"Sister, let's play with the string together. Mom bought some candy yesterday, let's eat it together." Ruru hadn't seen Xingxing for three days, and now that Xingxing was finally back, she couldn't help but cling to her.
Xingxing patted Ruru's head, acting like an adult coaxing a child, "Okay, Ruru, be good. Wait a minute, I still have something to say."
Zhao Guihua suppressed a laugh, watching to see what Xingxing was about to say, but then she heard Xingxing say, "Mom, Xingxing wants to eat ribs tonight, lots of meaty ribs, a long one, not chopped into sections, and stewed with mushrooms."
Seeing that Zhao Guihua nodded in agreement, he said to Zhao Guizhi, "I also want to eat Auntie's pancakes, which have lots of pork and vegetables in them."
"Okay, Auntie knows, I'll definitely make you a generous portion." Zhao Guizhi readily agreed.
After reassuring Xingxing, Zhou took Ruru to play with rope in the yard. It was already dark, so Zhou tied a torch to a wooden stake in the yard so that the two little girls could see it.
"Xingxing is such a little foodie. I don't know how her little brain works, she always has so many clever ideas. Every night after dinner she chats with me for a while, asking me what dishes to make the next day and what ingredients to add. At first, I didn't think this child was so picky about food."
But after she told me what she wanted to eat, I thought about it carefully and realized it actually looked quite plausible. I couldn't resist trying to make it myself, and it was surprisingly delicious! This girl, Xingxing, is even more creative than the chefs at the Chen family mansion! Do you think her family used to own a restaurant?
Zhao Guizhi knew from the moment she arrived that Xingxing wasn't her sister's child. She didn't ask at the time, but Zhao Guihua told her on her own initiative. At the time, Zhao Guizhi said that she had already figured it out.
“Even if you hadn’t said it, I still don’t think it looks like him. Your husband has a square face and looks very honest and kind. Although you have an oval face and big eyes, Xingxing is very delicate-looking and doesn’t resemble you and your husband at all.” It wasn’t that Zhao Guizhi wanted to discourage her; she was just stating the facts.
“I don’t like hearing that. Xingxing is my own daughter. If she doesn’t resemble me, who does she resemble?” Zhao Guihua looked like she was unwilling to face reality.
Hearing my sister say that Xingxing's biological parents might own a restaurant, I immediately thought of what the village chief had told Zhou Laoda before, that Xingxing's biological father might own a clinic. So what exactly does Xingxing's biological father do?
Forget it, whatever he does, he can't be a peasant anyway. No matter what he does or how rich his family is, it's been a year and he hasn't come looking for us. There's a high chance something happened to him. Let's not talk about it, it'll ruin my mood.
"No one's bothered you selling food at the dock, right? But if anything happens, you can't keep it to yourself; you have to tell us," Zhao Guihua said with concern.
Zhao Guizhi smiled and pursed her lips. "It's fine, no trouble at all. It's just that there are more and more stalls opening these days, and their pancakes and buns aren't as big as mine, and they sell them for lower prices, which is affecting business a bit."
But people aren't stupid; they can tell the difference just by tasting it, so my sales are pretty good. Besides, my cooking skills are better than others, so even if they sell the same thing, I'm not afraid of them.”
“I’ve heard the village chief say before that when he was studying in his hometown, the competition for food stalls outside the school was fierce. Some people would even fight, and those who rented shops would be kicked out by the landlords… Luckily, we bought our own house and didn’t rent any shops.” Zhao Guihua was very glad that she listened to the village chief.
At dinner time, Mingming stewed a large wooden basin of pork ribs, and Xingxing, Ruru, Dafu, Sanfu, and Wufu all grabbed a pork rib and gnawed on it.
Erfu and Sifu could only eat rice with vegetables. Because their parents were watching over them, they didn't dare to misbehave. After finishing a bowl of rice, they took a large bowl, filled it with rice, ate most of the vegetables, and then turned around angrily to go to the yard to eat.
Out of sight, out of mind. Otherwise, it's too torturous for them to eat vegetables with rice while watching others devour meat.
The next morning, Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua got up before dawn and prepared to return to the village without even having breakfast. They had agreed to take Chen Caocao and the village chief up the mountain to collect herbs today.
Yesterday, the village chief's wife took Dongsheng to town in Zhou Laoda's oxcart. Zhao Xiu had to stay in town to take care of Dongsheng and couldn't go up the mountain with them, so the village chief had to go in person.
"Take these pancakes and meat buns with you on the way. Look how anxious you are. Why do you need to get up so early? It's not even Chenshi yet. You don't even have time to eat breakfast." Zhao Guizhi had just gotten up. The pancakes and meat buns were leftovers from last night, but they had been kept warm in the pan.
Even after the fire in the stove has burned out, there are still embers left, so the pot is still warm and the food placed in it stays warm. Now that the weather is gradually warming up, unlike in winter when everything gets cold after a short while.
At this moment, Zhou Dafu and Zhou Sanfu also got up with yawns and greeted the three of them one by one.
"Why are you up so early? Why don't you sleep a little longer? It's not even dawn yet!" Zhao Guihua said.
Zhao Guizhi patted her forehead. "You don't know? Dafu and Sanfu get up this early every day. The Three Character Classic hasn't even been finished yet, but they've already memorized half of the Hundred Family Surnames. These two children are very hardworking. They started learning later than others, so they're eager to catch up."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua felt very distressed and guilty, realizing that they, as parents, were incompetent and had made their children suffer so much.
The couple opened their mouths as if to say something, but in the end, they couldn't say anything. Before leaving, the eldest son patted his two sons on the shoulder and said, "If you really want to take the imperial examinations, your mother and I will do our best to support you. You don't need to worry about the money; we'll save it for you brothers to use for the exams."
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