"I'm just asking."
Zhao Meiying seemed a little embarrassed, not at all like her usual self.
Looking at her blushing face and shy look, Qiuhua suddenly understood something.
Xu Guoqing and Erhua had a good relationship, and Qiuhua had always considered him her elder brother, which led her to overlook his masculine charm. He had always had a good reputation on the team, being hardworking and diligent, coming from a wealthy family with no bad blood. He was handsome, and while not as good-looking as Dahua (though that was Qiuhua's opinion), he had a more masculine look.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. Didn't he drive away the black dog that time? I'm grateful to him."
Qiuhua giggled.
"You're laughing at me? How dare you laugh at me!"
Zhao Meiying took advantage of Qiuhua's unpreparedness and reached out to tickle her itchy spots. Qiuhua was ticklish and giggled. She also freed up one hand to fight back. The two of them went back and forth and had a lot of fun.
"Meiying, are you in junior high school?"
Qiuhua used tongs to poke the fire in the stove, sparks flew everywhere, and the flames grew even stronger.
Zhao Meiying lifted her chin and looked at the flames seriously, her face getting hotter. She turned her head to look at Qiuhua and said, "Well, Qiuhua, I want to go to junior high school and become a teacher."
Qiuhua's heart suddenly rippled. Meiying's words were like a small stone thrown into her originally calm heart. She didn't have any decent ideals in her head and heart like her own. What she thought most about the future was embroidery and raising chickens and ducks.
Meiying's plans for the future exploded in her mind like a bright star. She felt a little surprised and more envious.
"I really envy you."
"What are you envious of?"
"I envy you for having dreams!"
Zhao Meiying laughed heartily. This was exactly why she loved being Qiuhua's little sister. Qiuhua's family was less well-off, but she had a good temper. Her gentleness betrayed an unusual tenacity. She was definitely not a pushover. She was sincere and straightforward, and being her little sister was a relief.
"Is this a dream?" Meiying scratched her head. She was not sure herself, but she liked watching the teacher standing on the podium and teaching students. She looked very cultured and majestic.
"Yes, of course!"
While answering, Qiuhua was trying hard to think about her ideal in her mind, but she really couldn't figure it out for a while.
After a pause, Zhao Meiying changed the subject.
"Has Xu Guoqing always been working in the team?"
Seeing her evasive look, Qiuhua playfully moved her face closer, but Meiying pushed her forehead away with her palm.
There was another burst of giggles, and the aroma of steamed rice began to waft out of the pot. Qiuhua felt even warmer in her heart when she smelled the aroma.
"Well, he's always on the team, and he has a very good reputation among us."
This time Qiuhua stopped teasing Meiying. Seeing her serious look, she must have some ideas. Qiuhua thought that the two of them were indeed a good match. She naturally hoped that Meiying could marry into the village, so that the two sisters could be closer.
"I know his good reputation... Everyone in our village knows it." Meiying felt a little disappointed for some reason, and the corners of her mouth that were raised just now turned down slightly.
"I'm sure there are a lot of people proposing marriage to him, right?"
Qiuhua didn't know how to answer. It was impossible for her to know all the marriage proposals, but she vaguely heard Erhua complain: He didn't have anyone to propose to him, and the door of Xu Guoqing's house was almost trampled down!
At this time, the rice in the pot was almost ready. Qiuhua stood up and walked to the stove. She opened the lid of the bone soup pot, and a smell of meaty aroma came to her face. The pot was bubbling, and a thin layer of meat oil floated on the surface. It was so fragrant!
"Yeah, I knew it must be a lot!"
Zhao Meiying was a little discouraged. Thinking of this, she even wanted to graduate from elementary school, stop attending junior high school, and find someone to marry her right away.
But she immediately rejected this ridiculous idea. She still had to go to junior high school and she wanted to be a teacher, but what about Xu Guoqing?
"I haven't said anything yet, how do you know?"
"I do know that, but why isn't he engaged yet?"
Qiuhua returned to the stove, rubbed her hands, thought for a moment, and said, "Maybe he just doesn't like her. I don't think anyone is more worthy of him than you!"
Qiuhua's words are true, truer than gold.
Maybe her words worked, and Zhao Meiying felt much better. No matter what, it seemed that she still had a chance.
"You must not tell anyone else what I said today, not even Hua Mei. Do you understand?"
Qiuhua nodded vigorously. She understood that this matter concerned Meiying's reputation and could not be talked about casually. Meiying was the one who told her because she was her best friend, so of course she had to keep it a secret for her.
"Then you should tell your mother so that she can talk to someone."
Zhao Meiying nodded, then shook her head after thinking about it.
"I don't want to talk about it. I don't know how to start. This kind of thing..."
Qiuhua seemed to understand a little and not understand a little, because she didn't have an older sister, so she didn't know what the process of arranging a marriage was like. But she did feel that it was a bit shameless for Xiao Niangyu to ask for a marriage herself.
She really wanted to help her good sister, but she didn't know where to start. Meiying, on the other hand, had an idea of her own.
"Or I can come to your house more often, maybe I can run into him."
"Yes, this is a good idea. My second brother has a good relationship with him, and he sometimes comes to my house." Qiuhua's words are true and false. Erhua and Xu Guoqing have a good relationship, but men are different from little girls after all. Two sisters with a good relationship may often visit each other, but two men with a good relationship will hang out together outside, and it is relatively rare for them to come home.
But it's better than having no solution.
In a blink of an eye, it was noon. Seeing that Dad had not come back from outside yet, Qiuhua was not prepared to wait any longer. She served a bowl of bone soup to Mom, added a little salt to the bowl, then put the middle part of the big bone into the bowl, and put the remaining soup and bones in another big bowl.
Taking advantage of the sparks in the stove that had not yet completely extinguished, she added some firewood and fried a plate of vegetables.
After tidying up, they prepared to eat. Zhao Meiying served the rice and prepared the chopsticks, while Qiuhua brought the soup and rice into the house.
Qiu Zhen slept lightly for a while and woke up to see her daughter walking in with soup and rice. She hadn't recovered from what happened that morning, and tears were still flowing in her half-asleep state. She felt that she was wrong.
The bone soup was so fragrant and fresh. The bone in the middle contained fatty and delicious bone marrow. It came into her mouth with a gentle suck. It was fatty and oily and melted in her mouth. She felt guilty about such delicious food. She suddenly began to miss her little daughter. She didn't know if this little girl was hungry?
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