"Si-doni!" Huang Wanzhen put Zhenzhen down. "Mom, if you can't remember, just call her Xiaoni."
Afterwards, Mrs. Huang saw her daughter chattering at the foreigner. The foreigner smiled and stepped forward, extending a hand. "Mom—Okay."
Huang Dongshi understood this. She had shaken hands with people in her shop in Beijing before, saying, "Hello, Xiaoni."
After greeting everyone, Huang Wanzhen invited Sidonie to sit down at the dining table.
"Oh! Andy, the Chinese name you just gave me sounds very nice. I've decided to change it to Xiao Ni. The name my tutor gave me is too difficult to pronounce."
Huang Wanzhen asked curiously, "What name did Mrs. Ma give you?"
"Ma-shu-zhen, it sounds like the Chinese word for potato, which I don't like."
Song Wenyin complained to Huang Wanzhen, "Ma-shu-zhen, that sounds really weird."
Huang Wanzhen smiled and explained in English, "It should be Ma Shuzhen. In China, people like to name girls 'Shu'. Being a lady is what Chinese parents hope for their daughters, and it's also what society expects of girls."
"Oh! So that's it——" Sidonie also switched to English.
Song Wenyin looked at Huang Wanzhen, then at Sidonie, and asked, "Do you understand?"
"I don't understand!" Sidonie shook her head seriously.
Song Wenyin looked at her amusedly, "I don't understand, what are you saying 'oh——'?"
Sidonie explained to her earnestly in English, "'Oh' is an interjection in Chinese. I used 'Oh' to express my approval of Andy's statement. It has nothing to do with whether I understood it or not."
Huang Wanzhen saw the two of them chatting, so she stood up and ran to the kitchen to ask, "Mom, Dahua, when is dinner ready? And Yuya and Haimi, have they eaten yet?"
Mrs. Huang nodded. "Don't worry about Yuya and Haimi. They are eating their lunch boxes on the second floor. Give me a pair of chopsticks so I can pick up the meat and check if it's cooked."
As soon as she lifted the lid of the pot, Huang Wanzhen smelled the aroma of chicken stewed with mushrooms, "What a nice smell!"
Mrs. Huang curled her lips and said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier that you were bringing people back? We haven't prepared anything yet. We've already stewed the chicken for dinner, and we still have to go out to buy groceries this afternoon."
Huang Wanzhen quickly helped Huang Dongshi pinch her shoulders a few times, "Mother, you've worked hard. I'll hire two servants for you tomorrow, one to look after the children and one to cook, to rescue you and Dahua."
Zhao Dahua on the side quickly waved her hands, "No need, I can do it."
Huang Wanzhen turned around and said seriously, "That won't work. You're the pastry chef I hired at a high price. When the time comes, I'll give you an entire kitchen and have someone build you two ovens, one for baking Western pastries and one for baking our own snacks."
After hearing what Huang Wanzhen said, Zhao Dahua fell silent.
Although Mrs. Huang Dong was full of disdain for Huang Wanzhen, she took her daughter's dinner party seriously and set up a large table of food.
Because Huang Wanzhen loves meat, there is always meat on the Huang family's table. Today they prepared braised fish, stir-fried liver tips, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions, West Lake beef soup and a vegetarian dish of cold kelp shreds. The staple food was rice, and later they made chicken stewed with mushrooms and leavened flatbread.
Mrs. Huang also found the fried small yellow croaker and radish meatballs, put them in two plates, and placed them on the table.
Sidonie's favorite dish was the stewed chicken with mushrooms that was added later. She also smiled and told Huang Wanzhen that it would definitely be delicious if potatoes were added to it.
Huang Wanzhen immediately expressed Sidonie's intention to Huang Dongshi. Huang Dongshi smiled and nodded at Sidonie, holding her chopsticks. "Okay, okay, next time you come, I'll add potatoes for you." Turning around, she whispered to Huang Wanzhen, "What are potatoes?"
"Potatoes are potatoes. Oh, my translation wasn't accurate," Huang Wanzhen said before Mrs. Huang could start to blame her. She raised her hand and said, "I was wrong. I will definitely improve next time. Mom, please stop talking and eat. There's still a lot of work to do after dinner."
Huang Dong glared at Huang Wanzhen in feigned anger, "Humph! You only know how to cause trouble for your mother. Sooner or later, she will be exhausted to death."
Huang Wanzhen quickly put down her chopsticks and pinched Huang Dongshi's shoulders twice, "Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your hard work."
Mrs. Huang Dong suddenly remembered the purpose of asking her daughter to come home for dinner. Huang Wanzhen usually stayed in the store and ate boxed lunches with other people. Today, she asked her to come back under the pretext of the West Lake beef soup in order to inquire about Dong Yuzhuo's family affairs.
"It's not hard. How can you say it's hard to do things for your daughter? My daughter, we've been in Shanghai for such a long time. When will you find time to visit your second uncle?"
Huang Wanzhen had originally planned to contact Dong Yuzhuo and take advantage of her good mood to tell her about going back to Beijing to study. So when Dong Yuzhuo brought it up this time, Huang Wanzhen didn't refuse and agreed immediately. "Okay, after I finish my meal, I'll make a long-distance call to Beijing Jixiangtang and ask if they've received the telegram from my second uncle's family."
Mrs. Huang immediately smiled happily and patted Huang Wanzhen's arm, "My daughter is still the best, better than raising a son."
"If it weren't for that long-distance call, which cost five dollars a minute and I don't know how to use it, I wouldn't bother you. You're so busy all day, and it really hurts me to see you."
If you want to make long-distance calls with your phone now, you not only have to pay extra rental fees, but also use a small key to enable long-distance call restrictions. Although Huang Wanzhen paid the long-distance rental fees, she did not insert the small key. Instead, she locked the phone and unplugged it.
"If you really love me, just take care of yourself and don't let me worry about you."
"Oh, okay, sure." Mrs. Huang agreed repeatedly. After dinner, she actively helped Zhao Dahua clean the table, which scared Zhao Dahua so much that she waved her hands repeatedly, "Madam, put it down, I'll do it."
Huang Wanzhen also said to her, "Just look after Zhenzhen, and let Dahua clean up."
Mrs. Huang looked at Huang Wanzhen pitifully and said, "Don't forget to call."
Huang Wanzhen really couldn't do anything with her, "Well, go fight now, and help me entertain the chairman and Sidonie."
"Okay." Mrs. Huang quickly put down the plate and turned to greet Song Wenyin and Sidonie.
Huang Wanzhen took out the small key from her waist bag, operated it for a while, and finally got through to Beijing Jixiangtang. Xiulan answered the call. Huang Wanzhen first asked about the situation in the shop. When she learned that everything was fine, she felt relieved and asked about Uncle Dong.
"The postman delivered a telegram a week ago. Little Stone has it. I asked him to answer the phone."
Huang Wanzhen hurriedly urged, "Hurry up, hurry up, this long-distance call is very expensive, and it's charged both ways."
As Xiao Shitou spoke, he was breathing heavily, obviously having run over. "Manager, I got it. There's only one address and one signature on the telegram. The address is No. 27, Sipailou, Chenghuang Temple, and the signature is Ruixin."
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