novelraw Chapter 268. The whole family gets to eat well every day; it's quite juicy and oily.
Chapter 268. The whole family gets to eat well every day; it's quite juicy and oily.
"That's hard to say! She herself, along with her younger sister Yuyao, and her mother and those two little sisters, all have very fair skin; they must have access to good facial cleansing products!"
"Maybe it's genetic, something we can only envy..."
"Why think so much? We'll just ask her when she gets back. If she has any, we'll buy some too!"
"Call me, okay? Don't try to take advantage of us without including us! I've noticed you've been getting quite close to Xiao Tong lately!" one of them said to the other.
"I'm close to her because I get along well with Xiao Tong, not because I want to take advantage of her!" The sister-in-law named Ye Shuzhen didn't like hearing this. But she did see that Tong Yuheng had saved He Xiufang and Wang Xiaonan, and she thought he was a capable person and wanted to befriend him.
"I didn't mean that, but those who are close to Xiao Tong haven't suffered any losses. Look at Wang Xiaonan, she gave birth to a big, healthy boy, and Sister Chunyan, she looks so radiant..."
Tong Yuheng: Hehe, everyone here is so smart! Ever since the flood, I've become a hot commodity!
~
Behind Liujiatun, a group of soldiers came for training exercises, and the mountain was temporarily cordoned off, which fueled the villagers' curiosity. Since they couldn't go in, they wandered around to watch the spectacle.
Before the villagers were even awake, Tong Yuheng led his two younger sisters and the soldiers who were to dig into the formation. Linlang pointed out the location of the rabbit hole, and the soldiers began searching and digging from that point, extending outwards for dozens of meters!
Li Chengsong brought over another battalion to help with the excavation. They worked until noon, finding a few more bits of gold and silver. Linlang had finished her task and went down the mountain, knocking on Liu Xiaohe's door.
Liu Xiaohe had just gotten up and quickly opened the door. Her husband was already up tidying the yard. He opened the door and saw Tong Yuheng, paused for a moment, then quickly greeted him and called his wife to come and entertain them.
"Oh! Sister Yuheng, you're here! Come in quickly! Linlang, aren't you two going to school today?"
"Second cousin, we asked for leave. We've already learned everything we learned in second grade. We're here to come see you with you today!" The little guy had been instructed not to mention the trip up the mountain earlier.
"That's wonderful! Xiao Rui misses you two little aunties so much, waiting for you to take them out to play! Sister Yuheng, let's chat. Have you had breakfast yet? We'll just make do with something simple, and we'll have a big stew for lunch!"
"Xiaohe, I said I was visiting relatives, but actually I need to talk to you about something. Did you see that group of soldiers coming up the mountain?"
"I saw him. Was he brought by your brother-in-law?" All she knew was that Tong Yuheng had married a man from a well-off family who was an officer in a nearby military unit. She assumed he was just a company commander, or at most a battalion commander.
She thought it was him who brought the team to train.
"Yes, they've been training here these past few days, and we'd like to offer you the cooking and water-boiling tasks. You can ask your second uncle and aunt to help. We'll provide the ingredients, and we'll give you ten yuan for each meal you cook. You can eat with them."
"Oh, Sister Yuheng, you've brought me money! I'll take this job! Thank you so much! Shall we start today?"
"Yes, we'll book for ten days first. They'll take turns coming to eat. Could you get some breakfast for us? I'll have someone bring the things down right away!"
Xiao Zhang took two bags of rice, several bags of flour, two large jars, oil, salt, and seasonings out of the trunk of his car. He was quite well-prepared.
Liu Xiaohe had always shown kindness to their family, and she had also brought Linlang here this time. If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have discovered the hidden danger here.
She thought of giving this kind girl some money, and also letting the eldest branch of the Liu family see that if they schemed against her family, they wouldn't let them get away with it!
Liu Xiaohe quickly got to work, starting to cook porridge in a large pot with her husband and also using the stove in the house. There wasn't time to steam buns, so she ran back to her parents' house and asked her mother to make flatbread.
Her mother got up and was preparing to make breakfast. She told her what had happened, then said she had to go home to do chores and turned around and went back.
Last year, her younger brother also got married. She was a simple-minded and robust girl, not particularly beautiful, but she adored her good-looking, albeit somewhat silly, brother. The two of them were a pair of simpletons, but diligent and obedient. She and her mother still had to worry about them a bit.
After her daughter left, Liu Ersao remembered the chores she had mentioned and hurriedly asked her son and daughter-in-law for help. They first worked on the bag of flour that Liu Xiaohe had brought and started making flatbreads.
Preparing food for around two hundred people is no easy task. The large jars contain pickled radishes and mustard greens, which need to be chopped and mixed with sesame oil.
The whole family was busy in the two courtyards. After preparing a batch of food, the young soldiers would carry it away in buckets and baskets to deliver to the soldiers on the mountain. After one group finished eating, they would take down the empty buckets and bowls and chopsticks, wash them, and then carry them over to the next group.
It wasn't until around 10 a.m. that they finished preparing breakfast for the day, and they immediately started preparing lunch. Xiaohe's husband works in the village, and since there's not much to do at the brigade headquarters, he does chores at home. He has already borrowed the brigade's large steamer and prepared several large basins of dough to make steamed buns for lunch.
The military logistics personnel delivered a truckload of rice and noodles. Vegetables needed could be bought in the village, and this task was handled directly by Tong Yuheng to avoid putting Liu Xiaohe in a difficult position by deciding whose produce to use and whose to avoid.
After the floods, the villagers had almost no fresh vegetables left, except for some dried vegetables they had stored at home, and they couldn't buy much. She bought dried vegetables in the village to help the villagers earn some extra income.
The newly planted greens have just started to grow, and almost every household eats pickled mustard tubers. They can sell some dried vegetables to earn a little money to supplement their household expenses, and they don't mind if it's not enough.
Liu Xiaohe's family was incredibly envious that they could get such a good job, paying ten yuan a day. At least the whole family could eat there every day, and the food was quite nutritious. Tong Yuheng thought to himself, "Liu Xiaohe is quite shrewd; she didn't mention that it was just for the hard work of cooking a meal."
Everyone knew that this job was found by Liu Fengyi's eldest daughter. Liu's sister-in-law also came to her to try and build a relationship, wanting to take half of the job. Tong Yuheng said that her second aunt's family was enough for now, and she would ask them for help again next time.
Sister-in-law Liu didn't dare to cause trouble for Tong Yuheng; she was terrified of being disciplined. Tong Yuheng didn't let her go back empty-handed either; he gave her two cans of food and some snacks to take back for her grandson.
Liu Xiaohe pursed her lips at her retreating figure, but didn't say anything. Her lazy daughter-in-law and unruly son simply couldn't handle the hard work. If they really took on the task, wouldn't they be exhausted to death?
This old lady has been scheming for half her life. She hasn't raised her children well, and she hasn't gained any advantage from her third uncle's family. I don't know what she's scheming about all day long.