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Chapter 316: Chapter 306: The Sought-After Pangpang
"When did I ever stop you from letting Pangpang eat? I just told you not to waste food on others. Pangpang is so young, his little belly can’t even finish one persimmon, and you picked so many at once; isn’t that a waste? Couldn’t you have used your silly brain to think about that before picking?" Mrs. Wu couldn’t really get mad at the little girl; her dad spoiled her too much.
"Tingting, it’s good you thought of your little brother when you got something tasty, and you deserve praise for that. It’s very sisterly of you. But look at the persimmons you’ve picked. You’re older than your brother, could you finish them if you tried?" This all started because of her own little Pangpang, and Shen Yunfang was right there, so she certainly couldn’t let Tingting take the scolding alone and quickly interjected.
Tingting looked at the persimmon in her hand and shook her head. 𝖓𝖔𝖛𝔭𝖚𝖇.𝔠𝖔𝔪
"That’s what I thought. Next time you want to pick persimmons for little brother Pangpang to eat, come over to your auntie’s house. The persimmons here are redder than those at your house. Pick one at a time, then the two of you can eat it together. After you finish, we can pick more. Isn’t that much better?" Shen Yunfang gestured with the persimmon in her hand.
Because Shen Yunfang grew her plants from seedlings before transplanting them, even though it took more effort, her vegetables matured a few days faster than those grown directly from seeds, so now the persimmons at her place were mostly red, while Mrs. Wu’s were still half green, half red.
Tingting nodded her head.
"Alright, since you seem to have understood your mistake and have a good attitude about it, I forgive you for today. Off you go and play." Mrs. Wu couldn’t bear to scold her own daughter anymore.
Tingting grinned, ready to run across to give her brother the persimmons.
"Hey, you can go but leave the persimmons here." Mrs. Wu quickly grabbed her daughter, taking all the persimmons from her pockets and hand; they were unripe and too sour to eat as they were. Mrs. Wu reluctantly picked the reddest one among them and placed it in her daughter’s hand, "Go on then, share it with your brother."
Tingting cheered and ran towards the front yard. While the two families were close, they still had to go through the front yard gate.
"Yunfang, perfect timing, why don’t you skip cooking tonight? I’m making noodles for dinner, and I’ll use these persimmons to make the sauce. Come on over and join us."
"That would be great, I was just wondering what to make for dinner since Li Hongjun isn’t home, and I can’t decide what to eat. I’ll come over in a bit to help you roll out the noodles," Yunfang readily agreed.
"Oh my, you’re still being formal with your sister-in-law. Just come over to eat later. Besides, it’s just the three of us. It won’t take me long to roll out that bit of dough, you don’t have to come over and help, just take care of the kids," Mrs. Wu said, waving goodbye to Shen Yunfang with both hands full of persimmons before going back to cook.
At that moment, Tingting also ran over from across the way, running up to Shen Yunfang, tilting her little face up and shouting, "Auntie, let me feed Pangpang, please."
Since Tingting had experience feeding Pangpang before and Shen Yunfang found the girl to be particularly attentive when caring for others, she confidently handed the persimmon and spoon to Tingting.
"Okay, you feed him, but don’t let Pangpang eat it all. Stop feeding him around this point, okay?" Shen Yunfang made a mark on the persimmon with her finger.
Tingting looked at it, nodding to show she understood.
Only then did Yunfang feel assured enough to let the two kids play under the parasol while she returned to weeding the garden.
Of course, she still checked on the brother and sister from time to time to see how they were getting along.
By the time Yunfang finished weeding the garden, the voice of Mrs. Wu calling that dinner was ready came from the next courtyard.
"I’ll be right there," Yunfang called back.
She came out from the fields and saw that the two little ones had stopped eating persimmons. Tingting was holding some wild grass and had made a grasshopper for Pangpang. Pangpang was sitting on the small bed, excitedly shaking the grasshopper with one hand, while Tingting squatted next to him, chatting away.
"Stop playing, your mom is calling us to eat," Yunfang said as she scooped some water from the storage jar nearby to wash her hands and face, then wiped them with a towel before walking towards the children.
"Oh, it’s time to eat! That’s great!" Tingting happily bounced around the little bed. At that moment, the children had only one thing on their minds: eating.
Yunfang bent over to pick up her son from the small bed and then rolled up the little bedding, carrying it towards the front. Once inside the house, she tossed the bedding onto the kang bed, then with one hand holding Pangpang and the other leading Tingting, the three of them went to the neighboring Wu sister’s house.
"Come on, hurry, eat up before it gets cold," Wu sister called out to Yunfang to sit down and piled a big bowl in front of her.
Yunfang placed her son on the kang and let him crawl around and play by himself, then picked up the bowl to begin eating.
It was not noodles made from pure wheat flour in the bowl, but noodles made from a mix of wheat and corn flour. Because of the low content of wheat flour, the noodles weren’t stringy and were yellowish, broken into segments.
Yunfang, having eaten these noodles at Wu sister’s house twice before, wasn’t surprised. She scooped a spoonful of egg and persimmon from a basin on the table, poured it over the noodles, and started eating.
Truth be told, Wu sister’s cooking was not as good as hers. She wasn’t as generous with ingredients, so the resulting meal was barely palatable.
Seeing that Yunfang had finished a bowl and set down her chopsticks, Wu sister quickly said, "Why aren’t you eating more? Eat up, there’s still more in the pot."
"No more for me, I’ve had two bowls already, I’m full," Yunfang, who could eat three bowls worth, had just had one and a half, but she couldn’t just let loose and eat her fill at someone else’s house.
A couple of days earlier, while chatting, Wu sister had said that with Wu Guoqiang away on a mission, it was good because it saved on food at home, and when the children came back, they could eat a bit more. Considering this, Yunfang felt even less inclined to indulge. Besides, Wu sister’s cooking lacked oil and salt and really wasn’t very tasty.
"Okay, then just pick out some egg for Pangpang," Wu sister said, not pressing any further. She thought that was all Yunfang could eat and didn’t suspect she was pretending.
While the adults were eating, little Pangpang had already crawled over to the edge of the table, clutching it and babbling away.
"Oh dear, our little glutton at home, always has to have a bite whenever there’s food," Yunfang said as she picked up a very small piece of egg with her chopsticks, then poured some noodle soup from her bowl into it, and swished the egg around before feeding it to her son.
"Hehe, that’s the way, the stronger the appetite, the better the growth," Wu sister looked on as Pangpang clapped his hands in joy and joined in the laughter.
Pangpang smacked his lips over the egg and swallowed, then opened his little mouth waiting for more feed from his mom, just like a baby bird.
"Right, when are you leaving?" Wu sister asked.
"The young soldier brought me the ticket and the letter of introduction today. I’m leaving the day after tomorrow," Yunfang said as she fed her son another piece of egg, watching him eat with such joy made her happy as a mother.
"That’s quite the distance, can you manage by yourself with Pangpang?" Wu sister was concerned about the struggle of catching trains and buses. "Maybe you should leave Pangpang here; I’ll take care of him for you."
"No need, sister. It’s not that far. I’ve bought tickets in advance, sleeper berths. Pangpang and I will just sleep on the train and we’ll be home," Yunfang appreciated Wu sister’s kindness, but the idea of leaving her son behind was out of the question. Even if she didn’t go on the trip, she wouldn’t leave Pangpang behind.
