Ma Jiefang was still wearing the military coat, rubbing his hands and stamping his feet, his face was even red from the cold.

When he saw Xu Qing coming out, he raised his hands and shouted.

"Brother Qingzi!"

Xu Qing squeezed through the crowd and walked to Ma Jiefang. The two of them walked towards the old locust tree opposite the factory gate.

Under the locust tree, Xu Qing was about to ask something, but he didn't say anything yet.

I saw Ma Jiefang reaching out to fumble in his military coat, with excitement on his face, and said excitedly:

"Brother Qingzi, I asked my cousin to borrow a bicycle ticket today."

As he spoke, Ma Jiefang pinched a bicycle ticket in his hand.

Xu Qing took it, held it in his hand, looked at it, and couldn't help but get excited.

After all, it’s really hard to get bicycle tickets these days.

That is to say, Ma Jiefang's cousin happened to have a quota, and he happened to borrow the ticket.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have a chance to see you today.

After Xu Qing looked at it for a while, he put the ticket away and said to Ma Jiefang:

"I'll hold the ticket first. In a few days, when things are settled, I'll return it to you."

Ma Jiefang grinned and said: "It's okay, don't be in a hurry. My cousin doesn't plan to buy a car yet. He doesn't have enough money on hand. I guess even if he wants to buy it, it will probably be after the new year."

Xu Qing nodded, and after chatting with Ma Jiefang for a while, they broke up and went home.

There are quite a lot of pedestrians on the street at the moment, but they all look in a hurry, just like early in the morning. They are all busy on their way, and no one has the intention to wander.

Xu Qing shrank and hurried back to the courtyard.

The weather was cold and freezing, and the cold wind everywhere roared fiercely whenever it had a chance. Not only did it hurt my face, but it also made it difficult to breathe, not to mention the snow on the ground being blown and swirling in the air.

My son, flying around in front of my eyes.

Xu Qing returned to the backyard room and saw Xu Aiguo squatting in front of the stove to light a fire.

Xu Fengming and Xu Xiaoya were lying on the edge of the kang, with their hands tucked into the sleeves of their cotton-padded jackets, holding pencils and doing homework.

Xu Qing walked to the stove and took a look. He found that the briquettes in the stove were probably wet due to the snow for several days and refused to be lit. The wood used to start the fire was burning very brightly, but he couldn't help it.

Ignite briquettes.

Xu Qing looked up and saw his second brother Xu Aiguo, his eyes filled with tears from the smoke.

Hurry up and let him do his homework. He will do the lighting of the fire.

Xu Aiguo hummed, wiping his tears, turned around and walked towards the edge of the Kang.

Xu Qing walked outside the house, took out three from the middle of the pile of briquettes, took them inside, and lit the fire again.

After a while, the fire was lit, and the room gradually became warmer.

Xu Qing walked into the kitchen again and lit the fire on the stove.

Half an hour later, the room was completely warm, and the fire pit was also warm.

The three children were doing homework in the front room, and Xu Qing was busy making dinner in the kitchen.

Because we rarely roll noodles, our family usually eats steamed buns mixed with stick noodles.

There is no way, Xu Qing himself is not very good at cooking.

Although he has asked Shazhu for advice several times before.

But I still feel a little unskilled in kneading, rolling out, and cutting into noodles.

After all, I didn’t learn to be a cook, so it’s inevitable to be unfamiliar with this kind of thing.

Fortunately, no matter what, Xu Qing finally put the noodles into the pot after struggling for a long time.

While the noodles were cooking, Xu Qing took out his bicycle ticket and wanted to use his ability to split it in two to split one.

But somehow, after working hard for three minutes, I was able to get a tenth of the bicycle ticket.

This has never happened before.

Xu Qing thought for a moment and felt that it might be because the value of the bicycle ticket was too high.

After all, bicycles are not as ubiquitous as food stamps and meat stamps.

Xu Qing tried again, but it was still difficult to tell the difference at once.

Sighing, Xu Qing stopped thinking about it for the time being, put away the bicycle ticket, reached out to grab the lid of the pot, opened it, and stirred the noodles in the pot with chopsticks.

Then he closed the pot lid and walked to the front room to check how the three little ones were doing with their homework.

The little girl said with a playful look: "Brother, I have finished my homework and have previewed tomorrow's homework."

Xu Fengming even put his homework and textbook aside and started reading comic books. Apparently he had finished his homework long ago.

Only the second younger brother, Xu Aiguo, is still immersed in writing.

Xu Qing hugged the little girl's little head and looked at Xu Aiguo quietly without saying a word.

Previously, Xu Aiguo was busy lighting the stove, which wasted a lot of time. Although the stove was not lit in the end, he can't be blamed for this.

Lighting a fire is not an easy task in the first place, and since he is only in the second grade of junior high school and it is still winter, it is always a bit too reluctant to light a fire every time.

However, even so, Xu Qing felt that his second brother was much better than those in later generations who still needed care after high school and even college.

Fifteen minutes later, Xu Aiguo finished his homework.

Xu Qing then returned to the kitchen and took out the noodles cooked in the pot.

The noodles were cooked for too long and were a bit mushy.

Fortunately, Xu Qing poured a lot of water into the pot, and the noodle soup was particularly thick.

Xu Qing scooped out the soup and noodles with a spoon, put them in bowls, and then poured three drops of sesame oil into each bowl.

The three little ones lined up, each carrying a bowl, and headed back to the front room.

Xu Qing picked up another plate of pickled vegetables and brought it into the front room.

The four of them sat on the warm kang, eating hot meals, regardless of how cold it was in the courtyard outside and howling the cold wind.

The little girl didn't like noodles very much, so she put down her chopsticks after eating half the bowl.

Seeing this, Xu Fengming hurriedly poured all the noodles in the little girl's bowl into his own bowl.

Holding the chopsticks, he wolfed it into his mouth.

Xu Qing looked at it and said nothing. The little girl has not liked eating noodles since she was a child, but her third brother Feng Ming is just the opposite. He eats it every day and never gets tired of it.

Seeing that the little girl hadn't eaten much, Xu Qing slipped off the kang, walked into the kitchen on his cotton shoes, cut the steamed buns mixed with stick noodles into slices with a knife, and baked them in a pot.

Ten minutes later, Xu Qing brought the browned steamed bun slices into the front room in an enamel bowl.

The little girl reached out to grab a piece and took a bite, making a crispy crunch sound.

At this time, Xu Aiguo finished all the noodles in his bowl. When he saw that his elder brother had baked another slice of steamed buns, he couldn't help but pick up a piece and ate it with pickles.

Only Xu Fengming ate a bowl and a half of noodles, burping and looking at the steamed bun slices. He wanted to eat but couldn't.

After finishing the meal, Xu Qing packed up the dishes and chopsticks into the kitchen, cleaned them, and boiled an iron pot of hot water.

Let the three little ones wash their feet one by one, and then go to bed on the kang.

Although it was only half past eight in the evening, the whole courtyard was already so quiet that no sound could be heard.

After washing their feet, the three little ones all got into the quilt consciously.

Xu Qing knew that the three of them wouldn't be able to sleep for a while, so he allowed them to read comic strips for a while.

The three little ones suddenly got their heads together and started staring at the comic strip.
Chapter completed!