Li Mingqing jokingly said, "What nonsense! I guess everyone hasn't finished eating all the meat yet."
"I didn't finish it, but my mother pickled the meat and it's inedible."
"Yeah, my mother won't let me eat it either."
Several children spoke with a look of resentment on their faces.
Sun Jiaxue smiled and said, "It's so you can eat more. You just had meat, right?"
In fact, the children only ate a few more pieces of meat from Old Lady Li.
Zhang Lihua's third sister-in-law only put a little bit of minced meat when cooking, and it was impossible to taste it at all.
"Stop looking so gloomy and come over to eat some fresh shrimp tonight."
Li Xiangnan and the others' expressions brightened up, and they happily skipped out of the room.
Li Mingqing looked at the basin full of river shrimp and said, "I didn't expect a few kids to be so good at catching shrimp. If they come a few more times, the riverbed will be completely empty."
"Every time it rains, there are lots of shrimp in the river. When I came back, I saw geese and ducks in the river. I wonder when our ducklings will grow up."
"I see it's growing pretty fast. I think it'll be able to lay eggs by summer."
The two of them sat together, listening to music, drinking hot tea, and chatting. Two hours passed quietly like this.
"Wife, let's go to Grandma Zhao's house. We haven't been there for a long time."
Sun Jiaxue was carrying a basket containing a mixture of cornmeal and white flour, and six eggs.
When we arrived, Grandma Zhao was sewing shoe soles in the sun.
"Grandma, what are you busy with?"
"Hey, why are you two here? Come in and sit down. I'm sewing the soles of my shoes."
"Can you see clearly?"
"It's okay, it's still watchable, otherwise I'd be bored at home."
Grandma Zhao looked at the couple kindly and saw how happy they were.
"The village chief told me that the county will distribute grain every two months. I heard it was your idea. If it weren't for you, life would be hopeless. This country is really great."
"Grandma, you are so strong that you will surely live a long life."
"Hahaha, let's try to see you have children."
Sun Jiaxue changed the subject and asked, "Are you planning to make shoes?"
"Yes, it's a good opportunity for you to come. Mingqing will try it out to see if it fits."
Li Mingqing never thought that the shoes were made for him. He felt a little overwhelmed by the soles sewed by the old woman with presbyopia stitch by stitch.
"Mother-in-law, I have plenty of shoes to wear."
"Kid, how can you complain about having too many shoes? Are you looking down on my craftsmanship?"
"Look at what you are saying, mother-in-law, I'm worried that you will be tired."
"It's just manual labor, and I'm wearing a thimble. It's not tiring at all."
Grandma Zhao really treated Li Mingqing as her own grandson.
The bracelet I gave to Sun Jiaxue some time ago was already precious enough, and these handmade shoes are not cheap either.
"At this age where I'm halfway to the grave, if it weren't for you guys coming to see me from time to time, life would be really boring. I used to think that a good death would be worse than a miserable life, but now I want to live a few more years of good life."
"If you are in good health, Jiaxue and I will come to celebrate your 100th birthday."
"Yes, invite the whole village to liven things up."
When Grandma Zhao heard this, she laughed happily.
After staying here for an hour, the sun set.
"Grandma, we're going back first and will come to see you another day."
Granny Zhao stood up and said, "Take this basket back quickly. I don't need anything."
"It's not a good thing, just take it."
The two of them ran away.
Grandma Zhao looked at the things in the basket and smiled, thinking that she really had nothing to worry about for these two children, as the village chief had just sent her half a bag of food yesterday.
She took a small stool and moved to the door, waiting for the people from Old Li's family to get off work.
On their way back, Li Mingqing and Sun Jiaxue heard a few old women with unsteady legs gossiping.
"Why do you think the Li family kid always goes to Granny Zhao's place? Does Granny Zhao have something good?"
"I haven't heard of it. Grandma Zhao has been living alone in Lijia Village for so many years. If she had good things, she wouldn't be living like this."
"Just now I saw two people carrying baskets over there. They must be delivering something."
"We can't compare to what others have at home."
"That's right, it's really not comparable. I can't even afford to eat, so why would I bother caring about others?"
"I'm not going to talk about this anymore. Let's go home and cook. Otherwise, my son and daughter-in-law will come back and scold me again."
Li Mingqing and Sun Jiaxue didn't take it seriously after hearing it.
When the two returned home, several children were playing hopscotch at the door of the new house.
As soon as Li Mingqing opened the lock, several children rushed over.
Without Li Mingqing's instructions, he ran to the yard and took the shrimps out of the basin and put them in clean water.
Sun Jiaxue looked at them diligently and came over to squat down and clean up together.
After removing the weeds and some small stones, several pots of river shrimp were collected.
The eldest and second daughters had already cleaned the pot, and the third daughter was sitting in front of the stove waiting for the fire to be lit.
Li Mingqing sat there peeling garlic and preparing seasonings.
With more people, things go faster. Everything is ready in just a few minutes.
Sun Jiaxue poured half a bowl of oil, and the big girl's eyes widened. This is peanut oil.
The river shrimps turn red in less than a minute after being poured in, and are cooked after a little stir-fry. They are fried with plenty of oil and become crispy, and the fragrance wafts from the yard to the outside.
Old Lady Li put down the hoe in her hand and came over to take a look.
"What delicious food are you two making? It smells so good."
She looked at the oil at the bottom of the pot and her mouth twitched. Even though she had seen this kind of waste of oil before, she still couldn't help being shocked.
"Mom, you're just in time. I'll take a plate back later."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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