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“In fact, the most delicious thing my mother ever made was roasted chicken, but we couldn’t eat it at our house,” Xiao Bao said with great regret. “Mom only made it once.”
Wang Jinhe reached out and pinched Xiao Bao’s cheek. “Wang Ziqin, don’t make it sound like I’m mistreating you, like I don’t give you anything to eat.”
Xiao Bao giggled, “Mom is the best, the absolute best. Mom is the greatest, the very greatest.”
“…” Wang Jinhe really wanted to tell Xiao Bao that he didn’t need to praise her so much.
“I’m going to make pig trotters for you.” Wang Jinhe went to the kitchen to prepare pig trotters. After cooking and cleaning them, she soaked them in spring water for a while.
“Both of you come with me, I want to see if you’ve been lazy lately, whether you’ve been studying properly.” Wang Jingyu held one child on each hand and took them to study.
After more than half an hour, Wang Jinhe finally finished cooking the pig trotters. Zhang Zhilin could hardly wait to eat because they smelled so delicious.
Wang Jinhe served each child a piece in a bowl and gave them napkins to eat with.
Zhang Zhilin was very happy with his meal because the pig trotter was really delicious.
Suddenly, his mouth hurt, and Zhang Zhilin took out the pig trotter he had been gnawing on and looked at his small white teeth with a hint of panic.
Xiao Bao bit into the pig trotter and saw Zhang Zhilin’s tooth fall out. He cried out, “Mom, come quick, big brother’s tooth fell out.”
Wang Jinhe hurried over, thinking it was because of the pig trotter, but when she looked, she realized it was a baby tooth.
“It’s okay, big brother’s tooth fell out on its own. It will grow back in a couple of months,” Wang Jinhe explained.
Xiao Bao furrowed his brow tightly. “Why did it fall out on its own?”
“Because big brother is growing up and it’s time for him to start losing baby teeth. When he turns twelve, all his teeth will be replaced,” Wang Jinhe said with a smile. “When Xiao Bao gets as big as his big brother, he will also lose baby teeth, so there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s all very normal.”
“Did Mom lose her teeth when she was little too?” Xiao Bao asked curiously.
Wang Jinhe nodded, “Of course, Mom lost all her baby teeth, and so did Uncle.”
“Oh, big brother, don’t worry. Your teeth will grow back in no time,” he said, reaching out to pat Zhang Zhilin’s back as if to comfort him.
“In that case, let’s throw the tooth behind the door now. That way, when Xiao Zhi’s teeth grow back, they will look very nice. But remember to brush your teeth morning and night every day, or else little bugs will come and bite you,” Wang Jinhe coaxed softly. “Otherwise, your teeth will have little bugs in the future, and they will bite you.”
Xiao Bao pouted, “Mom, you’re a meanie scaring me.” Xiao Bao hated brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth.
In his words, it made his cheeks uncomfortable.
“From now on, big brother will brush your teeth together with you, so the bugs won’t bite you,” Zhang Zhilin said, brushing his teeth very seriously without needing Wang Jinhe’s help. If he could help Xiao Bao break this bad habit, it would be great.
Xiao Bao nodded continuously, “I won’t be afraid with big brother around.”
Seeing how happy Xiao Bao was, Wang Jinhe suddenly understood how Gu Jing and the others felt.
Because in Zhang Zhilin’s heart, Xiao Bao was also so important.
Having such a friend from a young age was a very good thing for both children.
The tooth incident was eventually forgotten, and after that, Zhang Zhilin was very careful when gnawing on pig trotters, fearing that he might lose his teeth again.
He noticed that after losing his teeth, his speech sounded funny, and it was hard to understand.
Xiao Zhi continued to stay at Wang Jinhe’s house, occasionally going with her to the melon fields, but most of the time, he stayed at home.
Half a month later, their house was finally completed. The pigsty, chicken coop, and even separate rooms for Big Flower and little Flower were all ready.
“Mom and Dad, we should go and bring all the furniture back, so we can move into our new house soon,” Wang Jinhe said. She had made a bunk bed for Xiao Bao with a slide, perfect for the two children to sleep on.
“That’s a good idea,” Wang Dagui agreed with a nod.
“Then I’ll go buy some seasonings as well. We can also buy two big chickens for Xiao Bao and Xiao Zhi to roast. These two kids have been craving roasted chicken every day. The day before yesterday, they ran up to Big Flower and scared him so much that he didn’t even dare to bring Little Flower closer to me. They were worried that I would actually listen to Xiao Bao and directly kill a chicken for roasting,” Wang Jinhe chuckled at the memory.
Wang Dagui and Gu Shi also laughed, “Our family isn’t lacking food now, so why do they love to eat so much?”
“It’s good that they can eat. I don’t know when Little Flower will hatch her eggs, and then we can raise some little chickens,” Gu Shi sighed.
“I don’t know about that yet, but it should be soon. Little Flower hasn’t laid any eggs recently,” Wang Jinhe said, even her shadow is rarely seen.
“Mom, there are lots of little chickens!” At this moment, Xiao Bao ran inside with Zhang Zhilin, excitedly shouting.
Wang Jinhe looked at Xiao Bao in amazement. “The little chickens have hatched?”
“Yes, there are so many!” Xiao Bao couldn’t count yet, so he just said there were a lot. However, he didn’t know exactly how many there were.
On the other hand, Zhang Zhilin chimed in, “Thirty-five of them.”
Wang Jinhe and Gu Shi exchanged a glance, surprised. “So many? Little Flower is quite impressive.”
“Let’s go take a look.” Wang Jinhe and Gu Shi took the two children to see the baby chickens. They saw Little Flower with a group of chicks behind her, and Big Flower was standing proudly nearby.
“Look at how proud Big Flower is,” Wang Jinhe said, both amused and exasperated.
Xiao Bao nodded incessantly, and Zhang Zhilin added, ” Big Flower is really proud. It was Big Flower who took us to see them, and the baby chickens are amazing, they hatched from the eggs all by themselves.”
“Zhilin, did you guys try to help?” Wang Jinhe asked the two brothers.
Xiao Bao nodded repeatedly, “We wanted to help, but Dahu wouldn’t let us.”
“That’s right, Dahu watched with us as the baby chicks hatched from their shells, and when we tried to help, Dahu stopped us,” Zhang Zhilin added.
Wang Jinhe and Gu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, these two children didn’t try to intervene and help, or some of the baby chicks might not have survived.
“Next time when Little Flower hatches baby chicks, if you want to watch them hatch, you can’t use your hands to help,” Wang Jinhe explained.
Xiao Bao looked puzzled. “Why?”
“Because baby chicks need to break out of their eggshells with their own strength. That way, they can have strong bodies and grow big.”
Xiao Bao and Zhang Zhilin seemed to somewhat grasp the concept, even if they didn’t fully understand. However, one thing was clear to them: they couldn’t help the baby chicks, or the chicks wouldn’t grow properly.
“These baby chicks are so cute, I wonder if Big Flower will let me touch them,” Xiao Bao said with anticipation.
Even Zhang Zhilin nodded eagerly, hoping to be able to touch the baby chicks.