Chapter 12

In addition to the old lady’s laughter, she seemed to hear Lin Xiaoxi’s voice.

Could it be that Lin Xiaoxi came to visit?

Just as Ning Jia was thinking about it, the door of the north room opened and his third sister-in-law Liang Lanlan came out with a smile on her face and a small bag of White Rabbit milk candy in her hand.

Seeing Ning Jia standing in the yard, he subconsciously put his hands behind his back and asked, “Is your sister-in-law back?”

No matter how quickly she hid it, Ning Jia could clearly see what was in her hand.

Tsk tsk.

What a pity.

Ning Jia thought, if only Li Yao were here, he should see that he has devoted his heart and soul to this big family, but in the end, others hide their food and eat it secretly behind closed doors.

“Sister-in-law, what’s going on in this room?”

Liang Lanlan: “Old Seven’s girlfriend is here, and they are having a blast in the old lady’s room.”

“Oh.” Ning Jia nodded, turned around and went back to his room.

As soon as she reached the door, she heard Old Lady Xu shouting at her, “Sixth Brother’s Wife, it’s almost noon, you should prepare lunch. Seventh Brother’s girlfriend is coming today, make something delicious to entertain the guest.”

“Sure!” Ning Jia readily agreed, “Wait for me to change my clothes and then I’ll come.”

She took a set of clean clothes from the cupboard and changed into them. She also prepared clothes for Li Yao and folded them on the head of the kang.

When she entered the north room, she found that the fourth son’s wife, Li Xuejiao, was also there.

She sat on the kang with her bulging belly, holding Lin Xiaoxi’s hand and talking affectionately.

Old Mrs. Xu sat beside the shabby old eight-immortal table, looking at the gifts Lin Xiaoxi brought her, her old face turned into a smile.

Ning Jia took a quick look and saw malted milk, pastries, canned hawthorns, and a bag of glutinous rice sticks.

No wonder the old lady was so happy that her eyes disappeared.

The White Rabbit candy that Liang Lanlan was holding just now should have been given by Lin Xiaoxi. Looking next to Li Xuejiao, there was indeed a bag of candy.

Ning Jia remembered that the original text said that Lin Xiaoxi prepared gifts for all the other sisters-in-law except for her and An Ye, and everyone liked her very much.

It seems that the plot is what is happening right in front of us.

Seeing her eyes wandering over the food, Old Lady Xu hurriedly picked it up and walked into the inner room, wanting to lock it up quickly.

He was afraid that if he was a step late, Ning Jia would snatch it away.

Lin Xiaoxi also saw it and stood up from the kang: “Sister-in-law Ning Jia is back! It’s raining today and Auntie said she would prepare dinner and invite me to her house. It just so happened that my parents sent some things from the capital, so I shared some with the sisters-in-law. It’s a pity that there aren’t many things, so there won’t be any left for Sister-in-law An Ye and Sister-in-law Ning Jia.”

Ning Jia chuckled twice: “That’s quite a coincidence.”

Lin Xiaoxi smiled: “The eldest sister-in-law, the third sister-in-law, and the fourth sister-in-law all have children, so they gave them some candies to coax the children. Sister-in-law Ning Jia won’t mind, right?”

Ning Jia: “I don’t mind.”

“I thought that Sister Ning Jia couldn’t snatch food from the children.” Lin Xiaoxi smiled and stabbed her with a soft knife.

The smile in her eyes was clearly saying to Ning Jia, let me see what you can do to me?

Ning Jia was not annoyed or angry, but instead had a warm face: “I don’t mind at all. No wonder mom has you in her heart and thinks about you everywhere. She saved up eggs and secretly gave them to you, because you are sensible and likable! I have to learn from you in this regard!”

When talking about eggs, Lin Xiaoxi couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her mouth.

She still remembers vividly the embarrassment those two eggs brought her.

“Sister-in-law Ning Jia is joking.”

“No!” Ning Jia immediately looked serious. She pretended to be enthusiastic and took Lin Xiaoxi’s hand, then turned to Li Xuejiao. “Not only does our mother like Lin Zhiqing, but even our seventh son likes him. He is so stingy, yet he is willing to buy peach cakes for Lin Zhiqing.”

When talking about Taosu, Lin Xiaoxi’s face became even uglier.

“Peach cake!” Li Xuejiao’s eyes suddenly changed when she heard these two words, “When did Lao Qi buy the peach cake?”

In the past two days, the fourth brother Li Heng has been working with the seventh brother, and he has no time to go out shopping during the day.

There is no supply and marketing cooperative in Laohuaishu Village. If you want to buy things, you have to go to the town more than ten miles away.

Lao Qi works during the day, where does he find the time to go shopping?

Unless it was the box of peach cakes that she brought from her mother’s home… Could it be that the old lady gave the peach cakes to the seventh child without their knowledge?

When Old Lady Xu heard Ning Jia mention the peach cake, she was startled and hurried out of the house and stuffed four eggs into her hand: “Sixth Wife, make something delicious for lunch today and fry a few more eggs.”

Ning Jia saw the white eggs in his hand and agreed readily: “Okay, listen to mom and make delicious food for lunch today.”

“There’s a fish in the kitchen. Stew it for lunch and add some pancakes. I’ll give you another pound of meat ticket worth 80 cents. Ask Lao Liu to come back later and go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a pound of meat to stir-fry.”

“No problem.” Ning Jia happily took all the things and said to Li Xuejiao with a smile, “Sister-in-law, we are so lucky. We all benefited from Lin Zhiqing. The old lady spent a lot of money today.”

She deliberately emphasized the words “took advantage of Lin Zhiqing” and “invested a huge amount of money”.

Seeing Li Xuejiao’s smile gradually stiffen and disappear, he turned around, took his things and went out, leaving her sitting on the kang to think about it slowly.

As soon as she went out, she bumped into An Ye and Li Xu coming back. Ning Jia shouted into the house: “Mom, Fifth Sister-in-law is back. I can’t cook alone, right?”

“You are really trying to get close to me! Okay, Fifth Wife, you and Sixth Wife go to the kitchen and cook together!” Old Mrs. Xu shouted.

An Ye yelled angrily: “Ning Jia, you just can’t stand seeing me doing well, right? You’ll be exhausted cooking for yourself!”

“Why should I cook alone? If you don’t do it, I have to rest too.”

“Stop arguing.” Old Mrs. Xu was annoyed by the two of them quarreling. “If I don’t cook it, you can’t eat it! You are not allowed to touch the fish or meat at all!”

When An Ye heard that there was meat involved, he immediately agreed: “Let’s do it, it’s just a meal! I’ll go with you!”

“We have so many delicious dishes today thanks to Lin Zhiqing.” Ning Jia turned around and asked Mrs. Xu with a smile, “What flavor does Lin Zhiqing like to eat? Let’s cook according to Lin Zhiqing’s taste for lunch today.”

“Okay, okay, let’s do what she says.” Old Mrs. Xu naturally agreed. She specifically asked Lin Xiaoxi, “What flavor do you like?”

Lin Xiaoxi said: “Spicy, I like spicy food.”

“Okay, I’ll do as you say.”

Ning Jia and An Ye went into the kitchen, one lit the fire and the other cooked.

Li Yao returned home, changed into clean clothes and went to the kitchen.

“Go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy a pound of meat.” Ning Jia wiped the water from washing vegetables on her hands and fished out the meat coupons and money from her apron. “Lin Zhiqing is here. Mom said we should cook a good meal to entertain the guests at noon today.”

Li Yao frowned slightly, but still responded in a deep voice: “Okay, I understand.”

As soon as he left, Ning Jia closed the kitchen door.

“We have to treat Lin Zhiqing well today.” An Ye rubbed his fists, ready to show his skills.

Ning Jia reached out and picked a bunch of dried chilies from the wall, and slammed them on the chopping board: “Let’s start from here!”