She didn’t make anything too difficult for dinner, mainly because there wasn’t enough time. After eating, they needed to go back to school to study, so a pot of noodle soup was enough. Plus, it was quite filling and guaranteed that they wouldn’t feel very hungry until the evening.
The noodles were quickly ready, and Qin Xiangnuan brought out the pot and set it on the stone table outside, followed by several bowls.
She handed them the soup ladle, "Help yourselves to as much as you like. It’s best if there are no leftovers because I don’t want to eat leftover food," her words made the two who were somewhat restrained both laugh. Without being shy anymore, one of them ladled a satisfying bowl for themselves and even had a second half-bowl, ending up so full that they couldn’t eat anymore. Xiang Nuan gave the rest to Conghua.
"Is that your dog?" Li Li asked quietly, mainly because Conghua looked so fierce and was also quite plump. At first glance, it was somewhat intimidating.
"Yes, I raise it," Qin Xiangnuan pinched Conghua’s ears and let it go play, "It’s a military dog, but I don’t really manage it much now, so it’s become a Chinese rural dog."
"Chinese rural dog? What is that?"
Mao Xiaomei thought for a while but couldn’t figure out what breed it was.
"Chinese rural dog?" Qin Xiangnuan walked over, poured herself a cup of water, didn’t drink it, just held it to warm her hands, and slowly explained, "It’s also known as a native dog."
Mao Xiaomei completely lost it and the water she had just sipped spurt out. Fortunately, there was no one sitting opposite her, otherwise, it would have been quite embarrassing.
After washing the pots and dishes, Qin Xiangnuan was ready to head to the school for more studying. If it were just her, she would enter the system and enjoy free air conditioning and heating with ample time, but she couldn’t just let Li Li and Mao Xiaomei go back by themselves.
In the afternoon, they took two tests and Qin Xiangnuan felt she did pretty well.
The next day, she had them come over for a meal again, this time it was rice. She had prepared all the dishes in advance, and when they came back, it just needed a quick stir-fry. Being prepared beforehand, it didn’t take long, and all three of them ended up full to the brim, not even leaving a single grain of rice for Conghua. Seeing the empty plates, Qin Xiangnuan thought she needed to prepare an extra portion for Jian Zhiqing when she came back after the exams. She planned to buy some bones and make some sauce-coated ribs and dumplings. The meat from the bones would be for Jian Zhiqing to eat, and the bones themselves for Conghua to gnaw on, while she would have the dumplings.
Eventually, after two days, the exams were over. Many students gathered talking about the questions, estimating their scores, but Qin Xiangnuan wasn’t very interested. In her view, it didn’t matter if the exams went badly, as long as you do well next time.
She still had to get back to the shop, and there were groceries to buy; she had no time to discuss these things.
However, with exams over, she did feel lighter with no immediate responsibilities. There was one month left till the new year, and she needed to finish sewing the clothes soon; she had already completed some over the past few days, with only a few pieces left, which she planned to finish soon.
Her own clothes, along with those for Qin Xiangyang and Granny Lu, also needed to be started.
Indeed, just because the exams were over didn’t mean she could relax. Besides making clothes, she still had to write Spring Festival couplets. This was a significant income opportunity she hadn’t forgotten; making at least a thousand bucks a year, not doing it would be foolish, so she was busier than ever.