??Chapter 340: 340. Teacher Xin said_1
Chapter 340: 340. Teacher Xin said_1
Qiaoqiao also wiped off his sweat—not that he was tired, but his aunt lived on the top floor, and it was sweltering in her apartnt.
Then he looked around the room and was surprised to find—his aunt hadn’t turned on the air conditioning!
Even though the temperature hadn’t reached 37 or 38 degrees, it was still 33 degrees. After the scorching afternoon sun, his aunt refused to turn on the air conditioner, not even a hint of cool air in the room!
The floor was still wet, though.
Seeing Song Tan’s gaze sweeping the room, his aunt proudly said:
“It’s hot, so I sprinkled so water on the floor. When the fan starts blowing, it’ll cool down quickly!”
Song Tan: …
Song Tan didn’t know what to say, but Qiaoqiao was especially supportive:
“Auntie, you’re so smart, we do the sa when we sprinkle water in the yard, saves electricity!”
“Right!” His aunt also started to beam with pride: “Qiao knows how to live, but your auntie hasn’t treated you bad either. I didn’t even go to the market to buy groceries today just to wait for you guys!”
Song Tan glanced outside—night had fallen, what groceries? His aunt must be planning to hit the market for so bargains again.
Alright then.
She could only take her leave: “Auntie, we’ll be heading out now, we still need to deliver lons to Uncle later.”
“Sure.”
His aunt then conveniently took a large plastic bag from a box by the door: “Let’s go downstairs together, the supermarket’s vegetables and fruits will be on special offer at eight. It’ll be just right for
to take a walk and buy so.”
Just at that mont, his aunt’s phone rang.
She answered the call, and her uncle’s loud voice ca through the speaker distinctly:
“Hongi, the supermarket next to my workplace will have half-price vegetables at 7 PM! Definitely fresher than the ones at 8 PM, I’ll wait here until 7 PM, so I’ll be ho late!”
Song Tan: …
How should I put it? When it cos to living day-to-day, my aunt really is no ordinary expert.
What’s even more incredible is that she found a family who’s just like her!
My apologies.
…
The twilight was about to vanish from the horizon, the city lights were growing noisier, and Song Tan’s car took a turn, heading directly to the wholesale market in the suburbs.
Qiaoqiao wondered: “Uncle’s house is closer, right?”
“I know,” said Song Tan, with a aningful tone: “I’m not too fond of Uncle, so I’d prefer to see him last.”
“Oh oh oh,” Qiaoqiao nodded in understanding and took another cucumber from the bag: “I don’t like him either. It’d be better if we didn’t have to see him at all!”
“That won’t do,” Song Tan explained: “Grandpa’s Uncle’s father, and when it cos to building his house, Uncle has a responsibility to contribute so money. Because when Uncle bought his house, Grandpa also contributed.”
“So we need to remind Uncle to prepare the money.”
Of course, just indirectly.
“I get it,” said Qiaoqiao earnestly: “Teacher Xin said, we should respect our parents and care for the young—supporting Grandpa is Uncle’s and Dad’s responsibility.”
“But Teacher Xin also said that contribution is reciprocal, Auntie gets the least, so it’s okay for her contribution to Grandpa to be the least too.”
The crunch of the cucumber he was eating filled the car, and the fresh aroma suffused the interior, prompting Song Tan to open her mouth wide:
“Give
a bite, ah—”
Qiaoqiao quickly broke off a section of the cucumber and stuffed it into her mouth, then added super, super cautiously: “Teacher Xin said, besides husband and wife, a boy and a girl shouldn’t share the sa food! I’m a boy!”
Song Tan: …
“Teacher Xin taught you well—but don’t you have another cucumber? Since it’s already broken off, why not give
the whole piece?”
“Ah!” Qiaoqiao exclaid, then looked annoyed, “I forgot!”
…
As night fell, the suburban fruit wholesale market bustled even more than during the day, with large trucks arriving one after another, people constantly shouting to unload and clear the way.
Song Tan’s Little Pika was among them, inconspicuous.
She made her way to the Dahong Fruit Wholesale Store like an old hand; her uncle Zhang Hong was up ahead, talking with the driver of a truck, and her aunt Wu Fang was bending over, moving plastic crates on the ground, apron-clad.
Seeing this, Song Tan didn’t even have ti to hug the waterlons. She led Qiaoqiao straight over to help move the crates.
“Auntie, the variety of fruit in this shipnt is quite impressive!”
Her aunt, upon lifting her head and seeing her, started to smile with delight, but when she saw the two of them coming to help, she quickly stepped forward to stop them:
“You don’t need to do this; there are only a few crates left, I can finish moving them in a bit.”
“Dahong, look who’s here!”
Song Tan hurriedly smiled and stopped her, “Auntie, don’t call my uncle-over; isn’t he busy? Qiaoqiao and I deal with farm work every day at ho, we’re strong.”
With that said, she effortlessly carried three crates of fruit into the warehouse.
The aunt stood there, dumbfounded.
Even her uncle, who hurried over after hastily saying goodbye to soone, gaped:
“This kid… what has this kid been doing back in the countryside? How co she’s got so much strength!”
Qiaoqiao cheekily stacked three crates of fruit together and tried to lift them, but almost failed!
He glared at the crates for a mont in frustration and reluctantly switched to lifting two instead.
Thankfully, this ti he succeeded in lifting them and made his way into the warehouse smoothly.
These were the large wholesale crates, each weighing about 50 pounds!
The aunt felt so distressed she couldn’t stand it; now, inside the warehouse, she caught sight of a crate with two specially packaged Kirin lons and hurriedly went to carry them out.
Song Tan’s heart skipped, “Auntie, what are you doing?”
The aunt quickly said, “It’s so hot today; let’s cut a waterlon to quench our thirst. This batch of waterlons just ca in, they’re sweet!”
Song Tan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“No, auntie, keep the waterlon to sell. I’ve brought a few from ho for you.”
She said this while instructing Qiaoqiao, “Go on, quickly fetch the waterlons we grew ourselves.”
Qiaoqiao cheerfully complied.
Song Tan then looked at the Kirin lon in the crate—not very big, probably weighing around seven or eight pounds, which was similar to the large ones she had specially chosen.
Qiaoqiao brought the lons over, “Auntie, this is the first batch from our garden, specially reserved for you to eat.”
“Right,” Song Tan added, “Brother Yanping told
to watch you slice one. He said it can’t be sold no matter what.”
Essentially, both the aunt and the big cousin knew how to manage day-to-day life; only that the cousin scrimped more obviously, while the aunt economized like any ordinary person would.
After all, they were both raised in the village. Why worry about waterlons from their own field? The aunt was even a little annoyed: “Don’t listen to your cousin spouting nonsense. Why would I sell our own waterlons, as if I can’t bring in stock?”
As she spoke, she carried the lon to the sink and gave it a quick rinse, then instinctively gave it a pat with her hand.
“Don’t…”
These were especially picked for the aunt, ripened just right! Qiaoqiao opened his mouth to intervene but heard a familiar sound—
“Crack.”
He closed his mouth, now accustod to it, and said knowingly, “The waterlon has split open.”
The uncle was genuinely thrilled: “Such a good lon is not easy to co by all sumr—ah! Our own garden-grown lons really are the tastiest. Sll this aroma, so refreshing, so sweet!”
He could hardly contain himself.
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