Zhou Lanfang and her niece weren’t home for dinner, so Shen Jianhua cooked, and to demonstrate his fatherly love, he even boiled two eggs for Shen Mianmian to eat.
Shen Mianmian didn’t stand on ceremony and ate her fill before sleeping soundly through the night.
The next day when Shen Jianhua got up, Shen Mianmian had already prepared breakfast. He was somewhat surprised, "Mianmian, you’re not going to school today, why didn’t you sleep in a bit more?"
He had planned on making breakfast, but his daughter had gotten up even earlier than him, which made him feel somewhat embarrassed as a father.
Not working and staying at home, he would be ridiculed by others if word got out that his teenage daughter was waiting on him hand and foot.
"I’m used to waking up early, and I couldn’t fall back asleep," she said. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝕟𝕖𝕥
Shen Mianmian carried the bowls and chopsticks to the main room, and served both Shen Jianhua and herself a bowl of rice porridge. Though it was called rice porridge, there were hardly any grains of rice in it; it was almost like clear soup.
Thankfully, there were a few pieces of sweet potato in it, which made the porridge look a little less meager.
In rural areas, breakfast was very casual, usually just sweet potato porridge or a bit of millet porridge. For families that were better off, and for men who did physical labor, they would sometimes make pancakes to eat.
Shen Jianhua washed his face and sat down at the dining table to eat. "Your mom will be back tonight. For lunch, tell me what you want to eat and I’ll cook it for you. If you want to read, you can read, otherwise, you can go watch TV at Aunt Zhang’s house with Xiaocui."
Having seen Shen Mianmian and Xiaocui getting along well at Zhang Changfa’s house the last time, Shen Jianhua was quite pleased.
His daughter didn’t usually wander from home or have many friends and seemed somewhat reclusive, which wasn’t good. To put it less pleasantly, it was being unsociable.
In Shen Jianhua’s view, it was better for a young girl to be lively.
Shen Mianmian’s eyes lit up, and she followed along with what he said, "Dad, I have a classmate who has very good grades, one of the top few in our class. I had made arrangements with him to help me go over some problems."
"Okay," Shen Jianhua nodded in agreement, then asked, "What about your lunch...?"
"I won’t come back for lunch," Shen Mianmian said playfully. "His family makes bamboo baskets, and we have an agreement that he’ll help me with my homework in the morning, and in the afternoon I’ll help him weave baskets. Mom wants me to learn a craft, right? This counts as one too."
Shen Jianhua felt it wasn’t proper for his daughter to eat at someone else’s house, but seeing Shen Mianmian so happy, he didn’t want to spoil her mood.
"Okay, come back early in the evening."
As for learning a craft, Shen Jianhua didn’t take it seriously at all. Weaving bamboo baskets was men’s work; Shen Mianmian was just a little girl who could at most give a little help. Even if she learned, she wouldn’t be able to make a name for herself.
It would be better to learn tailoring after she graduated.
After eating, Shen Mianmian cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks and went to Lu Siyuan’s house.
It wasn’t until after Shen Mianmian had left that Shen Jianhua remembered he had forgotten to ask his daughter whether the classmate was a boy or a girl.
But then he thought again, his daughter was petite, and although she was over sixteen years old, she still looked like she was thirteen or fourteen to those who didn’t know her, so she probably didn’t have any other intentions, and he felt reassured.
When Shen Mianmian arrived at the Lu Family’s home, Lu Siyuan had already had breakfast and even brought back the winter melons. He had also borrowed a scale typically used by farmers to sell vegetables and had even brought along their own kitchen knife.
"You’re well prepared. Despite your young age, you’re quite capable," Shen Mianmian complimented, hopping onto the ox cart and touching the winter melons, feeling incredibly happy.