country bumpkin

After lunch, Mu Shuyun tidied the table and started buying meat and chopping it into filling. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, so they're making dumplings.

Mu Shuyun ran to the neighbor's house across the street to find Granny Zhang, who had just finished lunch and was serving the dishes.

In the morning, Granny Zhang went to the market and brought back meat, vegetables, and a few pounds of mooncakes for Mu Shuyun.

Granny Zhang took her own vegetables back to the kitchen and then came back to organize Mu Shuyun's vegetables and meat.

Looking up, she saw Mu Shuyun arrive. Granny Zhang smiled and said, "I just finished eating and was thinking of clearing the table and bringing it over to you!"

Mu Shuyun smiled and said politely, "Oh, dear sister, how could I let you buy the groceries and then deliver them? That's already too much trouble for you."

Granny Zhang glanced at her and said, "Little sister, why are you being so polite with me? That would be too formal. We've known each other for so many years, there's no need to be so polite."

Mu Shuyun quickly nodded, "Yes! I won't stand on ceremony with you. I'll take the vegetables home first; I still need to chop the filling when I get back."

Granny Zhang knew that Mu Shuyun was busy, but mainly because Yunya had come, she was happy and stayed at home with Yunya, without ever leaving the house.

Yunya is the same; mostly the children come to her to play, and she doesn't go out to play much.

Although she is young and playful, she has stayed at home and hasn't gone out much.

Even when Grandma is busy, she's always at home. When I miss her, I can just look outside and see her. That brings me a lot of comfort.

Mu Shuyun felt the same way. When she missed her granddaughter, she would look into the house and see her beloved granddaughter.

As soon as Mu Shuyun got home, she went to the kitchen to knead the dough. After kneading the dough, she covered it with a bamboo mat and started chopping the filling.

After mincing the meat, I started preparing the seasonings. Once those were ready, I prepared the vegetables, chicken, and cooked meat for the afternoon stir-fry.

An hour and a half had passed since everything was ready. Inside, Yunya and the others were tired and had finished writing.

Caixia suggested going out to the yard to play hopscotch. Xianghong wanted to play on the swings, and Yunya wanted to play jump rope.

In the end, the three girls unanimously decided to play all of them. They started by playing on the swings, taking turns for a while before getting bored.

They started playing hopscotch again. After a few rounds, they got tired of it. Yunya took out the rubber bands she had brought back and taught Caixia and Xianghong how to jump rope.

The two of them were excited and thrilled, as if they were seeing something new for the first time. Their school also had hopscotch games, but not many children could afford to buy them.

The adults in the family use rubber bands to make elastic bands for their pants; who would be willing to buy so many for the kids to play with?

Xiang Hong's family is not short of money, but her mother and grandmother are frugal people who are reluctant to spend money recklessly.

The money Yunya uses to buy toys comes from the New Year's money given to her by her maternal and paternal grandparents when they celebrate the New Year in the countryside over the years.

She had never been willing to spend the money and had saved it all. Last time her mother came to pick her and her grandmother up to go to the city, she secretly took it with her.

She didn't feel comfortable leaving her hard-earned savings where she couldn't see them. It was safer to keep them with her at all times.

Xiang Hong learns things very quickly; after one round, she has basically mastered all the different jumping patterns.

She even remembered the lyrics they sang while playing jump rope. Yun Ya couldn't help but admire Xiang Hong's intelligence.

When Caixia was playing jump rope, Yunya sang the lyrics along with her, and only then did she follow along.

The three of them had more and more fun, and they were still not tired even in the afternoon. Mu Shuyun called them to come inside for some water, and only then did they realize that they were thirsty.

After a few moments, everyone ran off to get a drink of water. Only after drinking two glasses did Yunya feel alive again.

After they felt better, they went to the yard to play jump rope. The three girls fell in love with jump rope.

The sky had already darkened. Xiang Hong, carrying a satchel filled with her homework and two mooncakes, skipped and hopped home.

Caixia also took her homework and mooncakes home.

When she got home, she gave one of the mooncakes to her grandmother, broke the other one in half, gave half to her mother, and kept half for herself.

Grandma Niu looked at the mooncake in her hand with a face full of satisfaction; her granddaughter was a filial child.

She said, "Caixia, here you go, Grandma doesn't like sweets."

Caixia waved her hand and said, "Grandma, I don't like sweets either. This was given to me by Grandma Mu. She would be unhappy if I didn't take it, so I brought it back."

Granny Niu said, "Oh! You really don't like sweets? Your second aunt and eldest uncle both brought two packs of mooncakes. If you don't like them, I'll send them back to them."

Caixia quickly grabbed her grandmother, who was about to turn and leave, and said with a smile, "Hehe, Grandma, I was just kidding. I like sweets, especially mooncakes, I really love them."

Old Lady Niu laughed and stroked her soft hair, saying, "You clever little thing, I knew you were lying. What child doesn't like sweets?"

Kong Chunhua looked at her mother and then at her daughter, and smiled too.

When Xiang Hong got home, she took out the mooncakes, shared one with her younger brother, and gave the other one to her grandmother and mother.

Grandpa watched from the side, his face stern, and said, "Xiang Hong, where's Grandpa's?"

Xiang Hong quickly broke off another half of the mooncake she was holding and handed it to her grandfather, saying, "Here, Grandpa, we have the same amount, you don't have any objections now, right?"

Li Weixiu took it and smiled as brightly as a child, saying, "That's right. Whether Grandpa likes it or not, you have to treat everyone equally and not exclude Grandpa."

Fang Jinxiu glared at him: "Old man, we have plenty of mooncakes at home, why are you so serious? There are several packs of mooncakes in the house, you can have them all, eat your fill."

Li Chunmei couldn't stop laughing as she listened to her parents' teasing remarks. Xiang Hong and Xiang Yang also laughed heartily, filling the courtyard with joy.

Wang Cuihua, the wife of Kong Xiangguang, is causing trouble again. This Mid-Autumn Festival, Wang Cuihua didn't buy mooncakes to send to the old house.

He, however, bought several kinds of mooncakes for himself. Looking at the altar laden with all sorts of mooncakes, Kong Xiangguang was so angry he felt like he was stuffed.

He accused Wang Cuihua, saying, "What can I say about you? What kind of things have you done? If the villagers find out, they'll start gossiping and spreading rumors."

Wang Cuihua said innocently, "What gossip could there be? We've already separated the family. I can send my mother-in-law a holiday gift if I want to. If I don't, no one can say anything against me."

Kong Xiangguang angrily said, "When you come back from the market, you're carrying a basket and showing off how many kinds of mooncakes and how much meat you bought. I'm afraid people don't know how wasteful you are."

"Let's not even talk about those fancy and expensive mooncakes you bought. Even if you just bought two pounds of the cheapest, most ordinary mooncakes and sent them to the old house, it would be a small token of your affection as a daughter-in-law. But look at what you've done! You didn't send any gifts, and you're showing off everywhere. You really don't have a brain."

Enraged by her husband's outburst, Wang Cuihua slapped her thigh, sat down abruptly on the ground, and began to cry and scream.