When Cuihua saw Yan Xiaonan come in, she put a basket on the ground. The basket contained rice bran and broken millet for the chickens, as well as vegetable leaves and sweet potatoes for the rabbits.
Yan Xiaonan's current task is to feed the chickens and rabbits. As for cleaning and tidying up, that's Xuemei's job. Yan Xiaonan is a clean child.
"Hen No. 1, Hen No. 2, Hen No. 3, line up and come out for dinner," Yan Xiaonan announced.
One by one, the three hens walked out of the chicken coop and came to Yan Xiaonan. Yan Xiaonan divided the chaff in the basket into three portions and placed them in front of them.
"You eat the bran first, then you can eat the millet, do you hear me? I'm going to feed Mother Rabbit now."
The hen clucked and began to eat the chaff very quickly.
"Mama Rabbit, have a sweet potato first. After you finish, I'll give you some vegetable leaves. You must raise your children well so we can sell them for money." Yan Xiaonan handed a sweet potato to Mama Rabbit.
The mother rabbit was chewing on a sweet potato, but her eyes were fixed on the vegetable leaves in the basket. The vegetable leaves were delicious and juicy.
Yan Xiaonan returned to the hen: "You finished eating so quickly? Then eat millet. After you eat millet, you have to lay eggs for me, understand?"
The millet was divided into three piles, and the hens quickly began to eat it, clucking and clucking. Millet was the tastiest food.
They returned to Mother Rabbit and put all the vegetable leaves from the basket inside the fence: "Mother Rabbit, the vegetables are nutritious, eat them quickly, and then feed the little rabbits milk."
He handed the empty basket to Cuihua: "Mom, I've fed the hens and rabbits."
Cuihua smiled and took the basket. Heaven knows how hard she had to hold back her laughter. This little girl, how did she come up with "Mother Hen No. 1" and "Mother Hen No. 2"?
After the hens finished eating the millet, they returned to their coop. A little while later, they started clucking and obediently laid three eggs. Cuihua fed the hens the vegetable leaves and broken rice that she had prepared beforehand.
Tomorrow morning, boil some hard-boiled eggs for the two boys to take to school. Southwest and North are in the same school; one is in second grade and the other is in sixth grade.
Previously, the Southwest led the North and South, and they walked to and from school every day. On particularly cold days, they were not allowed to go to school, and the schools in the North tacitly allowed it.
Now that they have bicycles, Xiaoqiang will ride his bicycle to take them there and pick them up in the evening.
Xuemei finally arrived home before lunch. The bicycle was Yan Xiaoqiang's lifeline; after Yan Xiaonan and his grandmother, it was the third most important thing to him. So Xuemei was especially careful not to fall.
The first thing Xuemei did when she got home was to clean the bicycle thoroughly, even polishing the spokes inside the two wheels until they shone. Only then did she wash her face and hands and go inside to cook for Cuihua.
Today's lunch was similar to yesterday's, except for the addition of white rice. When Xue Mei saw that Bei Nan and Xin Nan were covered in sweat, she knew that the two little ones had almost exhausted their energy.
They quickly tidied the table, served rice and steamed buns, a plate of minced meat and soybean paste, and a large bowl of pork rib and potato soup.
Exhausted, Bei Nan and Xin Nan immediately regained their strength upon seeing the ribs and minced meat sauce. The two rushed to the kitchen, where Cui Hua had already prepared hot water for them.
She quickly washed her face and hands, then ran outside and sat obediently on the stool, waiting for Grandma to say it was time to eat.
Yan Xiaoqiang worked very quickly, building a cellar in just one morning. He looked at the bricks and realized he only had enough for half a cellar, so he decided to build half and buy more in town when spring arrived.
He climbed up the stairs and saw the lunch on the table. He quickly went to the kitchen to wash his hands and face. When Grandma Yan saw that Xiaoqiang had finally sat down, she picked up her chopsticks and said, "Eat."
The people from the North, South, and Southwest immediately reached for the steamed buns. They liked to stuff minced meat and soybean paste into the buns to eat, as it made them more flavorful.
Seeing their anxious expressions, Cuihua shook her head, ladled out two bowls of soup, and placed them in front of them. The two quickly took the soup and drank it; it tasted wonderful.
Yan Xiaoqiang was displeased, his face darkened, and Yan Xiaonan covered his teeth, feeling a bit of pain. Only Yan Xiaoqiang would be jealous of his son.
Grandma Yan also picked up a bowl and served a bowl to Yan Xiaonan and Yan Xiaoqiang. Yan Xiaoqiang took the bowl and drank it down, glancing at the two boys and thinking, "I also have a mother serving me soup."
Grandma Yan was both amused and exasperated. She was already in her fifties or sixties, yet she was still arguing with her son, without even feeling ashamed.
"Xiaoqiang, tomorrow take twenty catties of cornmeal and some money to take the two children to school, and pick them up again in the evening. It's too cold, don't let their feet get frostbite," Grandma Yan said.
Yan Xiaoqiang nodded. He knew he had to do this, after all, it was his son.
"Mom, it would be great if there was a primary school in the village. It would be much more convenient for Nannan to go to school then," Yan Xiaoqiang said with some worry.
"No rush, Nan Nan is still young and has many years before she can go to school. When the village conditions improve, we should be able to set up a primary school."
Grandma Yan finally picked up her pipe and started smoking; it had been a long time since she had done so.
After finishing her cigarette, Grandma Yan took out five yuan and handed it to Yan Xiaoqiang: "The cost of textbooks for elementary school is two yuan, so it's four yuan for two children. Do you want to buy them some pencils and erasers?"
"Cuihua, prepare twenty catties of cornmeal, ten catties for each of the two children, to be given to the teacher. Also, prepare some of the side dishes for lunch at school for them to take with them."
Upon hearing Grandma Yan's words, Cuihua quickly went to the kitchen, took out a rice bag, filled it with twenty jin of cornmeal, tied the bag tightly, and took it out.
Yan Xiaoqiang carried the bricks all by himself this afternoon. The two boys have to go to school tomorrow, so we can't let them get too tired. But we didn't let them have an easy time either; they still have to finish their homework.
The cellar was finally finished. Cuihua, Xuemei, and Grandma Yan all went down to take a look and were very satisfied. Cuihua and Xuemei even took brooms and cleaned the two cellars below thoroughly.
Yan Xiaonan really wanted to go down and see, because she had never seen what a cellar looked like before. She had seen air-raid shelters before, and every community had one.
Yan Xiaoqiang promised to take Yan Xiaonan downstairs to check tomorrow. The smell downstairs is still quite strong today, so we need to open a window in the room a little bit to let the smell dissipate.
Upon hearing this, Yan Xiaonan immediately became worried: "Grandma, we'll stay in this room, you won't stay in this room."
Yan Xiaoqiang laughed: "I still need to make a lid tomorrow, once the lid is on, everything will be fine."
Yan Xiaonan also disagreed. Even if they were to move back, they would only do so after winter, when they could open the windows for ventilation. After all, houses need to be left to air out for a few months after renovation.
Grandma Yan knew that her granddaughter was afraid of being bothered by the smell, which was why she didn't want her to go back. So she granted the little girl's wish and let her stay in the house in the southeast for a few months, since the southeast didn't come back very often anyway.
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