The story of a cook

Chapter 10 The First Family Meeting

Finally home for the New Year.

I went out for a whole year, and when I got home, it was the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, and two days later it was New Year's Eve.

"Mom, I'm back!"

This was the first sentence I yelled after entering the room. When I yelled this sentence, tears rolled in the circles of my eyes, and I tried not to let them fall.

My mother and fifth sister were sitting on the kang, and they were very pleasantly surprised to see me.

"What time did you take the bus back?" Mother asked excitedly.

"Back by car at four o'clock." I replied.

"What time did you leave the provincial capital?"

"I took the train in the morning, arrived at Beipiao at two o'clock, and then returned by the train at four o'clock."

"It's been a long day in the car, so you're tired. It's warm on the kang. I'll cook dumplings."

Mother said that she was about to go to the ground to cook dumplings, but was stopped by Fifth Sister.

"Mom, I'll go." The fifth sister got off the kang and said to her mother, "Your old son is back. You stay with your old son on the kang while I cook dumplings."

"Mom has been thinking that you should come back these two days. I thought you came home yesterday. I came back yesterday. I saw that you didn't go home today. Thinking about you coming home today, you really came back." Fifth Sister said happily .

"The restaurant opened yesterday, but today is a holiday." I said.

"Hurry up to the kang to chat with my mother, and I'll cook dumplings."

Fifth Sister went to the outhouse to cook dumplings.

My mother sat on the kang and looked at me and said, "It's okay, I'm not thin, I'm fat."

"I can't lose weight if I work in a restaurant and eat well." I said with a smile.

"Working in a restaurant doesn't allow you to eat whatever you want, as long as you don't feel hungry." My mother kept looking at me when she was talking, and she looked at me warmly.

The child travels thousands of miles and the mother is worried.

This year, I missed my mother all the time outside, and my mother also missed me day and night at home.I am young, and it is easy to live alone outside. My mother is already 61 years old, and she is still farming. I don’t know how she got so busy by herself.

I can't imagine how my mother lived when it rained in summer, and how my mother lived when it snowed heavily in winter.

It's not easy, my mother.

Working outside for a year did not bring much change to the family. The only change is that I no longer need to borrow money to live.Leave 50 yuan for pocket money every month, and post the rest home and let my mother save it. I can pay back the money owed to other people’s family. First, I can pay back the money in a hurry, and wait for me to earn Pay back the money slowly.

If there is even a little bit of patience, she won't go out to work. How can my mother leave her at home alone at such an old age?It doesn't matter if I have a daughter-in-law. I go out to work, and my daughter-in-law will take care of my mother at home, so I can rest assured.Without even a daughter-in-law, it is really unreasonable to leave an old lady at home.

But what can I do?
Poverty weighs on me like a mountain, and sometimes I can't breathe.Farming at home is to stay with my mother, but there is no money in the field, and the family earns too little doing odd jobs. It is impossible to get rich by doing odd jobs.You can make money by doing business, but it is difficult to make profits without capital. What do you do business without capital?

The only way out is to go out to work, learn a craft outside, earn more money, and change the current situation at home.Before the status quo at home changes, don’t think about the daughter-in-law. It’s useless to think about it. There is no one to give the daughter-in-law at home. Make mother sad.

Fifth Sister quickly cooked the dumplings, sitting at the kang table and eating the dumplings made by her mother was delicious.

My mother asked me if I drank, and I said no.

"Will people let me drink when I work in a restaurant?" asked my mother.

"Drinking is not allowed while working, but it is allowed after work." I said.

"Drink less outside, drinking will delay things."

"Well, drink less." I filled my mouth with dumplings.

Mother asked: "How many people are there in the restaurant you work in? Is it big?"

I said: "There are more than ten people in total, it's not quite big, it's medium."

"There are so many people, it's a big hotel." Mother said.

I laughed, and told my mother about the situation in the restaurant in detail, and at the same time told my mother that I was going to learn to be a chef.

"It's okay to learn to cook. Many of us have learned to cook when we go out to work." The mother said, "The third boy from Yingzi Laosun's family came back two days ago. It is your classmate who also cooks for others outside. It’s more than 500 yuan a month.”

"I heard that they brought their daughter-in-law back, and they did it in a restaurant by themselves," Fifth Sister said.

"It's amazing. He left junior high school, three years earlier than me, so he should be a chef." I said.

The mother said: "Old Sun's family is in a difficult situation. If the boy at home can't even be called a daughter-in-law, he will be able to bring a daughter-in-law back when he goes out. His father and grandson will always be happy."

"Do you know what my mother means? What my mother means is that you have to bring her a daughter-in-law back." Fifth Sister laughed.

"I said my daughter-in-law is not in a hurry, and I will catch up when I start cooking." I said.

My mother became angry, and said unhappily, "I'm already 61, how many years can I live? The day lily will be cold when you stir-fry."

Fifth Sister and I just laughed.

"Mom, you are just 61 years old and you just started to enjoy the blessings. You have to wait until your grandson gets married to say that." I said with a smile.

"To return the grandson, I don't even have a daughter-in-law. To return the grandson, you bring a daughter-in-law back first and then talk about the grandson." The mother said.

I said: "You have been waiting, and I will bring you one back during the Chinese New Year."

My mother glanced at me without saying a word, and pushed the dumpling plate towards me.

Fifth Sister asked me, "Guohua, what are your plans for the future?"

I said, "I'm going to learn to be a chef and work in the restaurant industry."

"Don't interfere with you, you decide what you want to do." The fifth sister said: "It's good to learn to be a chef, and I have no objection. Mom is anxious, you say daughter-in-law, you are already 21, after the 22th year, other people's [-] They're all married. Learning to be a chef doesn't delay finding a partner, and you can get along while learning."

"Don't think about it yet," I said.

"This is business, you have to rest assured." Fifth Sister said: "No one objects to learning to be a chef. If you learn to be a chef, you don't have to worry about it at home. I am doing an internship in the town primary school, and I can go home every day to take care of my mother. Don't worry about that." alright."

"Several of your classmates are married, so you should hurry up."

In rural areas, a daughter-in-law can get a bride price of 5 yuan at least, and usually [-] to [-] yuan.I'm in trouble, let alone fifty thousand, not even ten thousand.Talk about the daughter-in-law and tell the mother not to worry about it, and solve it by yourself.

My mother has worked hard all her life, and I can no longer let her worry about my marriage.Her life was not easy. In my memory, my mother was never young at all, with gray hair and working non-stop all day long.My father passed away early, and my mother dragged our siblings to live. One can imagine the hardships of life.

My mother used her thin body and inner strength to bring up the six of us. The older sisters got married one after another, and the fifth sister was also admitted to a teacher's college. This is something ordinary people can't do.

Now that my mother is old, it's time for her to spend her old age with peace of mind and happiness.

My family does not need to borrow money to live now, which is a good start.

There are no real poor people in this world, only heartless people.When a person starts to be poor in his heart, he will never be rich in his life.

The fifth sister went back the next day. She has a husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law, and the whole family cannot celebrate the New Year at her mother's house.

Thirty who lived a decent life with my mother, although they were just a couple, they were warm and peaceful.

On the day when I went back to my natal home on the second day of the Lunar New Year, my sisters all came back.

The eldest sister, the eldest, is the most troubled and suffers the most when she is at home, so she has the most prestige. We all listen to the eldest sister.

The elder sister has two children, a girl and a boy, both sons and daughters.The girl Lanzhi has already fallen in love with her, earlier than me, who was an uncle.

The two daughters of the second sister's family are both studying.

The third sister and the fourth sister have one child in their family, and the fifth sister has no children yet.

The sisters missed me very much after not seeing me for a year, questioned me carefully, and answered them one by one with a smile.

After all the questions, the eldest sister said: "How is it going outside this year? I plan to work part-time all the time."

"It's okay, I'm going to learn how to cook." I replied.

For some reason, I have been afraid of my eldest sister since I was a child. Whenever she asks me, I get nervous.

"It's okay to learn to be a cook." The eldest sister said, and then asked: "How do you organize the land at home when you go out? Mom can't farm at this age, even if she wants to, we can't ask her to do it. Look who is over 60 years old Your old lady still farms in the mountains?"

"Pack up the land." I said.

"Go out, you are earning money now, give Mom some more money, Mom can't spend much money by herself. Besides, there are a few of us, and we will come back when we have nothing to do. Don't worry about it outside. I won't let mom have anything to do." The elder sister said.

"You just work hard outside. Eldest sister, we can all take good care of mother. It's just this old lady, and your five older sisters surround the old ladies." The second sister said and made gestures, which made us all laugh.

"The land and mother are trivial matters. You can't lose the land on the mountain, and you can't lose your mother at home." The eldest sister said, "Now you say that a daughter-in-law is a big deal. You are 22 this year, so it's time to talk about your daughter-in-law."

"Say my wife is not busy." I whispered.

"Don't say you're not busy, I know you're not in a hurry, but my mother is over 60, and we have grandchildren in our 60s. Let's not talk about filial piety and unfilial piety. Mom, you should say daughter-in-law."

The eldest sister is still very powerful, and I lost my battery in a few words.

"Eldest sister is right, it's about this, you have to think about it, now it's quite expensive to be a daughter-in-law, [-] to [-], and the money is earned by others, so it's not a problem, as long as you become our sister The first one is to sell the pot and sell the iron to you." The second sister said.

The eldest sister smiled and said to me: "Look, your second sister loves you the most. Don't look at your second sister's difficulties, but I can give up to you, an old brother, and I will sell everything."

"What's the matter? It's just this old brother. You can't let people see jokes, saying that Lao Tan's family is poor and difficult, and he can't afford a daughter-in-law. Let the old brother be a bachelor." The second sister said.

"What's the difficulty? Let's not talk about the daughter-in-law? I haven't seen anyone who has been poor all their lives. Now it's good to have Guohua." The third sister said.

The fourth sister also wanted to speak, but the eldest sister coughed and stopped talking.

"Guohua, mom, you are the only kid, and you are the only old brother among our five sisters. Even if our family is poor, we won't watch you play a bachelor, let alone you can't play a bachelor." The eldest sister said, and then rushed to the second sister Said: "Don't keep talking about beating bachelors, beating bachelors is someone else's business, and our old Tan family has no beating bachelors yet."

"Guohua, let me ask you now, do you want to talk about your daughter-in-law at home, or take it back yourself?"

The eldest sister looked at me, I didn't know what to say, and scratched my head there.

The second sister saw that I was silent, and asked, "Did you have sex outside?"

As soon as the second sister finished speaking, the five older sisters all looked at me eagerly.

"No." I said hastily.

"If you don't have it, tell us at home. Don't feel that our family is poor. No matter how poor you are, five of our sisters can give you money from your daughter-in-law. Don't worry about money." said the elder sister.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about money. In the first few years, it was difficult and you didn't dare to talk about it. Now that life is getting better, even borrowing money is enough for you to be a wife." The third sister said.

"You don't have to worry about the daughter-in-law, I'll take care of it myself." I quickly expressed my opinion.

"Guohua means to talk about daughter-in-law after going out to cook for two years, but she is already 22, so she should be called daughter-in-law." Fifth Sister said: "I don't think it's better than this. Guohua, you meet someone who suits you outside. If there is a suitable one in the family, I will introduce it to you, and I will inform you when the time comes, and if you come back to go on a blind date, it will be a good thing if you fall in love."

The eldest sister agreed with the fifth sister, and said to me: "Our mother has been in good shape for the past two years, and you are not young anymore. You have to think about our mother. We can come back and take a look as girls, but there are still times. , After all, they are all married, and they belong to other people."

"There must be someone by my mother's side. We don't hate our mother or anything. If my mother is sick, we have to come back sometime. It's not timely at all. If there is a daughter-in-law next to my mother, I will be sent to the hospital directly, without any delay. We It’s difficult at home, if it’s not difficult, you’d have gone to school early, it’s something you can’t help.”

"It doesn't feel good for the five of us who are older sisters when you go out to work. I know that you don't want us to worry about your family's poverty. You also know that you can be a wife but not a bachelor. But it's better to marry early than late, so let's do it As your Fifth Sister said, if you have a suitable one outside, we will find one at home, and when the time comes, you can go on a blind date when you come back."

My heart was warmed by what the elder sister said, and I nodded in agreement.

As soon as I nodded my head, my second sister began to introduce.

"My third aunt has a sister from her natal family. She told me last time that she didn't find her husband's family. I'll go back and ask."

"Are you talking about Zhang Li's daughter-in-law's natal sister?" the eldest sister asked
"It's her natal sister," said the second sister.

"No, Zhang Li's daughter-in-law just scolds the old woman, and her sister is not much better. We don't look for those who beat parents." The eldest sister directly vetoed it.

"We really have a good girl in Yingzi. She is studying nursing now. Let me ask when I go back." Third Sister said.

"Third brother, go back and order some dim sum and ask about it, but there is one thing you need to be filial." The elder sister said.

The third sister said, "That's right, those who are not filial will not do."

"Tell her family, don't look at our poor family now, we have five older sisters." The second sister said to the third sister.

Everyone just laughed.

"Why are you talking about this to others? They don't live with five elder sisters. You are too impatient." The eldest sister gave the second sister a look.

This is sister, this is home.

This is family affection, too thick to dissolve.

(End of this chapter)