Chapter 109: Celebrating His Birthday (Page 1/2)
The next day, Huo Qingci wanted to tell Lin Man about his auditory hallucinations. He was clearly thinking about that incident, but as soon as he opened his mouth, it felt like something was strangling his neck.
As long as he talked about other things, he would be fine. Huo Qingci felt something was wrong. He tried to write this down with a pen, but his hands seemed to be shaking uncontrollably and he couldn't even hold the pen. In the end, he had to give up.
Because of this incident, he was so scared that he didn't dare to touch Lin Man anymore. It happened that Lin Man was in the late stage of pregnancy. For the safety of mother and child, he tried his best to control his desires and just hugged her gently at most.
Strangely enough, he never had auditory hallucinations again after that.
On November 12, Huo Qingci's birthday, Lin Man, with her big belly, took Huo Qinghuan to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy vegetables early in the morning.
She didn't buy any seafood, but she did buy a large pig's trotter, a pound of pork belly, and two pounds of spare ribs. She had been saving up her meat coupons for a long time, and this time she took them out to use them on Huo Qingci's birthday.
The pork seller sold her his last big pig's trotter because he saw that she was pregnant.
Living on an island, it is easy to eat seafood, but eating meat is really difficult. Huo Qinghuan couldn't remember how long it had been since he had eaten pig's trotters.
"Sister-in-law, let me help you carry the vegetables. You can go slowly."
"It's okay, I'll carry the food. I'm too lazy to come out. I'll buy you whatever you want to eat."
"Sister-in-law, can I eat bubble gum?"
"Okay, I'll buy it for you."
The packaging of the bubble gum in the space is different from the bubble gum we have now. The bubble gum we have now is in strips with Mickey Mouse printed on the wrapper.
Seeing that the watermelon bubble gum was not for sale, Lin Man bought 20 pieces for Huo Qinghuan. She walked home slowly and started to prepare the pig's feet and the seafood in the water tank.
In order to celebrate Huo Qingci's birthday, Lin Man carefully prepared six dishes: braised pork and abalone, sauced spareribs, braised pig's trotters, steamed dragon fish with garlic, steamed grouper, and stir-fried choy sum.
In addition to this large table of dishes, Lin Man also cooked a bowl of longevity noodles and a few boiled eggs for Huo Qingci.
Huo Qingci returned home from get off work, parked his bicycle, and as soon as he entered the living room, he saw a table full of delicious dishes. He asked, "Manman, is anyone coming to our house today?"
"Qingci, you forgot that your birthday is October 1st! Didn't you tell me you were born in the first grade? Happy birthday!"
Huo Qinghuan smiled and said to Huo Qingci, "Happy birthday, big brother! This morning, my sister-in-law took me to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy vegetables and brought back so much meat. At first I thought we had guests, but it turned out to be big brother's birthday!"
Brother, you probably have never eaten so many dishes when you celebrated your birthday at home before.
Look at your sister-in-law, she's so kind to you, she's prepared six dishes with great care. This is a good omen for good luck!"
To say he wasn't touched would be a lie, even though he had tasted all sorts of delicacies before. However, this was the first time in his life that someone had celebrated his birthday with such care.
"Manman, thank you."
"What's there to thank a couple for? You can cook for my birthday next year."
Huo Qinghuan suddenly said, "Sister-in-law, my birthday is coming soon too. Can you make me a delicious meal? I want roast chicken and roast duck."
Huo Qingci glared at Huo Qinghuan and said, "When you get married, let your wife celebrate your birthday."
Lin Man asked Huo Qinghuan, "When is your birthday? My eldest brother's birthday is on the first of October, and mine is on the eighth. Sister-in-law, you must remember it!"
"Okay, I can prepare roast chicken and roast duck for you, but you have to write two essays and give them to me."
Huo Qinghuan thought about it and nodded in agreement, then asked, "What is the topic of your composition?"
Lin Man smiled slyly, "Just write 'Going to the Sea' and 'My Brother'!"
(This chapter is not yet finished, please click on the next page to continue reading) Chapter 109: Celebrating His Birthday (Page 2/2)
"Why do I have to write about my brother? When I write essays in high school, I either write about my teacher, my parents, or my grandparents. I have two brothers, who do you want me to write about?"
"You can write about whoever you want, just sit down and eat!"
Huo Qinghuan felt a headache. His sister-in-law actually asked him to write an essay about his brother. He knew his brother quite well, but if he wrote about his brother, he would definitely be spanked.
No, he should just write about his second brother.
As soon as Huo Qingci saw Huo Qinghuan's rolling eyes, he knew that he was up to no good. Could he be trying to expose his shortcomings?
Huo Qingci sat down and ate the longevity noodles that Lin Man made for him. Lin Man picked up a piece of abalone for him and said, "Try the braised pork and abalone and see if it's delicious."
Huo Qingci picked up the abalone, took a bite, and nodded, "The pork and seafood stewed together tastes pretty good."
Lin Man agreed, "Yes, seafood can indeed be stewed with meat. For example, salted fish stewed with pork belly is particularly fragrant."
Lin Man used to not be used to eating salted fish, but after eating the salted fish she made herself, she got used to it after a while. She used to not be used to eating purple-backed sea cucumber, but now she is used to it.
She found that as long as people compromise, it will naturally become a habit over time, and the habit will slowly turn into liking.
In order to let Lin Man celebrate his birthday, Huo Qinghuan actually wrote two short essays of 500 words.
Although Huo Qinghuan couldn't write some characters, Lin Man had to admit that his handwriting was better than that of ordinary children. There was a difference between practicing and not practicing.
The short essay about going to the sea is also well written. It is about my brother. Why did I write Huo Qingyan as a narrow-minded and violent person?
At night, Lin Man waited until Huo Qinghuan fell asleep, and then showed the short composition he wrote to Huo Qingci. Huo Qingci glanced at it first, and was relieved to find that it was not about him.
Lin Man asked Huo Qingci, "Is your brother Huo Qingyan really violent?"
“No, I just have excellent physical fitness and can lift Qinghuan over my head with just one hand.
Two years ago, Qinghuan sold Qingyan's collection of commemorative stamps to his classmates. When Qingyan found out, he held them above his head to scare him.
I guess Qing Huan was frightened that time, so she kept saying he was a violent person."
"You didn't offend him?"
"Probably not. Even if he did, he wouldn't dare to accuse me to my face. He's just a child. He won't be like this when he grows up.
Manman, are you really going to make roast chicken and roast duck for him?"
"Well, those drakes in your space don't lay eggs, so eating two won't be a problem. I have an electric oven in my space, so it's easy to roast chicken or roast duck. Just say you bought them outside."
"I thought you were doing it for him outside?"
"Outside, you can make him fried chicken and lotus leaf beggar's chicken."
Lin Man suddenly thought of fried chicken. The child should like it, and she hadn't eaten it for a long time.
She decided to make fried chicken for Huo Qinghuan’s birthday in a few days. When she thought of fried chicken, she also remembered that she hadn’t eaten kimchi for a long time.
"Qingci, go cut twenty cabbages from the vegetable garden and bring them back!"
"Manman, are you going to make sauerkraut?"
"No, I want to make Korean kimchi."
Huo Qingci was afraid that Lin Man would be tired, so he decided to do it himself, and Lin Man just gave him instructions. The night before, they washed all the cabbages they had cut, pickled them and set them aside.
The next night, Huo Qingci prepared the chili sauce for kimchi step by step according to Lin Man's instructions. It was already ten o'clock when twenty kimchi were all coated with red chili sauce.
Looking at the pot of bright red kimchi, Huo Qingci felt that he was also an expert at making side dishes.
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