093, Early Morning Surprise
093, Early Morning Surprise
By the time they got home, it was already dark.
The weather in February is still cold, but it is slightly colder than in the twelfth month and the first month of the lunar calendar.
After returning home, he helped his parents pack up their things, and then he took his younger brothers to review the knowledge they had learned a while ago. When the water in the pot was hot, Lu Mingfei went to get a bucket of hot water and went to the bathroom to take a bath, washing his hair at the same time.
After taking a bath, he returned to the house and sat in front of the fireplace, warming his hair while clearing his mind and giving his tired brain a rest.
It's not like he hasn't taken exams before, he even managed to get through the college entrance exam. But this time, for some reason, he felt particularly exhausted during the county exam. This exhaustion wasn't just physical, it was also mental.
Ultimately, he believed the current exam system was too cumbersome. Every day, they had to wait outside for over an hour before they could even enter. The exam was split into two sessions, morning and afternoon, and students weren't allowed to use the restroom or drink water during the exam. So, during the first few days of the exam, he didn't even dare drink much water, for fear of needing to use the restroom mid-sentence.
The examination room was surrounded by invigilators. If you moved your butt even slightly during the exam, several pairs of eyes would be staring at you.
At this moment, he heard a familiar sound of footsteps approaching his window, but no voice was heard. Lu Mingfei felt a little strange, so he opened his eyes, turned his head to look towards the window, and asked, "Dad? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me." Lu Youtian was hesitating whether to knock on the window to see if his eldest son was asleep. He was also afraid that if he did, he would disturb the child. Just as he was hesitating, he heard the child's voice asking from inside the house, and he was sure that his eldest son was not asleep in the room.
"Dad has gone to bed, you should go to bed early too and don't read too late." He said to his eldest son.
"Okay, Dad, you go to sleep." Lu Mingfei stood up from the recliner, walked over and opened the door.
Lu Youtian, who was outside, hadn't left yet. Something occurred to him, so he asked his eldest son, "Are you going back to the private school tomorrow?"
"Go back." The teacher didn't tell them to rest at home after the exam, which meant they could go to the private school. Lu Mingfei actually wanted to study at home, but he didn't know if he had passed the county exam. If he didn't go to the private school right after the county exam, others would think he thought he would definitely pass.
Although he was 90% sure that he could pass the county exam, no one could guarantee that he would pass until the list was posted.
Therefore, he would probably have to stay with his teacher for a while before the results were announced. After the results came out, he would make other arrangements based on his study habits.
"Okay, then you should go to bed quickly. Sleep later tomorrow and don't have to get up early to help me and your mother with work." Lu Youtian waved his hand to let his eldest son go back to the house, and he went back to the main house.
After watching his father enter the main house, Lu Mingfei closed the door of his own room and went back inside.
In the middle of the night, when he was half asleep, he felt someone entering the room.
He really wanted to open his eyes to see who entered his room, but his body and brain were too tired. Later, he seemed to hear Zhao Lang's voice. After knowing who entered his room, he felt relieved and fell asleep again.
***
He slept until the next morning, and woke up in a daze when he heard the sound of a rooster crowing.
When he opened his eyes, Lu Mingfei subconsciously reached out to touch the seat next to him, but it was empty and there was no sign of anyone having slept there.
There was still a fire in the fireplace, and his room was a faint warm yellow. But when he turned his head to look at the window, he could see darkness outside even through the window paper.
There was no sound in the yard. His father and mother must have gone out to the stall.
He knew it was probably around four or five in the morning. Although it was still dark, he had to go to his teacher's house to study, so he had to get up early.
Lu Mingfei got out of bed and threw back the quilt, then picked up the clothes hanging on the hanger and put them on. Halfway through putting on his clothes, he saw the large lunch box on his desk, and his dressing stopped.
Needless to say, he knew who put this big food box here.
So, when he heard someone coming into his room last night, it was not a dream, but real. It was Zhao Lang who came to his place.
After putting on his clothes, Lu Mingfei walked over to the table and took a look at the big food box. He first lit the oil lamp on the table and counted that there were six layers in total before he opened the lid of the food box.
As soon as he opened the lid, he found two sets of bowls and chopsticks and a pot of wine on the first layer. "Young Master, do you want to drink with him?"
Take the first layer off, and the second layer is a plate of roasted pigeon.
After taking the second layer off, he found that the third layer was a dish of fried prawns. The color looked golden yellow and it looked delicious at first glance. Lu Mingfei couldn't help but pinch one with his hands and put it in his mouth. He found that it might have been left for too long, so the skin was no longer crispy, but the taste was still good.
The bottom layer is squirrel mandarin fish, the next layer is eight-treasure duck, the next layer is a stir-fried vegetable dish, and the last layer is a bowl of chicken soup.
Seeing all this wine and food, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but smile. It seemed like a certain young master had come to have a midnight snack with him last night. Unfortunately, he went to bed early and slept so deeply that he didn't wake up in the middle of the night. Perhaps Zhao Lang saw that he was sleeping so deeply and didn't wake him up. He left the food behind and left.
Looking at the delicious meat and vegetables in this large food box, it's not cheap to eat all these dishes at a restaurant. A meal there would cost at least 10 or 8 taels of silver. So throwing it away is impossible. The worst that can happen is to find a reasonable reason to explain to my family why I have all these things at home.
After taking out the dishes, chopsticks and wine from the first layer, he put the food boxes back layer by layer. He found that they were quite heavy when he lifted them in his hands.
Bringing the lunch box to the kitchen, Lu Mingfei lifted the lid on the stove. Underneath was the breakfast his mother had left for them: a stack of sesame cakes, a bowl of braised eggs, a large bowl of braised vegetables, and a bowl of chicken soup. This bowl of chicken soup was probably the leftover from last night, the one his stepmother had packed for them to take home.
He went to bed early last night, so he didn't drink the bowl of chicken soup and it has been left until now.
These things were a bit of a hindrance inside, so he took them out first, then brought the dishes from the lunch box in one by one, arranged them inside, and put the lid back on. Five dishes and a bowl of soup just filled the place up, and the soup was piled on top of the dishes to make room.
Fortunately, the lid is quite high, otherwise it would not be able to be closed.
There were still some sparks in the stove, so he stuffed a handful of hay into it, blew into it twice with a bamboo tube, lit the fire, and then stuffed in a small wooden stick.
Zhang Qi, who was writing in the house, heard a noise in the kitchen. He opened the main door and went out. He saw a man squatting in front of the stove, lighting a fire. Recognizing who the man was, he walked over and called out, "Big Brother."
"Well, why didn't you go to sleep for a while?" Lu Mingfei turned his head and looked back. He was not surprised to see Zhang Qi, because Zhang Qi now gets up very early every day to help their family make braised food, so he gets up very early.
However, they did not ask the young Zhang Xiaobao to get up early to work, so they let the younger children sleep a little longer before getting up.
"I'm not sleepy." Zhang Qi walked into the kitchen and saw their eldest brother squatting in front of the stove and making a fire, so he said he would come.
But when he saw the sesame cakes and braised egg dishes on the small table next to him, he felt a little strange. What was heating in the stove? However, despite his doubts, Zhang Qi did not ask.
"Oh, okay, then you come and watch it until this stove of firewood is burned. I'll go wash my face and come back in a while." Lu Mingfei stood up and asked Zhang Qi to come and watch the fire in the stove. He went outside and went back to the house to pour out hot water from the copper kettle, soaked some cold water, brushed his teeth and washed his face.
As soon as he saw the firewood in the fireplace, he knew that Zhao Lang must have put firewood in his stove when he came last night. No wonder he felt hot in the middle of the night!
The water in the copper kettle is very hot in the morning, even scalding hot!
After a quick wash, Lu Mingfei left his room and went to the main house where his parents lived. Seeing that his younger brother was still sleeping in the room, he did not wake him up and went out to the kitchen.
The food in the stove was already heated up, so he opened the lid and took out the hot food.
When Zhang Qi saw the dishes in the stove, he was obviously stunned for a moment. He finally understood why his elder brother took out the sesame cakes and stewed vegetables. It turned out that there were other dishes in the pot. But it was not right. Where did these dishes come from?
"Come and eat. My friend sent it to me." Lu Mingfei made up an excuse and did not say that it was his friend who sent it personally. Otherwise, if his mother and father knew about it, they would definitely ask him who his friend was.
But it is easier to explain if you say that it was sent by a friend.
After placing the dishes one by one on the small table, Lu Mingfei also brought two sets of bowls and chopsticks and said to Zhang Qi, who was standing there in a daze, "I'm going to go to private school after I finish eating. You stay at home and keep an eye on Mingrui and your brother. Don't let them run out."
"Oh, oh, okay." Zhang Qi looked at the dishes on the table. He had never eaten such delicious food since he was born.
Lu Mingfei first filled a bowl of chicken soup. He didn't know how this chicken soup was made, but it tasted sweeter and more delicious than the chicken soup they made themselves. It seemed like there was some seafood in it to enhance the flavor?
Seeing Zhang Qi sitting there motionless, he filled a bowl of chicken soup for Zhang Qi, put the bowl back in front of Zhang Qi, and said to the child, "Drink it. All the dishes on this table are for us to eat today. When Mingrui and Xiaobao wake up later, you can give them some food."
"If my father and mother come back at noon, tell them that these dishes are edible and let them eat them."
"Oh, okay." Zhang Qi looked at the steaming chicken soup in front of him and smelled it was very fragrant. He couldn't help but picked up the chicken soup and took a sip. He found that it tasted very good.
After breakfast, Lu Mingfei asked Zhang Qi to clean the table and wash the dishes, and then he went out to school with his backpack.
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