NOVPUB
Chapter 462: 452
At noon, Shen Yunfang prepared a table full of food, allowing the Liu family of five to have their fill after several missed meals, and then she led them to the siheyuan, arranging them in three rooms of the west wing.
"Big sister, the bedding is all in the cabinet. See if it’s enough. If not, there’s more in the cabinet in the main room, you can just help yourself," Shen Yunfang said, opening the wardrobe for Li Xianglian to check out the bedding.
Upon seeing all new bedding inside, Li Xianglian persistently waved her hands, "Oh no, we don’t need to use the new ones. Just find us a few old quilts to use."
"Your request is somewhat difficult, our household only has new ones, I really don’t have any old ones," Shen Yunfang laughed as she spoke.
Li Xianglian fell silent at this; to continue asking for old ones would be imposing.
"Also, since this house is usually unoccupied, it might be a bit damp, so, big sister, these few days feel free to light the stove as much as you want. I’ve bought coal for you all and piled it by the wall. In a bit, I’ll teach you how to light it." Back home, they didn’t have briquette coal, so Li Xianglian needed some training before she could start.
Shuanzi couldn’t sit still; after running in and out of the siheyuan, he saw a neat pile of briquette coal by the wall. Hearing his second aunt mention that this coal could be lit, he felt tempted to try it out.
In the end, he couldn’t resist. While his mother went inside, he quickly grabbed a piece of briquette coal and ran off to play with it.
By the time Shen Yunfang and Li Xianglian came out of the house, Shuanzi had already lit the briquette coal and was happily warming his hands over it.
"Hey, you little rascal, why are you lighting it without any reason? That coal costs money! Why’d you light it just for fun? Let’s see if I don’t punish you." Li Xianglian’s anxiety rose as she saw the piece of coal already glowing red.
What a troublesome child, at home he promised to be obedient and well-behaved, yet he’s still so mischievous here.
"I’ve just never seen it before and wanted to try it out. Who knew it would light so easily? I hardly made an effort, and it just lit up," Shuanzi explained, his excitement turning to grievance, his emotions fluctuating. He wasn’t afraid of his mother getting mad, but feared his second aunt might dislike him, so his eyes began to well up as he looked at Shen Yunfang.
"Hehe, Shuanzi, don’t listen to your mom, it’s great that you lit it. I was just thinking about training your mom, afraid she wouldn’t know how. But you’re so clever, you learned all by yourself. Good job, your second aunt likes that," Shen Yunfang immediately hugged the child to comfort him.
"Don’t spoil him. We still have quite some time here. If he doesn’t learn his lesson, who knows what trouble he could cause at any moment," Li Xianglian glared at her son, meaning ’you better be careful.’
"Big sister, you’re exaggerating too much. Our Shuanzi is just fine, so smart. How could he cause trouble, right?" Shen Yunfang asked the boy in her arms with her last sentence.
Shuanzi nodded vigorously, secretly thinking to himself that his second aunt smelled really nice, fragrant and sweet.
"Besides, there’s nothing much of value here. Shuanzi, remember this, as long as you don’t burn down the house for your second aunt, you can play with anything else." Children should have such energy; Shen Yunfang had always believed this. If parents forbid everything, what curiosity or creativity would a child have left? It would all be stifled by the parents.
At that, Shuanzi was overjoyed and began making faces at his own mother.
"You and your cocky attitude, just wait until your second aunt leaves and see how I deal with you," this was a typical empty threat from a parent, to be taken with a grain of salt.
Afterwards, Shen Yunfang had Shuanzi fetch a stove from the back room, showed him how to place the lit coal inside using an iron hook, and taught him how to light the stove. Thus, the task of lighting stoves and burning fires at home was assigned to him. The young lad undertook his first task with great enthusiasm.
Liguo immediately took out all four stoves from the back room, ready to light them all up.
Li Xianglian, seeing her son acting so vigorously, got a bit angry and scolded, "Are you really going to light them all? Don’t cause a fuss here, go play on the side."
"Why bother the kid? Let him play. Once he’s played enough, he’ll stop. Besides, we were going to light the stoves in several rooms anyway, so just let him do it," Shen Yunfang hurriedly persuaded.
"What’s the need for so many stoves, it’s wasting money," Li Xianglian still had her frugal nature.
"What money is it wasting? These were all provided by Shen Yunfang’s comrades-in-arms, they’re free. So just burn as much as you like. In this cold winter, don’t skimp on the coal and end up hurting the children," Shen Yunfang feared that after she left, her elder sister wouldn’t want to burn the coal, so she told a white lie.
"These don’t cost money?" Li Xianglian was somewhat incredulous.
"Of course not, Hongjun’s comrade is the director of the local residents’ committee here. It won’t be difficult for him to get us some free coal," Shen Yunfang generously gave Ma Liguo a good word. "So, elder sister, just burn as much as you like, and if we run out, I’ll get more from him." 𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑝𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝘮
In the end, mixing bluffs with lies, she managed to get past the issue, and stoves were lit in all three rooms. Then Shen Yunfang pointed out the stock of grains in the room to Li Xianglian.
Li Xianglian shook her head at the sight of only white rice and fine wheat flour, and Shen Yunfang had to use all her persuasive skills to calm her down.
After all, her elder sister’s family might be living here for about a month, and it wasn’t possible for them to gather together for every meal, so these grains were just in case.
After making sure everything was in order, Shen Yunfang took the children back home, telling Li Xianglian and her husband to tidy up here, while she and the children went home to fetch some things.
Li Xianglian didn’t say much and let them go, but in less than half an hour, Shitou was leading the way on his bicycle, with Jiajia and Shuanzi helping behind, pushing back more than a dozen fresh cabbages, along with radishes and potatoes. Most importantly, at the very bottom, there was a large piece of pork, which upon estimating, weighed at least five pounds.
"How did you bring back so much stuff, and even meat? Don’t you know better?" Li Xianglian complained. How could they have brought back so much? Did Yunfang have any left? She hadn’t given it all to them, had she?
"It was my aunt who insisted on giving it. My big brother even said we didn’t need it," Shuanzi was thrilled all the way home, drooling over the big piece of pork, as it had been so long since he had last eaten meat.
"Jianjun, what do you think we should do with this?" Li Xianglian had no idea whether to accept the goods or send them back to her sister-in-law.
Liu Jianjun came out, looked at it, and said with a smile, "Just keep it. Yunfang isn’t a stranger, and neither should we be. Remember all these things, and when we have more, we will repay it."
Hearing his dad say they could keep the meat, Shuanzi jumped three feet high and began running wildly in the yard, "Oh, we’ve got meat to eat! Finally, we’ve got meat to eat!"
Li Xianglian watched her youngest son’s excitement with a hint of irritation, yet her eyes were moist, feeling as parents, their lack of capability had made the children so elated over just a little meat.
"We need to work hard in the future, and we’ll definitely be able to let our kids eat meat every day," Liu Jianjun told his wife.
"Yes, we’ll work hard."
