Chapter 26: Time Has Sentiment

  Qing Lan had just finished drinking water when Grandma hurriedly went to the washstand, grabbed a towel and helped her wipe the sweat from her forehead and face.

  The old woman had bound feet when she was young and wore embroidered three-inch cloth shoes made by herself, so she walked with a tottering gait.

  Qing Lan stood in front of the electric fan, slightly raising her head, with a flushed face. Ah Po was smearing something on her face, and the bangs on her forehead were blown upwards by the wind from the fan. The sweat on her forehead had just been wiped away, but soon tiny beads of sweat appeared again.

  The old woman looked at the red, sun-kissed face and said with a sigh: "From childhood on, you've never walked properly, always running, jumping or hopping. On such a hot day, can't you just walk slowly?"

  The old woman had a blue cloth wrapped around her head, an embroidered blue blouse and skirt, with her waist bent and eyes narrowed, smiling kindly. Her face was full of wrinkles, like the rings of a tree telling the story of years of hardship. Only a few front teeth remained in her mouth, and when she smiled slightly, her bare gums were exposed.

  Qing Lan pulled out her report card from her school bag and handed it to Grandma, saying: "Grandma, look at my report card. I'm ranked second and got accepted into the experimental class of the town's junior high school." Qing Lan waved her report card in front of Grandma with a proud smile.

  "Oh! Our Lanlan is so useful, this has to be shown to your father, we can't understand it, illiterate." Ah Po chuckled.

  Qing Lan's mouth curled up, and she muttered discontentedly: "Can't you understand it if you can't see it? Are your ears deaf?" Her pink face had already been blown cool by the electric fan.

  Grandma smiled and said, "Hehe, of course I understand. Our Lanlan came in second place. How about Grandma making your favorite oil tea soup and fragrant sauce pancake today?" Grandma's flattering smile approached Qinglan's eyelids.

  Xiang Jiang Bing with oil tea soup is Qing Lan's favorite.

  The method of making oil tea soup is to first fry a suitable amount of tea leaves in edible oil until they are wax yellow, then add water to the pot and put in natural seasonings such as ginger, scallions, garlic, and pepper powder. Once the water boils, scoop it into a bowl, add in previously fried rice flowers, corn flowers, tofu fruit, walnut kernels, peanuts, and soybeans, and it's ready to eat.

  Oil tea soup is refreshing and thirst-quenching, fragrant and delicious. Fragrant sauce cake is named after its meaning, and it's also crispy and tasty.

  "Mmm!" Qing Lan closed her eyes, sniffed with her nose, and seemed to have smelled the fragrance of oil tea soup and fragrant pastry, nodding continuously in response.

  Having obtained Qing Lan's approval, Ah Po hastily and shakily walked into the kitchen.

  "Grandma, where's my brother?" Qinglan followed Grandma into the kitchen.

  "I don't know." Ah Po drew out her tone, with a somewhat helpless tone, "Just now before you came home from school, your father and mother both scolded him, he's in a bad mood, gone to play at a classmate's house."

  Qing Lan A Ge Liu Jia Wei did not get into high school in this year's middle school entrance exam. He doesn't want to study.

  Qingshusheng asked him, "You don't read books now, what can you do?"

  Qing Shu's complexion was not good-looking, this Liu Jiawei was restless and frivolous. In the year of the small exam in junior high school, he barely passed. For three years in junior high school, he didn't study hard at all, every week he came back to ask for money from home, mixed with naughty classmates in school, and had dinner outside every day, spending money like flowing water.

  "Going out to work, working, many of my classmates went to Shenzhen to work." Liu Jiawei rolled his eyes and had an expression that showed he didn't care.

  "Working? Having a job? In Shenzhen? With your moral character and personality? You think you can be a boss just because you're the father, supporting you?" Qing Shu sneered with a contemptuous smile.

  "Yes, I'm not good, I don't have virtue. Other people's sons are good and virtuous. You want to say that, right? Other people's sons are still good, but they would kill you if they had the chance. I won't kill you no matter what." Liu Jiawei sneered with a smile.

  "What's wrong with killing me? He's so young and knows how to maintain his mother, hasn't he made his mother and father angry?" Qing Sheng was enraged by Liu Jia Wei's words, his face turned pale, and he raised his hand to hit Liu Jia Wei.

  Liu Jiawei dodged the slap from Qing Sheng's palm, "You only know how to hit your own son, someone else's son is good, you acknowledge someone else's son as your own."

  Liu Jiawei rushed out of the door as soon as he finished speaking. Qing Sheng sat down in a chair in the main hall, sighing and groaning for a long time.

  Until Qing Lan came back, he carried a hoe and went to see if there was water in the paddy field.

  "What about Mother then?" Qing Lan asked further.

  She did well on her small exam, but only her grandma was at home to share the joy with her, which didn't quite live up to Qing Lan's expectations.

  "Your mother was just here, I don't know which family's door she went to visit?"

  Qing Lan let out an "oh" and returned to her own room.

  Now, the grown-up Qing Lan no longer runs around in the village like she did when she was a kid, wherever it's lively she'd drill in. In the past during winter and summer breaks, with Lin Xi around, as soon as she put down her bowl and chopsticks she'd run to her house, following behind her butt, wherever Lin Xi went, she'd follow.

  Most of the time, Lin Xi would only go to Bai Cuifen's home to play with Shao Min and Shao Jie. Qing Lan would also follow them to Bai Cuifen's home. At that time, although she didn't talk to Shao Jie, Shao Jie could take her and Lin Xi along, sometimes Shao Min would join in too, going up the mountain to chop firewood, picking mushrooms, or going down to the river to catch fish and shrimp. Half a morning, half an afternoon, time passed easily.

  This summer vacation, there was no homework to be done and no companions to play with, which was terrible for Qing Lan.

  Lying in bed, blowing the fan, I was just hating An Shaojie, but now my mind is thinking of him again. "His sister is having extra classes at school and not at home, how can he bear to be alone? How does he spend his time? He seems to have never been lonely or bored."

  Qing Lan was very curious and really wanted to sneak to his doorstep to take a peek, what did he do every day? Since childhood, he rarely hung out in the village, except for working and reading books, wasn't that boring?

  Qing Lan thought for a moment, then flipped over and jumped out of bed, put on her shoes, and ran out with a patter.

  She ran all the way to Bai Cuifen's house before Qing Lan realized she had acted impulsively.

  Should I go in or not? If only An Shaojie is there, what should I do? If Bai Cuifen asks her how she came, how should she answer?

  Turn back? Ah! Not reconciled yet.

  Qing Lan's hands were clenched into fists in front of her chest, and she was at a loss for what to do.

  "Qing Lan, why are you standing at the door and not coming in?"

  Qing Lan heard someone calling her from behind, and without turning around, she knew it was Bai Cuifen. Even though Shao Min and Shao Jie had grown up so much, her voice still maintained its clarity and softness, and still carried a hint of an outsider's accent.

  Qing Lan often wondered about this in her heart. Bai Cui Fen was about the same age as her own mother, but why did her mother look older than Bai Cui Fen, and even sound older? If it were true that hard work could make a person look old, then Bai Cui Fen had worked much harder than her own mother. At Liu Xiu Zhen's house, everything outside was taken care of by Qing Lan's father, Qing Shu, and inside the house was managed by her grandmother. In contrast, almost everything at Bai Cui Fen's house relied on her alone.

  But Bai Cuifen, despite the years etching wrinkles on her face, had not become coarse, nor had she lost her elegance. Qing Lan had just finished drinking water when Grandma hurriedly fetched a towel from the washstand and helped her wipe the sweat from her forehead and face. Before I conquered the Divine Realm

  The old woman had bound feet when she was young and wore embroidered three-inch cloth shoes made by herself, so she walked with a tottering gait.

  Qing Lan stood in front of the electric fan, slightly raising her head, with a flushed face. Ah Po was smearing something on her face, and the bangs on her forehead were blown upwards by the wind from the fan. The sweat on her forehead had just been wiped away, but soon tiny beads of sweat appeared again.

  The old woman looked at the red, sun-kissed face and said with a sigh: "Since childhood, she has never walked properly on the road, either running or jumping, and now on such a hot day, doesn't know how to walk slowly."

  The old woman had a blue cloth wrapped around her head, an embroidered blue blouse and skirt, with her waist bent and eyes narrowed in a kind smile. Her face was full of wrinkles, like the rings of a tree telling the story of years of hardship, and only a few front teeth remained in her mouth, revealing a bare gum when she smiled slightly.

  Qing Lan pulled out her report card from her school bag and handed it to Grandma, saying: "Grandma, look at my report card. I'm ranked second and got accepted into the experimental class of the town's junior high school." Qing Lan waved her report card in front of Grandma with a proud smile.

  "Oh! Our Lanlan is so useful, this has to be shown to your father, we can't understand it, illiterate." Ah Po chuckled.

  Qing Lan's mouth curled up, and she muttered discontentedly: "Can't you understand it if you can't see it? Are your ears deaf?" Her pink face had already been blown cool by the electric fan.

  Grandma smiled and said, "Hehe, of course I understood. Our Lanlan came in second place. How about Grandma making your favorite oil tea soup and fragrant sauce pancake today?" Grandma's flattering smile approached Qinglan's eyelids.

  Xiang Jiangbing loves to dip in oil tea soup.

  The method of making oil tea soup is to first fry a suitable amount of tea leaves in edible oil until they are wax yellow, then add water to the pot and put in natural seasonings such as ginger, scallions, garlic, and pepper powder. Once the water boils, scoop it into a bowl, add in previously stir-fried "pao huang" ingredients such as rice flowers, corn flowers, tofu fruit, walnut kernels, peanuts, and soybeans, and it's ready to eat.

  Oil tea soup is refreshing and thirst-quenching, fragrant and delicious. Fragrant sauce cake is named after its meaning, it's crispy and tasty.

  "Mmm!" Qing Lan closed her eyes, sniffed her nose, and seemed to have smelled the fragrance of oil tea soup and fragrant pastry, nodding continuously in response.

  Having obtained Qing Lan's approval, Ah Po hastily and shakily walked into the kitchen.

  "Grandma, where's my brother?" Qinglan followed Grandma into the kitchen.

  "I don't know." Ah Po drew out her tone, with a somewhat helpless air, "Just now before you came home from school, your father and mother both scolded him, he was in a bad mood, went to play at a classmate's house."

  Qing Lan A Ge Liu Jia Wei did not get into high school in this year's middle school entrance exam. He doesn't want to study anymore.

  Qingshusheng asked him, "You don't read books now, what can you do?"

  Qing Shu's face didn't look good, this Liu Jiawei was restless and frivolous. In the past when he took the junior high school entrance exam, he barely passed. During his three years in junior high, he never seriously studied, every week he came back home to ask for money, at school he mixed with mischievous classmates, every day eating out, spending money like flowing water.

  "Going out to work, working, many of my classmates went to Shenzhen to work." Liu Jiawei rolled his eyes and had an expression that showed he didn't care.

  "Working? Having a job? In Shenzhen? With your moral character and personality? You think you can be a boss just because you're the father, supporting you?" Qing Shu sneered with a contemptuous smile.

  "Yes, I'm not good, I don't have virtue, other people's sons are good, they have virtue, isn't that what you want to say? Other people's sons are still good, but he wants to take the opportunity to kill you, I won't kill you no matter what." Liu Jiawei sneered with a smile.

  "What's wrong with killing me? He's so young and knows how to maintain his mother, hasn't he made his mother and father angry?" Qing Sheng was enraged by Liu Jia Wei's words, his face turned pale, and he raised his hand to hit Liu Jia Wei.

  Liu Jiawei dodged the slap from Qing Sheng's palm, "You only know how to hit your own son, someone else's son is good, you acknowledge someone else's son as your own."

  Liu Jiawei rushed out of the door as soon as he finished speaking. Qing Sheng sat down in a chair in the main hall, sighing and lamenting for a long time.

  Until Qing Lan came back, he carried a hoe and went to see if there was water in the paddy field.

  "What about Mother then?" Qing Lan asked further.

  She did well on her small exam, but only her grandma was at home to share the joy with her, which didn't quite live up to Qing Lan's expectations.

  "Your mother was just here, I don't know which family's door she went to visit?"

  Qing Lan let out an "oh" and returned to her own room.

  Now, the grown-up Qing Lan no longer runs around in the village like she did when she was a kid, wherever it's lively she'd rush to. In the past during winter and summer breaks, with Lin Xi around, as soon as she put down her bowl and chopsticks, she'd run to her house, following behind her, wherever Lin Xi went, she'd follow.

  Most of the time, Lin Xi would only go to Bai Cuifen's home to play with Shao Min and Shao Jie. Qing Lan would also follow them to Bai Cuifen's home. At that time, although she didn't talk to Shao Jie, Shao Jie could take her and Lin Xi along, sometimes Shao Min would join in too, going up the mountain to chop firewood, picking mushrooms, or going down to the river to catch fish and shrimp. Half a morning, half an afternoon, time passed easily.

  This summer vacation, there was no homework to do and no companions to play with, which was terrible for Qing Lan.

  Lying in bed, blowing the fan, I was just hating An Shaojie, but now my mind is thinking of him again. "His sister is having extra classes at school and not at home, how can he bear to be alone? How does he spend his time? He seems to have never been lonely or bored."

  Qing Lan was very curious, really wanting to sneak to his doorstep to take a peek, what did he do every day? Since childhood, he rarely hung out in the village, except for working and reading books, wasn't that boring?

  Qing Lan thought for a moment, then flipped over and jumped out of bed, put on her shoes, and ran out with a patter.

  She ran all the way to Bai Cuifen's house before Qing Lan realized she had acted impulsively.

  Should I go in or not? If only An Shaojie is inside, what should I do? If Bai Cuifen asks her how she came, how should she respond?

  Turn back? Ah! Not reconciled yet.

  Qing Lan's hands were clenched into fists in front of her chest, and she was at a loss for what to do.

  "Qing Lan, why are you standing at the door and not coming in?"

  Qing Lan heard someone calling her from behind, and without turning around, she knew it was Bai Cuifen. Even though Shao Min and Shao Jie had grown up so much, her voice still remained clear and soft, with a hint of an outsider's accent.

  Qing Lan often wondered about this in her heart. Bai Cui Fen was about the same age as her mother, but why did her mother look older than Bai Cui Fen, and even sound older? If it were said that hard work could make a person old, then Bai Cui Fen was much more hardworking than her own mother. In Liu Xiu Zhen's household, everything outside was taken care of by Qing Lan's father Qing Shu, and inside the house was managed by her grandmother. But in Bai Cui Fen's household, almost everything relied on her alone.

  But Bai Cuifen, even though the years had etched wrinkles on her face, they had not made her coarse, nor had they altered her demeanor.