kitchen.
Chen Yan stood there silently, not doing anything, nor did she ask her mother what cold dish she wanted to make.
Chen's mother called her in, not to really ask her to work, but because she had something to tell her.
"Chen Yan, how old are you this year?" Chen's mother didn't look at her daughter, but lowered her head and asked while cutting vegetables.
Chen Yan could see her mother's expression. There was no emotional fluctuation. Even the questions she asked were gentle. It was not an interrogation, but a genuine question.
"Thirty-five years old." Chen Yan replied.
Mother Chen stopped chopping vegetables, stood up straight, and faced Chen Yan. "Where's your brother Chen Lie?"
"..." Chen Yan stared at her, realizing she had to answer. She moved her lips and accurately reported Chen Lie's age, "Twenty-nine years old."
"Do you remember when his birthday is?" asked Chen's mother.
Her voice was gentle, but Chen Yan felt as if a heavy weight was pressing down on her. The human instinct to seek good fortune and avoid harm was revealed at this moment, and she did not dare to answer her mother's words for a moment.
"You don't remember?" Mother Chen looked directly at the daughter she had loved so much since she was a child. "Or do you remember, but you didn't dare to say anything on his birthday?"
Chen Yan's anger, which had just been because her mother only asked her to help in the kitchen, completely disappeared at this moment. She looked at her with pleading eyes.
Mother Chen sighed, shook her head, and continued chopping vegetables. "I don't ask you to smile at your brother, nor do I ask you to talk and laugh with Xiao Su. Just act like a sister."
"Mom..." Chen Yan's face was a little embarrassed, and tears just fell. "I didn't do anything to them, you only say I..."
Mother Chen didn't say anything, but she cut the vegetables more heavily.
"Chen Yan, you're 35, and your child is already in elementary school. Can you be more mature?" Chen's mother held back her anger. "Just now when I called you into the kitchen, you shouldn't have looked at Xiao Su like that!"
"I just took a look and didn't tell her what to do!" Chen Yan was also angry. "What if, what if she also wants to help in the kitchen? I looked at her, thinking that if she wanted to, then I would take her along!"
Mother Chen was getting impatient. "Chen Yan, don't say such flattering words. I know your temper, and you know it well too."
Chen Yan wanted to say something more, but her mother raised her hand to stop her. "Save some face for yourself and me too. Don't make me explain it too clearly!"
After she finished speaking, she felt footsteps coming towards the kitchen and quickly pointed to the fungus soaking on the counter. "Wipe your face and go wash that basin of fungus."
Chen Yan saw her mother looking out the kitchen door while talking, and quickly understood what was going on. She wiped her face quickly and turned around to pick and wash the fungus.
Su Qinghu did it on purpose, deliberately making the light slippers make noise, as a signal to the mother and daughter in the kitchen that they could stop whispering.
These slippers are not the ones with cowhide soles or plastic ones you wear in summer, but are more like the slippers you wear in hotels. They are light, soft and comfortable, but they don’t make any noise.
In order to make the slippers make noise without being noticed by people in the living room, Su Qinghu tried several methods without being noticed, and only then did the sound pass through.
"Mom, is there anything I can do to help?" Su Qinghu said to Chen's mother with a smile, "Today I will be responsible for helping you. I will try the dishes you cook first. I will cook for you some other day and let you taste my dishes too."
Mother Chen liked girls like Su Qinghu who were straightforward and frank. After hearing her speak so openly, her previous anger disappeared a little. "Okay, you can help me and try the dishes I cook later."
When Su Qinghu was asking questions, he saw the garlic on the table, picked it up naturally, and asked Chen's mother, "Do you want the garlic whole, or -"
"All is fine." Chen's mother smiled. "I'll use this garlic to make cold dishes and stir-fry vegetables later."
When she said that, Su Qinghu understood. He peeled off the garlic skin quickly, then broke off the cloves one by one, put them on the chopping board, picked up another knife, held the back of the knife flat, and slashed it with a few "snaps".
Mother Chen: “…”
Chen's mother was stunned for a moment. She wanted to praise her son for his meticulous and elegant work, but now she didn't know how to praise him better.
"Mom, you are so strong!" Erdan, the flatterer, came over and reached out to Su Qinghu to peel garlic and help her.
Su Qinghu sighed silently, giving up the urge to stuff garlic cloves into the mouth of this child who was flattering the wrong person. He handed him two cloves and waited for him to take them. While peeling the cloves, he lowered his head and asked, "Why did you run to the kitchen?"
She had to lower her head. Erdan's words just now had somehow offended her mother-in-law. She had to give her mother-in-law, who was trying to hold back her laughter, some private space for her facial expression to recover.
"It's boring." Erdan curled his lips. "My brother likes what my uncle says, and my father and grandfather also listen carefully. I'm still young, and I don't want to shoulder the burden of life so soon."
As he spoke, he sighed, as if he had been tortured by life many times, which made Su Qinghu's mouth almost twitch.
This kid probably hangs out too much with the old men and women on the streets? He speaks like a grown-up, even lamenting the difficulties of building a kingdom. It's simply...
"Okay, okay," Chen's mother laughed so hard, "I won't listen. I won't shoulder the burden of life so early!"
Erdante nodded sincerely, "Yeah."
Su Qinghu chuckled. Seeing him peel the garlic, she reached out to take it and asked Chen's mother, "Mom, do you have tomatoes?"
"Yes." Mother Chen didn't ask, but bent down and took out a basket from the corner. "It's all here."
Su Qinghu leaned over and picked out four sandy tomatoes. While washing them, he said, "Let's have some tomatoes with sugar."
"Sure, we have a full sugar jar at home." Mother Chen glanced at Erdan and saw how overjoyed he was. She knew Su Qinghu wanted to do this for the child, "Wash one for the child first."
Su Qinghu responded, cut the first washed tomato lightly with a knife, broke it open with his hands, and handed it to Erdan, "Give half to your brother."
"good!"
Erdan replied happily, picked up the tomato and walked out. Then he stopped and said to Su Qinghu, "Mom, I want to eat the cucumber salad you made."
After saying that, he winked at Su Qinghu, with a look on his face that said, "Although I helped you gain your favor, you don't need to thank me!"
Su Qinghu: "..."
He thought her cold cucumber salad was delicious. Would he be able to win her favor by making it today?
Praising him? What are you thinking! It's good enough that she didn't beat him up! Is this a chance for her to show off? Is this just to make her hate you! Didn't you see that the elder sister-in-law didn't say a word since she entered the kitchen? She didn't even turn around!
"Go eat your tomato!" Su Qinghu waved him away. "I just said I'm just helping out today. Don't give me any trouble."
Then he turned around and looked at Chen's mother, and said with a little intimacy, "Mom, I'm not very skilled in cooking. You can wait for me to go back and practice."
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