1986: Old Stories in Northeast China

"This guy, is he going to have barbecue again tonight? Who can stand eating meat every day?"

The second master who came over said helplessly, looking at the small grill that had been lit with charcoal fire.

"You have to bear it even if you can't stand it. This big baby of our family will be greedy if she doesn't eat for a meal."

Chen Tiezhu glanced at Doudou who was fanning herself by the grill and said.

How could Doudou listen to him? She was thinking about the barbecue. When the charcoal fire is burning again, you can put the skewers on and grill them. After grilling, they will be sizzling and fragrant.

"Second master, can you make stove sugar?" Lu Dan came over and asked.

"I can't. I saw others do it. It's too troublesome. Are you going to make stove sugar today? You didn't make the dough, so you just make sugar melons?" The second master shook his head.

"It's too much trouble to make the whole thing, we'll talk about it later when we have a chance. I haven't endured it either, so let's try it today. My dear, how's the charcoal fire?" Chen Tiezhu said with a smile.

"It's done, it can be grilled." Doudou shouted happily.

"Okay, let's grill it now. There's so much mutton, we must eat it all." Chen Tiezhu said.

"Eat it all." Doudou also waved his little hand.

"You sound like you can eat a lot, ten skewers of mutton, you can eat a lot." Han Xiuying said unhappily.

"Doudou can eat, can eat..., can eat..."

As Doudou said this, he looked at his little hand, which was not easy to handle.

After counting, there are only ten fingers, what is the tenth one?

"Sister Dandan, what is the tenth one?" Doudou asked in a low voice.

"There are a lot of them, fifteen, twenty, all better than ten." Lu Dan, who was selecting good-looking lamb skewers, didn't care and said casually.

"Sister Yingzi, Doudou can eat fifteen." Doudou shouted happily.

"Eat fifteen, do you know how many fifteen are?" Han Xiuying asked the little guy teasingly.

Doudou's little face turned bitter, she really didn't know about this.

"Little greedy cat, one, after ten, it will be eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen." Han Xiuying came to her side.

"Then there are not so many fingers?" Doudou looked at her little hands and said.

"Then you can continue to count, open your hands and that's ten. Let's close our thumbs, that's eleven, close one more, that's twelve, and you can count like this." Han Xiuying said while holding her little hand.

Doudou's little brows frowned, and the fingers of her two little hands opened and closed, and her little head was also trying to count.

"Sister Yingzi, can you lend Doudou a hand when we count?"

After trying to count for a long time, Doudou spoke.

"Hahahaha..., I thought she was thinking about something." Lu Dan said with great joy.

Others were also very happy, Doudou's ideas were always so unexpected.

"Then Sister Yingzi's hands can't be kept in your pocket all the time, Sister Yingzi still has to work with her hands." Han Xiuying said helplessly.

Doudou thought about it seriously, and then nodded her head, it seemed to be the case.

"Don't think about counting for now, grill some mutton skewers first, and then Dad will make sugar."

Chen Tiezhu said as he put the mutton skewers on the grill.

Once this thing came out, who would still think about counting and lending hands, Doudou's big eyes were already on it.

Lu Dan was not much better than her, so she squatted beside her, not afraid of the smoke.

Especially when the grease dripped onto the charcoal fire and splashed a puff of oil smoke, Doudou and Lu Dan couldn't help but pursed their lips.

"You two greedy cats, one big and one small, let's see if you are thinking about eating barbecue skewers or making stove sugar." Han Xiuying said with a smile.

"Master's wife, I can also help to make it. I will stir it in the pot when the fire is lit later. It will definitely not stick to the pot." Lu Dan volunteered.

"You can't do it, it's not that simple." Han Xiuying said.

"Oh? It seems that my Yingzi also knows this?" Chen Tiezhu asked in surprise.

"What do you think? I saw someone do it before. But that was when I was a child, and I only made a little bit." Han Xiuying said with a smile.

"Master's wife, what's the meaning of making the dough and sugar melon?" Lu Dan asked hurriedly.

"Sugar melon is the sugar that has been pulled and cut into melons. That's sugar melon. The kind with a base can make the sugar into slices, and you can also sprinkle some peanuts and sesame seeds." Han Xiuying said.

"Ah? I know, I've bought it before." Lu Dan reacted.

Chen Tiezhu rolled his eyes, "Otherwise, what do you think we are doing? Let's eat the skewers first, and then we'll make sugar."

The fragrant skewers of meat came into his hands, Lu Dan no longer cared whether she had eaten it or not, this skewer of meat was really delicious.

After eating a skewer of meat, it seemed that she hadn't tasted anything yet. She kept eating until the whole skewer was gone.

"This is really delicious, the more I eat, the more addictive it is." Lu Dan said with emotion, and then picked up another skewer.

Doudou's big eyes blinked.

Why did sister Dandan interrupt me?

Forget it, if she interrupted me, I haven't finished my skewer yet, so I have to work hard.

Even though it's a little cold outside now, it's a great feeling to sit by the small grill, drink warm wine, and eat hot and greasy skewers of meat.

Doudou is ambitious. She not only eats by herself, but also occasionally gives a bite to Goushengzi, Xiaobaozi, and Xiaomiumidan.

In her world, all friends are serious friends, no one is better than the other.

"It would be great if I could eat barbecued skewers so happily every day in the future." Lu Dan sighed.

"What good things are you thinking? If you eat like this every day, you will get tired sooner or later. Besides, don't you practice medicine? There are many important things waiting for you to do." Chen Tiezhu complained.

"I know, I know, I will practice well tomorrow." Lu Dan stretched out his voice and said weakly.

"Yingzi, look at her, she doesn't have any ambition at all." Chen Tiezhu began to complain.

"As if you have much, don't you let others do all the work?" Han Xiuying asked back.

"Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, each village will be able to provide a list. After a preliminary investigation, there are not many, maybe 13 households."

"There is no statistics in our village. Zhang Yuanmin's family is counted as one household. Do I need to discuss the others with Uncle Jianguo?"

Chen Tiezhu frowned slightly, "This result is a little beyond my expectations. The work in the town is not going smoothly?"

Hearing his words, others looked over in confusion.

Don't people in each village have a very high opinion of Han Xiuying? Why did Chen Tiezhu say that the work was not going smoothly?