Dinner was quite plentiful.
Xie Zhuo cooked four dishes, stir-fried and mixed them, and made a tomato and egg soup. Finally, he served everyone a bowl of noodles.
Xu Yan had to praise Xie Zhuo's skills once again.
It's really good.
At least in terms of home-cooked meals, it was the best she had ever eaten.
The cold dishes were crispy and fragrant, and the other stir-fried dishes were also very delicious.
It took the group half an hour to finish their meal. This time, Da Bao and Xiao Bao didn't wait for anyone to tell them to take the bowls and chopsticks from the table to the kitchen.
Xu Yan wanted to help, but they wouldn't let him.
“We can take them all,” Xiao Bao said.
“Yes, we are strongmen who have eaten our fill,” Da Bao said. “We don’t need any help.”
The word "strongman" came from a story Xu Yan told them before, about a person who would become an incredibly strong strongman as long as he ate his fill.
Then Da Bao and Xiao Bao remembered it.
Xu Yan could only sit there and watch them carry all the bowls and chopsticks inside, one trip after another.
Then she followed Xie Zhuo in to wash the dishes.
How can we do nothing and just wait to eat and drink?
Then reality showed her that she really could only wait to eat and drink.
The earthen stove in the countryside is not like the gas stove in the city. Xie Zhuo's earthen stove was built quite high and the pot was big. When Xu Yan leaned over to wash it, Xie Zhuo blocked her.
"Hmm?" She turned to look at Xie Zhuo.
"Be careful not to get too close and get your skirt dirty," Xie Zhuo said as she started washing the dishes. "There's dust everywhere."
Xu Yan looked down and saw that she was standing in front of the stove, with only a few centimeters between the hem of her skirt and the black ash rising from the stove. If she moved any closer, her skirt would be stained black.
“It’s okay, you go out and listen to the radio with them, I’ll take care of the washing,” Xie Zhuo said.
Xu Yan did not go out.
Even if she doesn't wash the dishes, she still wants to help tidy up other areas in the kitchen that need tidying.
We can't really do nothing.
In the countryside these days, without cell phones or televisions, people are going crazy if they don't find something to do.
For example, the basket of vegetables that Xie Zhuo picked was not placed where it should be. Xu Yan tidied up the vegetables and then swept the kitchen floor while Xie Zhuo was washing the pot.
By the time they came out of the kitchen, it was almost dark.
As soon as evening fell, it got dark very quickly, and the sunset faded away completely.
Da Bao and Xiao Bao were still enjoying the radio and didn't really want to go to sleep yet.
Xie Zhuo went to the storeroom and took out a large straw mat, which he spread in the yard. He then took a wool felt and put it on top of the straw mat. Finally, he went into the house and took a bed sheet, which he then put on top of the felt. Da Bao and Xiao Bao immediately understood what he meant, took off their shoes, and sat down.
Xie Zhuo glanced at Xu Yan.
Xu Yan also looked at him.
"Sit down for a while?" Xie Zhuo asked.
Xu Yan had never experienced lying down in the yard after eating her fill before, but Da Bao and Xiao Bao were already lying down laughing and joking.
"Third Uncle, I want to sleep outside tonight," Da Bao even asked to stay overnight.
"Third Uncle, I want to too, I want to sleep outside," she said, her big eyes blinking as she tried to get Xie Zhuo's permission.
If it were Xu Yan, she might have agreed.
The two little ones are so cute.
Especially when asking for help, her sweet, childlike voice is softer and more gentle than usual.
However, my third uncle was much harder to talk to than my third aunt.
Xie Zhu shook his head and said, "No, the temperature is too low in the middle of the night, and..."
He glanced at Xu Yan halfway through his sentence and didn't continue.
"Hmm?" Xu Yan looked at him.
I didn't understand what he meant.
"And what?" she couldn't help but ask.
“And little bugs will crawl onto Da Bao,” Da Bao said.
Xiao Bao nodded in agreement.
insect?
For some unknown reason, Xu Yan's expression changed slightly, and then he suddenly sat up from the ground and looked down at the bed sheet beneath him.
Xie Zhuo sighed softly when he saw her like that.
He knew it.
“Not now,” Da Bao was initially a little disappointed after being rejected, but he chuckled when he saw Xu Yan’s reaction. “Besides, Uncle San will chase away the bugs.”
Xu Yan looked at Xie Zhuo again.
Xie Zhuo had indeed been fiddling with a porcelain basin since earlier, but it was unclear what he was doing.
When Xu Yan heard Da Bao's words, he looked at his hand again and discovered that Xie Zhuo had put some mugwort in the basin and then went to the kitchen to get a match and lit it.
The thick smoke immediately dispersed in all directions.
Xu Yan coughed from the fumes, and Xie Zhuo had already moved the porcelain basin a little further away.
Da Bao and Xiao Bao had already accepted that they couldn't sleep outside at night, and soon they regained their energy and started pestering Xu Yan to tell them stories.
This time, Xu Yan didn't lie down. Instead, she sat down and told them a story about a monkey picking corn.
Xie Zhuo watched from the side.
The young educated youth had a clear and crisp voice, and his pronunciation was also very clear. He would change his tone and expressions while telling the story. Da Bao and Xiao Bao were completely absorbed in the story and listened very attentively.
Xie Zhuo immediately remembered that afternoon when he shamelessly asked for a reward.
Xu Yan blushed for most of the day, still unable to figure out how to reward him. In the end, Da Bao shouted from the side, saving her from the awkward situation.
"Third Uncle, let's listen to the radio together!"
Xie Zhuo was speechless.
Xu Yan was taken aback at first, then turned her head and saw his expression. After holding it in for a moment, she burst out laughing.
Children have boundless energy, but they also fall asleep very quickly. Just a moment ago they were laughing and playing, and now they are all fast asleep on the sheets.
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