Chapter 44: Starting Preparations

Early in the morning, the sun had just risen above the horizon, the sky full of light and color, and the door to their courtyard was knocked on. Sun Bailian and Cao Gang came with their two sons. Qi Wanfeng went to open the door, saw the people who had come so early, and asked, “Why did you come so early? Have you eaten breakfast?”

“We ate before we came,” Sun Bailian replied.

“Wanfeng momo [Auntie],” the two boys greeted obediently. Qi Wanfeng reached out and stroked their heads, letting them in.

“Brother Cao Gang, Bailian, you’re here,” Cao Xiangnan said, coming out of the kitchen with a plate of steamed buns and baozi [Steamed buns with fillings] in his hand. He greeted the arriving guests.

He noticed that the three children were staring at the food in his hand, and he smiled, saying, “We haven’t had breakfast yet, we’re just making it and getting ready to eat. You’ve come at the right time. Even if you’ve already eaten, have a little more. I’ve prepared some for you too.”

He placed the food on the table, beckoning the little ones over, picking up one and giving it to Sun Bailian’s son. The second son reached out and took it, while the older son, Cao Yi Kang, glanced at his A-mu, and only after receiving his A-mu’s nod did he happily accept it.

“A-mu, delicious, delicious,” the second son, Cao Yi Jing, said, biting into the baozi, making satisfied hums from time to time, just like a satisfied little piglet.

Yesterday, they had discussed that he would stay at home to look after the three children, while Qi Wanfeng, Sun Bailian, and Cao Gang would go to prepare the things they would need next. Everyone would cooperate and divide the work. Cao Xiangnan knew that his legs and feet were not convenient, and going out would only slow others down, so he agreed to stay at home to take care of the children.

Cao Xiangnan had gotten up early in the morning to make steamed buns and baozi. The baozi were filled with cabbage and pork, and they smelled extremely fragrant. He made extra steamed buns for them to take with them to eat as dry rations.

The rice porridge that was simmering was thick and sticky, and eating it with the rice porridge was extremely filling.

Cao Gang and Cao Yi Kang, father and son, had faces that were exactly the same, as if they had been carved out of the same mold, and were sitting there eating baozi heartily with the same expression.

Biting into one, there was a rich broth inside. Sun Bailian had originally waved his hand and said that he wouldn’t eat, but he didn’t expect his eyes to light up after taking a bite, and he looked at Cao Xiangnan with bright eyes. Cao Xiangnan seemed to know what the other party wanted to say. He had seasoned the filling for these soup-filled baozi, and the taste was particularly good. “Let’s do the first step well first, and it’ll be easier to do what we need to do later,” Cao Xiangnan replied.

Now that the two families were working together, there weren’t many people who could work, and the three children were small, so someone needed to come out and watch them. But Cao Xiangnan believed that as long as they did the first step well, it would slowly become easier later.

At this moment, Sun Bailian had a feeling that if they followed Cao Xiangnan, their days would definitely get better and better, which made his heart full of anticipation for the future.

Cao Gang, who had eaten at home, also drank a bowl of rice porridge and ate two baozi and a steamed bun before reluctantly putting down his bowl. Cao Xiangnan had already seen Cao Gang’s appetite yesterday and was afraid that he hadn’t eaten enough, so he asked him if he wanted more.

“No, I’m full,” Cao Gang said, having only eaten 70% full, he controlled his desire to continue eating and didn’t take any more food.

Cao Xiangnan glanced at the man, knowing that he might not have eaten enough.

“Husband, you eat,” Sun Bailian said, handing the remaining baozi in his hand to her husband. Their family’s life was also barely making ends meet, so they couldn’t let her husband eat his fill every meal, and her cooking skills were not good, mostly just boiling things, and the taste was nowhere near as good as what Cao Xiangnan made.

Cao Gang shook his head, “You eat,” he said.

The two younger children didn’t quite understand the hardships of life, and ate heartily when they knew there was food, with brilliant smiles on their little faces. The older child vaguely understood some things and was humble and caring towards his two younger brothers.

At the dinner table, they continued to discuss the unfinished issues from yesterday. Because he was staying at home to watch the children, Cao Xiangnan explained to Qi Wanfeng and the others what they needed to buy and prepare, and after a while, Qi Wanfeng and the other three would go to town to arrange things and buy what they needed.

With Qi Wanfeng and Sun Bailian around, Cao Xiangnan wasn’t worried that they wouldn’t be able to handle things over there.

They quickly finished breakfast, and they were about to leave.

“Kang Kang, you’re the big brother, you have to take care of your two brothers, understand?” Sun Bailian said when he was about to leave, still a little worried about his two sons, repeatedly telling them to be obedient, and the older one to take care of the two younger ones.

“A-mu, don’t worry, I’ll take care of my brothers.”

“A-mu, Jing Bao will be obedient,” said a certain little devil, patting his chest.

Qi Wanfeng stroked An’an, who was hugging his leg, telling him to take care of his two older cousins and A-die, and listen to A-die. An’an was a little ge’er, and his personality was originally quieter than the two boys, so Qi Wanfeng didn’t have anything to worry about.

“Xiangnan, we’re leaving.”

“Okay, come back early.”

The sun in the east slowly rose, and the golden light shone on the earth. The people who were going out also left.

Cao Xiangnan stood at the door with the three children, watching the three of them walk away, leaving only him and the three little devils staring at each other. He scratched his head, wondering how to spend the day with these three little devils, which was really a big problem.

Remembering that there were two rabbits and some chicks at home, keeping the three children cooped up at home all day wasn’t a solution, so he simply suggested taking the three little ones out to cut grass to feed the rabbits. When the three little ones heard that they could go out to play, they shouted and jumped around.

It had been several days since they came to the new house, and he hadn’t had a chance to go out and see the surrounding area. Leaning on a cane under his arm, Cao Xiangnan watched the three children running ahead. Although he was out cutting grass to feed the rabbits, he felt like he was out herding cows.

The trees in spring were growing well, and everything was recovering, a good start to the year.

Not far away, he saw a babbling stream. Cao Xiangnan remembered hearing Qi Wanfeng say that there was a stream not far away, and it turned out to be here. The source should be in the mountains over there. Seeing that the water wasn’t deep, Cao Xiangnan didn’t stop the three children from playing by the stream, and he sat down on the side himself.

“Cousin, fish, fish.” An’an saw the fish in the water, pulled his cousin over to look, staring in surprise at the fish swimming in the water.

“Catch, catch fish, catch fish.” Jing Bao was mischievous and active, and went into the water as soon as he saw the fish.

Cao Xiangnan sat there looking at the mountains, thinking that there must be many treasures in that mountain. When his leg was better, he would take a trip up the mountain. He wasn’t paying attention and saw Sun Bailian’s second son running into the stream, and quickly shouted, “Don’t go into the water! Kang Kang, pull your brother in.”

He quickly picked up the cane beside him and went towards the children, leaning on it.

“Jing Bao, get up quickly, Uncle is coming,” Cao Yi Kang was bigger, reaching out to pull his brother over, he said.

An’an stood there looking like he had done something wrong. Cao Xiangnan glanced at the uneasy child and reached out to stroke his head. An’an raised his little face, saw the smile on his A-die’s face, raised a smile on his little face, and called out sweetly, “A-die.”

“Cao Yi Jing, if you dare to go into the water again, I’ll take off your pants and spank your butt,” Cao Xiangnan warned, seeing that the second son looked unruly.

This child was said to be the same age as his An’an, but not only was he more than half a head taller than his An’an, but his personality was also unreasonably wild. However, for a child of this age, it was good to be a little wild. He was just worried that his own child was too quiet.

Jing Bao, who had been taught a lesson, wasn’t afraid, and smiled cheekily.

There were small fish swimming in the clear stream. Cao Xiangnan knew that watching the fish swimming in the water, it was not easy to catch them without tools, and his feet were not convenient, so he gave up the idea of catching fish.

He didn’t expect that as he got closer, he would find many small snails in the stream, and Cao Xiangnan’s eyes lit up. The taste of stir-fried snails with chili peppers was really too good! He glanced at the three well-behaved children next to him, and Cao Xiangnan smiled and asked, “Do you want to eat something delicious?”

“Yes,” Jing Bao jumped up as soon as he heard there was something delicious, grabbed his uncle’s hand and asked, “What delicious things does Uncle have?” He glanced at the fish swimming in the water, was he going to catch fish for them to eat?

Then he looked disgusted, the taste of fish was not good.

An’an blinked his eyes and looked at his A-die. The things his A-die made were delicious.

“It’s this, you go and pick this on the side, and I’ll make stir-fried snails for you tonight,” Cao Xiangnan said, realizing that he was terribly despicable, he picked up a snail and told the little ones that they were eating this.

So one big and three small people began to pick up snails by the stream, as for cutting grass to feed the rabbits, they had forgotten about it long ago.

The three people walked quickly, and in an hour they arrived at Fen Shui Town.

At the entrance of Cao Family Village, there was a large stone mill that the whole village used together. In the past, the people in the village would go to the entrance of the village to grind their grains. They didn’t want others to learn how to make river noodles, so they had to find someone to order a small stone mill. There were people in the town who made stone mills, so they went to the stone mill maker first, ordered the small stone mill they wanted, paid the deposit, and paid the rest when they got the stone mill.

After passing South Street, they arrived at the pier. They had arrived early this time, and the pier was busy at this time.

The good stalls in front had been taken, and some of the stalls were doing well. There was a spot in the corner that was just the right size. Qi Wanfeng pointed to that spot and asked, “How about we set up there?”

“Isn’t that too far to the side?” Sun Bailian asked a little worriedly.

“Don’t be afraid, if our food is fragrant, we won’t be afraid that no one will come. We’ll just set up there temporarily, and we’ll move if there’s a better place,” The two were discussing, while Cao Gang stood there looking around.

They could go back and make the tables and chairs themselves, and they had to buy the bowls they would use. There were a lot of things, big and small. If they set up a stall here, they would have to clean up after they were done setting up and find a place to put things.

The three of them looked around, and also looked around the area to see if there was a suitable place where they could pay some rent so that people would be willing to let them put things.