The three brothers squatted down, and Duoshou, with his short legs, also squatted down: "Auntie, what kind of dish is this?"
Yu Rujia: "This is bracken fern and wild onion. We dug them up from the mountains. In a little while, your aunt will make you some cold bracken fern salad and stir-fried cured pork with wild onion. I guarantee you'll want to eat it again and again."
Duolu: "Oh? There's delicious food again! Auntie, hurry up and make it, I really want to eat it."
Yu Rujia picked up the basket: "Okay, Auntie will go wash the vegetables now. You can take the mushrooms to the backyard to wash as well. Auntie will make you a lean meat and mushroom soup later."
The tender, cold-dressed bracken is irresistible, as is the crisp, smooth, fragrant, and savory stir-fried wild onions with cured pork.
Duolu, his mouth greasy, kept smacking his lips: "Auntie, can we have these two dishes again tonight? They're so delicious."
Duoshou ate quickly, but unlike Duolu, he didn't get his mouth all greasy: "Auntie, next time we go to the mountain with Brother Erdan, can we pick some ferns and wild onions to bring back?"
These two dishes clearly won over the little guy's stomach, and he changed his mind about bringing back mushrooms to bringing back wild vegetables instead.
Yu Rujia: "It's dangerous up in the mountains, your aunt doesn't want you to go."
Duofu: "Auntie, I'll keep an eye on my brothers and make sure they don't run around." Since learning martial arts and reading, the little guy has become more and more composed, almost like his biological father, Xia Jingsheng.
While taking care of himself, he also had to keep an eye on Duoxi, who, upon encountering something delicious, would forget about manners and eat rice grains all over half of her face.
Yu Rujia: "Thank you for your hard work, big brother."
Duofu usually doesn't feel anything when his younger brothers call him "Big Brother," but when he hears Yu Rujia call him "Big Brother," the increasingly mature little guy shows a little embarrassment on his face, but he is quickly drawn to Duoxi's attention.
Duofu said sternly, "Duoxi, eat slower. If you put the food on the table again, I'll punish you by not allowing you to eat meat this afternoon. You'll only be allowed to eat rice with vegetables."
The vegetables at home are delicious, and we have a balanced diet of meat and vegetables at every meal, which the kids enjoy very much.
But if they are made to eat only vegetables and no meat for several meals in a row, the little ones will not be able to stand it.
Yu Rujia did not interfere with his method of disciplining his younger brothers by forbidding them from eating meat; in fact, she supported his discipline.
Gao Shujing is busy outside every day, and Yu Rujia is lazy, so we can only trouble our elder brother Duofu to pay more attention to these matters related to etiquette.
Therefore, Duofu's punishments were actually carried out. Duolu and Duoxi were punished many times, leaving a deep impression on them.
Duolu learned his lesson from this, and now, no matter how fast he eats and how oily his face is, he will subconsciously try not to spill any food into his bowl.
When Duoxi heard Duofu's devilish voice, her little body involuntarily shrank back. Then, she quickly reached out her little hand, picked up the rice grains that had just fallen on the table, and stuffed them into her mouth to destroy the evidence.
Duoxi raised her chubby little face and said innocently, "It didn't fall out."
Duofu said in a serious tone, "Eating the spilled stuff will cause a stomachache. I'll ask my aunt to prescribe some bitter medicine for you to drink."
Duoxi was so frightened that her little face scrunched up, and she said with teary eyes, "Big brother, I don't want my tummy to hurt, I don't want to drink anything bitter."
Duofu: "Will you dare drop your food again next time?"
Duo Xi shook his head vigorously, not even noticing the rice grains sticking to his face falling off as he shook it: "I won't dare to again."
Duofu's eyes twitched involuntarily, but he didn't bring it up again to scare Duoxi, who was about to cry. He hadn't been eating with a spoon for very long, and there was always a gradual process involved.
Duofu changed to a less serious tone: "So you have to eat slowly, okay?"
Duoxi hesitated for a moment, then looked troubled: "The food is delicious."
Duofu: "Even if it tastes good, you can't eat too fast. As long as you promise to eat properly and not make any mistakes, I guarantee you'll have a full meal every time."
Duoxi's big eyes turned to Duolu, who was wielding a spoon rapidly: "Second brother, eat fast, you're done."
Little Duoxi felt a sense of envy towards Duolu that he himself did not understand. Duolu could eat so fast without spilling his food. He was so amazing. When could he be that good?
Duoxi thought to herself, "As expected of my favorite second brother, he's really amazing."
While eating, Duolu was still listening intently to his brothers' conversation. When he heard Duoxi say that he ate quickly, he was very happy, even though he didn't understand that Duoxi was envious of him.
Duolu raised his chin, his mouth bulging, and mumbled, "I'm amazing, I don't spill any food. Duoxi should learn from me."
One sentence earned Duoxi a nod: "Learn, learn from Second Brother."
Then I picked up the spoon and scooped the food from my bowl, but with a conditioned reflex, I no longer dropped the food on the table.
Yu Rujia thought that since she had refused that day, Duoshou would not think of going up the mountain to pick ferns and wild onions again. Unexpectedly, several days later, the little guy still remembered it.
That day, they brought back a bundle of wild scallions for Yu Rujia. Each of the little ones carried a bundle, including Duoxi, who was just over a year old. The wild scallions they brought back were much more than she had dug up on the mountain that day.
Yu Rujia pulled the children aside and asked, "Did you go up the mountain by yourselves this time, or did you go with others? Which mountain did you go to?"
Duofu: "Auntie, we went with Erdan and the others. It's at the foot of the mountain opposite our house. We didn't dare to go up the mountain."
Duo Shou's eyes darted around: "Brother Erdan said they often play on that mountain, so nothing will happen to them."
What the little guy didn't say was that Erdan did indeed let him go up the mountain, but he had asked around and found out that there was no danger in that direction. He deliberately led people in that direction while they were playing, which is how the conditions for going up the mountain were met.
Erdan, an eight or nine-year-old boy, was unknowingly taken advantage of by a two-year-old.
Fortunately, although Duo Shou was shrewd, he also knew the importance of safety and knew to ask if there was any danger before doing so.
Yu Rujia knew about the mountain that Duofu mentioned. Children often went there to play, and many people would come back from there after work. It was indeed not dangerous, so she didn't ask the children any more questions.
Yu Rujia: "You can go to that mountain when you're with Brother Erdan, but you can't go when you're alone."
There are no prey that bite there, but spring is the time when snakes and insects come out of their burrows. People use mugwort soap with Chinese medicine added when washing clothes and taking a bath, which can indeed prevent some mosquito bites, but it cannot prevent snakes or venomous creatures like centipedes.
It seems that from now on, I'll have to apply some snake and insect repellent to the little ones every time they go out, so they don't run around without me knowing and get bitten.
Duolu squatted down and rummaged through the wild onions he had brought back, asking, "Auntie, shall we eat wild onions today?"
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