Chapter 23: Taking Care of the Kids

Elder Sister Jiang glanced at Wei Xuan.

Wei Xuan quickly understood and responded, “Elder Sister, Third Sister, Jiang Che is right. It’s the New Year, and we don’t have anything planned. If you’re busy, you can send the kids to us for a couple of days.”

She then turned to Jiang Yuancheng and Jiang Yuanqing, who were eagerly looking at her, and said, “And you two, come play at Aunt’s house too. The more kids, the livelier it will be. Isn’t that what the New Year is about—being lively!”

Since Wei Xuan had no objections, Elder Sister Jiang and Third Sister Jiang happily agreed.

Jiang Father and Jiang Mother were pleased to see the harmony between their children.

Only Jiang Da Sao (Jiang Che’s sister-in-law) pursed her lips, feeling that Wei Xuan really knew how to win people over.

When Jiang Che had ridden his bicycle over today, Jiang Da Sao had noticed and, ever since, her mood hadn’t improved. She hadn’t realized the family bicycle was missing until today and now understood that at some point, this couple had coaxed it away from them.

Jiang Da Sao felt that every time Wei Xuan came over and took a little of what she had made, she managed to win over the whole family, making everyone speak in her favor. But privately, she believed Wei Xuan was just after the good things from her mother-in-law.

No matter what Jiang Da Sao thought, neither Jiang Che nor Wei Xuan knew about it, or rather, even if they did, they didn’t care.

After lunch, the two of them came back from the Jiang family and collapsed into bed, sleeping soundly until the afternoon.

Once they woke up, they didn’t get up immediately. It was so cold outside, and staying under the blankets felt so comfortable.

After a while, Jiang Che kicked Wei Xuan with his foot: “Wife, I mentioned to my family today that the kids could come over to play. You’re not angry, right?”

Actually, after he said it, Jiang Che regretted it. Not because he regretted saying it, but because he regretted not discussing it with Wei Xuan first.

Wei Xuan gave a little hum: “You knew I’d be angry? Next time, at least let me know beforehand. If I hadn’t reacted quickly, your sister would probably have thought I wasn’t happy about it.”

Jiang Che knew he was in the wrong, so he apologized earnestly: “Wife, I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll make sure to discuss things with you first.”

Wei Xuan, feeling dizzy from his constant apologies, quickly said, “Alright, alright, don’t let it happen again.”

“Heh heh.” Jiang Che let go of her arm and asked if she wanted to invite her father and mother-in-law to stay for a while.

Wei Xuan hesitated for a moment and said, “Let’s forget about it for now. The house is busy, and they wouldn’t be able to stay long. Plus, there’s no room for them. We’ll talk about it when we have our own place.”

“That’s going to take a while. We just started work and don’t know when the unit will assign apartments. Even if they do, with our ages, the apartment we get will be much smaller than the one we’re living in now.”

Wei Xuan could sense his frustration but didn’t say anything. Anyway, he wouldn’t believe anything she said right now. It’s better to focus on saving money. When they have the opportunity to buy a house in the future, they can choose a good one.

The two of them lay there until evening, and when their stomachs couldn’t take the hunger anymore, they sluggishly sat up and got dressed. They couldn’t be bothered to cook again, so each of them quickly ate a bowl of dumplings to satisfy their hunger.

A couple of days after the small New Year, Sister Jiang and Third Sister Jiang really brought over all their kids. Sister Jiang had three boys: the oldest, Niu Daya, was thirteen this year, followed by Dazhi and Xiaozhi, who were eleven and eight years old, respectively.

Then, adding on the seven-year-old Feng Mingxiang from Third Sister Jiang’s family, there were a total of four boys.

As soon as these four kids arrived, the yard became lively with the chatter of children.

Wei Xuan was thinking about what to cook for the kids when Jiang Yuancheng came with Jiang Yuanqing.

When Wei Xuan saw that they didn’t have any adults with them, she asked, “Did you come by yourselves?”

“Yes, Auntie, my brother brought me here,” Jiang Yuanqing replied.

Jiang Che, hearing this as he came out of the house, asked, “Did you tell your family before coming?”

Jiang Yuancheng was a bit afraid of this uncle, so he quickly answered, “We did. It was Dad who told us the address, that’s how we found it.”

“Alright, then go inside and play. Don’t fight with your younger brothers.”

“Got it.” Jiang Yuancheng, hearing that his younger brothers had already arrived, happily grabbed his sister’s hand and went into the house.

Wei Xuan listened to the sounds coming from the house and thought to herself that it had really turned into a kids’ den now.

Jiang Che walked over to her and asked, “Is there anything I can help with?”

“Aren’t you going inside to keep an eye on them?” With so many kids, it wouldn’t be good if they started fighting later.

“It’s fine, Jiang Yuancheng will look after them.”

Since Jiang Che, as the uncle, wasn’t worried, Wei Xuan didn’t say anything more and directed him to chop the meat.

With so many kids, and all of them at the age where they can eat a lot, she was planning to fry some extra food for them.

She had also fried some mahua (fried dough twists) and meatballs at home before, but since it was just her and Jiang Che, making too much would be wasted. Plus, it was her first time making them, and she wasn’t sure how they’d turn out, so she only made a small batch in a little pan to try.

Today, though, she could make more, and if the kids couldn’t finish it, she and Jiang Che could have it for the New Year, or she could take some back to her family.

These days, oil is quite precious. If it weren’t for them having earned some money and having Wu Yun’s support, she wouldn’t be so willing to use it so lavishly.

After preparing everything she was going to fry, Wei Xuan began pouring oil into the large wok.

Once the oil heated up, Wei Xuan first fried the mahua, the soaked potato strips, and the sweet potato strips.

Next, she fried the vegetable meatballs and meatballs.

As soon as the food hit the oil, the aroma started to spread, and the kids in the house, smelling the delicious scent, couldn’t sit still and began sneaking into the kitchen one by one.

Wei Xuan was worried that the hot oil might splash and burn the kids, so she asked Jiang Che to take a bowl and set aside some of the fried food to let them eat nearby.

Listening to the kids chattering, Wei Xuan felt a bit dazed, as if she had returned to the orphanage from her past life.

By the time Wei Xuan finished frying everything, the kids had almost finished eating.

Worried that they might get a sore throat from eating too much, she cooked some mung bean porridge and added two pears to it.

The porridge didn’t cook quickly, so she sent the kids to the other room to play and planned to use the leftover oil to fry some peanuts.

Jiang Che was helping her peel the peanuts.

Seeing that there were quite a few peanuts, Wei Xuan planned to set some aside to make drunken peanuts.

Jiang Che didn’t usually drink, but when he was with his friends, he would often have a drink. So, when he saw the peanuts Wei Xuan was making, he thought it would be a good dish to go with alcohol.

“Make more of these drunken peanuts. I see that my father-in-law likes to drink. Next time, I’ll buy him a good bottle of wine and bring this peanut dish along. I’ll drink a good cup with him.”

Wei Xuan smiled and said, “My dad will be so happy. My mom is usually very strict, so it’s not easy for him to have a drink.”

Jiang Che, with a playful glint in his eye, retorted, “Well, that’s perfect. I’ll be there to keep him company, and your father-in-law can drink more.”

“Go on, you’re impossible.”

At night, the kids definitely couldn’t stay at the house to sleep, since there was only one room and no space for them.

So, when it was almost dark, Sister Jiang and her husband, along with Third Sister Jiang and her husband, came to pick up the kids.

The three kids had just finished their porridge and weren’t too keen on leaving. The little uncle’s (maternal uncle’s) house was so much fun, and they hadn’t had enough playtime.

Sister Jiang forced the kids into the car, saying, “Alright, your uncle and aunt still have to work tomorrow. We’ll bring you again next time.”

Seeing the kids all pouting and following their respective parents back, Wei Xuan finally let out a sigh of relief. It had been such a noisy day.

As for the two Jiang family members, only Jiang Che rode his bicycle to send them back.

By the time Wei Xuan finished her bath and was almost falling asleep in bed, she heard the sound of Jiang Che returning from outside.

Jiang Che parked his bike outside, shivering from the cold, and quickly walked toward the house.

Before Wei Xuan could say anything, Jiang Che, with a look of joy on his face, said, “Wife, I just ran into Brother Wu on the road. He said our goods are sold out, and he wants me to settle the payment when I deliver the next batch tomorrow.”

“That fast?” Wei Xuan couldn’t help but be surprised. It seemed like they had only delivered the goods a few days ago.

Since they had sent quite a bit of meat this time, they had agreed with the other party that they would only collect the payment once everything was sold. If it didn’t sell out, they could take the unsold goods back, either to keep for themselves or give away.

“Yeah, Brother Wu said that business is booming due to the upcoming New Year, which is why everything sold out so quickly. Our products taste so good, many people wanted to buy but couldn’t get any.”

Wei Xuan thought about the recent scenes at the supply and marketing cooperative where everyone was rushing to buy New Year’s goods and felt relieved. Beijing was so big, and how much meat did they even have?

After reserving some for themselves, there was only about 80 jin (roughly 40 kilograms). If each person bought one jin, it would only be enough for 80 people to buy. And many people had bought more than one jin.

Thinking about the big income that was about to come in tomorrow, both of them went to bed smiling that night.

The next day, after work, Jiang Che and Wei Xuan, both knowing without speaking, quickened their pace to head home.

It was still Wei Xuan who arrived home first. After she got home, she started cooking porridge and steaming meat buns. By the time Jiang Che returned, it was just in time for dinner. They quickly ate, and then Jiang Che went to wash the dishes while Wei Xuan went to take a bath.

After they both finished their baths, they sat on the heated bed and began counting their money.

As usual, they poured all the money onto the bed and divided it into two piles.

Ten minutes later: “I have four hundred seventy-six yuan and eighty-five cents, how about you?”

Jiang Che hadn’t finished counting yet. A few minutes later, he looked up at Wei Xuan and said, “Six hundred four yuan and fifteen cents.”

Wei Xuan exclaimed in surprise, “That’s over a thousand!”

“Yeah,” Jiang Che said happily, then pulled out a bag from his pocket, “This is the money from selling the cured meat and sausages, a total of two hundred thirty-two.”

Wei Xuan did the math in her head, “So, altogether it’s one thousand three hundred thirteen.”

“Wife, pinch me, see if I’m dreaming.”

Wei Xuan didn’t hold back and pinched his arm.

“Ouch, it hurts! It’s real!” Jiang Che winced in pain but was also thrilled. For a moment, his expression was a bit awkward: “Wife, we’ve struck it rich!”

Although Jiang Che had never lacked for food or drink before, he had never seen so much money in one go. What made him even happier was that this money was earned together with his wife.

“Alright, alright, stop grinning like an idiot. Quickly put the money away. Tomorrow, we’ll make next month’s sauce and send it to Brother Wu. We can finally take a proper break for the New Year.”

“Okay, I’ll help you when I get off work.”

That night, with plenty of food left at home, both of them slept soundly.