After taking a bath, Lin Mai took a nap and thought that dinner was almost ready, so he went downstairs.
She had just poured herself a glass of cold water when an aunt in her fifties walked in.
He smiled and said hello: "My surname is Hu, and I live next door to you. You can call me Grandma Hu from now on."
Lin Mai asked her to sit down and said with a smile: "You are so young, it is more appropriate to call you aunt."
For Jiangcheng people in this era, it is disrespectful to call someone lower in seniority.
Aunt Hu was a little unhappy and said with a downcast face: "I have grandchildren, you call me aunt?"
Lin Mai smiled and asked: "How old is your grandson?"
Aunt Hu stretched out a slap: "Five years old."
Lin Mai smiled: "My daughter will be four years old by the end of the year, and she is about the same age as your grandson. How can I call you grandma?"
Aunt Hu was taken aback, pointing to Doudou, who was playing with Ah Huang with her grandson, at the door of the store, and asked in disbelief: "Is that your daughter?"
Lin Mai nodded with a smile and went to pour her some boiled water.
Aunt Hu hurriedly waved her hands and said with a look of disgust: "Don't be busy. My family has cooked mung bean soup. I drank the mung bean soup. It's hot today, who needs to drink boiled water!"
When Lin Mai heard what she said, he stopped pouring water for her.
Aunt Hu looked Lin Mai up and down: "How old are you?"
Lin Mai didn't want to tell her the truth, so he said perfunctorily: "I'm twenty years old."
Only then did the look of surprise on Aunt Hu's face dissipate.
Giving birth to a baby at the age of sixteen is very common in this era, especially in the countryside.
There was a sense of superiority in her eyes: "Thick skin and thick flesh are good. You are old, but you look like you are only sixteen or seventeen years old."
Lin Mai smiled and ignored her.
Aunt Hu seemed to have no expression, but continued to talk: "The man who helped you move this morning was your husband?"
"no."
Aunt Hu was stunned for a moment: "What about your husband?"
Lin Mai said lightly: "I don't have a husband."
When Aunt Hu heard this, she couldn't help but look at her several times inquiringly, and then looked at Doudou at the door of the store. She was too self-righteous to ask the question.
Changing the subject: "How much is the rent for renting Dad He's house?"
Lin Mai replied with three words: "It's not convenient to say."
Aunt Hu didn't expect her to answer like this. She choked and said unhappily: "It's not a secret, it needs to be kept secret!"
Lin Mai didn't answer her words and acted like he didn't want to pay attention to her.
Aunt Hu was so angry that she gritted her teeth secretly, raised her hand and looked at her watch: "It's getting late, aren't you going to make dinner?"
Lin Mai said calmly: "Don't you want to talk to aunt? Besides, there are people cooking."
Aunt Hu seemed to not understand the meaning of her words: "What delicious food do you have for dinner?"
Lin Mai gave her a strange look.
What delicious food their family would make for dinner and they wouldn't invite her to eat it, so she asked this question inexplicably.
Lin Mai wrote lightly: "I didn't make anything delicious, just a few home-cooked dishes."
"Home-cooked food is very good and economical." After saying this, Aunt Hu started the Versailles mode, "The rain in Jiangcheng is too heavy, and it is easy to lose appetite.
For dinner today, I specially made a dish of shredded pork with pickled mustard, cooked a plate of fried eggs and leeks, made a tofu and shrimp skin soup, and added a few drops of sesame oil into it, which is appetizing..."
Before she finished speaking, the closed kitchen door opened, and the aroma of pork rib soup immediately filled the air.
Zhou Caiyun came out with a large bowl of pork rib soup, still shouting: "Let's eat!"
Lin Mai asked deliberately: "If there are any other dishes, I will serve them."
"Sauerkraut fish, shredded potatoes, mapo tofu and celery shredded pork."
Aunt Hu watched with her own eyes as Lin Mai brought out these dishes one after another from the kitchen, her face a little confused.
Is this what she calls home-cooked food?! The dishes she used to show off can hardly be mentioned in front of these dishes.
Aunt Hu laughed and said, "You guys eat, I'm going back."
Lin Mai said hypocritically and politely: "Come and play when you have time."
Then he shouted Doudou's name a few times, and the little guy ran back with Ah Huang.
Zhou Caiyun placed the bowls and chopsticks with a look of disgust on her face: "Why did Aunt Hu come here?"
Lin Mai patted Doudou's little paws about to reach out to grab the vegetables: "Wash your hands!"
She raised her eyes and asked Zhou Caiyun: "What? Are you having a holiday with Aunt Hu?"
Zhou Caiyun has a good temper, and he actually had issues with Aunt Hu as soon as he moved here. This is really surprising.
"It's not a festival."
Seeing Doudou wash her hands, Zhou Caiyun ran over and pulled out a chair for her to sit down and eat.
"In the morning, when I was selling steamed buns and braised eggs alone, she came over with her grandson.
I ordered a bun and a braised egg and wanted to leave without giving me the money. I stopped her and asked her to give me the money. What do you think she said?"
Lin Mai said disdainfully: "What else can you say? I will definitely say that we are all neighbors, and you still charge money for a steamed bun and a braised egg?"
Zhou Caiyun looked surprised: "How do you know? You were not present at the time."
Lin Mai picked up some shredded potatoes with chopsticks and said, "People who take advantage like to say that."
Then he asked: "Did she pay for the steamed buns and braised eggs in the end?"
Zhou Caiyun said: "I insist on her giving it in front of so many customers, can she refuse to give it?
That's why I felt strange, how could she still have the nerve to come to our door after all the trouble?"
Lin Mai said calmly: "I just want to get back in the game. I came here to show off that her family is rich. She asks you for steamed buns and braised eggs because she thinks highly of you, not to take advantage of you."
Zhou Caiyun snorted disdainfully.
After finishing the meal and clearing away the dishes, Lin Mai and Zhou Caiyun prepared for tomorrow's business.
Doudou took Ah Huang out to play.
Lin Mai took a lot of pickled mustard and washed it under the tap. Suddenly he heard Ah Huang's barking.
She put down what she was doing and ran out, shouting as she ran: "Doudou, control Ah Huang, don't let him bite!"
When I went out, I saw that it was not Ah Huang who wanted to hurt anyone, but Aunt Hu and her grandson next door who were chasing Dou Dou away.
Ah Huang thought they wanted to hurt Doudou, so he barked anxiously, but they just barked and did not attack.
When Aunt Hu saw Lin Mai walking over with a gloomy face, she grabbed her grandson and said impatiently: "Get your dog back quickly, its fangs are so scary."
After that, before Lin Mai could say anything, he slammed the door shut.
Lin Mai picked up Doudou and walked home: "Why are you standing in front of someone else's house, and you won't leave even if they chase you away?"
Doudou lay in her arms and whispered: "Yangyang's family has a TV, and I want to watch his TV..."
Yangyang is Aunt Hu’s grandson.
"They don't let you enter their house, right? Then you don't go in."
The little guy hugged Lin Mai's neck aggrievedly: "I never thought about entering his house.
I just want to stand in front of his house and watch TV, but he and his grandma won’t let me~
I even gave Yangyang some lard candy before."
Lin Mai touched her little head: "Sometimes, you treat others as friends, but others may not treat you as friends.
Don't be sad. If you are free tomorrow, mom will buy you a radio and some comic books. Can you listen to the radio and read comic books at home?"
TVs are too expensive.
A 12-inch black and white TV costs more than 400 yuan, not counting the industrial price.
Lin Mai currently cannot afford so much money, let alone industrial votes.
The radio only cost two industrial tickets and cost fifty or sixty yuan, which she could afford.