Li Mingwei made a small booklet of the etiquette guide she had finished drawing, and hesitated for a long time before giving it to Old Lady Wang. She had just entered the door not long ago, and giving someone this would make them think she was dissatisfied with them. Moreover, Old Lady Wang was her elder, so Li Mingwei decided to forget it. One can't learn etiquette overnight, so there was no rush for one or two days. She would wait until Liu Yizhu came back and let him take the offense.
She put the small booklet in the drawer and got up to go out. Old Lady Wang was carrying a bowl of noodles and greeted her, "You're awake?"
"Yes, mother, we're having noodles today?"
"Oh, noodles. Didn't Yizhu say you don't like drinking porridge?" Old Lady Wang put down the half-eaten bowl of noodles and added more firewood to the stove. After the water boiled, she poured the sliced noodles on the chopping board into it and asked, "Do you want vegetables?"
Li Mingwei peered from the door, "Yes."
Old Lady Wang ate two mouthfuls from the noodle bowl. Seeing the fire was right, she threw some vegetables in for her and told Li Mingwei to come in when it was almost done, "Get a bowl for yourself."
"Okay."
Just as Li Mingwei finished transferring all the noodles into her bowl, Old Lady Wang finished hers in three mouthfuls.
She put her bowl on the stove and instructed, "Wash the bowls after you finish eating. I'm going out first. Come back at noon to eat."
Li Mingwei nodded silently. Over the past few days, she had been following Old Lady Wang around, eating and drinking in the school. She was already used to it.
A person who could satisfy so many children's tastes must be a good cook. Li Mingwei had to admit that Old Lady Wang's cooking was much better than Chunhua's. That's why she had been eating more than before after getting married.
She gulped down a whole large bowl of noodles and patted her bloated tummy. After spacing out for a while, she got up to rinse the pot and bowls with water.
The weather today was nice and it looked like the sun was about to come out. Li Mingwei went to the bathroom to get her dirty clothes from last night, planning to wash them after her bath. However, when she opened the bathroom door, there was nothing inside.
She looked up and realized her clothes had been washed and hung on the clothesline. Li Mingwei knitted her brows. Next time after bathing she must remember to take her dirty clothes back to her room. She was old enough and shouldn't need the elderly to wash clothes for her.
Now whenever she thought of Old Lady Wang washing bed sheets in the cold winter, she felt bad.
"Alas..."
She sighed and tidied up before closing the door, planning to go to the school and help with cooking. She didn't know how to stir fry dishes but could manage the fire. Doing a little was better than nothing.
By the time Li Mingwei arrived, Old Lady Wang was already washing vegetables. She drained the water from the washed greens in a bamboo basket then sliced and put them in a wooden basin according to the order they would be added to the wok, so as to avoid panic later.
The school had one meat, one vegetable, and one soup dish for every meal. Only when Mr. Jin occasionally wanted to eat something else would Old Lady Wang make one or two extra dishes for him.
After the noon bell rang, the children rushed to the backyard with their own bowls and chopsticks. Mr. Jin followed behind them and sat next to Li Mingwei.
The dishes on the table had all been laid out, they were just waiting for Old Lady Wang to serve the food before eating.
Looking at the line of children with similar ages but different heights and builds, Li Mingwei asked, "Teacher, why do so many children from town also eat at the school? Can't they go home to eat then come back?"
Mr. Jin thought for a moment then asked her, "When you lived at the Dongs, how often did they eat meat?"
"Every three to five days."
It was even longer when she first arrived. Later, she would give half of her earnings to Chunhua. So Chunhua became more generous and they ate meat about every three to five days. That included when her cravings got the better of her and she used her own money to buy meat for Chunhua to cook.
Mr. Jin nodded. That was pretty good. He explained, "Most families in this town are probably similar to the Dongs. But studying takes a lot of brain and heart power, and the children are still growing. Eating meat only every three to five days is not enough."
"People always say one has to eat fully in order to grow well, and grow well in order to think quickly. They've already spent so much money to send their kids here to study. No one wants to cut corners there."
"If the school provides a meat dish every day, how much would they have to spend to cook meat for their child at home daily?"
"Even a small family would have three to five mouths to feed. They can't just cook for one person. The adults might be able to endure it and let the child have the meat, but what about the other young children at home? Wouldn't they feel the parents are playing favorites and cause trouble? It'd be better to pay the school to let the child eat there, saving some money and headache."
"That makes sense."
Li Mingwei looked over the group of children whose ages were close but builds varied greatly, clearly from differences in inheritance and diet.
Judging from the chubby ones wearing nicer clothes, they probably didn't lack good food at home either.
Of course, there were also exceptions where parents deliberately bought some nice clothes for their child to keep up appearances at school, like her sister Chunhua. So she could only make generalizations, not definitive conclusions.
"It's a pity the hearts of parents in this world."
"Who isn't one?"
Old Lady Wang came back after serving the dishes. Seeing Li Mingwei and Mr. Jin staring at the children, she also looked for a while but didn't notice anything unusual. She put the steamed eggs she was holding closest to Li Mingwei and urged, "Teacher, let's eat."
Seeing her little gesture, Mr. Jin shook his head smilingly and picked up his chopsticks. "Let's eat!"
He still didn't understand why she had changed her attitude so quickly. In the past, she would glare whenever he so much as looked at Li Mingwei twice, calling her a vixen. But now she was even putting eggs in front of her.
In fact, the reason was simple. Her son was Old Lady Wang's only kin in this world. His pain was her pain, and his joy was her joy. Li Mingwei made her son happy, so even if Old Lady Wang was somewhat dissatisfied with her, she endured it for his happiness.
As the saying goes, love me, love my dog.
Li Mingwei scooped a spoonful of silky egg into her mouth and immediately closed her eyes in enjoyment, "So delicious!"
Seeing her love for it, Old Lady Wang scooped a few more spoonfuls for her, "Eat up if you like it."
She didn't forget Mr. Jin either and gave him a spoonful as well, "Have some too, Teacher."
Mr. Jin politely declined, "That's alright, I'll serve myself. You should eat too."
"I'm eating," Old Lady Wang took two bites of rice when she suddenly recalled something and instructed Li Mingwei, "I have something to do this afternoon and will leave after cleaning the kitchen. Go home yourself later."
Li Mingwei looked up from her bowl, "What is it?"
"I saw some people harvesting wheat these two days. I'm going to check if our field is ready for harvest too and see how the output is, so I'll know what's going on and avoid getting tricked by them again."
"We have farmland?"
Li Mingwei widened her eyes slightly. She had never heard Liu Yizhu mention it before or seen them going to farm.
"Yes, just outside the town entrance, southward. We sold a few acres when we were short on money previously, not much left. They've always been rented out to others to farm, and we collect some grain annually as rent. With just a few acres, even if the entire harvest were sold, it wouldn't make much money. When the weather turns bad it could even result in no yield. So I just rent it to others to farm and collect a bit of grain every year while spending my time doing odd jobs that earn more money."
Li Mingwei nodded in understanding.
