Scallion and Sesame Noodles

Song Shixia packed some homemade dried fruits and a jar of tea. The dried fruits were sealed in vacuum-sealed bags, and the vacuum bags she carried with her were leftovers from a long time ago.

She prepared fresh fruits such as apples, bananas, and pears and packed them in cardboard boxes with foam padding. She would find a chance to take them out of the space and send them back home tomorrow after she separated from Aunt Feng.

She packed another batch of fruits in the turnover box, all of which were fruits that had recently grown and she had no way to deal with them.

Among the seasonal fruits are dates, pineapples, bananas, strawberries, cherries, mulberries, loquats, peaches, etc. Since you can’t eat them anyway, you might as well sell them and dispose of them.

Her space has all edible fruits except vegetable seeds.

After sorting and packing all the things, she let the two little guys wash up and go to bed.

Ji Weiqing was not at home, so the child came into the room holding a pillow and slept with her. Who wouldn't like a baby with the scent of milk on his body?

The next morning, Song Shixia took out the steamed brown sugar cake from the refrigerator and made a cup of malted milk for each of the two children. This was something that was already in the house, but she only saw it when she was looking for an empty can.

She tasted it and found it had a stronger milk flavor than the powdered milk of a few years later. It was indeed a luxury item of the 1970s and 1980s. In the past few years, you would have had to find someone to help you buy it.

She didn't compete with the child for maltose, but made herself a cup of black tea to refresh herself.

Ji Yuan pushed his cup in front of her: "Mom, drink from my cup."

Song Shixia touched his little head.

"You drink it. I'm an adult. Children will grow taller if they drink maltose. I don't need to grow taller anymore."

Ji Yang thought to himself that it was not the case. He wanted to expose her lies. She just didn't want to drink! Auntie would snatch milk from them. Every time they went home and grandma made milk for them, auntie would drink it secretly. Auntie was ten years older than them, but she still snatched their malted milk. She had never grown as tall as dad.

Ji Yuan held the cup and gulped down the liquid, soon finishing the whole cup of maltose.

He expressed his ambition: "I want to grow taller! I want to be taller than my brother!"

Probably because of the uneven distribution of nutrition among the twins, Ji Yang is strong and half a head taller than his peers, while Ji Yuan is a little thin and short.

If you guess their age based only on their body shape, you would think Ji Yang is five years old and Ji Yuan is three years old.

Because of this, Ji Yang, as an older brother, has always protected his younger brother, which is also related to the advice of the elders in the family.

Seeing his younger brother drink a large glass of maltose in one breath, Ji Yang curled his lips when no one was paying attention.

He had overheard adults talking and they knew that people in the countryside lived a hard life, so she must have been lying because she couldn't bear to drink.

Just after coaxing the second child, another cup appeared in front of him. Song Shixia looked at the sour-faced little cub in surprise.

Ji Yang looked unnatural: "You are shorter than dad, I will give you mine, and I can continue to grow."

She was suddenly at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Then do you know that all girls are as tall as me? Although I am not as tall as your father, Grandma Feng and Grandma Zhang next door are not as tall as me, which means that I am already very tall among girls. Drink it."

"You are lying. Drinking maltose won't make you grow taller. You just don't want to drink it. You must be reluctant to drink it."

This kid is hard to fool.

She teased Ji Yang: "Why don't I dare to drink? I'm just grown up. Adults don't drink milk."

Ji Yang's voice weakened a little: "You are worried that your family won't be able to afford more after you finish drinking."

Song Shixia was curious: "Who told you?"

"I guess. You only wear these two pieces of clothing every day. You don't have a job, so you must be broke."

Song Shixia pretended to sigh: "I didn't expect you to find out. I'm so poor, what if I can't support you?"

Ji Yang's face was tense: "I can eat less and give my meal to my brother. You don't have to cook meat every day, we can eat vegetables and carrots."

She couldn't help laughing and pinched Ji Yang's chubby face.

"Why are you so cute? You believe me when I say that. Your father's monthly salary is enough for our family of four to eat meat every day. Drink it while it's hot. I really don't like drinking milk. I have some tea leaves here. It's much more expensive than your milk powder."

Ji Yang recalled carefully that his grandfather loved drinking tea. Every time, his grandmother would say that the money his grandfather spent on tea leaves was more expensive than meat.

He puffed up his cheeks and said, "Don't regret it. When we grow up, you won't even be able to buy us milk when you want it."

Song Shixia's eyes curved into a crescent.

"Okay, if I want to drink milk later, you can go buy it for me." When they grow up, they will have milk tea.

Ji Yang's face turned red, and Ji Yuan leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Brother, do you like your new mother too?"

Ji Yang immediately made an excuse: "No...no, I was just...just afraid that she would hide and cry secretly if she hadn't drunk it before."

Ji Yuan was skeptical. His mother looked so happy, so why was she crying secretly?

Suddenly, a small hand appeared on the back of my hand and patted it gently.

"Mom, don't cry."

Song Shixia wanted to laugh for some reason. What was going on in this kid's mind?

After breakfast, she prepared a backpack for each of the two kids, which contained snacks for them.

"Remember to share the snacks with the brothers and sisters next door. Aunt Feng and I will be back soon after we finish shopping."

She was not stingy and packed enough snacks for several children to eat. She was worried that the snacks would be unevenly distributed and cause quarrels, so she simply packed more to make everyone happy. Anyway, she didn't expect Professor Xie to take care of the children, as long as the children stayed at home and didn't run around.

Ji Yuan hugged her thighs: "Mom, I want to go too."

There was desire in Ji Yang's eyes.

"I have something to do in the city with Aunt Feng this time. Can I take you and your brother shopping next time?"

Ji Yang tugged at his brother's clothes.

"You are already three and a half years old. You can't be a follower."

Ji Yuan looked extremely pitiful, like a little beast about to be abandoned: "Mom, you must come back soon."

Song Shixia's heart softened. She squatted down and looked him in the eye.

"I promise, I'll buy you some cake when I get home, okay?"

Ji Yuan bit his finger and shook his head: "If you don't buy a cake, Mom will come back early."

It seems that this little guy is often sent to live with relatives, otherwise he wouldn't feel so insecure.

Not long after Song Shixia and Aunt Feng walked out of the door, they heard a child crying in the yard. Ji Yuan's voice was particularly loud.

She felt a little uncomfortable.

Aunt Feng comforted her: "Children are like this. They want to follow adults wherever they go. Just get used to it."

Then she smiled and said, "You get along well with the children. Yangyang and Yuanyuan are very attached to you."

Song Shixia misses her children: "It's all about empathy. I take care of them as if they were my own children. They can feel my kindness."

"If you ask me, you are a kind person. Not every stepmother can treat her ex-husband's children as her own."

Song Shixia smiled and shook her head: "Actually, I'm quite lucky. I like children, but I'm afraid of the pain of childbirth. I've thought before that if I end up alone in the future, I'll go to an orphanage to adopt a child."

Aunt Feng was incredulous: "So you are not going to give birth yourself?"

"Let it be. I have no plans to have children at the moment. Mr. Ji supports my idea. Yangyang and Yuanyuan are very well behaved. I won't regret not having children."

"Tsk, I think your stepmother can become a bodhisattva. Which stepmother doesn't want to give birth to a child to secure her position?"

Song Shixia joked: "The Qing Dynasty has fallen, and there is no imperial succession in the family, so why would you need to have children to consolidate your position?"

Aunt Feng laughed along, "Professor Ji is only concerned with making money. You have the highest status in the family. You are so close to the child, so it's no problem if you don't want to have one."

The families of key personnel going to the city had to report in advance, and the process took half an hour. There was a village near the school, and Aunt Feng contacted the logistics procurement truck in advance to go out with her.

The head of the logistics department saw Song Shixia coming towards him with a smile.

"Is this Comrade Song? The washing machine and sewing machine that Professor Ji asked us to buy have just arrived today and will be sent back to your home."

I didn't expect them to be so efficient.

Song Shixia sincerely thanked them.

"Thank you for your hard work."

There was a pile of dirty clothes at home, and she finally found the washing machine.

The person in charge smiled and waved his hand: "It's not hard, it's just a piece of cake."

After getting on the car, Aunt Feng personally introduced Song Shixia. Everyone was very curious about her, because this was the girl who married Professor Ji! Everyone's chat topics were full of goodwill. No one belittled or ridiculed Song Shixia just because she came from the countryside. It seemed that there were more normal people.

Although she was not very enthusiastic about this kind of casual chatting activity, she did not reject it either.

Before getting off the bus, we agreed with the driver on the time and place to go back and then we went our separate ways.

Aunt Feng was going to her nephew's house, and Song Shixia said she had to go to the post office, so they agreed to meet at the department store at two o'clock.

After a two-hour bus ride from school to the city, it was already 11 o'clock and Song Shixia was hungry.

She rented a private house for eight cents a day. There was only a wooden bed and a table in the room. She took out the things she was sending to her hometown and placed them on the bed, and put all the fruits she wanted to sell in turnover boxes and placed them on the floor.

After going to the post office to send money and things home, Song Shixia found a hotel to have lunch.

She went to a noodle shop with old decoration but a sign saying it was a time-honored brand. Don't be fooled by the poor decoration inside the shop. In a few years, this place will be a demolition area, and the owner will definitely become a demolition generation.

Song Shixia went into the store and ordered a bowl of sesame noodles, but the noodles were sold by ounces, at 1.3 cents per ounce.

She ordered 200g of noodles, a big bowl of hand-rolled noodles covered with sesame sauce and sprinkled with chopped green onions.

It doesn't seem to have any special features from the appearance, just a simple dish of noodles with sesame sauce, but the aroma of sesame is so strong that it hits your nose.

Song Shixia couldn't wait to pick up chopsticks and taste it. The hand-rolled noodles were chewy and elastic, and the uniquely prepared sesame sauce was mellow and sweet. In less than ten minutes, he finished a bowl of noodles that was bigger than his head.

After she finished eating, she realized that her eating manners were a bit ungentlemanly. Fortunately, the shop owners were an elderly couple and did not notice her.

Song Shixia rubbed his stomach. It was indeed a time-honored brand. The delicacies hidden in residential buildings or alleys lived up to their reputation.

After paying, she secretly noted down the name of the restaurant and decided to come back next time.

In her previous life, her personal chefs were all retired three-star chefs from Michelin restaurants, and she had tasted all kinds of food from around the world. But today, she wolfed down her food at this small noodle shop like a refugee who had been hungry for a few meals.

It was not yet 12 o'clock, and while it was still early, Song Shixia rented a stall at the entrance of the vegetable market and gave five cents to the old lady selling vegetables at the stall next door to ask her to help watch over the site.

After a while, she asked a tricycle driver to bring her a few baskets of fruit.

She paid and gave the other person two apples.

"Master, please don't give up."

The chef refused to accept it: "No, it's too expensive. I can't bear to buy such fresh fruit."

Song Shixia persuaded him, "Take them. These are fruits I bought wholesale from outside. They are cheaper than what we have here."

The tricycle driver couldn't refuse and carefully put the fruit into the pocket on the front of the tricycle.