There was a group of little kids outside staring at them eagerly, which made Yin Xiaoman feel a little guilty about "taking up" too much of Da Mi's time in this situation.
She suggested that they go out and play while she prepared dinner herself, but Da Mi flatly refused.
"This is my job," he said seriously.
Yin Xiaoman was so stunned that he couldn't find any words to refute for a moment.
But she still decided to choose some quick dishes that don't take too much effort for the expert group's meal tonight.
The rice and millet delivered by the supply ship last time had basically not been touched, so she made two kinds of rice today. I also fried spicy clams and spinach with shrimp paste.
While steaming the rice, another steamer was placed on top to steam pumpkin, sweet potato and eggplant in it.
After removing from the pan, spread out the eggplant to cool.
Yin Xiaoman went to cook other dishes. Da Mi skillfully used a stone mortar to mash garlic and put it on the shredded eggplant. Then he poured boiling hot pepper oil on it. Immediately, a fragrant aroma hit the face.
The little ones who were waiting obediently outside couldn't help but let out exclamations.
Because today's meal and dishes didn't require much effort, they were all finished before 5:30.
The horn for gathering for lunch had just been blown, and the two of them had already returned from delivering the meal.
This time, there was no need for Yin Xiaoman to urge them, as Dami and his group of friends ran away in a swarm.
The children were out and the husband hadn't come back, but Yin Xiaoman still couldn't sit idle. She rolled up her sleeves and prepared to cook dinner.
After all, she had agreed to invite Li Fang and Qiao Mai to her house for dinner tonight.
Before she could even turn around, Li Fang's voice rang out from outside: "Sister Xiaoman, Sister Xiaoman, we're here!"
Yin Xiaoman quickly turned around and went out to greet them.
"Hey, you guys come to my house for dinner and bring your own steamed buns?"
When she opened the door, the first thing she saw was two girls, each holding a bamboo basket. The basket was covered with a clean cloth, and under the cloth she could see several large steamed buns placed in each basket.
Yin Xiaoman was speechless.
"Where is it? This is the dinner for those little brats."
Li Fang laughed as she spoke: "These kids had a blast once they got to the island. In the afternoon, they even ran to the kitchen and begged for food for dinner. They swore that they would not go over to eat and would eat the food with the grilled fish and shrimp.
Our squad leader is also good-tempered and tolerant of them. Not only did he let them take all the dishes away, but he was afraid that the little ones wouldn't have enough to eat, so he even asked us to bring some steamed buns over. ”
As she spoke, she reached out and lifted the cloth covering the wheat basket: "Look, not only did we give them steamed buns, we also gave them quite a bit of fish."
Yin Xiaoman moved closer and saw that in Qiao Mai's basket, there were not only steamed buns, but also more than a dozen small flatfish placed in aluminum lunch boxes, all of which had been killed and marinated. ”
She couldn't help but feel a little amused.
From the time they arrived on the island until now, there have never been so many children, and the island has never been so lively.
So much so that these children have become treasures in the eyes of adults.
Lian Renping'an, the kitchen squad leader who is good at calculating and will never allow anyone to waste anything, is willing to give the things to the children to "play" with.
You know, what he hates most is eating for fun without filling the stomach.
For example, whenever he saw her making snacks or roasting dried fish for the children, he would inevitably make a few remarks.
Although he knew it was useless to say it, he still couldn't help but grumble, looking very disapproving.
"It's amazing. They can make Xiao Ren bleed profusely. These little guys are quite capable." She couldn't help but sigh.
"Of course."
Li Fang laughed again: "Sister Xiaoman, you didn't see it, five or six kids rushed up and surrounded our class leader, whining and making a fuss, and even pulled him and shook him hard, making him dizzy.
I guess he himself didn't know how to agree to that group of kids. I was totally fooled. ”
"How could they get into your kitchen?" Yin Xiaoman was puzzled.
Can anyone enter that place?
"They were very sneaky. They couldn't get in, so they shouted at the door, "Team Leader Ren, Uncle Ren, please come out quickly!" It was as if something big had happened. They scared our squad leader so much that he ran away very fast. In the end, he couldn't come back after he left."
Probably because they had never seen such a scene before, the two girls in front of them found it very fresh to be deceived by children.
Li Fang was laughing as she spoke. Although Qiao Mai was obviously not a talkative person, he also followed Li Fang and smiled with his lips pursed.
"Alright, alright, come in first. How can you stand at the door and talk? Go find a place to sit first. I'll go cook."
Yin Xiaoman led the two girls in and pointed to a few stools placed in the shade in the yard.
After saying that, he went into the kitchen.
"Hey, sister, stop working!" Li Fang grabbed her.
Seeing that she was not being polite but was really trying to stop him, Yin Xiaoman couldn't help but stop and looked at her in confusion.
Li Fang and Qiao Mai looked at each other, then said a little embarrassedly: "Sister, can you take us to see how they barbecue? Neither of us has ever seen it before, let alone eaten it."
After she finished speaking, she seemed to be afraid that her words were not meaningful enough, and she poked the arm of Qiao Mai, who had been standing next to her without saying anything.
"Sister, well, we, we still have to go and give them steamed buns."
Qiao Mai obviously didn't know what to say. He hesitated for a long time before he uttered this sentence.
Looking at the two of them like this, Yin Xiaoman burst out laughing.
"What a big deal! Look how embarrassed you are. It's just a barbecue. What are you afraid of? Let's go eat theirs together later!"
But don't worry, they just went there and they probably haven't even dug a fire pit yet. We can take a break at home and chat. When they finish their work and start grilling, we can go over and have some. ”
As she spoke, she winked at the two men mischievously.
At this moment, Yin Xiaoman's face no longer had that dignified and generous expression that made people feel convinced at first glance. Instead, he looked a bit childish.
Although after arriving on the island, almost everyone called her sister-in-law or sister, in fact, everyone was basically following Shen Qingyun's lead.
After all, that's his job.
But in fact, if you really want to be picky, Yin Xiaoman is younger than most of them.
Just like Li Fang and Qiao Mai in front of us.
Li Fang went to work in the countryside after graduating from high school. After serving as an educated youth for several years, she is now 20 years old.
And Qiao Mai is one year older than her.
Girls in their teens and twenties are at the blooming age. In addition, nowadays girls develop late because of poor diet and look younger.
So even though Yin Xiaoman looked young, Li Fang always thought she looked young. After all, when she met her, she was already a mother of two children.
So she called her Sister Xiaoman all the time without any mental burden. And Qiao Mai, naturally, followed her and shouted.
But at this moment, looking at the mischievous expression on Yin Xiaoman's face, and seeing her face clearly still childish after she stopped tensing...
Li Fang suddenly felt that she couldn’t scream.
"Um, Sister Xiaoman, how old are you this year?" She really couldn't help but asked tentatively.
"I'm nineteen years old, twenty in lunar age, or twenty-one." Yin Xiaoman answered nonchalantly, with no intention of hiding anything.
Li Fang: “…”
Qiao Mai: “…”
"Then, Dabao and Erniu?!"
"They are orphans of their comrades-in-arms, and we are their adoptive parents."
Dabao and Erniu's identities are not a secret, they have always been public and no one has deliberately concealed them.
Firstly, Dabao was old and had already grown up when his father passed away; secondly, their father Du Changyu died in the line of duty and was a martyr. He deserves to be remembered and missed by children forever.
After hearing this explanation, the two looked at each other, and then shouted in unison: "Xiao Man, we will call you Xiao Man from now on!"
Perhaps because of this episode, the three of them seemed to become much closer all of a sudden, and even Qiao Mai was more relaxed than when he first arrived.
The two of them didn't sit in the yard either, but followed Yin Xiaoman into the kitchen.
Because the two of them said they were going to have a barbecue, Yin Xiaoman didn't cook. Instead, she took out the lemon melon strips and smoked fish cubes that she had prepared in advance and gave them snacks.
Anyway, they are all sweet, so there is no problem eating them without any food.
The lemon melon bars were fine, but when Qiao Mai took a bite of the smoked fish cubes, his eyes turned red. She felt a little embarrassed and quickly turned her head away.
"Missing your grandma again?" Li Fang touched her gently.
Qiao Mai nodded, and then the tears that had accumulated in his eyes could not be controlled and fell down all at once.
"Xiaoman, I'm sorry for making you laugh at me." She wiped it off hurriedly with an embarrassed expression on her face.
"What's there to laugh at? Who doesn't have family? How come your grandma used to make this smoked fish?" Yin Xiaoman said, and put another piece into her bowl.
Seeing things reminds us of people, but sometimes a familiar smell can easily bring us back to our deepest memories.
Hearing her ask this, Qiao Mai nodded.
Through the conversation, Yin Xiaoman learned that Qiao Mai was from Haicheng and had responded to the call to go to the countryside when he was in the second year of high school. It’s just that she has had poor health since childhood and cannot endure hardship.
Although she tried very hard, she fainted three times in a month. The last time she was in a coma for several days, which still scared the cadres of the brigade.
After the hospital diagnosed her with severe anemia and recommended nutritional supplements and rest at home, the brigade reported her condition to the commune.
Then she got the first sick leave certificate among her batch of educated youth who went to the countryside.
It stands to reason that being able to return to the city due to illness is something that most people would envy.
But when Qiao Mai returned home, his grandmother cried for several times after seeing the diagnosis certificate.
She felt that she had not raised her granddaughter well.
Because his parents were too busy with work, Qiao Mai grew up with his grandmother. My grandmother doesn't have a job, and the two of them live on the living expenses their parents send them every month.
After this incident, grandma wanted to leave all the delicious food in the house for Qiao Mai, and tried every means to find nutritious supplements for her.
The doctor said that if possible it would be best to let her drink some milk, or milk powder would be fine.
When Qiao Mai found out, he didn't take it to heart at all.
These days, where can we get milk powder except for pregnant women and children?
But grandma was able to get her milk powder.
In addition to milk powder, she can even ensure that Qiao Mai eats at least two eggs every week.
When Qiao Mai asked her, she said that it was the money and tickets sent back by Qiao Gong and his team.
At first, Qiao Mai didn’t care about it. It was not until her grandmother passed away that she realized that her parents had not sent a penny home for more than half a year. In order to let her have something delicious, the old lady, who was already old, secretly went to the black market and even sold her ancestral home.
"This smoked fish tastes exactly like the one my grandmother made. I haven't tasted anything like it since she passed away." Qiao Mai said, rubbing his eyes again.
Every family has its own problems.
Yin Xiaoman sighed silently in his heart.
She knew when Qiao Mai said that Qiao Gong and his team did not send money back, which was when a large number of people from the research institute were transferred.
At that time, because of the military-factory issue, everyone was on high alert and a lot of normal work was delayed, including the payment of wages.
But in this era, who has extra money at home? Every household depends on wages for their livelihood. Since the couple can't send money back home, the old lady has to find a way to support her granddaughter on her own.
It is estimated that the guilt of "forcing grandma to sell the ancestral home in order to find food for himself" will become a hurdle that Qiao Mai will never be able to overcome.
It will be difficult to eliminate, right?
The three of them were chatting while Yin Xiaoman cut all the steamed buns that the two of them had brought with them into pieces, and skewered them with the remaining bamboo sticks that the rice lovers had prepared in advance.
After cleaning up, it was already getting dark and it wasn't as hot outside as it was during the day. So they left the house together.
Before walking out of the alley, you can hear children's laughter coming from the stream.
Several people smiled at each other and quickened their pace.
There was a relatively flat piece of land next to the stream. The children had dug three pits on the land and had built fires in them using firewood.
In addition, they brought a lot of half-sized stones from somewhere and placed them in a circle around the fire. At this moment, the little ones were all gathered around the fire, roasting the food on bamboo sticks on stones or holding them in their hands.
From a distance, you can see the smiling faces illuminated by the firelight.
Although the food was reprocessed by Yin Xiaoman at noon, slicing what needed to be sliced and skewering what needed to be skewered, the children were still young after all, and the only ones who really knew how to grill were the ones who had participated in the Shen family barbecue party when they were in the Pioneer Camp.
As a result, Da Mi, Da Bao, and even Qiang Zi and Hu Zi were surrounded by several people, all staring at them, or rather, at their hands.
My saliva is about to flow out.
There were several children queuing up next to Erniu, all of whom were very young and the older children were not willing to play with them.
Erniu had her back to them at this time, so Yin Xiaoman had no idea what his daughter was doing?
What they can see from this angle is——
When the children lined up to Erniu, they would pause for a moment, then obediently walk to the back of the line and continue to line up again patiently.
Yin Xiaoman was very puzzled, and said to the other two people, "Go and take a look." Then he walked towards the little girl first.
Before she even got close, she heard her daughter order her twin sister, Chen Mingli, in a very serious tone: "Open your mouth."
As a result, the child opened his mouth without hesitation, and opened it wide.
She took two quick steps and came to Erniu's side, only to find that the little girl was holding a big bowl in her hand. The bowl was filled with fruit pieces that she had cut earlier, and she was distributing them to the children one by one.
She used a toothpick to pick up a piece of fruit and put it into the mouth of the child in front of her. After eating it, the child would smack his lips in satisfaction and then continue to line up at the back.
Before Yin Xiaoman could say anything, Li Fang and Qiao Mai, who followed her, were already laughing so hard when they saw this scene that they couldn't even speak.
Li Fang squatted down curiously, hugged Erniu and kissed her hard: "You little girl, how can you be so cute! Why don't you keep this fruit for yourself? I gave it all to others, what are you going to eat?"
Erniu felt a little embarrassed when she was suddenly hugged by someone. But when she heard Li Fang's question, she shook her head seriously and said, "No, we should share the delicious food with everyone. How can we eat it alone? Besides, we picked these together."
After that, she looked at her friends and asked, "Is that right?"
"yes!"
Although there were not many children, the responses were very loud and uniform.
It was obvious that Erniu's ideas had already been instilled in her by the older children and had been recognized by them.
Seeing that Da Mi and his friends were grilling too slowly, and the children next to them were looking too eagerly, the three adults had no choice but to join in the "work".
My previous idea of coming later and eating a ready-made meal has been completely shattered.
Li Fang and Qiao Mai had never tried eating like this before. At the beginning, I was not very skilled at grilling and could only follow Yin Xiaoman's instructions.
But this thing is not difficult and I quickly mastered the skills.
Da Mi and his friends didn't need any help, they could roast food by themselves, and they could also help the people around them, so with the addition of the three adults, soon every child had a string of roasted food in their hands.
As the saying goes, if you have meat in your hands, you won't be worried. Once the skewers were in hand, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
Li Fang and the others finally had the chance to put a string of grilled shrimps into their mouths.
"Delicious!" Li Fang was the first to exclaim.
"Yes, it's delicious. It's really delicious!" Qiao Mai also echoed.
Perhaps because they had just talked about their inner thoughts, Qiao Mai relaxed and returned to his cheerful nature.
She held up a roasted red shrimp and was about to stuff it into Yin Xiaoman's mouth: "Xiaoman, try it, it's really delicious! Haicheng used to sell shrimps like this, but I never knew you could eat it this way."
This was the flavor that Yin Xiaoman had prepared himself, how could he not know whether it tasted good or not?
In fact, she had no interest in this way of eating. In her opinion, the form of eating was more important than the content, especially those baked by the little guys themselves. They were black and many of them were burnt. How could they be delicious?
But it was obvious that they all enjoyed the meal very much.
When the skewers were almost done, Yin Xiaoman helped them grill the steamed buns.
The golden brown steamed buns were paired with the salty and delicious grilled shrimps, fish, and vegetables... every child felt like they were dreaming while eating them.
In other words, they had never eaten such delicious food even in their dreams.
Ever since Da Mi said that he would recruit the twins to join their team as long as they were willing to work, Chen Mingshi became his most loyal follower. Not only did he hit wherever he was pointed and did whatever he was told to do, but people also followed him closely wherever he went.
Just like now, Da Mi was roasting potato chips for Er Niu, and he was sitting on the side silently peeling a sweet potato. After peeling it carefully, he stuffed the peeled sweet potato pulp into Da Mi's mouth from the side.
Yin Xiaoman just found it hilarious and was amazed at how quickly the children established friendships.
The meal took a long time, from the time the sun set until it became pitch dark everywhere.
After seeing Erniu yawn for the Nth time, Yin Xiaoman clapped his hands and said to the little ones, "Okay, finish your food and go home. You can play later if you want. Today, pack up and go home and sleep early."
After hearing what she said, the parents who were watching nearby nodded and slowly gathered around to help their children clean up the remaining things.
In fact, not long after they started barbecuing, adults who had eaten in the cafeteria began to come over one after another.
Some of them were curious, while others were worried about their own kids. They all wanted to see what they were doing after being so noisy all day and even skipping meals.
But people at this time actually have many rules that they will not easily say out loud, but always follow in their hearts. One of them is not to eat other people’s food easily.
Of course, this "others" also includes children.
After watching from afar the children having so much food in front of them that they couldn't even imagine it, the adults felt embarrassed to go over and join in the fun.
At the beginning, several parents wanted to come over to help when they saw that their children did not know how to bake and looked at others eagerly. But later, when they saw Yin Xiaoman and others coming over with baskets and bamboo baskets filled with food, they all stayed where they were and did not move.
Every child learned to eat from their parents when they returned home at noon. They all knew that this activity was organized by the children of the Shen family, and a lot of the food was brought out by Captain Shen's family.
It’s ok for children to eat this kind of thing, but as an adult, how can you possibly enjoy it?
By now the food had almost been eaten and the activity was about to end. The children were full and sleepy, so the adults gathered around to help clean up and take their own children home.
With the help of the adults, the mess was cleaned up quickly. After ten or twenty minutes, the streamside had returned to normal. Even the holes that were dug before have been filled.
The children said goodbye to each other and followed their parents back.
Just at this moment, a sharp whistle suddenly came from the island.
Everyone was stunned at the same time and stopped subconsciously.
"Emergency assembly!"
Just when no one could react, a stern command from the company commander Shi Lei came from a distance.
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