Grandpa overheard this outside and clarified, "I didn't say that. I only said it once."
Xu Lai brought the dishes to the table, and the group prepared to eat. Now that the weather was getting colder, it was time to "stick to autumn fat" (eat more to prepare for winter), so she added a little more oil when stir-frying the vegetables.
As autumn turned to winter, Xu Lai now found it difficult to get out of bed in the morning. The bed was too comfortable, and she didn't want to move at all.
Before going to work, Zhao Qingyun kissed her forehead and tucked her in. "Sleep a little longer. I set an alarm for you in half an hour."
Xu Lai nodded, turned over, and crawled to Zhao Qingyun's spot, where he had slept; it was warmer there.
Xu Lai found it rather strange that boys' body temperatures were higher. Sometimes he would go into the bathroom to wash up first, and she would go in after him. When she turned on the water, it felt very cold, so she would usually turn it to the very edge.
When she got up in the morning, she made herself a cup of brown sugar water. The brown sugar at home was made last year. Her grandfather also planted a lot of sugarcane this year, and he would also make sugar from it.
During her period, she felt lethargic. Her grandmother suggested she cook some sweet fermented rice with eggs, but Xu Lai found it too greasy and didn't want to eat.
At this point, Tang Lin also gave her a solution: add an additive that is harmless to the human body. She didn't know exactly what it was, only that it was a strange-sounding term.
She plans to find a contract manufacturer, send the raw materials there, have them process them, and then handle the packaging.
She also designed the packaging boxes herself. Xu Lai tries her best to personally handle the outer packaging of each product.
She handed the packaging box to the manufacturer she often worked with, then stretched and went to the kitchen to start simmering the soup.
When Zhao Qingyun got home from get off work in the afternoon, his grandmother told him that Xu Lai was feeling a little unwell. "I asked her to cook some sweet fermented rice with eggs, but she wouldn't eat it. I offered to cook it for her, but she wouldn't let me touch it."
Zhao Qingyun understood. He rolled up his sleeves, took out three eggs and a piece of brown sugar, and his grandmother took out a bowl of glutinous rice wine that she had made earlier and placed it next to him.
"I feel relieved to have you here. We can't always be with Xiao Lai, so you two need to be considerate of each other in the future." Grandma always liked to say these words of advice, perhaps because she was getting old.
Zhao Qingyun cracked an egg into the pan and said, "Grandma, I know."
He cooked the fermented rice wine with eggs and served it to her. Xu Lai couldn't stand the cloyingly sweet smell.
During her period, she was a little emotionally unstable and irritable, saying, "I already said I'm not eating it, you can cook it and then you can eat it yourself."
Zhao Qingyun took a spoon, scooped up a spoonful, and put it in her mouth. "Mmm, very good. My cooking skills are really good."
Xu Lai couldn't help but laugh and threw a cushion at her. "You're crazy, you narcissist."
Zhao Qingyun held the spoon to her lips, "Have some. I tasted it, it's not too sweet."
Xu Lai took a sip and found it was indeed alright. She drank about half a bowl, and the rest went into Zhao Qingyun's stomach.
...
In two days it will be Zhao Qingyun's birthday. Grandma Jiang was afraid that Xu Lai wouldn't know, so she specially told her in advance. Xu Lai smiled and said, "I know."
Grandma Jiang asked curiously, "Did he tell you that?"
Xu Lai shook her head: "I saw his ID card before and wrote it down."
Grandma Jiang said with a smile, "No wonder Xiao Yun doesn't like celebrating his birthday. Back then, the whole family celebrated his birthday, but he thought it was too noisy and ran away after singing the birthday song."
Xu Lai pictured a miniature Zhao Qingyun covering his ears with a helpless expression, and she burst out laughing.
She decided to bake him a cake herself. Since she didn't have all the necessary tools at home, Xu Lai contacted a cake shop and arranged to go there on the morning of his birthday.
Turning thirty is a significant birthday celebration in their area, usually requiring two tables of guests. However, Zhao Qingyun doesn't have many relatives here. Grandma Jiang does have quite a few old friends, but since they are elders, it's a bit awkward to trouble them to come.
Therefore, the only guests who came to eat that day were the village chief's family, Xia Ning, and Xu Shen.
Zhao Qingyun had packed the food from the restaurant. He hadn't intended for Xu Lai to prepare a large meal for him, as it was tiring, and he hoped she could stay with him the whole time.
It was almost eleven o'clock, and Xu Lai still hadn't returned. Zhao Qingyun was a little puzzled. Xu Lai had gotten up at seven in the morning, saying she had some things to take care of at the tea seed oil plantation.
She hadn't gone home yet, but Xia Ning and Xu Shen had already arrived. He couldn't help but ask, "Is there something important at the oil factory? Why hasn't Xu Lai come back yet?"
Xu Shen thought for a moment and said, "No, right now we're just producing oil and sending out those orders."
He couldn't resist taking out his phone and making a call, but the other party didn't answer. Xu Lai had just finished making the cake and was on her way home.
She arrived very early, but the cake shop wasn't open yet. She urged the shop manager and managed to get in at 8:30.
Since it was her first time sitting there, she was a little unfamiliar with it, and Xu Lai is a perfectionist, so she kept applying paint and varnishing it until now.
At 11:30, she parked her car at the gate of the courtyard, took the cake, and went into the neighbor's house. Everyone inside was watching her.
Zhao Qingyun made the fifteenth call, and he hung up the sixteenth, asking, "Where did you go?"
Xu Lai waved the cake in her hand: "I'll go make you a cake. The shop wasn't open, so I waited for a while. I'm sorry."
Zhao Qingyun pointed at her phone: "Why didn't you answer my call?"
Xu Lai then realized, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Before I made the cake, the shop manager told me to turn my phone off and mute it. I thought I'd just turn it off and then I forgot to turn it back on."
With everyone watching, Zhao Qingyun suppressed her worries and anger for the time being.
He accepted the cake and invited everyone to eat, saying, "Thank you all for celebrating my birthday. Let me raise a toast to you all."
Xu Lai sensed that he was a little angry. She turned on her phone and found sixteen missed calls and many WeChat messages. Her heart sank.
Xia Ning leaned closer and said, "Your boyfriend is angry. I can tell very clearly."
Xu Lai waved her hand: "Stop talking, you're making me anxious."
Zhao Qingyun kept his eyes fixed on this side. He was really anxious when he couldn't contact her. He wished he could find her immediately, even if it meant missing his birthday.
After everyone finished eating and rested for a while, Xu Lai took out the cake. She made a two-layer cake with blue cream and two little figures on it, whose identities were self-evident.
Xu Lai lit the candles, and Xu Shen lit them with a lighter. No one sang a birthday song, and Zhao Qingyun didn't even make a wish before blowing out the candles.
Then, with a blank expression, he took a cake knife, cut the cake in half, and gave everyone a piece, but he didn't eat any himself.
Xu Lai took the cake over, wanting to feed him a bite, but he turned his head away, which made Xu Lai angry.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
