Su Li ordered more than 200 dumplings with three kinds of fillings at once, filling several plates, and brought two soup bowls. Xie Zhengchuan and Shi Xiaomeng ate two soup bowls, and she and the children ate almost all the plates.
Su Li was afraid that it wouldn't be enough, so she fried some bamboo shoots with bacon, some spicy chicken, and heated up 20 steamed buns.
Just as we were finishing our work, Shi Xiaomeng and Xie Zhengchuan, who were out exercising, came back.
"I thought I got up early enough, but I didn't expect you to get up earlier. But I'm back just in time, so we can eat now. Please help the kids wash up."
Shi Xiaomeng didn't want to eat without doing anything. "Happy New Year, sister-in-law. Thank you for your hard work. I will help you serve the meal."
"Happy New Year! Xiao Meng, be careful of the heat."
The two of them carried the food to the main room, steaming hot buns and dumplings, and a bowl of dumpling soup for each person. They ate it in one mouthful and it was so delicious that they almost swallowed it.
It was the first time for Shi Xiaomeng to eat a full meal of dumplings. The meat in the bowl was picked for him by Xie Zhengchuan and a few other kids. The 1.80-meter-tall young man's eyes were red from eating so much.
After finishing the meal, Su Li put away the dishes and chopsticks. When she returned to the main hall, she saw Xie Zhengchuan and Shi Xiaomeng training several children. Although the children were young, they tried hard to stand at attention.
Su Li couldn't help laughing when she saw this. She took out a stack of red envelopes and gave them to Xie Zhengchuan, asking him to give them to the children who came to pay New Year's greetings. Of course, the one-cent red envelope would only go to the children in the family.
The children outside would definitely be driven out by their parents to pay New Year's greetings and ask for red envelopes. Su Li packed a bowl of money, marked it, and also gave some to Shi Xiaomeng.
You can't go to pay New Year's greetings empty-handed.
Su Li even specially gave Shi Xiaomeng a red envelope of 100 yuan. When she gave it to Shi Xiaomeng, the child shook his head like a rattle.
"Sister-in-law, I can't accept it. I definitely can't accept it. I'm such a grown-up, why should I accept New Year's money?"
"This is New Year's money, you can't refuse it, and you're not married yet, so even if you have children, they can accept it."
Shi Xiaomeng blushed at what Su Li said, and blinked at Xie Zhengchuan, "Why are you looking at me? Just keep this gift from your sister-in-law. I'll tell you in secret, your sister-in-law is rich, and she's a famous writer."
When Xie Zhengchuan said this, his tail was almost lifted up with pride.
"What are you talking about? Take it, Xiao Meng. If you can't spend it all, save it for marrying a wife in the future."
Shi Xiaomeng took it with a red face, but in his heart he kept wanting to hit his own hand that was holding the red envelope. Why did he accept it? Why did he accept it?
After a while, people started coming to the house to pay New Year's greetings. Su Li took out the peanuts, melon seeds, and fruit candies from the basket to entertain them. If there were children, she would give them a dime as a New Year's money.
Xie Zhengchuan took his children and Shi Xiaomeng to visit the whole village to wish a happy new year. This was his first year back home after demobilization, and the elders in the village really needed to be visited.
Su Li was alone at home. She thought someone would come to pay New Year's greetings, but unexpectedly, those who came were all children from a small group of three-year-olds. She had added the peanuts and melon seeds to the basket three times, and after paying New Year's greetings, the children looked at her eagerly, waiting for the New Year's money.
Since no adults came, Su Li simply took the dumplings and went to Old Xie's house to chat with Second Sister-in-law Xie. Although she only packed one dollar, country children had no pocket money for the first year, and one dollar could buy a few cheap candies.
She is not a sucker. There is no way she can get away with it if someone takes her New Year's money and then laughs at her for being stupid.
A few days later, Shi Xiaomeng's vacation ended. Su Li made a few cans of beef sauce and jerky, as well as fruits and fried cakes for the journey, a box of dumplings in a wooden lunch box, and two bags of buns wrapped in oil paper.
Su Li also heard Xie Zhengchuan talk about Shi Xiaomeng's life experience. She worked overtime to make two sets of cotton coats and trousers, two sets of spring and autumn clothes, and a scarf.
Such care caused Shi Xiaomeng to howl like a pig being slaughtered when he left.
Su Li was a little embarrassed. Xie Zhengchuan's face turned black. He directly pushed him onto the ox cart, whipped the ox, and left.
At night, Xie Zhengchuan put the children's bedding back into the east room, and then came to Su Li's room with a package.
Su Li held the sleeping Baoya in her arms and watched him toss and turn several times.
"What's this?"
"This is what Xiao Meng brought over. In addition to the canned clothes he brought for me, there is also a military coat."
"Oh! He's a really nice boy. When he wants to get married, what do you think of me finding him one?"
Xie Zhengchuan looked at her and smiled, "That's true! He praised you a lot before getting on the car and told me to take care of you and not to bully you."
Su Li raised her chin and asked, "Am I not worthy of praise?"
"It's worth it, it's worth it, you deserve it the most."
Xie Zhengchuan took out 28 yuan from his pocket and handed it to Su Li, "This is the subsidy I received this month while in Dong County. You can keep it!"
"Oh!" Su Li took the money and was stunned for a while. Suddenly he remembered Pan Zhaodi whom he met in Dong County last time, and then he looked at him straight.
Xie Zheng was frightened by her gaze, "What...what happened?"
"Um... do Tiedan and Baoya also get subsidies?"
Xie Zhengchuan suddenly became unhappy, turned around and put his hand to his lips, "Ahem... I told you not to be angry."
Su Li looked at him with slightly raised eyebrows?
"As for me...ah...wasn't I worried that someone would spend money recklessly? So I left the receipt with mom, along with a passbook for Tiedan and Baoya."
Su Li nodded suddenly, and after a while she felt something was wrong, "Does mom collect the money every month? I see mom is often at home."
"No, it's my eldest brother who helps me get it. I can get it once a year. This is a special approval from the organization, but I can get it once a month. If you want it, I can ask mom to get it for you."
Su Li was furious. "Who do you think I am? That's Baoya and Tiedan's money. How could I take it? The last time I went to the county town to collect my subsidy, I saw Pan Zhaodi also collecting her subsidy at the window for military dependents. I specifically asked her and she said she was a military dependent. You know who her family is, so I thought there might be something wrong."
She thought for a moment and continued, "Go to my mother's place tomorrow and ask if you need to get a new certificate. If it's with my mother, everyone will be happy. If it's not, well... we'll see what happens later!"
Xie Zhengchuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Well, I'll do as you say."
After tidying up and getting into bed, Xie Zhengchuan opened his quilt, looked at Su Li and patted the spot beside him, "Come and sleep."
Su Li: “…”
Brother, how can you say such a thing so seriously?
But even though she complained in her heart, she still tucked Baoya's quilt into her arms and slowly moved to the man with a red face.
Xie Zhengchuan hugged Su Li's soft body, feeling extremely satisfied, and fell asleep slowly while smelling the fragrance from her body.
After breakfast the next day, Xie Zhengchuan went to old Xie's house and told Xie Li that he wanted to see if the certificate of receipt needed to be replaced according to what Su Li said. He also casually looked at the amount of money in the passbook. Xie Li laughed and scolded his old son for being so thoughtful. He said that he had kept it very well, but he still let it fly away by itself.
As a result, Xie Zhengchuan waited in the main room.
Unable to wait for his mother, he went into Xie Qi's room. Before he even stepped into the room, he heard,
With a sound of "Ah~",
Very sad.
Even Su Li in the room heard it, and Bao Ya was so scared that she climbed onto Su Li.
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