Would Four Dishes Be Too Extravagant?

That made three dishes, and three dishes simply wouldn't do.

So in the end, she added a dish of stewed green beans.

Sister Xiao Zhu had supplied the green beans herself.

She had made a special trip to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy them that day.

She had already said she was treating Liang Xin to a meal, so naturally there had to be a proper dish. How could she fob him off with coarse grains and pickles like she usually ate?

That would have been too disgraceful.

Well, mainly because she had eaten so well at Liang Xin's place yesterday.

Even if she couldn't match yesterday's meal, it couldn't fall too far short, could it?

But she hadn't expected Liang Xin to bring his own ingredients when she invited him to eat!

And they were even more extravagant than yesterday's!

Sigh, she had wanted to return a favor, but not only had she failed, she owed him even more now!

What was she going to do?

Forget it. She already owed him, so she would stop thinking about it for now and eat first!

She hadn't eaten meat in a long time, either.

And she had never eaten meat so extravagantly in her entire life!

Even though she kept going on about how wasteful and extravagant it was,

how could she not be looking forward to it?

Sister Xiao Zhu deftly prepared the meal, put it on the table, and set everything out.

Then she called to Liang Xin.

"Xiao Liang, go ahead and eat first. Your brother-in-law might take a while to get off work, so I can wait for him myself."

"How could I do that? I'm not that hungry anyway. Let's wait for him and eat together."

Liang Xin was actually hungry already, and the four dishes looked so tempting that his stomach had begun to growl.

But no matter how hungry he was, he still had to observe basic manners.

How could he dig in without waiting for his host to sit down?

Leave his host to eat leftovers? That would be terribly rude!

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long before Sister Xiao Zhu's husband, Brother Chen, came home carrying their child.

At the time, factories and work units of any decent size had their own kindergartens and nurseries.

They were there precisely to put the workers' minds at ease.

Well, smaller factories and work units would also run them jointly with others, or simply turn to larger factories for help.

After all, there were no private enterprises at the time; they were all state-owned.

They were all brother enterprises, so helping each other was only natural.

Even if you didn't want to help, you had no choice!

In any case, whether an enterprise made money or lost it, someone would cover the shortfall. The cost of running a nursery was nothing.

Sister Xiao Zhu and Brother Chen worked at different units, and both units had nurseries.

Although Brother Chen worked longer hours, his job was relatively easier and less busy, so most of the time he took their child to the nursery at his unit.

As soon as Brother Cheng entered the room, he smelled the delicious aroma filling it.

Then he saw the four dishes on the table and the basin of white rice, and froze.

His wife had told him last night that they were inviting Xiao Liang to a meal in return today, and that they had to eat something good-at the very least, it couldn't be much worse than yesterday's meal.

But wasn't this a little too good?

And where had all this meat come from?

Then it dawned on him that, given his family's circumstances, there was no way they could have come up with so much meat.

And judging by the meal they had eaten yesterday and Xiao Liang's attitude,

he seemed to have some special connections that could get him good things.

So had Xiao Liang brought all these ingredients?

"Xiao Liang, this..."

"Oh, Brother Chen, you're finally back! If you'd taken any longer, I'd have drooled myself dry!"

"Quick, quick, come sit down and eat! I can't take it anymore!"

Liang Xin had already started serving the rice.

No matter how many questions Brother Cheng had, he could only put the child down and sit down to eat with them first!

The meal was already made, so who cared where the ingredients had come from? Surely he couldn't insist that Liang Xin take them away?

That would look terrible!

All three of them had been craving the food terribly. Now no one spoke; they all began to enjoy the rare feast.

Liang Xin was too busy to see what expressions the other two wore as they ate.

But he knew he must have looked like a starving ghost reincarnated.

He couldn't help it. It smelled too good and tasted too delicious.

The red-braised pork was rich but not greasy, and it melted in his mouth. It was even more fragrant than the scrambled eggs with tomatoes he had eaten yesterday!

It was definitely the most delicious meal he had eaten since his rebirth!

He almost bit off his tongue and swallowed it along with the food!

So time passed especially quickly. In what seemed like an instant, his stomach was full, and he couldn't swallow another bite.

"I can't do it. I can't eat anymore."

"One more bite and I feel like my belly will burst."

Liang Xin clutched his stomach and scooted backward on his butt until he reached the wall. Only when he leaned against it for support did he feel a little better.

Then he turned his head and saw the little one beside him, lying on the quilt with his bare bottom exposed.

The little one lay there, his big eyes fixed on the table.

He didn't fuss or make a sound; he just stared.

Only his little nose kept twitching.

His cute little mouth kept smacking, as though he were nursing.

Even this little fellow had been conquered by the delicious meal!

Haha, how funny!

Liang Xin laughed out loud.

Then he looked back at the two people at the table. They were eating much as he had just been.

He had only just been reborn, and he craved food so badly only because his body had already been short of fat and nutrition.

He had only suffered for a few days.

But this couple had lived in such conditions, short of food and clothing, since childhood.

You could say they had gone hungry all their lives!

So they must have craved this meal even more than he did!