After a while, Xia Xiaorong brought several plates of freshly cooked dishes from the kitchen into the dining room.
"There are no chili peppers in these dishes, they should suit your taste." Xia Xiaorong gestured with her hands, "Yaya, how about you try it?"
Zhao Erya looked at the new dishes on the table. Judging from the color, they should be very bland.
She carefully picked up a piece of vegetable with chopsticks and put it into her mouth. Sure enough, it wasn't spicy anymore...
"How is it?" Xia Xiaorong asked eagerly.
Zhao Erya nodded: "It's delicious! It smells so good!"
Xia Xiaorong looked at the beautiful Zhao Erya under the lights. The more she looked at it, the more she liked it. She said, "If you like it, eat more. I will cook all the dishes tomorrow according to your taste."
"Then what should I do?" Zhang Yida chewed a piece of chicken in his mouth and muttered: "If you do this, you will lose your son soon."
"Bah!" Xia Xiaorong said fiercely in Sichuan dialect: "Dear Chinese New Year, what unlucky words did you say!"
Zhang Yida did not dare to talk back and ate the food in silence. Zhang Qinghua was even more afraid to speak. He, who had the lowest "family status", clinked glasses for his son and drank sips of white wine.
"Auntie, there's no need for this. Just fry two dishes according to my taste. I'm afraid the taste is too bland and Zhang Yida will scold him."
Zhao Erya persuaded people very considerately.
"How dare he!" Xia Xiaorong said, "His mother is right here, and he still dares to scold her. He is rebelling!"
"Anyway, if the food I cook for him is not spicy, he will curse." Zhao Erya looked at Zhang Yida pitifully and started to complain.
"Is this the case?" Xia Xiaorong began to scold Zhang Yida: "You should learn from your father and do all the housework at home.
Look at you again, eating ready-made food, but you are still picky."
"Isn't it okay if I admit my mistake?"
Zhang Yida felt miserable. I only ate a few of the meals she cooked. Except that they were not spicy, sometimes they were extremely salty.
Can't I say a few words to her?
Zhao Erya smiled proudly at Zhang Yida. Now that she had found a backer, she was not afraid that Zhang Yida would hurt her.
Zhang Yida thought to himself, if I let you be proud for a few days, my mother can't protect you anytime and anywhere.
After the meal, Zhang Qinghua quietly went to wash the dishes. Having been engaged in dishwashing for more than 20 years, he had already developed a conditioned reflex. As soon as Xia Xiaorong put down the dishes, it was his turn to show off his talent.
Zhang Yida followed him into the kitchen and looked at his father who was meticulous in every dishwashing action. This level of proficiency would not have been achieved without more than 20 years of experience.
Zhang Yida shook his head. Dad's kind of life is not what he wants, and he must avoid it happening to him.
"Dad, just say what you want to say?" Zhang Yida looked at his father who was hesitant to speak and asked.
Zhang Qinghua glanced behind him. Zhao Erya was sitting on the sofa with his wife, chatting intimately, looking like a "harmony between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."
He asked Zhang Yida: "Does her parents know that Yaya came to our house?"
"You must know? Otherwise, I dare to bring her to Chengdu!"
Zhang Qinghua has washed the bowl with detergent and is now rinsing it with water for the second time.
Every time he rinsed a bowl, he would lift it up and carefully check whether it was washed properly under the light.
Zhang Yida is no stranger to this familiar action of his father. He has seen it countless times since he was a child.
Zhang Qinghua's movement when inspecting the bowl under the light is very similar to that of a scientific researcher holding a tube of reagent high and measuring it. He is very focused and calm.
Zhang Qinghua put the bowl away and asked again: "What do her parents think of you?"
"You like me very much! You can't find such a good son-in-law even with a lantern!"
Zhang Qinghua looked at his unruly son and became slightly angry: "I'm telling you something serious! Be serious!"
Seeing that his father was a little angry, Zhang Yida said seriously: "I have been to their house several times, and her mother likes me very much.
Her dad also cares about me and often asks me about company and career matters."
"What kind of official is her father?" Zhang Qinghua asked his son earlier, and the answer he got was "senior cadre."
"City official!"
Xia Xiaorong pulled Zhao Erya to sit on the sofa and chatted with her cordially.
"Auntie, do uncles always wash dishes at home?"
Xia Xiaorong didn't notice Zhao Erya's surprised expression and replied: "Yes! From the time we got married, his father has been doing the dishes. This is a basic national policy that will not waver for fifty years."
"Then you are so happy. I can see that uncle loves you very much." Zhao Erya complimented her at the right time.
"We are all old, and we don't talk about whether we love each other or not. We have long been indifferent to each other."
Xia Xiaorong added: "We have doted on Yida since he was a child. Even though he grew up in a rural area, we didn't let him suffer much.
So if he has a good temper, he is not as good as his father, so you have to be more tolerant of him."
"I think he is very good!" Zhao Erya's face was filled with a happy smile, "Auntie, don't you know? All the girls in the school are envious of me."
"That's good!" Xia Xiaorong saw that Zhao Erya's smile was very real and she didn't want to force it on, so she nodded: "Actually! Whether this person is poor or rich, the most important thing is that he is safe.
.”
"I heard from his father that this kid is now traveling all over the world, sometimes in the United States, sometimes in South Korea.
Sometimes, I'm very worried. It's not peaceful abroad either. Sometimes there's a petrol bomb, and sometimes there's a shooting.
Tell me, what if something happens to him? I heard that there are many plane crashes, and he often flies.
Actually! Sometimes I wonder, he is only 21 years old, why is he working so hard?
Sometimes, you can help me to persuade him more. Money can't be earned, and peace is the real thing."
"Auntie, everything you said is right." Zhao Erya said with a smile, "I will persuade him more!"
"Also, Auntie, what I like is him. From now on, whether he is poor or rich, I will never change my opinion of him."
Xia Xiaorong looked at Zhao Erya who said these words seriously, and her heart felt warm.
"By the way, he often goes abroad. Does he bring any bodyguards with him? They are the kind of retired special forces!"
Zhao Erya shook her head: "When he goes abroad, he usually brings seven or eight people with him, including assistants, legal affairs, auditing and the like."
"That won't work! Some places abroad are so chaotic that you need to find some bodyguards!"
Zhao Erya smiled and nodded: "This matter is easy to handle! Leave it to me. I have relatives in the army."
Xia Xiaorong then remembered that this was no ordinary girl. Her husband said she came from a family of senior cadres.
But Xia Xiaorong couldn't directly ask her parents about their specific positions, so she had to ask in a roundabout way: "Yaya, where are your parents? Why didn't they come to Chengdu with you?"
"My parents are in Qianzhou. During the Chinese New Year, there are all kinds of group gatherings and I can't leave."
Xia Xiaorong got the first message "Qianzhou" and "Group Visit".
Group visits are generally not available in private companies, but only in party and government agencies and public institutions.
"Oh, your parents are not in the capital? How do you get to Qianzhou?"
Zhao Erya flipped her hair and said, "My father was transferred due to a job transfer. He was originally in Huayang District, Beijing, but he was transferred to Qianzhou the year before last.
My mother wanted to take care of my father, so she went with her."
Zhao Erya was very tight-lipped and did not mention her father's specific position. It was not that she left Xia Xiaorong alone, but her father had told her since she was a child not to mention her parents' job positions outside casually.
For a long time, she has developed a habit. Except for her very close friends, she is very strict with others.
Xia Xiaorong did not continue to inquire further, and then talked about the relationship between Zhao Erya and Zhang Yida.
"How do you know each other?" Xia Xiaorong asked suddenly.
Zhao Erya said shyly: "He likes to play football and once kicked the ball in front of me..."
Xia Xiaorong lamented that the money this child spent learning football when he was young was not in vain, it was worth it!
Xia Xiaorong went to the bedroom again, rummaged through the cabinets, and found photos of Zhang Yida when he was a child.
Zhao Erya was very interested in these photos. While looking at them, she commented: "Why doesn't he like to smile when taking pictures?"
"He's shy!"
Zhao Erya was stunned. Is this still the Zhang Yida that she knew?
Shy, can you do what you are doing now?
But Zhao Erya thought about it and realized that she was shy when she was a child, so she was relieved that she might still be shy when she grows up.
"Don't be ridiculous!
These photos look rustic. In fact, before he was a few years old, his family was still very poor.
It was his father who risked his life to start a township enterprise, and then slowly set up his own factory, and his life gradually improved."
Zhao Erya waved her hand: "No! I heard him tell the entrepreneurial stories of uncles and aunts. It was very difficult and very touching!"
Zhao Erya looked at the photo of Zhang Yida wearing Tubulaji's clothes when he was a child, and then looked at the exquisitely decorated house where he lives now.
I still feel very emotional in my heart. Zhang Yida’s parents are both very hard-working people! That’s why Zhang Yida must have this kind of entrepreneurial gene in his blood!
"Yaya, who are the people in your family?"
…
"Isn't it? Isn't that the same age as the secretary in Rongcheng?"
Zhang Yida looked at his surprised father and nodded: "In terms of level, they are on the same level."
"It seems that our ancestral graves are smoking. I didn't expect that our Zhang family, whose ancestors were poor farmers for five generations, could actually marry the daughter of a prefect.
Tomorrow you and I will go back to our hometown to pay homage to our ancestors' graves. It seems that your grandfather made the right choice in Feng Shui back then.
This money is not in vain! Taoist Lai still has two brushes."
Zhang Yida listened to his father's nonsense and smiled bitterly: "It's not that exaggerated. Besides, I haven't even written out my horoscope yet!"
"Why didn't you mention it? I saw it all along the way."
Zhang Yida touched his head: "What did you see?"
"I saw a girl whose eyes are all about you!"
Zhang Yida took a breath of air: "Dad, where did you hear the word?"
"TikTok!"
Zhang Qinghua hummed: "I watch two hours of short videos every day."
"Come on, then you have to hide it. Don't let my mother see you."
"Why?" Zhang Qinghua asked.
"Your long legs are all over the screen, shaking this and that. My mother saw it and didn't throw the phone away from you."
"Huh? How did you know?"
Zhang Qinghua didn't understand either. He remembered that he only liked one dancing girl on TikTok, and then the videos that came out gradually became full of young girls, each dancing more excitingly than the other.
As a result, now, when he is shaking his eyes, he usually has to carry his wife behind his back.
"I asked the technical staff to directly retrieve all your information. Who do you follow? Who do you like? I know them all.
If you don't want me to report it myself, just "surrender" to my mother!"
Zhang Qinghua was dumbfounded and quickly changed the subject and said: "Yaya is a good boy, be kind to others, do you hear me?
You still dare to scold others? Who gave you the courage?
If you behave like this in ancient times, you might be beheaded."
Zhang Qinghua successfully diverted Zhang Yida's attention, and the latter asked: "Why?"
"The county magistrate who confiscates the family, the governor who exterminates the family!"
Zhang Yida lamented: The prefect is so terrifying!