Chapter 486: Sticky Bean Dumplings

Zhou Xiaomei didn't know what to say: "Your Yanyan will definitely be a good student in the future."

"I'll tell Xiaofei later and ask him to come to your house this afternoon to study with you."

Liu Yinyin smiled and said, "Don't say it directly. Just tell him... I want him to help me look after the kids."

Zhou Xiaomei nodded: "That's right, tell him directly, I'm afraid he won't want to go."

Liu Yinyin added: "Sister-in-law, ask Xiaoxiao to come with you."

Teaching two is teaching, teaching three is also teaching.

If the triplets were not still young, Liu Yinyin would have wanted to clear out a room and teach the children to read and write.

Anyway, it would be boring for her to stay at home idle, so she might as well find something to do to kill time.

Zhou Xiaomei smiled and said, "Okay, my Xiaoxiao will trouble you."

Chen Xiaofei lived quite well at Zhou Xiaomei's house. At the beginning, he was a little dirty because no one was taking care of him.

Now, I can’t say that I am fair, but I am very clean and tidy.

That afternoon, Chen Xiaofei took Fan Xiaoxiao to Liu Yinyin's house.

Liu Yinyin called them into the room and placed a desk inside.

The table is quite big, enough for three people to sit.

The triplets were playing on the bed next to them. Some of them were old enough to crawl and would even walk for a while holding on to the bed rails.

However, the triplets have company, and as long as there is someone around, the children can play by themselves for a while.

Liu Yinyin has already prepared the first-grade books and distributed them to Fan Xiaoxiao and Chen Xiaofei.

Fan Xiaoxiao was too young and had never been to nursery before, so it was quite difficult to suddenly teach her to read and write.

It doesn’t matter if she can’t learn it, Liu Yinyin won’t force her.

Chen Xiaofei is different. He is already sensible enough.

"Auntie, I don't want to study."

Liu Yinyin glanced at him and said, "Don't you like studying?"

Chen Xiaofei hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "I don't like it."

Liu Yinyin smiled and asked, "If you're not studying, what are you doing at home?"

Chen Xiaofei thought for a moment and said, "Going up the mountain to chop wood, doing housework... taking care of my younger brothers and sisters."

Liu Yinyin asked calmly, "What about the future? As a boy, do you still want to stay at home and do housework for the rest of your life? Do you want to support yourself by doing this?"

Chen Xiaofei was silent.

Liu Yinyin told her: "Auntie, I don't mean anything else. I heard from your uncle that in a few years when you are old enough, you may be able to join the army."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Xiaofei's eyes lit up: "Auntie...Auntie, are you telling the truth?"

"Of course." Liu Yinyin coughed. "However, the army also has conditions for recruiting soldiers. If you can't read a single word, why would they want you?"

Chen Xiaofei paused and said unnaturally: "I am older..."

Children are actually very concerned about their reputation. It is impossible for them to not care at all when faced with other people's strange looks.

Liu Yinyin said expressionlessly, "Your uncles had no conditions to study when they were young. After serving in the army, they had to attend a blindness prevention class. Aren't they older than you?"

"You are only in your teens. It is not too late for you to study now. Primary school knowledge is not difficult. If you study hard, you may be able to skip two or three grades when you take the exam. You can go directly to the third or fourth grade."

This is true. The teaching was not that strict at that time. As long as you can pass the exam, it is not difficult to skip a grade.

After much persuasion, Chen Xiaofei finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Auntie, I want to try it."

Nowadays, there is no boy who doesn't want to be a soldier.

Chen Xiaofei's family is in the same situation. If he could stay in the army and serve as a soldier... he could completely get rid of his previous life.

Liu Yinyin took a sip of water. If Chen Xiaofei still didn't want to, she wouldn't persuade him anymore.

She was not a nosy person. They were not related at all. If he was not always under her nose, she would have felt really pitiful.

Liu Yinyin simply wouldn't care about him.

As for Gu Yanyan, Liu Yinyin often reads to him and teaches him some simple things on weekdays, so he is not very averse to reading.

Liu Yinyin has to take care of the children and doesn't have much free time. She only spares one or two hours every day to teach the children.

Time flies, and it’s the end of the year in the blink of an eye.

Gu Cheng has only been in the new military region for a short time, so this year, he definitely cannot take leave to go back to his hometown for the New Year.

Zhou Xiaomei and her family will not return to their hometown either.

Liu Yinyin heard her mention that she and Captain Fan's hometowns are both in the Northeast, and it would take ten days to half a month to go back and forth.

So, the two of them stayed in the army for more than ten years and only went back twice.

This morning, just after breakfast, Zhou Xiaomei gave Liu Yinyin a basket of sticky rice dumplings.

The sticky rice dumplings were wrapped yesterday and left outside to freeze overnight. They are now hard.

Just steam it when you want to eat it.

A basket full of sticky rice dumplings weighs at least ten kilograms.

Zhou Xiaomei's family was making sticky rice dumplings yesterday, and Liu Yinyin also went over to help.

Sticky rice dumplings are made from rhubarb rice and filled with red bean paste.

After it was done, Zhou Xiaomei steamed a pot for them to taste.

Liu Yinyin likes to eat very much.

Zhou Xiaomei smiled and said, "You eat first, and then come to my house to get it after you finish eating."

Liu Yinyin: "Enough..."

Zhou Xiaomei waved her hands and said, "Don't be polite to me. My Xiaoxiao has been causing you a lot of trouble these days."

During this time, Liu Yinyin taught several children to read and write without asking for any compensation.

I also often prepare afternoon snacks for the kids, such as malted milk, milk tea, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted chestnuts, brown sugar rice cakes...

There were delicious foods almost every day, which made Fan Xiaoxiao not like studying very much, but she was reluctant to go home.

Zhou Xiaomei was grateful to Liu Yinyin, so whenever she had something good at home, she would send her a portion.

Thinking of something, Zhou Xiaomei murmured, "I'm going to Dongpo Mountain later. Someone in the village is slaughtering pigs for the New Year today. I'm going to buy two pounds of pork."

The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and her two sons will go home for the holiday tomorrow. Zhou Xiaomei is thinking about buying two pounds of pork to nourish them.

It turned out that Zhou Xiaomei was used to being frugal and would buy pork in half a pound portions.

Now...influenced by Liu Yinyin, Zhou Xiaomei has become much more generous with her money than before.

We make money to spend, especially on food. Nothing is more important than the health of your family.

Liu Yinyin understood and said, "Sister-in-law, please bring me two pounds of pork and two pieces of spare ribs... If you have pig's trotters, please buy me two as well. I'll go get the money for you."

There is still one week left before the Chinese New Year. The pork we buy will be enough to last until the Chinese New Year.

Anyway, the weather is cold, so if you freeze the pork outside, it won’t go bad for ten days or half a month.