Chapter 4: Intimate
Boom boom boom——
The sound of heavy banging on the door interrupted their conversation.
"Brother Chen, open the door quickly, Brother Chen, something happened to the monkey!"
Chen Caisheng originally wanted to talk about the rumors outside, but now he didn't have time to talk about them.
"I'm going out for a while."
Throwing away the firewood in his hand, he strode out of the kitchen.
Yuan Lingling stroked her pounding heart, said "oh", and when she looked up, the other person was gone.
Monkey is a street kid who lives in the alley west of the brewery. He lost his relatives when he was young, and he is the only one left in his family. The two of them lead a hard life, but he himself is a person who cannot stand up on his own, so usually only Shen Caisheng and Ma Jie next door are close to him.
The person who was banging on the door just now was Ma Jie. Judging from the noise, something big must have happened.
Yuan Lingling stood up and looked out the kitchen door. There was only a series of footprints left in the yard, and the gate was still motionless.
What kind of hobby does this person have? Why does he always like to climb over the wall?
He is quite skilled.
The rice in the pot was not cooked yet, but when Yuan Lingling opened the lid, she saw the rice already bubbling.
It seems she still has to rely on herself.
According to her childhood memory, Yuan Lingling first scooped out some rice soup, put cotton cloth in the aluminum pot partition, poured the drained half-cooked rice on it, rolled it flat, poked a few holes in it with chopsticks, and then covered the pot and left it to fate.
While the rice was steaming, she took the meat out of the stove and let it cool. During this time, she took out two potatoes and sliced them for later use. She also chopped the ginger, garlic and chili that Shen Caisheng had prepared earlier, and then cut the meat into slices.
By the time all the dishes are prepared, the rice in the pot will be almost done.
And when it is almost done...
Yuan Lingling did not open the lid, but moved it to the stove and simmered it slowly.
After taking a look at the sky outside, Yuan Lingling didn't rush to cook. She tiptoed through the snow in the yard and went out to the Ma family next door.
After knocking on the gate, she rubbed her hands and exhaled a puff of white mist. In just a short while, her face was frozen and her hands seemed to have lost all feeling.
It’s really cold in the north.
"Who's doing this?" After a moment, a woman's strong voice came from the yard. It was Ma Jie's mother Yang Ying.
She was famous around the brewery for her loud voice.
"Aunt Yang, it's me."
Yang Ying was a little surprised to see that it was her.
Normally, Yuan Lingling is cold and arrogant, and doesn't like to talk to others. She also has an ambiguous relationship with Xie Guanglian, so the neighbors around her don't think highly of her.
Every household was cooking at this moment, so Yuan Lingling's sudden visit was even more strange, but since one should not hit someone who smiles at them, Yang Ying did not make things difficult for her, but her tone was still a little distant when she spoke.
"Caisheng's wife, what's the matter?"
Yuan Lingling pretended not to notice her attitude, "Excuse me, Auntie. I just came to ask what happened just now. Caisheng left in a hurry. I wonder if they will come back for dinner."
Hearing her question, Yang Ying's expression eased a lot, and he sighed: "These brats have been a worry since they were young. You should just do what you are supposed to do."
Originally, Yang Ying disliked Yuan Lingling's usual behavior, but now she thought that Shen Caisheng was hanging out outside every day, so why should he expect the girl to stay at home to take care of him?
Also a pitiful one.
Young people nowadays don’t even take marriage seriously, so she didn’t know what to say.
No matter how much she sighed, it was impossible for her to completely change her opinion of Yuan Lingling. She just felt that the couple were from the same family.
Seeing Yuan Lingling's confused look, she couldn't help but said, "I'm telling you, don't tell anyone. I heard that Monkey was stabbed and is now in the hospital."
She gestured at her belly and said, "Here, there's a bloody hole."
Yuan Lingling exclaimed, "Isn't anything going to happen to Caisheng and Ma Jie if they go over there?" Someone was stabbed, so why does she look like she's just watching the fun?
"It's nothing, they've all been arrested. I heard they came for Monkey's house. They're a bunch of bullies!" Yang Ying was angry. At this time, only her boy and Shen Caisheng could help.
Fortunately, Chen Caisheng was there, so they didn't suffer any loss.
Thinking of this, looking at Yuan Lingling and Yang Ying again, she felt a little embarrassed. Shen Caisheng took such good care of his boy, but she was cold and indifferent to his wife. She softened her tone and asked, "Have you eaten? How about having something at your aunt's house?"
Yuan Lingling was flattered. "No, no, I'm working on it." Then she said goodbye and left.
Yang Ying did not force him to stay, and said readily: "Okay, it's okay, just take care of yourself, and rest early, the snow is still going to fall."
Just as Aunt Yang said, the snow had just stopped in the evening, but started falling again as soon as it got dark. When we woke up the next day, the yard was covered with a layer of snow and the sky was gloomy.
After breakfast, Yuan Lingling wanted to go out to find out some news, but looking at the sky, she gave up the idea.
Well, I'm just too lazy to move.
After finding out the news, she probably couldn't do anything, but if she got hurt and the baby in her belly was injured, she would be the one who suffered.
Speaking of children, Yuan Lingling is still worried.
Shen Caicheng was like a mysterious dragon that was hard to find, making her divorce plan even more difficult.
Or should I just say that he is unaccompanied and decide to let him go free?
But what if he ends up making things worse, and he comes home every day and exacerbates the conflict, that would be even more terrible.
Just as she was daydreaming, there was a knock on the door outside the courtyard, "Caisheng's wife, are you in the house?"
"Yes!" Yuan Lingling responded and hurriedly got up to open the door. Few people came to her yard. Although the people in the alley were usually noisy, they would be scared when they met Chen Caisheng.
From this perspective, Shen Caisheng's villain attributes have already begun to emerge.
In other words, the Xie family is so bold that they dare to provoke his wife.
The person who came was Yang Ying. Yuan Lingling recognized her voice before she opened the door.
As expected, as soon as I opened the door, I was greeted by a smiling face. There was a hint of teasing in his smile, which was completely different from the cold look he had yesterday.
Wait, a joke?
"Caisheng asked me to bring you food, saying he was worried you would be hungry." Yang Ying was really surprised.
Others may not know, but she knows very well how this girl from the Yuan family got married. It is unspeakable. She has seen many of those methods and really despises them.
Normally, Shen Caisheng's attitude towards his family didn't seem very good, but she didn't expect that she was wrong.
"Here are some vegetable leaves. He said he has chickens at home but was worried that you don't know how to raise them. Just feed them some leaves and corn grits." As Yang Ying spoke, his eyes fell on the chicken coop in the corner of the yard.
It was exactly what Shen Caisheng had made yesterday with the small wooden board.
The small wooden house with a sloping roof was leaning against the tree trunk, just like the cartoon house in the textbook. The hands were really skillful.
"This must have been made by Caisheng. His craftsmanship is always good." Yang Ying grabbed a handful of vegetable leaves and threw them into the chicken coop, then looked at the cabin carefully.
"I don't know where he learned this. His parents don't know these things. It's really good."
At that time, the Shen couple both worked as workers in the factory, and their jobs were nothing more than simple work like packing beer in boxes.
It is said that like fathers, like sons, like daughters. The Shen family must have accumulated great merits in their previous life to have such a capable descendant like Shen Caisheng. It's a pity that the child was not well educated since childhood, and the Shen couple are not destined to enjoy a happy life.
As he spoke, Yang Ying showed regret on his face, and even looked at Yuan Lingling with more pity.
"Hurry up and eat. It won't taste good if it gets cold."
"It's too much trouble, Auntie. There is still some food at home. I'll get some for you."
Yuan Lingling was still a little dazed. Shen Caisheng asked Aunt Yang to prepare food for her. Why? Did I hear her say yesterday that she can’t cook?
How could he be so considerate?
Yuan Lingling was stopped by Yang Ying as soon as she entered the house.
"No need. How can I let myself suffer a loss? Your man gave you money, so you can have as much as you want. You can eat whatever you want or not. Just howl across the yard."
Hearing her talk about men, Yuan Lingling felt awkward for no reason. She smiled to hide her embarrassment and said, "Okay, then I won't be polite."
In such a cold day, Yuan Lingling was happy to not have to do anything herself, but asking others for help was already quite troublesome, and she was not bold enough to actually order food.
The fact is that Yuan Lingling is not picky about food.
Aunt Yang made braised pork and winter melon soup today, served with big round steamed buns, which was already a very good meal in that era.
Yuan Lingling sat on the kang and put a piece of braised pork with fat and lean meat into her mouth. It was soft, glutinous, fresh and fragrant, fatty but not greasy. The rich soup paired with a bite of a solid big steamed bun was really satisfying!
When you are almost done eating, have a bowl of hot winter melon soup. No one can understand the value of this meal except those who have truly tasted it.
After finishing all the soup on the lunch box, Yuan Lingling still felt unsatisfied. She suspected that there were not two babies in her belly, but two gluttons.
Well, I want to eat qingtuan, glutinous rice cake, rice cake...
Yuan Lingling licked her lips, washed the lunch box and started searching in the kitchen.
After a while, she decided to make sweet potato cakes from the pile of sweet potatoes in the corner.
These sweet potatoes were brought back by Shen Caisheng last month. They are really sweet and I’m sure they will be delicious if made into snacks.
She picked out a few of the largest ones that were difficult to roast, washed them, peeled them, cut them into thick slices, put them on a plate and steamed them in a pot. After the water boiled, steamed them over high heat for more than ten minutes and the sweet potatoes were cooked.
Since there was no glutinous rice flour at home, Yuan Lingling could only use flour. The resulting food would definitely not have her favorite glutinous texture, but the taste should not be bad.
She kept convincing herself that it was great to be able to eat such a good meal in this day and age, and she shouldn't be too picky.
Yuan Lingling kneaded the sweet potatoes into the dough and quickly made them into small balls. She didn't plan to steam them, but instead took out the oil can from home.
Now that you have done it, don't think about saving money.
Two spoonfuls of oil were poured into the pot, and as the firewood was added, the pot began to crackle and became spicy. Yuan Lingling flattened the sweet potato balls and put them into the pot one by one. Soon the fragrance wafted out.
Nowadays, if someone's family eats something good, it's impossible to hide it. There's no way around it. Everyone is afraid of and used to being poor, and it's as if they have sensed some kind of evolution and have become extremely sensitive.
Yang Ying next door naturally also smelled the smell. She didn't go out to check, and didn't think it came from Yuan Lingling's house. She could only sigh to her husband, "I don't know how much oil is used to smell this. Whose family is this? They really don't know the sufferings of the world."
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw her son rushing in from outside. She hurried forward to help brush the snow off Ma Jie's body.
"What's going on? What's happening?" Yang Ying asked anxiously.
"It's okay. Those people have been chased away by Brother Chen, and Monkey is out of danger." Ma Jie said as he took off his clothes, "Brother Chen is accompanying him in the hospital now."
Hearing this, Yang Ying breathed a sigh of relief and sighed, "It has to be Caisheng. What are you looking for? Why are you looking everywhere in a mess?"
"Where's my old cotton-padded jacket? Brother Chen has been busy all night. Didn't you say there's a lot of snow in his yard? I'll go help sweep it."
Yang Ying pushed the man aside and said, "Looking for a piece of clothing is like tearing down the house. It's not here. Clean it up and don't make it too dirty!"
"Don't worry."
-
Yuan Lingling was holding a plate of sweet potato cakes. As soon as she opened the gate, she met Ma Jie who was walking towards her.
"Sister-in-law." Ma Jie was not very tall, but very fair-skinned. He looked like Yuan Lingling, both of them seemed to be in poor health.
Seeing him, Yuan Lingling was slightly surprised, "Looking for me? I just made some sweet potato cakes and wanted to send them to your house."
As soon as the thing was handed to Ma Jie, he caught a glimpse of two figures walking towards them out of the corner of his eye.
"Lingling, what delicious food do you want to eat?"
As they were talking, Xie Aihe and her daughter had already approached.
"Why are you ignoring me?" Xie's mother spoke in a sarcastic tone, "If you don't know me, you might think you are so stingy that you can't even bear to eat."
Xie's mother's name was Jiang Liping. She was good-looking, and although she was not young anymore, it was not wrong to describe her as still charming. Because of this advantage, she usually looked down on others, especially Yuan Lingling.
She felt that Yuan Lingling was petty and not presentable, but some of her actions proved that she was the type of person she hated the most.
Yuan Lingling slightly turned sideways to block Ma Jie behind her. How could she let the delicious food she had worked so hard to make just go to them?
She was not willing to give.
"I just can't bear to give it away. I've never heard of anyone who has to share the food they make with others."
As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of both mother and daughter changed.
They all knew that Yuan Lingling was a person who cared a lot about her reputation. In the past, because of Xie Guanglian's relationship, she had been very flattering to them, but she had never embarrassed them either.
Jiang Liping snorted coldly. She was right. This woman was not a good person. Could it be that she had fallen for the boy from the Ma family again?
"That's true. Lingling, you're married now. You won't have to worry about finding a new partner. It doesn't matter if you're a little generous or a little stingy."
"I won't have trouble finding a husband, but has Xie Aihe also found her marriage?" Everyone in the neighborhood knew that Xie Aihe was the most stingy person, yet she even dared to mock others for being stingy.
In her past and present lives, Yuan Lingling never liked to cause trouble, but it’s no wonder that someone came to her door.
"You!" Xie Aihe was furious. How could she not hear that Yuan Lingling was slandering her?
She didn't care about her image and just wanted to go up and tear Yuan Lingling's mouth. If it weren't for Yuan Lingling, she would be the one living in this yard now, and everything in the Shen family would belong to her.
It’s all Yuan Lingling’s fault!
However, just as she lifted her sleeves, Ma Jie stood in front of her and said, "Sister Aihe, let's talk it over."
"Get out of the way! I'm calling you a hooligan."
Ma Jie didn't even move, and said with a smile: "Sister Aihe, don't be angry, come and try the sweet potato cakes made by sister-in-law, they smell delicious."
Yuan Lingling was stunned. Is this guy out of his mind? He should at least see whose flowers they belong to.
"It may not taste good even if it smells good. Let me try it." Jiang Liping was anxious before Xie Aihe could make any move.
Seeing this, Xie Aihe hurriedly took it and stuffed it into her mouth, as if she was afraid that Ma Jie would go back on his word.
Soon, all they could hear was the sound of the two of them wolfing down their food.
The action was so fast that Yuan Lingling was too late to stop it.
Seeing this, Ma Jie also took a piece and tasted it. Then his eyes lit up, "It's delicious, sister-in-law, you are amazing!"
After saying this, he swallowed the meal in one gulp, and without paying any attention to the expectant looks of the Xie mother and daughter, he ran away with the plate.
“Sister-in-law, wait for me. Brother Shen asked me to help carry water and sweep the snow!”
Yuan Lingling couldn't help but blame him because of his impetuous attitude.
It’s a pity that this mother and daughter took advantage of it.
"Yuan Lingling." Xie Aihe glared at her fiercely. "My second brother can't even walk because of you, and you don't even go to see him. You're still here enjoying the good life. How can you be so cold-blooded?"
"I can't even walk?" Yuan Lingling was shocked and felt her legs going cold.
She just wanted to pass on the blame, but she didn't expect Shen Caisheng to be so cruel. Could he have broken the person's leg?
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