As they were talking, Sun Aiju's voice came from outside the house, "Come over for dinner."

The train arrived at the station at noon, and it took another two hours to reach Shangang Village. Shen Lie and Ning Tang, as well as Da Wa and the other three kids, were all very hungry.

Ning Tang quickly responded, "Okay, I'll be right there."

After saying that, he and Shen Lie brought the three kids to the main hall for dinner.

A large round dining table had already been set up in the main room. Ning Tang took a glance at it and thought it must be a newly built one.

In the past, when there were few people at home, we always used a square table for meals. This time, there were many people coming back, so we specially set up a large round table.

Ning Tang and her friends arrived, Ning Xue and Su Junyan also came with their twins.

A group of people sat around a round table. Big Boy and his two friends found everything new and curious, and looked around.

Ningde put the bowls and washed dishes on the table and called out, "Sister, cousin, brother-in-law, cousin-in-law, you must be hungry, eat quickly."

Ning Tang looked into the bowl and found that it was filled with noodles.

Thin noodles, an egg, two drops of sesame oil, and two small green vegetables, it looks delicious.

She suddenly looked at Sun Aiju. She had just mentioned it casually before going to Hailang Island, and was going out to make dumplings and bring noodles home. She didn't expect her mother still remembered it.

Sun Aiju wiped her hands with her apron and said, "Why are you looking at me? Why don't you pick up your chopsticks? Eat quickly, or you'll be full by the time the meeting comes." She added, "Let's just eat something simple now. We'll have a good meal in the evening."

Ning Tang hummed with a nasal sound, slurping the noodles and said, "It's delicious, Mom. Your cooking skills have improved again."

Sun Aiju smiled and didn't respond.

Ning Tang asked again, "Has my brother come back?"

Sun Aiju sighed, "He didn't reply, but he sent me a letter saying he was out on another mission. I had arranged a blind date for him during the Chinese New Year, but he didn't show up, so it all went down the drain."

Ning Tang stuck out her tongue. If Ning Jun knew that Sun Aiju had arranged a blind date for him, he would have run away even if he came back.

He is a staunch bachelor.

After eating the noodles, my stomach was full and I started to feel sleepy.

The two families went to their respective cabins to take a nap. When they woke up, it was already dark.

Ning Tang was awakened by the smell of food. She looked up and saw that the cotton curtains were dark. The sun must have set. "What time is it now?"

There was no wall clock in the Ning family, and Shen Lie didn't have a watch either. He roughly estimated the time, "It should be seven o'clock."

Ning Tang stood up, put on his coat and shoes, and looked around the room. Da Wa and the other three were not there. He was surprised, "Where did Da Wa and the others go?"

Shen Lie smiled and said, "Ningde took them to set off firecrackers."

Ning Tang nodded. Although Ning De was young, he was very reliable. She felt relieved to have him taking care of the three children.

The two of them went out of the house and were about to go to the main room to eat, when they saw Da Wa and his three companions running in in a hurry, smelling like firecrackers.

Ning Tang was happy, "Are you having fun?"

Da Wa nodded excitedly, "My uncle is so amazing. He can use a firecracker to set off so many different things. How come I never thought of that before?"

"Well." Shen Lie said, "Tell me about it."

Sanwa took over and said in a very clear voice, "My uncle took us to blow up cow dung. We lit the firecrackers and stuck them on the cow dung. With a bang, everything exploded." After saying that, he couldn't stop giggling.

Ning Tang narrowed his eyes and stretched out his voice, "Dezi——"

Just now you said he was reliable, but now he is taking a few kids to fry cow dung.

Ning De pressed San Wa's head and said, "San Wa, you betrayed me." Then he smiled at Ning Tang and said, "Cousin, I took them to hide far away, and they didn't get dirty at all."

Ning Tang snorted, "If you guys get involved, I won't be able to stand here and talk to you."

Did you chase Ningde with a broom? He was screaming.

Shen Lie tried to smooth things over, "Let's go, let's go eat and see what delicious food our parents have prepared."

Ning Tang glanced at him. In the past, he called them father-in-law and mother-in-law, but now he is becoming more and more demanding.

Entering the main room, the big round table was filled with food, seven dishes and a soup, including chicken, duck, fish and meat, all of which were fragrant.

Su Junyan, Ning Xue and the twins were already in their seats.

Logically speaking, Su Guangzong and Su Yaozu should be closer to Ningde. After all, they are related by blood. Plus, the two children have been suppressed on Hailang Island for so long, and they finally have the chance to get out and relax, so they also want to go out and play.

But unfortunately, Ning Xue would not give in.

First, she felt that the things that Ningde played with the children were not proper. Second, she was afraid of the sequelae of kidnapping and did not dare to let the twins leave her sight.

So she didn't let the twins go and showed up at the dinner table early.

Ning Tang and Shen Lie took the three little ones to sit down.

Sun Aiju and Zhou Yin were still busy in the kitchen. Now only Ning Weiguo and Ning Weidang were at the dinner table.

Ning Weiguo sat in the main seat, with an empty seat next to him, which was reserved for Sun Aiju. Ning Weidang sat next to him, with an empty seat next to him, which was reserved for Zhou Yin.

Ning Tang and Shen Lie sat down at Sun Aiju's empty seat, just across the table from Ning Xue and Su Junyan.

Ning Weiguo was pleased to see the lively and cheerful family. He stood up to get the orange soda he had bought in advance and distributed it to the five children.

The weather in Shangang Village was cold, and the orange soda was covered with frost after being left on the windowsill for a while.

Shen Lie opened the lid for the three kids. The three kids held the orange soda in their hands and gulped it down. After finishing, they all burped for a long time.

Shen Lie couldn't bear to see it, "Drink less, we still have to eat later."

Ning Tang said, "It's okay. Let's allow the three of them to indulge themselves for once today."

The eldest child smiled sweetly, "Mom, you are so nice."

Ning Tang was amused and teased him, "I'm a good mother if I give you orange soda..."

Da Wa and Ning Tang were used to being poor, so without thinking, he continued, "If you don't give it to me, I'm not a bad mother." After saying that, he glanced at Ning Tang, and the meaning was very obvious: you can't cheat me.

Shen Lie was very happy.

The last dish of stir-fried food was served on the table. Sun Aiju and Zhou Yin also took their seats. When everyone was present, they started eating.

Sun Aiju hadn't seen her daughter and son-in-law for a while. She was half focused on eating and half on observing them.

This glance made her figure out something slightly different.

Ning Tang ate by herself. Shen Lie would occasionally ask the three children what they wanted to eat, and then stand up to help them pick up food.

The round table was too big and couldn't be turned around. Without someone with long arms like Shen Lie to help, Da Wa and his friends could only eat from the portion in front of them.

After taking care of the three little ones, Shen Lie looked to see if Ning Tang was short of anything and gave it to her.

Sun Aiju nodded secretly and glared at Ning Tang again.

I have never seen an old woman who doesn't take care of her children and lets the old men take care of them.

Ning Tang too? Yes, and she was eating very comfortably.

Ning Tang didn't understand why Sun Aiju was doing this for no reason. He glared at her, winked, and picked up a fried meatball for her, "Mom, try this, it's delicious."

Sun Aiju snorted in annoyance, "I made it, how could I not know it tastes good?"

Ning Tang felt very innocent, not knowing how he had offended his own mother again, and he just laughed awkwardly.

Ningde glanced at his sister and brother-in-law, and felt that they had come from a long way to eat and still had to take care of the children, so he simply took over the job of taking care of Su Guangzong and Su Yaozu, "Sister, I will help you take care of Guangzong and Yaozu, you just have to eat with your brother-in-law."

Ning Xue nodded, her eyes filled with worry, and she said hesitantly, "Can you do it?"

Ning De was speechless. "It's just feeding the two kids. What's wrong with that?"

"Okay then." Although Ning Xue let go, her attention was always on Ning De.

Ningde lowered his head and asked Su Guangzong and Su Yaozu, "What do you two want to eat? I'll grab some for you."

Su Guangzong glanced at the food on the table and said, "I want to eat prawns."

Su Yaozu shouted, "I want to eat white-cooked chicken."

Ningde nodded, stood up and put the braised prawns and white-cooked chicken into the twins' bowls.

Then he saw the twins staring at him motionlessly.

Ning De was stunned. "Why are you two looking at me? Pick up your chopsticks."

Su Yaozu curled his lips and tapped the bowl with his chopsticks, making a crisp sound. "This chicken is attached to the bones. Please help me separate the meat from the bones, and then dip it in the sauce before I eat it."

Su Guangzong whispered, "Uncle, I don't know how to peel shrimps. Can you help me peel them?"

Ningde's brows were almost knotted. Where did this come from? Young master, what's wrong with you?

When he was the twins' age, he could just put a big chicken leg in his mouth and chew even a bone cleanly. He didn't need any help.

As for shrimps, there is no need to peel the shells. Just bite off the shrimp head and tail, and eat the shrimp meat in the middle together with the shell.

Shrimp are very rare in Shangang Village. Sometimes people are reluctant to throw away both the shrimp heads and tails and will chew them for a long time.

Besides, if a rural kid tries to play the "help me peel" game with his parents, three bamboo poles will break him.

But thinking that they were distinguished guests who had come from afar, Ning De swallowed his breath and said in a stern voice, "Okay, I'll help you peel it."

At Ningde's age, he is just a big kid.

He was good at doing farm work, but he had no idea how to serve others.

The shrimps peeled for Su Guangzong had their heads not torn off and their shells not peeled cleanly.

The chicken bones were removed for Su Yaozu, and the chicken meat was separated, but there was a large piece of it attached to the bones, so only a little bit of meat was peeled out, and it had not been dipped in the sauce as Su Yaozu requested.

Of course the twins were unhappy. They looked at Ning Xue with bitter faces and complained to her.

Ning Xue had been paying attention to what was going on here, and immediately complained, "I knew you wouldn't be able to take care of a child."

Ningde was even more furious. His kindness was really not rewarded. He snorted and said, "Then you do it yourself."

"I'll do it." Ning Xue was used to serving the twins, so doing this simple task was a piece of cake for her.

Soon, the bones of the blanched chicken were removed, and the shredded chicken meat was dipped in a special sauce and garnished with coriander leaves and minced garlic. The heads, shells, tails and shrimp threads of the prawns were removed and served to Su Guangzong and Su Yaozu respectively.

The twins were satisfied and began to enjoy the meal.

Ning Xue was so busy taking care of them that she didn't even have a single hot meal.

Su Junyan acted as if he didn't see anything and continued to drink and brag with Ning Wei's party.

The two of them were talking so loudly that Sun Aiju looked over.

She squinted at Su Junyan and suddenly dreamed back to her first blind date.

At first, Su Junyan was just talking big and praising Ning Xue for how delicious her cooking was, but he didn't even notice that she couldn't bring the plate over.

It's the same now. He only cares about drinking and bragging with Ning Wei and the party, and turns a blind eye to the fact that Ning Xue is taking care of two children alone.

Ning Tang couldn't stand it anymore, "You don't have to do anything for them, they can do it themselves."

If I continue to take care of Ning Xue like this, I might end up with two pieces of junk.

Looking at Ning Xue like that, if you didn't know, you would have thought that Su Guangzong and Su Yaozu didn't have arms and legs, otherwise why would they ask her to feed them food.

Ning Xue glared: "How can this be possible? They are still children. It's only nine years old. If I don't take better care of them, how can it be possible?"

Ning Tang complained, "That's not called taking care of me, that's called serving me."

The eldest child tilted his head and asked cautiously, "What's the difference between taking care of and serving?"

"Serving is something you can do, and I did it for you. Looking after is something you can't do, and I did it for you. Do you understand?" Ning Tang explained.