"I only found out yesterday. If Jasmine hadn't let it slip, I'd still be completely in the dark. That's why I said Xiaojing is incredibly stubborn; she won't tell her family a single word about things she doesn't want to talk about. As for Xiaojing's boyfriend..."
Auntie San sighed: "She still won't tell me. She says that dating is one thing, but marriage is another. She wants to ask her boyfriend's opinion first, and then bring him home to meet her."
Fang Qiao's brow twitched, thinking: Why does this sound so scummy?
And it was Jiang Moli who let it slip; she already knew?
That's strange.
"Whether it will work out or not, I'm not sure yet. I just wanted to let you know so you'd be prepared and not be surprised later. If my Xiaojing is settled this time, I'll need you two to come over and make the arrangements," Auntie said politely.
Fang Qiao smiled and agreed, "It's no trouble at all. We're all family. When Bai Dong and I got married, you helped Grandma with the arrangements. It's all what we should do. Third Aunt, please don't be so polite."
After seeing her third aunt off, Fang Qiao prepared to make dumplings with bread, chives, and eggs.
A few days ago, Fang Qiao tried sowing a small patch of chive seeds on her social media. To her surprise, the chives grew as tall as her calves in just a few days. If she didn't eat the first batch of chives soon, they would become too old.
Fang Qiao prefers doing everyday chores to taking care of children.
Taking care of children is so exhausting, it's even more tiring than doing housework!
Although An'an is only one and a half months old, Fang Qiao feels that she has already learned to be cunning.
As long as he's awake, he refuses to lie in his crib and insists on being held by an adult. Moreover, it has to be while being held and walked around; his legs can't stop. If they do, he starts whimpering. He's such a tiny child, yet he's quite good at pretending to cry.
Cheng Baidong is a doting father to his daughter; he can't stand seeing her cry even a little bit.
As soon as my daughter whimpers, I immediately hug her and comfort her.
He had plenty of energy but nowhere to use it, but Fang Qiao, who was only 1.6 meters tall, was no match for Cheng Baidong, who was over 1.8 meters tall and strong enough to hold and soothe the child endlessly.
So usually, Fang Qiao would rather leave An An to Cheng Baidong to hold while she does the housework.
Fang Qiao cut the chives, washed them clean, took out four eggs from the bamboo basket, beat them, and scrambled them. Finally, she started kneading the dough.
The dough is ready; let it rest in the bowl.
By this time, the surface moisture of the chives should have dried. Chop them up, add a little cooking oil, mix well to lock in the moisture, and the chive filling will not be watery.
Next, she poured the cooked and cooled eggs into the chive filling mixed with cooking oil, added salt and hand-ground spice powder for seasoning, and finally added some dried shrimp for an even more delicious flavor.
Fang Qiao had been a cook since elementary school and was used to kitchen work. In just one hour, she had filled two full bamboo trays with dumplings.
It wasn't dark yet, and it wasn't time to eat.
The old lady took Tian Tian to the village entrance to play with the other children, and they haven't returned yet.
Fang Qiao simply cooked a large bowl of dumplings and put them in a lunchbox. She said to Cheng Baidong, "Baidong, you stay home and look after An'an. I'm going out for a bit to deliver some to Xiaoyun."
"Okay," Cheng Baidong replied.
Fang Qiao carried a lunchbox out of the house and headed north to the educated youth settlement. On the way, he met Jiang Moli.
She seemed to have encountered some joyous occasion, and her usually superficial smile was now tinged with genuine happiness: "Oh, sister-in-law, where are you going with that lunchbox?"
"Something came up," Fang Qiao replied casually, not stopping in her tracks, not wanting to say more.
Jiang Moli was in a good mood and didn't bother Fang Qiao. "Then you go ahead and do your work, sister-in-law. It'll be dark soon, and I should go home and cook."
Fang Qiao nodded and continued walking forward.
As Fang Qiao passed by the large ditch behind the village, she ran into Xiao Jing again by sheer coincidence.
This is truly the first time in the past six months.
Xiao Jing doesn't like to go out, and Fang Qiao rarely sees her outside of her home, except when she's at work.
"Xiaojing, you've gone out to play?"
Xiao Jing hummed in agreement, then called out "Sister-in-law" again, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Nothing's wrong at home, so I came out for a stroll."
She seemed to be in a bad mood, with a faint wisp of dark energy lingering between her brows, but since she was like this most of the time, Fang Qiao didn't take it to heart.
"Spring has arrived, and it's much warmer outside. It's nice to go out for a stroll and relax."
After exchanging a few casual words, Fang Qiao and Xiao Jing parted ways and continued walking towards the educated youth settlement.
The educated youth center was located at the back of the village, not far from the ditch. Fang Qiao turned a corner and saw the building of the educated youth center.
Many educated youths were talking in front of the house, and Wang Yun was among them.
Upon seeing Fang Qiao approach, Wang Yun stopped talking, exchanged a few words with the others, and then walked towards Fang Qiao.
"These are dumplings with chives and eggs, and I've added some dried shrimp. Try them and see if you like them." Fang Qiao handed her the lunchbox.
"It'll definitely taste delicious! When have you ever been bad at cooking?"
Wang Yun was very supportive; he immediately opened his lunchbox, pinched a dumpling with his hand, and stuffed it into his mouth.
After taking the first bite, she exclaimed, "Wow!" "Xiao Qiao, you put so much egg in these dumplings! They're so fragrant and delicious!"
"Whatever you like." Fang Qiao glanced at the other educated youths behind her and asked curiously, "What were you all talking about so enthusiastically?"
"Lin Youcai's mysterious love interest has been exposed."
When gossip got into it, Wang Yun forgot all about eating dumplings: "You wouldn't believe it if I told you, but the person he's been secretly seeing lately is actually Xiao Jing from your third aunt's family!"
"What?" Fang Qiao was stunned.
Previously, Xiaojing had been secretly keeping it a secret from her third aunt, who had wondered if Xiaojing's boyfriend might be one of the educated youth from the educated youth camp.
Because no one in the Cheng family wanted their children to marry educated youth, Auntie and the old lady shared the same idea, always believing that marrying an educated youth was not a safe bet.
They felt that the educated youth were not locals, and no one knew how future policies would develop. What if they could return to the city in the future and then just pack up and leave?
Fang Qiao felt that Xiao Jing kept her relationship with a certain male educated youth a secret for this reason.
But Fang Qiao never expected that Xiao Jing's so-called boyfriend was actually Lin Youcai!
How could he do that!
He's a scumbag and irresponsible; he's the worst person in the entire educated youth compound!
Fang Qiao can say with certainty that any male educated youth in the educated youth camp is better than Lin Youcai!
“I didn’t believe it at first either.” Wang Yun spread his hands: “After all, I’ve met Xiao Jing before. She’s so shy that she’s too embarrassed to look up and talk to people. I really don’t know how Lin Youcai got together with her.”
"But it's all over the male educated youth. Xiao Jing came to see Lin Youcai yesterday evening, and the two of them talked alone in the grove for a long time. Many people saw it, so I can't help but believe it."
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