CH 15

The next day, Wei Jianwei didn't come back until dawn. He didn't go back to the room, he just changed his clothes and slept on the newly repaired bamboo bed. When Wang Chunhua got up in the morning, she was shocked when she saw a person lying in the hall.

As soon as she walked in, Wei Jianwei woke up, rubbed his temples, and sat up, "Mom."

Wang Chunhua knew that he had barely slept and felt a little distressed, "What should I do if you catch a cold while sleeping here? You take a rest, I'll make you a bowl of porridge, you can drink a bowl and then go back to the room to sleep."

"I'm not sleepy anymore." Wei Jianwei said. In the army, sometimes during the exercise missions, he wouldn't be able to sleep for several nights, he could only squint in the daytime. He just slept for a while, now he was full of energy.

He got up and went to the yard, scooped up the water in the water tank to wash, and then carried the bucket and pole to carry water.

His father and his brother didn't have such good energy, although they came back from the field earlier than him, they're still sleeping. In the room, He Xiaoyun was combing her hair, and Wei Yuanhang was also awake. One night pass and he became active and performed a somersault on the bed with the quilt.

He Xiaoyun doll herself up and changed his clothes, "Don't roll around, come and put on your clothes."

"Mom, my teeth don't hurt." Wei Yuanhang got up, grinning with joy, he showed his small white tooth at her.

"Yes, yeah," He Xiaoyun decided to mocked unceremoniously and put his clothes on his head. "Eat more plums today, your teeth will definitely be better."

"Don't wanna, I won't eat plums." The child's head was wrapped in his clothes as he shook his head repeatedly.

He Xiaoyun dragged his clothes down, exposed his head, and took his hands into the sleeves. After the jacket was worn, the remaining pants were easier to wear, so she asked the child to put it by himself, she then went to the kitchen to help make breakfast. Wang Chunhua had already started a fire in the kitchen, when He Xiaoyun came in, she said, "Jianwei was lying on the bamboo bed this morning. When I saw him, I thought he was a thief."

"He's back?" He Xiaoyun was a little surprised. When she got up today, she specifically called Wei Yuanhang up just to wait for Wei Jianwei to catch up in peace. No one was seen in the yard just now, she thought that he was still in the field.

"He came back soon after dawn."

It's been an hour or two since he came back. Although the sky is getting hot, it's still very cool in the morning. The bamboo bed is even more chilly and there's no quilt. He must have been uncomfortable. He was probably afraid of waking them up so he didn't go back to the room.

He Xiaoyun had to admit that except for sometimes that he's teasing her, that guy is very reliable most of the time. Wang Chunhua took out two eggs from the urn and washed them clean, "Will you make Xiaoyuan a bowl of noodles for his birthday today?"

Wei Yuanhang's birthday is today? He Xiaoyun was surprised, why didn't she hear this last night?

But when you think about it, it's normal. At this age, many people barely fill their stomachs until they finish their work in a year. There's no time to care about birthdays or whatnot, so the Wei family’s situation is better, Wang Chunhua can still make noodles especially on the birthdays of family members.

Today is the fourth day of May. It turns out that the chubby kid was born the day before the Dragon Boat Festival.

He Xiaoyun remembered that the birthdays of children in her time were always full of cakes, gifts, balloons, and new clothes. Now, Wei Yuanhang's bowl of noodles and two eggs are considered the best.

Seeing that Wang Chunhua was about to scoop the flour again, she felt move and suddenly had an idea, she discussed with Wang Chunhua: "Mom, can I not make noodles this year? I want to make a snack for Hanghang, I will also use eggs and flour."

Wang Chunhua glanced at her and nodded in agreement. Although in her opinion, eating noodles on birthdays is the same as eating zongzi at Dragon Boat Festival. It's a rule left by the older generation, but her second daughter-in-law has other ideas, she can't say anything about that.

After breakfast, Wei Jianwei filled the water tank. He Xiaoyun called at him in the yard, "You can go to the bedroom to sleep, I will ask Hanghang not to disturb you."

"No, I'm not sleepy." Wei Jianwei said.

He Xiaoyun looked at him up and down to see that he was indeed in good spirits, and said: "Then I need to discuss something with you."

The last time she said this, it was for him to make building blocks for the child. After that, Wei Jianwei was scolded by Wang Chunhua for several days. Today's tone is exactly the same as that day, even her facial expressions are the same.

Wei Jianwei looked at her, "What's the matter?"

He Xiaoyun also thought of the situation last time and waved her hand: "Don't worry, it's something mom has agreed to. She won't scold you again. I'll tell you to come to the kitchen after breakfast."

Wei Yuanhang didn't know that today was his birthday. After breakfast, he just played in the yard, and He Xiaoyun didn't tell him to avoid trouble.

She and Wei Jianwei were the only two in the kitchen. She separated the egg white from the yolk, put the egg white in a large clean bowl, dripped a few drops of vinegar, added a spoonful of sugar, took out three chopsticks, and said to him: "Help me beat up the egg whites, beat them like cotton."

Fearing that he would not understand, she even separated the chopsticks between her fingers and stirred the egg white a few times. That move looked a little funny. Wei Jianwei slightly raised his eyebrows without moving.

"Oi, it's really serious." He Xiaoyun stuffed the bowl into his arms and stuffed the chopsticks into his hands, making stirring movements in his hands, she urged, "Hurry up and stir."

In the end, Wei Jianwei moved, the chopsticks stirred the egg liquid quickly, and soon large foam eyes appeared.

He Xiaoyun looked at it for a while and nodded in satisfaction, "Just keep beating like this." She handled the other part herself, adding milk to the egg yolk such as flour, sugar, and a little oil. Milk should be added, but there's no such thing for now, so she has to leave it alone.

While mixing the egg yolk and flour evenly, she turned her head to glance at  Wei Jianwei from time to time.

Chopsticks were in his hand, his stirring almost appear like a phantom, after a while, his speed was still the same, it never slowed down. She stared and saw his fingers clamp the chopsticks and his arm muscles were highlighted. It felt a bit like Wolverine using his claws to beat eggs, and the more she looked, the more it looked like it.

Afraid that the other party would tease her, He Xiaoyun hurriedly turned her eyes away, pretending to be intently staring at the egg yolk paste in front of her, but the images of the previous scenes kept playing back in her mind, so she had to squeeze her mouth and work hard.

What she didn't know was that Wei Jianwei's eyes had long discovered her. While the two of them were busy, Wang Chunhua and Feng Qiuyue came in to look with curiosity. They watched the gradually forming egg whites for a while before they went out.

"What are they doing? Beating the eggs like that." Wang Chunhua whispered to her eldest daughter-in-law.

"It's a cake. The last time we went to the county seat, we saw it in the store. It was a small piece and cost a few cents. It's very expensive."

Wang Chunhua asked, "Can it be done at home?"

Feng Qiuyue smiled, "Since Xiaoyun is going to do it, she must have a plan in her heart." She was actually surprised that someone like her second brother would obediently listen to the command and beat that egg white there.

"I just let them." Wang Chunhua finally said, there's no big deal in spoiling a few eggs and white noodles, she can just make a bowl of noodles for her grandson.

In the kitchen, Wei Jianwei took ten minutes to beat the egg whites, He Xiaoyun mixed the egg whites with the egg yolk paste and steamed them in a pan. When the cake was about to come out of the pan, she went to the courtyard and called Wei Yuanhang in.

The child's face was flushed from the sun. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he sniffed and his eyes lit up, "Mom, I smell something delicious."

"Puppy nose." He Xiaoyun smiled and pinched his little nose, "Today is your birthday, don't you remember?"

Wei Yuanhang tilted his head and thought for a moment. At his age, he certainly had no impression of his last birthday, but someone in the family had a birthday and ate a bowl of noodles, he remembered that and he immediately clamored, "I want to eat noodles! "

He Xiaoyun said: "There are no noodles. Grandma was going to make noodles for you, but I told her I'm going to make something else."

"What is it? Is it delicious?" The child only cares about this question.

"You won't know unless you eat it." He Xiaoyun lifted the lid of the pot and the sweet smell came over to her face. The pale yellow cake was already formed. From the outside, it was considered a success. She pressed her chopsticks on the cake and felt the elasticity.

Wei Yuanhang was too short and couldn't reach the stove, he turned around anxiously, "I want to see too! Mom, I want to see it too!" The child saw Wei Jianwei standing on the side so he hurriedly opened his arms at him, "Daddy, hug."

Wei Jianwei picked him up and the child hurriedly probed into the pot, gulping his saliva, he asked, "What is this, mom? It smells so good."

To make sure that the cake is ripe, He Xiaoyun puts a rag on her hand and lifts the big bowl out of the pot, "This is called cake, it's also eaten on birthdays."

"Mom is amazing!" The child was busy flattering his mother so that he could eat it quickly. He Xiaoyun glanced at him with a smile and said, "Your father is the one who has done the most today. Without him, cakes can't be made."

Wei Yuanhang hurriedly said, "Dad's also amazing!"

He Xiaoyun stopped teasing him, she took the cake out of the bowl, cut off a piece, and put it in a small bowl, she then handed it to the child, "Be careful."

Wei Yuanhang hurriedly took it, digging it with a spoon, it's really hot, he watched the cake and then puffed up his mouth to blow it. After getting for it to be a little cooler, the child couldn't wait to put it in his mouth, he chewed twice, and vaguely said: "It was sho good."

He Xiaoyun cut the cake into small pieces and told the child, "You can't eat it by yourself. You can divide it between your grandparents, uncles, and aunts."

Wei Yuanhang looked at the cake cut into pieces on the table, then looked at the bowl in his hand, he was reluctant to put down the bowl to run errands, so cleverly shouted: "Grandpa, grandma, uncle, come and eat some cake!"

He Xiaoyun shook her head, she took a piece and handed it to Wei Jianwei, "You can try it too."

Wei Jianwei was still hugging Wei Yuanhang. She thought he would put the child down, but she was too tired of holding the cake so she lowered her head and feed the man, hoping he finished it with one bite.

Wei Yuanhang stared at them and loudly declared: "Mom is feeding Dad with her hands!"

It just happened that Wang Chunhua and Feng Qiuyue came in when they heard the child's words, they both chuckled. He Xiaoyun just wanted to put the whole cake into Wei Jianwei's mouth and choked him to death.