Siheyuan: There are three little cats at home

Chapter 19 The Sensible Second Brother
Ma Jiefang was still wearing the military coat, rubbing his hands and stamping his feet, his face even red from the cold.

Seeing Xu Qing come out, he hurriedly raised his hand and waved.

"Brother Qingzi!"

Xu Qing squeezed through the crowd and walked up to Ma Jiefang, and the two of them walked together to the old locust tree opposite the factory gate.

Under the locust tree, Xu Qing was about to ask something, but he didn't speak yet.

Seeing Ma Jiefang reaching out and groping in the military overcoat, his face was full of excitement and he said excitedly:

"Brother Qingzi, I asked my cousin to borrow a bicycle ticket today."

While speaking, Ma Jiefang squeezed a bicycle ticket in his hand.

Xu Qing took it, held it in his hand, looked at it, and couldn't help but get excited.

After all, it’s really hard to get bicycle tickets these days.

In other words, Ma Jiefang's cousin happened to have a quota, and he happened to borrow the ticket.

Otherwise, there is no chance to see you today.

After looking at it for a while, Xu Qing collected the ticket and said to Jiefang Ma:

"I'll hold the ticket first. After a few days, when things are settled, I'll pay you back."

Ma Jiefang grinned and said: "It's okay, don't be in a hurry. My cousin doesn't plan to buy a car yet. He doesn't have enough money on hand. I guess even if he wants to buy it, it will probably be after the new year."

Xu Qing nodded, and after chatting with Ma Jiefang for a while, they broke up and went home.

There were quite a lot of pedestrians on the street at the moment, but they all looked in a hurry, just like early in the morning. They were all busy on their way, and no one had the intention to wander around.

Xu Qing shrank back, and hurried back to the compound.

The weather was cold and freezing, and the cold wind everywhere roared violently whenever it had a chance. Not only did it hurt my face, but it also made breathing difficult, not to mention the snow on the ground being blown and swirling in the air. Children, flying around in front of my eyes.

Xu Qing returned to the backyard room and saw Xu Aiguo squatting in front of the stove to light a fire.

Xu Fengming and Xu Xiaoya were lying on the edge of the kang, with their hands tucked into the sleeves of their cotton-padded jackets, holding pencils and doing homework.

Xu Qing walked up to the stove, took a look, and found that the briquettes in the stove were probably wet from the snow for several days, and they refused to light them anyway. Ignite the briquettes.

Xu Qing looked up and saw his second brother Xu Aiguo, his eyes were tearing from the smoke.

Hurry up and let me do my homework, and he will come to light the fire.

Xu Aiguo hummed, wiping his tears, turned around and walked towards the edge of the Kang.

Xu Qing went outside the house, took out three from the middle of the pile of briquettes, brought them into the house, and started the fire again.

After a while, the fire was lit, and the room gradually became warmer.

Xu Qing walked into the kitchen again and lit the fire on the stove.

Half an hour later, the house was completely warm, and the fire pit was warm.

San Xiaozhi was doing homework in the front room, while Xu Qing was busy making dinner in the kitchen.

Because noodles are rarely rolled, the family usually eats steamed buns mixed with stick noodles.

No way, Xu Qing himself is not very good at cooking.

Although he had asked Shazhu for advice several times before.

But kneading noodles, rolling noodles, and cutting noodles is still a bit unskilled.

After all, I didn't learn to be a cook, so it's inevitable for me to be unfamiliar with this kind of thing.

Fortunately, no matter what, Xu Qing put the noodles into the pot after tossing for a long time.

While the noodles were cooking, Xu Qing took out the bicycle ticket from his body, trying to split one into two.

But somehow, after working hard for 3 minutes, I was able to get a tenth of the bicycle ticket.

This has never happened before.

Xu Qing thought for a moment and felt that it might be because the value of the bicycle ticket was too high.

After all, bicycles are not as ubiquitous as food stamps and meat stamps.

Xu Qing tried again, but it was still difficult to tell the difference at once.

Sighing, Xu Qing stopped thinking about it for the time being. He put away the bicycle ticket again, reached out to grab the lid of the pot, opened it, and stirred the noodles in the pot with chopsticks.

Then he closed the pot lid and walked to the front room to see how the three little ones were doing with their homework.

The little girl said with a playful expression: "Brother, I have finished my homework and previewed tomorrow's homework."

Xu Fengming even put aside his homework and textbooks, and looked at the comics, obviously he had already finished his homework.

Only the second brother Xu Aiguo is still immersed in writing.

Xu Qing hugged the little girl's little head and looked at Xu Aiguo quietly without saying a word.

Xu Aiguo was busy lighting the stove, which wasted a lot of time. Although the stove was not lit in the end, he could not be blamed for this.

Lighting a fire was not an easy task in the first place, and since he was only in the second grade of junior high school and it was still winter, it was always a bit too much to light a fire every time.

However, even so, Xu Qing felt that his second younger brother was much better than those in later generations who needed someone to take care of them after they went to high school or even university.

15 minutes later, Xu Aiguo also finished his homework.

Xu Qing then returned to the kitchen and took out the noodles cooked in the pot.

The noodles were cooked for too long and were a bit mushy.

Fortunately, Xu Qing poured a lot of water into the pot, and the noodle soup was particularly thick.

Even the soup and noodles, Xu Qing scooped it all up with a spoon, put them in bowls, and then poured three drops of sesame oil into each bowl.

The three little ones lined up, each carrying a bowl, and went back to the front room.

Xu Qing took another plate of pickled vegetables and brought it into the front room.

The four of them sat on the warm Kang, eating hot meals, regardless of how cold it was in the courtyard outside and howling the cold wind.

The little girl didn't like noodles very much, so she put down her chopsticks after eating half the bowl.

Seeing this, Xu Fengming hurriedly poured all the noodles in the little girl's bowl into his own bowl.

Holding the chopsticks, he wolfed it down to his mouth.

Xu Qing looked at it, but didn't say anything.The little girl didn't like noodles very much since she was a child, but the third younger brother Feng Ming was just the opposite, he didn't get tired of eating them every day.

Seeing that the little girl didn't eat much, Xu Qing slipped off the kang, stepped on cotton shoes, walked into the kitchen, cut the steamed buns mixed with stick noodles into slices, and baked them in the pot.

After 10 minutes, Xu Qing used an enamel bowl to bring the browned steamed buns into the front room.

The little girl reached out and grabbed a piece, took a small bite, and made a crisp crunch.

At this time, Xu Aiguo finished all the noodles in his bowl. Seeing that his elder brother had grilled another slice of steamed buns, he couldn't help but pick up one and ate it with pickles.

Only Xu Fengming ate a bowl and a half of noodles, burping and looking at the steamed bun slices. He wanted to eat but couldn't.

After eating, Xu Qing packed the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen, cleaned them, and boiled an iron pot of hot water.

Let the three little ones wash their feet one by one, and then go to bed on the kang.

Although it was only 08:30 in the evening, the whole courtyard was already so quiet that no sound could be heard.

After the three little ones washed their feet, they all got into the quilt consciously.

Knowing that the three of them would not be able to fall asleep for a while, Xu Qing allowed them to read the comics for a while.

The three little ones got together and stared at the comic book.

Xu Qingze walked into the kitchen, arranged the things in the kitchen, then sat on the bench, took out his bicycle ticket, and prepared to continue trying.

(End of this chapter)