"Cheng Qiao, this is your betrothal gift, what's that on the back of the bicycle?"
"It's the dowry I bought in the county town."
After Cheng Qiao finished speaking, she and Lele moved all the things into the female educated youth dormitory, pushed the bicycle to the dormitory door, and locked it with a "click".
Zhang Yuefang twisted her arm. Ouch, it hurts.
Han Chunmei didn't know how to express her emotions. On the contrary, sisters Xiaoqin and Xiaoping were happy because Cheng Qiao was getting married and they were wondering what gifts they should give.
"Aunt, why don't you and Lele stay for breakfast and try my cooking."
Mother Li shook her head. She still had to go to the fields, otherwise the village chief would deduct centimeters from her.
"Then wait a minute, auntie."
When Cheng Qiao saw that Li's mother was about to leave, she quickly stopped her, turned around and ran towards the female educated youth dormitory. When she came out, she was holding an oil-paper bag in her hand.
"Eat, Auntie. I'll bring you lunch."
"What is that? Ah, a big meat bun. It's too precious. You still have a wound on your head. Keep it for yourself."
When Li's mother saw that it was a big meat bun, she quickly stuffed the oil paper bag into Chen Qiao's hand. If she ate such a good thing, it would be wasted.
"Take it, Auntie. I have more here. These meat buns are nutritious meals bought from the hospital. They are cheaper than those bought from state-owned restaurants."
Mother Li secretly swallowed her saliva but still shook her head firmly. Li Huan finally understood why Cheng Qiao didn't eat the meat buns yesterday morning. It turned out that she wanted to give them to her mother.
"Mom, take this and eat it for breakfast. We are tired from the autumn harvest."
When Li's mother saw her son speaking, she could only take the big meat bun and leave. She was worried that the village chief would scold her if she didn't go to the field. Li Huan gave Li Le a look and left too. Li Le smiled and nodded.
"Let's go to work too. We'll be fined if we're late."
Xiaoqin looked at her watch and became anxious.
"Come on, come on, Cheng Qiao, close the door yourself. We are leaving."
In just a few minutes, almost everyone in the yard of the educated youth center had left. Cheng Qiao and Li Le smiled at each other, and then they walked into the house hand in hand.
Only Xu Laidi and Chai Jianmin were left in the yard, staring at each other. Chai Jianmin looked at Xu Laidi, whose hair was disheveled and whose face was red and swollen, and his body shook involuntarily before he quickly left.
"Lele, can you write?"
"Second sister-in-law, I can't."
"That won't do. You have to go to school after the autumn harvest."
"I'm not going."
"Why?"
"I have to go to the fields with my mother, otherwise if the centimeters are not enough, I will have to spend money to buy centimeters."
"Don't worry, when I go to work in the fields, you must study hard so that you can at least read and write account books in the future."
"Second sister-in-law..."
"Come, let's take inventory, and you put it away while I take it out and write it down."
There was no need to count the gifts, as they were all there at a glance, but Cheng Qiao still wrote them down carefully in her notebook: three feet of cotton cloth, fifty kilograms of rice, a bicycle...
"Second sister-in-law, are these all your dowry?"
"Well, I'll unpack them and you can put them on the beds."
Cheng Qiao pointed at the beds of Han Chunmei and others and started working, first taking out a pair of bright red thermos, and then a pair of glass sugar jars.
"Second sister-in-law, what is this? It's so beautiful."
"The sugar bowl, that's where the sugar is. Wait a minute, I'll get some sugar out."
Cheng Qiao rummaged into the bag and soon took out two brand new lunch boxes. When she opened them, they were filled with white sugar.
"Wow, sister-in-law, how come you have so much sugar?"
Seeing the little girl secretly swallowing her saliva, Cheng Qiao reached into his trouser pocket again. When he took out the candies, five or six colorful fruit candies appeared in his hand.
"This is for you."
"Wow, it's fruit candy. Thank you, second sister-in-law."
Li Le found out that what Cheng Qiao gave her was fruit candy, and she smiled with her eyes curved. She loved eating candy so much, but it was a pity that her mother never bought it for her. If it weren't for her second brother, she would have almost forgotten the taste of candy.
"You're welcome. Come on and eat. There are also eggs. I cooked them this morning. They're still hot."
Cheng Qiao took out two boiled eggs from his shirt pocket and stuffed them into Li Le's hand.
"And there are eggs, you are so nice, sister-in-law. I am really hungry."
While Li Le was peeling the eggshells, Cheng Qiao quickly smuggled the supplies in the space, including underwear, sweaters, socks, shoes, gloves, hats, scarves, quilts, bowls and chopsticks, large and small iron pots...
"Second sister-in-law..."
Li Le originally wanted to share the eggs with Cheng Qiao, but when he saw so many things suddenly on the bunk bed, he screamed in fright.
"What's wrong? Come and eat the eggs."
"oh"
Li Le stopped talking, feeling very touched. It seemed that his second sister-in-law had used all the money the Chen family compensated her to buy her dowry. This second sister-in-law was really nice.
Cheng Qiao hurried to register, writing down everything she could think of that was available in the grocery store. Since Li Le couldn't read, she could write anything.
I glanced at the watch on my wrist and realized that it was almost ten o'clock. I had to cook, otherwise I would miss the meal delivery.
He quickly put everything into two sacks, tied a knot with a rope, and placed them in a corner.
"LeLe, let's make lunch."
"Second sister-in-law, have you finished writing? If you have, I will go to find my mother. I am worried about her being alone."
"I've finished writing, but I want to cook some food for you to take over. The autumn harvest is very hard, and you need to eat well."
Li Leyaoyao nodded. She was very satisfied after eating twenty big meat dumplings and so many dishes brought back by her second brother yesterday. So her mother brought corn cakes and water today. As long as she would not be hungry, it would be fine.
Seeing that Li Le was anxious, Cheng Qiao didn't want to keep her. It was more convenient to cook alone, so Cheng Qiao started to work. She first soaked some mung beans in water and sent her some mung bean soup in the afternoon, which could quench thirst and replenish strength.
The autumn harvest time is tight, so it is impossible to cook a few dishes and eat them slowly. So you can steam some steamed buns, cakes and the like, and then stir-fry some oil-dregs cabbage and eat them with the steamed buns. It will definitely taste good.
As time was tight, Cheng Qiao started steaming the sorghum buns directly from the space after lighting the fire. This type of sorghum bun has actually been improved. Not only does it not get stuck in the throat, it is also soft and a little sweet.
While the sorghum buns were steaming in the pot, Cheng Qiao went to her private plot and cut a cabbage, broke it into pieces, washed it and chopped it up for later use.
After the sorghum buns are steamed, add oil to the wok, pour in the cabbage and stir-fry. When the cabbage is almost cooked, sprinkle a handful of lard residue, cover the pot and simmer for a few minutes before serving.
She took out a lunch box and a teacup, put sorghum buns in one and fried cabbage with lard in the other, then she turned off the fire, locked the door and ran to the field. She still remembered the piece of land that was allocated to Li's mother to work in her previous life.