Chapter 105

Since Lu Baiwei became pregnant, she had become the beloved one in the Tang family.

When it was time to make rice puff candy, not only did her cousin Tang Yunling come to help, but her two aunts also came to assist, and even Professor Chen Wen’s wife, Zhou Yueying, was there. Lu Baiwei ended up being the one with the least to do.

“Weiwei, you’re making the candy too early,” said her third aunt, Ye Hongying, as she looked at the little ones eagerly waiting. The steamed and dried glutinous rice had just been taken out of the oil and was already being sneakily snatched up by the children. Ye Hongying shook her head, laughing.

“Look at these little ones, they’re so greedy, sneaking pieces of the rice as soon as it comes out of the oil.”

Ye Hongying suppressed her laughter, saying, “We haven’t even started making the syrup yet, and they’ve already eaten half the rice.”

When Tang Yunling’s mom pointed out the kids’ antics, He Yunqi, who was reaching into the basket to grab rice to eat, froze. He looked embarrassed, trying to give an awkward smile to Lu Baiwei and the others.

Lu Baiwei couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of his greedy face. Seeing the little Tang children watching expectantly, she knew that He Yunqi, the little one, wanted to be the leader of the group.

“Go ahead, each of you can put some in your pocket, but don’t eat too much. If you eat too much now, you won’t have room for the rice puff candy once it’s done.”

To avoid the children burning themselves, Lu Baiwei quickly grabbed some of the cooled fried rice grains and stuffed them into their pockets.

With something to eat, the children, along with Xiao Ranzi, happily ran off to play.

Ye Hongying chided Lu Baiwei, “These kids never get enough to eat, and you just spoil them!”

Her first aunt joined in as well.

“Weiwei, now that you’re pregnant, don’t give the kids everything to eat.”

She felt her own children, who were a bit older than He Yunqi, often teased their younger brother into asking Lu Baiwei for snacks, which she found unreasonable.

Lu Baiwei didn’t think it was a problem.

“Aunt, don’t be so formal, we’re all family.”

“Little Qi, Xiao Ranzi, often eats meals at your house, so it’s fine for them to have a snack or two.”

Lu Baiwei was very grateful to her two aunts. Since she got pregnant, they had been caring for her and making sure she ate well, even going so far as to bring her chicken. From them, she had experienced a kind of motherly love she had never felt before.

“Besides, I asked for help with the rice puff candy, and you all dropped whatever you were doing at home and came right away.”

Her first aunt, like her uncle Tang Jingshan, was a quiet and honest person.

Aunt Tang, like Uncle Tang Jingshan, was an honest person who was always quiet and reserved.

Third Aunt Ye Hongying responded, “Isn’t that what should be done?”

“You’re carrying a child, and now you’re the treasure of our old Tang family. Making rice puff candy together is a lively way to celebrate the New Year, it adds to the festive atmosphere.”

Third Aunt sniffed and reminded Lu Baiwei, “The smell of smoked meat is too strong. The young people who came to our village from the countryside before, they used to stay in the old house of the Yin family, which is near the village health center. There are often people passing by your door.”

“That smoked meat smell, you should avoid it. Don’t smoke it during the day, do it at night instead.”

That made sense!

In these times, getting some pork wasn’t easy—it required a meat ration.

Smoking a whole corner of pork could easily make people jealous if they found out.

Lu Baiwei agreed.

As she stirred the rice, Third Aunt Ye Hongying said with satisfaction, “You don’t need to hide from people too much, just be a bit cautious. The whole village knows you married well. He Ting is a young intellectual from the capital, so he doesn’t lack meat or sugar rations.”

“You’re also a barefoot doctor in the village, and He Ting manages the rabbit farm. He earns a lot of work points, and he also receives a salary from the village. Today, He Ting went to the village to get his work points, so he’ll get a good amount of grain.”

“You two won’t need to buy grain next year. Just the two of you and little Qi Ranzi will have enough to eat for the whole year.”

While the family was preparing the rice puff candy for the New Year, He Ting, as the head of the household, should have stayed home.

It just so happened that today was also the day the village distributed the work points and food rations, so He Ting went to the village to collect the portion allocated to his family.

Although He Ting was a young intellectual who had come to the countryside, he worked full work points during the busy farming seasons, and later, as the manager of the village’s rabbit farm, he continued to earn full work points.

In addition to that, Lu Baiwei also earned work points and a salary as the barefoot doctor.

He Ting pushed a cart and began loading the grain from the village. The cart was already too full to fit everything.

Just then, Tang Yuanliang, pushing his own cart, stepped forward to help. “He Ting, my grain is in the back of the line. Let me help you move the rest of the grain back to your place.”

Just then, Zhou Yanfeng also came out after collecting his grain. His portion wasn’t much.

He had been living with the Tang family, so he simply had his food rations counted as part of their share, which is why he came out empty-handed.

“Brother Yuanliang, you don’t have to make an extra trip. I saw it inside; it won’t be long before it’s our turn.”

Zhou Yanfeng took the initiative, “Let me help He Ting carry the grain. We’ll make an extra trip. You stay here and wait in line.”

“By the way, my grain is counted with your family, so please help me bring it back later.”

Tang Yuanliang knew that Zhou Yanfeng and his sister Tang Yunling were pretending to be in a relationship.

If you call it pretending…

If it was just pretending, Zhou Yanfeng certainly didn’t act like an outsider.

Not only did he frequently bring whatever good stuff he had over to the Tang family, but he also stuck around for meals every day. Now, he had even gone so far as to have his share of the village grain rations directly counted under their household.

For someone with such a sharp tongue, who often left Tang Yunling so angry she wanted to strangle him, why did his sister Yunling still insist on hanging around him all the time?

It’s because Zhou Yanfeng was persistent. He wormed his way into their home for meals and now had his grain added to their share. His calculations were as loud as clacking abacus beads.

Still, compared to someone as unreliable as Zhao Yongsen, Zhou Yanfeng was leagues better.

As Tang Yunling’s brother, Tang Yuanliang shared the same opinion as their father, Tang Jinghe—he was willing to accept Zhou Yanfeng as their future brother-in-law.

However, considering Yunling’s temper and Zhou’s sharp tongue, who knew how long it would take before the two of them stopped bickering and actually became a couple.

Oh well.

He decided not to worry about it and let things take their course.

Tang Yuanliang quickly agreed, “Got it. I’ll bring your grain home later.”

“You go ahead and help He Ting move his.”

Well, this was practically the official approval of a brother-in-law!

Zhou Yanfeng wasn’t sure whether his persistent antics would actually work, but it seemed like Tang Yuanliang was more than willing to play along.

Feeling smug, Zhou Yanfeng smirked slightly, using his eyes to signal a few of the other young intellectuals to follow He Ting back home so they could see Yunling.

The other young men, most of whom were still single, rolled their eyes at him after being endlessly fed his “public displays of affection” and refused to engage further.

He Ting, Zhou Yanfeng, and a few members of the Tang family seemed to get along seamlessly. This scene didn’t escape the notice of Lu Jiaojiao, who had also come to collect her grain.

Her gaze lingered on the sacks of grain piled high on He Ting’s cart, then dropped to the paltry amount in her own baskets. The envy in her eyes was unmistakable.

Although the women’s federation in the village had backed her, preventing Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe from bullying her further, the mother and son had turned cold toward her ever since the matter with Feng Shishi. They blamed her for driving Feng Shishi away and treated her with indifference and disdain.