As summer vacation began, the weather became increasingly hot. Zhou Jiao felt sorry for her father, wondering how the ice he bought every month would be enough. Fortunately, she had prepared and stored a lot of ice for the winter.
Every day at noon and evening, there are two large plates of ice cubes in the study and bedroom, and Zhou Xiaozheng doesn't want to go out even when drinking the sweet water made by his own baby.
In this hot summer, Zhou Xiaozheng had a mild temper, and his occasional smile scared his subordinates.
The slow-witted Lin Lishan didn't enjoy herself for a few days. She went to a colleague's house and was so hot that she couldn't sit still any longer. After chatting for a few minutes, she hurried home.
As soon as she entered the house, she hurried to the east wing, and sure enough, it was also very hot inside. She was touched. How could this child be so filial? What would she do if he got heatstroke?
"Mom, what's wrong with you?"
In the living room, Zhou Jiao looked at Lin Lishan with a complicated expression as she came in and hugged her. It was so hot, hugging each other for warmth?
"You silly child, why are you always thinking about your parents? Have you been saving ice these days?"
Well, Zhou Jiao understood as soon as she heard it, it was a misunderstanding.
"Haha... How much is the ice? Why would I care? I'll give you something different. You don't have to run outside. It's quite cool in the living room during the day, and it's just right to put ice in it when you go to bed at night."
"real?"
Zhou Jiao nodded affirmatively. Seeing her expression relax, she quickly changed the subject, "Didn't you go out to give gifts to your colleagues? Why are you back so early?"
Lin Lishan shook her head and sighed, "A small room is crammed with a bunch of people, all complaining about the kids not doing well or not being able to buy anything every day. It's hot and stuffy, and I can't find any topics to talk to them about. If I bring up you guys, I'm bound to be hated."
Zhou Jiao laughed when she heard this, and stood up and asked Aunt Chen to bring a bowl of mung bean soup to her mother.
"I heard that prices of many things have gone up, and on the black market they've increased tenfold. Do I have enough money?"
Zhou Jiao really didn't know what the black market prices were like. She hadn't been there once this year, but she had bought a lot of things on the black market under the pretext of buying them.
She shook her head. "How much can it increase? It's only a few cents. We can't even spend all your monthly salary in a month. We haven't even used up our family savings."
After she finished speaking, she saw Aunt Chen bringing in the soup and winking at her mother, and the mother and daughter didn't bring up the topic again.
As Zhang Guoqing led a few people into the yard while holding Ping An, he heard a burst of music in the house. Listening to the melodious flute sound, it must be Zhou Jiao playing it, coupled with Lin Lishan's beautiful voice - it was really beautiful!
Yi Jiefang exclaimed, "Dayong, go borrow an accordion. Bring me any musical instrument you have. I'll show you my skills."
"Why me? You're not staying in your own yard, you're eating and drinking for free, you're even using our swimming pool, and now you're ordering me around. Do you think I should beat you up?"
"That's not brotherly of us. This is called sharing happiness and hardships together."
"You're so shameless! Xiaowu has these instruments at home."
A group of people came into the living room playing and making noise, and the mother and daughter stopped immediately when they saw them.
Lin Lishan checked the time and asked, "Why are you back so early? Is the swimming pool crowded?"
Ping An smiled and shouted, "Dad said it's almost like making dumplings."
"Let's have fun in peace, right?"
"Well, I like playing in the water. Grandpa said he would take me to the beach to play in the water if he was not busy."
After hearing this, Yi Jiefang looked at the study with lingering fear, "Aunt Lin, Uncle Zhou should be at work, right?"
Seeing this, several people laughed at him with contempt.
Yi Jiefang didn't care about their expressions. Seeing Lin Lishan nodding with a smile, he happily shouted, "Aunt Chen, if you have anything to drink, give me a bowl quickly. I'm dying of thirst."
Zhou Jiao smiled at Aunt Chen and said, "Bring the pot over and let them cook it themselves."
Wan Dayong and the other two were not polite either. They rushed to the kitchen to get bowls, then went to see if there were any snacks to go with the wine. They took the plastic jug and asked Ding Datou to run to the service center to buy draft beer.
Ding Datou secretly decided that if he was allowed to go out in such a hot weather, it would be on Wan Dayong's account.
Zhang Guoqing saw their greedy looks, smiled and shook his head, went back to the study, took out the spare harmonica and accordion and placed them in the living room.
In just a short while, Ding Datou brought back a large pot of draft beer and a plate of pig's head from somewhere in the compound, plus some dried fish prepared by Zhou Jiao, and placed them on the coffee table.
"Mom, play 'Happy Holidays' and 'How Happy We Are.'" Ping'an had been playing the flute beside him until his mouth was full of saliva, and he had no choice but to hand it to Zhou Jiao.
Zhou Jiao nodded at him, wiped him dry with a handkerchief, and blew a tune to him. It was quite interesting to see her son humming along - it seemed that this nursery taught a lot of nursery rhymes.
Seeing this, Zhang Guoqing picked up the accordion and joined in the harmony.
When Wan Dayong and his companions saw this family, they said to Yi Jiefang and his companions, "Just looking at you makes me want to get married. If any of you guys don't want to get married, tell them to come over and see us. A little medicine will definitely help."
Yi Jiefang smiled and said to Lin Lishan, who was keeping the beat, "Aunt Lin, can Uncle Zhou play an instrument? Can he keep up with you artists?"
"You don't think he only knows how to play the wooden cannon, do you? Your Uncle Zhou is proficient in all kinds of erhu and flute. When he was young, the music he played on the erhu could make people cry."
What Lin Lishan didn't say was that she had been captivated by his song. Zhou Jiao had inherited her father's talent, but her brother excelled in melancholic songs, often in foreign languages she had never heard of.
Thinking of this, she looked at Zhou Jiao with disappointment. Her daughter had inherited all of her husband's strengths. What a pity! It would have been great if she had followed her in the music industry.
Yi Jiefang nodded in understanding - no wonder even his own mother always called him Brother Zheng.
He followed Lin Lishan's gaze and looked at Zhou Jiao. His eldest cousin's words rang in his mind, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind. Could it be that Brother Funniu asked him about Zhang Guoqing because he actually wanted to know about Zhou Jiao?
Then, Yi Jiefang glanced at Zhou Jiao again and shook his head inwardly. What was he thinking? Yi Funniu was just a monk, how could he know what a woman was? And Zhou Jiao, haha, he wasn't being disparaging, but just the way she walked so limply that she almost fell over, no soldier would look down on her.
Wan Dayong nudged him, "What are you staring at? When are you going to the beach? Do you want to come with us?"
"My mom said to wait until my cousin leaves."
"Has the whole family not said they're leaving yet? How can she have the nerve to stay here for so long?"
Yi Jiefang shook his head and smiled, he didn't know how to say it out loud.
The other party was smart, leaving a little girl at home to accompany her mother, and she would come back with other children in half a month. But it was almost time, and his father was getting impatient.
"You're not going this year, are you? We've all agreed to go play nearby for a few days. Remember to come. I think they're going to make a big deal."
"Well, even my brothers and I have already discussed it with Xiaowu. We'll just go over and see the situation before confirming it."
When Yi Jiefang heard what they said, he immediately agreed to go with them without hesitation. As for his buddies in the courtyard, they would talk about it later.
This summer, Zhou Jiao finally set foot on that magical beach with her parents. They happily followed Zhang Guoqing and his friends to find fishing boats, up mountains and down rivers, and finally experienced what it meant to be willful and spontaneous.
Xiao Ping'an had no safety risks and wandered around the various areas with great familiarity. He played until the end of the holiday, then left reluctantly with his friends of varying ages, carrying a bag of gifts.
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