Chapter 6

There were ordinary farm dishes on the table, a pot of potatoes stewed with beans, a pot of cabbage stewed with tofu, a bowl of soybean paste with green onions, and the staple food was cornmeal pancakes. Although there was no oil or water in it, it was still a good dish to entertain guests. They didn’t usually eat so well.

Xiang Nuan hadn’t had a hot meal in the past two days, and eating these meals made her feel like she was back in her childhood.

Seeing her enjoying the meal, Wu Xiaoying asked with a smile, “These are all home-cooked dishes. Are you used to them?”

Xiang Nuan smiled and nodded, “I’m used to it, it’s delicious.”

“That’s good. Drink some water and don’t choke.”

“good.”

After lunch, Wu Xiaoying started helping pack the luggage.

“We have a small family, and our oldest son is a soldier in the army. He doesn’t come back all year round. It’s been almost two years, and he still hasn’t come back. You can live in this room, it’s more spacious.”

The Yan family is small, and they only have two bedrooms in the main house, east and west. The east room is where Wu Xiaoying and her husband live with Shuangxi, and the west room is for their eldest son Yan Fangming.

“Very good, thank you Wu…thank you auntie.”

Xiang Nuan looked at the somewhat shabby west room and was quite satisfied. After all, it was a blessing to have an independent space at this time.

Wu Xiaoying smiled and said, “Don’t be polite. Take a look and see if there is anything missing. I will add more for you. We are poor here and our house is quite old. I will go to the scrap yard and get some newspapers to paste up the wall.”

The young lady had been living in luxury since she was young, and she lived in a small Western-style house. She wanted to make her live as comfortably as possible.

“It’s already good, no need to trouble you, aunt. Things are different now, I have to learn to adapt to the current life.”

Wu Xiaoying clapped her hands in agreement, “You are right to think so. We should always look forward. Everything will be fine.”

“Mom, Sister Nuannuan, what are you two talking about? Why can’t I understand?”

Shuangxi squeezed between the two of them, his big, confused eyes blinking, and he always felt that the two of them were talking in a strange way.

Wu Xiaoying reached out and pushed her little head away, “Children, don’t ask about adult matters.”

“Hmph~”

Shuangxi wrinkled his nose and snorted in dissatisfaction, then turned around and hugged Xiang Nuan’s arm, looking up at her expectantly, “Sister Nuan Nuan, I want to sleep with you~ I like you!”

“Why are you sleeping? You sleep like a worm and you can even get tangled up. If your sister Nuan Nuan is with you, can you sleep peacefully?”

Before Xiang Nuan expressed her opinion, Wu Xiaoying rejected it on her behalf.

“How can you sleep peacefully on such a big kang? Mom, you look down on me and I will ignore you!”

He crossed his arms across his chest in joy and gasped to express his dissatisfaction.

“It’s okay. It’s boring for me to sleep on such a big kang by myself. Shuangxi is lucky enough to chat with me.”

She was a little shy when she first came here, so it was nice to have such a clever little girl to keep her company, as she could sleep soundly anyway.

When Shuangxi heard that she agreed, his eyes lit up instantly and he hugged her waist, “Sister Nuannuan, you are so nice! I am good at chatting, I will definitely chat with you!”

Sister Nuannuan is so nice, I like her so much!

“Okay, thank you Shuangxi.”

Xiang Nuan smiled and rubbed her head, then took out a small bag of candies from her bag, which contained fruit candies, White Rabbit milk candies, and chocolates.

“It’s sugar!”

Shuangxi’s eyes sparkled when he saw so many candies he had never seen before.

Xiang Nuan stuffed all of them into her arms, “This is a gift from my sister, take it and eat it. But don’t eat too much, otherwise your teeth will get worms! Got it?”

Shuangxi wanted to eat so much sugar that he wanted to eat it all at once, but he still glanced at Wu Xiaoying cautiously to ask for her opinion.

“Why give her so much? Keep it for yourself.”

Xiang Nuan’s current situation is different from before, so Wu Xiaoying doesn’t feel comfortable asking for so much.

Xiang Nuan smiled nonchalantly, “It’s okay, I’ve grown up and don’t like to eat these anymore. I like Shuangxi just because I see her, so I can’t bear to give it to her.”

Wu Xiaoying smiled and glared at her, “Just pamper her!”

“Yeah! Thank you, Sister Nuannuan!”

Seeing that her mother agreed, Shuangxi hugged the candy in her arms without any burden.

With so much candy, she is so happy!

“You can only eat one a day. Mom will keep it for you.”

Wu Xiaoying took the bag of candy and took one out and threw it to her.

The little girl was not annoyed. She was the only child in the family and her parents loved her very much. Sooner or later, all the candies would end up in her stomach.

“Shuangxi, Shuangxi, let’s go out and play!”

The voice of her friend Xinghua came from the yard. Shuangxi ran to the door and asked her to wait for a while, then ran back to the house, stretched out his hand and said to Wu Xiaoying: “Mom, give me another piece, I will give it to Xinghua to try.”

This is candy from the city, Xinghua has never tasted it before!

“Hey!”

Wu Xiaoying did not refuse and readily took out another piece of candy and gave it to her.

Shuangxi took the candy and looked at Xiang Nuan again, “Sister Nuan Nuan, I’m leaving first. I’ll come back to chat with you in the evening!”

Xiang Nuan smiled and nodded, “Okay, go ahead.”

Wu Xiaoying looked at her running figure and scolded with a smile, “This child is always in a hurry and doesn’t act like a girl at all.”

“This is also good. A happy childhood is rare. Auntie, this child is…”

Wu Xiaoying nodded, “Yes, this is your uncle’s previous daughter-in-law’s child. She was only two months old when I married her. She was so tiny, not to mention how pitiful she was. Her mother had a difficult labor and died before she was out of confinement. She was raised by my side all these years.”

Xiang Nuan smiled and said, “It can be seen that Shuangxi is very close to you, just like a real mother and daughter.”

“Yes, I haven’t been able to give birth to a child in all these years. This child is pitiful. I love her as my own daughter. Your uncle is also very good to me. I have such a little girl around me who chatters every day. I am very satisfied.”

At the age of 16, she followed her relatives to Beijing to make a living. At the age of 18, she joined the Xiang family and worked there for 16 years. When she returned home, she was already an old girl in her 30s. Later, she was introduced to Yan Mancang, whose wife had died. She felt that she had lived a happy life over the years. The only regret was that she could not have a child of her own. But later she came to terms with it. It was all fate and could not be forced.

Shuangxi calls me “queen” every day, and if no one mentions her, she almost forgets that this child is not hers.

“Well, I can see that you are living a happy life now.”

Xiang Nuan was also very happy for her, as kind people will be rewarded.

Wu Xiaoying nodded with a smile, “You must be tired after sitting in the car all the way. Take a nap and rest for a while. We can talk later.”

“good.”

She really wanted to lie down and have a good sleep.

Wu Xiaoying went out to close the door for her. Xiang Nuan lay down on the kang and fell asleep. When she got up, Wu Xiaoying had already started preparing dinner.

“Auntie, let me help you.”

Wu Xiaoying waved her hand quickly, “No, no, just sit there and rest for a while.”

“Aunt, I’m going to live at home permanently in the future, so I can’t let you do all the work. Besides, I can cook, too. Don’t underestimate me!”

Xiang Nuan started cutting vegetables as she spoke. Wu Xiaoying smiled and did not try to stop her.

“Where’s my uncle? Is he in the field?”

Xiang Nuan tried to find something to talk about while cutting vegetables.

“No, the commune sent someone to pick someone up again. They said another group of educated youths have arrived.”

Xiang Nuan nodded. If she remembered correctly, the heroine seemed to be from the second batch of educated youth.