Chapter 33: Goals

There were people in the village who did carpentry work. They didn’t have anything at home, so Qi Wanfeng was going to find someone in the village to make a table and a few chairs for the house. The three mu of land that the compound had divided to them wasn’t far from the old house they lived in, so he would also go and see the crops in the field. The crops in the field couldn’t be left unattended. He told the big one and the small one at home to wait for him to come back, and then he went out.

An’an was left at home by his amo to accompany adie. Even though his eyes were full of wanting to go out and play with amo, he sensibly didn’t make a fuss about going out with amo.

Cao Xiangnan felt sorry for the child who was so sensible at such a young age. He was left with him by Wanfeng all day long. He wouldn’t have anything to do even if he was alone at home now. It didn’t matter if Wanfeng took the child with him, but he knew that even if he said it, Wanfeng wouldn’t listen to him. On this point, his Wanfeng had his principles and persistence.

“An’an, should adie make you something delicious?” Seeing the child sitting obediently beside him with his little head drooping, Cao Xiangnan knew that the child wasn’t happy. He touched the child’s head, asking.

“Hmm?” Hearing that there was something to eat, An’an swept away the gloominess from just now, and looked at his adie with his two round eyes.

He asked Wanfeng to find him a stick to use as a crutch. He could also walk by supporting it under his arm, at least he didn’t have to lie in bed waiting for Wanfeng to serve him in everything. Cao Xiangnan felt that the functions of his body were gradually recovering. He didn’t have the weakness and weakness he had when he first woke up, and he still had the strength to get out of bed.

He took the crutch from the side, supported himself down from the bed. Although the movement was difficult, he could still walk a few steps with the crutch.

“An’an, let’s go to the kitchen and take a look. Follow adie,” he said. He knew that someone had sent a lot of food to his house. Cao Xiangnan walked out of the house with the crutch, heading in the direction of the kitchen. Sweat broke out on his forehead after such a short distance.

A little tail followed behind him, following his adie with small, short legs, and his little face was filled with worry.

“An’an, look, adie is fine, right?” These few steps had used up all of his strength. Even though his leg was piercingly painful, Cao Xiangnan still showed the child a smile, indicating that he was fine.

“Adie,” the child called out in a soft voice, and his soft, cute voice could melt into a person’s heart.

Cao Xiangnan reached out and touched the child’s head. Seeing the basket placed on the table, he walked over and saw the white flour inside. Thinking that they were going out tomorrow, he could prepare tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s dry food in advance. That way, when Wanfeng came back, he wouldn’t have to work hard to prepare food for them.

“An’an, we’re having noodles tonight, is that okay?” There was also fresh pork next to it. Adding some pork to the noodles… just thinking about it made his mouth water. The main thing was that he didn’t know what he had been eating since he came here. Cao Xiangnan missed the food from before very much.

He had learned how to cook from a young age. There was no way around it at that time. If he didn’t learn these things, he would starve. So he could do a lot of things himself. But now, he was grateful for those experiences in his previous life, so that when he came here, he wouldn’t starve himself and Wanfeng and the child.

“Adie, what are noodles?”

“You’ll know in a while.”

Cao Xiangnan was preparing to give the child and Wanfeng a surprise. There was some anticipation in his eyes. Looking at the white flour, an idea flashed in his mind. Maybe they could experiment, and maybe it would really work.

“An’an, use a bowl to get a bowl of water.”

“An’an, can you help Adie watch the fire?”

There was a fire starter next to the stove. He groped around and started the fire. He put water on the pot to boil, and he let An’an sit on the small stool to watch the fire. He neatly mixed the dough, prepared one part to make steamed buns, and one part to make noodles.

An’an, who was sitting there watching the fire, was doing two things at once. He looked at the fire in the stove, and at the same time, he looked at the strips that Adie was pulling out in his hands. The child’s eyes widened, feeling that his adie was really amazing.

There were too few sauces here, only a small bag of salt that didn’t taste very good. If this salt could be purified a little before eating, the taste would be even better. He also knew a simple purification method, but there was only so much salt now. If he messed with it, there would be nothing left to eat, so he decided to forget it.

“I’ll be able to do it today, and I’ll send it over to you later.” It just so happened that the carpenter in the village didn’t have much work to do recently. Qi Wanfeng went to him and said he wanted a table and a few chairs, and he said that he would be able to do it today and send it over to him.

He paid a deposit, and the rest would be paid when they delivered the things. Qi Wanfeng came out from the carpenter’s place.

Of the three mu of land divided to him, two mu of lower-grade land were dry land, planted with red-brown rice. The annual yield wasn’t high. In good years, they could keep 70% after paying the taxes. If the year wasn’t good, they couldn’t even keep 30% after paying the taxes. One mu of upper-grade land was planted with rice. Ordinary families would plant it and sell it to exchange for money, and they wouldn’t be willing to eat it. Even after paying taxes, they could still keep more than 50%.

Thinking that there was still a piece of land in the small courtyard, he could plant some vegetables in it for his own family to eat. Qi Wanfeng planned to go to Fenshui Town to buy some seeds when he went tomorrow.

Turning around and walking around in the field, he didn’t expect to meet his adie and eldest brother. Qi Wanfeng just called out, “Adie, Eldest Brother.”

“Hmm. Wanfeng, are you and Silang doing well over there?” Seeing Wanfeng coming to the fields alone, Cao Adie asked.

“Okay, doing alright.” Qi Wanfeng felt a little uncomfortable, and left after saying hello.

Watching the person leave, Cao Adie sighed for a long time. The eldest son, Cao Fugui, who was following him, was also filial. He knew that his father was feeling sad because of his fourth brother’s matter, but just thinking about his wife at home, he didn’t dare to say anything about his fourth brother’s matter.

The crops in the field were growing well, and they didn’t need to be managed much after they were planted. If the year was good, they would have a good harvest, Qi Wanfeng thought in his heart as he walked, feeling anticipation for the future days in his heart.

He touched his stomach with his hand. The doctor said that his body wasn’t good. He knew that he wasn’t suitable to go to the fields to work now. He wanted to wait until after this month when his body was better before going to the fields to work. They already had a xiaoge’r (a married man who takes on the role of a wife in a homosexual relationship). If he could give birth to a son for her husband with this pregnancy, he thought his husband would be very happy.

Returning home, pushing open the door and entering, as soon as Qi Wanfeng entered the small courtyard, he heard the child’s exclamations coming from the kitchen. There was a slight surprise in his eyes. Seeing the smoke rising and smelling the aroma of food, Qi Wanfeng was at the door of the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Qi Wanfeng asked curiously, looking at her husband standing in front of the stove.

“Wanfeng, you’re back?” Seeing the person who had returned, Cao Xiangnan was very happy. He had steamed the steamed buns first, and was waiting for Wanfeng to come back to put the noodles in. By the time the steamed buns were cooked, it would be about the same time. “I prepared a surprise for you, I think you’ll definitely like it,” he said with a smile, in a very good mood.

“Oh? Is that so, then I’ll wait for Husband’s surprise.” Qi Wanfeng had never seen his husband cook before. From the time he married into the Cao family, his husband had been working in town every month, and would only come back once a month and rush back to town to do work.

Even though he had been married to her husband for several years, and the child was already two or three years old, the two were separated more than they were together, and they didn’t spend much time together.

Smelling the aroma, he felt that the steamed buns inside should be cooked. Cao Xiangnan lifted the lid, and inside were white, plump steamed buns. An aroma hit his face.

“Aren’t we going out tomorrow? I prepared the dry food for us to take out tomorrow.” Cao Xiangnan said, looking at Qi Wanfeng.

Seeing the child at his feet stretching his neck to look at the steamed buns in the pot, Cao Xiangnan reached out and pinched one onto the bowl, saying, “I steamed a few more. Wanfeng, you and An’an eat one each first.”

As soon as Qi Wanfeng saw these white, plump steamed buns, he knew that his husband had made them with the bag of white flour. Usually, the family ate coarse grains. When had they ever eaten such things? Seeing the child’s greedy look and the happy, smiling face of her husband, Qi Wanfeng didn’t think there was anything wrong with her husband making these steamed buns with white flour. Anyway, things were all used to eat.

“No, there’s no need for one each. It’s enough for me and An’an to have half each. We’ll save the rest to take on the road tomorrow.” Looking at the white, plump steamed buns, Qi Wanfeng was really reluctant to eat them. Usually, they ate coarse grain momos (a type of steamed bread).

“That’s fine too.” Seeing these white, plump steamed buns, Cao Xiangnan also liked them very much in his heart.

He had suffered a lot when he was a child in his previous life, but following his old grandmother, he wasn’t starving. The dishes weren’t necessarily good, but there was still a bowl of rice to eat every meal. As soon as he came here, he was hungry every day. Especially now that his body was getting better day by day, and his appetite was also coming up, he wanted to eat something even more.

“Wanfeng, you and An’an wait a while. I’ll put the noodles in the pot, and we’ll be able to eat noodles in a while. I cut some meat down to cook together,” Cao Xiangnan didn’t care, anyway, they were all eating, it was just a matter of eating sooner or later.

An’an carried the small bowl over to his amo and handed the small bowl to his amo.

Qi Wanfeng took the bowl, broke off a small piece, blew on it, and fed it into the child’s mouth. Seeing the child’s mouth move twice and swallow it, his eyes were full of tenderness as he looked at the child, asking, “An’an, is it delicious?”

“Hmm, hmm,” the child was at the age of being greedy for food, only caring about eating, not knowing what his amo was saying.

“Go feed adie a little,” Qi Wanfeng gestured for the child to give his adie a little to eat.

“Okay.” An’an took a small piece of steamed bun and went over, “Adie also eat.”

Cao Xiangnan put the noodles that had been pulled aside into the pot. Seeing the child bring the steamed bun to feed him, he lowered his head and ate it, telling the child, “Very delicious.” Although he was standing here cooking the noodles, he also knew that Qi Wanfeng was reluctant to eat and gave it all to the child. He looked at him and smiled.

Their eyes met, and there was tenderness in their eyes for each other, touching that sensitive nerve.

The noodles quickly floated up. The soup base was the cooked pork soup. Because there were no other ingredients, this clear cooking was even more original. Cao Xiangnan used three large bowls to fill it up. After everyone had a bowl, there was only a little left in the pot. It was just enough.

“Wanfeng, try it and see if you like to eat it.” Seeing Wanfeng staring at the bowl without moving, Cao Xiangnan said with a smile.

Seeing that adie and amo were all moving their chopsticks, An’an sucked in saliva and didn’t start eating himself first.

“An’an eat too.” Picking up the chopsticks, Cao Xiangnan picked up a piece of meat for the child. He knew that the child was at the age where he loved to eat meat, but in the past in the Cao family compound, there were only a few times a year that they could eat meat.

Now that he had come here to take over Qi Wanfeng and the child, he thought that he wouldn’t let the two most important people in his life go hungry again.

“An’an eat, amo eat too.” Qi Wanfeng finally moved, glancing at her husband, and looking at the child.

“Slurp…”

“Slurp…”

All he could hear was the sound of slurping noodles. Cao Xiangnan felt very satisfied watching Qi Wanfeng and the child eating noodles. He thought that his first step was to let his “wife” and child eat, to solve the problem of food and clothing.