But how come the little girl is so pretty? Even prettier than the Fuwa mascots on the wall! Yan Xiaonan looked at the two little girls' bright eyes and said to Cuihua, "Mommy, head..."
Cuihua didn't understand, because the hair tie couldn't make a sound, and she couldn't lift it up with her hands, so she was so anxious that she waved her hands back and forth.
Grandma sighed inwardly at Cuihua's slow brain, no wonder she was bullied by her two sisters. She took two hair ties out of the small basket and handed them to Nannan: "Grandma's baby, do you want these?"
Yan Xiaonan wished she could kiss her grandmother tens of thousands of times. Her grandmother was so smart, which meant that she herself would definitely not be stupid either, since genes are powerful.
Yan Xiaonan pointed to the two little girls in front of her, then to the hair tie and said, "Wear it."
Grandma nodded and gave the two hair ties to the two little girls, saying, "Nannan said they're for you to wear."
The little girl was a bit startled and looked at her mother. Cuihua's older sister was also a little confused. Her brother-in-law quickly reached out and took the gifts and handed them to the two little girls, saying, "Why don't you thank your sister?"
The two little girls were overjoyed. They had long envied other girls for having hair ties and had asked to buy some for themselves many times, but their mother seemed not to hear them. They had been disappointed for a long time, but today their wish finally came true.
The two sisters exchanged a glance and made the same decision: they would treat their incredibly beautiful younger sister well from now on. As for their younger brother, well, his mother was good enough for him.
The two of them combed each other's hair with their hands, making it neat and tidy. They tied red ribbons under their braids, touching them with their hands every now and then, picking up their braids to look at them again, their smiles incredibly sweet.
Yan Xiaonan felt a pang of sadness. Thinking back to her home in the 21st century, where she had an absurdly large number of sparkly hair accessories, she would never have looked at such an outdated rope.
Sigh, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh. It's all because of poverty.
The adults looked at the little girl in surprise. How old is she? Why is she sighing?
My brother-in-law couldn't hold it in any longer and asked Yan Xiaonan with a smile, "Xiaonan, why are you sighing?"
Yan Xiaonan was taken aback. "Did I sigh?" she thought. How could she not have known? She laboriously raised her little hand, pointed to her head, and said, "Rabbit."
My brother-in-law didn't quite understand. "Rabbit, what does 'rabbit on the head' mean?" Grandma Yan laughed. "My little Nannan said her head hurts, doesn't it?"
Oh, everyone understands. Yan Xiaonan blushed. Pain and rabbit are so different, how could they have gotten involved?
Chen's mother said somewhat shyly, "In-law, come, come, take a seat."
Grandma Yan, holding Nan Nan, sat down without any hesitation. Since the guests were guests and she was also an elder, there was no reason not to sit in the seat of honor. She could just sit there comfortably.
Yan Xiaonan admired her grandmother's magnanimity; she had none of the pettiness often associated with old women in the countryside, and was incredibly generous and poised.
There weren't many dishes. The wild boar meat that Cuihua brought was cooked in a big pot with potatoes, mushrooms and scrambled eggs, tofu and fish soup, and a pot of dry wild vegetables. I guess they only put a drop of oil in it when they were cooking.
Mother Chen brought out a bowl of steamed buns made from a mixture of flour, about a dozen in total, along with eight large meat buns. Mother Chen had calculated that one would be given to her in-laws, half to everyone else, and they could save two for tomorrow.
Mother Chen then brought out a small bowl of white rice and a steamed egg custard, handing them to Cuihua and saying, "Little girl, your teeth haven't fully grown in yet, so eat this."
Grandma Yan could tell at a glance that it was cooked with her own white rice. She praised Cuihua for cooking white rice and bringing it over, which put her mind at ease. She added two spoonfuls of meat broth to the rice, mixed it up, and ate it with egg custard, which was just enough to fill her up.
Cuihua quickly took it, smiling and nodding, "Thank you, Mother. This little girl loves steamed egg custard; she eats one every day."
The eldest sister frowned. "Eggs and white rice are so precious. How can a little girl afford to eat like this every day? You have three boys in your family."
Before Cuihua could react, Dongnan spoke up: "Auntie, we've all grown up now, so of course we should give the good stuff to our little sister."
Before the older sister could say anything more, she was kicked by her own man. She glanced at him and was startled. "My god, what kind of look is that? Does he want to eat me?"
Suddenly remembering that her younger sister had just been slapped across the face by her father, she trembled and quickly shut her mouth.
Grandma Yan sighed inwardly. In this era, people still favored sons over daughters. It's no wonder that her daughter-in-law's older sister thought this way. They didn't know Nan Nan's background, otherwise they would have cherished her as a treasure.
He placed the little girl beside him, picked up the rice bowl, and prepared to feed her himself. Cuihua became anxious and quickly climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed): "Mother, you eat first, I'll feed you."
Grandma Yan nodded, knowing that the host would wait if she didn't take chopsticks, so she picked up the chopsticks, smiled, and put a mouthful of wild vegetables into her mouth.
Sigh, how did this dish turn out like this? But she still chewed and swallowed it. It was really dry, and the swallowing motion was a bit too big. Chen's mother felt very bad seeing this.
When my daughters came home, I didn't even get a decent meal to treat them to. Looking at the table, apart from wild vegetables and fish, everything else was brought back by my two daughters.
But we started going hungry yesterday. Luckily, Cuihua brought back fifty catties of cornmeal and more than twenty catties of wild boar meat, as well as ten large meat buns. There are also a lot of potatoes and cabbage, colorful fruit candies, and clean cotton clothes. These are all treasures that are a lifesaver.
Tomorrow I'll have my youngest son take some wild boar meat to town to exchange for some rice; that should last us a few more months.
Mr. Chen was an honest man. He took out a small cup of liquor that he had kept for many years and poured it for Grandma Yan. He also filled his own cup, as well as those of his son-in-law and son. He raised his cup and said:
"Dear in-laws, thank you for sending us these cornmeal and pork and cabbage steamed buns, as well as the eggs and cornmeal from my son-in-law's house. They have really saved my family from a dire situation."
The weather this year has been so cold that the crops in the fields have all frozen to death. We don't know when the frost will thaw after the new year.
The spring wheat hasn't been planted yet, but this spring harvest is definitely going to be a complete failure. The grain depot is out of grain, and even if it were, I wouldn't be able to contribute much money.
We only have this much food left at home. We were originally planning to go begging for food after we finished eating today, but we didn't expect our in-laws to be so considerate and bring us so much food.
"Here, let me offer you a toast." He raised his head and drank it down first.
Grandma Yan also picked up her wine cup, downed a glass, and muttered to herself, "If it weren't for Nan Nan, there would never have been any rice or meat. Ah, Grandma's lucky star is just so good."
Thinking about the next few months, Grandma Yan felt heavy-hearted. The winter wheat harvest was definitely a complete failure, and the grain station had almost no grain left. What would they eat in the future?
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