Six fifty in the evening.
Jiang Ning went out to Xue Yuantong's house and woke her up.
Xue Yuantong slept until the evening. She was drowsy and confused at first:
'Where am I?'
'who I am?'
She felt bewildered as to how the world was changing without her noticing, and then her eyes focused and she remembered something important.
"I'm at home. I'm Xue Yuantong. I'm very hungry now. I want to treat Jiang Ning to hot pot."
Xue Yuantong thought this through and jumped out of bed. She put on her down jacket and said anxiously:
"Hurry up and prepare the horse for me!"
"It's time to set off."
Jiang Ning reminded: "Wash your face first?"
"Hmm."
Xue Yuantong quickly put on his cotton shoes and ran to the stove to pour hot water.
After washing her face, Xue Yuantong took out a small pink bottle. The bottle was given to her by Jiang Ning and contained skin care products.
Xue Yuantong would apply a little after washing his face every time. His face would not feel dry or tight, but very comfortable.
After finishing, Xue Yuantong ran to her mother and asked her to go eat hotpot together.
Aunt Gu disagreed: "You and Jiang Ning go, there are two dishes left from lunch, I'll heat them up and eat them."
"Mom, let's go!"
"No, you two should eat well. Jiang Ning, you look after her for me." Aunt Gu said. It was such a rare opportunity, it would be best for Jiang Ning and Tongtong to go. She would not go to join in the fun.
"Jiang Ning, be careful when you ride your bike at night. There are big trucks outside, driving very fast. Don't compete with them for the road. One minute at night is nothing."
"Okay, I remember." Jiang Ning led Xue Yuantong away.
Aunt Gu continued knitting.
…
Jiang Ning, with Xue Yuantong, who had just recovered his strength, charged towards the city in a menacing manner.
The two stopped in front of an ordinary hot pot restaurant.
"Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning, look." Xue Yuantong pointed at the hot pot restaurant's sign:
"This restaurant is called Bazi Hotpot, and it looks like where we live."
Jiang Ning took a look at the kitchen with his spiritual sense. The oil used in the kitchen was disposable, not the kind that could be reused. So he confirmed:
“Just eat here.”
Jiang Ning locked his mountain bike and walked into the store first, with Xue Yuantong following timidly behind him.
When I opened the door, the hot air from the air conditioner rolled in. The space inside the store was about 100 square meters and it was quite lively inside with many customers sitting there. Eating hotpot on this day was indeed a rare enjoyment.
"Hello, are you two?" The waiter came over.
"Yeah." Jiang Ning chose a seat next to the glass wall.
He discovered that Xue Yuantong, who usually gave orders at home and was so arrogant, immediately became a coward and restrained once he was outside.
Jiang Ning took the menu and ordered fresh beef, tripe, shrimp balls, fish fillets, and duck blood, then gave the menu to Xue Yuantong.
At this time, Xue Yuantong regained his usual agility and quickly selected a few dishes.
"Sir, would you like a drink?"
"Two bowls of red bean fermented rice, and one serving of freshly squeezed hot drink."
"Okay, the tableware and side dishes are over there." The waiter pointed.
After the waiter left with the menu, Xue Yuantong whispered:
"Jiang Ning, I'm going to go mix the condiments, will you come with me?"
"I'm not going. Make me the same dish." His taste is not much different from Xue Yuantong's.
"Okay!"
Jiang Ning opened his spiritual sense and followed behind her to prevent her from slipping or being bumped into by others.
At this time, there was a large round hot pot table next to them. The waiter brought over a group of boys, most of them were fifteen or sixteen years old, followed by a middle-aged woman.
Middle-aged women dress very seriously and rigidly.
Xue Yuantong came over with two bowls of condiments:
"Jiang Ning, the condiments I prepared are super delicious. I guarantee you will never forget them."
In the past, her family was not well off, but she wanted to eat hot pot, so her mother would make hot pot at home on her days off. Although the process was troublesome, it was cheap and affordable. While helping her mother, Xue Yuantong learned how to adjust the condiments to make it taste better.
Hot pot restaurants offer a wider variety of ingredients, so she can show off her cooking skills.
The hot pot base was brought up and the waiter turned on the fire.
Xue Yuantong's stomach was growling with hunger. She had paid a heavy price in preparation for the battle.
Seeing this, Jiang Ning drew out a spiritual power and transferred it to the flame under the pot, making the flame hotter and heating more evenly.
After a while, drinks and snacks were served.
Jiang Ning checked the store before entering and found that the red bean wine was good. It was made with glutinous rice, red bean paste, osmanthus honey and small dumplings.
Xue Yuantong put the spoon into his mouth and said: "It tastes good, Jiang Ning, try it!"
She ate another piece of fried crispy meat sprinkled with special spices, which blossomed in her mouth.
"Woo woo." Xue Yuantong felt that all the waiting was worth it. She had been hungry for so long. Now when she ate it, she felt it was so delicious!
She took a few bites, and then the dishes came and were placed on the shelf one by one.
The pot was already boiling, and Xue Yuantong was putting the vegetables in. She couldn't wait any longer.
The waiter came over with the shrimps, ready to put them into the pot. Jiang Ning said:
"No need, we can go down by ourselves."
The waiter said, "Okay."
It would be nice to have someone help you with the shrimp paste, but Jiang Ning can do it himself. He can eat it whenever he wants, which is a better experience.
Xue Yuantong devoured the food in a flash, while Jiang Ning behaved more normally. He maintained a normal pace, eating hot pot while admiring her eating posture.
What caught Jiang Ning's attention was a group of students sitting at the round table next to him.
There was a shelf in the aisle with a big cake on it, and people from there would occasionally look over here.
After listening to their conversation, Jiang Ning understood that the other party was a freshman in high school like Xue Yuantong. After the final exam today, one of the students had a birthday, so he invited a group of classmates to eat hot pot.
It should have been a happy birthday party, but the classmate's mother came along, a middle-aged woman who looked very serious and old-fashioned.
"You have to study hard. The reason you can treat your classmates to hotpot today is because your parents are worried about you."
"Only if you study hard, find a good job and make a name for yourself, can you come here to eat hotpot often."
"You must remember what I said." The middle-aged woman talked about her son tirelessly.
As a result, all the students at the table had inexplicable awkwardness on their faces. The atmosphere was very tense. Everyone ate in silence without any communication with each other. Only the mother was teaching her son.
The son was even more gloomy. Today he mustered up the courage to treat his classmates to a meal on his birthday. Unfortunately, his mother followed him.
He was upset by his mother's nagging and wanted to ask her to stop, but he didn't dare.
I just felt a little envious when I looked at the brothers and sisters at the table by the wall.
That's freedom.
Unfortunately, he is an only child and cannot understand it.
Xue Yuantong paid no attention to what was happening around him and focused on eating meat.
She used the hot pot to scoop food up from the pot like a large army passing through. Usually, she and Jiang Ning ate from the same dish at the same table, but of course, there was no need for a hot pot.
"Jiang Ning, I can't find the beef I just cooked. It's clearly in the pot. Did it disappear?" Xue Yuantong felt aggrieved, hoping that Jiang Ning would help her find the beef.
After hearing this, Jiang Ning probed into the pot with his spiritual sense and locked onto the culprit beef in milliseconds. He picked it out and put it in Xue Yuantong's bowl.
Xue Yuantong was shocked. She fished twice but couldn't find it:
"Jiang Ning, you are so awesome!"
Jiang Ning said complacently: "Oh, don't you look at who I am?"
Xue Yuantong picked up a piece of bamboo shoot and gave it to him: "This is a reward for you!"
She continued to eat meat, and said incoherently:
"Jiang Ning, how are you going to spend the New Year? Are you going home?"
"I think so." Jiang Ning said. His parents should be back during the Chinese New Year.
"Well, then we can't be together. I will celebrate the New Year at home, and my grandparents will come to my house." Xue Yuantong used to celebrate the New Year in the same way. He would bring his grandparents from the village over and spend the New Year with them all.
In Xue Yuantong's heart, celebrating the Chinese New Year is a very serious matter and he only celebrates it with his closest family members.
In the past six months, she and Jiang Ning have been together almost every day and have endless things to talk about. She wanted Jiang Ning to spend the New Year with her.
But Jiang Ning has a father and a mother.
Jiang Ning handed her a tissue: "Wipe your forehead, you're sweating."
"I have no hands anymore." Xue Yuantong held the food in his right hand and the cup in his left hand.
Jiang Ning had no choice but to wipe it for her.
After eating for a while, Xue Yuantong felt that the food was a little tasteless. She suddenly looked up at Jiang Ning, with him reflected in her eyes, and her expression was very serious:
"Jiang Ning, can we set off fireworks together on New Year's Eve?"
"OK."
"Ah? Aren't you going back to your hometown?" Xue Yuantong asked blankly.
"Can't I come back?"
Jiang Ning has a magic boat that can travel thousands of miles a day and can go anywhere in the world.
"oh oh."
Xue Yuantong's dishes became fragrant again.
…
As the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month approaches, the festive atmosphere gradually begins to take hold.
There is a new family in the row of bungalows where Jiang Ning lives. The other party works in a coastal city and rushed back to celebrate the New Year.
They are among those who come back early. For example, Jiang Ning used to live in the village. Many people who go out to work would not come back until the 26th or 27th of the twelfth lunar month.
That family has four members, a son and a daughter who have just reached adulthood. While their peers are still in college, they have already entered society to work.
The other person was dressed quite fashionably, and the jacket he was wearing was a branded one. From listening to their conversation, I learned that the jacket cost around 700 or 800 yuan. There was a sense of great knowledge in his conversation.
Only Jiang Ning could occasionally see a hint of weathering on their faces.
If you can make money in Yuzhou, who would be willing to leave your hometown
On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, the eight o'clock sunlight shines through the window into the house.
Jiang Ning got up, mobilized his spiritual power, and took a hot bath in twenty seconds.
He walked to the door. At this time, there were several people basking in the sun in the open space in front of the row of bungalows, and there were two more unfamiliar faces than usual.
Jiang Ning knew that they were the migrant workers who had returned last night.
A man in his forties wearing a leather jacket was squatting on the stone roller. When he saw Jiang Ning, he said to the people beside him:
"Whose child is this? He looks strange and unfamiliar."
The old man holding the rice bowl, drinking soup and eating steamed buns said: "The Xiao Gu family's house has been rented out, this young man."
"The boy is not short, just a little thin." The man in the leather jacket flicked his cigarette.
When he was talking, his eyes kept rolling around, and he looked like a scheming person.
The old man glanced at him. He was an old resident here and knew Leather Jacket's background. This grandson used to be a gambler. After losing, he liked to go home and beat his wife to vent his anger. Later, his wife couldn't stand it anymore and ran away with the children.
Leather Jacket set his sights on Xiao Gu's family. With only two children and a widow, they were naturally the focus of attention in this world.
But Xiao Gu was very powerful. He was driven out of the house. Once, the man in the leather jacket talked to Xiao Tongtong and said some bad things. Xiao Gu almost chopped him with a kitchen knife.
Later, Leather Jacket stopped working and went out to work. Looking at him now, he still has evil intentions.
The old man laughed and said, "This young man is very strange. He is not a pushover. He is very strong. The stone roller you are squatting on now was brought back from the field by him."
"He just stretched out his hand and lifted it up like a brick!" The old man was amazed. He had never seen anyone with such great strength.
"The stone roller must weigh 200 kilograms, right?" the man in the leather jacket wondered.
The old man said leisurely: "I'm afraid it's more than that."
Leather Jacket couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive, the old man was a nice guy, there was no need to tease him.
So his original intention to cause trouble was also suppressed by him.
The young man went to Xiao Gu's house for dinner. It seemed that they had a good relationship. If he really went to cause trouble, if the other party stepped forward, he wouldn't be able to stop him.
It would be embarrassing then!