Chapter 40: About the Doting Brother
"Waiter, your leg!"
Li Junping entered the room with a frown: "You still have an injury on your leg, how could you be so careless?"
"And you, you don't care about anything when you're playing! Why don't you keep an eye on your brother's legs!"
After being scolded by her older brother, Baozhu's eyes immediately welled up with tears. She hid behind Li Xiaoer, pouting.
Li Xiaoer quickly waved his hand: "Brother, I'm fine. Look, I'm perfectly fine. Let my sister play if she's happy. I'm really okay."
As he spoke, he chuckled again.
"You don't care now, but let's see if you care when you become a cripple!"
Li Junping looked at Li Baozhu with a serious expression: "You are never allowed to touch your brother's leg again, understand?"
This harsh reprimand instantly brought tears to Baozhu's eyes.
Upon seeing Jiang Nuanzhi, she immediately ran over and grabbed her sleeve: "Mother."
Then, looking pitiful, she hid behind Jiang Nuanzhi and peeked out to look at Li Junping.
Li Junping frowned deeply. Just as he was about to say something more, he saw Jiang Nuanzhi standing in front of Li Baozhu, so he shut his mouth, pursed his lips, looked at Li Xiaoer's leg, and then went to untie the wet cloth on the wound.
Jiang Nuanzhi glanced at Xiao Baozhu, whose eyes were red and whose neck was stiff.
He glanced again at Li Xiaoer, who was anxiously trying to comfort his younger sister but dared not move.
He glanced again at Li Junping, who was clearly furious.
He immediately squatted down to look at Baozhu at eye level and asked, "Baozhu, did you not see your brother's legs when you were playing in the water?"
Upon hearing this, Baozhu's tears fell even more profusely: "Mother, Baozhu didn't see it. Baozhu isn't a bad child."
As she spoke, huffing and puffing, she waved her little fist and said, "Big brother is bad!"
“Yes, your older brother is quite fierce, which is a bit scary.” Jiang Nuanzhi nodded and then asked, “Why is your older brother suddenly so fierce? This is the first time I’ve ever seen him get angry.”
Little Baozhu blinked and pouted, saying, "It's because Baozhu accidentally got water on my brother's leg, and he's angry."
"Yes, big brother is worried about big brother, that's why he's doing this, isn't it?"
Baozhu nodded: "Mm."
"Is Baozhu worried about her brother?"
Baozhu blinked her big, bright eyes: "What will happen if there's water?"
Jiang Nuanzhi: "Sprinkling hot water on the wound will hurt. If it is treated quickly, it will not have much of an impact. If it is treated late, it may become inflamed and red, and your brother will be in more pain."
Upon hearing this, Baozhu's eyes immediately reddened even more: "Baozhu doesn't know!"
Jiang Nuanzhi said, "Yes, Mother believes Baozhu. Should Baozhu go and apologize to your brother?"
"Um."
Baozhu immediately ran to Li Xiaoer: "Brother, I'm sorry, let me blow on it for you, it doesn't hurt anymore. I will never play in the water again."
As he spoke, he actually lay down and blew on Li Xiaoer's leg.
"It's okay, brother doesn't hurt." Li Xiaoer comforted his sister with heartache, wiping away her tears: "Don't cry, don't cry."
"Yes, my brother is the best."
Xiao Baozhu immediately smiled sweetly, and couldn't help but secretly peek at Li Junping's expression next to her.
Li Junping had already removed the bandage from Li Xiaoer's leg, frowning as he stared at the wound, ignoring his sister.
Jiang Nuan stepped forward and picked up Li Xiaoer. Turning back to Li Junping, she said, "Ping'er, let me handle this. Don't be angry anymore. Go help me start a fire."
Li Junping nodded, glanced at his younger brother's leg again, and ultimately said nothing more.
Jiang Nuanzhi carried Li Xiaoer and placed him on the heated kang bed, then cleaned his wounds.
Seeing his somewhat anxious look, she couldn't help but laugh: "What? Worried that your brother will scold your sister again?"
Li Xiaoer smiled sheepishly and scratched her head: "Brother can be very fierce sometimes, which can scare little sister."
Looking at his simple-minded appearance, Jiang Nuanzhi couldn't help but sigh: "Do you think you're okay with this and plan to continue doing it in the future?"
At this moment, Jiang Nuanzhi understood why he was the devoted second male lead.
This guy is incredibly kind to someone, even to the point of not caring much about their own feelings.
His wound had been soaked in water for a while, and the scab had come into contact with water, which must have aggravated it, causing some fresh blood to flow out. How could it not hurt? Yet he didn't utter a sound.
"Little sister likes to play, it's nothing. Ah Nuan, are you angry too?" the waiter asked.
Jiang Nuanzhi couldn't help but find it a little funny: "Do you think your little sister would be happy if she hurt you while playing around?"
Li Xiaoer tilted her head and thought for a moment: "If brother wasn't angry, little sister wouldn't know."
Jiang Nuanzhi couldn't help but poke his forehead: "Silly boy, you could have just told your little sister that your leg hurt a bit and asked her to play something else. That way you wouldn't have to suffer, and your little sister would have had fun too."
Li Xiaoer still clutched the hem of his clothes, saying only, "I'll remember this from now on."
Jiang Nuanzhi sighed softly, "Xiao Er, love yourself before you love others. If you don't love yourself, others probably won't feel comfortable in your love. They might feel guilty, feel restricted, or gradually stop valuing your love."
Xiao Er blinked his eyes, still confused, and said, "Ah Nuan, I... don't know what it means."
Jiang Nuanzhi patted his head: "In the future, while you care about your sister, you also need to care about yourself. Don't ignore your own feelings, and don't mistreat your body."
Waiter: "Oh, I see."
"Can I go and comfort my little sister now?"
Jiang Nuanzhi: "."
Teaching children is definitely not something that can be done overnight.
In the end, they still let him out to play with Xiao Baozhu.
Xiao Er was considerate of his older brother's feelings. He went out to comfort his younger sister for a while, and then Xiao Baozhu ran over to apologize to her older brother.
Jiang Nuanzhi also started kneading the dough.
She had tried instant noodles before and was quite adept at them.
The most tiring part is rolling out the noodles. After kneading the dough, you pinch off a piece, roll it into a thin sheet, roll it up, and cut it into noodles. Then you cook them or steam them. After that, you either deep-fry them or put them in the oven to dehydrate them.
Deep-frying is relatively more expensive.
After all, the fuel consumption is what it is.
If it's just dehydrated noodles, then it's much easier. And the cost is much cheaper too.
Actually, to dehydrate the food, it's feasible to build an oven in the yard, since we have adobe bricks at home. However, we don't have a load-bearing iron plate or wire mesh yet, so we'll build it after we buy all the necessary materials.
I decided to make noodles first. I divided the dozen or so kilograms of noodles into two batches, boiling half and steaming the other half.
The cooked portion was rinsed in cold water and then spread out on a clean table to cool and drain.
They then found branches of uniform thickness, tied them together one by one with a rope, and strung them together.
After binding it securely, trim it into a circle of appropriate size, and you have a simple canopy.
Place the noodles evenly on top in a pot, cover, and steam over high heat until cooked through. Then remove and let cool. Repeat this process several times until all the noodles are cooked.
Heat oil in a wok, then divide the previously cooked noodles into portions and fry them until they are set.
The aroma immediately filled the air.
The children seemed to be held firmly in place. Except for Li Junping, who still had some composure and sat there tending the fire while watching, the other two younger ones had already come to Jiang Nuanzhi's side, staring intently at what was in the pot.
"Mommy, this noodle smells so good!" Little Baozhu smacked her lips.
The pancakes were already fried, so Jiang Nuanzhi picked them out without adding any seasoning, and divided one pancake into three portions for them.
"It's delicious! The more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes. Mother, this can definitely sell for a lot of money."
Baozhu held the pancake as if she couldn't bear to eat it, taking out a piece and chewing it slowly, her happy little eyes squinting.
"Eat up, there's more when you finish this."
“I’ve had enough. I’ll keep it all for Mother to sell for money,” Baozhu said.
Li Xiaoer nodded: "Yes, that's enough for me too." After saying that, his eyes were still fixed on the pancakes in the pot.
Li Junping took a bite and nodded unconsciously. After looking at it for a while, he frowned and said, "Everyone should like to eat this. But, with so much oil used, how much should we sell it for? It can't be too expensive, since it's noodles, not meat. If it's cheap, will we still make a profit?"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
