?Chapter 39: Thirty-nine As long as you have money, you can eat dumplings every day!_1 Chapter 39: Thirty-nine As long as you have money, you can eat dumplings every day!_1 Ji Pianran was extremely delighted and immediately clutched the corner of her clothes, nodding excitedly.
“Thank you, Aunt Zhang!”
Aunt Zhang waved her hand dismissively, “Pshaw, it’s nothing!”
…
The two chatted about this and that all afternoon.
By now, Gu Chen had reached the entrance of the village.
He happened upon a beef seller and casually bought two pounds.
Today had been quite fruitful; new clothes and new bedding had all been bought.
Gu Chen decided it was time for dumplings!
He took out all the bedding he had bought from the storage space.
With meat in his left hand and all the bedding hoisted onto his right shoulder, he walked home with his head down.
It was already dark. Aunt Zhang glanced at the sky and noted it was getting late; she still needed to go home and cook.
She stood up and patted her backside.
“Pian Ran, it’s getting late. I should head back now. I still have to cook.”
Upon hearing this, Ji Pianran quickly stood up, “Auntie, let me walk you home.”
Aunt Zhang just smiled.
“Walk me home? It’s just a short distance. What’s there to worry about? I’m not going to get carried off by a wolf, am I?”
After saying that, she turned and walked toward the doorway.
Right then, Gu Chen happened to arrive at the door.
He opened the door and ran straight into Aunt Zhang, who was about to head home.
He grinned and said, “Oh, Auntie, you’re here? Have you eaten? Stay for dinner before you go.”
He then held up the meat in his hand.
“We’re having dumplings today!”
Aunt Zhang was thrilled to see the young man holding meat.
But her joy wasn’t for herself; it was for Xiao Tangtang and Ji Pianran.
“Wow, you seem to be living the good life these days, eating meat every day. That delicious smell just wafts out of your yard all the time, it’s truly tempting!”
Gu Chen replied with a smile, “So I thought I might invite you to join us for a meal.”
Aunt Zhang stuffed her hands into her sleeves.
“No need, I was supposed to be feeding the rabbits this afternoon. But when I heard Shen Cuilan giving Pian Ran a hard time, I left before the rabbits were fed. If I don’t go back now, they’ll starve.”
The warm breath she exhaled was especially visible as she spoke.
Gu Chen chuckled.
“All right then, you go back and feed the rabbits well, so next year you can have another litter of bunnies!”
This comment went straight to Aunt Zhang’s heart.
Exactly that, she was hoping for another litter of rabbits next year.
She smiled, “Okay, then I’ll be off.”
…
As soon as Aunt Zhang left, Gu Chen hurried over to Ji Pianran.
“Did Shen Cuilan give you trouble again?”
That Shen Cuilan, taking advantage of his absence to pester his wife, really annoying!
Ji Pianran brushed the loose hair on her forehead behind her ear, trying to act nonchalant, “It’s nothing, just a little quarrel.”
Seeing mom and dad talking without paying attention to her, Xiao Tangtang grew anxious.
She hugged Gu Chen’s leg and tilted her little head up to look at him, her voice sweet and milky as she spoke.
“Daddy, I know!”
The adorable little creature melted Gu Chen’s heart.
He bent down and scooped her up into his arms, his voice incredibly gentle.
“What do you know, sweetie?”
Xiao Tangtang looked at Gu Chen with serious eyes.
“I know! Miss Shen said earlier that you don’t have money to buy clothes for us and that the money was stolen!”
Regardless of Xiao Tangtang’s young age, just over two years old, she was right at the stage for repeating what she heard.
Ji Pianran was speechless, looking at Xiao Tangtang with a helpless expression.
“You sure know a lot. Daddy’s tired from the day. Now come down quickly.”
This child, saying things she shouldn’t and not saying the things she should. Speaking out like this would just upset Gu Chen, wouldn’t it?
There was no need to tell Gu Chen these things.
To have him share in these annoyances.
Gu Chen’s eyebrows twitched, his face full of curiosity as he looked at Xiao Tangtang, “Oh? And what happened after that?”
Xiao Tangtang giggled.
“Later, Mom said that Shen Niangniang was out of line, saying that Dad had earned money to buy clothes for Tangtang with his own abilities! She also said our family’s affairs are none of her business!”
Pian Ran nodded, “And what happened after that?”
“After that, Granny Zhang came out and scolded Miss Shen a good one!”
The little girl said earnestly.
Gu Chen now understood.
He looked at Ji Pianran with a face full of guilt. Sear?h the N??elFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
“I’m sorry…”
It was all because he hadn’t had the ability in his previous life, and that was why Ji Pianran had to suffer disrespect along with him.
He had been happy to buy new clothes for his wife and child, only to have it turn into such a scene.
The more he thought about it, the guiltier he felt.
Ji Pianran looked at Gu Chen, her eyebrows twitching slightly, her beautiful, watery eyes filled with confusion.
Why was he apologizing to her?
If it weren’t for him, they would have had a tough time getting through the New Year this year.
“It was Shen Cuilan who was creating trouble out of nothing, don’t take it to heart,” she said softly, comforting him.
Gu Chen looked at her intently, pulling out a plastic bag full of money from inside his clothing in one go.
Then he handed it to Ji Pianran.
“Going forward, I will work even harder, and I definitely won’t let others look down on us again!”
Ji Pianran was extremely surprised by the bulging plastic bag in Gu Chen’s hand.
She looked at Gu Chen incredulously.
“This much?”
Wow, this was more than what they had earned from selling cauliflower in the morning!
That money didn’t even come to half of this!
Gu Chen laughed and patted her shoulder.
“I went to buy goji berries in the afternoon, just as you suggested, near the hospital entrance. Business was good.”
After saying that, he added, “Old rules, you and Tangtang count the money, I’ll cook, we’ll have dumplings tonight!”
Ji Pianran was taken aback.
“Dumplings? Isn’t that what we eat on the evening of the first day?”
They usually only had dumplings on the evening of the New Year’s Day.
By the third day, they were usually back to their normal lives.
There was no helping it; the family was poor, and a meal of dumplings required two pounds of meat.
Now, if they ate dumplings, what would they do on New Year’s Eve?
Gu Chen laughed heartily, “Who says dumplings can only be eaten on New Year’s Day? As long as you have money, you can eat dumplings every day!”
With that, he took the meat and went to the kitchen.
Ji Pianran held the bag in her hand but wasn’t in a hurry to count the money.
Instead, she first carried the bedding that Gu Chen had brought back into his room.
Tangtang followed behind Ji Pianran like a little shadow.
Ji Pianran first took off Gu Chen’s bedsheet, then spread the new mattress she had bought on top.
After smoothing it out neatly, she then put the original one on top again.
Her idea was simple.
Gu Chen had had a long day, and she wanted to make the bed early so he could have a good night’s sleep!
Only after doing all this did the mother and daughter return to the small wooden table in the living room, just like last time.
They began to count the money!
…
On Gu Chen’s side, after he had prepared the dough, he began to make the dumpling filling.
He chopped the meat finely, added a handful of green onion, a bit of minced ginger, some soy sauce, a pinch of salt, and finally a splash of oil, and the preparation was done.
Once the dough was ready, he began to wrap the dumplings.
With the skins rolled out, his hands worked expertly, and a dumpling was completed with a pinch.
In a short while, Gu Chen had already wrapped more than twenty dumplings.
However, today Gu Chen planned to wrap more.
He wanted to deliver a bowl to Aunt Zhang next door.
After all, she had taken good care of Ji Pianran and Xiao Tangtang over the years.
In his past life, he had been young and foolish; while saying he had deserted his wife and child might be an exaggeration, what he did was not much different.
Aunt Zhang had helped take care of his wife and child, and for that kindness, he owed her for a lifetime!
Forget dumplings, he also wanted to give Aunt Zhang some fresh goji berries!
As long as he had something, he would share it with Aunt Zhang!