Qin Shuang shook her head. "I've only been to the supply and marketing cooperative with my grandma. Brother, what does a department store look like?"
Lu Yiming gestured with his hands and said excitedly, "The department store is so tall and big, and there are so many things for sale inside. The ribbons in the counter are so many colors. When we buy them, the aunt has to measure them with a ruler and then cut them with big scissors."
Su Yan didn't expect that her son would talk to Qin Shuang about hair ribbons. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for a boy to play with girls all day?
Su Yan was worried. Lu Jin had one daughter, Lu Shu had two daughters, and her two brothers had one daughter each. Her son was growing up among girls. She didn't know if this would affect his growth.
Su Yan tentatively asked Lu Yiming, "Your hair is as long as Xiaoxue's. Do you want to wear it in two buns?"
Lu Yiming was puzzled. "Mom, how can I tie my hair into a bun when I'm a boy? Besides, my hair is much thicker than Xiaoxue's. If I tie it into a bun, it will definitely look like a caterpillar."
"I saw you were always talking about silk ribbon flowers with your sister Shuangshuang, so I thought you wanted to wear a small bun too."
"Mom, I watched you guys tie your hair because I was learning. When you give birth to a little sister, I'll help her tie her hair into small buns."
Su Yan breathed a sigh of relief. So that's how it was. She then asked why her son liked girls' things.
Lu Ting seemed to see what Su Yan was thinking, so in the afternoon he took Lu Yiming to play spinning tops and rolling hoops in the yard.
Qin Shuang and Qin Xue gathered around Hua Min to eat fruits and snacks, while Lu Shu took her son and husband to rest in Lu Yu's room.
At around four o'clock, Lu Fengnian returned from the countryside with Lu Jin and Lu Yilan.
Lu Jin was carrying a bag of vegetables, and Lu Fengnian was holding a chicken in his left hand and a duck in his right hand. Every year when they returned to the countryside to pay New Year's greetings, Lu Ting's uncle would prepare a bunch of local specialties for them.
When Lu Yiming saw his grandfather coming back, he stopped spinning the top and immediately threw away the small stick in his hand.
"Grandpa is back."
"Yiming, are you playing with a spinning top? Grandpa will teach you how to play chess later, okay?"
"Grandpa, I want to watch you kill a chicken. I want to eat chicken legs."
"So Yiming wants to eat chicken legs. Okay, Grandpa will kill a chicken for Yiming."
"Grandpa, my aunt and uncle are here. Let's kill a chicken to entertain them. My aunt and uncle are our guests."
After eating chicken on both the 30th and the 1st of the new year, he asked his eldest grandson why he suddenly wanted to eat chicken legs. It turned out that his daughter and son-in-law had returned.
Lu Ting handed the chicken to Lu Ting, "Kill this chicken tonight, and give this duck back to your sister to eat tomorrow."
Lu Ting took the chicken and said okay. It didn't matter whether the ducks were killed or not. There were at least hundreds of ducks in his wife's space now. If he wanted to eat them, he could kill one in the space at any time.
In the evening, Hua Min braised a pot of mutton, stewed a chicken, stir-fried bacon with garlic shoots, stir-fried cured rabbit with chili powder, steamed a bowl of boiled eggs, and fried a plate of vegetables.
Lu Shu was surprised to see so much meat on the table. Ever since her brother got married, the family's food had gotten better and better. Now that supplies were severely scarce and the situation outside was so tense, her family could still enjoy a feast of fish and meat.
"Mom, why did you prepare so many meat dishes?"
"It's a rare occasion for you to come here, so we should eat something good. Okay, what are you eating at home? Don't tell anyone else about it."
"Yeah, I know. We also have six dishes during Chinese New Year, but we only put a little meat in each dish. We didn't have chicken this year, so my mother-in-law bought a fish. There were so many people in the family, and it was eaten up in no time."
"I guess your whole family can't sit at one table?"
"Children eat from their bowls at the small table and are not allowed to sit at the table."
"Eat more tonight, and tomorrow take the duck your dad brought back to eat. Mom will also give you a cured chicken, a cured rabbit, and a bag of dried mushrooms."
"Mom, where did you get the bacon chicken?"
"Your brother bought it. Don't ask him where he bought it. Just eat it. Your brother has only one child who lives a good life. They even bought a big house for themselves."
"My brother bought a house, how come I didn't know about it?"
Hua Min smiled and said, "We didn't know about this at first. Your dad went to see it. The house is several times bigger than our current one. If we rent it out now, we should have no problem collecting a few hundred yuan in rent a year."
Lu Shu was extremely envious. Her elder brother had quietly bought a big house in the city, and their family of five slept in one room. Alas, same people but different fates!
"We are a family of five, and we are still squeezed into the old house of the sugar factory with my parents-in-law. Where is your brother's house? Can he rent us two rooms?"
"Daughter, why do you want to rent a house? Who will take care of your children if you move out? Okay, bring the food out, it's time to eat."
Seeing that her mother changed the subject, Lu Shu stopped talking and carried a pot of mutton out of the kitchen.
Lu Fengnian asked Lu Ting to get a bottle of white wine from the wine cabinet, because he had to have a drink with his son-in-law when he came to pay New Year's greetings.
The family was happily eating and drinking at the dinner table. Seeing that her husband had not put down his glass even after three glasses of white wine, Lu Shu said angrily, "Second Qin, aren't you afraid of having an upset stomach after drinking so much white wine?"
Lu Fengnian felt that his daughter was a little immature. How could she ignore her son-in-law like this? He frowned and said, "Xiaoshu, it's rare to be happy during the New Year. Just let Shuangshuang's father drink some more."
Lu Ting also shook his head. His Yanyan was still the best. She never gave him the cold shoulder at the dinner table and would always pull him aside to discuss things in a low voice.
Although my brother-in-law drank three glasses of white wine, the glasses were so small, not big glasses. I don’t know what she was nervous about, as she didn’t have to go to work today.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Lu Shu felt a little embarrassed, "Dad, we have to go to work tomorrow, so we need to go to bed early tonight."
"What does going to bed early have to do with drinking?"
"My son Siming needs his dad to coax him to sleep at night."
Lu Fengnian looked at his little grandson. His daughter treated him like a treasure now. She held him in her arms and never let him go while eating. He didn't like to call people either. He just ate all the time. He was not as cute as his grandson Yiming when he was a child.
Seeing how skinny and malnourished he looked, she couldn't bear it and scooped two spoonfuls of egg custard into her daughter's bowl.
Seeing his grandfather scooping egg custard for his younger brother, Lu Yiming smiled and handed the bowl to him, "Grandpa, I want some more egg custard."
So Lu Fengnian used a spoon to scoop a few more spoonfuls for Lu Yiming and put two pieces of chicken in his bowl.
"Eat slowly, don't get stuck."
"Thank you, Grandpa."
Lu Shu looked at her tall, big, and slightly chubby nephew and said, "Yiming has a really good appetite. He's already eating his second bowl of rice."
Lu Yiming smiled sweetly and explained, "Aunt, I actually only ate one bowl of rice in total. My mother was afraid that I would get too fat, so she only gave me one spoonful of rice each time. But I can have two servings."
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