Chapter 26 The Little Dishwasher on a Rainy Day
After a lively lunch, Ning Jia came over to clear the dishes. Bai Su looked at the coffee table full of small plates and suggested to Cang Lan:
"Chieftain, why don't we go and help too?"
"No need, no need, it's just a small favor," Ning Jia shook her head and said, "Besides, what kind of logic is it to make a guest wash the dishes?"
Quartz, who was burping from his meal, eagerly raised his hand, "I want to help too! And... burp! To help with digestion."
The other little figures also raised their hands, shouting, "Me too!" "I want some! I want some!" "I want to eat too!" "Silly, it's not eating, it's washing the dishes!"
"Tuantuan should help too!"
A tiny child, no taller than half a finger, nestled in his father's arms and spoke in a childish voice.
Ning Jia hesitated for a moment, then, seeing the little ones' enthusiastic expressions, she suddenly understood. It turned out that washing dishes, a chore that many "giants" loathed, was more like a form of entertainment in their eyes…
"Okay, anyone who wants to help can come to the kitchen, but no kids, and no one who can't swim."
Ning Jia thought for a moment and added another condition: "Only four or five people can come; if there are more, things will easily get chaotic."
Swimming? All the little people shouted in unison, "I can! I can!"
Unexpectedly, apart from a few tiny figures, the entire dwarf race could swim. They argued for a long time over who would wash the dishes, but Canglan finally calmed things down, saying, "Stop arguing, let's draw lots."
After a round of drawing lots, the lucky winners were revealed: Gan Cao, Bai Su, Shi Ying, and a little girl named Dao Ya who had just come of age.
"1, 2, 3, 4, OK, that's the four of you."
Ning Jia waved to the little figures, signaling them to jump into the basin full of plates, and then carry them away along with the small plates, placing them in the kitchen sink.
"Wow, is this where we wash the dishes? It's huge!" Gan Cao exclaimed, her eyes wide.
Ning Jia had the little ones jump out of the sink and stand by the water basin, then pointed to the faucet above and said, "Careful, I'm going to turn on the water."
Release water? There's no water here.
Before the little ones could react, a stream of cool, clear tap water flowed out of the faucet, pouring into the sink like water falling from the sky.
Ning Jia proudly introduced it to them, "This is called a faucet. It's connected to a water pipe, and you can turn it on to get water."
The four little figures stared at the scene without blinking, their faces filled with amazement, and they began to whisper among themselves:
"Wow, it looks like a river!" "I think it's more like a waterfall! It's amazing how it flows down from so high!" "The water is so clear, I want to drink some!"...
"It's best not to drink tap water, it can easily cause diarrhea."
Ning Jia listened to their chatter with amusement. Seeing that the plastic basin was full of water, she turned off the tap, cut an old dishcloth into four small pieces, gave one piece to each of the four little children, and demonstrated how to wash dishes.
"These small dishes are not oily and do not need dish soap. Just wipe them with a cloth."
“Look, like this,” Ning Jia said, demonstrating, “wipe both sides with a cloth, then soak it in water to make it clean…”
"Okay, okay."
The little creatures thought it was easy and eagerly jumped into the sink, even dividing up the tasks with Bai Su's reminder.
Rice sprouts and licorice, being relatively light, were soaked in a plastic basin and used to wipe the dishes starting from the top of the "dish mountain." After wiping, white perilla from the "lower part of the mountain" would check the dishes for cleanliness; if not, they would be wiped again. Quartz, being the strongest, stood by the plastic basin and was responsible for carrying the washed dishes out of the water and stacking them to the side.
Ning Jia was initially worried that they might drop or bump the plates, or that she herself might drop or bump them, but the scene was so orderly that she didn't even have a chance to lend a hand. So she simply stood aside and happily became a hands-off manager.
After eating and washing up, the little ones were a bit tired and sprawled out on the soft sofa, enjoying the beautiful afternoon.
It was lunchtime, and the once noisy living room quickly quieted down. The little ones were all sleeping soundly with their eyes closed, and the adult children were also dozing off, with occasional soft snores coming from all directions.
After finishing her work in the kitchen, Ning Jia tiptoed over, glanced at the relaxed sleeping figures on the sofa, and couldn't help but cover her mouth and smile.
She spread an old bed sheet on the floor next to the sofa as a blanket, put a cushion on it, played on her phone for a while, and then slowly closed her eyes...
At the far end of the sofa, Canglan leaned against a corner of the soft cushions, comfortably closing her eyes to rest. She was so comfortable that she almost dozed off.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she suddenly opened her eyes, looked up at the window, and was startled: the sunlight was no longer as bright as at noon; it was almost midday.
Huh, has it really been that long?
Canglan rubbed her eyes, reluctantly got up from the soft sofa, and woke up her clansmen one by one.
At this moment, Ning Jia also woke up. Cang Lan jumped off the sofa, preparing to say goodbye to her.
"Lord Ningjia, thank you very much for your hospitality today. Our clan has troubled you long enough; it's time for us to..."
Before she could finish speaking, a thunderous sound suddenly came from outside the window.
The weather, which had been sunny, suddenly changed; the sky became overcast and darkened.
"Oh no, it's going to rain! My clothes..."
Ning Jia leaped up, ran quickly to the roof, gathered all the clothes that were drying in the room, closed all the doors and windows, and then returned to the living room, panting.
After a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, large raindrops began to fall like lightning, pounding against the windowpane. The little people stared dumbfounded at the dark outside the window, while Canglan hesitated to speak.
Ning Jia quickly said, "Rainy days are for keeping guests. It's not safe to send you back in this heavy rain. Why don't you stay a little longer? It's not too late to leave when the rain stops."
"What's there to be afraid of in this little breeze and drizzle!"
Before anyone else could speak, He Meng patted his chest and said very proudly.
The little people watched the torrential rain pouring down, but none of them paid any attention. He Meng had no choice but to desperately try to signal to Bai Su with her eyes, only to receive a "you do it if you can" look in return.
"Fine, I'll go then." He Meng looked around, picked a round leaf of suitable size from the green plant in the living room, put it on her head, and asked Ning Jia to open the door and let her out.
Ning Jia: "I'm really opening the door now?"
He Meng: "Hurry up and drive, I'm not afraid."
Ning Jia slowly opened the door, revealing a crack about the width of a finger. He Meng immediately poked her little head out, "Oh dear, the rain isn't that heavy..."
As the last word "ma" fell to the ground, a raindrop the size of a bean drifted in the wind and hit He Meng's face hard. Startled, she loosened her grip, and the leaf that was shielding her head from the rain smacked her forehead with a "smack" before flying away, leaving He Meng bewildered in the wind.
Oh, what terrible rain!
But having already made the boast, He Meng had no choice but to grit her teeth and move forward. She had just stretched out one foot, trembling, when another gust of rain poured down on her, soaking her to the bone.
He Meng: Drenched and dumbfounded.jpg
He Meng, who had barely stepped outside when the rain soaked her through, wisely slipped back through the door under the strong wind and rain.
"Oh dear, the rain has suddenly gotten heavier." He Meng jumped a few times at the door, shook the rainwater off her grass skirt, and said casually.
"Yeah, the rain is getting heavier and heavier, He Meng, you'd better not go out," Ning Jia said, suppressing a laugh and agreeing with He Meng.
She closed the door again, then took a tissue and handed it to her, saying, "Wipe yourself off, or you'll catch a cold."
He Meng spread a large tissue on the ground, rolled it around on it a few times to absorb the moisture from her body, then tore off a small piece and wiped her face and hair.
Ning Jia brought over a small dish of hot water to warm He Meng up, while Cang Lan said from the side, "I'm so sorry to trouble you for a while longer."
"How could that be? It's quite lively with guests at home," Ning Jia said with a smile, then suggested enthusiastically, "How about I go and make some afternoon tea for everyone?"
Just as Ning Jia went to the kitchen to work again, the rain outside poured down harder and harder.
The bored little people didn't touch anything in Ning Jia's house. After sitting on the sofa for a while, they couldn't sit still anymore.
He Meng was the first to jump up from the sofa, lightly hop down, her eyes darting around, and then she ran towards the windowsill next to the door. First, she jumped onto a potted plant next to the windowsill, grabbed the swaying leaves, and quickly jumped onto the windowsill.
I don't know what He Meng is doing, but it seems quite interesting (?)
The other little people jumped off the sofa and ran to the windowsill to join in the fun. He Meng took out a long straw rope, fixed one end to the latch on the old-fashioned windowsill, and let the other end hang down to pave the way for the tribesmen.
"Everyone, come up from here!"
Upon hearing this, the little creatures nimbly climbed up the straw rope and quickly reached the windowsill. In no time, they all reached the "scenic viewing platform."
The little figures huddled together by the window, pressed close together against the large glass pane, their eyes glued to the torrential rain outside. As the raindrops pounded against the glass, they would occasionally let out a gasp of surprise.
A few minutes later, they suddenly realized and reached out to touch the seemingly hard glass. "Wow, it's amazing! So the rain doesn't get in."
Some people exclaimed, "Wow, rain can be so fun!"
Normally, when it rains heavily, they would have already taken shelter in the tree hollows, and rarely had the opportunity to see the rain so clearly. Even though all they could see in front of them was a yard with nothing but two trees, they still watched intently.
“I always feel that those two persimmon trees in the yard are so lonely,” Daoya suddenly said.
Ning Jia, who had just finished preparing afternoon tea, heard this sentence as soon as she arrived, and couldn't help but look into the courtyard through the dripping glass window.
The rectangular flower bed between the two trees is still bare, with nothing planted, making it look rather desolate. Next to the flower bed is a large water vat, which is also empty, probably filled with rainwater by now.
The rest of the yard was empty, except for a small shed for parking electric bikes and tricycles.
Ning Jia hadn't really cared about these things before. She always prioritized practicality when renting a place and rarely considered other factors. But at this moment, looking at the empty courtyard, she suddenly felt that such a place shouldn't be wasted.
"I think we could plant some small flowers in the yard," Daoya tilted her head and looked at the empty flowerbed again. "Wouldn't it be beautiful when all the flowers bloom?"
Ning Jia wasn't interested in the beautiful scenery Dao Ya described. If she wanted to see flowers, wouldn't it be the same to just walk to the park in a few minutes? There were even more varieties and quantities of flowers there. Why bother growing them at home?
She thought for a moment, "Flowers are only pretty, but they can't be eaten, so I might as well grow some vegetables."
...Growing vegetables?
Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she immediately picked up her phone to search, "The ten days before the start of summer is the golden period for planting vegetables. It's better to plant a few days earlier than to delay even one day..."
What? Summer Solstice is almost here, and the start of summer has already passed. Ning Jia couldn't help but feel anxious: Plant, we have to start planting right away!
Daoya, puzzled by Ning Jia's mutterings about "growing vegetables," asked curiously, "Aren't vegetables like fruits, growing on their own?"
"Of course not! The vegetables and fruits here are basically all grown by people."
Ning Jia explained it to her briefly, and then sighed, "If vegetables and fruits could grow on their own, I wouldn't need to go to work to have food to eat."
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