"Shh, keep your voice down. Do you want others to hear?"
Qin Chunhong rolled her eyes at her daughter-in-law: You shallow thing, you've got your eye on me the moment I receive something.
Despite her scolding, Qin Chunhong came out of the house with some brown sugar in her hand and said to her daughter-in-law, "Go boil some water, and drink some brown sugar water tonight to nourish your body!"
Upon hearing this, the brigade leader's daughter-in-law showed no trace of the scolding she had just received; she grinned and went to boil water.
Seeing her daughter-in-law like this, Qin Chunhong felt even more unable to bear it.
"Comrade Zhou, what are you doing here?"
After delivering the items and returning home, Ruan Miaomiao spotted a tall, strong man with deep-set features standing at the gate of her yard from a distance.
Hearing Ruan Miaomiao's voice, Zhou Jingyun turned around, his face, brimming with masculine hormones, appearing before Ruan Miaomiao's eyes. Pointing to the two wooden buckets beside his feet, he said in a low voice:
"Ruan Zhiqing, I'll fetch you some water!"
In the afterglow of the setting sun, the water in the wooden bucket shimmered with silvery light.
When Ruan Miaomiao saw this, she was also happy and quickly took out her key to open the courtyard gate: "Comrade Zhou, you are such a good person. If it weren't for your help, I might not have had enough water tonight!"
Hearing this, Zhou Jingyun was overjoyed. After pouring the water from the wooden bucket into the water vat, he picked up the carrying pole and bucket again and continued to fetch water.
Watching the man working diligently, Ruan Miaomiao thought to herself, "Ah, Aunt Cuihong next door is such a kind person. After a long day, she still remembered that there was no water here and asked her son to help her fetch water."
Leaving the courtyard gate slightly ajar, Ruan Miaomiao went into the west room, took out half a pound of brown sugar and rock sugar, and wrapped each in two pumpkin leaves.
After Zhou Jingyun helped fill the water vat, Ruan Miaomiao carried her things to the yard:
"Comrade Zhou, could you please take this packet of brown sugar to Aunt Cuihong for me, and thank her for taking care of me?"
And this packet of rock sugar is for you to sweeten your mouth; thank you for protecting me during the day!
Zhou Jingyun initially wanted to refuse, but upon hearing that the rock candy was for her sweet tooth, she was instantly tempted. After taking the candy, she whispered:
"Ruan Zhiqing, I'll come fetch water for you again tomorrow!"
After saying that, he strode away!
Ah, what a kind and honest person!
I only gave him a small gift as a token of my gratitude, and he's already thinking about having to fetch water for me again tomorrow!
As Ruan Miaomiao closed the courtyard gate, she sighed inwardly.
Zhou Jingyun was unaware that Ruan Miaomiao considered him a good person. After leaving the Ruan family's house, he went to a secluded spot, took out a rock candy from his own pumpkin leaf, and put it in his mouth.
"Mmm, sweet, just as sweet as Ruan Zhiqing!"
A blush spread across his wheat-colored face, as if he were eating Ruan Miaomiao, not rock candy.
"Oh, this educated youth Ruan is too polite. He just sent something a few days ago, and he's sending something again today. Peach Blossom, later take some of the red peppers you just picked from the garden to educated youth Ruan!"
Zhao Cuihong had originally seen her son fetching water for Ruan Zhiqing and was about to scold him.
To my surprise, my son brought back half a pound of brown sugar when he came back. I was overjoyed: my son is so smart. He knew that Ruan had a lot of things, so he helped carry some water and got half a pound of brown sugar in return!
Judging from this, she doesn't seem to care much about her youngest son anymore; she'd rather he carried water for Ruan Zhiqing all night.
Anyway, my youngest son is so strong, he has inexhaustible energy!
Zhou Taohua, who was holding palm leaves over a fire to prepare them for stringing chili peppers together, saw the brown sugar in her mother's hand and was overjoyed. She exclaimed, "Palm leaves for chili peppers! Mom, can you make me a brown sugar egg soup tonight?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Cuihong immediately rolled her eyes at her daughter: "Eat, eat, eat! Are you trying to harm the child? (Pregnancy and childbirth)"
In Jianshan Brigade, brown sugar and eggs were a privilege reserved for women who had just given birth, meant to help them recover.
Despite being rebuked like that, Zhou Taohua remained unperturbed and continued to idly fiddle with the palm leaves in her hands.
On the contrary, Zhou Jingyun was thinking to himself: The rock sugar that Ruan Zhiqing gave was so sweet, I wonder if the brown sugar she gave was just as sweet?
"Mom, give me and Taohua a boiled egg with brown sugar tonight. You've worked hard during the autumn harvest, so have two. Dad can have one too!"
Zhao Cuihong originally wanted to yell, "Eat, eat, all you know is eating! I could eat as much as you want!"
However, after hearing the second half of the sentence, I couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion: the youngest son in this family is the one who knows how to care for me.
When Zhou Taohua saw that her mother didn't object but was already adding water to the iron pot, she knew that the brown sugar boiled eggs for dinner were going to be a sure thing. She couldn't help but look at Zhou Jingyun with admiration: it's still her older brother who has her mother completely under his thumb.
******
Ruan Miaomiao was surprised that Zhou Taohua would send her red chili peppers. She immediately thought she could make a stir-fried pork with chili peppers that night, since she had bought a pound of lean pork when she went to the county town today.
It's not that she's picky and only buys lean meat.
The truth is, people these days just love pork with fat on it; if you go too late, all that's left is lean meat.
Ruan Miaomiao doesn't know how to cook cornmeal in Jianshan Brigade; she only knows how to cook rice in an iron pot. So, when she goes to the county town to buy rice, she always picks out the larger rice varieties.
After cooking three bowls of rice, Ruan Miaomiao cut the lean meat into strips, heated oil in a wok, and stir-fried it over high heat. After stir-frying the lean meat strips for a while, she added the chopped chili peppers and garlic, and continued to stir-fry over high heat. The strong aroma wafted over, making Ruan Miaomiao swallow her saliva.
Even she, who is used to eating and drinking well, was amused and drooled, let alone the villagers who don't see meat even once a month.
The aroma wafted out, and although it had faded considerably by the time it reached the neighbor's house, it still made the neighbor's child drool with envy.
Seeing the child's eyes welling up with tears, the neighbor cursed inwardly: How unlucky I am to be neighbors with Ruan Zhiqing.
Judging from the financial resources Ruan Zhiqing displayed today, he will likely suffer like this many more times in the future.
Despite her complaints, she picked up a piece of boiled potato and gave it to her grandson, saying, "Gousheng, smell it and eat it. Just pretend you're eating meat too!"
Sure enough, Gou Sheng sniffed and started eating, and he even felt that today's potatoes had a meaty flavor.
Ruan Miaomiao had no idea that she had made the neighbor's child cry with envy. After she finished making the stir-fried pork with chili peppers, she took out two bowls, filled them with a little bit, and put them in her spatial storage.
The space has a heat-insulating function, so things put inside will never spoil or rot, and when they are taken out, they will still be at the temperature when they were put in.
After packing the stir-fried pork with chili peppers, she started packing the white rice.
After finishing, he sat on the steps under the eaves and ate dinner, waiting until it got a little late to feed his mother.
Last night I only saw my mother, I didn't see my father yet, and I don't know what my father is like now?
And what happened to Old Zheng?
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