In the evening, the snow stopped and there were no traces left on the road, just like usual.
Lao Tan bought mutton rolls, fat beef and vegetables at the vegetable market to prepare hot pot.
Arrive home at five o'clock. Wash the vegetables, mix the seasonings, set up the hot pot, and wait for my son and wife to come back.
At six o'clock, my son came back from school. He went into the house and put his schoolbag on the sofa. Then he took out his soaked training clothes and put them in the washing machine. When he saw the hot pot set up, he said happily: "Yeah! Let's eat hot pot -"
"Do you like it?" Lao Tan asked, with a satisfied smile on his face.
"I like it," said the son.
"Wait until your mother comes back to eat together."
"I called my mother and told her to hurry up."
Unfortunately, Lin Yan has a meeting and has to be back at nine o'clock.
Lao Tan was a little disappointed. He originally planned to have a meal together as a family and communicated with Lin Yan by the way, but it seemed that it was not possible. He was disappointed but also felt relieved. To be honest, he had not thought about what to communicate. Since Lin Yan would not come back,
As if he had dodged a bullet.
While he was cooking with his son, he listened to his son talking endlessly about what happened in school. He smiled from time to time and asked a few questions.
To be honest, when I was making hot pot with my son, a scene appeared in front of me: In this familiar but unfamiliar home, Lin Yan and her son were sitting at the dining table, and the couple were chatting and laughing while eating -----
-
It was very warm, but he couldn't help but feel sore at the root of his nose because he was not in this warm picture.
I don’t have myself, but who can I blame? I have been running around outside these years, saying that I am doing business. It seems that my career is successful, but my family------
Some failed.
In fact, people like Lao Tan are not an exception. He almost represents the current situation of many men who work hard outside. To put it bluntly, in order to make money, make the family rich, and let the wife and children live a good life, they often ignore the family.
Jianshe, when I found out, I felt guilty and felt that I cared too little for my wife and children.
People, if you gain something, you will lose something. Workers like Lao Tan and his generation who came out from the countryside to make a living because their families were poor all experienced the initial hardships, and then relied on their craftsmanship and ability to accumulate bit by bit. In the process, I felt
He thinks that his responsibility is to make money to support his family, and he only needs to give money to his family, but he neglects to manage the business.
After the money was made and the family got better, they suddenly found that the relationship between the couple was gone. This was also one of the main reasons for the cook's divorce.
It is said that Lao Tan has little communication with his wife. In fact, most cooks have little communication with their wives. There is nothing that can be done about it. It depends on the nature of the work. If the wife does not work in catering, the two of them have different commuting hours and rest time.
It's also different. We rarely sit down to eat together, let alone communicate.
Let's understand each other.
Lin Yan finished her meeting at nine o'clock. Her unit was in the southernmost part of the provincial capital. She walked to Taoxian Airport and drove home for more than an hour. It was almost eleven o'clock when she got home.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Old Tan came out of the bedroom.
"Back." Lao Tan said.
"Yeah." Lin Yan agreed while changing into slippers.
"Have you eaten?" Lao Tan asked.
"have eaten."
“The hot pot is ready.”
"I'm done eating." Lin Yan put on her slippers and came to the hall, taking off her down jacket, "I'm exhausted. There's a lot going on at the end of the year, and the boss has to work overtime for meetings."
"Just rest for a few days when you're tired," Lao Tan said.
Lin Yan looked at Lao Tan, "Take a break? Don't even think about taking a break this month. You'll have to work overtime every day -------" She wanted to continue, but was interrupted by a hurried phone call, somewhat reluctantly.
Pick up the phone.
"Yes, yes, for tonight's shipment to Shuangliao and Daqing, ask the team to arrange two 14-meter carriages, otherwise they won't be able to fit in --- follow the quarantine tickets --- and Binhai Seafood --
-----No need to cool down, add oxygen, yes, add oxygen 24 hours a day------"
Lao Tan knew that it took more than ten minutes for Lin Yan to finish the call, so he shook his head, smiled bitterly, and returned to the bedroom.
In the next few days, Lao Tan inspected various stores in the provincial capital. He didn't tighten himself up so much. He got home on time at five o'clock in the evening to cook and waited for his wife and children to come back to eat together.
Lin Yan was very considerate. She arrived home on time for three days in a row and ate hot meals, but she was praised a few times. But she had too many phone calls, like a chief dispatcher, arranging warehouse shipments, directing logistics vehicle schedules, and
She had to communicate with the recipient and turned her home into an office, which made Lao Tan and his son upset and avoided her whenever she called.
"My mother's job is to make phone calls. Sometimes she loses her temper and fires the driver directly on the phone," the son said.
"Really? Your mother is very powerful." Lao Tan said.
"Sometimes he even curses people——"
"Your mother is angry."
"When I saw her cursing, I hid immediately. I went back home to do my homework and didn't even dare to watch TV," said my son.
Old Tan laughed.
"Dad, let's make Guobao Pork tomorrow. I want to eat Guobao Pork." said the son.
"Okay, let's make Guobao Pork tomorrow."
"You can fry some shredded potatoes for my mother, the kind with soy sauce."
"Um."
"What else are you going to do - stir-fry broccoli, minced with garlic?"
"good--"
"Oye——"
Seeing his son's happiness, Lao Tan felt comfortable and felt that this was the life he wanted to live.
Unfortunately, this life was soon broken.
It was planned that Ah Qiao would open a store in Beijing next year. This was Lao Tan's dream and what Wang Shulan hoped for most. So three days later, Lao Tan and Yanhua set off from the provincial capital, while Wang Shulan and Zhou Xiaomei set off from Baotou to inspect Beijing together.
When they arrived in Beijing, Wang Shulan was naturally the host. She first took the three of them to her son's house to see their precious granddaughter, then arranged a place to live nearby, and then took them to Quanjude to eat roast duck.
Lao Tan is not too fond of roast duck. He has eaten it in Beijing before, not only from Quanjude, but also from Da Ya Li and Jin Wan Wan. It feels like that. As the saying goes, each person has his own style of clothing and hat. He feels that
It's better to stew it with duck and put some potatoes in it. It's delicious.
But yes, Quanjude’s roast duck is really good, with crispy skin and tender meat, and an attractive caramel aroma. A few slivers of green onion, a pancake, and authentic Beijing sweet noodle sauce, sandwich a thin slice of fragrant duck meat.
Just put a roll on top, put it in your mouth and eat, hey——
It's so eloquent and full of flavor.
Yanhua, Zhou Xiaomei and Wang Shulan loved to eat. There was no roast duck left, not even the duck rack, and they all drank the soup.
None of this is important. What is important is that the white wine placed on their table makes the surrounding guests smack their lips. There are four bottles of white wine for four people. It seems that they are not doing well, but the fifth bottle has been opened by the waiter.
The four of them are heavy drinkers and have passed the test of alcohol. This amount of wine is nothing to them.
"To be honest, I'm not used to drinking this bottled wine. I always feel it's not as satisfying as our Laosan." Zhou Xiaomei said.
"No matter where you go next time, bring a bucket with you." Wang Shulan joked.
"Haha, it would be nice to celebrate the New Year. If we, Qiao, settle down here, we will have wine." Zhou Xiaomei said.
"Look, the other tables are looking at us," Old Tan said with a smile.
"What are you looking at? Haha." Zhou Xiaomei asked and answered: "What are you looking at -" (To be continued)