Chapter 338
Upon returning home, he finally couldn't help but ask.
"Mom, are we going to make zongzi?"
Fang Hui replied dismissively, "Make what zongzi? How boring. What's the point of making them? Only poor people spend time doing this kind of thing. If you want to eat some, I'll buy them tomorrow."
Fang Bowen pressed his lips together and said, "I don't."
Upon returning home, the Second Child couldn't help but ask Si Nian, "Mom, do we get to eat cake on our birthdays?"
After saying that, afraid that Si Nian would think he was still craving someone else's cake, he quickly explained, "Mom, I don't want such an expensive cake for my birthday."
Si Nian didn't expect him to still be thinking about this. Seeing his slight envy, she rubbed his head and asked, "Does Xiao Han want to celebrate his birthday?"
The Second Child nodded immediately, "I do!"
He saw that when his classmates celebrated their birthdays, others would even give them gifts.
If he celebrated his birthday, surely someone would give him gifts too.
He said, "My brother and I even have the same birthday, but we've never celebrated it."
Although he and his brother were three years apart, both of their birthdays fell on the first day of the sixth lunar month.
Si Nian had previously seen the three children's birthdays on the household register. The Second Child and the eldest child shared the same birthday, while Yaoyao's was a month later in July.
Given Zhou Yueshen's situation, he probably wasn't the type to celebrate birthdays either.
There weren't many families in the countryside who cared about the ritual of celebrating birthdays.
No wonder Xiao Han was so envious.
She said, "When your birthday comes, Mom will make a cake for you and your brother."
"When the time comes, you can invite your friends over to play and celebrate. Does Xiao Han have any friends he wants to invite?"
Oh my gosh, Mom knows how to make cakes!
Zhou Zehan was incredibly excited. He immediately counted on his fingers, "The first one is definitely Shitou, then little Jiang, and my classmates... Oh right, right, and Little Pig from the tube-shaped apartment building."
Jiang Jiu's ears twitched: The first one wasn't him, but Shitou.
He had heard the name Shitou from his second brother many times. Every time his second brother talked about his hometown, he would mention Shitou.
He said they used to go up the mountain together to chop wood, cut pig grass, and catch loaches and small crabs...
Furthermore, Shitou would help his second brother take care of their younger sister.
The younger sister also liked Shitou very much.
Their whole family liked Shitou.
Jiang Jiu felt a little sour in his heart.
Was Shitou more likable than him?
The others were fine, but Shitou was indeed a bit far away.
They couldn't exactly make him travel all that way just to celebrate a birthday.
Si Nian felt helpless but didn't want to ruin her son's excitement.
However, she hadn't seen that little guy in a long time either, and she actually missed him.
Aunt Zhang and her family had taken good care of her in the past.
Si Nian planned to share some zongzi with them to take back. Tomorrow happened to be a holiday, so she would go buy some clothes and toys for Shitou and her younger brothers, and then have her eldest brother deliver them.
Si Nian then looked at Zhou Zedong and asked, "What about Xiao Dong? Who do you want to invite for your birthday?"
She also wanted to know if Xiao Dong had any friends.
She had been worried that the eldest child still hadn't made any friends, but to her surprise, he asked, "Mom, can I invite Brother Chen and Fatty?"
His younger brother was inviting all students, but he didn't have any friends at school.
He was only somewhat familiar with Brother Chen and his crew.
But Brother Chen and the others were street punks, and he was afraid Si Nian wouldn't be happy about it.
Si Nian immediately smiled, "Of course you can!"
Saying this, she rubbed the two children's heads and let them go play on their own.
Si Nian first washed the bamboo leaves clean and soaked them in water.
Then she soaked the glutinous rice.
Soaking the glutinous rice required at least three hours, so she soaked it before starting to cook dinner.
Since it was a holiday, Si Nian told the children to go take a bath so they could wear new clothes tomorrow.
The Second Child immediately followed Jiang Jiu home to freeload off his bathtub.
He heard that Jiang Jiu's house even had a showerhead that could dispense hot water, which was super convenient.
Zhou Zedong stayed home to bathe his younger sister and then washed himself.
He wasn't as thick-skinned as his younger brother to go bathe at someone else's house.
Just as they finished cleaning up, Zhou Yueshen returned.
He was carrying a bag of sliced mutton in his hand.
He placed it in the kitchen, smelling strongly of mutton.
"Our pig farm slaughtered a sheep today, so we can eat mutton tomorrow."
People in the countryside couldn't afford mutton. It was only after coming to the city that Zhou Yueshen noticed the people here ate mutton for the Dragon Boat Festival.
In just this short period, over a hundred sheep had been sent to their breeding farm to be slaughtered.
A perfectly good pig farm now reeked of mutton.
He heard that the slaughterhouse saw the holiday approaching and took the opportunity to raise their prices. It used to cost ten yuan to slaughter a sheep, but now they were charging twenty.
Since they did everything themselves at his pig farm, word somehow got out, and more and more people started coming.
He had to go over at three in the morning; there were still ten sheep left to slaughter.
It wasn't that they couldn't do it tomorrow morning, but everyone wanted to celebrate the holiday.
So tonight, he had no choice but to head over in the early hours.
Hearing this, Si Nian felt they were working too hard and said, "Alright, I'll make some extra zongzi later for you to take and share with everyone."
As the boss's wife, she had to show some appreciation during the holiday.
Zhou Yueshen had already prepared bonuses for everyone. Hearing Si Nian's words, he didn't really want to trouble her.
However, seeing the children rubbing their hands together, already eager to make zongzi, he didn't say much more and gave a slight nod.
After everyone finished dinner, Si Nian saw that the glutinous rice was about done soaking and started making them.
Jiang Jiu clamored to make zongzi and refused to go home.
Hearing that Si Nian was making zongzi, Grandma Jiang and her whole family came over.
Jiang Wenqing was sitting next to his son, listening to him teach how to wrap zongzi.
Even when his son occasionally criticized him with a "Dad is so dumb," he didn't get angry; instead, he laughed very happily.
Grandma Jiang looked like a wealthy lady, but surprisingly, she was quite skilled at making zongzi.
Si Nian thought about the elderly couple and figured Jiang Wenqing probably wasn't the type to cook either, so she suggested they come over the next morning for a mutton hotpot to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival together.
Before Grandma Jiang could politely decline, Jiang Jiu happily said, "Yes, yes! I want to celebrate the holiday with Second Brother!"
"Auntie, I want to sleep with Second Brother tonight!"
In order to avoid going home tonight, the little guy had already changed into his pajamas. He even wore a nightcap on his head, making his fair little face look especially cute.
Si Nian was a bit of a sucker for good looks, and every time she saw Jiang Jiu, she felt this child was just too delicate and adorable.
If he were a girl, she would definitely snatch him up to be her son's wife.
Since Zhou Yueshen had to leave in the early hours of the morning, Si Nian shooed him off to bed.
Zhou Yueshen was initially reluctant. After all, with everyone busy here, how could he possibly sleep?
It wasn't until Si Nian secretly whispered in his ear that they would go watch a movie together tomorrow that he finally returned to his room.
Watch a movie?
He had never been to the movies with Si Nian.
He heard that this was something only couples deeply in love would do.
Zhou Yueshen immediately went to sleep.
Everyone worked busily for the evening and made two large pots of zongzi.
After giving some to the Jiang family, Si Nian packed a large bag for Zhou Yueshen to take to the factory, leaving the rest for their own family to eat.