Chapter 166: Sugar-roasted chestnuts
After taking the photos, you have to wait ten days to get them.
Xia Juanjuan asked them to print three copies of each photo, keep one set at home and hang them on the wall in a glass frame, send one set to Li Zhan, and keep another set as a backup in her space.
However, the negatives should be kept well so that you can develop the photos again when you want.
In that era, taking photos was still a rare thing. A photo was equivalent to one or two days' wages for a worker who ate commodity food, which was about two yuan per photo. In addition, if you wanted to develop one more photo, you would be charged an extra two cents.
The state-owned photo studio didn't have the policy of offering preferential treatment for large quantities, so this time, I took six photos, which cost twelve yuan. I also had to develop two more copies of each photo, which is 40 cents times six, which comes to two yuan and fourteen yuan, so a total of fourteen yuan!
Xia Juanjuan knew that Lin Yuru would definitely feel bad about the money, so she paid the money behind Lin Yuru's back and told her that it only cost five yuan in total.
After leaving the photo studio, the whole family went to eat at a state-owned restaurant.
Lin Yuru was a country woman. Although Xia Juanjuan had lived here for two months while she was waiting for delivery in the county, this was her first time eating at a state-owned hotel. She felt a little sorry for the money and asked Xia Juanjuan secretly, "Juan'er, we are so old. A meal, let alone noodles, would cost a lot of money, right? The photos just now cost five yuan. Why don't we take a bullock cart back to the village to eat?"
Xia Juanjuan smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry about the money. With me and Li Zhan, it won't cost much. Besides, the ox cart is slow, and it will take at least one or two hours to get home from the county town. Adults can bear it, but how can the kids bear the hunger?"
After hearing this, Lin Yuru had no choice but to give up.
She thought of the spacious house in Tonghua Lane and couldn't help missing it: "Alas! It's too early to go to the house in Tonghua Lane. Otherwise, we can go there at noon and cook our own meals there. Isn't it cheaper than eating in a state-owned restaurant?"
Xia Juanjuan carries the key to the house in Tonghua Lane with her, so of course she can go there if she wants.
But she was afraid that Li Zhan would ask about the house again. She had told Lin Yuru before that she asked Li Zhan's comrades to help rent the house, so it was cheap. If Lin Yuru let it slip and her statements didn't match, which would arouse Li Zhan's suspicion, it would be difficult to explain. So she quickly took Lin Yuru into the hotel and tried to get away with it.
During this period, Xia Juanjuan also considered whether she should mention it to Li Zhan and say that she wanted to buy the house in Tonghua Lane.
But firstly, she had an excuse to live in the county town while she was waiting for childbirth, but now there was no need for her to buy a house in the county town. She couldn't tell him that she was reselling goods in the county town, could she? Moreover, she still had a rural household registration, so she needed a letter of introduction to come to the county town, not to mention buying a house and running back and forth? It was simply unrealistic.
Secondly, even if Lizhan agreed without asking any questions, where would the money for the house come from? Wouldn't he still have to figure it out? This would only put pressure on him.
Or... he could tell Li Zhan everything, including that he had space and unlimited supplies, and that he had already bought the house.
In fact, think about it, she and Lizhan already have a child, and she wants to spend her life with him, but she is hesitant to make up her mind to tell Lizhan about the space.
Therefore, I decided to keep it a secret for the time being.
After entering the hotel, Li Zhan asked if they had crucian carp and tofu soup, which almost made Xia Juanjuan choke while she was drinking water.
The waiter said yes, so I ordered that first, and also ordered four-happiness meatballs, shredded pork with Beijing sauce, sweet and sour spare ribs, pancakes and millet porridge.
Soon all the dishes were served. Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei liked the sweet and sour pork ribs the most, and their mouths were covered with grease.
The three younger ones saw everyone at the table eating, and they watched curiously. Then they stretched out their hands to ask for food anxiously, but they didn't cry if it wasn't given to them. After all, it was not time for them to eat complementary foods yet. Curiosity took over most of the time, and they wanted to put everything in their mouths to taste it.
Xia Juanjuan and Lin Yuru took turns holding the three kids, leaving the other one free to eat, and then they switched. It was quite tiring to eat a meal.
After dinner, the family headed home.
On the way, Li Zhan saw a state-owned grocery store selling sugar-roasted chestnuts, so he stopped the ox cart and asked Xia Juanjuan and the others to wait for a while.
After saying this, he went to the state-owned grocery store, bought two pounds of sugar-roasted chestnuts, wrapped them in two bags using old newspapers, and brought them back.
Xia Juanjuan took it and looked at it. She remembered that when she was looking for chestnuts under the chestnut tree on the mountain yesterday, Li Zhan had seen her. He probably guessed that she wanted to eat some, so he stopped the car to buy some. She couldn't help feeling sweet in her heart, but she said something complaining: "We can pick chestnuts on the mountain ourselves, and we can fry them at home, but you just waste money!"
Li Zhan smiled and did not argue, saying, "Didn't we pick any this year? Let's go up the mountain and pick some next autumn, and then fry them ourselves. Try them while they're hot to see if they're sweet."
Lin Yuru originally thought that chestnuts could be picked up in the mountains of Lizi Village, and it would be a waste of money to buy those sold in stores. However, just as she was about to open her mouth, Xia Juanjuan spoke first.
When Lin Yuru heard this, she thought that her daughter was blaming her aunt! Wouldn't this chill her heart?
So I didn't care about the money anymore and said quickly, "Juan'er, didn't Lizhan buy it for you and the kids? Why are you blaming him? Although we can find it at home, it's definitely not as delicious as the ones in the store. It's worth the money!"
Having said that, Lin Yuru turned to Lizhan and advised, "Lizhan, don't take Juan'er's words to heart!"
At this time, Xia Juanjuan was peeling the chestnut shells with her head down - the shells had been cut with a knife before frying to make them more flavorful, so they were easy to peel - and soon she peeled out a bright yellow chestnut and stuffed it into Beibei's mouth. She also gave one to Xiaowen and Xiaowu respectively, and let them peel and eat them themselves.
After hearing Lin Yuru's words, Xia Juanjuan looked up at Li Zhan and smiled slyly.
Li Zhan understood it immediately after taking a look.
His wife didn't really blame him for spending money recklessly, she just said what Lin Yuru was thinking in advance so that her mother would be embarrassed to say anything.
Li Zhan suppressed his laughter and said, "Mom, don't worry. She complains about me every day. I used to just let it go, but now I'm really going to argue with her!"
Xia Juanjuan was very satisfied with the effect of this method.
This is what is called, speaking other people's words and leaving them speechless!
It seems that this method can be used more often in the future.
Xia Juanjuan took off another piece of paper and put her hand into Lizhan's mouth, saying with a smile: "You are the only one who knows how to complain!"
As he said this, he handed one of the packets to Lin Yuru, letting her and himself eat it, and also peeled some for the three little guys to eat.
Seeing that his wife had peeled two chestnuts but didn't eat any, Li Zhan got into the car, took the two little kids from Lin Yuru's arms, held them one by one, reached out, took out a chestnut, peeled it, and handed it to Xia Juanjuan for her to eat.
Xia Juanjuan was still holding Yanyan in her arms, so she lowered her head and took the chestnut directly from his hand. Her lips touched Lizhan's hand, making Lizhan's eyes burn.
Xia Juanjuan didn't notice these things. The chestnuts were very fragrant, glutinous, sweet and delicious.
When the triplets saw that everyone had started eating again, their eyes widened and they turned their heads to look here and there, anxiously trying to grab the food. However, their hands were too short to reach out, and unfortunately they could not speak yet, so they could only make meaningless noises like "Hmm!" and "Ah!" to attract the adults' attention.
Seeing how anxious they were, Xia Juanjuan peeled the chestnuts and put them near their mouths.
When the three kids saw it, they quickly stretched their necks and opened their mouths wide. However, it was impossible for them to eat as their baby teeth had not grown yet. They could only touch it with their lips and lick it with their tongues to taste it.
Just like this, it tasted so sweet that the three little ones were so happy that they danced with joy, and their little faces were smiling like three flowers!
In the next few days, Lizhan was still busy.
Just like last winter, I went to the town and bought a truckload of loose coal. Then I dug some yellow mud, which is clay, from the fields, mixed it with water and loose coal, and then used a mold to press it into honeycomb coal.
This year, because we had three coal stoves to burn, we bought a lot more coal. It took most of the day just to make the honeycomb coal.
Then we went hunting in the mountains. We didn't catch any big game, such as wild boars, but we did catch a wild deer. We made the meat into bacon and sausage, which was enough to last until the Chinese New Year. We just fried the offal and ate it.
In addition, he chopped down a dead tree in the mountains and dragged it back home. He chopped it into small strips of firewood and placed them high in the shed built in the yard. This was enough for heating and cooking in the winter.
Even so, Lizhan still felt that he was not well prepared and wanted to go into the mountains to hunt, but was stopped by Xia Juanjuan.
"There is enough food at home. Even if there is not enough, you have so many allowances and tickets. I am not the kind of person who is reluctant to spend them. You are not allowed to go into the mountains for the next two days."
We were together more often than apart, and I haven’t had a good chat in the ten days since I came back...
After hearing this, Li Zhan had no choice but to give up and said with a smile: "Okay. For the remaining few days, I will stay at home and take care of our little ones."
As a result, the next day, Liu Lan took the opportunity when Li Zhan was at home and ran over.
When Xia Juanjuan saw her enter the door, she thought that since she was Li Zhan's mother after all, it would be inappropriate for her to rush out, so she carried Ye Bao and Yao Bao into the house, leaving Li Zhan holding Yan Bao outside to talk to Liu Lan.
Liu Lan had a hard time living with her second son and his wife, so she began to think about living with the fourth son and letting Li Zhan take care of her in her old age.
"Zhan'er, mommy wanted to find you all day but couldn't find you. Today you are finally home. Is it the eldest child you are holding or the second or third child? Let grandma hold it for a while..."
Li Zhan, however, shifted his body, let go of Liu Lan's hand, and smiled faintly, "Mom, these boys are shy. They will cry loudly unless their mom and I hold them. Once they start crying, no one can stop them. Whatever you want to say later, they will make you unable to speak."