Back to the 70s: My Childhood Sweetheart Spoils Me Rotten-Chapter 85 - 84 Gourmet

After Cai Meina mailed the letter back, she completely let go of the matter, feeling it should come to an end.

As for whether the Gong Family and the Cai Family were happy, that wasn’t Cai Meina’s concern.

Now, Cai Meina focused all her attention on preparing for the New Year. In the past, the family didn’t have the means, so even with her skills, Cai Meina could only make the New Year’s Eve meal slightly better.

What’s worse, when she prepared the festive meal at her in-laws’, not only did no one help, but they complained about the taste and the lack of quantity afterward. It made Cai Meina feel very frustrated, thinking why their share wasn’t taken out for them.

What annoyed Cai Meina more was that she was the one cooking, yet the four members of her own family barely got to eat anything. Even when they did, it was only potatoes and such, while the meat had long been given by her biased parents-in-law to their favored children.

Zhan Jing placed great importance on the New Year. While the clothes shouldn’t be too new to avoid standing out, there was no room for sloppiness in food. The family must eat and drink well. Luckily, the children have a lot of exercise; otherwise, they’d be rolling around and attracting attention.

"Fry more meat, the kids like it."

"Didn’t some fool fall into a trap a few days ago? That meat shouldn’t even be considered for purchase; we’ll eat it ourselves."

"If there were wild sheep, it would be even better. We could have lamb hotpot." Zhan Jing was all talk and little action, but she didn’t mind having a bit of a mouth-watering moment.

Lamb hotpot, Gong Ruini initially could let these words pass by one ear without letting it bother her, but as Zhan Jing talked more, Gong Ruini found herself feeling very hungry.

Gong Ruwen was in no better shape; he too wore a pained expression, "Aunt Zhan, you should stop, if you keep talking, we’re all going to starve."

Zhan Jing aimed to have just this effect. Due to her pregnancy, she had to control her weight, especially given that she was expecting twins, making it even more necessary to be cautious. So this year, her diet would predominantly be vegetarian.

Seeing the children and Cai Meina all left speechless by her talk of delicious food, she felt very satisfied.

Zhao Xuran was quite helpless regarding his mother’s wicked sense of humor, but he didn’t stop her. His mother stayed home all day feeling various kinds of boredom, so whenever she found something that interested her, he let her talk.

The more critical thing was to lift Aunt Cai’s mood. Zhao Xuran had noticed something was off with Uncle Gong and Aunt Cai since they received the letter. Although they hid it well, they often seemed absent-minded.

Zhao Xuran hoped that by letting his mother propose a grand celebration for the New Year, Aunt Cai would be too occupied to think too much.

"And frozen persimmons, though we didn’t get much fruit from the mountains this fall, what we have is enough for the New Year." As Zhan Jing thought of all the things she couldn’t eat, she suddenly didn’t feel like talking anymore.

Gong Ruini didn’t much like these frozen fruits, feeling they were too cold, but sitting on a warm Kang and eating jelly-like frozen pears and persimmons was quite satisfying. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

The main thing is, in the Northeast, apart from these frozen fruits, there really aren’t any fresh fruits to eat come winter, unless they resort to canned fruits.

Even though Gong Ruini wasn’t fond of canned fruits, her family had no means to get them for her.

Gong Ruwen loved these frozen fruits. Even back home, he might not manage to eat a few apples or pears or oranges in a year, "I love it! It’s so wonderful to celebrate the New Year here."

Gong Ruwen’s eyes nearly closed from happiness; it felt exceedingly wonderful.

Happy for the New Year? Alright, after considering what his friends said about their New Year menus, Zhao Guangran figured his family’s was pretty decent, but how could even Gong Ruwen envy that, "Isn’t there more good food in the city?"

Zhao Guangran recalled a friend’s relative in the city sharing how city folks prepared tons of stuff for the New Year, "And White Rabbit candy."

White Rabbit candy, looking at Zhao Guangran beaming with all kinds of city folk New Year happiness, even though Gong Ruini didn’t want to burst his bubble, she had to set the record straight.

"City people have worse New Year than those in the countryside. I recall only eating vegetables during the New Year." Gong Ruini wanted to mention that city folks needed coupons for everything they bought, but she thought better of it since it wasn’t her place to say that due to her young age.

Only vegetables? "No meat?" Zhao Guangran found it incredulous, "But it’s New Year."

"Don’t you eat meat during the New Year?" Uncle Gong isn’t a stingy person; why would he not give Gong Ruini meat? It’s really puzzling, Zhao Guangran truly didn’t understand it.

Since Zhao Guangran could remember, the New Year had been a vibrant festival. Regardless of how they ate on normal days, during New Year’s, there was always plenty of meat. This was why Zhao Guangran eagerly anticipated the New Year’s arrival.

He hadn’t expected that Gong Ruini could only eat vegetables during New Year; that felt quite pitiful. Zhao Guangran finally understood why Gong Ruini was so thin when she first arrived. Oh well, if the little girl provoked him again, he couldn’t stay mad at Gong Ruini.

Why not eat meat during New Year? Does it even need asking? Their share of supplies was taken by those ingrates; she could only say it’s fortunate she was on her way to the Northeast before transmigrating, otherwise, Gong Ruini really couldn’t imagine living years without meat.

"Meat? They all said my sister was too young, eating meat is a waste on her," Gong Ruwen said angrily, not forgetting to glare at his parents.

Oh no, even during New Year, there’s no meat? Zhan Jing knew that while city folks always presented themselves as superior, when it came to food, they weren’t living more comfortably than their rural counterparts.

No matter how hard it is, weren’t Gong Tao and his wife able to buy meat? How were they so stingy with eating it? Surely it was again taken by the Gong or Cai family.

"It’s truly tough to grow up, you siblings." Zhan Jing knew that as children, you should be filial to elders, but not blindly so to biased ones. "This New Year, let’s eat more meat, and try to make up for the lost meat in the past, how about that?"

"Okay." Gong Ruini smiled so widely her eyes could barely be seen. It was an open invitation to eat as much meat as she wanted. How could that not make Gong Ruini happy?

Seeing how Gong Ruini smiled, Zhao Guangran would normally have a few sarcastic comments, but recalling the life Gong Ruini had led, he silently swallowed his sarcastic words.

"Just eat, eat. You’re so weak that unless you eat more, you won’t have the strength to work come spring." Zhao Guangran felt that, after all, she is a labor forcefully; for the sake of earning more for everyone, Gong Ruini had to work. Otherwise, splitting the money among everyone would mean he’s at a loss.

Besides, if Gong Ruini’s health really deteriorated, his partial big brother would surely ask them to help, so letting Gong Ruini be in good health to work was best.

"I’m not doing this for you; I’m worried you won’t have the strength to work and I’ll end up being unlucky," Zhao Guangran added since he felt a bit uncomfortable saying nice things about Gong Ruini.

Such a kid who says one thing but means another, but doesn’t it have that brotherly vibe?

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