Chapter 46: Morning Together

 Lin Yue took over the task of making breakfast from Zhang Yuandong.

    Zhang Yuandong had already picked the chrysanthemum greens, she took some flour and eggs from the space and made a pot of chrysanthemum greens dumpling soup, she also fried a few egg cakes and potato cakes.

    She learned to make chrysanthemum greens dumpling soup after she came here, there were also wild vegetable dumpling soup, tomato dumpling soup, clam dumpling soup, potato dumpling soup… The ingredients were diverse, everything could be made into dumpling soup.

    Lin Yue had only eaten seafood dumpling soup in her previous life, it was a local specialty of coastal cities, it was very delicious.

    She didn’t expect chrysanthemum greens dumpling soup to be so delicious, even she, who didn’t like chrysanthemum greens, thought it tasted good.

    Of course, the premise was that you had to be willing to put oil in it.

    Lin Yue was cooking, Zhang Yuandong went into the house to wake up the two little ones.

    She finished cooking and went into the house to see, little Wanli had already put on his clothes obediently, he was scratching his messy hair and struggling with his socks.

    The socks in the countryside were all sewn by themselves, they were very similar to the shoe covers of later generations.

    The weather was warm now, people generally didn’t want to put socks on their children, they thought it was a waste of cloth and it was also stuffy.

    Lin Yue was afraid that the two children would step on something when they played in the fields, so she usually made them wear socks.

    But when the weather was warm, they wore straw sandals, cloth shoes were time-consuming and wasteful to make, and the children were growing fast, she didn’t want to give them cloth shoes.

    Little Lingling was only wearing a pair of small shorts, she was playing with Zhang Yuandong on the kang, she couldn’t beat her father, so she kept calling for her brother to save her.

    Little Wanli probably had some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder, although he also wanted to join in the fun, he couldn’t bear to put down the socks in his hand, he was determined to fight the socks to the end, now he heard his sister urging him repeatedly, he became even more anxious and couldn’t put on his socks properly.

    Lin Yue came in and saw this scene, Zhang Yuandong’s smile was genuine, he looked very happy, it was different from his usual seriousness outside and his polite awkwardness in front of her.

    Little Lingling saw Lin Yue come in, she giggled and called out “Mom”, she was about to climb down the kang.

    Lin Yue had always put a small stool in a specific place to make it easier for the two children to get on and off the kang.

    She saw this little rascal about to climb down without clothes, she quickly hugged her back onto the kang, and slapped her chubby little bottom, “You little stinker, who took off all your clothes, hurry up and put them on!” After all, she was a child who wasn’t even three years old, Lingling wasn’t as skilled as her brother in putting on clothes, but she was very good at taking them off.

    After being slapped on the bottom, little Lingling giggled, she wasn’t afraid.

    She wriggled like a caterpillar on the kang, she whined, “Mom, let Lingling wear it once!”

    Lin Yue also laughed, “I’d rather not, your ‘once’ is a little too frequent, yesterday was once, the day before yesterday was once.

    You put it on yourself today.

    Don’t blame me for not telling you, this morning your mother made potato cakes, whoever finishes washing up first gets to eat first!”

    Lin Yue’s long speech, Lingling didn’t understand much, but she understood two things: one was that her mother wouldn’t help her put on clothes today, and the other was that she would eat potato cakes this morning.

    Her little eyes widened, she picked up her clothes and put them on.

    Unfortunately, the child had only learned to put on clothes recently, the more anxious she was, the worse she put them on.

    Seeing that her brother had already put on his socks, she still hadn’t found the sleeves, the little one immediately became anxious, she whined, “Mom!”

    Lin Yue stood by the kang and watched the show with a smile, she didn’t mean to help at all.

    Little Lingling saw that she couldn’t get anything out of her mother, she turned to her brother and called, “Wanli, wait for Lingling!”

    Since Lin Yue entered the room, Zhang Yuandong had been ignored.

    He saw his daughter’s anxious look, he reached out to help, but Lin Yue stopped him, she motioned for him to watch the show with her.

    If this was in someone else’s house, the parents would have been in a hurry, it was a busy time in the morning, but Lin Yue wasn’t in a hurry at all.

    After all, she had already tidied herself up, and the food was ready, she could go to work after eating, it wouldn’t delay anything.

    On the other side, little Wanli glanced at his clumsy little sister, he slowly crawled over and helped her pull out her sleeves.

    Zhang Yuandong looked at Lin Yue in confusion, she wouldn’t let him help the children, but she didn’t care when Wanli helped his sister put on clothes, he couldn’t understand why she had stopped him just now.

    Lin Yue couldn’t receive Zhang Yuandong’s gaze, she kept watching the two little one’s struggle with a set of clothes for five or six minutes, until they had both put on their shoes, before she took them to wash their faces and brush their teeth.

    If she knew Zhang Yuandong’s doubts, she would definitely say, “Children’s things, they can solve it themselves, adults shouldn’t interfere.”

    She had only discovered a very strange phenomenon after raising these two children, many things, adults might not be able to teach their children even after teaching them many times, but they would learn it immediately after learning from other children.

    People in the village who had children all said that this was “children learning from older children”.

    Lin Yue washed the two children’s faces and brushed their teeth, she put a little of her own skin care product on each of them, and then sent them to find their father.

    Zhang Yuandong was in the room, folding the quilt neatly, and he had also tidied up the kang.

    Lin Yue carried the breakfast into the room.

 Seeing the room so tidy, she lowered her head and smiled.

    Sure enough, the two little ones climbed onto the kang and immediately pounced on the freshly folded quilt, they jumped up and down on it, in a few moments they had stomped the quilt flat, then they dragged a small wooden box from the head of the kang, they “whoosh” opened it and poured all the toys inside out.

    Zhang Yuandong was a little at a loss, the kang he had just tidied up was messy again in less than five minutes, but he really couldn’t bear to scold the two children, he could only watch them make a mess with a headache.

    Lin Yue reminded them, “You can’t play with toys before dinner, you clean up your toys yourself, you can eat after you clean up!”

    Lingling was unhappy, she held up the zodiac toy in her hand and showed it to Lin Yue, “But, these little animals also want to eat!”

    Lin Yue remained unmoved, “They haven’t washed their hands, they can’t eat.”

    Lingling heard this and was about to climb down the kang, “Lingling will go wash their hands!”

    Lin Yue quickly stopped her, this child, she was always looking for loopholes, she really couldn’t say a single wrong word.

    Zhang Yuandong imitated Lin Yue’s way of coaxing her, “The little animals want to sleep, wait until they wake up to play!” His voice unconsciously became softer, making Lin Yue laugh.

    Lingling didn’t give him any face, “Dad, they’re just toys, they don’t need to sleep!”

    Right, she was the one who said they wanted to eat, and she was also the one who said that toys didn’t need to sleep, she felt like she was right, didn’t she?

    Zhang Yuandong couldn’t handle his daughter, he didn’t know what to say, Zhang Wanli shouted at this time, “Mom, Wanli has cleaned up, can I eat the potato cakes first?”

    Lingling was anxious when she heard this, she threw the toy in her hand into the box, she didn’t care if it went in or not, she shouted, “Lingling will eat too!”

    Zhang Yuandong dutifully helped her put the toys back in the box, and then took the two little ones to wash their hands again.

    Lin Yue was actually quite happy, Zhang Yuandong wasn’t like most men of this era, who thought that accompanying children was a shameful thing, he was not only willing to share housework, but he was also willing to learn to get along with the two children, such men were rare even in the future.

    Now that every household was short of food, dumpling soup was only made when guests came, not to mention the potato cakes and egg cakes that were fried golden brown on both sides, Zhang Yuandong felt that this breakfast, except for the lack of meat, was as good as New Year’s.

    Moreover, they had just eaten meat yesterday, and they had such a good breakfast this morning, he was a little afraid to use his chopsticks.

    The two little ones had already started eating with a small spoon each, Lin Yue saw that Zhang Yuandong hadn’t used his chopsticks yet, she urged, “Don’t you have to go to work later? Why aren’t you eating?”

    Zhang Yuandong swallowed and asked, “Why is breakfast so rich today, is there something good going on?”

    Lin Yue actually didn’t dare to cook so openly.

    The money Zhang Yuandong sent home every month was already 50 yuan, Zhang Shoutian, who worked in the county, only earned 36 yuan a month, the money he sent was enough for her and the two children to live very well, not to mention that Lin Yue had never broken contact with the fat lady, she often secretly sold some things from the space, she had made a lot of money from that alone.

    It’s just that she was living alone with two children, she had never dared to be too ostentatious.

    She was actually a person who enjoyed food, but she was a little embarrassed to say it, “You send so much money home every month, it’s actually enough for us to eat very well, it’s just that you weren’t home before, we didn’t dare to eat like this, we were afraid that the two children would go out and blab, and then get into trouble.

    Now that you’re back, everyone knows that you have a high salary, I can make some delicious food without worrying about people gossiping.”

    Zhang Yuandong was actually very happy.

    His life before was aimless, except for his life in the army, he was like a drifting weed, no matter how much money he made, it didn’t mean anything, Sun Hongmei had asked him for money before, he gave it to her without much effort, because he didn’t think money was that important.

    These past few days back, he suddenly felt like he had a home, he felt that his hard work had meaning, and he had a new yearning for his future life.

    He heard Lin Yue say this, not only was he not angry, but he felt a surge of enthusiasm, he felt that his life suddenly had meaning.

    It felt like he was happy as long as his wife and children were doing well.

    He looked up at Lin Yue, his eyes shining, he wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say, he could only lower his head and eat greedily.

    Lin Yue had also witnessed Zhang Yuandong’s appetite, he hadn’t eaten much when he stayed at Su’s aunt’s house the other day, it seemed he hadn’t let loose yet.

    Actually, Lin Yue had brought food with her when she went to stay, they had already given them enough food for four people, there was even some leftover.

    But it was at someone else’s house after all, Zhang Yuandong had been too embarrassed to eat too much.

    This breakfast was too rich, Zhang Yuandong ate more than usual, he ate more than four times what Lin Yue ate.

    During this meal, Lin Yue was almost only watching Zhang Yuandong eat.

    His appetite reminded her of something she had heard her male classmates discuss when she was in college, they said they could eat eight or nine steamed buns in one meal.

    At that time, she thought they were bragging, now it seemed that it was true, because Zhang Yuandong ate even more than them, the food she made was almost not enough.

    Men and women were really two different species.