Chapter 33

"No, you can eat it directly, but don't eat too much, it's salty."

After Jing Xian said that, Fusheng stopped eating. He tasted one and thought it was quite delicious, but a little salty. He didn't eat much and gave one to Tiedan. The two brothers ate peanuts while mumbling something to each other and laughing like two little foxes stealing fish.

Shang Nanchen looked at the innocent and carefree looks of his two sons. People who didn't know the truth would really think that the two children were brought up being spoiled.

Who could have imagined that two months ago, the two children could not even afford to eat.

"Eat!"

The lunch was a little different from yesterday's New Year's dinner, but not that different.

The two children still ate until their bellies were full.

There were children outside calling them, but Fusheng lay on the kang, not wanting to move at all: "I ate too much, I don't want to move."

If it were any other family, the elders would definitely say that they are a loser.

Jing Xian didn't say anything, but came back with something red, and no one knew what it was.

"Open your mouth!"

Fusheng opened his mouth obediently without asking what it was.

Jingxian stuffed something into his mouth. He was about to say he couldn't eat it anymore, but he chewed it twice and swallowed it with a muffled sound. Tiedan followed suit, fully demonstrating his trust in Jingxian.

"Mom, what is this? It's delicious."

After eating, Tiedan went downstairs to put on his shoes and asked Jingxian.

Jing Xian said, "I bought hawthorns earlier and wanted to make hawthorn cakes for you but I forgot. I remembered it yesterday and made it, but when I saw you guys eating so much in the evening, I forgot to give it to you again."

Fusheng sighed: "Mom, next time you need to remember something like this, just tell me."

These words made Jing Xian laugh.

"Okay, next time mommy makes something to eat I'll tell you so you can remember it." Jing Xian really likes to coax the little guy.

As expected, Fusheng smiled and said, "Okay!"

"Shall we go? Li Yu is waiting outside." Tiedan put on his shoes, but did not run outside. He was still waiting for his brother.

Fusheng didn't want to move, but after eating the hawthorn cake he felt he was still able to do it.

He slowly moved to the edge of the kang, holding his stomach and saying, "I feel like I'm going to vomit if I move a little bit."

Jing Xian: “…”

Shang Nanchen felt it was too shameful to watch.

I wish I could just reach out and take this guy out, out of sight and out of mind.

But Fusheng seemed to have noticed something and smiled sweetly at Shang Nanchen. His pale little face was pink, and he looked very cute and lovable.

It really makes people feel depressed.

"Let's go out and play!"

Fusheng reached out and patted his brother's arm, then was about to go out with Tiedan.

Jing Xian was cutting something in the outer room. When she saw the two brothers coming out, she called them over.

"I'll cut two pieces of hawthorn cake for both of you." Buying hawthorns and making hawthorn cakes yourself is quite troublesome.

It's okay to eat hawthorn alone, but it's too sour.

Jing Xian thought that since it was just for heating the kang, it wouldn't be a big deal to make hawthorn cake.

These are for children to eat. They are also good to take out and give to friends to eat. They are rare things.

Tiedan and Fusheng started drooling again.

Watching Jing Xian cut two large pieces, Fusheng thought about Li Yu and other friends outside, and whispered, "Mom, can you cut a few small pieces for me?"

He even stretched out his finger and compared: "This size is fine."

"Of course."

Jing Xian raised her hands and cut the meat for the two children.

Fusheng and Tiedan wrapped themselves in straw paper and ran out happily.

"Li Yu, let me give you something delicious. My mom will make it!" Fusheng's joyful baby voice could be heard through the curtain.

Jing Xian opened the door curtain and looked out, just in time to see a group of children swarming in, surrounding the two brothers. Tiedan stood beside his brother with a sullen face, like a little door god, not to say fierce, but he looked really not to be trifled with.

Li Yu stopped the other kids and said, "Don't push us. There's nothing to be found even if you push through!"

The other kids all knew that Fu Sheng’s mom’s cooking was delicious; every time she served her food, they would drool.

At this moment, everyone was very greedy, but they didn't dare to ask for it.

Fusheng took out a large piece of hawthorn cake and gave it to Li Yu. Li Yu looked at the bright red hawthorn cake and asked, "What is this?"

“Hawthorn cake.”

Fusheng was very careful and secretly observed Li Yu's reaction after eating.

Li Yu was surprised when he put it in his mouth: "Oh, it's delicious! It's sour and sweet, but not too sour!"

After saying that, he looked at Fusheng eagerly. Fusheng looked like he had no idea what to do with him, so he took out a small piece and gave it to him: "No more!"

"Yeah, I know. Thank you Fusheng, you're so nice. From now on we'll be best brothers!" Li Yu put the food in his mouth, but this time he didn't finish it in an instant. He chewed it slowly and it took him a long time to finish it.

Tiedan rolled his eyes, thinking that Li Yu was simply unbearable to watch.

He opened his share and gave a piece to the other children. Fusheng saw that his brother's share was gone, so he gave his half to his brother.

Li Yu sighed beside him: "Fusheng, am I not your good brother?"

"I'm his brother!"

Tiedan ate a piece of hawthorn cake and sneered at Li Yu.

Li Yu touched his nose and said to Tiedan: "I am also your good brother!"

Tiedan couldn't stand Li Yu's look, so he shared a piece of the hawthorn cake with him.

Li Yu was good at fighting. Sometimes when Fusheng was bullied, Li Yu would help him to fight. Tiedan said he disliked Li Yu, but in fact, he had the best relationship with him. The other kids came over later.

Gousheng'er was also among them. He stood beside Fusheng and spoke to him in a low voice.

"The shrimps cooked by my grandma are delicious. She cooks better than my mom. The rice cooked by my mom is just like pig food. No, even pigs don't like it." Gousheng'er likes his grandma. After his grandma came, his quality of life improved dramatically.

This is reflected in the food.

His mother used to scold him and beat his sister every day, so he didn't like to stay at home.

Now her mother doesn't even dare to scold her sister, let alone hit him.

For Gousheng'er, these are good days.

Tiedan's mouth twitched: "Before you came here, didn't you eat pig food?"

Gou Sheng'er sighed: "That's right!"

This time it was Tiedan's turn to be speechless.

Zhao Xiuzhi had no idea what her son was saying about her, so she just helped make dumplings obediently.

Every household only eats dumplings like this once.

Mrs. Wu was a very particular old lady. She would not allow anyone else to touch the dumplings on New Year's Eve. She had to make them herself. She asked Zhao Xiuzhi to roll out the dumpling wrappers, but Zhao Xiuzhi rolled out two, but they were either square or long, and none of them were round.

"Put it down. We don't need your help here."

Mrs. Wu's light words made Zhao Xiuzhi's cheeks turn red instantly.

She stammered and didn't utter a word for a long time. She just stood there quietly, not daring to go anywhere else.

Mrs. Wu kneaded the dumpling wrappers rolled by Zhao Xiuzhi together again and put them in the uncut dough. She kneaded the dough by herself and made the dumpling wrappers. The dumpling wrappers rolled by the old lady were round, as if they were made by a machine, and all of them were the same size.

The dumplings turned out exactly the same.

The old lady put a penny and some red dates in it without marking them. She placed them directly on the curtain. The circles of them looked particularly beautiful.

Zhang Liansheng came in from outside and saw the old lady making dumplings by herself. Her daughter-in-law was standing beside her watching. She frowned at first, then turned around and went out. After washing her hands, she came back and helped roll out the dumpling skins without saying a word.

Old Mrs. Wu didn't say that she wouldn't let him help. The dumpling wrappers rolled by Zhang Liansheng were much better than those made by Zhao Xiuzhi. Each one was round. They were not as good as those made by Old Mrs. Wu, but they were not much worse.

Overall, Mrs. Wu was satisfied.

next door.

Jingxian is making dumpling fillings now.

I bought a lot of shrimps at home, and it was a big project to peel the shrimps.

When I am here, the cooking speed is much faster. Jingxian made dumplings with shrimp, cabbage and pork.

Dumplings are not only eaten on the night of the 30th, but also on the morning of the 1st.

There are many people in the family, so we need to make a lot of dumplings.

There is also a lot of filling in the dumplings.

Shang Nanchen alone could probably eat 40 to 50 dumplings. The two children also ate quite a lot, 20 each. Jing Xian calculated that she would need to make at least 100 dumplings.

She put a one-cent coin in a teacup, rinsed it with hot water, and then placed it on the panel.

Shang Nanchen started to prepare the dumpling skins, Jing Xian came in with the dumpling fillings and started making dumplings.

It took the worker more than an hour to finish making the dumplings.

Two lids full of dumplings.

"Then I'll go to the army."

Shang Nanchen washed his hands, put on his military coat, put on his hat and prepared to go out.

Today the troops will celebrate the New Year together.

New Year's Eve.

Every household is awake.

Because we have to eat dumplings at twelve o'clock, we eat the leftovers from lunch for dinner.

Although it was leftovers, it contained fish and meat, and was quite rich.

It's getting dark.

Lights were on in every house.

The two children had nothing to do, so when they heard other children running outside, they went outside to play too.

Shang Nanchen came back from outside and found his two sons still playing outside, so he took the two children home.

Jing Xian heard the noise but did not get off the bed.

After a while, he saw the father and his son come in and was surprised: "Where did you find them?"

"intersection."

Shang Nanchen frowned, and the two children immediately climbed onto the kang and even found their own books to read. Shang Nanchen swallowed the words of reprimand that were on the tip of his tongue.

It's not a good idea to beat children during the Chinese New Year.

Jing Xian looked at Shang Nanchen with amusement and asked, "Do you have anything to sew? It's not a good time to sew in the first month of the year."

"No." Shang Nanchen's clothes were still in good condition.

Jing Xian asked the two boys, "Is there anything wrong with your clothes?"

Fusheng shook his head obediently: "No!"

"Okay, I'll heat some water in the pot and let your dad give you two a bath. Wash your heads, too." Shang Nanchen had been away for a month, and the two brothers hadn't taken a bath. They had washed their hair a few times, though.

It’s cold in winter.

Although the tourist market is not as cold as the prosperous market, it is particularly cold this year.

After that heavy snow, there were two more light snowfalls.

The two children didn't have much weight before, so Jing Xian didn't dare to bother them for fear that they would catch a cold.

After two months of treatment, I feel much better than before.

There were many fires burning in the house, and the fire in the stove had not been extinguished.

The two children were taking a bath.

Shang Nanchen took the two children out without saying a word.

Let the two children sit in a large basin and take turns to bathe.

After the two children finished bathing, Jing Xian asked Shang Nanchen to come in, she closed the door, and took a bath in the outer room. Although she always wiped her body after the children fell asleep every day, Jing Xian still took a bath seriously.

She thought that she would clean up the west room next year and let the child sleep there.

This is how we will do it this year.

The things in the west room need to be packed up and put in the closet.

Their closet is very run-down and needs to be repaired if they want to store things in it.

"When spring comes and it gets warmer, shall we renovate the room?" Jing Xian walked into the room, sat on the kang, and chatted with Shang Nanchen.

Shang Nanchen had taken a bath in the army's bathhouse, so today he washed his hair, feet, and face before coming in.

He heard what Jing Xian said and did not object: "It's fine with you, just do it as you see fit."

"Then we'll renovate the room when the time comes." Jing Xian said, "Next year the two kids will go to school, and they'll be grown-up in the blink of an eye. It won't be good for them to live in the same room with us. I thought we'd clean up the west room when the weather gets warmer."

Shang Nanchen immediately said: "How about I go and clean it up now?"

“…”

Jing Xian looked at him suspiciously.

Shang Nanchen, Shang Nanchen coughed and said, "If I don't have time next year, you will have to clean up by yourself then."

"Shang Nanchen, where do you put those things?"

"It's in the west room. They just want to sleep there, how much space do they need?" Shang Nanchen said without any doubt.

"Then the house will be warm if there is a fire."

"Put the frozen ones in the closet!" Shang Nanchen couldn't wait to clean up the closet.

"Let's talk about it after the first month of the lunar year. There's no rush."

No, it's quite urgent.

At least Shang Nanchen was anxious.

"Let's not talk about that now." Shang Nanchen couldn't wait to start cleaning the room as soon as the sun rose.

Jing Xian said nothing, just looked at him calmly, her meaning was clear.

No means no.

Shang Nanchen took advantage of his two sons not paying attention and asked Jing Xian in a low voice: "Why didn't you tell me this morning?"

"I didn't think about this this morning." Jing Xian looked innocent.

She really didn't remember.

The two children are only five years old, and they will be six after the New Year. They usually go to and from get off work with her, following her everywhere. It is not convenient for her to go to the bathhouse to take a bath, because she is afraid that something will happen to the two children without her being by their side.

Shang Nanchen finally came back, but the bathhouse was closed.

She had no choice but to let the child take a bath at home.

Jing Xian also suddenly felt inconvenient.

Shang Nanchen sighed.

The two children were tired from playing and a little sleepy, but they insisted on not sleeping.

"What time is it?"

Shang Nanchen had a watch. He looked down at the time and said, "It's almost eleven o'clock."

"Add some more firewood to the stove and cook dumplings for dinner."

As soon as Jing Xian mentioned cooking dumplings, the two children immediately perked up.

The water in the pot is already hot.

Shang Nanchen added a handful of firewood, and soon the water began to boil. He cooked dumplings without letting Jingxian come down, and when the dumplings were done, he brought them up himself.

The family looked at the two bowls of dumplings and started eating.

Jing Xian waited until they had all finished eating before asking, "Is it delicious?"

Fusheng nodded quickly: "Delicious!"

“It’s delicious!”

Tiedan has never eaten such delicious dumplings in his life.

Even Shang Nanchen's eyes lit up.

Jing Xian then picked up the dumpling and started eating, but she stopped eating after taking just one bite.