"Educated Youth Yun, I’m going to head back first." Li Minghua, the little sister-in-law who lived closer, was the first to get home.
"Alright, sister-in-law."
After saying goodbye to the other, Yun Xiaoxiao headed home.
Why was Li Minghua younger than Yun Xiaoxiao, yet still called by Yun Xiaoxiao "sister-in-law"?
It was because Li Minghua’s husband was more than a year older than Zhao Tianlei.
Upon arriving home, seeing her two little ones come up to greet her as soon as they saw her return.
"Here are the sticky rice cakes I bought for you, eat them sparingly." Yun Xiaoxiao took out a pack of sticky rice cakes and handed it to them before carrying the basket to the kitchen.
Sticky rice cakes,—both brothers knew what they were.
What to eat for lunch then?
She wanted to buy steamed buns, but she had no meat tickets.
"Da Bao, take your brother and go call Grandma over to make buns."
She couldn’t make buns herself, she wanted to eat them, but she could enlist others’ help.
Hurry up and get the meat ready.
She bought two pounds of meat online, then began to knead the dough, adding yeast.
"Grandma, Grandma, my mom wants you to come over to make buns."
There was meat at home.
She planned to go over and see.
"Mom, I bought some meat that didn’t need tickets. I plan to cut some for the bun filling, and the rest to make Braised Pork Belly. I’ll cut a piece of cured meat for the bun filling," Yun Xiaoxiao proposed.
You want two different flavors?
Nowadays, this daughter-in-law was getting less and less reserved.
Every now and then, she’d call them over to eat meat.
Complaining aside, Mrs. Zhao still efficiently cut a piece of cured meat for the filling.
"Grandma, Mom bought sticky rice cakes for us, Grandma, try some."
"Oh, my good grandson, Grandma won’t eat, you eat," Mrs. Zhao declined affectionately.
Watching this scene, Yun Xiaoxiao had something to say, "Mom, the kids are sharing, fostering in them the good habit of respecting their elders and loving the young, so you should eat."
Respecting elders and loving the young?
Mrs. Zhao had attended school for a year and didn’t know many characters.
But she knew that her daughter-in-law was a high school graduate, though she had failed to get into college twice. Yet, she had taught the two little ones well—they were polite, could recite their lessons, and could write.
"Alright, Grandma will eat, Grandma will eat," she agreed readily.
"Da Bao, in a little while, go call your Grandpa over for the meal."
The Braised Pork Belly simmered away.
One tended the fire and stewed the meat, while the other prepared the buns.
The neighbors next door, catching the aroma of the meat, felt like cursing: Educated Youth Yun was enjoying meat at home again.
Spare a thought for them, will you!
Every day they had to smell the scent of meat, drooling with craving.
After adding potatoes, they steamed buns on top of the Braised Pork Belly.
Da Bao took Xiao Bao toward the brigade headquarters.
On the way, they ran into Da Zhu, whose hands, red from the cold, poked through his cloth shoes with a toe visible.
"Da Zhu, what are you doing here?"
"Hungry?" Da Bao offered a sticky rice cake to Da Zhu.
"My mom sent me out to find bugs for the chicken to eat so it will lay eggs."
Da Bao and Xiao Bao didn’t keep chickens at home and didn’t know about this, but they saw other kids digging up bugs to feed their chickens.
"But in winter, there aren’t many bugs around. You should head back home early!"
What Da Bao and Xiao Bao didn’t know was that because of this sticky rice cake, Da Zhu got beaten and even developed a fever.
A lot of things at the brigade headquarters weren’t easily kept secret.
Because of an incident with a sticky rice cake, Da Zhu got beaten up, and some kids came home telling Da Bao about it. Yun Xiaoxiao was coincidentally checking the writing of Da Bao and Xiao Bao. They ate warm buns for breakfast; Mrs. Zhao had made quite a few the day before. Yun Xiaoxiao and her two sons each ate one bun, had some Braised Pork Belly, and were full.
"Da Bao, something bad happened, Da Zhu’s stepmother beat him until he got a fever, Niu Kid from next door told me," said Mrs. Zhao.