I lit the stove outside and boiled some water in the pot. I took out a few sweet potatoes I had just bought today and roasted them in the bottom of the pot. I cut some shredded meat, rolled some noodles by hand, and made spinach and shredded pork noodles.
The dough was not yet kneaded when there was a knock on the door and Jiang Mengxue stopped kneading the dough.
"Who is it?"
"Sister, it's me." It was Jiang Mengran's voice.
Jiang Mengxue quickly rubbed her hands, strode over and opened the door.
Jiang Mengran was wearing a flowery cotton jacket she made herself, with a scarf wrapped around her head, and carrying a large bag in her hands.
"Why are you here now? You didn't tell me in advance. Come in quickly." Jiang Mengxue let Jiang Mengran go in first.
Jiang Mengran took off her headscarf as soon as she entered the house. It was so cold outside after the sun set in the afternoon that her ears would have frozen off without a headscarf.
"I have a day off tomorrow, but I thought of coming to see you today. I asked my colleague who works in the car to bring some things for me. Take a look." As he said that, he opened the bag on the table and took out the things inside.
A small bundle of dried kelp, a bag of dried shrimp, and some dried abalone and dried shrimp, all of which are seafood specialties.
"Did your colleagues go to a seaside city? These are good, and the shrimp are big and plump. I asked someone to help carry the food, but did you pay them? It's not nice to ask someone to pay for you."
"I gave it to you, I gave it to you, sister, don't worry." The light in the room was dim, so Jiang Mengxue didn't notice that her sister's face was a little red.
"You came at the right time. I was preparing to cook. I'll mix some flour and roll some noodles. We'll have shredded pork noodles. I also happened to have some dried shrimps you brought, so you can add some to them later." Jiang Mengxue packed up her things and went back outside to start cooking.
"Sister, let me help you." Jiang Mengran got some water to wash her hands and came over to help cook.
Having someone to chat with her made her more motivated to work. Jiang Mengxue took out a can of homemade chili sauce from the cupboard. The chili in it was not spicy, but it tasted very good.
"Sister, this chili sauce is so delicious." Jiang Mengran scooped a spoonful into the bowl, stirred it, and put it into her mouth along with the noodles. The taste was so fragrant.
"It has chopped dried mushrooms and peanuts in it, how could it not be fragrant? If you like this bottle, take it away tomorrow. This is the last one."
Jiang Mengran just shook her head and said, "No, sister, keep it for yourself. I usually eat in the cafeteria. If I bring this to the cafeteria, I won't be able to finish more than two spoonfuls."
Jiang Mengxue nodded and said nothing more.
"How is your work going now? Do you get along well with your colleagues? Have any colleagues given you any trouble?"
Jiang Mengran has a soft personality. You could say she's the type that would shed tears if someone spoke a little harshly.
Commonly known as tear incontinence, she doesn't want to cry, but when her emotions get to the point where her tears become uncontrollable, she can't stop crying, and her crying may even get worse.
"It's pretty good. They all know that I was introduced by Brother Li, so they are usually very polite to me. This also means that I have a backer, so others don't dare to do anything to me."
Jiang Mengxue paused, but still asked: "Last time, a matchmaker came to our courtyard. She knew that I had a younger sister. Maybe she saw you when you came last time. She said she wanted to introduce you to someone and asked me what my requirements were. I thought you had to like her, so I didn't give her a definite answer." As she spoke, she looked at her expression.
"What do you think about this? Do you want me to ask someone to talk to you? Actually, you're not that old. Nowadays, girls in the city have jobs. It's not too late to find a husband after you're 25 or 26. But I'm worried that our parents won't be able to handle it."
Jiang Mengran chuckled: "Sister, if I really dare to be single until I'm 25 or 26, my mother will beat me so hard that my legs will be wet and broken."
After saying this, he felt a little embarrassed, poked the bowl with his chopsticks, and looked up at his sister cautiously.
"Sister, there seems to be a guy in our unit who is pursuing me, but I haven't made up my mind yet, so I usually avoid him. I also want to ask you, do you agree?"
Jiang Mengxue put down the bowl and asked curiously: "Do you know his basic conditions? What is he like? How do you feel about him? I can't help you with emotional matters, but you can tell me about his external conditions."
After drinking the last mouthful of soup, Jiang Mengran also put down his chopsticks.
"I don't know much about him. He told me a little bit that his father is a train driver and he is now an apprentice to his father.
He seems to have an older brother and two older sisters, but they are all married, leaving him alone at home. His brother and sister-in-law seem to have been assigned to work in other places and rarely come home. Even his children are sent to live with their grandparents to help take care of them. They all live in the railway bureau's staff quarters now.
From what he said, his brother is essentially becoming a live-in son-in-law, and his parents are quite angry about his brother marrying his sister-in-law. They also said they don’t want to acknowledge him, and that he will be the only son in the family from now on.”
Jiang Mengxue frowned. If you want to talk about complexity, his family conditions are not complicated, but his brother became a son-in-law?
"Did he tell you about his brother? Why did he become a live-in son-in-law? In this day and age, no man can do this. Is it because he has a conflict with his family or something?"
"To give you a rough idea, I heard that his sister-in-law and his brother were high school classmates. She's the only daughter in her family. I heard she had two older brothers and sisters, but they died during the war. So they wanted to keep their daughter at home, and any child born would have to take the woman's surname.
So Tian Xinghe's parents didn't want to, and they wanted them to separate, but his brother wouldn't agree, saying he wouldn't break up even if he became a live-in son-in-law. Later, he seemed to be afraid that his family would stop them, so he transferred his job out of town. Tian Xinghe's father was a more traditional man, and he couldn't quite accept his son living with his family, so he directly published an announcement in the newspaper to sever ties with his eldest brother. Everyone in our railway bureau seemed to know about it, and it caused quite a stir at the time.
Jiang Mengran had heard a lot of gossip during her time working at the Railway Bureau, including about the Tian family, so when Tian Xinghe told her about it later, she knew he was not lying.
This means that the other party's family conditions are actually pretty good. The two sisters are already married, and there is only one son in the family. The advantage is that the family is simple, but the disadvantage is that the family is too simple. With only one son in front of the couple, the attention he receives will definitely be higher.
This kind of thing depends on how you think about it. As long as you don't live together, the conflicts can be reduced by 80%. But if you have to live together, you can go from having no conflicts and living in harmony to being dissatisfied with everything. So you still have to think it over carefully.
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