Chapter 19: Delivering Steamed Buns
"Chunhai, don’t be angry," Wang Meili walked in, rubbing her hands, awkwardly smiling as she explained, "It’s all my fault for making not enough food, thinking Lingling wasn’t coming back this late and might have gone to her grandmother’s in the city."
Originally, she thought Old Mrs. Gu would beat up Gu Lingling, saving this meal, but unexpectedly, Gu Chunhai came back at this time.
And caught them red-handed.
Must be this troublesome little girl doing it on purpose.
Who knows who’s been egging her on from behind, suddenly she’s become cleverer in the past few days.
Need to quickly get Gu Juan into school and look into it properly there.
Gu Chunhai stayed silent, sitting by the stove and starting a fire.
"This is... Chunhai, you hurry and get up, let me make dinner for Lingling," Wang Meili said anxiously.
"No need." Gu Chunhai was truly angry this time.
Never expected his daughter to be treated like this at home.
"Mom, you see..." Wang Meili, feeling troubled, spoke to Old Mrs. Gu in the main room.
Old Mrs. Gu said nothing, realizing they were indeed at fault, "Go fetch two eggs and let Chunhai make some fried eggs, why are you still standing there?"
Still soft-hearted towards Wang Meili, using eggs to keep Gu Lingling quiet.
"This is my first time eating fried eggs, Dad, you eat too." In the kitchen, father and daughter, Gu Lingling smiled as she picked up half an egg to Gu Chunhai’s face.
"Dad won’t eat, you hurry and eat." At this point, Gu Chunhai’s voice was choked.
The daughter spoke lightly, but he listened intently.
Lingling is already sixteen, and this is her first time eating eggs. He reflects that he’s never made the family go without, even in difficult past years, but they ate better than other families.
Earlier, he intended to cook both eggs, yet the daughter firmly refused, saying she’d save one for him tomorrow to make buns.
Gu Chunhai wished he could smack himself.
In the neighboring room, Gu Juan was also nestled in Old Mrs. Gu’s arms, acting spoiled, "Grandma, I want eggs made by Dad too."
With one sentence, she succeeded in making Old Mrs. Gu, who had some complaints about her tattling, feel tenderly towards her, clutching her heart dearly, calling her precious, and promised to make her fried eggs in the morning, with two eggs as well.
"You and Lingling are sisters, don’t cause too much trouble in front of your dad," Old Mrs. Gu comforted, "My Juanzi is smart, you understand what Grandma means, right?"
"Grandma, I understand." Gu Juan thought bitterly, but smiled sweetly and said, "From now on, I’ll definitely let Sister Lingling have her way."
At night, when it was time to sleep, Gu Juan said nothing, and Gu Lingling was also silent.
In the midnight, Gu Lingling was startled awake by her own dream; she had a strange dream in which she saw some things after her own death.
Yang Yunhai raised the child as his own, growing him up, but Yang Yunhai remained lonely, never marrying.
Why was she having this dream again?
Getting up to look out the window, the sky was still dark; Gu Juan was sleeping soundly beside her like a dead pig, so Gu Lingling quietly went to the kitchen to make buns.
She fried last night’s leftover egg, then wrapped it with chives and wild herbs into buns.
When the first batch of buns was steamed, it was still dark, Gu Lingling packed several buns and the leftover pickles from the previous night into a small basket, climbed over the wall in her backyard, and ran along the bamboo grove path, reaching an old yet tidy clay house.
"Grandpa Zhou, open the door quickly." Gu Lingling called quietly, waiting for the door to open, she rushed to the stove and put down the buns and vegetables, "I steamed buns, hurry and eat, I’ll leave now."
Quite like seeing only the head of a divine dragon without its tail.
If not for the buns on the stove, Old Man Zhou would really think it was a hallucination.
"Who was it?" asked Old Man Qian softly, who lived with him.
Old Man Qian had been assigned to Nanshui Village for reform through labor a few days ago, coincidentally staying with the earlier-reformed Old Man Zhou.
"Don’t talk too much." Old Man Zhou cautiously looked around at the door, then quickly shut it.
He lived here, which was actually an old temple, with nowhere in the village to stay, they tidied up the temple, and it became their current house.
But the good thing was that it was somewhat far from the village.
And Gu Lingling’s family happened to live on the edge of the village, following her backyard path through a bamboo grove to get there.
Years ago, he had fallen seriously ill, almost dying, luckily bumped into by Gu Lingling, the kind little girl went to find the village chief, saving his life, and later secretly brought him food.
But those things were from many years ago, in recent years that girl hadn’t come at all.
If not for seeing the hot buns on the stove, Old Man Zhou would really think he was dreaming.
Old Man Qian said no more, picked up a bun and tasted it, his eyes brightened.
This girl’s cooking skills are really impressive!