Chapter 199: Chapter 195: Small Pushcart

After Lin Lan, Li Xiangyang, and Brother Yong left the old woman’s house, Brother Yong said to the two of them, “I’m heading back first. There are still craftsmen working at my place.”

Li Xiangyang nodded. “Okay. Come find Grandma Yang this afternoon!”

After Brother Yong left, Lin Lan asked Li Xiangyang, “Where is the house Brother Yong bought?”

“He bought it three or four years ago. It’s right behind the clothing factory. It’s a place with three main rooms and a wing on each side, and it cost him over five hundred yuan.”

“Buying a house was the right move. A person needs a place to call their own.”

When Li Xiangyang saw she was still wearing her dad’s watch, his heart sank a little. “Little Lan, you don’t like the watch I got you?”

“I love it!” Lin Lan said, beaming at him. “My mom said the watch you bought is too expensive, and she wanted me to ask if you could exchange it for a cheaper one.”

“That’s just how the older generation is. They want to pinch every penny. I’ll tell Auntie later that I had someone special-order it for you, so it can’t be exchanged!” Li Xiangyang said with a smile. “If you like it, wear it. Uncle Da said it’s very waterproof, so it’ll be convenient for you to wear while working.”

“Okay!” Lin Lan turned to look at him. “This Uncle Da… does he specialize in the black market business?”

Li Xiangyang smiled. “Yeah. I heard he used to be in the Brotherhood. He’s a very loyal and honorable guy.”

Lin Lan paused for a moment. “The Brotherhood?”

When the two of them got home, Little Douzi ran up to greet them. “Mommy, Uncle Xiangyang, what took you so long? I’ve been starving forever!”

Li Xiangyang swept him up into his arms. “Alright, let’s eat!”

Wu Shufen then asked, “Where’s Ah Yong? Why didn’t he come over for lunch?”

Lin Lan said, “He went back to tidy up his house. He’s coming over this afternoon with his great-aunt.”

Lin Yuezhen brought the dishes that had been kept warm in the pot to the table: stir-fried shredded radish with pork cracklings, a large pork bone and kelp soup, and braised pork intestines.

Little Douzi pointed at the braised pork intestines in the earthenware bowl. “Mommy, Grandma said Uncle Xiangyang cooked the intestines. I tried a piece, and it’s super yummy!”

Lin Lan glanced at the glossy, golden-brown pork intestines in the bowl. “Mmm! It looks so good it’s making my mouth water.”

Li Xiangyang smiled. “My old man heard you were planning to cook fish with pork intestines, so he had me bring the intestines home for him to cook himself!” He thought of his father finishing the dish, swallowing his own saliva while telling him to hurry up and take it away. The memory was both funny and endearing.

Wu Shufen was so happy she couldn’t stop grinning. “Cooking intestines is a lot of trouble. That’s so thoughtful of your father.”

Li Xiangyang said, “My dad loves to cook. He wasn’t feeling well last year, and after a check-up at the hospital, the doctor put him on a strict diet. It’s rare for him to cook like this now.”

“That’s right!” Wu Shufen nodded with a smile. “As the old saying goes, ’Fish creates fire, meat creates phlegm, but radishes and cabbage keep you safe and sound.’ The body can’t handle rich food at every meal.”

Little Douzi picked up a piece of intestine with his chopsticks and said with a grin, “Grandma, I like meat too! I don’t like radishes and cabbage!”

Lin Lan put some of the shredded radish into his bowl. “You need to eat your meat, but you also need to eat your vegetables. A balanced diet helps you grow tall! Drink lots of kelp soup, so you don’t get goiter!”

Wu Shufen nodded. “An old doctor who was sent down to our work team used to say the same thing.”

Little Douzi looked at the shredded radish in his bowl. “I know. It’s like our chicks at home. You can’t just feed them bean pulp, you have to give them ramie and vegetable leaves too. That’s how they grow fast and lay lots of eggs!”

Lin Lan thought about how Little Dou Ding had been the one looking after the chicks ever since they bought them. She praised him with a wide smile, “Yes! Good boy. We have you to thank for the eggs we eat!”

Hearing this, Li Xiangyang thought, ’This kid is so smart. Smarter than I was at his age!’

Beaming from the praise, Little Douzi grinned. “Mommy, let’s hatch more chicks and goslings next year! I’ll feed them!”

Lin Lan nodded. “Okay, and Mommy will make you a sponge cake as a reward!”

After lunch, Li Xiangyang explained to Wu Shufen that he had asked someone to buy the watch, so it couldn’t be exchanged. He added that as long as it looked good on Lin Lan, that was all that mattered.

Seeing that it couldn’t be exchanged, Wu Shufen reminded him not to buy things so frivolously in the future and to be a bit more thrifty.

As Lin Lan listened, she was reminded of her mother’s constant nagging: ’Don’t be a spendthrift. Save some money for later. Money should be spent where it’s needed most!’

Li Xiangyang agreed with a smile, then said his goodbyes and went home to prepare the pork for the evening market.

Lin Lan asked him to pass on a message to Xu Dong, inviting him and his family over for dinner. Li Xiangyang happily agreed.

Before she left, Lin Lan discussed the evening menu with Wu Shufen. They would have the soft-shelled turtle, a chicken stewed with mushrooms, and about ten jin of fish. Adding in the bean curd, pork intestines, and some stir-fried vegetables, plus the ribs and pork liver Li Xiangyang had brought, they should have more than enough food.

Before it was time to set up her stall, Yang Liying came by with some bean curd and half a basket of eels. “Leave the eels for now. Wait for your brother-in-law to come back and kill them for you!”

Lin Lan nodded. “Did Brother-in-law go to the fishpond to catch eels?”

Yang Liying shook her head with a smile. “His two nephews caught them. They brought them over to trade for some tofu and bean curd.”

“Oh! That makes sense. I saw him at the drying ground when they were distributing the fish!”

Just then, Li Xiangyang rode up on his bicycle, pulling a custom-made pushcart for her stall. “Little Lan, what do you think of this for your stall?”

“Thank you, Xiangyang…” Lin Lan stared in amazement at the cart. It had two levels and an oilcloth canopy on top, looking a bit like a handcart. Her heart filled with a bittersweet feeling, and she didn’t know how to express what she was feeling at that moment.

Li Xiangyang looked at Lin Lan, and when no one was paying attention, he quickly squeezed her hand.

Yang Liying, Wu Shufen, and the others praised it repeatedly. “Xiangyang is so clever! How did he think of making a cart like this? Setting up the stall will be so much more convenient now.”

Li Xiangyang smiled bashfully. “It wasn’t me! The old master craftsman who made it came up with the design. He used to specialize in making these kinds of pushcarts for people!”

Lin Yuezhen smiled and brought out the baskets and containers for the stall. Li Xiangyang took them and placed them in the lower compartment, and everyone saw that they fit perfectly.

Li Xiangyang took a rope and tied the pushcart to the back of his bicycle. “Even when you don’t need it for the stall anymore, you can still use it for deliveries!”

“Mhm!” Lin Lan agreed.

After the group left to set up the stall, the old woman and Brother Yong came to the house and settled the matter of his marriage to Lin Yuezhen.

There’s an old saying: “Whether you’re rich or poor, get a wife to have a good New Year.” The old woman took the couple’s Eight Characters to have a fortune teller read them and select an auspicious wedding date.

Brother Yong told Lin Yuezhen that he needed to make a trip to the countryside to buy some lumber to have a few pieces of furniture made.

Lin Yuezhen nodded and saw the old woman and Brother Yong off. Then she went back inside to trim the fava beans and help Wu Shufen prepare dinner.

Wu Shufen butchered a rooster, cutting off a piece of breast meat to steam with the soft-shelled turtle. She chopped the rest into small pieces, blanched them, and set them to stew with mushrooms. Remembering that the children all loved potatoes, she decided to make a dish of braised ribs and potatoes.

Lin Yuezhen went to get the potatoes. Just as Wu Shufen was about to kill the soft-shelled turtle, Zhao Dehai arrived, holding a skinning knife.

“Mother, I’ve come to help you kill the eels!” Zhao Dehai said as he walked toward the backyard.

Wu Shufen quickly poured him a glass of sugar water and placed it on the washboard in the backyard. “We’re troubling you, Little Zhao.”

Zhao Dehai gave a simple, honest smile. “It’s no trouble at all. I’ll be the one troubling you to help with the cooking tomorrow!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep