This time, Lin Wei's parents came over, not only to admire the beautiful scenery and abalone, shark's fin, and bird's nest that she mentioned, but also to see how their daughter was doing. In their thinking, housing can well reflect this point.
Therefore, after entering the yard, Lin's mother kept looking around. The yard was not big, but it was clean. There was a piece of land at the door. Half of it was planted with onions, ginger, and chives, which were growing green and pleasing. The other half was planted with some flowers and plants, and there were also a few saplings. Lin's mother asked, "What kind of tree is that?"
“Durian tree.”
“What is a durian tree?”
Mingming raised his hand and said, "I know! A durian tree is a tree that grows durian, and durian is really smelly!"
Seeing her brother slandering her favorite fruit, Ruirui retorted: "Durian is not smelly, it is fragrant and delicious!"
Lin's mother had never eaten or seen a durian before. After hearing what the brothers said, she was even more confused. She turned to look at her daughter, and Lin Wei explained, "It's just a kind of fruit. It's this big. When the flesh is cut open, people who like it think it's fragrant and delicious, but people who don't like it think it's smelly and don't even dare to touch it."
Mother Lin was surprised to hear this: "Is there such a fruit in the world?"
"Yes, but it's not sold on the market this season," said Lin Wei.
Ruirui said beside him, "It's only available in summer."
Mother Lin suddenly realized, and pointed at the saplings and asked, "Can these durian trees bear fruit?"
"It's hard to say. I just threw the remaining pits here after eating them. I threw away about ten pits at that time, and only five sprouted. One of them died in the past few months, so there are only four seedlings left. It takes several years for a durian tree to bear fruit, and I don't know what the fruit will be like. It all depends on luck."
"Can we plant this durian sapling back home?"
"You want to take it back home to plant?"
"Just give it a try." From Lin's mother's answer, it can be seen that the two are worthy of being mother and daughter.
Lin Wei said matter-of-factly, "I don't think so. This is a tropical fruit. It needs a lot of rainfall to grow. If we bring it back to our hometown, it will either freeze to death or die of drought."
After hearing what her daughter said, Lin's mother completely gave up the idea. Anyway, she had never eaten durian, and had no idea what this fragrant yet smelly fruit tasted like, so she didn't feel any regret.
After looking at the yard, several people went into the house.
Lin Wei brought her mother to show her the house, from the dining room and living room to the bathroom and toilet. When she heard that there was a door leading to the toilet, Lin's mother said, "Wouldn't the house smell bad?"
"It's the kind of tiled toilet used in the city. As long as you flush it clean and open the windows for ventilation, there won't be any smell in the house." After Lin Wei finished speaking, she took Lin's mother in to take a look.
Because there was a window in the toilet, it was not dark or damp. It was very clean and there was indeed no smell.
Only after seeing it with her own eyes did Lin's mother believe what her daughter said.
After touring the downstairs, the two went upstairs. The balcony door was open. When passing by, Lin's mother glanced outside and said, "Is that the car Xiaozong drove back?"
"Yes, this is the back."
There are not as many rooms upstairs as downstairs, only two rooms. The master bedroom has more furniture, including a wardrobe, bed, dressing table, bookshelf and bedside table, but because of its large area, the room looks spacious and not crowded. The second bedroom is much smaller, but there is less furniture so it doesn’t look crowded.
Overall, this house is much better than the family quarters in the cotton mill where Lin Wei lived before joining the army, and Lin's mother is very satisfied.
When Lin Wei took her mother to visit the house, her father had already sat down on the sofa. After sitting on the train and ship for several days, he was physically and mentally exhausted and was too lazy to move.
Zong Shao was also downstairs. He made a pot of tea and poured a cup for his father-in-law.
The tea was slightly hot. Father Lin took a sip. The tea was neither strong nor bitter. It tasted slightly sweet after swallowing. He said, "This tea is good."
Zong Shao said: "If you like the local tea, I will buy some for you to take back."
Father Lin nodded and took another sip of tea, agreeing to Zong Shao's proposal.
While drinking tea, Lin Wei and her daughter came downstairs with their two children. Father Lin greeted them and asked, "Have you finished looking at the house?"
"I've finished watching it. It's pretty good." Mother Lin raised her head and looked towards the gate, and then said, "The scenery is also good. When I was sitting on the boat, I didn't think the sea was anything special, but now I think it's pretty nice looking at it from this point on."
Lin Wei agreed, "Yes, in the evening when the sun is not so strong, it is very comfortable to sit in the yard, drink tea, eat, sleep and enjoy the scenery."
Mother Lin smiled when she heard this: "You seem to be living a very comfortable life."
After the greetings, Lin's mother began to unpack the luggage.
They brought three pieces of luggage in total. The lightest package contained clothes for the couple, so Lin's mother just put it aside and didn't touch it.
The first thing to be unpacked was the smaller of the two heavier pieces of luggage, which was filled with vegetables, dried goods such as mushrooms and chestnuts, as well as dried beans and dried mustard greens. Further down were several plastic jars filled with pickled radish, pickled cowpea and pickled peppers, as well as two small jars of soybean paste and fermented tofu.
Lin's mother often sent dried goods and vegetables to Lin Wei, but Lin Wei had never eaten the sauerkraut bean paste made by her mother since she joined the army. She was very craving for it, so she immediately went to the kitchen to get chopsticks and tasted the soybean paste and fermented bean curd.
Tasting the familiar flavor, Lin Wei couldn't help but narrow her eyes: "Delicious."
"Is it delicious?" Mingming was watching and swallowing his saliva.
Lin Wei asked: "Want to try it?"
Mingming nodded without hesitation: "Yeah!"
Lin Wei dipped Mingming in some soybean paste and brought it to his mouth. He stuck out his tongue and licked it, frowning: "Why does it feel weird?"
"If you don't like it, forget it."
Mingming said as soon as he heard it: "I haven't tasted it yet, please let me try again, let me try again!"
"Okay, I'll let you try it again." Lin Wei put the chopsticks to her son's mouth again.
Mingming held the chopsticks in his mouth and tasted it carefully, then opened his mouth and said, "It's a little spicy."
“Is it delicious?”
Mingming nodded: "It seems... a bit delicious?" He was not sure.
Lin Wei smiled and gave another bite to her youngest son. Ruirui accepted it well and said it was delicious. After hearing what his brother said, Mingming wanted to try it again, but his mother ruthlessly refused: "No more, eat it at lunch."
Mingming was disappointed at first, but when he heard that he could eat it at noon, he was not so disappointed anymore and nodded and said, "Yeah."
After opening this package, Lin's mother continued to open the remaining snakeskin bags. This bag was no longer filled with vegetables, but with rice, flour and other fine grains. Lin Wei took one look and said, "It's enough for you to just come here. Why are you carrying so much food?"
Lin's mother said: "They are all grown at home. We didn't spend any money to buy them."
"I mean, you guys must be exhausted coming all this way with so much luggage."
"We don't have to carry it all the time. We only need to carry it for a while when we change trains at the station. What's so tiring about that?" Lin's mother complained to her husband again, "If your father hadn't said he couldn't carry it, I could have packed two more snakeskin bags of food."
In order to help her daughter take care of her grandson, Lin's mother lived in the city for several years. She was very familiar with the living conditions of city dwellers. Families without children lived a comfortable life, but it was hard to say for families with children. As the saying goes, the little brats can eat their fathers out of poverty, and the rationed food was not enough to eat.
In this regard, the countryside is actually stronger. At least in the Linjiazui Brigade, as long as people are not particularly lazy, after paying the public grain tax at the end of the year, the remaining food is enough for the whole family to eat.
Although the two brothers are not very old, their supply standards are low. Before joining the army, Lin Wei often bought food from her mother's family to supplement their needs.
Before coming, Lin's mother calculated in her mind that the couple would be staying for half a month, so even if it wasn't much else, they would need at least 20 kilograms of food. Although her daughter was filial, she couldn't help but consider her daughter and prepared to bring some food. However, the old man was useless and the food in the bags was reduced a little here and there, leaving only about 20 kilograms of rice and flour.
When Father Lin heard his daughter-in-law talking about him again, he lowered his voice and complained to his son-in-law: "Your mother-in-law never has a good word to say about me."
Zong Shao didn't dare to respond and filled his father-in-law's teapot with tea: "Dad, have some tea."
Over there, Lin Wei counted the things and took the dishes brought by her parents to the kitchen, and put the rice and flour in the chest in the living room. Although the security in the family quarters was very good and no one stole things, Lin Wei was always used to keeping important things like food where she lived.
After putting the things away, Lin Wei asked her mother to go upstairs to have a rest. Although she was not seasick, she must be tired after sitting on the train or ship for several days.
Mother Lin was indeed a little tired. After she turned fifty, she felt that her energy was declining year by year. Otherwise, she could carry such a small amount of luggage by herself, so why would she rely on Father Lin?
The result is not expected yet.
After Lin's mother went upstairs to rest, Lin's father also went to lie down in his grandson's room for a while, while Lin Wei and Zong Shao took the children to buy groceries.
Lin Wei thought that since her parents rarely came over, she had to try something new, so her first stop was the seafood supply station. As the time approached, the seafood in the supply station sold out faster than usual. When they arrived, the sea fish had been sold out. The only ones available were shrimps, crabs, and shellfish. There were only a few abalone left.
Abalone is often sold at the supply station, but they are not big and the price is not expensive. Lin Wei was thinking about abalone, shark fin and shark's fin, so she bought all the remaining abalone. I also bought a few crabs and weighed a pound of prawns, enough to stir-fry a large plate, and I also bought some clams and razor clams.
After buying seafood, they went to the vegetable market. The meat stall at this time was cleaner than the supply station next door. There was really nothing left. Even the sewage was not for sale. Lin Wei had no choice but to buy some vegetarian dishes to take back.
At noon, Lin Wei was the chef and Zong Shao assisted.
At that time, Lin's mother had already woken up and was very energetic. She said she wanted to help, but Lin Wei didn't let her help on the grounds that she was a distinguished guest today. Zong Shao also joined in.
Seeing that the couple were singing the same tune, Lin's mother naturally agreed happily. After leaving the kitchen, she praised Zong Shao in front of her husband.
Mr. Lin is fine in everything else, but when it comes to housework, he is quite patriarchal and never goes into the kitchen. However, he is very self-aware and never makes statements like "A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen" or "Women should do housework" to challenge the authority of women in the family.
Therefore, when Lin's mother praised Zong Shao, he just remained silent, occasionally responding to show that he heard it and was not daydreaming.
Mother Lin knew her husband's character very well. Hearing him humming and ahing, she felt angry and amused at the same time, so she didn't say anything else.
In fact, Zong Shao not only helped out, he also cooked a dish. It was rare for his father-in-law and mother-in-law to come over, so of course he had to show off his skills to improve their impression points.
Of course, because he is not very good at cooking, he only dares to show off a little bit of his skills, for fear of being disliked if he cooks more.
In fact, more than half a year later, Zong Shao's cooking skills have improved a bit compared to when Lin Wei first joined the army. At least the first two of the three aspects of color, aroma and taste are all there. As for the taste, I can't say it's delicious, but it's not particularly bad either.
In addition, the more the mother-in-law looked at her son-in-law, the more she liked him. Mother Lin wanted to praise the dishes cooked by her son-in-law to the sky.
So much so that Mingming couldn't help but whisper to his brother: "Is there something wrong with grandma's mouth?"
"What?" Ruirui didn't understand what her brother meant for a moment.
Mingming said with an unbearable look on his face: "Grandma actually said that the dishes cooked by dad were super delicious. Isn't there something wrong with her mouth?"
Ruirui thought about it seriously and said, "There must be something wrong with the tongue." The tongue is responsible for tasting.
Lin Wei happened to be sitting next to Rui Rui. When she heard the two children whispering, she couldn't help but twitch her lips. She tapped each of them on the head with the end of her chopsticks and said, "Eat your food, and stop mumbling!"
Although Lin's mother praised her son-in-law's cooking skills to the skies, the most popular dishes at the table were still the seafood made by Lin Wei. Seafood is already delicious, and with Lin Wei's cooking skills, the combination is naturally even more delicious.
But when it came to eating abalone, Lin's mother was a little hesitant to eat it. In the eyes of inland people who had never seen the sea since childhood, abalone was very precious, and it always felt like every bite of it cost money.
Seeing this, Lin Wei told Lin's mother how much abalone cost per pound, and calculated how much abalone cost.
It’s not cheap, but it’s not that expensive either. Anyway, after hearing this, Lin’s mother got drunk. After eating it, she felt that it was fresh, but not as delicious as she had imagined, so she told her daughter not to buy it tomorrow because it was not worth it!
…
After taking a short break after lunch, Lin Wei asked her parents if they wanted to go out for a walk.
Lin's father had no objection, but Lin's mother asked where to go. Lin Wei provided several options, one was to go to the beach, two was to go hiking, and three was to stroll around the county.
Lin's mother thought that they could stroll around the sea in front of them anytime, and even climb mountains. There was a mountain behind her house, and she had climbed enough of it long ago, so she said she wanted to go to the county to play, so the group went out again in the car.
In fact, there was nothing fun to do in the county. Lin's mother didn't want to spend money to see a movie, so they took a walk by the river, visited the supply and marketing cooperative, and had dinner at a state-owned restaurant.
Lin's mother originally didn't want to have dinner at the state-owned restaurant. She thought it was too expensive and it would be better to go back home and cook. But Lin Wei and Zong Shao persuaded her that since it was a rare opportunity, she must try the local specialties. With her husband's persuasion, Lin's mother reluctantly agreed.
The chef at the state-owned restaurant was very skilled and the dishes they ordered tasted very good. Lin Wei's parents were very satisfied with the meal and went back with smiles on their faces.
After wandering around for an afternoon, Lin Wei's parents were tired when they returned home, so the whole family took a shower and went to bed.
According to the allocation in the morning, Lin Wei, her daughter and two children slept in the master bedroom, while Zong Shaoze and his father-in-law slept in the second bedroom.
It can be said that the two children were raised by Lin's mother. Although they have not seen each other for more than half a year, they are still close to their grandmother. Therefore, they are very excited when it is time to go to bed, especially Mingming, who jumps on the bed. Fortunately, the bed board is strong, otherwise it would fall apart sooner or later.
Only after the two children had made enough noise and fell asleep did Lin Wei and her mother have time to talk.
Lin Wei first asked about the family situation, and Lin's mother said indifferently: "It's just like that at home. There are no major conflicts, but small ones are constant."
Every family has its own problems. Although Lin's mother thought she had treated her three children equally, and even if one had to do a calculation, she favored her two sons more, her daughters-in-law did not think so.
The eldest daughter-in-law, in particular, felt that her parents-in-law were partial to her husband, who had the least education among the three children in the family; her younger sister-in-law and brother-in-law were both formal employees in state-owned factories, while her husband could only farm at home, which was part of the reason; after Lin Wei's mother-in-law passed away, she paid her own mother to help take care of the children, but her children had no one to take care of them, which was still part of the reason her parents-in-law were partial to her.
Thinking of the troubles at home, Lin's mother sighed and said, "Let them quarrel as they please. As long as they don't make trouble in front of me, I will pretend I didn't see it." She then asked her daughter how she had been doing in the past six months.
Although from what she saw and heard today, Lin's mother felt that her daughter was living a good life, their family was still a five-good family in the eyes of outsiders. This shows that only those who are in the life know whether the life is good or not, and what outsiders see with their naked eyes does not count.
"I..." Lin Wei thought of the dream and hesitated about the words that came to her lips, but in the end she just smiled and said, "It's fine. Zong Shao treats me very well, the two children are also very well behaved, and my own work is stable. Anyway, everything is fine."
Lin's mother was her biological mother, so how could she not see her daughter's pause? She wanted to ask more questions, but when she saw her daughter smiling, she swallowed her words and only said, "I'm relieved that you're doing well."
As to why her daughter was hesitating, she could ask slowly later. Anyway, she would be staying on the island for half a month and had plenty of time.
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Second update
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