Han Ze left school and rode his bicycle directly to the town. Hanjia Village was not far from the town, only about three miles away. Today was the market day, so he pushed his bicycle straight to the meat stall in the vegetable market. The weather was hot, and the meat stall was not doing very well. The owner was fanning the stall with a fan.
Han Ze obviously knew the butcher, and he called him "Brother Lei" just a few meters away from the stall.
Zhang Lei, the owner of the meat stall, is the son of Han Ze's aunt. He is a few years older than Han Ze and has been selling pork in the town for more than ten years. Few people in the town don't know him. Han Ze came to him to ask for help in figuring out where to set up the noodle stall. After all, he is a country guy who digs the land and knows nothing about doing business.
Zhang Lei didn't expect that Han Ze came to him for this matter. After thinking for a moment, he agreed to help.
Business people are more savvy, and he did not ask Han Ze why he was selling noodles instead of growing good land, nor did he persuade Han Ze not to do business.
After all, whether a business can be done well and whether money can be made can only be known by doing it. Even if he is a cousin, he will not say much about things that block other people's financial path.
Besides, although Han Ze was not as smooth as his two younger brothers and was even worse than them in dealing with people, Zhang Lei had been selling pork in the town for more than ten years and had seen all kinds of people. He looked up to an honest man like Han Ze, not to mention that they were cousins, and for the sake of his mother, he had to help.
Brother Lei was willing to help, Han Ze breathed a sigh of relief, touched the back of his head, and said with a smile: "When the noodle stall opens, I'll treat you to some noodles."
Zhang Lei smiled and said yes, but he didn't agree in his heart. Although he agreed to help the other party find a place to set up the noodle stall, he didn't have much expectation for the other party's cooking skills. He was a butcher and had no shortage of money. He had even been to big restaurants in the provincial capital and had eaten everything. Why would he be interested in the plain noodles cooked by a country man
Han Ze didn't care what the other party thought and bought two pounds of meat before leaving. When paying, Zhang Lei politely said forget it. Han Ze waved his hand and said, "How can I do business without charging money? Then you won't charge me for meat next time I come to buy meat?" After saying that, he put the money next to the meat stall and pushed his bicycle away.
What Zhang Lei said was just a polite remark. If Han Ze really didn't give him money to buy meat, he would no longer care about this person from now on, let alone find him a place to set up a noodle stall.
...
As soon as Han Ze got home, he couldn't wait to go to the room to see his little girl. The little girl was wrapped in a swaddle, her little face was red, her body was soft and very thin, she weighed less than five kilograms when she was born, and now she is more than twenty days old, and she hasn't gained much weight. He was afraid of dropping her if he held her in his arms.
The children from the previous two worlds have grown up. He has never raised such a young child. He cherishes her very much, but he dares not hold her. He just looks at her with love, touches her tender face or pinches her little hands to satisfy himself.
"It's been more than 20 days, why is our fifth girl still so small? Is she not eating enough?" Han Ze pinched his daughter's fingers. There was no flesh on them, and there was not much flesh on her face either. There were even wrinkles on her forehead.
"Low milk doesn't mean you're not full."
"Then why didn't you tell me? No one can starve but the child." Han Ze frowned.
Wu Hongmei was both amused and sad. She had never seen him treat her previous children so well. When she gave birth to this child, the midwife said that since it was a girl, she knew that the child would be given away.
Now, not only has the child not been given away, but her husband cherishes her like a treasure. He even looks up the dictionary and talks about giving the girl a unique name. Even if it were a boy born to someone else, no one would love the child as much as he does.
"Tell me if you're hungry. Otherwise, what will happen if the baby starves without milk? Take a rest. I'll go make you some food."
Wu Hongmei looked at the man's back, and for some reason, she suddenly had a ridiculous idea. Even if she couldn't give birth to a son in this life, she had nothing to worry about, because the man was her support.
Han Ze went to the kitchen, cut a piece of meat, chopped it up, added a little salt, sesame oil and green onions, and stirred it into filling. Then he kneaded the dough, rolled out the dumpling wrappers, and made dumplings. He moved quickly, and in a short while, the dumplings were in the pot.
While the dumplings were tumbling in the pot, Mrs. Han came back. She saw smoke coming out of the chimney from afar and guessed that it might be her eldest son cooking. She didn't expect that he was actually cooking dumplings.
With a smile on his face, he said, "What day is it today? Why are you making dumplings? When did you cut the meat? Let Junjun and the others come over to eat later."
Han Ze took a large bowl and put all the dumplings in it. Without even looking up, he said, "Mom, this is for Hongmei. There aren't many."
Mrs. Han's expression froze for a moment, as if she couldn't believe it, and she asked again, "What did you just say?"
"Mom, the child is at the breastfeeding age now. Where will the milk come from if the mother is not full? From now on, any delicious food at home should be given to Hongmei. Otherwise, what will happen if the fifth girl is hungry?" Han Ze said as he walked towards their room with the bowl in his hand.
Mrs. Han stayed where she was, her old face looking as if she had swallowed a fly. Wu Hongmei, that woman, couldn't even give birth to a boy, and yet she was expected to cook delicious food. How could she not be so happy
In the room, Wu Hongmei looked at the large bowl of dumplings in front of her with mixed feelings. After so many times of confinement, this time the meal served to her was not only enough to fill her up, but the dumplings were filled with only meat.
Thinking of what the man said, that she could only produce milk when she was full, she smiled knowingly, she was blessed with a daughter.
"Stop looking at her and eat quickly." Han Ze urged her when he saw that she was only staring at the bowl but not moving her chopsticks.
Wu Hongmei smiled, picked up the chopsticks, picked up a dumpling and put it into her mouth. Her eyes lit up, and she ate one after another. Before she knew it, she had finished the whole bowl of dumplings. Looking at Han Ze, she put down her chopsticks embarrassedly.
Han Ze didn't react, so she breathed a sigh of relief.
"How do you make dumplings?" I have been married to a man for so long, but I didn't know that he has such cooking skills.
"I just made it according to your usual method of making dumplings. What's wrong?" Han Ze looked at her in confusion. "Not tasty?"
“It’s delicious. It’s really delicious.”
"As long as it tastes good." Han Ze smiled. "The old blind uncle said that I can make money with my hands. I didn't believe it at first. I can only farm with my hands. What else can I do? I rolled noodles for my mother the other day, and she also said they were delicious..."
At this point, he lowered his voice and said, "Old Blind Uncle also ate this noodle, and he said that even the noodles made by the chef in the provincial capital hotel are not as delicious as mine."
Wu Hongmei thought about the taste of the dumplings she had just eaten. She didn’t go to school much, so she didn’t know how to describe it. She only knew that after eating those dumplings, she wanted to eat more. Just thinking about it made her drool…
"So, I plan to set up a stall in town to sell noodles. What do you think?" Han Ze asked. He had not told Wu Hongmei about this before, but he thought it would be a better idea to tell her.
Wu Hongmei frowned. She didn't have much experience, but her husband's dumplings were so delicious, so he must be able to make good noodles. After thinking for a while, she said, "It's up to you if you think it's okay. I don't understand these things, so I'll listen to you."