After Yan Chu came back from washing, they could naturally start the meal.
“Mom’s Jinbao23JinbaoYan Chu's nickname, refers to valuables in general; precious; darling; sweetie, be good. These two drumsticks are yours. You’re tired from studying, and it costs your mind. You have to make up for it.”
One night’s time was enough to stew the old hen until the skin was fragrant and bone was soft. With the mountain mushrooms brought by relatives in the countryside and opening the lid of the casserole, the smell was so delicious that people were drooling.
It was 1983, and life must be much better than in the 1950s and 1960s, but it was far from the extent that there was meat in every meal. It was still extraordinary to stew an old hen at home.
Jin Zhanhua was quite generous in eating. When other people still ate fine grain mixed with coarse grain, the Yan family only ate pure dry rice and big white steamed buns. Occasionally, they would cut a small piece of pork and stewed the cabbage with vermicelli. Otherwise, they steamed a few eggs. There was always some fat content in meals. But it was still unlikely to have a luxury meal with chicken and duck.
She took a clean bowl, put two chicken drumsticks into the bowl of her youngest son, and then gave him two tablespoons of soup, which stewed all night. The essence of chicken and mountain mushrooms was in this soup. It was extremely fragrant and nutritious.
“You’re all naughty children. Your parents are unable to take care of you and throw you to me. making me, this old woman to raise you, seven little ingrates.”
When facing her several grandchildren, the old lady’s face suddenly pulled down, and she was far less kind than she was when facing her son.
“The greedy kittens, just eat enough to stop your mouth.”
She took down two chicken wings with wingtips, one for the eldest grandson and one for the eldest granddaughter, and then tore a piece of chicken for the other grandsons and granddaughters. Each one had a big spoon of chicken soup, and there was half a bowl in the bowl. In this way, there was only half of the chicken in the casserole.
“No, no, it’s what your uncle and grandpa used to mend your little uncle’s body. You can eat meat now because of your little uncle. Remember to honor your little uncle in the future. Do you understand?”
The old lady painfully divided the meat and then hid the remaining half pot of chicken and soup in the kitchen cabinet. She did not forget to lock it to prevent it from being harmed by wild cats, wild dogs, and greedy children at home.
As for herself, she took a chicken head that no one ate. She was reluctant to take a bite of the soup. She licked the spoon of the soup and was satisfied.
“Mom, I can’t eat that much.”
The family members were all used to the old lady’s partial eyes. The words about her biased eyes went in one ear and out the other. The children were thoughtlessly raised by the old lady one by one. With a hot and fragrant chicken soup in their hands, their happy eyes became a seam, and the saliva in their mouth secreted. Who still cared about Grandma? What was the bitter lesson?
Yan Chu looked at the two drumsticks in his bowl and took one of them to Old Lady Hua’s bowl.
“Mom, what good things do you spoil at this age?”
The wrinkles on the old lady’s smiling forehead deepened, and her eyes turned into a pool of water when she looked at her youngest son.
Everyone said she was partial to Jinbao, but this child was filial. He did not forget to give her mother one of the two drumsticks. It was good for the other two ingrates. They did not get home much with their wife. They gave birth to children one by one and threw them at her. They wanted to exhaust her.
Fortunately, family planning was implemented now. Thank the government, the country, the party, and the great leaders.
But considering that Jinbao had not married yet and had a child, it sounded sad if Jinbao could only have one child in the future.
“If you eat more and keep healthy, it’s the happiest thing for Mom.”
The old lady clamped the chicken drumstick back.
It was no wonder that she did not love her grandchildren as much as ordinary old ladies. When her eldest grandson Dadan21DadanBig Egg was born, Yan Chu was only four years old. The old lady put all her heart on this posthumous child. Where would there be too much attention to look after her grandchildren, particularly shortly after the eldest grandson Dadan was born and after several other grandchildren were born one by one in the next few years? Her only grandmother’s love had been thinned out several times. In the eyes of others, it was that this grandmother was not very qualified.
“Mom, I will make a lot of money in the future for you to enjoy yourself. You have to eat more and stay with me for a long time.”
Yan Chu was unmoved. Chicken thighs seemed to be a good thing now, but he used to eat delicacies hundreds of times better than this. In his opinion, it was not as tempting as taking a few plates of pure natural pollution-free green vegetables at present.
“If you don’t eat it, I won’t eat it either.”
As soon as he said this, the old lady was about to clip the chicken leg back when she retracted, her eyes were red, and her gratifications were unspeakable.
“Okay, okay, okay, Mom eats. Mom eats it right away.”
The old lady thought to herself that Jinbao was indeed the most filial and sensible child in the world. Who else could she love if she did not love him?
Sanni15SanniThird Girl watched Grandma and Little Uncle clip the drumstick around. She cherished drinking the chicken soup in her bowl, wishing that the drumstick could jump into her bowl.
The old hen had been raised for a long time, so the drumstick meat was very juicy. The old lady could not bear to eat such a big drumstick alone. She left a small half for herself, and the remaining meat was divided into small pieces for grandchildren each.
“This is what your little uncle deducted from his mouth. If you don’t treat your little uncle well in the future, you will lose your conscience.” The old lady was such a person who could make her son happy anytime and anywhere.
“Respect to Uncle.”
The eldest grandson, Dadan, was nine years old this year, and he who had long been sensible knew what Grandma liked to hear most.
Sure enough, the old lady became happy when she heard what her eldest grandson said and tore an extra piece of meat from her drumstick to him.
“Sanni’er also honors Uncle.”
The youngest Sanni was salivating, holding her rice bowl, staring at Grandma with round eyes, and glancing at the old lady’s bowl from time to time.
Delicious meat, a lot of delicious meat.
“Young people have a big stomach.”
This time the old lady did not give Sanni more meat. She was only three years old. The half bowl of chicken soup and two pieces of meat just now were enough for her little body. Too much grease was not a good thing.
Sanni did not get the meat of her dreams, so she felt wronged and took a bite of the white rice in the bowl. It was the new rice milled this year. It was fragrant and sweet. She looked at the chicken drumsticks in her little uncle’s bowl and took the rice in her bowl. It was still very satisfying.
After dinner, the old lady and seven-year-old Dani17DaniBig Girl and Erni16ErniSecond Girl cleaned up the dishes. Dadan and their brothers ran out after eating. The boys were like this, and no one would stop them.
Sanni was full. She sat in the yard with her pony, basking in the warm sun, smacking her mouth, and recalling the deliciousness of the chicken soup. She had begun to look forward to the evening.
“Granduncle.”
Although the little girl was young, she could recognize people very well, especially this granduncle, who often brought delicious food to their house. Every time the other party came, it meant they could add a few more dishes to the dinner table at home. The other party brought malt milk, candy, cakes, and so on. Although most of them went into Little Uncle’s stomach, Grandma would always give them a taste.
In the little girl’s heart, this granduncle was the best person. As a matter of fact, her eyes brightened when someone came, ran over, and she hugged her granduncle’s legs.
“Sanni’er.”
Jin Zhande looked at this familiar yet unfamiliar little girl, and his heart was bleeding with pain. It was all because of that villain. Otherwise, how could their good family become like that? Fortunately, God gave him this opportunity to start over again.
He squatted down and hugged his three-year-old grandniece in his arms, with the joy of recovery on his face.
“Granduncle, why are you crying?”
Sanni’er reached out to wipe her hand to wipe her granduncle’s tears and then looked around to see where the delicious food brought by her granduncle was, found nothing, which disappointed the little girl who still did not understand his implicit expression.
“De, why are you here?”
Jin Zhanhua came out with a basin and was about to take the washing water to the ground. She saw her brother holding her little granddaughter standing at the door but did not come in.
Jin Zhande was twelve years younger than Jin Zhanhua. Since childhood, she had been both a father and a mother to bring him up. In terms of feelings, she might be slightly deeper than her two sons Yan Dabao and Yan Erbao.
“Big Sister.”
Jin Zhande put down his grandniece in his arms and took a few steps to hug his elder sister, who was much younger than he remembered and far less haggard and aging than the last half of his previous life. A man in his thirties and almost forty was crying like a child.
“What’s the matter? Who bullied you? As there’s no one in our old Jin family, tell Big Sister. Big Sister will find them.”
Seeing her brother crying so sad, Jin Zhanhua was like an enraged mother animal, revealing the true colors of a powerful and fierce girl who had not married into the Yan family at the beginning.
Seeing such a lively elder sister, Jin Zhande felt like it was a lifetime ago.
In his previous life, because of business, he moved his family to Shen City. He also wanted to take his elder sister with him. However, Yan Chu was still in Jing City, and his elder sister was unwilling to leave the place where she had lived for most of her life, so she rejected his proposal.
Jin Zhande was helpless. He could only give money to his elder sister on schedule every month and always came to see her several times a year. However, as his business grew bigger and bigger, there were more and more things. Gradually, the opportunities for the siblings to meet each other changed from two or three times a year to not necessarily one in the next two or three years. This reason also led Jin Zhande not to know what happened to the Yan family afterward.
He hated himself for being such a jerk, and his business was important, but his elder sister, who had the grace of giving him a new lease of life, was more important. He remembered after receiving a call in his past life and saying that her elder sister was dying, he hurried to Jing City, but he did not have time to see the eldest sister in the end. He could only watch her with her eyes wide open, skinny, and lying on the hospital bed, dying in peace.
Jin Zhande did not know whether it was because of the little bastard or because of him, her younger brother, who could not rush to see her before her death. He thought that the former was more likely. At that time, Yan Chu owed a lot of debt and disappeared. Even if his mother, who loved him the most, died, he did not dare to come to the hospital to have a look.
Rather than Jin Zhanhua predestined length of life, it was better to say that the little bastard had killed her by doing*24doing*from 干 [gàn] that can mean as to do or to f*ck (vulgar) a bunch of his stupidity.
He held back his anger. In this life, he would never allow anything in his previous life to happen.
