Chapter 81p1
Wang Guihua was strolling through the village after lunch when she bumped into Zhao Lanhua, who was returning with bags of groceries. Zhao Lanhua called out to her from afar, asking for help carrying the bags.
Wang Guihua, with a swing of her arm, took the two heaviest bags. When they reached Zhao Lanhua’s house and put the bags down, she realized it was a large bag of tomatoes and a large bag of cucumbers.
“That baby, the chubby, short one…” Wang Guihua gestured with her hand, making a large circle, then pointed at her knee. “Didn’t she say she was taking you to the market? Did you go to the market or to stock up on goods? What are you going to do with so many tomatoes and cucumbers? If you’ve finished the ones from your field, come and pick some from mine, why are you buying so many, they’ll go bad before you can finish them.”
“I didn’t buy these vegetables, the program team gave them to me. Chubby, short, you mean Maomao?” Zhao Lanhua, both amused and exasperated, patted Wang Guihua’s arm. “Why are you gesturing like that, she’s not as chubby and short as you’re making her out to be, she would be a ball if she was!”
“Oh, so protective now? Who was the one who didn’t want to take on odd jobs from the program team, saying the little babies were troublesome?” Wang Guihua chuckled, craning her neck to look at the few small bags on the table. “What, you struck it rich today, buying so much food?”
There were several small plastic bags on the table, even without opening them, they could see the transparent plastic containers inside, all filled with food.
“I went to a fake market arranged by the program team with Maomao and the others, helped the little babies make sugar syrup and candied tomatoes, these are gifts from them.” Zhao Lanhua said, taking out the food. “Roasted chicken leg from Maomao, sweet and sour spare ribs from Yan Yan, five-spice pig liver from Yueyue, fried fish from Dongdong, and lotus root cakes from Linlin. I don’t have to cook lunch today, stay and have some with me.”
“Ah, I regret it so much, I just finished eating, I had potato rice with egg sauce for lunch, why didn’t you tell me you could get so much food!” Wang Guihua touched her stomach, then said resolutely, “But it’s okay, I can still eat, I’ll have some with you.”
“How could I tell you earlier? I didn’t know.” Zhao Lanhua continued taking out the food, laughing. “Initially, it was that little Liu girl from the program team who persuaded me to go with them, so Maomao wouldn’t be suspicious, I was also a bit worried, so I went to check it out. Who knew I would end up making sugar syrup there, I haven’t done it for years, but my hands were still steady. The little babies were so polite, I just played around with making sugar syrup for a while, and they gave me so much, they even helped me sell all the pillowcases I brought, I felt so embarrassed.”
“You don’t look embarrassed at all, the wrinkles on your face are blooming from smiling, you must be thrilled.” Wang Guihua chuckled, helping to arrange the food on the table.
Zhao Lanhua was truly quite embarrassed. The little babies went to the market to sell vegetables for their task, but Maomao’s own vegetables hadn’t even sold much, yet her pillowcases were almost all sold by that little chubby baby. Later, the other babies also came over, Maomao went to work inside, and the last few pillowcases were sold by Yueyue, who was watching the vegetable stalls outside, truly… She should be the one paying them.
Initially, Zhao Lanhua had watched the tanghulu business boom for a while, but then no one came to buy anymore, and the program staff started gathering the babies to talk. Seeing so many vegetables left in their baskets, she felt bad for the little ones, coming to do business and not being able to sell much. So she thought, she could buy some from them. But the program staff refused to sell to her, not only did they refuse, they even forced two large bags on her, saying that they couldn’t finish them and they would go bad tomorrow, they were all picked by the little babies under the scorching sun, what a waste if they went bad. Hearing that, she felt bad for not taking them.
But after taking the vegetables, it wasn’t over yet. The program team said she came in Maomao’s car, so she might as well wait and go back with them.
It was a hot summer day, so Zhao Lanhua waited.
Not long after, the babies returned, and so did the gifts…
Each little baby had a plastic bag, led by the one who always had a serious expression and dressed like a mini adult, Shen Zilin.
What did he say again… Oh, he said, “Grandma Zhao, thank you for helping us make tanghulu, we wouldn’t have been able to sell any of our vegetables without you. Maomao said you refused to accept our one yuan per skewer commission like the tanghulu grandpa, and you even pinched her face when she tried to give you money. We won’t give you money, we’ll share our food with you, please don’t pinch our faces, okay?”
How should she put it, Zhao Lanhua was truly charmed by the adorable children, she really wanted to pinch Shen Zilin’s serious, chubby little face!
Ah, the little babies, they were so cute~~~
Just as Zhao Lanhua, unable to control herself, was lost in the adorable memory of the little babies surrounding her, holding up their plastic bags and stuffing food into her hands, Wang Guihua suddenly exclaimed.
“What’s wrong?” Zhao Lanhua turned to look at her.
“The little babies already gave you so much, and you even bought a roast duck? Why does this roast duck look so strange… Is this half a duck, or half of half a duck? Why is the leg cut in half?” Wang Guihua, holding the roast duck box, was confused. “Is this the sauce-braised roast duck from the market we usually go to? It smells similar, don’t they always sell at least a quarter duck? Did you eat some on the way back? You gnawed it quite cleanly.”
“What are you talking about? Can you gnaw a roast duck as cleanly as if it was cut with a knife?” Zhao Lanhua laughed in exasperation. “It’s obviously cut, are you making fun of me? It’s because they only sell half or whole ducks, this is half a duck I bought with that little boy called Wang Zhizhi, and we each took half.”
“Oh… But why isn’t this half duck cut horizontally, it’s cut vertically? This way, the leg is only half, it’s truly strange.” Wang Guihua couldn’t help but examine the strange roast duck, which she couldn’t tell if it was whole or fragmented. “Why didn’t you just ask him to cut it all up for you?”
Zhao Lanhua also wanted to know why…
Perhaps… Wang Zhizhi had already confused them all by then.
It was while they were waiting for the babies to return and ride back to the village together, Zhao Lanhua was standing near the sauce-braised roast duck stall. The roast duck here wasn’t the kind that was sliced and wrapped, it was cut into pieces and served with sauce poured over it. Zhao Lanhua quite liked it, but she rarely bought it because it was expensive. Today, after making sugar syrup for a while, it was getting late, Zhao Lanhua, smelling the delicious aroma of roast duck, hesitated for a while, then decided to indulge herself a little.
Then, she saw Wang Zhizhi at the roast duck stall, asking the owner for a quarter duck.
Zhao Lanhua recognized the owner as soon as she got closer, he was the one who always sold roast duck at the market, they only sold whole or half ducks. This question of whether they could buy a quarter duck… The frugal Zhao Lanhua had asked it in her younger days. The answer, of course, was no, the owner felt it was too much of a loss to take the remaining quarter duck home and eat it himself.
The owner didn’t like customers who bought a quarter duck, but Zhao Lanhua loved them.
For her, a quarter duck with some rice was enough for a satisfying meal.
Zhao Lanhua and Wang Zhizhi hit it off, and the roast duck vendor, although speechless, still sold it to them.
It’s just that Wang Zhizhi, this child, for some reason, requested the duck to be cut vertically…
Of course, it didn’t matter to Zhao Lanhua, she was eating it herself, but after it was cut, seeing the two portions, each with half a wing and half a leg, it was… quite strange.
Perhaps the owner also found the cut bizarre, he didn’t even ask if they wanted it cut further, he just packed it up for them…
Zhao Lanhua herself was a bit dizzy looking at the narrow duck body with half a wing and half a leg on each portion, so she just paid and took it.
She had already bought it, what else could she say? She didn’t expect those adorable little ones to bring her food, otherwise, she wouldn’t have bought the roast duck.
“I just forgot to ask him to cut it further, it’s just the two of us eating anyway, we don’t need it to be perfect, I’ll just tear it apart after washing my hands, and we can eat directly.” Zhao Lanhua shook her head, trying to get rid of the image of the two strange duck pieces side by side in her mind.
But while some people were carefree, others were… less accepting.
The babies, returning with their vegetables, first went to the small square, the courtyard with many stoves where the dads cooked together on the first day. After the babies instructed their helpers on how to process and cook the vegetables, the program team asked the dads in the Wei family’s courtyard to end their activities and come to the small square for lunch.
The babies had each earned at least a few dozen yuan this morning, and the program team didn’t make things difficult for them when they were buying food, their human calculators even offered some constructive advice. Plus, the babies discussed with each other when they met at the market, so in the end, the tables were all quite well-prepared and plentiful.
The dads, after being brought over, didn’t immediately sit down at their tables, they first walked around and checked out the other families’ food.
Putting aside the taste, at first glance, they all had meat, vegetables, and staple food, it all looked quite good. It seemed the little babies were doing quite well as parents.
Oh, of course, Wang Qingchuan’s thoughts were slightly different.
After walking around with the other dads, Wang Qingchuan returned to his table, where Wang Zhizhi and the woman were already seated. He glanced at the piles of plates and bowls in front of Wang Zhizhi and the woman, then at the single plate in front of the seat that was presumably reserved for him, and fell silent.
A few pieces of braised beef, a few pieces of boiled mutton, three large steamed buns, all dry and bland, and that oddly shaped thing, was that roast duck? They didn’t even cut it up? Why was the shape so strange, it looked like something picked up from the trash…
And why did the other families have dishes served family-style, one dish per plate, meant to be shared? Their family seemed to be having individual meals? And the portions were strangely divided, the food in front of those two was normal stir-fried dishes, with sauce and soup, it looked delicious, but he only had a few pieces of meat with three large steamed buns, it was torture just looking at it!
“Parent Wang Zhizhi, what’s the deal with our meal today? Are we just eating our own portions, not sharing?” Wang Qingchuan, seeing that Wang Zhizhi and Wang Qingbei were about to start eating, couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes.” Wang Zhizhi turned to look at Wang Qingchuan. “Three steamed buns, isn’t that enough for you? Brother Li Mu said three steamed buns plus this much meat should be enough for an adult male.”
“It’s not about whether it’s enough or not! You guys are eating steamed chicken, fried fish, stir-fried winter melon, stir-fried celery, and even some… loofah and egg soup.” Wang Qingchuan pointed at the bowls and plates in front of Wang Qingbei, then pushed his own plate. “What’s all this, dry and bland, you have soup and stir-fried dishes, and you arranged this for me? Where’s your fairness from this morning, when you meticulously cut the egg pancake and measured the soy milk? She played for the whole morning, I lay on a bed board for the whole morning, and you’re making me eat this?”
Jiang Heye looked at the seemingly angry Wang Qingchuan in shock, she didn’t understand, what was he angry about? Weren’t these the things he specifically requested this morning? Mmm… Except for the roast duck looking a bit ugly, what was wrong with the rest?
“Brother…” Jiang Heye frowned.
“It’s called beggar’s chicken, not steamed chicken. And that fish is called crispy fried fish.” Wang Zhizhi said, pushing the two plates that were originally closer to him towards Wang Qingbei, then looked at Wang Qingchuan and said righteously, “I’m being fair. You said you wanted to eat braised beef, boiled mutton, and roast duck this morning, I bought them all for you. Beibei said she wanted to eat vegetables, I bought them for her too.”
Wang Qingchuan was stunned, he remembered the angry words he had casually said this morning.
It… was truly the food he had requested. But he had just said it casually, didn’t he understand those were just angry words?
No, wait…
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