Chinese entertainment for engineering students

Small building, the new house Wang Xu prepared for his parents, the three-bedroom and two-living room at the east end of the building.

Wang Xu's mother, Zheng Xiuzhi, is choosing vegetables. Today is New Year's Eve and tomorrow is New Year's Day. No one in the old imperial capital considers this a holiday. We made an appointment today, and Qing’s mother will bring her daughter to celebrate the New Year.

This was decided upon by the young couple. No matter where they spend time together, it will make the other woman who is alone in her boudoir feel uncomfortable.

It's better to just let the two families get along together. Anyway, they already know each other, they are acquaintances, and it's not an exaggeration to say they are colleagues. The distance is not that far, it only takes ten minutes by bike.

Although it is somewhat inconsistent with etiquette, after experiencing that era when everything was broken, all etiquette was meaningless, and the people of the imperial capital now pay more attention to reality.

It would be a bit awkward for two families to celebrate the New Year together, as they have no name or distinction, so why not invite Uncle Li's family next door and have a party together.

This is because Uncle Li and Wang Fei's mother Xia Guizhi are really colleagues. They are both members of the song and dance troupe, but they are not in the same department, so they are not directly related.

But Uncle Li is a small leader after all, and Xia Guizhi is also a somewhat famous singer in the group. They can't see each other without looking up, so they are familiar with each other.

In this way, the three families no longer appear to be separated. Everyone is involved in some relationship, so it is reasonable and reasonable to sit together to celebrate the New Year.

After Wang Xu made a few phone calls, the matter was settled. There were two members of Wang Fei's family, three and a half members of Uncle Li's family, and three and a half members of Wang Xu's family.

The other half is Luo Qi. I don't know if I should count it as belonging to Uncle Li's family or Wang Xu's family. They are both godmothers. It's not good to favor one half over the other. One half is good for one family.

The New Year's Eve dinner is simple. It is not as traditional as the Spring Festival. It can be arranged as you like. So Wang Xu suggested boiling mutton, which is simple and easy to make, and it's fun to eat and drink.

He had bought an extra-large shabu-shabu, but unfortunately it had not been used much and had been sitting in a warehouse gathering dust. This time it finally came in handy.

The preparation is not complicated. Just buy the meat directly. The frozen meat is cut into rolls and sold by the pound.

The other side dishes are cabbage, tofu and other side dishes. Just wash and cut them. Things have gotten much better in the past two years. In winter, we can eat greenhouse vegetables. Although they are a bit expensive, it is still okay to eat them occasionally.

In the first few years, there was only cabbage throughout the winter. It was all cabbage for cooking, stewing and stir-frying. If the temperature is higher that winter, the entire empire will smell like rotten vegetables.

Shabu-shabu mutton is derived from the food eaten by the Manchu army. It is definitely not a very particular food. It is mainly simple and crude.

Zheng Xiuzhi is washing cabbage, radish, and chrysanthemum at home. Suddenly I heard a "dong dong dong" knock on the door.

Zheng Xiuzhi wondered, not many people knew about this house. Before winter, she didn't live here very much. It's not winter anymore, but I'm living here now, mainly because it has heating, which is much more convenient than a coal-burning stove.

"Who is it?" Wang Xu's mother's voice is clear and bright, with a little breath, it can be heard far away. This is the foundation of decades of practice.

"It's me." A deep voice came in.

Zheng Xiuzhi quickly put down what she was holding, wiped her hands on her apron, and walked quickly to the door.

Opening the door, a tall man was standing at the door. The man is over 1.8 meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back. He is burly and looks a bit bloated in work clothes, and he is also wearing a military coat.

He was holding a duffel bag in his hand. It looked quite big, but it seemed to be completely weightless in the man's hands. He was carrying it casually, not even putting it down to knock on the door.

"Shude, why are you back?" Zheng Xiuzhi's eyes shone with surprise, and she quickly opened the door and let the man in.

That's right, Wang Xu's father, Wang Shude, who had disappeared for half a year, finally came back after a long journey. There was no advance notice, no greeting at the train station, I just took the bus and came back with a luggage bag and a military coat.

If I weren't carrying a duffel bag, it would feel like getting off work every day.

"Why are you wearing it so thickly?" Wang Xu's mother stretched out her hand to help Wang Xu's father take off his military coat.

"It's cold in the mountains. At first, the tank truck was leaking, so I wore more clothes. I didn't expect it to be so warm in the imperial capital this year." Wang Xu's father explained, put down the bag in his hand, squatted down, and opened it. It only contained a change of clothes. .

After rummaging for a long time, I found a wooden box that was obviously handmade, and handed it to my wife. Then I stood up again, took off my heavy military coat, looked around, and hung it on the coat rack at the door.

"What is this?" Zheng Xiuzhi looked at the wooden box in her hand curiously, looking over and over, but couldn't find a way to open it.

"A gift for you, come here, let me help you." Wang Shude was about to take the box and show the gift to his wife. Unexpectedly, Zheng Xiuzhi put the box on the cabinet and reached out to help him take off his clothes.

"There's no rush. You should change your clothes first. It's so hot and you'll get sick if you get hot again. We'll look at the gifts later."

"Okay, I'll go change."

"Go take a shower. My son installed a water heater, which is very useful. You just came back, so you should take a shower first to get rid of fatigue."

"Well, I'm going to take a shower." Wang Shude nodded, gentleness flashed in his eyes, but his words were still hard, just like the steel he had been playing with all day long.

"Go ahead, I'll get you clothes and a bath towel." Zheng Xiuzhi took her husband's hand, walked to the bathroom, helped her husband take off his outer coat, sweater, etc., and let him take a shower by himself.

Then she took these clothes to the balcony. The sweaters were all knitted by her own hands. They were pure wool and could not be washed, so they had to be put aside first. Other clothes can be thrown into a brand new fully automatic washing machine.

He went to take out all the clothes in the duffel bag and looked at the neatly folded dirty clothes. He couldn't help but shake his head. These father and son looked so alike.

Packing her luggage and doing laundry, Zheng Xiuzhi seemed to be moving a little more briskly today, like a light swallow floating around the room.

Wang Xu's father takes a shower very quickly, or in other words, no man has trouble taking a shower, well, except for those who drive Caddy.

"Xiuzhi, underwear." Wang Shude shouted in the bathroom.

"Just shout when you're here." Zheng Xiuzhi picked up the underwear she had prepared and walked to the bathroom.

As soon as he opened the door, he was pulled in.

"Go to the bedroom."

"Um"

——

"Shude, get up quickly, the Qing family is coming to have dinner tonight."

"Ah, you didn't tell me earlier."

"It's my fault, right?"

"No, how could I blame you?"

"The dishes haven't been put away yet."

"It's okay, I'm here to help, Mali."

Fortunately, thanks to the preparation of today's dishes early, it is not troublesome to cook the mutton. Even though they were busy, the side dishes were quickly prepared with the joint efforts of the couple.

When the two of them appeared at Wang Xu's door carrying a lot of prepared vegetables, they were both refreshed and smiling.