16 Chapter 16
◎Is it what I think? Not necessarily.◎
Chapter 16
"This...isn't my credit. Shitou and the others found it. I didn't contribute anything..."
Grandma Tang didn't notice Ms. Tang Tang's embarrassment. She happily pulled Tang Tang to the yard, calling on the children at her feet to follow her.
As soon as he entered the door, Tang Tang saw Tang Rufeng sitting there playing with small animals, and greeted him with a smile.
"Hello, Brother Rufeng, let's come over and play for a while."
Hearing the voices of Tang Tang and the children, Tang Rufeng raised his head and looked in their direction.
"Well, just play. My grandma will bring you food later."
He nodded, said something softly, and then lowered his head, as if he didn't want to continue talking to them.
He was a little listless now. The only way he could play with the little mouse in his hand was because it kept scratching his fingertips with its little claws, preventing him from entering the house.
Luo Luo, who was standing at Tang Rufeng's feet, was leaning against his legs, looking at the little mouse in Tang Rufeng's hand with sparkling eyes, as if if the mouse was a little bigger, he would go up and play with it instead of just staring at it.
Tang Rufeng saw this and would put the little mouse on Luo Luo's head from time to time, letting it take the little mouse for a walk.
It knew how to be careful and walked very carefully, not leaving Tang Rufeng's sight. It turned around twice and came back, putting the little mouse back into Tang Rufeng's palm.
The little mouse was very brave. It was not scared by the occasional stroll. The next time Tang Rufeng put it on Luo Luo's head, it would find a better position to squat.
Most of the children who came in had been told by the adults at home that Brother Rufeng from Grandma Tang’s family didn’t like to make noise.
So they talked a lot when they first came in, but they were very careful the rest of the time, trying their best to appear less noisy.
"Grandma Tang, why don't you go roast the cicada monkeys in this basket first? The little mouse seems to be craving some."
Shitou was eating the peach cake handed to him by Grandma Tang. When Luo Luo passed by him again with a little mouse on its head, he looked up at the little mouse with some confusion, reacted, turned his head and called out in the direction of Grandma Tang.
"Hmm? I think it's you, the greedy little cat, who wants to eat it?"
After hearing his words, Grandma Tang smiled and looked up, put down the bag of snacks in her hand, said something affectionately to Shi Tou, and then walked to the basket that Shi Tou and the others had placed on the ground and reached out to pick it up.
"Would you like to take some home for your family to try?"
Grandma Tang asked, turning to look at the group of children who were eating snacks.
"Grandma Tang, you should bake them all. My parents won't cook them for us if we take them home. We still have to throw them on the fire and bake them ourselves. They will burn easily and won't taste good."
When Shi Tou heard what Grandma Tang said, he quickly swallowed the snacks in his mouth and answered her.
"Okay, I'll roast them all for you. When you leave, take a bag of the cooked ones with you as a snack. And let your grandma have a taste too. Your grandma used to love the roasted cicada monkeys and bamboo worms I made."
When Grandma Tang heard what Shi Tou said, she also knew what the situation was in their family. She talked to Shi Tou happily with a smile on her face, and went into the kitchen to clean the cicada monkeys that were still covered in mud.
Shi Tou's mother works in town most of the time, Shi Tou's father is also very busy, and the village chief is also busy checking the harvest in the fields, so they have no time to play these things with Shi Tou.
There is only one stone grandmother left in their family. She likes to run in the mountains.
There are several mountains surrounding their village, and there are many well-growing flower seedlings and herbs on the mountains.
Grandma Stone likes these.
When she was a child, it was Grandma Shitou who told her about going to the mountains to pick up the shells shed by cicada monkeys and exchanging them for money. She said they were medicinal herbs and the town's medicinal herb recycling station would collect them.
It was also because of Grandma Shitou's reminder that she didn't get married without even attending school.
She supported herself well with her efforts, went to school for a few years, and later married a regular worker at the bamboo weaving factory.
So even though she knew that for Grandma Shitou, it was just a casual remark from her, Grandma Tang would be grateful for most of her life.
They are very kind to the younger generations in the village, especially those under Grandma Shitou's care. They rarely eat the snacks that are always available at home, but prepare them for the children.
"Grandma Tang, can the cicada monkey add salt? Can the little mouse eat something so salty?"
When Shi Tou heard what Grandma Tang said, he nodded first, then seemed to remember something, frowned and asked.
But before Grandma Tang could answer, Shitou looked at the little mouse on Luoluo's head and his frown relaxed.
At the same time, Grandma Tang in the kitchen also responded to Shi Tou's words.
"It can eat. This little mouse must have been born and raised in our village. It must have tasted everything humans eat, yet it can still stand there so peacefully."
As Grandma Tang spoke, she threw a broken-looking cicada monkey into the nearby slop bucket.
"That's good, Grandma Tang, I want to eat the crispy ones! Grandma Tang's crispy cicada monkeys are the best!"
Most of the elderly people in the village are very kind to children, so Shitou speaks to them with unconscious intimacy.
Even those hot-tempered people in the village hid their concern behind their fierce tone.
So Shitou developed this kind of personality with the indulgence of the adults in the village.
"Okay, Grandma Tang will definitely make the kind you like!"
Grandma Tang nodded and smiled happily.
Tang Tang, who was standing next to him, looked a little dumbfounded. She had discovered that Shi Tou could chat with anyone when he went out, and no one would mind if he started to push his limits.
“That’s the art of communication.”
Seeing her expression, Momo, who was standing next to her, threw a peanut into his mouth and muttered something in Tangtang's ear.
"Shi Tou is the most outgoing kid among you. He's always talking and picking out things that people like.
He grew up in the village. When Grandma Shitou wanted to go up the mountain and didn't have time to take him, she would always leave him with your Grandma Tang."
Grandpa Tang, who hadn't said much since they entered the room, was concentrating on making the frames and quietly explained the doubts to Tang Tang.
Shi Tou, who was sitting here, saw that Grandma Tang was dealing with the cicada monkey and had no time to pay attention to him. He turned around, took the uneaten peach cake in his hand, and walked out of the kitchen door, heading towards where Tang Rufeng was sitting.
He didn't make a noise after he came over. He rarely shut his chattering mouth and watched the little mouse and Tang Rufeng playing quietly, occasionally lowering his head to take a bite of the peach cake in his hand.
"Shitou seems to like the little mouse that Brother Rufeng raised very much."
Tang Tang was a little confused. Although the little mouse looked good, it still had the gray color of ordinary mice, which made her feel uncomfortable.
I don’t quite understand why Tang Rufeng and Shitou both like it. If they want to raise a mouse, why not go to town and buy a hamster for their loved ones?
As he was thinking about this, Tang Tang saw Tang Rufeng pinch his index finger and thumb and make a circle, signaling the little mouse to go in. The little mouse was not tired of it and continued to play with Tang Rufeng.
"It seems to be quite friendly..."
Tang Tang was speechless. He lowered his head and took a bite of the cake. Hmm, the cakes from the old shop in town were still delicious.
"Brother Rufeng, the little mouse seems thirsty. I'll get it a small tomato."
Shitou and Tang Rufeng were watching the little mouse jumping through a circle one moment, but the next moment, Shitou was tromping towards the table where Grandma Tang had put her snacks.
He reached out and took a small red tomato from the plate on the table, then turned around and ran towards Tang Rufeng.
When they got to Tang Rufeng, he stretched out his hand and handed the tomato to the little mouse. The little mouse, who had been playing, stopped and looked at Tang Rufeng, then turned to look at the tomato in Shi Tou's hand, seeming a little hesitant.
Seeing this, Tang Rufeng was a little surprised.
He reached out and took the tomato from Shitou's hand and placed it next to the little mouse. He watched it lower its head and start to eat it. It was obvious that Shitou was right, it was indeed thirsty.
"Stone, how do you know the little mouse is thirsty?"
Tang Rufeng was a little curious and asked Shi Tou softly in a gentle tone, without any questioning, just chatting casually.
"I don't know, I just think it's thirsty. Before, I thought it wanted to eat something salty."
Listening to Tang Rufeng's question, Shitou touched the back of his head, feeling a little puzzled, because he himself didn't know what was going on.
When he came to see Grandma Tang in the morning, he saw the mouse raised by Brother Rufeng and liked it very much. He thought it would like the cicada monkey, so he took Momo and the others to find the cicada monkey.
Momo and others standing nearby still don’t know that the little mouse in Brother Rufeng’s family mentioned by Shitou likes to eat it not because others told him so, but because he felt it and did it.
He said it with such confidence that Momo and Tangtang beside him thought it was Tang Rufeng, or Grandma Tang and Grandpa Tang who told him that he was looking for cicada monkeys very hard just to exchange them for snacks.
In fact, there is no need to look for Zhiliao Monkey or anything like that. These kids can just come to the Tang family directly to add some liveliness and make Tang Rufeng feel more relaxed. Grandpa Tang and Grandma Tang will be extremely welcome.
When guests come to visit, they will always have snacks to entertain them.
Shitou was used to bringing some things to the Tang family and giving them to Grandma Tang as gifts before eating snacks, so it was natural for him to ask his younger brothers and sisters not to eat for free.
He can just eat it by himself.
"Okay, then if Shitou still thinks about what the little mouse wants to do, can he talk to Brother Rufeng about it?"
Tang Rufeng lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then asked softly without making any expression.
"Sure, but this might just be my idea. What if the little mouse doesn't like it?"
Shitou nodded and agreed to Tang Rufeng, but after agreeing, he seemed to remember something and turned to ask Tang Rufeng.
"If the little mouse doesn't want to do it, then let's change it and not force it to do it."
Tang Rufeng smiled and touched the little mouse's head with his fingertips.
He is a very perceptive person. Ying Huai at the entrance of the village is a very special existence. He would not be surprised if there was one more.
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