't spend money on it next time. Wait until you're actually making money before you spend any more. For now, save your money."
Xu Yan nodded: "I know, sister. I'll definitely buy you a gold one in the future."
For dinner, we had braised pumpkin. Grandpa planted three pumpkin seedlings, and they produced a lot of pumpkins. The corner of the kitchen was piled high with them, and this was after eating for half a month.
When the pumpkin gets old, it becomes powdery and soft. Xu Lai made it this way several times. Her grandparents thought it was delicious the first time they tried it, and after trying it many times, they no longer felt sick of it.
Xu Yan ate two bowls, and even mashed up the pumpkin and mixed it with rice. Xu Lai couldn't stand it anymore and said, "It's disgusting, take it away right now."
Xu Yan waved the bowl in front of her and said, "What do you know? This is delicious. Pumpkin rice."
After he finished eating, Xu Lai put down her chopsticks and said, "You wash the dishes."
When she woke up from her afternoon nap, she stared blankly at the pumpkins in the kitchen. These pumpkins could last for a while, but everyone was tired of eating them boiled.
She grabbed a bag of sunflower seeds and started eating them while playing on her phone. While scrolling through videos, she suddenly came across a collection of recipes for pumpkin.
Xu Lai jumped up, feeling full of fighting spirit. She picked an old pumpkin, cut it in half, and scooped out the pulp, which would be useful later.
Peel the pumpkin, cut it into chunks, steam it until cooked, and prepare the glutinous rice flour while waiting.
Add the steamed pumpkin to glutinous rice flour, add some sugar, mix well, and knead into a dough.
She shaped the glutinous rice dough into small round cakes, heated the oil, and fried them. She also put some in the air fryer to try out the texture.
Soon, the pumpkin pancakes were ready. She ate one while it was still hot. The crust was crispy, the inside was soft, and it had the flavor of pumpkin. It was very good.
She ate two, but felt a bit greasy. Seeing that there was still some pumpkin left, she made a few cups of pumpkin rice porridge.
Xu Yan came downstairs and smelled a sweet aroma. He followed the scent, made a pumpkin pancake, took a bite, and chewed it. He mumbled, "Hmm, not bad, not bad."
He choked on his food, then picked up the pumpkin rice porridge, took a sip, and said, "This is not bad either."
Xu Lai was still frying the last batch when she saw him wolfing it down and couldn't help but say, "Can you eat slower? Are you a starving ghost reincarnated?"
Xu Yan held one in his mouth and one in each hand, saying, "I like them."
Grandpa came back from outside, took something out of his pocket, and then called her over.
Xu Lai didn't know what her grandfather was going to do, but she felt that this scene was very familiar. Her grandfather often called her that when she was a child.
She walked up to her grandfather, who asked her to hold out her hand. Xu Lai held her palm up, and a handful of chestnuts fell into her hand.
"I was digging in the dirt today, and when I passed by someone's house, I saw some chestnuts on the ground, so I picked them up and brought them home," Grandpa said, rubbing his head.
Xu Lai placed it on the table, took one, bit it open, peeled off the outer skin, and found tender yellow chestnut meat inside. She took a bite and found it particularly sweet.
She remembered that her family also had a chestnut tree, in that corner of the yard, and wondered how many chestnuts it had produced this year.
When Xu Yan returned from visiting someone outside, she saw the chestnuts on the table, picked up a handful, and asked, "Where did these chestnuts come from?"
Xu Lai patted him on the shoulder: "There's only so much, and you took it all. What am I supposed to eat?"
Grandpa smiled and said, "I picked them up on the way. We also have chestnut trees at home. If you want to eat them, you can pick them yourself. Your third uncle's family has a few big chestnut trees on the mountain. You can also go there to pick them."
After hearing this, Xu Yan was about to get the basket when Xu Lai stopped him, "Don't go, let's go tomorrow. It's too late today, it will be dark by the time we get back."
For dinner, she made boiled fish and porridge, along with the pumpkin pancakes from the afternoon, and a cup of pumpkin rice porridge for each of them.
Grandpa complained that the dinner wasn't appetizing, so Xu Lai took out a few pickled chilies and a bunch of pickled green beans from the jar.
Xu Yan was quick; as soon as she put the bowl on the table, he picked up a chili pepper for his grandfather, then picked one up and put it in his mouth.
Two seconds later, he frantically searched for water, but there was no water on the table, so he hurriedly took a big gulp of porridge.
After the initial spiciness subsided, he slurred, "Sis, how did you make this? It's so spicy!"
Xu Lai picked one up, took a bite, and said, "Isn't this less spicy? It's sour and spicy."
Grandma laughed out loud: "Haha, you probably ate that chili pepper that wasn't fully pickled. It was half-raw, so it must have been spicy."
The next morning, when Xu Lai returned from grocery shopping, Xu Yan grabbed a pole and urged her to go pick chestnuts.
They went to the mountain where their third uncle lived, and sure enough, there were several chestnut trees and a few children picking chestnuts there.
Xu Lai and the others arrived late; they had already picked up most of what was on the ground. There might have been a few left, but not many.
When the two children saw them coming, they picked up their bags and went to the side.
Xu Lai looked up at the tree trunk, which was covered with half-open chestnuts. She asked Xu Yan to hand her the pole, and she picked it up and hit the tree. Sure enough, many spiky balls fell down.
The children exclaimed in surprise, thinking she was incredibly amazing. Xu Lai smiled and thought, "These kids are just too cute."
She swept her hand towards Xu Yan's head, intending to strike the other side so as not to hit him.
As a result, the stick went astray, and the spiked ball flew straight towards him. Xu Lai shouted, "Xu Yan, get out of the way quickly!"
Before he could react, he watched helplessly as several chestnut balls fell on him.
The children were stunned, then they laughed. "Look at that big brother, he got hit with a chestnut."
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