Xuemei thought of the care the Lin family had given Han Chen since he was a child, and continued, "Come to my house tomorrow before you go to the county town. I'll go back and sort out the things, and then you can send them to Uncle Lin and the others. By the way, is it convenient to send things to Comrade Lin Hongzhi? How about preparing some for him as well?"
"Xuemei, it's okay, no need to prepare!" Han Chen said.
"How can that be? They are your family. You prepared things when you came to our house the last two times, so I should prepare something too. But we only have some wild goods from the mountains to send to them!" Xuemei said sincerely.
"Okay, thank you for your hard work, Xuemei!" Han Chen said to Xuemei with gratitude.
"What's so hard about it? You'll be the one to send it tomorrow. If you don't have anything to do, I'll go home and clean up my things first." Xuemei replied with a smile.
Han Chen looked at Xuemei and hesitantly said, "Then can I pick you up from get off work tomorrow?"
Xuemei looked at Han Chen's blushing face and teased him deliberately, "Don't you often take me home?"
Han Chen looked outside the door and saw that there was no one there. He pulled Xuemei's hand and whispered, "I meant to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to pick you up after get off work!"
Xuemei shook Han Chen's hand back and said, "Of course!"
Only then did Han Chen smile contentedly.
After a while, Xuemei let go of Han Chen's hand and said, "I want to go home. It's almost eight o'clock now!"
"Then I'll take you there. I'm worried about you being alone!" Han Chen said, taking out a flashlight from the drawer.
"What are you worried about? It's just a few steps away!" Xuemei said coquettishly.
"That won't work. I have to watch you carefully before you enter the house. Besides, I want to stay with you for a while!" Han Chen looked at Xuemei seriously and said.
Xuemei's cheeks flushed and she lowered her head. Han Chen looked at Xuemei's shy look, smiled secretly, and hooked Xuemei's fingers with his.
After returning home, Xuemei told Liu's father and mother that she wanted to send something to the Lin family.
Liu's father and mother also began to help clean up. Liu's father went to the kitchen to get a cured rabbit and a piece of bacon, and wrapped them in several layers of oil paper. Then Liu's father went upstairs to get some rice and glutinous rice.
Liu's mother and Xuemei each took out about one or two pounds of dried goods from the house, such as dried mushrooms, dried bamboo shoots, dried ferns, dried shredded radish, dried eggplant, dried beans, etc., and wrapped them in oil paper.
Then Xuemei and Liu's mother went to the kitchen again, used sterilized cans to fill three cans of moldy tofu, took out two cans of chopped chili peppers, and wrapped the few pounds of pig blood cakes and dried tofu left in the house with oil paper.
When Xuemei came back from the educated youth institute, Liu's mother saw that it was still early, so she soaked some dried mushrooms that she had picked in the mountains some time ago and planned to make two jars of mushroom sauce and send them to her.
Now that everything else was cleaned and the mushrooms were almost soaked, Liu's mother started to light the fire. Xuemei washed and diced the soaked mushrooms, then stir-fried them with chili sauce, sour chili peppers, and chili powder to make a mushroom sauce. She also added a few ounces of rapeseed oil and some lard.
Luckily, Xuemei's house was secluded, right next to Liu Xiu's. As the mushroom sauce was being fried, the aroma wafted from the kitchen, prompting Ruirui and Feifei to rush in several times. Later, Xuemei's family devoured a basket of corn cakes they were going to eat the next morning with the freshly fried mushroom sauce.
In the end, they prepared nearly a full basket of food for the Lin family, weighing at least thirty pounds. As for Lin Hongzhi, Xuemei was worried that he wouldn't be able to cook for himself, so she only prepared a can of chopped chili peppers and a can of mushroom sauce.
The family was busy until almost twelve o'clock before going to bed. Before going to bed, Xuemei remembered Shengnan's matter and forgot to tell Liu's father and mother.
The next day, Han Chen arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative about ten minutes before Xuemei got off work.
Xuemei looked at Han Chen, who was carrying a backpack, and asked, "I thought you were coming back on the 1:30 bus. Please leave your things for me first! I still have a while before I get off work. Are you waiting for me here or in the lounge in the back?"
Han Chen put the backpack on the counter and waited for Xuemei to take it and put it inside before saying, "I was delayed today, so I took the next bus back. I'll wait for you here!"
Xuemei was just about to get a chair for Han Chen when she saw Zhang Aiping coming over and looking at her with a teasing look on her face.
Xuemei calmly waved to Han Chen, asking him to come closer. Then she introduced him to Zhang Aiping, "Sister Zhang, this is my boyfriend, Han Chen! Han Chen, this is my colleague, Sister Zhang, who always takes good care of me!"
Upon hearing this, Han Chen nodded to Zhang Aiping and said, "Hello, Sister Zhang! I'm Han Chen. Thank you for taking care of Xuemei!"
Zhang Aiping smiled and replied, "I heard Xuemei say she had a boyfriend, and I was wondering what kind of person he was. Now, seeing you, it turns out you and Xuemei are a perfect match, just like what the books say about a talented man and a beautiful woman, a perfect match! Xuemei, your boyfriend is so handsome! I've never seen such a good-looking guy in my life."
Seeing Han Chen looking at her bewilderedly, Xuemei quickly came to her rescue, saying, "Sister Zhang, it's alright! We know you're a sweet talker, and your words are as sweet as honey. But it's getting late now. Go pack up Xiaozhong's things, we'll be off work soon!"
Zhang Aiping saw Han Chen's embarrassed look and stopped joking. She followed Xuemei's words and said, "You're right. I have to go see Xiaozhong!"
Seeing that the time was almost up, Xuemei put the cans and sugar that Liu's mother asked her to bring into the backpack that Han Chen was carrying.
When the time came, Xuemei took Han Chen back to the village.
When leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Han Chen was carrying a backpack and took over the bicycle that Xuemei was pushing. Xuemei was carrying a schoolbag and walking beside him with empty hands.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
