Chapter 54 Chapter 54 Are they related in a special way? Yes, indeed...
Her heartfelt words are actually a true reflection of her experiences in the past two years.
Zhao Qingqing and Zhao Haiyan seemed to be touched and blinked their eyes.
After saying this, Xia Li also laughed. Seeing that the two people suddenly became quiet, she was worried that she was being too arrogant, so she changed the subject.
Zhao Qingqing worked in an electrical appliance factory in Xiguan. Xia Li had only given her a brief introduction before, and was not very clear about what the factory produced or what kind of business it had, so she asked Zhao Qingqing.
The waiter came over to the three of them and brought the dishes they ordered: a plate of stir-fried seasonal vegetables, a plate of boiled shrimp, seafood porridge and special vinegar pork.
The three of them first had a bowl of seafood porridge, which also contained a few shrimps and dried scallops, and tasted fresh and refreshing.
Zhao Haiyan exclaimed in amazement, "Hey, how come they have everything here? Even the porridge tastes better than ours."
Zhao Qingqing laughed at her, "Can you handle drinking it every day? I've been eating home-cooked meals for over a decade and never get tired of them. Anyway, I just want to try something new. If I had to trade this for the food at home, I'd still choose the food at home."
It's true. The porridge at home isn't as rich in ingredients as the ones here, with seafood and lean meat. All we have at home is a bland sweet soup, but it's incredibly easy to make and surprisingly filling. It's like what my aunt would say: How can you always eat all those good things? Your body can't handle it.
Xia Li also said: "If it tastes good, then you can drink more. Look, they brought us a casserole, we can't not finish it."
Zhao Haiyan shook her head happily, "Okay, I'll drink two bowls today."
Zhao Qingqing picked up the small bowl and drank while talking to Xia Li about the situation in her factory.
Xia Li listened carefully, even feeling a little strange as Zhao Qingqing spoke. Only after she finished did Xia Li ask, "Why is your electrical appliance factory still not performing well?"
Zhao Qingqing said, "I heard from others that this is a private enterprise, how can it be compared with state-owned enterprises? The factory director has recently changed, and I don't know who will be the final one."
Xia Li was still surprised and asked her, "Though things are going on in your factory right now, are you still getting paid as normal?"
Zhao Qingqing smiled and said, "Actually, the workers below us can feel nothing. Whether the leadership changes or not, the wages are paid normally, and the production line is still running. Everything is fine."
Xia Li actually felt that it was not a big problem. Being able to pay workers' wages showed that there was no problem with the funds in the factory. They were still producing electrical appliances. Nowadays, factories that made electrical appliances could make a lot of money, especially these appliances that cost several thousand dollars.
She thinks it still has great potential.
When she returned home in the afternoon, Xia Li brought some snacks with her to make up for the guilt of not bringing Jiang Zai with her in the morning.
As soon as she put down her bag, she went looking for someone all over the house.
"Ginger? Ginger? Aunt? Is she home?"
Xia Li shouted a few times, but heard no movement in the house. After looking around, she found that there was no one in the house. No wonder the door was locked.
Maybe my aunt took Jiangzai out as well.
So she didn't do anything and went to the bathroom to wash up. She put on some makeup before going out, and when she came back she wanted to wipe it off her face.
She used lanolin soap to wash her face, and then simply applied a little facial cream.
Back in the room, Xia Li went to her desk and opened the window. The moment the window opened, a cool breeze blew in. The weather was not cold at the moment, and it was quite pleasant to have a little breeze after just coming home.
Suddenly, she remembered that Jiang Dong had promised to help her repair her window, but he hadn't had the time yet. She didn't know when he would be able to do it. However, she felt that the problem wasn't too serious. As long as the weather wasn't particularly bad, her window would still be able to hold up for a while. She just needed to reinforce the latches on the window grilles and apply waterproof sealant around the window.
She sat down and took a book and notebook from the side of the table and placed them in front of her. The book in between had the words "Basic English" written on it in large letters, which was exactly what Charlie had been studying for a long time.
Except for the little she'd learned in school before getting married, she'd been self-studying. She'd only started after moving in with her aunt, mainly because the nights were so long sometimes, and she felt like she wasted if she didn't find something to do. She also had a thing for Guangzhou, with all the foreigners there. She knew she might find her English useful somewhere, like when a foreigner asked her for directions on the street. Xia Li couldn't understand what she'd learned, so she just kept learning a little each day.
Auntie also knew about this and was very supportive. She knew that sometimes when Charlie was reading or studying in the house, she told Jiangzai not to disturb her.
There was also a radio on the table that could play tapes. She had bought the tapes to go with this book, and sometimes she would listen to them over and over again.
English wasn't easy to learn, so her notebook was solely used to memorize vocabulary and common sentences. Except on particularly busy days, when Xia Li was alone in her room at night, she would take her textbook and notebook and memorize vocabulary and sentences. She would learn a little each day and then review what she had learned earlier.
Now she tuned the radio to the new lesson and pressed the button again, and the radio began to play English conversations.
Charlie kept listening to the book, comparing it several times. When she felt it was about right, she closed the book, lowered her head and listened to the sound from the radio to carefully recall the contents of the book.
After listening to it briefly once, she felt that it was not enough and was about to press the button on the radio to listen to it again. At this time, there was a noise coming from the door.
Xia Li was still sitting in her chair, stretching her head to look at the gate. Through the window, she saw Jiang Zai come into the yard first, and then her aunt, who was holding a plastic bag in her hand.
When Charlie saw that everyone had returned, she stood up, turned off the radio, and walked out of the house.
She walked into the living room, and before she could go outside, Jiang Zai and her aunt came in one after another.
"Hey? Xia Li, you're back?" Xia Pingzhi asked, then raised the bag in her hand and motioned for Xia Li to look at it. "Look at the loofahs at your Aunt Zhong's house. She insisted I pick a few. Let's make loofah soup tonight while they're fresh."
Xia Li nodded, walked over to take a look at the bag, and praised, "It's really a beautiful loofah. How come Aunt Zhong's everything grows well?"
Grandma Zhong's home wasn't large, but she did have a plot of land in the countryside. She'd sometimes go back to check on the vegetables in her garden. She'd plant something easy to grow, weeding, watering, and fertilizing on a regular basis. Whenever she came back from her hometown, she'd always bring plenty of vegetables. Worried about not being able to finish them all, she'd share with her close neighbors. So, Xia Li Defu had a few of them.
Previously it was beans, eggplants, water spinach, etc., this time it’s loofah.
Seeing Jiang Zai standing next to her, Xia Li pointed in the direction of the table and said, "Jiang Zai, look at what's on the table. I brought you some delicious food. Go and try it quickly." Xia Li urged.
After saying that, Xia Li didn't care how Jiang Zai ate. She took the dish from Xia Pingzhi and went to the kitchen.
The loofahs were quite big, and there were three of them in the bag. Xia Li also knew the amount of food her aunt usually cooked, so she took out one to wash it and put the rest on the vegetable rack next to her.
After Xia Pingzhi came in, she saw Xia Li washing one and nodded. She said, "I'm just worried that you'll wash all of them. If you don't eat them after washing them, they'll go bad."
Xia Li casually replied, "I'm not that stupid." Seeing her aunt getting ready to work again, she said to Xia Pingzhi, "Aunt, just make some soup tonight. We'll have a simple meal. I brought you some snacks. You can just have some snacks and some soup when the time comes."
Xia Pingzhi thought it was okay, but she was wondering if Jiang Zai would want to eat something else.
She looked a little embarrassed and hesitant, and Charlie understood it at a glance.
Coincidentally, at this time, Jiang Zai came in with a candied haws in his hand. He held one in each of his little hands, and he even put the one in his right hand into his mouth and chewed it.
It seems that he likes it very much. It tastes delicious.
Xia Li walked over, squatted down, tilted her head and asked, "Jiang Zai, are the candied haws delicious?"
Jiangzai nodded while chewing.
Charlie smiled and continued, "Are you going to give what you have in your hand to me?"
Jiangzai swallowed what was in his mouth, said "hmm," and then handed the other one to his aunt.
Xia Pingzhi saw Jiang Zi struggling to raise the candied haws in his hand high, trying to pass it to her. So, she quickly took it, bent down, and said to Jiang Zi with a smile on her face: "Thank you, our little one. I won't eat it. Can you save it for our little one?"
The child Jiang Zai smiled and stopped eating the candied hawthorn in his hand cautiously. He took a big bite and bit off one.
Charlie watched from the side and clicked her tongue, "Eat slowly, there are seeds in it. Remember to spit them out and don't swallow them. Otherwise, they will sprout in your belly and grow into a small tree."
She pretended to be serious and tried to scare Jiangzai. It turned out that children needed to be scared. As soon as Xia Li finished speaking, Jiangzai ate the hawthorn in smaller bites and spit out the seeds in the hawthorn and threw them into the trash can.
He now had food in his hands, so he didn't go anywhere else. He just followed Xia Li and Xia Pingzhi into the kitchen. He sat on a small stool, sitting there obediently, eating seriously.
Although Xia Li didn't pay much attention to him, she would occasionally glance over at him. When she saw Jiang Zai eating the hawthorn, she felt a sour taste in her teeth and mouth and couldn't help swallowing.
But she really didn't want to eat.
"Aunt, look at him. Doesn't this kid know how to be jealous? It makes my teeth ache just looking at him."
Xia Pingzhi also turned her head to look, and whispered to Xia Li: "I'm also very jealous. Children probably love to eat these flavorful things, and the key is that there is such a thick layer of sugar on it. Look how he enjoys it. I guess the rest of this string won't be left until tomorrow." After Xia Pingzhi said this, she looked at the other candied haws on the plate on the table.
Xia Li actually bought it for her aunt and Jiang Zai to eat together, but now it is probably going to be eaten by Jiang Zai alone.
She was a little worried, not knowing if he could eat so much, so she asked, "Aunt, does he dare to eat so much at once?"
"It should be fine. After all, hawthorn is an appetite-stimulating and digestive aid. Let him eat as much as he wants. It's just a little bit anyway. Just eat less at the next meal and don't eat too much." Xia Pingzhi said.
Xia Li snorted and said to Xia Pingzhi, "Aunt, you see, you are the one who spoils the child." She deliberately looked at her, pretending to be unhappy.
Xia Pingzhi also snorted, imitating Xia Li. "Stop talking nonsense. Oh, by the way, let me ask you something. Today at your Aunt Zhong's house, she said that you and your male colleague had a special relationship with the man you brought back last time to fix the roof! Tell me, what's your relationship like now?"
Charlie was stunned. What was going on?
Are they related? Yes, they are. The key is how did Aunt Zhong know about it? Did she accidentally see it when she met Jiang Dong later? How come she has no recollection of it at all?
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