NOVPUB"Ah~ Wanning, you can’t tickle my armpits."
"Ah! I’ll wash there myself, what are you doing~ It tickles!"
"..."
After Xu Qingfan was the first one to finish his bath, having each of the four little ones wash individually seemed like a waste of time, so they decided to bathe together after a discussion.
Listening to the ruckus of the four little ones in the bathroom, Xu Qingfan embarrassingly swallowed hard.
He poured chopped green onions, ginger, and garlic into a pot containing a well-prepared rooster, gently massaging the bird after adding light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and cooking wine.
"Xiao Xiao, your legs are so long!"
"Let’s compare and see who’s are longer!"
"..."
Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but swallow saliva again, thinking to himself, "This chicken smells so good even before it’s roasted!"
Xu Qingfan swore, he was not a pervert or a pedophile with interest in seven or eight-year-old little girls, his completely placid junior was the best proof!
"It must be because the chicken is too fragrant." He muttered as he poked the chicken’s butt with a small knife.
Suddenly, he remembered that back in his previous life, during middle school, many boys in the dorm liked to bathe together in winter.
But at that time, Xu Qingfan felt that male nudity was too embarrassing, and he did not join them.
"Don’t take too long, be careful of carbon monoxide poisoning!" After he finished massaging the chicken, he covered it with the lid, knocked on the bathroom door, and reminded those inside.
"Got it!"
"Brother Qing Fan, when can we have some baked sweet potatoes!"
"Roast chicken, sweet potatoes!"
"Brother Fan, my clothes are soaked and I can’t wear them, do you have clean clothes? Lend me one!"
The voices of the four girls alternated inside.
"I have them, wait a second, I’ll get one for you."
"Thanks, Brother Fan!"
"No problem~" Xu Qingfan turned and left the kitchen, searched for a while in the room where Yao Jiping used to live as a child, and found an old t-shirt he had left there.
Xu Qingfan brought it to his nose to smell; there wasn’t any odd smell, so it would do.
He returned to the bathroom door and knocked, telling Xiao Ruawen, "Here’s a short-sleeve t-shirt I used to wear, I’ll hang it on the doorknob, wait for me to leave and then open the door to get it."
"No need for so much trouble, Brother Fan, just hand it to me directly~" The next second, Xu Qingfan heard the sound of the door being opened, and a wet arm reached out from inside.
"Hehe~ Brother Qing Fan!" Lin Wanning’s head popped up over Xiao Ruawen’s like a game of peek-a-boo, greeting him with a giggly smile.
"Tsk~ what are you joining in on, hurry up and finish your bath and come out." Xu Qingfan’s heart remained unmoved, he knocked on the tops of their heads irritably, and after Xiao Ruawen withdrew her arm, he closed the door for them again.
"It’s women like Aunt Zhang who are more attractive, and if not, Teacher Guan would do." Xu Qingfan thought to himself.
The four quickly got dressed and came out of the bathroom with damp hair casually draped around them, their faces dotted with droplets of water they hadn’t wiped off properly, reminding one of the industrious and kind elves in Hans Christian Andersen’s tales.
"Brother Qing Fan, Ningning wants to eat sugarcane!" Seeing Xu Qingfan busy rinsing sweet potatoes in the sink, Lin Wanning picked up the sugarcane she had selected and asked Xu Qingfan for help.
"Brother Fan, I want some too!"
"Yiyi wants to eat!"
"Hand it over." Xu Qingfan looked at them fondly, reached out and took the large piece of sugarcane from Lin Wanning’s hands.
"When eating this sugarcane, you have to be careful. If the flesh inside has turned red, you absolutely can’t eat it—it means the whole piece is inedible, not just the red part!" He peeled the sugarcane and explained to them.
"Why is that?" The girls asked curiously.
"Because if the flesh has turned red, it means the sugarcane has gone bad and is poisonous. Eating it will kill you dead!"
"Ah? Then Ningning won’t eat it, Ningning doesn’t want to die!" Lin Wanning immediately stepped back two paces, frightened by the idea that eating sugarcane could kill.
"So, eating any sugarcane with red flesh would definitely kill someone?" Xiao Ruawen asked further.
"What are you scared of? Our sugarcane is freshly harvested, very fresh," he said with a smile, reassuring the tremulous little Wanning, "Almost there, I heard my grandmother say that someone in the village once ate red sugarcane, and they ended up paralyzed for life."
"Auntie, Brother Fan, you can eat it yourself, I won’t eat it anymore!" Xiao Ruawen decisively retreated to Lin Wanning’s side.
Xu Qingfan: ...
"No, our sugarcane is freshly picked, it won’t kill anyone. Xiao Xiao, do you want some?" Xu Qingfan lifted the peeled sugarcane and asked Xia Xiaoxiao.
"I don’t want it, sugarcane tastes bad!"
"What about Yiyi?" He then waved at Zhang Yiyi.
"Yiyi, don’t want it! Brother, you eat it yourself!" Zhang Yiyi answered word by word.
"I don’t like sugarcane either!"
"Lalala, I don’t care about you, it’s your own fault for making it sound so scary, Brother Fan." Xiao Ruawen teased Xu Qingfan by making a face at him, then left the kitchen holding the washed wampee and cherry tomatoes.
"Go, Brother Qing Fan!" Lin Wanning looked left and right, then followed Xiao Ruawen out.
Xu Qingfan’s gaze fell on Xia Xiaoxiao, the little girl didn’t speak and also left.
"Yiyi?"
"Brother Fan, you can do it!" Zhang Yiyi stuck out her tongue cutely and also left with a giggle.
Looking at the few strips of peeled sugarcane on the cutting board, Xu Qingfan just felt his teeth ache. His front teeth had just grown in a few months ago, and he did not want to break them again.
"I’ll take them home to feed the dog!" He nodded contentedly, cut the sugarcane into small sections and packed them in a plastic bag.
...
"Brother Qing Fan, are these clumps of soil okay?" Lin Wanning held a plastic bucket filled with irregular clumps of red clay.
"Hmm, Ningning is really great. Pour it here, then go collect some more." Xu Qingfan pointed to a patch of empty ground nearby, where he was laying the base for a clay oven with bricks.
"Heehee, go Brother Fan!" After pouring the soil clumps on the ground, Lin Wanning ran off excitedly to the distance again.
He laid a piece of porcelain tile flat on the bricks, and then piled the clay in semi-circles, layer upon layer.
This type of clay oven in the Lingnan countryside was also known as a control oven, used to cook sweet potatoes, eggs, taro, potatoes, corn... essentially, anything could be cooked in it.
Later, as living conditions improved, chicken and ribs were added to the oven. Although it looked dirty, the taste was incredibly satisfying.
In his previous life, on Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, Xu Qingfan looked forward to building a clay oven the most. He was responsible for collecting clay, while grandfather would construct the oven. They would wrap the food in aluminum foil, throw it into the well-heated oven, cover it with a hoe, and after about forty minutes, delicious oven-cooked chicken would be ready.
"Brother Fan, you’re so amazing!"
"Brother Qing Fan is amazing!"
After firing up the newly built clay oven until it was red-hot, the children praised him admiringly.
Listening to the children’s chirping noises, Xu Qingfan felt an instant return to the joys of his childhood, as if time suddenly slowed down.
"Alright, just forty more minutes and we can eat!" After stuffing the foil-wrapped food into the oven, Xu Qingfan used a hoe to smooth and compact the clay stove.
"Let’s play hopscotch!"
"Hopscotch, hopscotch!"
Smoke rose gently, sunlight slanted softly, the crimson sun showered the red clay road, the sweet smell of baking food and the joyful noise of playing children painted a picture of peaceful times.
...
"It smells so good!"
"I want to eat, I want to eat!"
"Ha huff, careful, it’s hot." Xu Qingfan wet his hands before tearing off chicken legs and wings to distribute to the children.
"It’s so delicious!"
"Brother Fan, you’re too awesome!"
The five sat in a row on a slate slab, holding the freshly baked chicken just out of the oven, chewing the food in their mouths while looking up at the sky.
"So beautiful..."
"So nice!"
...
