country bumpkin

She rushed over and anxiously shook Kong Xiangguang, "Xiangguang, Xiangguang, what's wrong? Wake up! Don't scare me."

But Kong Xiangguang didn't wake up; instead, he could be heard snoring. Wang Cuihua breathed a sigh of relief.

Remembering Kong Xiangguang's unpleasant expression earlier, she stopped worrying about him. "Hmph! He dares to scold me. Looks like I've been giving you the cold shoulder lately."

After saying that, she ignored him and left him lying on the bed, dressed and wearing shoes, without a blanket.

Wang Cuihua went to her sons' room and saw that they were sleeping soundly, so she quietly closed the door and went back to her own room.

Back in the bedroom, looking at the man snoring loudly, I was filled with anger again. This man, as he gets older, develops all sorts of bad habits.

Farting, burping, and bad breath—none of these were untrue accusations against him. He also snored at night and sometimes ground his teeth. Seeing the increasingly unkempt man made her very uncomfortable, so she angrily slapped Kong Xiangguang's face a few times.

Kong Xiangguang was completely drunk and, even after being hit, remained unconscious. He only felt a burning pain on his face.

Wang Cuihua had no choice but to take off his shoes and throw them aside. Then, with great effort, she pushed him to the far end of the bed, covered herself with the blanket, and ignored Kong Xiangguang's situation.

After a while, Wang Cuihua also fell asleep. In the middle of the night, she was woken up by the cold, feeling cold all over. When she got up and turned on the light, she was filled with anger again.

Kong Xiangguang actually pulled his own quilt away and covered himself with it.

Wang Cuihua resisted the urge to kick him off the bed, went to the closet to get another blanket, and covered herself with it. She turned off the light and went back to sleep.

Have a good night's sleep.

The next day, Kong Xiangguang woke up with a headache and facial pain.

He touched his slightly swollen face and asked Wang Cuihua, "Cuihua, what happened to me yesterday? Why is my face swollen and painful now?"

Wang Cuihua didn't dare to look at him, her gaze darting away as she said, "You came back drunk yesterday. You were already like this when you came back, maybe you bumped into a wall or a tree."

Kong Xiangguang asked in bewilderment, "If you hit a wall, your forehead should be red and swollen, and if you hit a tree, your nose should break first. How come your face swelled up first?"

Wang Cuihua guessed that he had blacked out yesterday, and boldly said, "Maybe he bumped his face on a high step."

Kong Xiangguang touched his face with some skepticism. It really hurt; he couldn't touch it, as it would hurt terribly if he did.

He touched his head; it was throbbing badly. He decided not to go anywhere today and to get some rest.

After waiting for a while, Wang Cuihua prepared the meal. After he finished eating, he went back to his room to catch up on his sleep.

Wang Cuihua didn't dare to get angry anymore. If it were right after she gave birth, would Kong Xiangguang have dared to sleep during the day?

It's a miracle she's not being cursed by herself. Now she feels guilty and doesn't dare cause trouble.

After she finished feeding the two children breakfast, she sent them out to play at the old house. She told them to have lunch at the old house and come back before dark.

Kong Jianjun was very obedient and took his younger brother to his grandmother's house. Wang Cuihua went to chat with Granny Wang.

When Kong Jianjun arrived at his grandmother's house, he saw her cleaning the house and wanted to help her sweep the floor.

Mu Shuyun sent them inside to play and watch TV, while she and her youngest daughter, Kong Xiufang, cleaned the house.

Kong Xiufang wiped everything down with a rag, leaving no corner untouched. Mu Shuyun swept several rooms with a broom.

After sweeping the floor, she mopped the room again. Kong Xiufang had already wiped all the places that needed wiping, and seeing her mother panting heavily, she quickly took the mop and went to mop the room that hadn't been finished.

After cleaning all the rooms, I went to wash the apples. I also took out the plastic fruit bowl I'd been saving up for, and filled it with sunflower seeds. On top of the seeds were some fruit candies and milk candies.

Another fruit platter contained several red bananas and apples. These apples were from fruit trees grown in their village.

It's fragrant, soft, and sweet; kids love eating this kind of apple noodle.

Mu Shuyun was always frugal and wouldn't buy such a luxury as a fruit platter. People in the countryside usually use bowls, porcelain jars, or old cardboard boxes to hold melon seeds.

The apples were all served on plates. These two fruit plates were specially bought by Kong Xiufang when she went shopping for New Year's goods.

We had guests coming over today, so the mother and daughter got up early, ate breakfast, and started tidying up.

Having finished her work, Mu Shuyun went to the kitchen to check the ingredients. She had bought a lot of meat, vegetables, and cooked food in town a few days ago, and they were all stored in the refrigerator.

It was cold, and Mu Shuyun wanted to put the meat in the ice pool outside instead of opening the refrigerator, fearing it would waste electricity.

Kong Xiufang didn't agree, but still asked her to open the refrigerator. She said she hadn't used it yet and wanted to open it to see how it worked.

The quality should be fine; these appliances were all purchased from Yicheng Department Store when we got engaged.

Mu Shuyun only opened the refrigerator because she had bought a lot of meat and vegetables these past few days. If Kong Xiufang hadn't been home, Mu Shuyun wouldn't have been willing to do so.

However, an ice pool was still built. It was a cement pool, 1 meter long and 1 meter wide, built with bricks next to the well.

They dug down another meter and laid another layer of bricks. Then they used cement as a base and smoothed out the surrounding area.

After it dried, I bought two meters of thick tarpaulin and put it in the pool, smoothing it out around the pool.

If you draw a few buckets of water from the well and pour them into the pool, they will freeze into ice blocks overnight.

The next day, use a chisel to break the ice into small pieces, and put the items that need to be frozen at the bottom of the ice pieces. That's it.

Many households in the village make ice pools this way.

Whether you can afford a refrigerator or not is one thing, but if you have some money, you'd like to save it up and use it when you need it.

Rural people are careful with their money and won't buy luxury goods like this.

For generations, the villagers have been making ice pools. Some people don't even want to spend money to make an ice pool; they just put it outside, fill it with a large basin, and cover it with a large bamboo basket to prevent it from being ruined by wild cats or weasels.

Mu Shuyun took out several cooked main dishes: pig's ears, pig's large intestine, and pig's head meat.

I chopped another chicken into pieces. I stewed half with potatoes and made the other half into spicy stir-fried chicken. I also took some spare ribs and made spare rib, vermicelli, and mushroom stew.

That makes six dishes. Add four more vegetarian dishes, and you'll have ten dishes—perfect!

Having prepared the ingredients, Mu Shuyun returned to the living room to wait for the guests to arrive.

While she was preparing the ingredients, Kong Xiufang heated up the breakfast, and Kong Xiangyao and Kong Tongming both ate breakfast.

Kong Tongming has gone to work, and Kong Xiangyao hasn't gone out to visit his friend. His fourth brother-in-law is coming today, so he's staying home to see what he looks like.

He was away from home all last year, and he wasn't home when his fourth sister got engaged. Today, he stayed home to have dinner with the guests.

Yun Ya praised her uncle-in-law over and over again, which made Kong Xiangyao even more curious. Just how handsome was he that this little devil praised him so highly?