Back To The 80s-Chapter 430 - 440: Borrowing Vinegar_1

Bai Xiaolan, while holding Xiaopang, said with a chuckle, "Our Xiaopang calls Xiangdong ’Dada’ and also calls me ’Dada’. He can’t say ’auntie’. Why not just call me ’Mommy’ directly?"

Gu Xiaobei, laughing, reached out and tweaked Xiaopang’s chubby face, "You little traitor, you’ve changed sides."

Bai Xiaolan turned to Mo Wang and said, "Mo Wang, come on, call me mommy."

Mo Wang glanced up with wide eyes, her small mouth pressed tightly shut. Suddenly, she spun around and buried her face in Gu Xiaobei’s arms, physically demonstrating that Bai Xiaolan was not her mother.

Wen Xiuqing said with a smile, "Our Mo Wang has made her point clear. Xiaopang, on the other hand, is sure to become a sweet-talker in the future.

Bai Xiaolan, still laughing, held a little towel over Xiaopang’s head, then lifted it, causing Xiaopang to giggle in delight.

Observing this, Mo Wang also found the game intriguing, her tiny eyes filled with great anticipation.

"Gu Xiaobei looked down to see Mo Wang staring at Xiaopang, her tiny mouth opening and closing. He too grabbed a towel and started playing peek-a-boo.

Soon, the room was filled with only the laughter of the two children.

When it was time for dinner, Lu Zhanguo rushed back in a hurry, his coat still covered with icy morsels.

Wen Xiuqing expressed her concern, "The snow is still not melted. Going to the deep mountains for training will surely affect your health in the future!"

Lu Songyuan replied sternly, "If you said this in the past, it would be considered undermining morale. The battlefield is not worse than this."

Wen Xiuqing did not continue the conversation, but went to the kitchen to get clean bowls and chopsticks.

Seeing his dad home, Xiaopang, who was originally eating in Gu Xiaobei’s arms, stopped eating, with his arms extended, "Daddy, hug Pangpang. Daddy, buy-buy have?"

Lu Zhanguo quickly took off his coat, went to the bedroom to change into clean clothes, washed his hands, and then picked up Xiaopang.

Xiaopang continued to nag Lu Zhanguo, "Daddy buy-buy have?" His big round eyes were full of desire. His grandfather hadn’t bought him candy for the past two days.

Lu Zhanguo looked at Gu Xiaobei with a puzzled face, needing a translation for what his daughter was saying.

Gu Xiaobei, laughing, said, "Your precious daughter is asking if you have bought her any candy."

"Not yet. How about daddy buys you some tomorrow?" Promised Lu Zhanguo, his heart melted by his daughter’s desirous eyes.

Just as Wen Xiuqing came in with the bowls, she said, "I’ve just told you, you should give children less sugar. It’s not good for growing milk teeth and could also affect the growth of permanent teeth."

Lu Zhanguo, holding his soft daughter looked at her, arguing, "Having one during the day is okay. It’s not like she’s having it every day."

After dinner, Wen Xiuqing asked the kids to stay over, and Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei went back to their own home.

Xiaopang, hugging her dad’s neck, pleadingly said, "Pangpang wants daddy. Daddy go buy-buy." She understood that her dad had promised to buy her candy.

Wen Xiuqing laughed, "You ungrateful little girl, as soon as your dad comes back, you don’t want anyone else. Mo Wang, are you going to go home with mommy and daddy, or you want to stay here?"

Mo Wang furrowed her tiny brows, glanced at Gu Xiaobei, and then at her grandpa, ran over and hugged her mom’s leg.

Bai Xiaolan, watching from a side chuckled, "Sure enough, parents are the dearest."

The couple’s alone time was interrupted again. They each carried a child and went back to their resident.

On the way, Xiaopang insisted on getting down to walk by herself. Gu Xiaobei also let Mo Wang down, and he and Lu Zhanguo each held a little hand and slowly walked home.

Gu Xiaobei casually brought up running into Li Juan, and then segued, "When can we go back to T City and visit Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang? I wonder if their noodle shop is still open."

"They open their noodle shop in the city during the summer and come back to the countryside in the winter," Lu Zhanguo, who had kept in touch on the phone and asked his old comrades to look in on Uncle Wang and his family, said.

"In a couple of years, if they can’t continue the business, and if our circumstances allow, we should invite them to live in the provincial city," Gu Xiaobei suggested.

"They definitely would not accept. Old people all cherish their hometown and want to return to their roots. When they are old, moving them away from their hometown would be very unsettling," Lu Zhanguo knew Gu Xiaobei was well-intentioned, but sometimes good intentions do not necessarily lead to good outcomes.

Gu Xiaobei thought for a moment and agreed, "Aunt Wang has been good to us. No matter what, we should take care of them when they’re old."

A journey that would usually take ten minutes took over twenty because of the two little ones.

Even though they had not lived in the house for a few days, Gu Xiaobei would clean it every other day, so it was still clean and tidy.

Just as they had taken off Mo Wang and Xiaopang’s thick winter garments, there was a knock at the door.

Gu Xiaobei finished putting away the children’s clothes before going to open the door. He saw Zhao Hongmei standing at the door holding an empty bowl, and with Erhu by her side. She said with a smile, "We haven’t seen you guys for a few days. Just heard some noise and figured you guys must be back."

Seeing the empty bowl, Gu Xiaobei was unsure of what she meant, but it would be impolite to keep her standing at the door. He invited her in kindly, "We’ve just come in. Please come in and take a seat, sister-in-law."

Zhao Hongmei politely refused, "I won’t step in, we’re about to have dinner at our place. We were making meat dumplings and realized we ran out of vinegar. Then we heard you guys come back, so I thought I’d come over to borrow some."

Gu Xiaobei couldn’t help but smile wryly. Borrowing vinegar to eat dumplings? Wasn’t that something from a comedy show? There are really such people in reality? Isn’t this just a chance to show off that her family is having meat dumplings for dinner?

Xiaopang and Mo Wang were running around in the living room playing with a rubber ball, their laughter quite loud.

Erhu slipped past Gu Xiaobei to join Xiaopang and Mo Wang for playtime, looking very happy.

Zhao Hongmei had no choice but to follow him in with the bowl. She caught up with Erhu, grabbed his arm to stop him from going any further, all the while still maintaining her smile, "Sister-in-law, could you help me get some vinegar? We need to get back to have our meal." Erhu, his arm held, called out anxiously.

Seeing Erhu, Mo Wang immediately threw the rubber ball and led Xiaopang by the hand into the bedroom to find daddy. She even tried hard to push the bedroom door shut.

As Gu Xiaobei came out of the kitchen with half a bowl of vinegar, he saw Zhao Hongmei looking unsatisfied and asking, "Did you guys teach the kids not to play with my Erhu?"

Glancing at his own children who were no longer in the living room, and seeing that the bedroom door was tightly closed, Gu Xiaobei thought his own children were so lovely. Hearing Zhao Hongmei’s questioning, he answered with laughter rather than annoyance, "Sister-in-law, do you think that children at their age would listen if we told them anything? Besides, not many kids are as well-behaved as your Erhu. You tell him not to snatch things from other kids, and he doesn’t."

Zhao Hongmei was left speechless by Gu Xiaobei’s sharp words, but quickly changed the subject, "Oh, by the way, my brother has found a job in the south. They are planning to send him to open a business in our provincial city. Apparently, he will get a good salary."

"That’s good. Hurry up and bring Erhu back for dinner. The dumplings won’t taste good once they’ve cooled down." Gu Xiaobei handed her the bowl filled with vinegar, smiling as he spoke. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Zhao Hongmei nodded, smiling as she forcefully pulled Erhu to go home. After all, her main purpose today was to brag about her brother finding a good job. Now that she had achieved her goal, she could go home happily and enjoy her dumplings. As for Gu Xiaobei’s sharp words earlier, she simply chose to ignore them.