Xiang Xi, who had been lowering his head and quickly eating his rice, looked up and saw the mother and her three sons still in a stalemate, one wanting to be held, the other refusing.
He quickly put down his chopsticks and swallowed the rice in his mouth. He reached out his hand to Jia Yao and said, "Come, Jia Yao, my good boy, Uncle will hold you, okay! Let's finish eating first, and after we finish eating, we'll go high up, okay!"
When Jia Yao heard "go high up," he stretched out his chubby little hands to Xiang Xi, and still mumbled in a milky voice, "High up, high up."
Tou Tou, who had been sitting and eating obediently, heard "go high up" and said to Xiang Dong, who was eating with his head down, "Dad, I want to go high up too."
Brother Xiang Dong looked up and hummed, "Tou Tou, be good, hurry up and eat obediently. Dad has things to do today. Dad will hold you high up when he gets home later, okay!"
Xiang Xi said discontentedly to Xiang Dong, "Big brother, you're really something. It only takes three to five minutes to lift Tou Tou up high. No matter how urgent the work is, three to five minutes won't delay anything!"
Xiang Dong retorted, "What do you know, you brat? People can't do strenuous exercise right after eating, or it will easily hurt their spleen and stomach. Moreover, Tou Tou is so young, it's hard to say if his spleen and stomach have fully developed, and you still want to lift him high up? You don't even pick the right time. You don't know anything and you're still babbling there!"
Xiang Xi was speechless. He picked up Jia Yao and stood up, saying as he prepared to lift Jia Yao high up, "I promised this kid Jia Yao, I can't be a person of no credibility. Come, little Jia Yao, let's go high up."
With that, he lifted Jia Yao up and then down. Up again, then down again. Jia Yao's laughter filled the entire living room.
Tou Tou stopped eating and looked at Jia Yao with envy. Xiang Dong looked helpless, put down his chopsticks, stood up, took Tou Tou's little hand, and left the dining table. He first let Tou Tou swallow the rice in his mouth, then put his hands under Tou Tou's armpits and lifted Tou Tou high up.
Instantly, the laughter of the two children filled the entire room.
The adults couldn't help but laugh along.
When Xiang Dong put Tou Tou down, he saw Wen Kai and Wen Qi looking at him with envy. He beckoned to Wen Kai and Wen Qi and called out, "Wen Kai, Wen Qi, come here." Then he called out again, "Xiang Xi."
Wen Kai and Wen Qi excitedly put down their chopsticks and ran forward. Xiang Xi stopped lifting Jia Yao high up when he heard the call. Seeing Wen Kai and Wen Qi running up excitedly, he immediately understood what Xiang Dong meant. He returned Jia Yao to Liu Mama, turned around, picked up Wen Qi who was closer to him, and lifted him up. Xiang Dong also lifted Wen Kai up, and instantly, the happy laughter of Wen Kai and Wen Qi echoed throughout the house.
For a moment, the laughter of Wen Kai and Wen Qi, the excited "Ah! Ah!" of Jia Yao and Jia Hui, the shouts of Tou Tou jumping and hopping, and the hearty laughter of the adults filled every corner of the house.
Chen Lan finally breathed a sigh of relief! She really had no solution just now. She couldn't possibly let the children cry before they ate!
There was no need to say more about this meal. Everyone felt that the food they ate was exceptionally delicious, and the atmosphere at home was exceptionally warm and harmonious.
After the meal, Fu Shu asked Xiang Dong, "Xiao Dong, is there something unfinished today? Are you going out tonight?"
"Yes! The wiring is all done, and some of it hasn't been buried in the ground yet. Er Hu and I agreed to bring our miner's caps and finish the remaining work together tonight."
Fu Shu quickly said, "Xiang Xi, don't you have one of those hats too? Go with your big brother to work later."
Xiang Xi obediently followed Xiang Dong out to work.
Chen Lan sat in the living room chatting with her mother-in-law, Liu Mama, and Hu Yuzhen. Two carpets were laid on the living room floor, allowing Jia Yao and Jia Hui to crawl around on them.
Wen Kai and Wen Qi were playing a jigsaw puzzle of the national map, and Tou Tou was helping from the side, occasionally handing a piece to his two younger brothers. The more he helped, the more chaotic it became.
Seeing that the little ones were happily playing by themselves, Chen Lan joined in the casual conversation.
Chen Lan asked Liu Mama, "Liu Mama, is that Arirang cast-iron pot easy to use? Are you still used to it?"
Liu Mama smiled and said, "It's just as you said, it's quite easy to use. It's not only hard to scorch, but it also retains heat well. Look at tonight's food, it was kept warm in the pot for quite a while, and it was still hot when we took it out to eat just now.
New pots are all the same when you first use them; you're a bit unaccustomed to them at first, but you get used to them after a while."
The next morning, Chen Lan was woken up early by the alarm clock. She got up early. The day before, she had bought a small alarm clock from the system for fear of waking up late the next morning.
She went to the washroom and quickly washed up. She also used her mind to open the system and search for the weather forecast to see the morning temperature so she could prepare appropriate clothes for going up the mountain. She saw that it was only 10 degrees Celsius in the morning, with the highest temperature at noon being only 20 degrees.
If she were on the mountain, the highest temperature would probably be only around 13 to 14 degrees Celsius. Chen Lan decided not to wear the cotton padded jacket she had made herself, as it was too bulky and inconvenient for going up the mountain.
Moreover, she had decided to go to the valley where she had hunted wild goats again today, preparing to hunt a few more wild goats to put into the system's warehouse so that everyone could have fresh goat meat throughout the winter.
She was also afraid that if the weather continued to get colder day by day, the wild goats would migrate elsewhere to spend the winter. Therefore, she decided that she must go to that valley again today no matter what.
Chen Lan bought a set of athletic-style cashmere-like outerwear from the system, as well as a set of thermal underwear and a pair of ordinary snow boots. She received the goods but didn't rush to change into them.
She had to go to the kitchen to start breakfast first. To save time, she directly bought a large bag of braised meat buns and a large bag of fresh meat buns from the system, as well as a bag of scallion oil rolls. She put them all in a steamer and prepared to steam them in the cast-iron pot. She added one-fifth of the water to the pot, then placed a steamer rack in the pot, and put the steamer basket on the rack.
She opened the stove door, used a long iron poker to move the fire in the stove, and added a handful of dry grass as kindling. The fire in the stove quickly ignited. She then added a few thicker pieces of firewood, closed the stove door, and let it burn!
While the main food was steaming in the pot, she also needed to prepare some soup. Eating dry main food on a winter morning, accompanied by hot soup, would make one feel warm.
Hmm! It takes too much time to cook porridge now. So she bought a large bag of 1-jin (approximately 0.5 kg) well-known brand black sesame glutinous rice balls and a can of 1-jin (approximately 0.5 kg) rice wine from the system.
She poured out the water from the other boiling pot. This pot of water had been boiling all night and couldn't be used for eating! It could only be used for washing. She cleaned the pot, added a small pot of clean water and brought it to a boil. She then put the entire bag of 1-jin black sesame glutinous rice balls into the pot. She gently stirred the bottom of the pot with a spatula to prevent the glutinous rice balls from sticking.
When the water in the pot boiled, she added half a bowl of cold water to the pot for boiling the glutinous rice balls. When the water boiled again, she would crack a poached egg for each person in the pot, except for the twins.
When the water in the pot boiled again, she turned the heat to low, poured in the rice wine, and boiled for another two to three minutes before it was ready to eat. Sudancity.com
At this time, everyone else was also starting to get up.