"Is that a beating?"
"Isn't it?"
"You deserve a beating."
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha" Xu Ning fell backwards and sat down on the ground.
The Xu family had long been accustomed to Xu Ning's personality. Xu Ning's crazy laughter would at most earn him a roll of the eyes from Old Lady Xu, while everyone else continued to do their own thing.
"Grandma~" Xu Feng tried to persuade Old Lady Xu by acting coquettishly, but Old Lady Xu didn't even turn her head to answer him.
"Xu Da! Xu Da!" A man's voice came from far away, gradually approaching from the direction of the village.
The Xu family couldn't help but turn their gaze and saw a dark-skinned man with a bright smile showing his white teeth, carrying a wooden barrel and walking towards the Xu family.
"Xu Da, look, I picked up half a bucket of prawns this morning!"
"Jumbo shrimp?" Xu Da was close by, so he leaned over and saw that the shrimp in the bucket were indeed huge. "Wow, these shrimp are still alive and kicking!"
"That's right! This shrimp got stranded in a small pit for some reason, and I fished it out!"
"You worked so hard to fish it out, just keep it for yourself! No need to send it to me!" Xu Da felt helpless. Seeing that the man Aji was still covered in mud, it was obvious that he came to him as soon as he fished it out!
"Hey, I eat this all the time, and I'm tired of it! By the way, Xu Da, why don't you live at the village chief's house? I just went over there, and the little girl had a gloomy face and said you moved away."
"That's inconvenient! It saves running around. There will be materials delivered later, and someone will have to keep an eye on it."
"Materials? You're not building a stone house? Are you planning to build a blue brick and tile house? Blue brick is indeed better than stone. Stone will collapse after thirty years of wind and sun, but a blue brick and tile house will last longer."
"No, it's still a stone house, but the mud inside has been replaced with something better than mud."
"Is that so?" Ah Ji suddenly realized, and walked towards Old Lady Xu with the bucket in his hand. Xu Da couldn't stop him even if he wanted to.
"Auntie, this is breakfast! I brought you the food!"
"Hey, it's Ah Ji, have you had breakfast? Come stay and eat with us!"
"I've eaten it!" Ah Ji put down the bucket and wanted to leave, but Old Lady Xu called him back. The man Ah Ji stood there at a loss.
In fact, there was nothing to eat if he went out to catch shrimps before dawn. He just felt embarrassed to stay. After all, he originally planned to just give away the shrimps and leave.
"Then eat some more and try your cooking skills!" Old Mrs. Xu put down the kneaded dough and asked Zhang to put the washed pot on it to boil water. During this time, she walked to Aji and pulled him to sit down.
"What are you standing there for? Sit down, I'll make it right away!"
"Auntie, I really have eaten!" However, his stomach sounded the "hunger song" at the right time.
Ah Ji's face flushed red. Old Lady Xu smiled and used shrimp to distract him. "These shrimps are really good. How about we have braised shrimp noodles in the morning?"
Ah Ji thought the dish was delicious when he heard the name, and he didn't dare to keep it. However, Old Lady Xu was already on guard against him. She pulled him with one hand and rummaged through the bucket of fresh shrimp with the other. "What's the matter, Auntie, are there any flood beasts here? Eat some more, or I won't take your shrimp!"
"That's right! Brother Ji, just stay and eat. It's time to get busy after dinner!" Xu Ning jumped up from the ground and was very happy to see the lively shrimps. Even Xu Feng came over excitedly, and the brother and sister teased the shrimps with great interest.
"Okay then." Ah Ji agreed hesitantly. He reminded himself in his heart that he must eat less later. He must eat less.
The water heated up quickly over the firewood and smoke was already coming out of the pot. When Old Lady Xu saw that Ah Ji agreed to stay, she went back to cut noodles.
Soon, the water in the pot boiled. Zhang used chopsticks to put the noodles cut by Old Lady Xu into the pot and stirred them, while Old Lady Xu started to cook braised prawns on a small stove.
Old Mrs. Xu first scooped a few spoonfuls of white lard from the bottom of the stove, and then poured in the chopped ginger and garlic that Zhang had made.
As the sound of "sizzling" was heard, Old Mrs. Xu put in a small spoonful of salt and stirred the minced garlic with a spatula.
Xu Ning stopped teasing the shrimps when he smelled the aroma of sautéed garlic. Instead, he stayed beside Old Lady Xu and watched her movements carefully.
Xu Feng did the same, taking a deep breath of the aroma, and squatted down with Xu Ning to watch Old Lady Xu fry the prawns.
Ah Ji watched Old Lady Xu pour the shrimps in. Soon, a more fragrant smell filled the air, and Ah Ji swallowed hard.
At this moment, everyone had the same idea, that is, the braised prawns were so delicious!
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