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MTL - Hello, How Long Has This Been Going On?-Chapter 79
At this moment, Huo's mother felt as if someone had pulled her heart.
The person in front of her was obviously smiling at her, with clear and clear eyes, but she felt that his eyes were looking at a far away place through her.
It is so far away that it cannot be touched, and there are silent memories hidden along the way.
She looked into these strange and sincere eyes, and the world around her suddenly stopped.
In the spacious and transparent kitchen, there are water droplets on the washed vegetable leaves, cucumber juice remains on the surface of the cutting board, a bow is tied on the back of the apron by the daughter, and the son secretly lifts the lid of the casserole full of braised pork. A silent man stands nearby, peeling potatoes with great skill.
Time seems to go back to a long, long time ago, and nothing has changed.
The dust flying in the air floated upwards like a river flowing backwards.
She blinked involuntarily until her eyes were sour.
So time resumed its flow, dust and debris fell to the ground, and the afternoon sun shone through the clean glass, dyeing his soft hair an almost transparent golden color.
She thought that the young boy she met for the first time in front of her might be in the same mood.
In fact, Huo's mother subconsciously wanted to hug him, a hug from her mother.
She took a step forward, and suddenly remembered the water stains on her apron, and inexplicably felt that he was very similar to herself.
He didn't want others to discover such emotions, so his eyes were always clear without a trace of mist.
In the end, Mother Huo just stretched out her hand, gently smoothed the neckline of his T-shirt, and then showed a bright and still smile.
"The neckline is crooked." She said, "Huo Ran is always like this."
In the past, when Huo Ran went to school every day, he carried his schoolbag on his back, and the two shoulder straps often tore the neckline of his neckline. Huo's mother would stop him in time and tidy up his clothes before letting him go.
Again and again, tirelessly, until we parted.
Tao Zhiyue woke up from the memories, as if he wanted to say thank you, his eyes flickered.
When the words came to his lips, they turned into a very brisk tone.
"Now he looks in the mirror before going out."
It really looks like me.
In the silent communication, she seemed to have deeply understood this sensitive, introverted and strong young man, and she didn't need to ask any more questions.
Mother Huo took Tao Zhiyue's words, and glanced at her tall son: "He has grown up."
"And he became very caring." Tao Zhiyue said in a low voice, "He is very good, the best person I have ever met."
Huo's mother smiled brightly: "You are very discerning, and Huo Ran is also very discerning."
The heat-insulating gloves were snatched away by Huo Sihan, unable to lift the lid of the pot, Huo Ran failed to steal braised pork, and heard his mother and boyfriend praising him in partnership, he was quite embarrassed.
"Why do I feel that our roles are reversed? It should be my mother and I who praise you."
"You don't need to tell me, I will see it myself."
Huo's mother drove Huo Ran away from the stove, and saw that Huo Sihan had eaten most of the sliced cucumbers without knowing it, and suddenly felt that they had only grown up a little.
"I heard from Sihan that she went to play with you this week, did she cause you any trouble?"
"No." After thinking for a while, Tao Zhiyue added with an example convincingly, "Sihan also cooks, and she cooks very well."
"Really?" Huo's mother was a little skeptical, "Last time she said she learned a baby food supplement, and she came here to teach me how to make it. The final product was blue-green..."
Huo Sihan forcibly covered her mother's words with a high voice, unwilling to face the dark past: "It was an accident! An accident! Failure is the mother of success!"
"Then you have collected a little more mothers of success?"
Huo's mother was amused, and she had a flash of inspiration, "I suddenly thought of a very interesting thing, wait, I'll get it."
She handed the spatula to Tao Zhiyue naturally, and was about to walk towards the corridor when Huo Zhendong, who was concentrating on peeling potatoes, made a sound in time.
"There is an elevator at the side door that leads directly to the upstairs, so you don't have to go around so far."
"I haven't been here for so long, I almost forgot." Excited, Huo's mother immediately changed her route, not forgetting to turn her head and tell Tao Zhiyue, "Remember to watch the braised pork for me, don't drain the juice."
"Okay." Tao Zhiyue nodded, and turned down the fire skillfully.
Huo Ran smiled sympathetically at his sister who was still foolishly eating cucumber slices: "I don't know which piece of dark history we will appreciate together next."
"!!"
Huo Sihan suddenly came to his senses, with a frightened expression on his face, he quickly stuffed the porcelain plate into Huo Ran's hand, and ran after him.
"Mom! Stop it!!"
The lively sounds faded away, and there were only three men left in the kitchen.
The braised pork that was gurgling in the casserole was stewed on a low fire, and Huo Ran signaled with his eyes that he wanted to take the opportunity to taste a piece.
Tao Zhiyue shook his head very principled.
Huo Ran tried to exchange benefits with the only remaining cucumber slices in the porcelain plate.
Tao Zhiyue waved the spatula and firmly refused.
No one spoke.
Huo Zhendong was still silently fighting with Tudou.
Tao Zhiyue felt that he should take the initiative to say something to Huo Zhendong, but looking at the pitted potatoes in his hand, he didn't know what to say for a while.
The image of Huo Zhendong, a serious and rich man who started from scratch, instantly became three-dimensional and complicated.
Huo Ran received his help-seeking eyes, and tried to open up the topic: "Dad, how many have you finished?"
"…one."
Pale-yellow potatoes stand alone on china plates.
If there was one word to describe this exceptionally carefully peeled potato, it would be skinny.
Tao Zhiyue tried very hard to hold back his laughter, found a large bowl from the cupboard, and said to Huo Zhendong: "Uncle, potatoes are easy to oxidize when exposed to air, it's better to soak them in water."
Huo Zhendong coughed, nodded, and stepped aside.
Tao Zhiyue filled the bowl with water, soaked the skinny potato, and suggested, "Why don't I peel it, and you can take a rest."
Huo Zhendong seemed relieved, handed over the peeler, and stood aside watching his skillful movements.
Huo Ran walked back and forth by the side, amazed: "Dad, I surpass you in at least one thing, I am better than you in the kitchen."
"..." Huo Zhendong's old face froze, a little embarrassed, "I haven't been in the kitchen for a long time, I used to be able to cut it, but now I forget it."
Huo Ran was deeply skeptical: "Why don't I remember that you would before."
"You were very young at that time, maybe three or four years old. It's normal if you don't remember. Not only peeling, but also carving shapes."
Huo Zhendong seemed to recall something, a smile appeared on his perennially tense face.
"At that time, it was said that eating carrots is good for everything. Your mother gave you two carrots every day, but you just refused to eat them, and you would not eat them anyway."
"Your mother was so angry that she threw this matter to me. I thought about it for a long time. Knowing that you love tomatoes, I thought of a way to peel carrots into small **** and steam them to deceive you that they are special varieties of small tomatoes."
"Believe me, I ate a lot and said that this kind of tomato is delicious."
Huo Ran had a look of disbelief: "Was I so stupid when I was a child?"
Tao Zhiyue put the peeled potatoes into the water, completely unable to stop the smile on his face.
"It's the same for you now." Tao Zhiyue smiled, "Guess what is the little tomato that you used to eat in cold salad?"
Huo Ran had an ominous premonition: "It's Little Tomato... Isn't it?"
"It's a cherry radish with the whiskers and leaves removed. I found that you don't like radishes, so when I made them for the first time, I wanted to ask you if you could accept them, but you first said that this variety of small tomatoes is delicious."
"I thought it was funny, so I didn't explain it, and I was afraid that you would stop eating it if you knew it was a radish. Later, I wondered why you took a radish as a tomato, although a cherry radish does look like a small tomato."
Huo Ran froze into a sculpture, and his worldview collapsed.
Huo Zhendong rarely laughed heartily.
"He's such an old man, he can't even recognize radishes. From now on, he will go to the vegetable market and kitchen more to help Xiaotao."
Huo Ran tried to save face: "I can even cook vegetables now, the radish is just an accident."
Tao Zhiyue teased, "Fat beef in sour soup?"
Almost at the same time, Huo Zhendong frowned and remembered the surprise lunch a few months ago, "That sour dish?"
"..." Huo Ran had deep doubts about the unusually harmonious scene in front of him.
"Why do I feel that you guys are teasing me together? No, I still don't believe that little tomato is a radish. How could a radish have such a taste."
He immediately took out his mobile phone and searched for pictures online.
After peeling, Tao Zhiyue washed his hands and asked Huo Zhendong: "Uncle, what are we going to do with this later, do you want to shred it?"
"His mother said to make hot and sour potato shreds, would you know how to cut them?"
"Yes, but it's not good to soak in water after shredding. I'll help my aunt after it's ready to fry."
Huo Zhendong nodded, he wanted to say something, but finally turned into a simple and powerful exhortation.
"If you have any unresolvable conflicts with Huo Ran in the future, you can tell us, I won't favor him."
Tao Zhiyue was stunned for a moment, then solemnly replied: "I will, thank you uncle."
From carrots peeled into small **** to cherry radishes with their leaves removed, a new stage of life, and people who are busy in the kitchen are not the same.
And their emotions overlapped miraculously after time passed.
Huo Ran, who searched for answers online, did not speak for a long time.
Tao Zhiyue looked back at him: "How is it? Did you find it?"
"..."
After admiring the photo of the cherry radish with great pain, Huo Ran began to talk about him from left to right: "Is the braised pork cooked?"
Thousands of words merged into one sentence: Fortunately, Huo Sihan is not here at the moment.
At sunset, the white-toned mansion is dyed with brilliant colors at dusk, just like a fairy tale.
In the artistically decorated restaurant, the tables are filled with home-cooked dishes that look different in style.
Under Huo Sihan's strong efforts to stop her, it was a pity that Huo's mother failed to take out that fun thing.
After dinner, Huo Sihan ran to the side to answer a friend's phone call. Huo's mother seized the opportunity and immediately showed the "good things" to Tao Zhiyue with joy.
It was a photocopy of a piece of composition paper, on which was written a composition in neat strokes of primary school students' fonts.
When Huo Zhendong and Huo Ran saw this piece of paper, they already started laughing.
"I knew it would be this, the classic will never go out of style." Huo Ran didn't think it was a big deal to watch the excitement, "I just want to take you around the whole house later, you can go through this manual first to get a little understanding."
"manual?"
Tao Zhi took it over curiously, and after only reading two lines, he couldn't help laughing.
[August 3rd, sunny, Sunday, first day in new home. ]
[In the morning, I woke up from the five-meter-wide bed and climbed for a long time before getting down, alas, it’s really big. ]
[Mom washes my face with toilet water, which is very fragrant. My brother splashes me with water, so young, I don’t want to talk to him. ]
[I wore a blue princess dress today, it's shiny, just like the princess in the cartoon. ]
[There are a lot of breakfasts, it is a buffet, I ate everything, I am very full, my favorite is the small cake with ying peaches on top. ]
[When I was full, I decided to walk around the house, it was so big, I was so tired from walking, and the housekeeper uncle always followed me. ]
[I asked him not to follow, but the housekeeper asked me if I was tired from walking, and if I wanted to eat another small cake. ]
[All right. The housekeeper uncle took the small cake and accompanied me to the lake to see the swans. The swans are white and beautiful. ]
[I sat on the swing on the grass for a while, and the housekeeper uncle brought homework, saying that I have to go to school tomorrow. ]
[All right. I had no choice but to write my diary on the small wooden table. There are many kinds of flowers and butterflies in the garden. ]
[My hands are a little suan, and I want the housekeeper to write for me, but he said no. ]
[So that's the end of the day! ]
At the bottom is a line of red letter comments written by the teacher.
[The writing is vivid and the ending is very creative. But the requirement is to write a diary, not a novel, so be careful next time! ]
Tao Zhiyue couldn't stop laughing, and then everyone present replayed the classics, and the restaurant was full of joyful atmosphere.
When Huo Sihan came back from the phone call, seeing the very similar smiles on the faces of the four people, he immediately knew that the situation was over and irreversible.
"Mom! I decided not to take it out! My image!!"
"What are you afraid of? Your boyfriend will also see it when he comes to the house in the future. You should practice it in advance."
"Why do you have to practice this kind of thing! Don't, don't show it to my future partner!"
This warm dinner ended successfully with Huo Sihan's wailing.
In the evening, Mother Huo stayed and shared a room with her daughter who had passed away again. It was a long-lost intimacy.
Huo Zhendong went back to his study to save up the work for most of the day.
Huo Ran took Tao Zhiyue to wander around the house, taking a walk to digest food.
Tao Zhiyue's mind was still filled with the immature composition, and he asked curiously, "So there is really a five-meter-wide bed?"
"you guess."
"Since Sihan is seriously writing a diary...I guess there is."
"Guess right."
They happened to pass by a room on the second floor, Huo Ran stopped and opened the door with a smile.
"I also guessed that you will be curious about this."
Tao Zhi looked over and saw that the room was huge, and there was actually a super big bed inside. The bed itself was as big as a bedroom in a normal house.
"She doesn't know where she looked at it. She must sleep in a bed of hundreds of square meters. I explained to her the concept of hundreds of square meters for a long time, and she reluctantly agreed, saying that it can be reduced by ten times, and it must not be smaller. Otherwise, it won't be enough for her to sleep."
Tao Zhi was dumbfounded, and after a while, he recovered his voice: "I want to know, how long has Sihan insisted on sleeping on this bed?"
Huo Ran was overwhelmed with joy: "I became scared within a few days, and ran out crying to find my mother in the middle of the night."
"My mother felt that such a large room and bed would be a waste of space, so she simply transformed it into a trampoline."
"Some other students saw her composition and laughed at her for being whimsical, but she had a good attitude and invited her classmates to play on the weekend. Then all the children were stuck on the trampoline that day and refused to get off. They played like crazy. I secretly took a lot of photos. "
"When I handed in the diary again, it was said that all the students wrote about the same. They were all jumping up and down on the five-meter bed and eating cake. The teacher was confused and called to ask."
Tao Zhi smiled as he listened, and then looked at the empty room in front of him, as if he saw the scene of the group of children laughing and laughing many years ago, and Huo Ran who was quietly taking pictures beside him.
"Then what wish did you make before you moved in?"
Huo Ran said seriously: "My wish is very simple, not as exaggerated as hers. After all, I was already a mature junior high school student at that time."
"Really? Why am I a little skeptical."
He took Tao Zhiyue to the fifth floor by elevator. Unlike the downstairs, there were very few rooms on this floor and only a few doors.
The dark brown solid wood door in the center looked extremely heavy, five or six meters high, and the pure copper door handle was engraved with exquisite patterns, Huo Ran pushed it open with all his strength.
"Really, very homely."