The first time in history

"Auntie," Qian Mingduo stood at the kitchen door and said to Su Yaqin, "I'm not very good at cooking, but I heard Wan'er say that you have to cook for us when you get home from get off work, and I was worried that you were too tired, so I cooked a few dishes without knowing the good or the bad."

"That's great, Xiaoming." Su Yaqin said approvingly, "You can cook seven or eight dishes, and you still say that you don't know what's good for you. Auntie smelled the aroma of the food as soon as she entered the door. I was wondering, I thought Lei Lei had invited a chef to come to our house to cook."

"Mom," Lin Leilei pushed Su Yaqin's back, "Go wash your hands quickly. I'm hungry."

When Qian Mingduo took the bowls off the plate one by one, Su Yaqin was even more surprised. The dishes made by Qian Mingduo all looked delicious.

The mushroom rapeseed is thinly coated with starch sauce, the rapeseed is crisp and the mushrooms are soft and smooth; the bright red braised pork is fat but not greasy, soft and sweet; the sour and spicy potato shreds are distinct, showing a refreshing light yellow color, with a crisp, sour and spicy taste...

"Mom, try this fried pork with peppers." Lin Leilei picked up a piece of dark red meat and put it in her mother's bowl. "This kind of meat is marinated with seasonings first, and then fried. It uses salt...soy sauce..." Lin Leilei looked at Qian Mingduo for help. "Anything else?"

"It's just pickled with salt, soy sauce, starch and an egg." Qian Mingduo said embarrassedly: "Actually, I just made it blindly. Auntie, you can just eat it as it is. I can't cook it well."

"Hmm..." Su Yaqin ate the meat slices. "It's very tender, slightly spicy, and has a hint of pepper. It's very delicious."

“Yes, yes, yes,” Lin Leilei said with great joy, “Brother Xiaoming added a little bit of pepper. We don’t have it at home, so Brother Xiaoming brought it from his family. Mom is also very good. She could taste the pepper right away.”

Su Yaqin smiled at her daughter, then turned to ask Qian Mingduo: "There are not many children your age who can cook nowadays. They are all students. Their parents cook for them at home, and they eat in the cafeteria at school. How did you learn to cook?"

"Auntie, you know my parents have been working away from home, and I'm the only one at home." Qian Mingduo poured a drink into Lin Leilei's cup. "I was forced to do this. If I don't learn how to cook, I'll go hungry. I've been cooking at home since junior high school."

"Oh! So you have been cooking for several years." Su Yaqin asked: "Where do your parents work? What do they do?"

"Auntie," Qian Mingduo looked embarrassed and smiled awkwardly, "I don't know."

"Why don't you know?" Su Yaqin asked in confusion, "You don't even know where your parents work?"

"It's true, auntie." Qian Mingduo nodded and said, "I only know that my parents work in a state-owned unit with a very high level of confidentiality. I don't know what unit it is or what my parents do."

"Then didn't you ask your parents?" Su Yaqin said, "Didn't they tell you either?"

"I asked this question when I was little," Qian Mingduo said sadly, "but my father told me that I can't ask this question anymore, because they won't tell me even if I ask. You just need to remember that your parents are in a super confidential state-owned unit, and don't ask anything else."

"Oh," Su Yaqin nodded, "So that's what happened."

“In fact, I didn’t understand it when I was little.” Qian Ming took another sip of his drink and continued, “Other children or classmates all knew where their parents worked, and some even knew what their parents did for a living, but I was the only one who knew nothing.

"I remember one time when the school held a parents' meeting, I had no way to inform my parents because I didn't know where to find them. Over the years, I could only see them when they came home. Sometimes it took a few months, sometimes more than half a year."

Su Yaqin stroked Qian Mingduo's back and looked at this strong child with eyes full of care and love.

"Other students either had their fathers or mothers come to the parent-teacher conference. But I could only tell the teacher that my parents were working in other places and couldn't attend the conference. When the teacher asked me where my parents worked, I could only say I didn't know."

Qian Mingduo smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, I really don't know."

"Oh, right," Qian Mingduo said with a happy face, "Grandma Li attended a parent-teacher conference on my behalf. The strange thing is that after that, the teacher no longer asked me about it at other parent-teacher conferences. It seemed that they knew it was useless to ask, as my parents would definitely not be able to come."

What Qian Mingduo didn't know was that it was Grandma Li who found the school leaders and told them about Qian Mingduo's family situation. After that, the teacher never notified him of parent-teacher meetings again.

"How long has it been since your parents came back?" Su Yaqin asked.

"Yes..." Qian Mingduo couldn't answer this question, because after he traveled back, he couldn't remember how long his parents hadn't been home, but he couldn't help but answer Su Yaqin's question, so he pretended to think about it and said, "It's been several months, I'm used to it."

"Then when your parents come home, let's meet together?" Su Yaqin said.

"Okay," Qian Mingduo said with a smile, "I learned how to cook from my dad, and I always eat a lot of the food he cooks. When my parents come back, please invite uncle, aunt and Leilei to our house for dinner."

Lin Leilei took off her pink socks and threw them on the sofa, which earned her mother's disapproving look.

"My father was afraid that I would starve to death, so he wrote a cookbook for me." Qian Mingduo frowned at Lin Leilei and scolded her for taking off her socks at the dinner table. "It contains detailed recipes for more than 20 dishes."

While Qian Mingduo was talking, he saw and felt a foot gently stepping on the back of his foot, and then the other.

Qian Mingduo immediately understood why Lin Leilei took off her socks, because Lin Leilei wanted him to feel her skin.

Qian Mingduo quickly glanced at Lin Leilei and saw that her eyes were full of concern and distress.

Qian Mingduo felt Lin Leilei's delicate soles rubbing his insteps slowly, with gentle and slow movements, as if she wanted to convey warmth and comfort to him in this way. At the same time, Lin Leilei also wanted Qian Mingduo to feel her love and companionship for him.

Summer vacation is coming, and Qian Mingduo is arranged by the school to go to another city for internship. When Qian Mingduo tells Lin Leilei that he will be going to another city for internship during the summer vacation, both of them can't help but feel sad.

Because Lin Leilei also had to go to her grandmother's house in another city during the summer vacation. As a result, the two of them would not see each other for at least two months.