Chapter 3, Section 3: Mangqi
Chapter 3
Yu Pan nestled in Shen Yanzhou's arms, yawned, and soon became drowsy again.
Shen Yanzhou glanced down at his reddened eyes, gently laid him down, covered him with the blanket and tucked him in before getting up to go to the kitchen.
The iron pot was placed on the stove. Chen Yanzhou added firewood to the firebox, scooped in two spoonfuls of water, and then added sweet potatoes and rice.
The wood-fired stove burned brightly, and soon the sweet aroma of sweet potato porridge wafted from the kitchen, seeping into the bedroom through the crack in the door.
Yu Pan sniffed, opened her eyes groggily, and woke up from the smell.
Yu Pan never needs Shen Yanzhou to call her to eat; she gets up on her own to brush her teeth and wash her face.
When he shuffled back into the hall in his slippers, Shen Yanzhou had already ladled the porridge into bowls and placed them on the table to cool.
Seeing him come in, Shen Yanzhou touched the inside of the bowl. It was cold, and the porridge cooled down quickly, so it was just right to eat now.
Yu Pan sat down and looked at the porridge in the bowl. The sweet potato had been chopped into small pieces by Shen Yanzhou and melted in the porridge, making the porridge sweet and fragrant.
Yu Pan is a person who respects food very much. Even when he's eating vegetables, he treats them like meat. He holds the bowl and eats spoonful by spoonful, completely absorbed and focused, not even noticing the rice grains stuck to the corners of his mouth.
"Panpan," Shen Yanzhou called out to him.
Yu Pan ate a spoonful of porridge and turned to look at Chen Yanzhou.
When Shen Yanzhou raised his hand to wipe the rice grains from Yu Pan's mouth, Yu Pan subconsciously rubbed against his hand as his fingertips touched his soft cheek.
Shen Yanzhou was amused by his appearance and pinched his cheek. "Slow down, no one's going to take it from you."
Yu Pan pouted, stirred the bowl with her spoon, picked out a large spoonful of thick porridge covered with sweet potato pieces, and held it to Shen Yanzhou's lips, looking at him with bright eyes.
"How foolish," Shen Yanzhou thought to himself.
After the two of them had finished eating, Shen Yanzhou assigned Yu Pan homework.
Homework is basically just a few things every day: practice a few pages of calligraphy, do a few math problems, and Yu Pan loves writing compositions, so that's also necessary.
After explaining the homework to Yu Pan, there was still some time before leaving.
Shen Yanzhou carried a bucket to the well in the yard to fetch water. After several trips back and forth, he filled the water tank, and it was almost time.
He starts work at eight o'clock, so he has to leave home at seven twenty.
I had just put down the bucket and was about to leave when my clothes were gently tugged at.
Yu Pan opened her eyes wide and gestured that she wanted to hug him for a while.
Shen Yanzhou sat down again and pulled the person closer to his arms. He glanced at the wall clock and said, "Hold me for five minutes."
Yu Pan nodded obediently, buried her face in Shen Yanzhou's neck, and gently rubbed the frayed edge of Shen Yanzhou's coat with her fingers.
Shen Yanzhou looked down at the whorl of his hair, then suddenly remembered something and took out a milk candy from his pocket.
Yesterday at work, a coworker told me that the grocery store had gotten a new type of milk candy that was really delicious.
Yu Pan had a sweet tooth, so after finishing work, Shen Yanzhou made a special trip to the general store.
I was planning to give Yu Pan something to eat yesterday, but I got so angry when I got back that I forgot.
The candy wrappers got a little wrinkled after being in my pocket for a while.
Shen Yanzhou unwrapped the candy and held it to Yu Pan's lips: "Want to try some?"
Yu Pan stared at the fragrant white milk candy. He had never seen such a candy before. He carefully stuck out his tongue and licked it, and his eyes lit up instantly.
Shen Yanzhou could tell at a glance that he liked it, so he simply stuffed the candy into his mouth.
Yu Pan had a candy in her mouth, her cheeks puffed out, and the milky aroma slowly melted on her tongue, sweet and delightful.
This is the best candy he has ever eaten.
Seeing that he was enjoying his meal, Shen Yanzhou patted his back and stood up, "Alright, it's time for me to go."
Before she could take two steps, Yu Pan grabbed her again.
Looking down, he saw Yu Pan holding half a candy, standing on tiptoe to bring it to his mouth.
Shen Yanzhou smiled and leaned closer, taking only a small bite, then ruffled his hair. "You eat it, I really have to go now."
Yu Pan nodded obediently, with a candy in her mouth, and followed Shen Yanzhou all the way to the courtyard gate. She watched his figure disappear at the end of the alley before closing the gate and going into the house.
Normally, Yu Pan would go back to his room for a nap at this time, but today, perhaps because he ate some really delicious candy, he feels very energetic.
Their dining table is square; one half is used for eating, and the other half serves as Yu Pan's desk for reading and doing homework.
Yu Pan looked at the homework Shen Yanzhou had left on the table and thought it was a pity that the book she read yesterday had been confiscated by Shen Yanzhou, so now she could only do her homework.
However, in Yu Pan's opinion, the homework assigned by Shen Yanzhou was a piece of cake, except for the math problems that required her to bite her pen and ponder for a long time.
Yu Pan held the fountain pen, intending to start with the simplest calligraphy practice book, but the ink ran out before she could write more than a few characters.
So she went to the bookshelf to get ink. As soon as she opened the bookshelf door, Yu Pan immediately saw the book right in front of her.
This is the collection of travelogues that Shen Yanzhou said he would confiscate yesterday with a stern face!
Shen Yanzhou was afraid that he hadn't seen it, so he stood the book upright with the cover facing his face and put it in the cabinet.
Yu Pan stared at the book for a few seconds, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curve into a smile.
Xishan Village is located in the south, with many mountains, and it is common for the sun not to be seen for a whole month in winter.
But for some reason, Yu Pan finished reading the travelogue she had only half-read yesterday, and when she opened the main room door, she squinted as the sunlight that filled the courtyard was so bright.
Yu Pan quickly went to the woodshed and dragged out the bamboo poles used for drying clothes, then steadily placed them on the wooden stakes at both ends of the yard.
Next, take out the quilts and mattresses used for sleeping and air them out. Then, take a feather duster and beat them to fluff up the cotton.
Once a person gets busy, it's hard to stop. Yu Pan simply swept the yard, cleared the weeds at the base of the wall, and even washed the clothes she had changed into yesterday.
Yu Pan hadn't washed clothes in a long time, and he couldn't remember how to scrub clothes clean in an effortless way. Usually, Shen Yanzhou would complain that he couldn't wring the clothes dry enough and wouldn't let him wash them.
After finishing all that, it wasn't even noon yet. Yu Pan really loved the sun, and it had been so long since she had seen it, so she brought out the high stool and low stool from the kitchen and did her homework in the sun.
Before she could write more than a few words, Yu Pan heard the loud, chattering voice of the old lady next door.
Even though he was talking to his daughter-in-law, he spoke so loudly that he seemed afraid no one would hear him.
To be precise, they were afraid that Yu Pan wouldn't hear them.
"The sun's out and you're still not taking your clothes and blankets out to air them?! Are you just sitting at home eating all day?"
"Do you think you're like that mute guy next door, who just stays home all day and doesn't go out to earn money and still gets to eat and drink?"
Yu Pan stared blankly at the manuscript paper.
Ever since Uncle Chen took him in, people in the village have been gossiping. Some say that Uncle Chen had a child with someone else while he was away, others say that he was bought. Anyway, there are all sorts of rumors.
Grandma was the same way, but she knew more about him and knew that he was really adopted, so she would directly point her finger at him and scold him.
When Yu Pan first arrived, he was too young to understand these words. He only knew that every time his grandmother said these words, Uncle Chen would argue with her.
It wasn't until he grew up that he gradually sorted out the relationships.
The village believed that having many children brought good fortune, but Aunt Shen had damaged her health when she gave birth to Shen Yanzhou and could no longer conceive.
When Grandma saw this, she urged Uncle Chen to take another concubine. Uncle Chen was unwilling and argued with Grandma several times before they separated and moved out.
Later, Uncle Shen took him in. When Grandma saw that he was mute and a man, she threw a tantrum at the door and cried countless times, saying that she was raising an outsider to take away her Shen family's land.
She even made a harsh statement, saying that as long as Yu Pan is alive, she wouldn't be her mother.
Uncle Shen was still determined to keep Yu Pan.
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Their house was originally separated from Grandma's house by an open space. After Uncle Chen passed away, Grandma's courtyard wall was renovated and rebuilt again and again, eventually extending to the area next to theirs.
The village land is loosely managed; whoever wants to use it can use it. Besides, Grandma and her family didn't build any houses on it, so the village chief can't control it.
After a while, the cursing stopped, and Yu Pan took a deep breath.
Fortunately, Grandma is old and gets short of breath from scolding for too long, so she can only scold twice a day. Otherwise, just thinking about listening to Grandma scold all day would give Yu Pan a headache.
However, Yu Pan didn't take the scolding for nothing. Looking at the bed sheet being blown to one side by the wind in the yard, Yu Pan suddenly had an idea.
"I told you to sweep the floor and you just sat down again?! Come with me to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables, or we won't even have lunch!"
He probably calmed down and started cursing again.
Yu Pan listened carefully, and after Grandma and the others left, she went to the woodshed and got a bundle of stalks.
Dried stalks are very good at starting a fire, but the downside is that after the stalks burn, the ashes will come out of the chimney and float everywhere.
Just then, Shen Yanzhou was about to finish work, so Yu Pan decided to warm up the stove in advance.
While burning the fire, Yu Pan kept an eye on the wind direction, and thankfully the wind was always blowing towards Grandma's house.
The stalks were flammable, and half a bundle was gone in just a few minutes. Yu Pan estimated that it was about enough, so he stopped and went to check on the quilts that he had hung out to dry.
It was indeed spotless, without a speck of ash!
With everything settled and the stove warmed, Yu Pan felt better, and even the seemingly nonsensical math problems became easier to understand.
A note from the author:
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