After Ruirui helped Luo Yao pack up her things, Luo Yao carried a bucket in each hand and Ruirui carried a bucket in each hand, and they went to the water collection station on the second floor together. Xuemei also followed them to go to the toilet.
On the other side of the second floor, there is first the water collection station, then the men's and women's washrooms, and at the innermost side are two toilets, one for men's and one for women's. Although it is summer, the smell from the toilets is not strong.
The toilet in this building is a squat toilet. You have to fetch water to flush it after using it. There is a wooden barrel with half a bucket of water in it behind the toilet door. It seems that the people on Luo Yao's floor are of high quality. Each squat toilet is flushed very cleanly. Now that there is no one in the toilet, Xuemei just found a toilet and squatted down.
Ruirui and Luo Yao ran twice before they filled the kitchen water tank. After the water was full, Luo Yao borrowed a fire from next door and lit the coal stove.
Then Luo Yao took out the rice and prepared to cook. Xuemei saw it and stopped her, saying, "Yaoyao, just cook some porridge. Didn't you buy some steamed buns?"
"I only bought eight steamed buns, which is definitely not enough. Let's cook some rice. I'll go to the state-owned restaurant and get some braised pork!" Luo Yao persuaded.
Xuemei still objected, "That's enough. We didn't do any work today. One steamed bun per person is enough. We can drink some porridge and stir-fry some vegetables later!"
"Okay!" Luo Yao said, then took out a big bowl and scooped a large bowl of rice from the cloth bag. Xuemei saw that her eyelids were tight, so she quickly pushed Ruirui to let him go over to stop her.
Luo Yao looked at Ruirui who had snatched her bowl and asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Ruirui!"
"Sister Yaoyao, let me cook the porridge? It doesn't need to be so thick!" Ruirui explained.
"Then you have to cook more. I will have porridge in the evening!" Luo Yao said.
Ruirui nodded, then asked Luo Yao for two sweet potatoes and half a bowl of corn grits. Ruirui washed the sweet potatoes, cut them into pieces, and poured them into the casserole together with the cleaned corn grits and half a bowl of rice to make porridge.
Luo Yao looked at Ruirui working, and without hesitation, she said, "Ruirui, you stay here and watch over the fire and the porridge. Feel free to take some candy from the coffee table. I'm going back to the house to talk to your sister!"
The candies on the coffee table were put there by Luo Yao this morning. There were six pieces of White Rabbit milk candies and ten fruit candies, which she prepared for Xuemei and the others.
After Luo Yao saw Ruirui nod in agreement, she took Xuemei's arm and went back to the house.
"Xuemei, sit on the bed and make yourself more comfortable!" Luo Yao said.
After Xuemei sat down, she looked at Luo Yao, who seemed to be hesitant to speak, and jokingly asked, "Yaoyao, are you in love?"
When Luo Yao heard this, she looked at Xuemei in surprise.
Xuemei was also a little surprised and said, "I really guessed it right. When did it start? If I hadn't come to your house today, you would have told me what you were going to do!"
"No, Xuemei. It was only confirmed at the end of last month. Qingya was already on vacation at that time? I was embarrassed to tell you this on the phone. I wanted to write to you these days, but aren't you coming to the county town today? And you said to me, this is the first time you come to the county town to see me this year. I came to your house to visit you in March!" Luo Yao explained.
"I wanted to come to see you later because I'm pregnant. You should be careful before the period starts!" Xuemei said, pointing to her belly.
Xuemei then continued, "Now the main question is yours. When did you two start dating? What does the man do? What's his character like? What's his family like?"
Luo Yao was confused by Xuemei's string of questions. She stared at Xuemei blankly for a while before she reacted. After thinking carefully for a while, she replied, "My brother came back for a family visit in the middle of last month. His comrade Zhao Tong is also from our county, and they came back together.
When I went to the train station to pick up my brother that night, he saw me. Later, when he came to look for my brother, we ran into each other again. After that, he found someone to tell my parents that he liked me, and then we had a blind date.
My brother said Zhao Tong was a good person and very ambitious. He's the same age as my brother, 22, and currently a battalion commander. I also felt a positive reaction to him on our blind date, so we continued to spend time together a few more times before concluding our relationship in early July.
After listening to this, Xuemei asked, "Now that your brother and his family have returned to the army, how is his family doing?"
"They both left on the eighth of this month. Zhao Tong's family also lived in the county town, but they lived in a tube-shaped building in the Red Army compound on the east side of the county town. It happened to be far away from my home, which was on the east and west sides of the county town, so we had never run into each other before.
Zhao Tong's father also works at the county government, but not in the same department as my dad, so he wasn't very familiar with him. It wasn't until I went on a blind date that my dad found out Zhao Tong was his son. "Zhao Tong's mother is the head of their neighborhood office, and he has two younger brothers!" Luo Yao continued.
Xuemei thought for a moment and said, "His family's financial situation is similar to yours, and they're a perfect match. You two should be able to get along! So, where are your brothers serving in the army now? What are the conditions like there? Are you planning to join the army in the future? Soldiers rarely spend time at home, so you'll be pretty much the only one taking care of the children and housework!"
"My brother and Zhao Tong are serving in the army in Xinjiang Province now. The conditions there should be quite difficult. But I haven't thought too much about it. I've just started dating him. Besides, my mother said that my brother's marriage is the most urgent thing now. Although I have a partner, we have to wait until we get to know each other more before we can talk about marriage. I'll talk about these things until I'm really ready to marry him!" Luo Yao replied.
Xuemei saw that Luo Yao didn't want to discuss this, so she didn't continue. After all, if they really got to the point of getting married, Dr. Gu and the others would be watching.
Xuemei checked her watch and saw it was already past eleven o'clock, so she said to Luo Yao, "Let's go out! The porridge should be ready. Go and see what you want to eat, and I'll cook it for you!"
Luo Yao stood up embarrassedly and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Xuemei! I'll help you prepare the food later. Just tell me what to do, and you can just focus on frying the food! You know I'm clumsy, so I can only help out and do the manual labor!"
Xuemei nodded and said, "It's okay. I just sat for a long time, so I got up and walked around. Besides, being pregnant doesn't mean I can't do anything! But you're clumsy, can your partner cook?"
"He can. It seems like they all know how to do it when they join the army. My brother couldn't cook before, but after he came back this time, I had breakfast and dinner at home. Although the food my brother cooks doesn't taste as good as yours and aunt's, it's not bad either. He's the best in my family anyway. I've gained several pounds in just these twenty days!" Luo Yao said, patting her belly.
Xuemei reached out and pinched Luo Yao's chubby round face. Then, after looking at her well-proportioned figure, she said, "You haven't gained weight at all. You look the same as the last time I saw you!"
After Xuemei finished pinching Luo Yao's face, she walked towards the living room. Luo Yao touched her face and complained, "Why do you all love pinching my face?"
Xuemei replied without even turning her head: "Because you are cute and beautiful!"
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