Seeing that it was almost noon, Sun Simin was about to go to the kitchen to cook for everyone, but Zhao Yilu stopped her and said, "Grandma, you should take a rest. Your cooking skills are not as good as mine!"
Sun Simin felt embarrassed for a moment and scolded him, "Can't you save some face for me in front of Lihua?"
Fan Hua smiled and said, "Grandma, don't be ashamed. My cooking is not as delicious as what you made along the way."
After saying that, Fan Hua stood up and prepared to follow Zhao Yilu to help in the kitchen, but was stopped by Zhao Yilu. He said gently, "You also sit down and have a good talk with grandma and grandpa. People with green bracelets on your hands are not suitable to go to the kitchen!"
This sentence made everyone present burst into laughter.
Fan Hua did not follow them, but stayed and chatted with Zhao Xubai on various topics about painting. Sun Simin listened quietly on the side and poured a cup of tea for them from time to time. Fan Hua and Zhao Xubai were chatting very happily, and it felt like they were friends regardless of age difference.
Perhaps because they were too absorbed in the conversation, they felt that time passed very quickly. After a while, Zhao Yilu brought a pot of fragrant cabbage, vermicelli and meat stew and placed it on the table. They were instantly attracted by the aroma in the room...
After Zhao Yilu put down the dishes, he ran to the kitchen and brought out the cornmeal cakes and bowls and chopsticks he had prepared. He then said with a smile, "I didn't dare to make too much, for fear that there would be leftovers! We will be returning to Beijing after dinner, so let's just make do with a small meal for lunch!"
Fan Hua looked at the fragrant dish and said hurriedly, "It's not good enough, it's not good enough!"
In this cold winter, being able to eat such a big bowl of stew would make you feel so happy!
What a wonderful man she married, he can fight on the battlefield and cook in the kitchen! He is simply perfect!
Everyone enjoyed the meal very much. Even Zhao Xubai and Sun Simin ate half a bowl more than usual. They really missed their grandson Zhao Yilu's meals!
In the past few years when he was away, although the two of them were able to eat enough, they really didn't eat well. Who made them both unable to cook? As for the other grandson He Siyan, even if he wanted to help, they were reluctant to use him! So in the past few years, the two old people's pursuit of food was just to eat it.
Zhao smiled as he looked at the people in front of him who kept saying they were full, feeling a special sense of accomplishment. He waited until everyone had finished the last bite of food before he tactfully went to clean up the dishes.
After everything was packed up, they prepared to go down the mountain and head for Beijing.
Zhao Xubai pushed a wheelchair out from the next room and asked Sun Simin to sit on it. He put a fox fur hat on Sun Simin and covered her with a thick blanket. Then he handed the bag that had been packed long ago to Zhao Yilu and pushed his old wife out.
Just now, Fan Hua was a little curious about how Sun Simin's bound feet had been able to move around in the mountains all these years. The moment she saw the wheelchair, she understood everything!
Whether it is Zhao Xubai or He Zhengxiang, both old men respect and love their wives very much. Therefore, Zhao Yilu and He Siyan, who grew up in such an environment, were raised well even without the love of their parents!
Thinking back to the original book, Zhao Yilu had to use a wheelchair for several years due to a leg injury. I wonder if it was this wheelchair he was sitting in?
Zhao Yilu looked at the stunned Fan Hua, put on her military coat, and tied her up with a red scarf to look like a mother hen. Then he took the bag that Zhao Xubai had just handed him with one hand and held Fan Hua's hand with the other hand. "Let's go, get ready to go down the mountain. Do you want me to carry you or do you want to walk down the mountain by yourself?"
"I'll go by myself!" Fan Hua said firmly.
It would be fine if there was no one around to carry Zhao up the mountain, but when going down the mountain with her grandma and grandpa around, she would definitely walk by herself.
After saying that, he followed Zhao Yilu out of the yard and followed behind Zhao Xubai and Sun Simin.
Probably to facilitate pushing Sun Simin up and down the mountain, this dirt road, although narrow, was very smooth. Fan Hua did not find it difficult to walk down the mountain. Instead, she helped digest her food and felt her stomach, which had just been overfed, felt much better.
On the way, Fan Hua said to the two old people, "Grandma, Grandpa, now that the Cultural Revolution is over, you don't have to live in the mountains forever. Go back and see if there is anyone selling houses in Beijing. If there is a suitable house, buy one for you. You should go back to the city to live. Yi Lu and I can't stay with you all the time. We really can't let you two live alone in the mountains!"
Fan Hua could see that Sun Simin was not in good health. Plus, people of that era suffered a lot, and the life expectancy of the elderly was not long. They were both in their sixties. She was very worried about what would happen if the two elderly people got sick in the mountains and could not get timely medical treatment.
How could the two old people not know that Fan Hua was doing this for their own good? However, the outside world has been too chaotic these years, and they have really gotten used to living in the mountains. They are really reluctant to leave here. However, they are all born and raised in Beijing, so how could they not want to go back? Especially if they want to go back to their original home, but they have donated it, so it is definitely impossible to get it back...
Zhao Xubai smiled and said, "It's actually quite nice to live in the mountains. Except that it's a bit troublesome to go down the mountain to town every time I want to call Yilu, everything else is fine."
Zhao Yilu also nodded, "Fan Hua is right, you guys should go back to the city, then when Fan Hua and I are free to come back in the future, we won't have to go through so much trouble, we can see all of you at once, and you and my grandparents can take care of each other."
Zhao Xubai and Sun Simin didn’t say anything more this time. They just didn’t want to cause trouble for the two children!
The car sped along the way. Although there were no highways in those days, there were few cars on the road and the journey was relatively smooth. We arrived at the Second Ring Road of Beijing at around four o'clock in the afternoon.
When passing by a courtyard, Zhao Xubai and Sun Simin both looked at the courtyard with complicated expressions.
Zhao Yilu parked the car on the side and said softly, "Grandma, grandpa, wife, wait for me in the car. I will go down to find out whose name this yard is under now."
Fan Hua immediately understood what was going on and said quickly, "I'll go with you."
After saying that, he got out of the car.
Zhao knocked on the gate for a long time, but no one came out. It was not until an old man next door who had just returned from buying New Year's goods looked at them that he asked in Beijing dialect, "Young man, who are you looking for by knocking on this door?"
"Uncle, I'd like to know who lives in this house now?" Zhao Yilu said in a very polite tone.
When the old man heard this, he started talking and gossiping, "Hey, this house originally belonged to a family named Zhao. Later, when the Wenhui Revolution broke out, the Zhao family probably donated the house to the country to avoid disaster. After the Zhao family moved away, the house was occupied by a leader of the Wenhui Gang. Just two years ago, the Wenhui Gang completely collapsed, and the leader who lived in this house was arrested. The higher-ups took the house back, and now it's empty and no one lives in it..."
"What a pity! This house is the best in this area. I don't know what the higher-ups are planning to do, and who will own it in the future..."
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