The three little guys were gathered around the stove, looking at the steaming lunch box of meat and vegetables in the pot, and they couldn't bear it any longer.

Usually I can only eat a little meat a month. Due to rationing and the famine in the past three years, the opportunities to eat meat are even less and less.

Sometimes the supply and marketing cooperatives don't even have to buy it, so everyone can only hold on to the money and the meat stamps they just issued, and wait until the meat is available to buy it again.

And this is still a city. If it is a rural area, it would be very good to have a meal of meat during the Spring Festival all year round.

Rural areas are more tense than cities, and there are even more shortages and shortages of materials, but in the end, each has its own advantages.

At this moment, Xu Fengming couldn't wait for Xu Qing to take the lunch box out of the pot with white steam. Xu Fengming bent over and took out a pair of chopsticks from the cupboard. He couldn't wait to reach into the lunch box first, picked up a piece of meat, and stuffed it in without burning his mouth.

In the mouth.

The little girl who was watching on the side suddenly showed complaints on her little face, and stared straight at her third brother, pouting her little mouth, and was very angry.

Relatively speaking, Xu Aiguo was a little more sensible than his third brother and the little girl. He helped his eldest brother Xu Qing to take the steamed buns out of the pot and put them in an enamel basin.

Xu Qing took out the hot lunch box with a rag, walked out of the kitchen and placed it on the kang in the front room.

The little girl and Xu Fengming were playing around, taking dishes and chopsticks from the cupboard, and followed Xu Qing.

After putting all the dinner on the kang, the four brothers and sisters sat in a circle and ate the hot dinner, but the little girl and Xu Fengming were still making trouble.

In the courtyard outside the house, there was silence. The second aunt shouted to her two sons to go back to the house. Xu Qing sat on the kang in his house and heard clearly through the door.

It's meal time now, and every household in the compound is also eating.

Xu Qing saw that the little girl and Xu Fengming had been competing with each other for the meat and vegetables in the lunch box. Xu Aiguo could only chew the steamed buns and use chopsticks to pick up the pickles and swallow them. He suddenly felt dumbfounded.

Xu Qing quickly stopped the two naughty boys and asked the little girl to sit next to him, while his second brother Xu Aiguo sat between the third brother and the little girl.

The farce finally subsided, but the little girl was still angry, while eating her meal, her little eyes glanced at Xu Fengming from time to time.

It seems that Xu Fengming was very annoyed by his previous impolite behavior.

However, seeing the three little ones eating with gusto, Xu Qing thought that when he was in the kitchen before, he used the ability to split the meat and vegetables in the lunch box into two, and divided it once in advance, and suddenly felt that it was very wise.

There are few things, so it is natural to make the best use of them. Moreover, in the kitchen, Xu Qing also figured out that his ability seems to be ineffective on metal products.

With a little more understanding, Xu Qing's use of abilities became clearer.

As for the separated meat and vegetables, Xu Qing did not put them in the cupboard, but placed them on the chopping board near the window.

Without the refrigerators of later generations, Xu Qing had to rely on the magic of nature. Fortunately, it was winter. If it was a hot summer, he would have to put it in a water jar.

After dinner, Xu Qing packed the dishes into the kitchen, washed them quickly, and then went to the next door hut to get some walnuts sent from the countryside.

Sitting in front of the stove in the front room, I smashed walnuts with bricks and ate them with the three little ones.

Walnuts are fresh, tender and sweet when eaten in summer, but the taste is slightly worse when eaten in winter.

However, after walnuts enter autumn, the green skin on the outside naturally falls off, and the flesh inside is wrapped in a yellow-brown coat. You can see the oily flowers when you press it lightly with your hand. Although chewing is not as sweet and refreshing as in summer, it still tastes good.

Complete.

The little girl approached the stove next to Xu Qing, unwilling to talk to her third brother Xu Fengming. She put her hands together and ate the walnuts handed to her by her elder brother, her little face full of happiness.

Xu Aiguo and Xu Fengming also ate walnuts, but they still needed to use their own strength to pull out the cracked walnuts from the hard shell. Due to the variety of some walnuts, even if they were cracked, it was still difficult to pick out the kernels.

The second brother Xu Aiguo was patient, neither impatient nor impatient. He held a small piece and slowly pushed the walnut kernels out little by little. The third brother Xu Fengming didn't know whether it was because he was too young or he was impatient, so he didn't take it out for a long time.

, he simply threw the shell into his mouth and chewed it.

This made the little girl look disgusted again.

Nowadays, in the winter, everyone in the compound stays in their own houses. Shazhu usually has no leisure time and likes to wander around the yard visiting people.

But today, maybe because of a cold, I stayed indoors and didn’t go anywhere.

Under the dark night, the backyard was silent, as was the middle yard and the front yard.

.........

It's early morning.

After Xu Qing got up, he stood in front of the kang. While wearing a scarf, he told his second brother Xu Aiguo not to sleep too deeply and be careful not to be late for school. Then he told the kitchen about the meat and vegetables that had been served last night.

If you feel hungry when you come back from school in the afternoon, heat it up in a pot and fill your stomach with your brothers and sisters first.

Xu Aiguo rubbed his eyes, raised his head from the pillow, hummed, and said to Xu Qing: "Brother, please pay attention to safety when you go out."

Xu Qing reached out and touched Xu Aiguo's little head, smiled, nodded, then turned and walked to the door of the house, opened the door, and stepped out.

In the courtyard outside the house, snow had not fallen last night, but the sky was frighteningly dark. It was obviously early morning, but it seemed even darker than midnight.

The other houses in the backyard still had no lights on, and it was completely dark.

Xu Qing huffed, stamped his feet, and walked towards the middle courtyard.

In the middle courtyard, Shazhu and Qin Huairu were already standing in the middle of the yard, as if waiting for Xu Qing.

Silly Zhu turned sideways and stood in the courtyard with his left hand in his cotton trouser pocket and a cigarette in his right hand. While chatting in a low voice with Qin Huairu, he happened to be able to look into the backyard without turning around.

Seeing Xu Qing coming, Sha Zhu turned around and tilted his head, as if signaling Xu Qing to wait for him.

Xu Qing hurriedly quickened his pace, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the lights in Jia's house had been turned off, which was a bit surprising.

Because Mrs. Jia Zhang was usually very reluctant, Qin Huairu and Silly Zhu walked together, but today, not only did they not lean on the window and look into the courtyard, they even turned off the lights in the house early.

But Xu Qing was too lazy to think about that. After all, it had nothing to do with him, so why bother meddling in his own business?

Quickly walked up to Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu, and the three of them walked out of the courtyard together in the dark.

In the alley, it was even scarier and darker. Fortunately, Xu Qing had a lighter on him, so he took it out, lit a fire, and with the help of the weak light, the three of them quickly walked out towards the entrance of the alley.

After exiting the alley and turning onto the street, the light was relatively less dark. Xu Qing put out the lighter and put it into the pocket of his cotton-padded jacket.
Chapter completed!