Cheng Nuonuo lowered his eyes, not wanting to pay attention. In the past, Cheng Yaoyao might have been the one who gave him money, but now everyone in the village knew that the Xie family was doing well, using refined rice and white meat to feed Han Yin and Zhang Xiaofeng, who had nothing to do with them. Even the cats and dogs in the Xie family were fed meat and drank goat milk.
Wei Shuying peeled open a zongzi, which was sticky and fragrant. When she bit into it, she actually found a salted egg yolk and two pieces of good meat. While chewing, she pushed Cheng Nonuo hard: "I'm asking you a question, you little bitch!"
Cheng Nuonuo felt severe pain all over his body. She pushed him and he groaned in pain. He felt a hot current in his head and it turned out that he was bleeding again.
Cheng Zheng returned to the house and saw the situation and said angrily: "Nono is already so sick, and you are still making trouble!"
Wei Shuying hurriedly held the zongzi in her hands and came to Cheng Zheng's eyes: "Look, this landlord's house was confiscated, how can he still eat such delicious food! I just counted, and sister-in-law Yingui and Shen Yan's mother each got four zongzi. We have eight, and according to the extra charge in Shanghai, this will cost quite a lot!"
"Just eat it if I give it to you. Why do you have to make so much of it?" Cheng Zheng said, "Don't just eat it yourself. Peel one for Nuonuo."
Wei Shuying said, "How can she eat this now? She can't digest it! You eat it. You haven't eaten anything on the way."
Cheng Zheng had no appetite, so Wei Shuying forced him to eat a zongzi, which turned out to be filled with red bean paste. He remembered Xie Zhao's words: "I've been thinking about your love for meat zongzi."
Cheng Zheng sighed and took a bite of the zongzi. The glutinous rice was fragrant and the red bean paste was sweet. It was surprisingly delicious. He was hungry, and eating a zongzi whetted his appetite.
He wiped his hands, peeled a boiled egg and handed it to Cheng Nuonuo. Xie's eggs were small, but extremely fresh. After peeling them, a fragrant smell came out, and the orange yolk was faintly visible in the egg white. Even Cheng Zheng couldn't help but drool.
Cheng Nonuo grabbed it and swallowed it in two or three mouthfuls. She choked and fell on the bed, coughing. The egg yolk sprayed all over the bed sheet. Cheng Zheng hurriedly patted her back and shouted, "Pour me a glass of water."
Wei Shuying finished a meat zongzi herself, licking her lips with delight. She quickly put away the remaining zongzi and said, "She is not feeling well. She cannot drink too much water! This zongzi is really delicious. I will save it for my family to taste when I return to Shanghai."
Cheng Zheng said: "If Nuonuo doesn't want to eat, we still have to eat."
Wei Shuying said: "Hey, today is a festival. I heard that the Xie family bought vegetables and meat early in the morning, so how could they not invite us over to eat? Leave a few rice dumplings, my nephew from my mother's side hasn't tasted glutinous rice this year..."
If the Xie family had intended to invite him to the festival, they would not have sent this plate of food.
Cheng Zheng thought about how Cheng Yaoyao had treated him so happily when he first met her today, calling him dad. But after Wei Shuying and her daughter had caused such a scene, when Xie Zhao had brought him the rice dumplings, they had not even mentioned inviting him to come over for dinner, not even a word of politeness.
Cheng Zheng was furious at this moment: "It's already this late and you're still thinking about your mother's family! Have you ever paid any attention to this family?"
Wei Shuying was stunned: "What do you mean? I have done my best for this family, and you still say that! Aren't they just a few broken rice dumplings? How can my family not afford them? I..."
Cheng Nuonuo weakly pulled Wei Shuying a few times, but was pushed away by her. She said hoarsely, "Mom, I was disturbed, Dad... cough cough cough..."
"Nunuo, take a rest and don't talk." Cheng Zheng said angrily to Wei Shuying, "Is this about the egg dumplings? Do you do your best for this family? I think you do your best for your mother's family! All the money and food coupons in the family, as well as the good clothes and shoes from afar, have been moved back to your mother's family over the years. I turned a blind eye to it, and now look at what Nuonuo has become! You don't take good care of her, and you... You are really hopeless!"
Cheng Zheng couldn't think of anything to say and threw his hands in anger.
Wei Shuying unwrapped the wrapped rice dumplings and eggs with a thumping sound, and kept mumbling in a voice that only she could hear. Wei Shuying had the ability to judge the situation unique to rural women. In the Wei family, it was common for women to be beaten. Although Cheng Zheng had never beaten her, she didn't dare to really talk back to Cheng Zheng. This was her way of expressing her anger.
Wei Shuying lowered her head and peeled two rice dumplings and placed them next to Cheng Zheng. She also peeled an egg for Cheng Nonuo to eat. This time she poured her a glass of water and fed her without making any sound.
Cheng Zheng took a bite, and the delicious and glutinous rice dumpling lost its flavor in his mouth.
Cheng Nonuo ate the eggs in her mouth, and a little strength came out of her extremely weak body. She swallowed the eggs in big mouthfuls, eating all four eggs in a row, choking and gasping for breath, but her heart was filled with ecstasy.
…
In the Xie family's yard, the women worked together to pickle a basket of salted chicken and duck eggs, and put them into jars and sealed them. Grandma Xie also cooked a pot of salted duck eggs and hung them in the yard.
This batch of duck eggs was bought specially from the brigade. They are twice as big as normal duck eggs, and each one has a double yolk. They have only been pickled for a dozen days, so they are not too salty and taste very good when eaten plain. The yolk is oily and sandy, and it is so delicious.
Cheng Yaoyao carefully selected two duck eggs and asked Xie Zhao, "Which one looks better?"
Xie Zhao said: "Is there a difference?"
"Of course there is!" Cheng Yaoyao held up the duck egg, "Look carefully, they look very different."
At first glance, duck eggs look similar, but in fact they come in different shades, sizes, and shapes. Cheng Yaoyao holds a white oval duck egg and a green pointed duck egg.
Xie Zhao was distracted by her pink nails and pointed at the blue one. Cheng Yaoyao immediately chose the white one: "This one looks good."
Xie Zhao: “…”
Cheng Yaoyao carefully put the duck eggs into the egg bag. Xie Fei also picked out her duck eggs and put them in the egg bag.
It is a tradition in Tianshui Village that children will hang an egg bag on the Dragon Boat Festival to pray for blessings and safety. However, the traditional egg bag is mostly made of colorful silk threads, and Cheng Yaoyao's is a little yellow chicken.
Cheng Yaoyao drew a sketch for Grandma Xie, and she drew it right away. The goose-yellow silk thread was used to draw a chubby little yellow chicken with an orange beak and paws, which was quite funny.
Grandma Xie found it interesting and asked Cheng Yaoyao to draw a few more for her. She drew many cartoon egg bags of lambs, bunnies, penguins, etc. and distributed them to the children in the neighborhood, which made the children very happy. Even Jianjian and Xunxun got a small fish egg bag and a duck saliva bag respectively.
But Jianjian didn't like to have things hanging on his body and soon broke the egg bag. Konghun, on the other hand, liked it very much and jumped around with his drool hanging from the bag.
Cheng Yaoyao stuffed the duck egg into the egg bag, and the little yellow chicken immediately became round. She hung it around Xie Zhao's neck and looked at him. Xie Zhao was tall and big, and his shoulders were stiff with the little yellow chicken egg bag hanging on him.
Cheng Yaoyao was quite happy: "It looks great, don't take it off!"
At this time, the gate of the courtyard rang. Xie Fei was having a hard time holding back her laughter, and hurriedly said, "I'll go open the door!"
Xie Fei peered at the door before opening it: "It's Aunt Yingui."
Auntie Yingui held a bowl of loquats and said with a smile, "I just got your rice dumplings, and my grandson loves them. These loquats were sent by my parents, they are very sweet, I'll give them to you to try."
Xie Fei thanked him before taking it. Auntie Yingui looked at Xie Zhao and said, "Xie Zhao, come here. Auntie wants to tell you something."
Xie Zhao hid the egg bag in his clothes and was about to go over when Cheng Yaoyao pulled his clothes and said, "Let me go. What other little secrets do you have with Auntie Yingui?"
Cheng Yaoyao walked to the door, his voice neither too loud nor too low, Auntie Yingui laughed dryly and said, "There's nothing you can't hear. It's just... I just want to buy a few eggs from you, and some brown sugar."
Cheng Yaoyao raised his eyebrows: "You are kidding me. You have more than 30 chickens at home, and you are buying from us?"
Auntie Yingui spread out the money in her hand and said, "To tell you the truth, your father asked me to buy it. He said... he said that the educated youth Xiao Cheng wanted to eat eggs and also wanted some brown sugar. He also said that the tomato and cucumber flavor in your house is also good. If you have it, give some to her."
Cheng Yaoyao glanced at Xie Zhao with her charming peach blossom eyes. It seems that he not only gave him rice dumplings, but also eggs and tomatoes? Now Cheng Nuonuo must have remembered him.
Auntie Yingui explained in a nagging manner: "Auntie is biased towards you! But your father asked me to do it, so I can't refuse, right? Anyway, they didn't want it for free, they bought it with money."
Cheng Yaoyao bit her lower lip gently. "My father asked me for something, and if I accepted the money, wouldn't that make the villagers stab me in the back? And Grandma Xie would never ask for money. But after all, I haven't married Xie Zhao yet. If I give them so many things, Grandma Xie and Xie Zhao won't say anything, but I'm so embarrassed."
"That's right!" Auntie Yingui also understood. This made Cheng Yaoyao a nobody. She glanced at the other side of the wall and whispered, "Your stepmother said a lot of bad things about you today. This pillow wind is very powerful. You... Hey, it's true that if there is a stepmother, there will be a stepfather. You should be careful."
Cheng Yaoyao said nothing and lowered her head. The normally proud beauty lowered her head, which made people feel wronged and distressed.
Auntie Yingui has always liked Cheng Yaoyao, and she said angrily, "I told them, no!"
"Don't." Cheng Yaoyao said, "Wait for me for a moment."
Cheng Yaoyao went to the room, took out a bag of brown sugar and five yuan and gave them to Auntie Yingui: "This is half a pound of brown sugar, mine. You take the money. My father is not in good health. Please make some fine food for him."
Auntie Yin Gui couldn't refuse, so she held the five yuan tightly and said, "Then the egg..."
Cheng Yaoyao smiled and said, "Don't you have a lot of eggs and vegetables at home? You can just take the money he gave you and say you bought it from me, right?"
After Aunt Yingui left, Cheng Yaoyao scolded Xie Zhao: "Who asked you to deliver eggs to them?"
"Could it be that there is also something in the egg..." Xie Zhao reacted instantly.
Cheng Yaoyao said angrily: "Why don't you ask me before you send it to me?"
Xie Zhao was used to eating eggs at home and never thought that eggs could contain spiritual springs. He was busy coaxing Cheng Yaoyao in a low voice, but she was still puffing up her cheeks.
Grandma Xie was confused and asked, "What are you two whispering about? Why are you so angry? It's just a few eggs, when did you become so stingy?"
Cheng Yaoyao glared and said, "No...I..."
She felt wronged and angry. Fortunately, Han Yin and Zhang Xiaofeng came. They became lively as soon as they entered the house and brought a bag of very rare canned fruits.
Xie Zhao hurriedly rubbed Cheng Yaoyao's back, hung the egg bag back around her neck, and took the opportunity to say, "I'll go to the brigade to take a look." Things wouldn't be going smoothly for Cheng Zheng, and he couldn't just ignore it for Cheng Yaoyao's sake.
Cheng Yaoyao yelled, "You are not allowed to go!"
Her tone was not harsh, and she was probably just being coquettish. Xie Zhao rubbed her head and walked away.
Han Yin looked at Xie Zhao's back as he left and was shocked: "Every time we come, he leaves. Is he annoying us?"
Cheng Yaoyao said: "Yes, yes, who told you to be so noisy."
Grandma Xie said with a smile: "Zhao has been like this since he was a child, he doesn't like to talk. He has something to do in the village. Come and pick a duck egg and hang the egg bag to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings!"
As Grandma Xie spoke, she took out a cup of realgar wine and drew the word "Wang" on their foreheads.
Zhang Xiaofeng and Han Yin both found it novel and hung up the egg bag happily.
Cheng Yaoyao complained, "Why did you guys come just now? Didn't we agree to make salted duck eggs together? Are you trying to take this opportunity to slack off?"
Normally, Han Yin would have said a hundred things to Cheng Yuanyao, but today her expression changed when she heard this, and she kept exchanging glances with Zhang Xiaofeng.
Cheng Yaoyao said lazily, "My biological father and stepmother are coming to the village."
Han Yin swallowed her saliva: "I know."
Cheng Yaoyao said with a smile: "What's that expression on your face? You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine."
Han Yin and Zhang Xiaofeng looked at each other, and Cheng Yaoyao said, "It's a pity that they made such a scene that we can't go out and play today."
Han Yin smiled dryly and said, "Then just stay home. I think they will still cause trouble."
Cheng Yaoyao was surprised and asked, "How do you know? Just wait and see. At most, we can hold out until dinner. There will definitely be a commotion next door."
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