Chapter 32 p2
Xu’s mother was carrying large and small plates to the main room. Lu Ze helped Xu Qingyan move the stove back, and the iron pot was placed on top of the stove. This way, the soup in the pot would not get cold, and they could also cook some other dishes.
Xu’s mother served him food and said with a smile, “If you don’t want to cook at home by yourself, you can come to my house. It’s just a matter of an extra pair of chopsticks. Don’t be shy.”
How could Lu Ze not be shy? He had been out all day, and Xu’s mother had made a large pot of white flour steamed buns at home, picking out the large ones and putting them in his bowl.
He thought that the next time he went to the city, he couldn’t forget to buy some grain. The original host’s parents had left some grain coupons, which should be enough for a while. But since he wasn’t going to the city these days, he couldn’t just eat their food for free…
The mutton was stewed very soft, and there was some ginger in the mutton soup, which was a little spicy. One bowl could drive away the cold from the whole body.
Xu’s father kept smiling and telling him to eat, and not to be polite. It was impossible for Lu Ze to really be impolite. He didn’t eat much meat, just drank two bowls of soup, and smiled at Xu’s mother. “Auntie’s cooking is good.”
Xu’s mother’s face broke into a smile. “It’s good that you like it. Drink more, drink more. If nothing else, there’s definitely enough soup!”
After two meals in these two days, she could more or less see what kind of child this was. He definitely had good upbringing and manners. How could he be like what the villagers said, like some kind of heinous little hoodlum?
Even if he was insensible in the past, after going through such a life-and-death situation, he had slowly changed for the better.
This was the most rare thing.
After dinner, Lu Ze didn’t let them see him off. But before he had gone halfway, Xu Qingyan suddenly caught up with him. “You forgot your things.”
Lu Ze looked down and saw that it was the two oil paper bags he had bought.
Lu Ze said, “I bought them for you and your uncle and aunt.”
Xu Qingyan was stunned. Pastries were not cheap. He immediately shook his head. “We can’t accept them. You…”
Lu Ze said, “I don’t eat these things. You can either eat them yourself or keep them to entertain guests. It’s up to you.”
After he finished speaking, before Xu Qingyan could say anything more, he waved his hand and left, leaving Xu Qingyan standing there looking at the things for a long time before he silently turned and went home.
Xu’s mother was cleaning up the dishes. Hearing the noise, she glanced at him. “You didn’t take them?”
Xu Qingyan shook his head. “We can’t always take advantage of him like this.”
Xu’s mother shook her head. “This child knows how to be grateful.”
She thought for a moment. “I looked at the sky tonight. It should be a sunny day tomorrow. You should get up tomorrow morning and wash some wheat. While the weather is good, you should dry it quickly. In two days, we’ll go and grind some white flour. We’re out of white flour at home.”
Xu Qingyan said okay.
Xu’s mother murmured, “He’s just a child after all. We can’t take advantage of him for free. While he’s in the village, you should call him to eat every day. If he doesn’t come, you can pull him over.”
Xu Qingyan then remembered how he had complained that his legs were short and said helplessly, “He’s so tall and big. How can I pull him?”
Xu’s mother poked his forehead and smiled. “Silly child.”
Xu Qingyan also looked at her and smiled.
The family had not had such a relaxed atmosphere for a long time, and Xu Qingyan was also happy.
The next day, before dawn, Xu’s mother and Xu Qingyan got up. Xu’s mother cooked, while Xu Qingyan took a large basin and washed the wheat in it. When the wheat husks and some debris floated to the top, he would skim them off. When the stones settled at the bottom of the wheat, he would scoop out the wheat and put it on a winnowing basket on the side to drain. When the sun was about to rise, he would put the drained wheat on the prepared bamboo mat and turn it into ridges.
If the sun was good for the next two days, they could dry it almost completely if they turned it diligently.
After Xu’s mother finished cooking, she saw that it was almost time, so she called Xu Qingyan to wash up and then asked him to go and call Lu Ze to eat.
The weather was very cold in the morning, but Xu Qingyan was sweating after working for a long time. He tidied himself up and went to the Lu family’s door, but he saw that the door was locked from the outside.
Xu Qingyan was stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect him to get up so early, and he didn’t know where to find him.
He had grown up in the city and rarely came back to the village. He didn’t know anyone he knew. Where could he go?
Xu Qingyan couldn’t figure it out. Just as he was about to go back, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him. “What’s wrong?”
Xu Qingyan turned around and saw that the man was tall and slender, and he was even carrying a large fish in his hand. Wasn’t he the person he was looking for?
Lu Ze asked, “I’m not going to the city today. Is there something you need to tell me?”
Xu Qingyan shook his head. “No, I’m not in a hurry.”
“My mom asked me to call you to eat.”
Lu Ze paused, and the hand that was opening the door also paused. He didn’t refuse and just said, “Okay.”
Xu Qingyan watched as he just walked away, the fish still in his hand. He remembered what he had been doing these past two days, and his eyelids couldn’t help but twitch. “Why don’t you put the fish in the house first…”
Lu Ze looked back at him and said, “I want to eat fish today. I want Auntie to cook it for me.”
He said he wanted to eat it, but he would probably only eat a little. The rest would all be for their family.
Xu Qingyan caught up with him and tried to persuade him, “I remember there’s still a small salted fish at home. If you want to eat it, we can eat that.”
Lu Ze said, “But I want to eat fresh.”
Xu Qingyan was about to say something more, but Lu Ze stopped and pointed to his house. “Auntie is already waiting at the door.”
Xu Qingyan looked in the direction he was pointing and was at a loss for words.
After entering the Xu family’s house, Xu’s mother was shocked when she saw his hand. “Why did you bring something again?”
Lu Ze said, “I got up early in the morning and suddenly wanted to eat fish, so I went to the river on the back mountain and had a look. I was lucky and caught one. I’ll have to trouble Auntie to cook it at noon today.”
Xu’s mother didn’t know what to say and just said, “In this weather, you can catch a fish. You’re indeed lucky.”
Lu Ze smiled and didn’t speak.
In the morning, Xu’s mother had cooked some porridge, heated up some steamed buns, and there were also some pickled radishes from before. A meal of light porridge and side dishes was just right.
At noon, Xu’s mother asked for his opinion and asked him how he wanted to eat the fish. It was such a big fish. If he wanted to try all kinds of ways, it would be enough for two or three meals.
Lu Ze knew that oil was precious in a farmer’s family and just said, “Let’s use the fish head to make soup. Qingyan is studying and using his brain, so he should supplement it.”
Xu’s mother was stunned. Since Xu’s father fell ill, her mind had been mostly on the work outside and Xu’s father, and she had rarely paid attention to her son’s body. She immediately said okay.
Xu Qingyan was listening from the side. He didn’t expect him to mention him. He then saw him chatting happily with Xu’s father by the bed, pursed his lips, and went to the kitchen to help his mother.
After scraping the fish scales and cleaning the guts, Xu’s mother saw her son come in and move closer to her, looking at the fish with longing. She couldn’t help but poke his head. “You little glutton.”
“Are you a cat?”
You love fish so much.
Xu Qingyan smiled and obediently lit the fire for her.
The fish head and tofu soup at noon was naturally delicious. Lu Ze drank two more bowls of soup, but he didn’t eat much meat. Xu’s father and mother also seemed to prefer the soup. On the contrary, Xu Qingyan, who usually didn’t have a big appetite, ate half of the fish head in small bites.
Lu Ze couldn’t help but glance at him. “You like fish?”
Xu Qingyan couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed and said with a red face, “It’s okay.”
Lu Ze looked at him for a moment, his eyes lowered slightly. “It’s warm at noon, so there will be more fish. If you like to eat it, I’ll take you to catch fish. We can catch more and store them.”
Xu Qingyan’s eyes lit up. “Okay!”
Xu’s father, who was listening from the side, also became interested. “I remember there’s still a fishing rod I made before in the warehouse. Yanyan, you can go and look for it later. You might really be able to catch a few fish at this time.”
Xu’s mother said, “How can you be so lucky? Even if there are fish at this time, they’re probably just some small fish.”
Xu’s father smiled and said, “Small fish are good too. We can fry the small fish with oil. It’s a good side dish for wine!”
Xu’s mother wanted to say that it was not so extravagant to use oil to fry fish, but seeing that everyone was happy, she didn’t say it in the end and just said, “Go, go, let’s see how many fish you can catch. I’ll cook them for you however you want when you come back!”
Xu Qingyan couldn’t help but be a little excited. He had always had a gentle personality since he was a child and didn’t play well with the boys in the village. It was rare for an older person to be willing to play with him, so he was naturally very excited.
They brought a fishing rod and a bucket. Lu Ze also took a knife for chopping firewood to sharpen a branch, and the two of them walked towards the back mountain together.
After arriving at the place, Xu Qingyan first set up the fishing rod upstream of the river, and then curiously watched as Lu Ze broke off a branch from a nearby tree that was about the thickness of half a wrist and sharpened the tip with a chopping knife.
He asked, “Are you going to use it to spear fish?”
Lu Ze nodded.
Xu Qingyan bit his lower lip. He had also played with it in the summer, but he had never successfully speared a fish, so he couldn’t help but be a little worried.
But Lu Ze used his strength to tell him that the fish he had caught in the morning was not by luck.
The temperature was high at noon, and the fish in the river were all active. The water on the bank was shallow. Lu Ze was wearing Xu’s father’s previous rain boots and gradually waded to a position near the middle of the river. There was a large stone there. He stepped on the stone for support, stood there in silence for a moment, then his eyes sharpened. He raised the wooden stick high and, with a force, went down. He only heard a “pfft” sound as it entered the water, followed by the river water rippling violently. The next moment, the wooden stick was lifted out of the water, and the fish speared on it was still wagging its tail.
Xu Qingyan was so excited that he let out a “wow.” Lu Ze glanced over, took the fish off, and threw it onto the bank. Xu Qingyan quickly put it into the bucket. When he looked at Lu Ze again, his two eyes were sparkling, and the smile on his face was undisguised.
Lu Ze glanced at him again, raised the wooden stick again, observed for a moment, and then another fish.
Xu Qingyan was simply stunned. It was hard to imagine that spearfishing would be so simple. But Lu Ze never missed. Although the fish was not big sometimes, it made Xu Qingyan admire him more and more, and he was even a little eager to try.
A large bucket was almost full. Xu Qingyan walked back and forth on the bank, his eyes a little hot.
The temperature was not low at noon, and with this exercise, Lu Ze raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Noticing Xu Qingyan’s gaze, he opened his mouth and asked, “Want to try?”
Xu Qingyan’s thoughts were exposed, and he was not embarrassed. He just nodded vigorously, his black and bright eyes full of expectation as he looked at Lu Ze.
Lu Ze paused, walked towards the bank, took off his rain boots and gave them to him, and instructed, “There’s mud at the bottom of the river. Be careful not to slip. Try to walk along the path I took. Don’t go too deep.”
Xu Qingyan put on the rain boots and nodded obediently.
He held Lu Ze’s fish spear and used it as a crutch. He walked carefully, and even so, he almost slipped and fell. He managed to stabilize himself in time and slowly finally reached the place where Lu Ze had been just now.
Lu Ze told him some key points. He listened carefully, learned Lu Ze’s posture, stepped on the stone with one foot, held his breath, licked his lower lip, and focused on the movement in the river.
When a fish finally swam over slowly, he even held his breath, not daring to make a sound.
He slowly raised the wooden stick and, with a quick hand, fiercely speared at the position below the fish.
When he lifted it, the weight was obviously increased, but it was not a fish, but the mud at the bottom of the river.
Xu Qingyan was a little disappointed, but he didn’t expect to succeed on the first try. He tried again and again, but he didn’t succeed once even after several fish passed by.
The surrounding river water became a little muddy, and this repeated failure instead aroused his competitive spirit. He licked his lips, casually wiped the river water from his face, and once again calmed down, his black eyes calmly looking at the river, like a cat quietly waiting to hunt.
Lu Ze couldn’t help but be stunned.
He watched as Xu Qingyan held the wooden stick with both hands, his eyes slightly dark; he watched as his gaze locked on a place, his eyes slightly bright; he watched as he raised the wooden stick high and, with the speed of lightning, fiercely speared down, and then, a brilliant smile bloomed on his face.
“Lu Ze!”
He raised the wooden stick high and looked back. The water droplets thrown by the fish’s tail refracted a colored glaze in the sunlight, making his features vivid and eye-catching. His black and bright eyes were filled with a happy glow that Lu Ze could feel from a long way off, even more dazzling than the brilliance of the sun.
Lu Ze’s gaze was fixed on him for a moment.
Xu Qingyan was excited for a moment, then he felt that the other party was six years older than him after all, and it seemed a little impolite to call him by his name directly. So he curved his eyes and, a little embarrassed, called out to him again:
“Lu-ge!”
