Tong Lianggao and his son Tong Jianglin don’t like noodles, but the noodles in Malatang are particularly chewy and as flavorful as other ingredients and can be eaten as a dish.
After Xu Xiangjuan finished her lunch, she cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen and went to the shed.
"Juan, have you finished lunch?" Zhou Chengning put new sweet potatoes into the oven to bake, and when he saw his lover coming out, he hurriedly asked.
Xu Xiangjuan: "We finished eating it, so there was no waste."
After her husband gnawed on the bones she had left, Xu Xiangjuan would make it clear that nothing was wasted when he asked her about it without her watching.
In the past, it was she who taught the children not to waste, but now the situation is reversed. Although she was not taught by the children themselves, she was taught by their father.
Zhou Chengning knows how uncomfortable it is to be hungry: "It's okay to finish eating. You can't be hungry."
Xu Xiangjuan: "Is Guagua in there?"
Zhou Chengning: "Yes, Guagua said he would go to play with Miaomiao at 3pm."
"There's a market today, and I was planning to take her to the market. Let me ask her if she's free." Xu Xiangjuan lifted the curtain to ask Guagua.
Zhou Chengning wanted to volunteer, but he still had sweet potatoes to roast.
Guagua has no principles at all. Although she had made an appointment with Miaomiao, she happily agreed when her mother asked her to take her to the market.
"Dad, give me a sweet potato." Gua Gua came out alone and asked his father for a sweet potato.
Zhou Chengning: "Didn't we have lunch soon? Why do you want sweet potatoes?"
Guagua: "Because I went to the market with my mother this afternoon and didn't play with Miaomiao, I want to take sweet potatoes and Miaomiao to apologize."
Having a small sweet potato would show her sincerity, and she could share it with Miaomiao.
"I'll give you a small sweet potato. Guagua, be a good boy and follow your mother in the afternoon. Don't walk around and follow your mother closely." Zhou Chengning packed a small sweet potato and handed it to Guagua.
"I know!" Guagua took the sweet potatoes to Miaomiao's yard.
Today is Aning's day off. He is looking after the sweet potato stall, his parents are looking after the spicy hot pot stall, and Niu Niu's grandmother can take care of her, so she can go to the market to buy some fruits and vegetables without worry.
Fruits are the main thing, after all, we buy vegetables at home every two or three days.
Guagua couldn't be carried on the shoulders or in the hands, so why should she be brought along? Xu Xiangjuan simply wanted to make the trip more lively.
Especially since it was finally the children’s day off, Gua Gua had been pestering us to go to the market a while ago.
The market is lively and there is everything for sale. Children love it very much.
Xu Xiangjuan didn't leave immediately. She said something to Guagua and stayed in the shed to settle the accounts.
Fruits are not as popular as vegetables. There are only a few fruit stalls and not many people buy them. You can only buy fresh ones in the afternoon.
The mayor's family had finished their meal and left. Xu Gensheng and Wu Caifeng cleaned up the dishes together, while Gua Gua dealt with his brother's daily conversations.
Niu Niu wanted to talk, babbling. His parents and grandparents were all busy, so Gua Gua had to teach Niu Niu how to talk and have conversations with him.
Niu Niu also learned from Gua Gua very well, but he forgot what he had just learned and continued to speak to his sister using yiyiaoao sounds.
After sorting out the accounts, Xu Xiangjuan took Guagua to the market.
She planned to go there by bicycle. There was no basket in front of the bicycle, so Xu Xiangjuan asked her to install a wire basket so that she could put things in it.
The bicycle seat is relatively high, and Xu Xiangjuan is not tall, so Zhou Chengning helped carry Guagua to the front bar: "Juan, how about I ride the bike, and you sit at the back, and I'll pick you and Guagua up."
It really makes me worried. It's okay for my lover to ride a tricycle, as it's not easy for a tricycle to fall. A bicycle has two wheels and can make my lover look petite.
Today was my first day selling spicy hot pot, so I didn't go to the market to sell steamed buns and dumplings, so I didn't need to ride a tricycle. Also, it was late and the roads were crowded, so it was more convenient to push a bicycle.
Because they were going to ride bicycles, Xu Xiangjuan fully armed herself and Guagua. Guagua was better off, as her face was wrapped in a scarf, leaving only her eyes and breathing holes. "No need, I can do it."
As she spoke, Xu Xiangjuan pushed the bicycle a few steps, climbed onto the bicycle, and rode away. Her movements were smooth and she looked like a veteran.
Zhou Chengning could only watch his lover go away.
The cold wind faintly brought the voice of Guagua asking his mother what he wanted to buy.
In the shed, Niu Niu didn't talk to his sister, so he changed his mind and started talking to his grandparents.
Xu Gensheng and Wu Caifeng are not very good at speaking Mandarin, unlike Guagua who could speak Mandarin fluently when he was in kindergarten.
When speaking Mandarin, he also acquainted himself with the Guagua dialect, showing his talent in languages.
"Xiao Zhou, is Juanzi in there?" Zheng Honggui asked Zhou Chengning who was guarding outside the shed.
Seeing that it was his aunt, Zhou Chengning didn't answer.
Wu Caifeng heard her sister-in-law's voice and hurried out of the shed: "What's the matter? Are you coming to eat? Our Juan is out. If you want to pay for the meal, come in. If you don't want to pay, don't come in."
Wu Caifeng appears to be mean and heartless, but she is actually very anxious. When her daughter is not around, she has to watch over the shed. Her husband cannot keep an eye on the things at home, and her son-in-law has to guard the sweet potatoes at the door. There are good things in the kitchen, and she is afraid that her annoying brother and sister-in-law will go in and touch them, but she is too busy to do anything.
This sister-in-law must have come looking for me because my daughter was not around.
Really, you keep eyeing their shop all day and want to get a piece of the pie, right? You’re dreaming.
Because of her daughter's attitude, and the fact that the family was doing OK and still making money, Wu Caifeng was even more unfriendly to her brother and sister-in-law's family.
Xu Gensheng turned a blind eye and talked to his grandson.
Zheng Honggui didn't expect her sister-in-law to speak so directly. She was upset, but she still planned to go in and take a look: "I came in to spend money."
Wu Caifeng kept a close eye on Zheng Honggui to prevent her from having any bad ideas.
As long as anyone had any bad ideas, he would be beaten out immediately with the broom in the shed.
Zhou Chengning didn't follow them in. He went to the kitchen to hide his parents' package and then closed the kitchen door. He still had to watch over the sweet potatoes.
There is no other way. You have to guard against this aunt like you would guard against a thief. Otherwise, if you are not careful, she might really take things from your house.
"Still selling vegetables?" Zheng Honggui actually saw this family moving vegetables when she passed by after visiting the market in the morning. Just now, her grandson said that he saw Sister Guagua and her cousin riding bicycles, so she asked which direction they were going.
The little grandson pointed in the direction. She knew that her fierce niece had gone to the market, so she hurried over to see what was going on in the shed.
Before, I could still tell what was sold inside because there was no obstruction, but since the renovation, I have no idea what’s going on inside.
Wu Caifeng said in a very aggressive tone: "Are you going to buy it or not? If not, don't ask."
Zheng Honggui: "You are not allowed to ask... I see you are quite busy, can you take me and Dajian with you to help with the work?"
She had this idea in mind a long time ago. Seeing that her brother and sister-in-law's business was booming, she realized that she couldn't learn the skills, and it would cost a lot of money to get good ingredients every day.
You might as well work here, and take away any unsold ingredients.
Wu Caifeng didn't care about her grandson being there: "You cheap bastard! Dream on! This is my daughter's business, not ours. If you don't want to buy it, get out of here. The farther the better. Don't wait for Juan to come back. If Juan comes back, she'll just chase you away with a broom!"
Zheng Honggui: "Sister-in-law, stop bluffing me. It's you and your brother who paid for it. Otherwise, where would the little girl get the money?"
Wu Caifeng: "What little girl, get lost, even if it's our money, what does it have to do with you? You still owe me money, when will you pay it back?"
Zheng Honggui was thick-skinned enough not to be scolded and left: "Sister-in-law, it's okay if you don't pay me. It's better to have my family help here than to have outsiders help, right?"
Anyway, she is not doing any work now, so she is not getting paid for staying here, but she has something to eat.
Don’t you work so hard just for food? Look at Gua Gua and Niu Niu, they look so festive and must have eaten a lot of delicious food.
"Get out! I would rather invite an outsider than an ungrateful person like you." Wu Caifeng pushed the man out and grabbed the broom to chase away the shameless man.
Zhou Chengning didn't say a word the whole time because his mother-in-law unilaterally and forcefully drove people away and he didn't need to help at all.
Wu Caifeng drove the people away and made sure that they had gone far away. She was very angry and went back to the shed to complain to Xu Gensheng about her shameless brother and sister-in-law.
"Do we owe them anything? They're just sucking blood and eating flesh. Tell me, your parents passed away early, have we ever owed them anything? An elder brother is like a father. He already has grandchildren, but they still treat you as their father and suck blood and eat flesh?"
Niu Niu: "Wow wow wow!"
Zheng Honggui: "My grandson couldn't bear to see this. I'll talk to Juan when she comes back."
Xu Gensheng responded a few times, but his wife was angry and the more she spoke, the more mistakes she made.
When Xu Xiangjuan came back, Wu Caifeng's anger, which had just subsided, came up again. Without waiting for her daughter to unload her things, she pulled her daughter and told her about Zheng Honggui's coming.
Xu Xiangjuan handed the bicycle to Zhou Chengning and listened to her mother talk.
Gua Gua, still holding the small paper bag with cat ears in both hands, followed his father who had parked the car in the yard.
I bought apples and oranges as fruits. We have pear and peach trees at home, but they are either out of season or not yet in season, so we can't eat them.
At this time of year, there are basically no fruits on the fruit trees in everyone’s yard, so we have to buy them outside.
Zhou Chengning parked his bicycle, put the fruit in the kitchen, and put the package he had just hidden back to its place.
Guagua seemed to be completely focused on the cat ears. He reached out and grabbed a handful of cat ears from the paper bag: "Dad, open your hands."
Zhou Chengning opened his hands upon hearing that, and saw the cat ears that Guagua was holding in his little hand were in his hands.
"One, two...take two more." Guagua counted and found that he only had four in his previous handful, and there were also grandparents, so he wanted to take two more.
After hiding the remaining cat ears, Gua Gua took five cat ears from his father and went outside to share them with his mother and grandparents.
If Niu Niu can't eat it, she will eat it for Niu Niu.
Zhou Chengning ate one of his cat ears. From the moment his daughter started counting, he knew he couldn't have a handful of cat ears.
Only children like cat ears... Well, they taste delicious.
Zhou Chengning washed his hands and continued to look after his sweet potato stove.
"Mom, don't worry. You can treat her however you want in the future. Dad doesn't care anyway, right, Dad?" After listening to her mother's rapid explanation of what happened, Xu Xiangjuan understood what was going on.
Her aunt was dreaming in broad daylight.
Xu Gensheng was playing with his grandson, pretending that he didn't exist. When he heard his daughter's words, he hummed softly.
"Mom! Grandpa and grandma!" Gua Gua ran into the shed, grabbing the cat ears with both hands, three in one hand and two in the other.
The adults divided the food and Gua Gua ate his own cat ears.
Niu Niu stretched out his chubby little hands and whimpered, and then Gua Gua handed Niu Niu's cat ears to him.
She had planned to wait a little longer until her brother stopped crying, and then she would eat his cat ears.
After talking to my daughter, I calmed down a lot. Because of the little episode of my granddaughter sharing cat ears, I calmed down completely: "She is so eager to come to our house to get things. She is dreaming. If we really invite her in, we will be like inviting a living ancestor to our family."
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