Chapter 7 "Killing Two Birds with One Stone"
Lin Zhao rubbed the heads of the two little ones. Children of this age learn everything. They are so cute.
Tie Niu rushed to Erzai, his face full of envy, and exclaimed: "Erzai, you want to eat dumplings?"
His saliva was almost coming out.
"Yes, my mother is going to make dumplings today." Erzai smiled and showed off proudly.
Lin Zhao didn't stop him. Her son had heard many villagers making fun of him behind his back, so what was wrong with showing off a little?
"What kind of filling does your mother want to make for the dumplings?" Tie Niu wiped the corner of his mouth and continued to ask.
"Pork and green onion." Erzai is the most enthusiastic kid in eating. He had already asked his mother what filling the dumplings would have today.
Pork and green onions.
It must be all meat!
Tie Niu's eyes turned red with envy, "Your mother is so nice, I want to eat dumplings too. It's still a long time before the New Year." His tone was melancholy and regretful.
His family is relatively well off, as they can eat dumplings at the end of the year. Other families in the village are reluctant to give up the fine noodles and have to exchange all their fine grains for coarse grains.
"My mother is the best, the best mother in the whole team!" Erzai looked proud, with his neck held high.
For the first time, he felt proud of his mother's kindness to them, and his face was flushed with joy. Unfortunately, he was too dark-skinned and no one could see the blush.
The envy on the faces of their friends made the second and the eldest child feel an extremely unfamiliar emotion in their hearts. They couldn’t describe it. They felt happy, and even wanted to cry.
They held Lin Zhao's hands with a little force and just smiled.
"It's so hot, let's go home." Lin Zhao urged. She seldom went out in such hot weather, and she just felt her face burning.
The family of five quickened their pace and walked home.
In the Gu family's old house, the old couple looked at each other in bewilderment at the things Lin Zhao brought.
It’s the first time.
This is the first time I received something from my third son’s wife.
Father Gu wanted to say that the third son's wife had grown up, but he was always silent, his dry mouth moved but he couldn't squeeze out a word.
Mother Gu sat there, staring at the small bag of steamed buns and brown sugar in a daze, feeling as if she was dreaming.
"You don't know, I wasn't scared to death when I saw the third daughter-in-law coming over with something. She always came over empty-handed. When she suddenly brought something, I thought she was planning something big...she was going to make trouble. I was so scared that my heart was beating so fast, but it didn't jump out."
"Old man, what do you think is going on with the third son's wife? Is she hiding something?" Gu's mother's mind was in a mess. She had not been able to calm down since yesterday.
Which mother-in-law would treat her daughter-in-law like this? Mother Gu felt really depressed.
Father Gu was careless and said, "Why think so much? Just accept it if she gives it to you. Even if the third daughter-in-law really needs help, won't you help?"
"...Of course I have to help." Mother Gu continued, "Even if it's for the sake of the children, I have to help."
When I think about it this way, I feel like I am being held in such a tight spot.
The Gu family hadn't eaten meat for two months, and the farm work was hard and tiring. Gu's father also craved the smell of meat, so he could have resisted it, but the meat bun was so soggy that he found it hard to resist.
"Let's cut some meat to make up for it some other time." Father Gu said after taking a sip of water.
Gu's mother thought to herself that it was very difficult to get a meat ticket.
She also felt sorry for the head of the household, as it was really a bit too much for him to work in the fields at his age.
Mother Gu stood up and walked to the cupboard, opened the paper bag, and the aroma of wheat and meat rushed into her nose.
She swallowed, took a meat bun and stuffed it into the old man's hand.
"There are three buns. Eat one and leave the remaining two for the kids at home."
Father Gu took it with a smile, broke a bun in half, and gave half to his wife, "Let's eat together."
After saying that, he took a bite and let out a long sigh of satisfaction.
"That's the smell. It smells really good."
I've been thinking about it for years but never had the heart to buy it.
Mother Gu was also eating the buns and said, "It's delicious. The flour and the meat are delicious when eaten alone, but even more delicious when put together."
These days every family is poor, and everyone's nose is like a radar, very sensitive.
Tiedan from the Gu family passed by his grandparents' house and smelled meat. He stopped in his tracks, sniffed, and said excitedly, "It smells like meat!"
This sound attracted the other children to come out.
Chirping and making a lot of noise.
Gu's father and mother gave birth to four sons and two daughters.
The eldest son was named Gu Yuanshan, and his wife was Huang Xiulan. The couple had a daughter and two sons. The daughter was twelve years old and named Gu Lan, and the sons were seven and five years old, named Tiedan and Tiechui respectively.
The second son was named Gu Yucheng. He married Zhao Liuniang and had two sons and a daughter, namely Bangbang, 11 years old, Laimei, 8 years old, and Yuyu, 2 years old.
The third child is Gu Chan, the eldest aunt, who is already married.
The fourth child was Gu Chenghuai, who married Lin Zhao and had three sons and one daughter.
The fifth and sixth children are twins, Gu Qingzhou and Gu Xing'er, who are still in school.
During this period, Gu Qingzhou was taken away by his uncle and only returned before school started.
Tiedan's voice was not small. Xiao Tiechui and others rushed forward, as if they were growing up in front of Gu's father and mother's door. They didn't go in, but just watched eagerly.
"Milk, meat, meat..." Outside the door, Yu Yu, a two-year-old girl from the second room, said in a baby voice.
Mother Gu frowned, "They are growing on the chimney. You can smell them even with the door closed."
Father Gu didn't say anything, still savoring the taste of the meat buns. The meat was so fragrant, who couldn't smell it?
"Give it to the children." The head of the family loves his grandchildren.
"Okay, share." Mother Gu said with a pained look, picked up the remaining two buns, and walked out, muttering, "There are too many mouths to feed at home, and nothing good can last until the next day."
As soon as she went out, she could hear the voices of her grandchildren talking to each other, which was so noisy that it hurt her ears.
"Grandma, what's in your hand? Is it meat? It must be, I can smell it." The speaker was Tiedan.
Hammer: "Fragrant!"
The eleven-year-old Bangbang didn't say a word, but his eyes fell on his grandmother's hand involuntarily. Thinking about the taste of the meat, he kept swallowing his saliva.
Lai Mei is the toughest one in the Gu family. She came up to Gu's mother and said, "Grandma, your grandson wants to eat."
Even the two-year-old Yu Yu knew that her grandma had something good in her hand, and she pulled at Gu's mother's pants, almost pulling them off.
Mother Gu hurried to the kitchen, divided the two buns equally and gave them to the children.
The two buns were divided into several portions, and it was obvious that each person would only have two bites. However, the children in the Gu family were very satisfied. The sensible ones took the initiative to let their parents taste them, while the less sensible ones swallowed them all in three or two bites.
Mrs. Gu was a blessed woman. She gave birth to a thoughtful child. After tasting the buns, she smiled and said to Mother Gu, "Mom, where are the buns?"
Mrs. Gu also looked at Mother Gu, she was also curious.
"It was sent by the eldest son's mother." said Gu's mother.
Mrs. Gu Dasao and Mrs. Gu Ersao looked at each other in slow motion and did not speak for a long time.
Lin Zhao?
"Why would Lin Zhao send us buns?" Like her mother-in-law, Mrs. Gu's first reaction was nervousness, panic, and shock.
Question marks also popped up in Gu Ersao's head and she looked at Gu's mother.
Gu's mother said, "She said she wanted to build a house and asked your father for help. She brought three meat buns and half a pound of brown sugar as a thank you gift."
There are meat buns and brown sugar. Dazai's mother is really generous this time! !
Huang Xiulan and Zhao Liuniang almost changed their minds about Lin Zhao, but then they thought of Dazai's mother's difficult personality and shook their heads, trying to sober up.
"Build a house? Why do you suddenly want to build a house?" Mrs. Gu asked curiously.
"I don't like the dust in the mud house I live in now."
Mrs. Gu was surprised. "She thinks the mud house is dusty. Does she want to build a brick house?"
"That's not true." Gu's mother said, "If it's not a brick house, can the third son's wife find your father?"
She had long seen that the third son's wife would not come to the house without a reason, so whenever she came, there must be something going on.
Fortunately, it’s a good thing to come to your door today.
Gu's mother is not a bad mother-in-law who bullies her daughter-in-law, but that doesn't stop the eldest and second sister-in-law from feeling envious. They can live alone and be the master of their own household. Who wants to be controlled by their mother-in-law? !
Unfortunately, it’s useless to be envious. My brother-in-law hasn’t started a family yet, and my sister-in-law hasn’t married yet. If they want to divide the family property...it will take at least three to five years.
Thinking of this, Huang Xiulan and Zhao Liuniang felt disappointed and stopped thinking.
I can’t think about it anymore. If I think too much, my mind will wander.
-
Over there, Lin Zhao returned home with her children.
It was the hottest time of the day, and after she coaxed the children to sleep, she went back to her room to take a nap.
Before going to bed, Lin Zhao saw that the task bar on the right side of the lottery wheel had been updated.
After she told the children that they would have dumplings in the afternoon, a new task emerged.
[A childhood without delicious dumplings is an incomplete childhood! Please make dumplings for the children. You will get 4 points after completing the task. Come on! ］
From this, Lin Zhao concluded:
The tasks posted on the turntable are all related to raising cubs, and even related to the topics they talk about.
The number of points varies, and should be measured according to the difficulty of the task.
This makes things much simpler. You can get points while taking care of the children. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.
Wake up from a nap.
Lin Zhao washed her face with cold water and went to the kitchen to work.
The eldest and second oldest sons were picking cabbages in the backyard with their younger siblings.
Of course, the twin boy and girl, who were a little over a year old, were causing trouble.
When their brothers scolded them, the two little ones looked at their brothers with clear and innocent eyes, and looked well-behaved. When their brothers got busy, they started to scratch around again.
"Third boy, don't teach fourth boy bad things." Second boy frowned and loudly educated his younger brother.
The fourth child is a girl, and he is more indulgent towards her and rarely teaches her younger sister a lesson unless there are special reasons.
The third child ignored him and had a lot of fun digging the soil in the vegetable garden with his soft little hands.
Seeing that he didn't listen, Erzai raised his hand in anger and raised his voice several degrees, "Sanzai, if you don't listen to me, I will beat you, okay?"
"Second son." Lin Zhao suddenly appeared in the backyard and called him, "Who do you want to hit?"
The second child immediately withdrew his hand, feeling somewhat guilty, and complained, "Mom, the third child has been making trouble all the time, and it pissed me off."
"Your brother is still young, so teach him slowly. You can't hit others, especially your younger brothers and sisters. Have I ever hit you?" Lin Zhao said in a kind voice.
"No." Erzai said, thinking in his heart that it was because his mother didn't care about him and his brother. He was afraid that his mother wouldn't let him eat dumplings, so he didn't dare say that.
Don't doubt it, his mother is really capable of doing such a thing!
"Pull some onions for me." Lin Zhao didn't keep harping on this matter. She let the children solve their own problems and didn't care as long as the general direction was right.
In the vegetable garden, the eldest son quickly pulled out five onions, waved the onions in his hand, stood up and asked her, "Mom, is that enough?"
"A few more." Lin Zhao said.
The eldest boy lowered his head and pulled out a few more, then ran back to give them to her.
Lin Zhao took it in her hand, shook off the dirt on the roots of the onion, and praised, "Thank you, big boy. You are really capable."
The eldest boy blushed, he was very happy to be able to help his mother.
There are many kinds of vegetables in the vegetable garden, all of which are taken care of by Gu's mother. The twins sometimes also water them and pull weeds. Anyway, they are more attentive than their mother Lin Zhao.
Lin Zhao took the onions, asked the eldest and second sons to look after their younger siblings, and went back to the kitchen to start making dumpling fillings.
Soon, a thudding sound was heard from inside.
While I was chopping the stuffing, I heard a childish voice outside.
He sounds familiar. He is the youngest son of the eldest son of the Gu family, Tiechui. He is the same age as the eldest and second sons. They grew up together and the three children have a very good relationship.
Lin Zhao walked out of the kitchen.
When Xiao Tiechui saw that his third aunt was a little nervous, his little body tensed up and he didn't dare to look at Lin Zhao.
"Third Aunt." he called softly.
Lin Zhao recalled the scene in the original book about the hammer:
In the original book, when the eldest and second sons were in trouble one after another, Tiechui, his good brother, always stayed with them and helped them.
Because of this, Mrs. Gu had many grievances against her eldest and second sons, but she didn't say anything unpleasant.
"Tiechier is here. The eldest and second oldest are in the backyard with their younger siblings. Go look for them yourself." Lin Zhao said in a gentle voice with a smile on her face.
"Okay." The silly Tiechui responded and ran to the backyard.
He came to the backyard and shouted, "Big cub, second cub, what are you doing?"
The eldest boy stood up, waved the cabbage in his hand, and replied, "We are picking cabbages."
"Tiechimer, do you want to join us?" Erzai greeted warmly.
"Okay." Tiechui said as he rushed into the vegetable garden and picked cabbages with the eldest and second sons.
After a while, Lin Zhao came to the backyard holding a ceramic bowl.
Seeing her coming, the twins, a boy and a girl, staggered over and asked their mother to hold them. When the mother saw the dirt on the two cubs, she was overwhelmed. She quickly put down the bowl and stretched out her arms to hold the two cubs.
"Whose naughty kid is this?" The voice sounded disdainful, but there was a faint smile on his face.
The twin boy and girl, who looked exactly the same, showed the same sweet smile and wanted to snuggle into their mother's arms, but were caught by the eldest cub. The third and fourth cubs kissed the eldest brother, and he held their hands. The two little ones stood obediently and stopped making noise.
Lin Zhao heaved a sigh of relief and said, "I'll make you a bowl of brown sugar water. Drink it if you're thirsty."
"Thank you, Mom." The eldest child said, and then called the second child and Tiechui, "Second child, Tiechui, come and drink some brown sugar water."
Lin Zhao knew that Tiechui would feel uncomfortable with her presence, so she left the backyard after delivering the water.
Nowadays, a sip of sweet water can make people savor it for days.
When they heard the word "brown sugar water", Erzai came over pulling the hammer, and several other kids started drinking it one sip at a time.
"Big lad and little lad, the brown sugar water is so sweet." Tiechui's eyes lit up.
"It's really sweet." Erzai said.
Almost all the children in the Gu family were raised by their mother. They were all well educated and there were no overbearing or selfish children. With brown sugar water as a reward, the children in the backyard worked very hard.
Time passed and the scorching sun gradually set.
The eldest child took the second child and Tiechui to move the cabbage to the cellar. After they finished, they returned to the front yard and smelled the aroma of meat coming from the kitchen. The five children were hung on the door frame like a string of candied haws.
"Mom, are the dumplings ready? They smell so good." The second cub, who talked the most, twitched his nose quickly and asked expectantly.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
