Chapter 284: Chapter 284: What the Heck? Manbao Is Crying?
Ai Zhaodi winked at her second sister-in-law, who immediately understood and hurriedly changed the topic.
Only then did Liu Meiniang’s face slowly return to a normal color.
The dinner rush hadn’t officially started, but already some guests arrived at the restaurant to order food, including the table of scholars from noon.
The first one to order again was the one from noon, who held the menu and said to the waiter beside him, "This sweet and sour ribs and fried pork, as well as this glazed candied veggie."
He then asked the others at the table, who also ordered two dishes and drinks before letting the waiter leave.
With their arrival, other guests also began to arrive, and soon the first floor was filled.
"Brother Yan, tonight we must not leave until drunk!"
Someone said to the scholar who was looking for trouble at noon.
Yan Zixuan nodded calmly, "That suits my intent."
He then looked at the one ordering and said, "Brother Wang, you’ve gone through a lot."
Wang Hao smiled and waved his hand, "A person finds a confidant two or three times in life; rare to have intimate friends. For Wang to have three kind brothers as friends, a few pieces of money are nothing, nothing!"
"Brother Wang is generous!"
"Brother Wang is righteous!"
The other two immediately cupped their fists.
Wang Hao also cupped his fists in return.
Yan Zixuan also had some smiles appearing on his face, although it looked somewhat forced.
As each dish was served, Wang Hao didn’t rush to grab a bite; instead, he held his wine glass, talking and laughing with the three people at the table.
Until the glazed candied veggie was served, Wang Hao put down his wine glass and focused on eating the glazed candied veggie.
Chen Wenzhi, sitting beside, laughed and said, "Brother Wang, you’re really fond of this glazed candied veggie!"
"Haha, to be honest, Wang loves sweets; this glazed candied veggie tastes quite nice."
While speaking, Wang Hao again used his chopsticks to grab a piece of the veggie.
As he pulled, several sugar threads were teased out.
Other guests at different tables saw this and were very curious; they all called the waiter over to ask what that was.
Upon learning it was a sweet dish, even a signature dish, they all ordered a plate.
Though not everyone loves sweets, the way it pulls out silver-like strands was too intriguing, sparking their curiosity over preference.
Busy as it was, it soon became dark, and with curfew approaching, Qi Ercai and Qu Laodi finally went to the second courtyard with Yi Meng.
Xiao Shiyi, who had already fallen asleep, woke up instantly upon smelling his mother’s scent, opening his mouth and waving his little fists as if ready to eat.
Seeing Yi Meng looking tired, Liu Meiniang asked for someone to lie down to feed the child.
Yi Meng didn’t stand on ceremony with Liu Meiniang, indeed lying down to feed her son, only soon she fell asleep.
Not until Xiao Shiyi fell asleep did Liu Meiniang carry the child out of the room, not forgetting to cover Yi Meng properly with the blanket before leaving.
The restaurant in the city continued with its daily bustle, while in the village, Qi Manman became the focus of Yin Cheng’s attention.
"Qi Manman, what do the three cao and six cao refer to?"
Yin Cheng, with a stern face, called out Qi Manman’s name.
Originally playing around under the table with Brother Xiao Shi, poking each other, Qi Manman was startled and quickly stood up.
Standing up was easy, but she couldn’t answer Yin Cheng’s question.
Her bewildered expression indicated she hadn’t caught the question just now.
"Speak, what do they refer to!"
Yin Cheng’s tone grew more severe, even striking the table before him with a ruler.
Qi Manman shivered, obviously startled again, instantly feeling very wronged as tears filled her big eyes, "Sir, what did you ask? Manbao didn’t hear clearly just now..."
"Didn’t hear clearly? Not listening to the teacher during class, what are you thinking?"
Yin Cheng scolded.
Qi Manman became even more nervous, her eyes blinking as large tears fell, "Manbao, Manbao..."
"Qi Manman, this is a classroom!"
Yin Cheng sternly scolded again.
Completely unable to hold on, Qi Manman burst into tears, "Mr. Yin is so fierce, Manbao is scared, boohoo..."
"You, you..."
Yin Cheng was so angry he trembled all over, pointed at the door with the ruler, and cursed, "Get out to cry!"
"Wah!"
Qi Manman cried even harder and ran outside.
Qi Shilang was so frightened his little face turned white, standing up with a jerk, instinctively wanting to chase his sister but was scolded by Yin Cheng, "Qi Shilang, what do you want to do?"
"Sir, I, I..."
Qi Shilang opened his mouth, his face flushed with anxiety.
In their class were also Qi Balang and Qi Jiulang.
The introductory class was entrusted to Yin Cheng.
While Qin Minglang took some older children into the mountains to pick herbs.
Qi Balang and Qi Jiulang exchanged a glance, also scared, but unlike Lao Shi, they dared not stand up.
"If you don’t want to learn medicine with me, get out, and never step into my place again!"
Yin Cheng said, slamming the ruler onto the table.
Qi Shilang hesitated for a moment but still cupped his fists and said "Sir, sorry" to Yin Cheng before turning and running out.
He genuinely disliked studying, even more so memorizing things like herbs and medicines.
In comparison, he preferred playing with his sister.
So he had to find his sister now!
But his running completely enraged Yin Cheng, who stood up and directly told Qi Balang and Qi Jiulang, "Go, go call your parents over!"
"Sir, my mother is in the city, not at home."
Qi Balang said softly.
Qi Jiulang followed up, "Dad is at the construction site. Sir, can I call my grandparents instead?"
Yin Cheng nearly laughed out of anger, directly shouted, "What are you standing there for? Go call them!"
The identical brothers stood up together, cupped their fists to Yin Cheng, and then turned to run out.
As soon as they stepped out into the courtyard, two identical voices echoed simultaneously.
"Oh, grandpa, sister cried!"
"Oh, grandma, Mr. Yin is angry!"
In the room, Yin Cheng: ...
Mrs. Qi was chopping vegetables with her eldest daughter-in-law in the backyard of the second-story house.
What they were chopping were the outermost layers of cabbage with cornmeal, which was meant as feed for the family’s chickens and ducks.
Nowadays, corn at home was no longer the valuable commodity it once was.
It was planted indoors during winter, and outside in spring, with a lot of dried corn spikes stored at home, even more cornmeal made from it.
Good looking kernels were divided into two parts.
The best part was left for seed, while those slightly less good were ground into cornmeal.
Those shriveled corn kernels were ground into granules specifically to make animal feed.
Mrs. Qi sat on a small stool, stripping cabbage leaves while chatting with her eldest daughter-in-law when suddenly the same call from the front courtyard came from the two grandsons shouted but somewhat disordered.
"What was that? Manbao is crying?"
