After making the dumplings, I made another pot and each person ate a few. After finishing the dumplings, the clock rang twelve o'clock.
Because they were old, Ding's father, Ding's mother, Li Qin and Wang Ziwen couldn't stand it any longer, so they each took their grandson back to sleep.
Li Wenxuan, Wang Jiadong, and Ding Jianguo, together with their respective family members, ran to the pavilion in the back garden to play cards.
The six of them plan to fight until dawn tonight.
They were not happy to let them play in any room. Li Chu was afraid of freezing them, so he built a briquette stove and carried it there. A pot of water was sitting on it, and there happened to be some water to drink.
When he arrived at the back garden at dawn the next morning, the three family members had fallen asleep on their husbands' laps at some unknown time.
As the three men played Landlords, they all started bringing money.
It didn't seem like the game was big. Anyway, when Li Chu went in, he saw pennies on the table.
But this was enough to frighten the three of them and make them happy. They didn't hear anything going on outside.
I had specifically told them before that it was okay to play cards, but definitely not allowed to bring money.
Li Chu raised his eyebrows when he saw this, walked over and grabbed the tickets on the table and looked at them.
"Okay, Jianguo, you are the only elder here, are you leading them to play?"
"Sister...brother-in-law, let's just play casually. I have never played with money before. This is the first time. It only costs one penny. And it was almost four o'clock when we played, and we had just played for a while."
"Dad, I was the one who suggested it. We were wrong and we will never dare to do it again."
As the three of them stood up, the three family members who were still lying on their laps also woke up. When they looked at the money on the table, they knew what was going on, and they all stood there without daring to say anything.
"It's not that I won't let you play. The three of you are a state cadre, a soldier, and a police officer. Do you all understand your status?"
"Brother-in-law, we promise that we just played like this with our own talents. We have never played outside. I have never even played cards with outsiders."
"Uncle, so am I. This is really the first time."
"Okay, I believe you. I still say what I said, remember your identity, what you can do and what you can't do, and know what you can and cannot do. Don't let others catch you.
It’s not impossible to have fun at home with relatives during the holidays, but you have to be restrained, you know.”
"I understand, brother-in-law (uncle) (father)."
"Who won after playing for a long time?"
"Ah?" The sudden turn made several people stunned for a moment.
"Dad, I won five cents." Li Wenxuan said cautiously.
"Okay, let's not talk about the two days off. After work, you will buy us a pound of mutton. The same goes for both of you. You can play cards during the two days off. Whoever wins will buy us the meat after the holiday.
Let’s have barbecue together when we come back.”
Li Wenxuan could fit an egg into his mouth.
I just won five cents. How much does a pound of mutton cost?
Li Chu may have realized that he was a little cruel, and continued: "Based on fifty cents per pound of meat, just like Wenxuan, it is one or two pounds of meat."
After a few people heard this, they felt relieved. It was okay if they calculated it this way. After all, they would eat the meat after buying it.
"Okay, pack up. Stop playing now and get ready to make dumplings for dinner. Wenxuan and Yueyue will go out with me later to celebrate the New Year. If you want to play, you can play tonight."
This is an annual repertoire. Wenxuan and Yueyue have long been used to it, and they both nodded in agreement.
"Dad Chu, the smelly baby didn't drink milk last night?"
"Didn't you feed me before going to bed? It's only five o'clock, so it's not time yet."
"Oh oh oh, I'm so confused." Wang Yueyue patted her head with some squinting.
After eating the dumplings, Li Chu and his family of five got in the car and went straight to the nursing home.
"Hey, come on, come on, let grandma hug me, you look at your little face, I feel so sorry for you." As soon as they entered Uncle Wu's house, Aunt Wu took the child from Ding Qiunan's arms.
There was heating in the room, so she first took off the small quilt wrapped around the child.
"It's true that your uncle still insists on you coming over and bringing the child with you in such a cold weather. You see how cold the child is and his little face is red."
"It's okay, Auntie, this boy is just like his father when he was a kid. He's as solid as his skin."
"No matter how strong the skin is, it's only five months old. Come on, there's something to eat on the coffee table. Get it yourself. This little guy doesn't know how to live. Look, Lao Wu, he's still smiling at me."
Uncle Wu looked at the child happily, and the old couple immediately threw the adults aside.
"Hey, can the child eat sweets now?"
"Go, how can you eat sweets at your age? You can figure it out." Aunt Wu rolled her eyes at the old man.
Li Chu watched from the sidelines as the second elder teased the child awkwardly, and felt sad in his heart.
The old couple never had children of their own. Although the staff took good care of them in their later years, this emotional lack cannot be made up for.
Ever since the baby was born, Uncle Wu often called him and asked him to take the baby with him when he went over. Once for a routine physical examination, he went alone because the old man gave him a look on his face for a long time.
After teasing the child for a while, Uncle Wu arranged for the staff to go and tell the people in the cafeteria to bring over a bowl of steamed egg custard.
The second boss wanted to give the child something delicious. In order to satisfy their wishes, Ding Qiunan asked them to feed him egg custard. It happened that the child was about to drink milk.
After eating, the child began to yawn, and Aunt Wu patted the old man's arm.
"Have someone roll out the prepared crib."
"Ah? Oh oh oh, I forgot."
The conversation between the old couple made Li Chu and the others stunned. What is going on?
Upon seeing this, Secretary Zhang explained: "Director Li, the leader specially found a small bed that can be pushed and pulled. He said that the child will definitely need to sleep when he comes here today, so it will be easier to take care of him if he sleeps there."
Looking at the small bed that the staff rolled out from the house, Li Chu didn't know what to say.
The child was also very proud today. He lay on the small bed and did not rush to sleep. Instead, he sat up and played with the elders for a while before falling asleep.
"This little guy is obedient, doesn't make any noise when sleeping, and falls asleep when he's sleepy. This is good, this is good."
Aunt Wu was sitting on the sofa, looking at the child who had fallen asleep, and reached out her hand to carefully touch the fleshy face.
"Xiao Chu, come to the study with me and tell me about your medicine."
"Okay uncle."
"You're celebrating the New Year, your children are here to pay you New Year greetings, and you still have to talk about work." Aunt Wu said with some dissatisfaction.
"Hey, it's only a few minutes. Qiu Nan, you guys sit down first." Uncle Wu looked at Li Wenxuan and thought for a moment before saying, "Wenxuan, you can come too."