Chapter 111 Hot Pot

Seeing the two people coming out of the bedroom, Lingling and Wanli shouted, "Dad, Mom, you finally woke up!"

Lin Yue and Zhang Yuandong looked at each other in bewilderment, but they quickly reacted and nodded, "Yes, yes, I'm awake. Your father and I are going to buy some groceries. You guys wait at home!"

Lingling waved her hands nonchalantly, "Mom, you guys go ahead, we'll stay at home and look after the house!"

Little Mushroom staggered over, calling "Mom" and reaching out for Lin Yue to hold him. This meant that he wanted to go with him. Lin Yue squatted down and coaxed him, "Little Mushroom, be good. Mom and Dad have to buy a lot of food today, so we can't take Little Mushroom with us. You can play with your brothers and sisters at home, and Mom will make hot pot for you tonight, okay?"

The boy was still digesting what his mother said when Wanli came forward and picked him up, saying to Lin Yue, "Mom, go quickly. I'll take care of my brother."

This was because he heard that they were going to have hot pot in the evening and was afraid that they would be late. Lin Yue smiled and patted his head, took out apples, pears and grapes from the cabinet, asked the two children to wash them and eat them, and then he went out with Zhang Yuandong.

The ingredients for the hot pot were ready, and they certainly didn't go to the market to buy the food. The sun was about to set, and the sky in the distance was already red. The two of them came down from the third floor, listening to the sounds of talking and shovels in the public kitchen, as if the whole family area was soaked in the aroma of food.

Lin Yue found a secluded corner, took out a few baskets from the space and handed them to Zhang Yuandong. Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and since there are not many people on the road, the two of them walked towards the small western-style building.

The army didn't care about this, and Zhang Yuandong had never given gifts to anyone in previous years. However, Lin Yue and his children had just arrived, and the ladies had helped Lin Yue a lot. It was also the Mid-Autumn Festival, so it was reasonable for them to go out and meet each other.

Lin Yue had woven the small basket himself out of bamboo. It was quite delicate, but there was nothing particularly eye-catching inside. There were only a few big red apples and a bunch of fresh and juicy grapes, plus an oil-paper bag containing a bag of dried shrimps, each of which was as long as Lin Yue's palm.

Lin Yue only accompanied Zhang Yuandong to visit the homes of a few leaders she had already dealt with, because tomorrow was Mid-Autumn Festival and the children of other families had all returned, so the two did not stay long and basically just put their things down and left.

There were a few houses that Lin Yue was not familiar with, so she did not go in. She let Zhang Yuandong go in by himself while she waited at the door.

Zhang Yuandong hesitated for a while, but finally said nothing. Lin Yue knew what he meant. If she and Zhang Yuandong came together, she could take the opportunity to get to know him. In the future, she and her child would live in the family compound and there would be more people to take care of them.

However, Lin Yue also had her own thoughts. Zhang Yuandong must have given gifts to superiors with whom he had a good relationship, but not to the wives of leaders. He had almost never met with the wives of leaders before and was not familiar with them. And Lin Yue had even less friendship with them, so she felt that there was really no need to visit them this time.

There was still a long time to get along with each other in the future. If the auras matched, she didn't need to visit him today and they could get along well in the future. But if the auras didn't match, if she came now, people would think she was rushing him, so there was no need.

Commander Wang was Zhang Yuandong's old superior. He had served under him when he was serving in other units. He was a person who was very kind to him.

Commander Wang came back late, and Zhang Yuandong was the last one to visit his home. Commander Wang's wife had passed away many years ago, and there was only an aunt and a guard at home to take care of him.

After Zhang Yuandong left, Commander Wang sat in the study, tapping the bamboo basket Zhang Yuandong brought with his fingers. Although the fruit was expensive, it was not difficult for him to eat fruit every day at his level, but it was rare to find fruit as good as the one in the basket. Moreover, there were not only fruits in the bamboo basket, but also a bag of dried seafood and two jars of pickled vegetables.

He had eaten the pickled vegetables sent by Zhang Yuandong's hometown before, and he didn't expect that he still remembered that he liked them, so he sent him two more jars this time.

He thought of the encrypted telegram he had received some time ago, tapped his fingers on the table, called the guard in, and instructed: "Pay more attention to the situation at Zhang Yuandong's home and take care of the family members accompanying the army. If there are any special circumstances, report to me."

Although the guard didn't quite understand, he still remembered it and responded.

Lin Yue and Zhang Yuandong returned to the family building. Before they even entered the house, they heard the deafening shouts of several children. When they opened the door, they saw Ling Ling, wearing a blanket and holding a stick, shouting at Wan Li, who was wearing Lin Yue's rose-red scarf, "Nezha, I'm standing still, you chop!"

Wanli took a bunch of wooden sticks and shovels in his hands, and threw them at Lingling while shouting "Ahhh". Little Mushroom was also wearing a small cape, but Lin Yue looked like his father's shorts. He was also very excited, and he raised his fists and smashed at his sister together with his brother.

Ling Ling was immediately unhappy when being besieged, and pointed at the little mushroom and said fiercely: "Erlang Shen, you can't fight me together with Nezha, you have to attack me one by one!"

It took a while for the three children to realize that their parents had returned. The three children rushed towards them. Lin Yue was overwhelmed by the "weapons" in their hands. Fortunately, Zhang Yuandong caught these naughty monkeys in advance. Zhang Yuandong patted the buttocks of the children one by one and said, "It's time to eat soon. Go and clean up the floor. You must finish it before eating!"

Wanli and Lingling looked at the messy ground guiltily, gave a crooked military salute, and shouted, "Yes, Chief!" Then they quickly ran away with their brother.

Zhang Yuandong used a thick dishcloth to pad the stove, carried the beehive coal stove in, put a large casserole on it, put a few pieces of scorpion and mushrooms in it and cooked them together, and placed a circle of square stools around the stove to serve as a table. Lin Yue took advantage of the fact that no one was in the kitchen at this time and took out the processed meat, vegetables and peanut butter from the space and brought them from the kitchen to the house.

The aroma of the scorpion soup spread quickly, and Lingling and Wanli shouted in joy and ran over. Smelling the tempting aroma, Little Mushroom also staggered over with saliva dripping from his mouth, and looked at the casserole surrounded by a pile of stools, his fingers almost reaching into his mouth.

Lin Yue used to think it was too troublesome to cook hot pot by himself. Wanli and Lingling were still young and had never cooked hot pot before. The two children were a little confused when they saw this way of eating for the first time. Lin Yue asked the little guys to sit down, gave them some of the sesame sauce, and taught them how to eat it.

Eating hot pot requires you to do it yourself, and you feel very involved. The two siblings are very excited and can't wait. They are still too young, and Lin Yue is afraid that they will get burned, so she gave each of them a small colander. These colanders were also woven by Lin Yue. Because they are too difficult to wash, she will weave a few more when she has nothing to do. If she feels that they can't be washed clean, she will just throw them away or use them for burning.

The two small and exquisite ones that Lin Yue gave to Wanli and Lingling were very rare. They followed Lin Yue's instructions and put the colander into the pot to heat it up. One of them picked up a few slices of black fish and the other picked up a large chopstick of mutton and put them into the colander. The two children stood on tiptoe, anxiously looking at the pot, and when the meat changed color, they quickly took it out and ate it with sesame sauce.

Zhang Yuandong had eaten hotpot before in the army, but this was the first time he had such a rich dish. However, he did not start eating immediately, and kept an eye on the two children, fearing that they would get burned. Seeing that they were quite careful, he was relieved.

The mushrooms beside Lin Yue were already very hungry. He got anxious and made “ah ah” sounds for a long time. No one knew what he said. All they knew was that he stretched his hand towards the pot.

Lin Yue also used a colander to cook some vegetables for him. She had chopped the vegetables into small pieces to make it easier for the little mushroom to eat.

The little mushroom dipped the tasteless sesame sauce in the bowl, but after taking two bites he became unhappy, looked at his mother with a pouty face, and kept muttering "meat".

Lin Yue scalded a few slices of fish meat and carefully checked that there were no fish bones before putting them in his bowl. Unexpectedly, the little guy finished it in a few bites. She had to scald a few more slices for him and put the shrimp slips in the pot. Shrimp slips are more suitable for children's taste, and all three children like to eat them. Zhang Yuandong wanted to take over and let Lin Yue eat well, but was rejected by Lin Yue.

In fact, even if Zhang Yuandong didn't take care of the children, they wouldn't be able to eat now. There were three sieves in the pot. Although they were not big, they couldn't hold the food. Lin Yue said bluntly, "I think Sisi might be waking up soon. Go make some milk for her. Make more milk for the children to drink."

Zhang Yuandong went to the restaurant. Lingling heard what they were saying and suddenly said, "Mom, my sister is so pitiful. She can't even eat such a delicious hot pot. Can I leave some for her?"

Lin Yue thought of the messy metal box of Little Mushroom that was filled with all kinds of things, and waved his hand quickly: "No, no, wait until Sisi grows up, and then mom will make her a new one!"

Lingling was a little disappointed when she heard this, but with delicious food in front of her, she quickly put the matter out of her mind.

Because they were eating hot pot inside, the windows were open and the aroma soon spread outside through the windows and door cracks. Lin Yue could even hear someone downstairs asking, "Whose family is cooking mutton soup? It smells so good! Let's go to the market early tomorrow morning and buy some mutton shanks to cook!"

Because of this rich aroma, on the second day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the lamb bones and lamb meat in the market were sold out the fastest.

The kid had a small appetite, so the little mushroom was full after eating very little. Lin Yue removed his colander to make room for the meat and vegetables.

One black fish was not enough for several people, and the mutton was also eaten up, leaving only some vegetables and mushrooms.

Lin Yue had originally prepared some hand-rolled noodles, but in the end none of the children could eat any, and most of it went into Zhang Yuandong's stomach.

He touched his muscular belly and suddenly felt a sense of crisis.

At night, Wanli and Lingling still insisted on sleeping in the big bed. They no longer cared about their own bedrooms and just wanted to sleep with their mother as before. No matter how Zhang Yuandong tried to persuade them, it was no use. Zhang Yuandong was so angry that his teeth itched. For the first time, he lost his patience as a loving father.

In the middle of the night, when the children were all asleep, he carefully came up to Lin Yue and whispered in his ear, "Wife, can we go in?"

Lin Yue chuckled and agreed. After all, there was still an unfinished house in the space. Since he couldn't sleep, he might as well do some physical work!