Chapter 59: I Added Half a Ladle of Water!

“My mom is chatting with people at the entrance of the alley. Didn’t you see her when you went out just now?”

Li Xiangdong took his daughter from his wife’s arms, letting Zhou Yuqin eat in peace.

Seeing his grandfather shake his head, Li Xiangdong understood. His mother must have moved on with her group of old sisters, finding someone else to continue showing off to.

“You don’t have to worry about it. When it’s time for dinner, I’ll cook two more bags for my mom and dad.”

Li Xiangdong looked at the instant noodles in front of him. He only took a curious bite and then lost interest. He had eaten too much of it in his previous life and now felt nothing for instant noodles.

He picked out a noodle with his chopsticks, blew on it, and placed it in his daughter’s hand for her to eat herself.

Seeing his daughter sitting in his lap, squinting her eyes and smacking her lips, clearly enjoying the food, he chuckled, “Is it good?”

“It’s so delicious, Third Uncle! The instant noodles are so fragrant!”

Li Xiaotao ate like Zhu Bajie eating a ginseng fruit, finishing the noodles in his bowl in two or three bites, then tilting his head back and drinking the soup as well.

He wiped his mouth, walked over to Li Xiangdong, and asked with a lingering taste, “Third Uncle, is there any more? It’s not enough.”

“Do you have an iron throat? Don’t you know it’s hot? What if you burn your stomach eating like this?!”

Li Xiangdong’s helpless tone was mixed with anger.

Li Xiaotao scratched his head, “It’s not hot. I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough, so I added half a ladle of cold water to my bowl.”

“…”

What the hell!

Li Xiangdong felt like his emotions had been fed to the dogs…

“Stop pestering your third uncle. I haven’t eaten the noodles in my bowl yet. Come over and take them to eat.”

Eldest Sister-in-law couldn’t even get angry at her foolish son. She called Li Xiaotao to her side and took the empty bowl from his hand.

She then picked up her own untouched bowl of instant noodles, put it in Li Xiaotao’s hand, and waved him away to get lost.

One left, and another came.

Li Xiaohai, holding a large sea bowl, swayed over, “Dad, I’ve finished my noodles too, only the soup is left.”

Li Xiangdong saw his wife about to scoop some from her bowl for their son, “You eat yours, let him eat mine.”

Zhou Yuqin asked curiously, “You’re not eating?”

Li Xiangdong shook his head, “I don’t want to. I don’t think it’s as good as the hand-pulled noodles my mom makes.”

Zhou Yuqin didn’t respond to that.

She thought to herself, her man was just being considerate of her, wanting her to eat more, but the words he said were clearly nonsense.

No matter how delicious the noodles at home were, could they be better than instant noodles?

The others also thought that Li Xiangdong was just used to flattering his mother and said it out of habit. No one took it seriously.

Li Xiangdong didn’t know what they were thinking. He took the bowl from his son’s hand, scooped two strands of noodles into it to let his daughter eat slowly.

He gave his own bowl to Li Xiaohai, “Be careful not to spill it.”

Li Xiaohai grinned, “Dad, you’re the best!”

With two successful cases of getting more instant noodles right in front of him, Li Xiaobo followed suit and approached Second Sister-in-law.

Only Li Xiaojiang, the eldest brother, could only sit on the stool and swallow his saliva, watching his two younger sisters who were still chewing slowly and his three younger brothers who had successfully gotten a second bowl.

The noodles were eaten, the soup was finished.

Old Lady Li instructed them not to wash the pot and bowls, so that when they made dinner, the corn porridge would have a bit of the instant noodle’s oiliness.

Li Xiangdong carried his daughter and returned to the west wing with his wife. Li Xiaohai followed behind them like a shadow.

Li Xiangdong put his daughter on the kang bed, then said to Li Xiaohai, “Turn around, let me see.”

Li Xiaohai obediently did as his father asked and spun around.

“Lift your foot.”

Li Xiangdong looked at his dazed son and smiled, “Not bad, pretty clean. Go play with your sister on the kang.”

Li Xiaohai kicked off his shoes and happily climbed onto the kang.

Zhou Yuqin was tidying up the things Li Xiangdong had brought back. When she picked up the lunch box, she felt it was heavy. She opened the lid and saw, “Oh my! Why did you bring back so much meat? You should have opened the lid as soon as you got back!”

Li Xiangdong slapped his forehead, “I forgot. Quick, smell it and see if it’s gone bad.”

Li Xiaohai was squatting in front of his sister, playing with the little braids on her head. Hearing there was meat, he turned his head to look at Zhou Yuqin, “Mom, I want to eat meat.”

Li Xiaozhu followed, shouting, “Eat~ meat~”

“You never have enough of anything. We’ll eat this at dinner time.”

Zhou Yuqin said as she put the lunch box under her nose and sniffed, then sighed in relief, “Good, it hasn’t gone bad.”

She placed the lunch box on the table, planning to add a dish for the family tonight.

Li Xiaozhu suddenly shouted, “Hit~ you~”

Her brother had pulled her pigtails and it hurt. She scrunched up her little face and kept slapping Li Xiaohai’s arm, wanting him to let go.

Seeing his daughter on the verge of tears, Li Xiangdong said to his son, “Hurry up and let go of your hand. Can’t you see your sister is about to cry?”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry.”

Li Xiaohai quickly let go, then sat on the kang and held his sister in his arms.

He even imitated the way his mother usually coaxed his sister, cooing “oh, oh” and gently patting Li Xiaozhu’s back.

Li Xiangdong and Zhou Yuqin smiled at the siblings and continued to pack things up.

Two bags of instant noodles were taken out separately, and the rest, along with the creamy candy, were locked in the cabinet by Zhou Yuqin.

“The leader has arranged for me to follow the train to Tianjin tomorrow. I’m telling you in advance. I won’t be back tomorrow, I’ll be back the day after.”

Hearing her husband’s out-of-the-blue statement, Zhou Yuqin’s heart panicked.

Their life before, although not ideal, even when they were still in the countryside, when her husband went back to the city to ask his parents for money, he always came back on the same day.

Suddenly hearing that he wouldn’t be back tomorrow, it took her a while to come to her senses.

“Then where will you spend the night tomorrow? On the train? Do you need to bring a quilt?”

Li Xiangdong shook his head, “The leader didn’t say, I’m not sure either. There should be a dedicated guesthouse, but if you ask me, I’d rather sleep on the train. The sleeper berth is much more comfortable than the hard board bed in a guesthouse.”

Zhou Yuqin urged, “Then you must be careful when you’re out on your own. Don’t stick your neck out when you encounter trouble. Avoid it if you can. If you really can’t avoid it, at worst we’ll just suffer a little bullying. As long as you can come back safely.”

Li Xiangdong was originally a little touched, but as he listened, it started to feel wrong.

“Are you sending me abroad? Or are you sending me to the battlefield? Why don’t you sing me a rendition of ‘Waiting for My Man’s Return’?”

Zhou Yuqin laughed and pushed him, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“The green willows sprout, the catkins fly~ I wait for my man’s return but he doesn’t come, who has my man fallen for~”

Zhou Yuqin listened to the strange tune her husband was humming. She saw her son and daughter playing on the kang, both staring with wide eyes.

She blushed and both slapped and pinched Li Xiangdong, “Can you be serious? The children are still in the room. What nonsense are you singing?”