Chapter 64: Chinese New Year
Shen Ruoqing gave the fifty yuan she brought home to Old Lady Ji.
"My dear, where did you get so much money?" Old Mrs. Ji estimated that Shen Ruoqing should only have twenty or thirty yuan left on him.
"I asked Sun Taohua for compensation." Shen Ruoqing did not mention Lin Chen.
"What?" Old Lady Ji immediately brought up the incident of Sun Taohua pushing Shen Ruoqing, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt something was wrong: "It's been several months since that incident, why is Sun Taohua still giving you compensation? Did she do something to let you down again? That's not right. Sun Taohua is just a girl, where did she get so much money?"
This money should not belong to the Sun family. Before, Old Lady Ji went to the Sun family and made such a big fuss but only got five dollars and a skinny chicken. The Sun family has a large population, so even if they really have some savings, it is impossible for them to give it to that little girl Sun Taohua.
Shen Ruoqing glanced at Old Lady Ji. This little old lady was quite smart.
"I saw her wearing a new coat and new shoes today, and that outfit couldn't be bought without ten yuan. So I asked her for money, but she actually gave it to me. Anyway, I'll give you this money as a supplement to your household expenses, but I feel something is wrong with Sun Taohua."
Old Lady Ji narrowed her eyes and said, "Sometime ago, I heard the Sun family scolding Sun Taohua for not working and wandering around all day. I don't know where she went. I haven't heard it much recently."
"Sun Taohua is not often at home?" Shen Ruoqing grasped the key point.
"Yes, she doesn't have as much work to do as before. Old Lady Sun scolds her every day for being lazy and even starves her several times."
Today, Shen Ruoqing saw that Sun Taohua's face had gained a little weight, but it didn't look like she was hungry.
Why did Sun Taohua go out every day when she wasn't working at home? And with so much money... Shen Ruoqing was almost certain that Sun Taohua was probably engaged in speculation.
I didn't expect that Sun Taohua, looking at that state, would still think of speculating and making money to win back Lin Chen's heart! And today she spoke in a tea-like tone, unlike the mindless charge before.
Old Lady Ji was still talking to herself: "This money must be left for you as a dowry. You are not a child anymore. You will be fifteen after the New Year."
"Mom! I'm still young!" Shen Ruoqing didn't plan to get married so early. It was still unclear whether she would get married or not. If she didn't meet the right person, she would rather live alone and be free for the rest of her life.
Sun Taohua went back and asked Liu Xinyi to borrow money.
"Don't you have enough money on hand? Why do you want to borrow money from me? And you want to borrow as much as eighty dollars?" Liu Xinyi frowned. She didn't want to borrow.
"I have given all the money I have with me to my family. Brother Chen also needs living expenses. I will borrow it first for emergency use. You can deduct it from my share when the time comes." Sun Taohua made up an excuse casually.
Liu Xinyi reluctantly took out eighty yuan and said, "What did I teach you? Don't be too nice to men. If you are too nice, they will treat you as a piece of trash. If you want to seduce him, you can't just give him money blindly. You are mindlessly giving to Lin Chen like this, but in the end he still says he only treats you as a sister."
"Then what should I do?"
"You should take advantage of the victory and make Lin Chen get engaged to your family right now while he can't leave you." Liu Xinyi heard from Sun Taohua that Lin Chen was actually dating Shen Ruoqing. Although she had never heard any rumors about Shen Ruoqing and Lin Chen in her previous life, she only remembered that Sun Taohua and Lin Chen were found to be together, and then Lin Chen had to marry Sun Taohua.
But Sun Taohua swore that Shen Ruoqing liked Lin Chen. Could it be that in the previous life, Sun Taohua snatched Lin Chen from Shen Ruoqing, and Shen Ruoqing was so disappointed that she never married? If so, it would be nice to let Lin Chen marry Sun Taohua and disgust Shen Ruoqing.
The days passed one by one, and soon it was New Year's Eve.
The Shen family pasted red stickers all over the house, hung up New Year pictures, and asked Mu Zhiqing to write two pairs of Spring Festival couplets.
Today, Shen Xiangbei also brought his children and wife home to celebrate the New Year. Except for Shen Xiangdong who was lying down and Shen Rongrong who was still young, everyone in the house was busy.
Old Lady Ji caught the fattest hen. In fact, the chickens in her home were all very good, laying more eggs than other families. If it wasn't for the New Year, Old Lady Ji really wouldn't have been willing to kill it.
Shen Rongrong is very cute and calls her auntie obediently. Shen Ruoqing couldn't help but grab a handful of fruit candies and give them to her.
The little girl who received the candy giggled, and her smile was very beautiful.
Shen Xue, who had just returned from picking vegetables from the garden, glanced over inadvertently and discovered that her aunt seemed to like little girls like them very much.
"Xiaoxue, give me the basket and take Rongrong out to play."
Today is Chinese New Year, and Shen Ruoqing decided to cook something different.
Shen Xiangbei brought back a silver carp, which is commonly known as bighead carp, which is just right for making chopped pepper fish head.
After washing the fish, add salt to the fish meat and boil it into soup. Then use the chopped pepper fish head seasoning packet bought from the system supermarket directly, and add bright red chopped peppers to steam together in a pot. A delicious dish is ready.
Shen Ruoqing did not waste the remaining fish body. She made it into sweet and sour crispy fish fillets.
Han watched Shen Ruoqing pouring a lot of oil to fry, feeling distressed but not daring to say anything. She thought, no wonder the sister-in-law's cooking is so delicious, how can it not be delicious with so much oil and ingredients? Old Mrs. Ji's eyelids twitched when she saw Shen Ruoqing pouring so much oil, but fortunately, the oil used to fry the fish fillets can still be used to fry the meatballs, so it is not a waste.
Shen Ruoqing cooked these two dishes and left the kitchen. It would be better to leave the rest to her mother and sister-in-law.
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In the oil used to fry the fish fillets, Old Lady Ji fried the meatballs first. Although they were vegetarian meatballs, the aroma of frying still attracted the little ones. Seeing the little ones looking at them eagerly, Old Lady Ji first gave one to Shen Rongrong, then one to each of them, and then brought it to Shen Ruoqing to taste.
Old Mrs. Ji asked Shen Hansong to send some of the fried meatballs to the people she was on good terms with, and also sent some to Captain Tang.
When Shen Hansong came back, he brought back some fried mushrooms, which were a return gift from Captain Tang's wife. Shen Ruoqing tried one and found it delicious. She felt it was better than the fried vegetarian meatballs.
The dinner was naturally very sumptuous, with chopped pepper fish head, sweet and sour crispy fish fillet, chicken stewed with mushrooms, spicy rabbit meat, fried meatballs, fried cabbage with bacon, tofu stewed with vermicelli, scrambled eggs with leeks, spicy chicken offal, and radish and bone soup. Ten dishes, a perfect symbolism.
Most of these ten dishes were meat dishes. Su Jieru was secretly surprised. When did the Shen family live so well? They still had to eat rice.
The dining table was divided into two, one for adults and one for children. The dishes were the same, except that the children's table was missing a dish called chopped pepper fish head.
"Oh my, this fish head is so spicy that it makes people want to eat more!" Shen Xiangxi said.
"These fried fish fillets taste good!" said Su Jieru. She had never eaten fried fish fillets before.
"It has to be my little sister's good craftsmanship." Shen Xiangnan said.
"Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year!"
(End of this chapter)