"What's up with this little girl?"
Lu Yun's sigh instantly drew the attention of both adults. Her adorable, grown-up demeanor made Lu Aiguo unable to resist stretching out his hand to pinch her cheek.
It was indeed soft and smooth. A surge of fatherly love welled up from the depths of Lu Aiguo's heart.
Having her cheek pinched, Lu Yun awkwardly tilted her head, enduring it without protest.
She picked up the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, pushing more than half into Lu Aiguo's bowl before tipping the rest into her mother's. Then she grabbed two meat buns, stuffing one into each of their hands.
"Dad, Mom, if you keep dawdling like this, when are we ever going to get the household registration changed?"
"We'll go in a bit. I just need to ask Second Uncle how to do it," Lu Aiguo said as he glanced at the eggs in his bowl, trying to push them toward Xia Yuan's bowl, "Eggs are for women to eat, why should I eat this?"
"Who says that? You do all the physical labor, you could easily outeat both of us. How can you not eat more? I'm full, save these meat buns for you to eat this afternoon. Xiaoyun and my household registers are still over there; getting us all moved over here won't be easy; there's going to be quite a hassle."
Xia Yuan said with concern, simultaneously trying to put the meat bun back into the bowl and attempting once again to transfer the eggs into Lu Aiguo's bowl.
"We're not afraid of them," Lu Aiguo snorted with contempt. After all, the Lu Family were the big clan in this village, with many members. His Second Uncle was also the village Party Secretary and Brigade Commander, more than enough to roll over anyone with the surname Su.
"Don't move the eggs back to my bowl again; I really don't like them. You and Xiaoyun should eat more. I've had enough of these meat buns; they don't taste good and aren't appetizing. Just leave them for you and Xiaoyun." Lu Aiguo's face showed disgust.
"Who would want to eat those greasy buns? I was thinking of letting you finish this one too. And hey, who said eggs are only for women to eat? Didn't you say you'd listen to me on everything?"
"I'll listen to you on other things, but not this. If you insist on this, from now on, I call the shots with food, and you call the shots on everything else."
"Since when do men manage the eating? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at?" Xia Yuan objected.
"Let them laugh, what's the big deal? I'd like to see who dares to laugh in my face…" Lu Aiguo glared.
The two glared at each other, both faces full of stubbornness, neither willing to back down.
Lu Yun was exasperated as she slumped over the table, burying her head helplessly in her arms, the situation going beyond what she had expected. She couldn't believe her parents were arguing over each other not eating enough, even bringing up reasons like greasy meat buns as an excuse.
Were these excuses that unreliable? This was an era where many people still didn't have meat to eat and were struggling just to have enough. Such reasons would be more fitting if said twenty years later.
Lu Yun suddenly ran out of the main house into the kitchen with a sense of desperate resolve. She lifted the lid of the large wooden pot on the stove and filled it to the brim with meat buns. She then found a large basket and stuffed it full of eggs.
Not stopping there, she took out two large five-liter containers of unbranded peanut oil with the labels torn off. Next came a big bag each of unlabeled flour and rice. Finally, she did a lap around and, considering the hot weather might cause food to spoil, reluctantly brought out over ten pounds of fresh pork, five or six big heads of Chinese cabbage, and two large watermelons.
Returning to the main house, Lu Yun saw her parents had not yet resolved their argument. She stood in the doorway, watching the drama play out while thinking fiercely to herself, Humph, let's see if you both can resist eating now.
After indulging in the spectacle to her content, she casually made her presence known.
"Dad, Mom, you have to go check the kitchen quickly, there are so many meat buns!"
"..."
Xia Yuan and Lu Aiguo were both stunned.
Lu Yun ran over, grabbed both of their hands, and dragged them toward the kitchen. Sure enough, as they entered the kitchen, she saw that they were completely astounded.
"...What, what's going on?"
A large pot was piled with meat buns like a small mountain, easily dozens of them at a glance, and there were also meat, eggs, oil, rice, flour, cabbage, and watermelon—each item a rare find. Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan were now certain that these things couldn't have been brought by someone from the village, and no family could afford to give away such items.
But if it wasn't someone else who brought them, then how did they suddenly appear in their house? Who placed them there? And what was their intent?
"Could it be that a fairy grandfather brought them?" Lu Yun said with an "innocent" smile on her face, "Dad, Mom, there are so many buns, now we can all eat as much as we want and feel happy about it."
"But there are so many buns. Even if the three of us ate six meals a day, we couldn't possibly finish them all, and with the weather so hot, wouldn't they spoil?" Xia Yuan hesitated for a moment before quickly thinking of the practical issue at hand.
"That is also true. I wonder if they'd last a few more days if we put them in the cellar?" Lu Aiguo didn't know whether to be happy or worried, for he had never thought he'd worry about having too much to eat and it going bad one day.
Embarrassed!
Lu Yun hung her head and her face showed an embarrassed expression. She just couldn't help but produce too many meat buns at once. If it were winter, it would be okay since they could be frozen and eaten slowly, but unfortunately, it was the height of summer, with no refrigerator in sight. These dozens of large meat buns would last at most one day, and they were likely to spoil overnight. Relying on just the three of them to eat them all to avoid spoilage seemed impossible.
To give them away would require a good reason and excuse, which was hard to come by. But it was worse to let them spoil.
Oh, it seemed she had created a dilemma for Dad and Mom.
Never mind, it was their own fault for being so hesitant about accepting food. Although she was touched by watching them, it was more distressing. It was obvious that taking out so much stuff at once would seem suspicious, but she couldn't afford to worry about that now. She just wanted her dad and mom to have enough to eat, to eat well. It was better to feign ignorance; after all, as a child, she needn't fret over such things.
She guessed that Dad and Mom wouldn't talk about such an "unimaginable" happening, would they?
After mentally steeling herself, Lu Yun cheerfully lifted her head and looked at her parents, who were fretting.
"No matter. Later, we'll count how many there are, keep enough for us to eat for two days, and also set aside a few for Wu Tan and Shitou. Those two are big lads. They might eat even more than me. When they're done, we can have Wu Tan secretly take a couple back to his mom. If there's enough left over, let's send ten each to Uncle, Second Uncle, and Cousin."
In the hot weather, meat buns wouldn't last, and they'd probably be spoiled by evening. Rather than letting them spoil, it's better to distribute them so that everyone gets to taste some meat.
Lu Aiguo made a quick decision: "Yuanyuan, let's hide everything else first. Then we'll deliver them house by house—it's a good opportunity for you and Xiaoyun to get to know the neighbors."
"Maybe we can give each family a cabbage as well, and Aunt Tian's family should also get some. But how are we going to explain this?" Xia Yuan wasn't so much reluctant to part with the meat buns as she was unsure how to respond if people were to ask where they came from.