Joe's Farming

The three children heard the sound of the carriage from a distance, and hurried to the door with the grandfather to wait. Sure enough, they saw lightning appear on the mountain road soon.

Gu Xiaoxue shouted "Daddy" and ran towards the carriage. Gu Feng quickly stopped the horse and changed from running to walking slowly.

Gu Feng frowned and shouted, "Don't come over yet, wait for Dad to stop the horse."

Gu Xiaoxue immediately stopped and waited until the carriage stopped before going over with her brother and sister.

When Qiao Yu lifted the car curtain, he saw the three children standing in a row, looking up at him and Gu Feng.

Gu Feng first helped Gu Gang off the horse, and then said to the children: "This is your uncle. You must listen to him from now on."

The three children looked at their uncle carefully. Although he had a scar on his face, he looked very happy. They shouted in unison, "Hello, uncle!"

Qiao Yu and the others also got off the car one by one. The children all rushed towards him and hugged him: "Little daddy, you are finally back. We all missed you so much."

Qiao Yu touched each of the little carrot heads and said, "Please make way. There are other uncles and aunts in the car. We have to help clean up the place we live first."

The three children then realized that their two fathers had brought back a lot of people this time.

Fortunately, the beds and other things from the old house were still there, so Da Zhuang and Su Qing slept in the two rooms where the children and the grandfather had lived before. There were no kangs in those two rooms, so it would be much colder at night.

Qiao Yu originally wanted to let them live in one room, which would be less cold, but both of them felt that having their own room was more important than anything else. Su Qing even took the initiative to ask for the room where potatoes were planted, which was originally a storage room and was more spacious than the other one. His family used to have too many children, and his biggest wish since he was a child was to live alone.

After arranging the rooms and distributing everyone's belongings, Qiao Yu frowned and said to Gu Feng, "Let's renovate the old house next year and build a few more rooms. In case we have no place to stay when guests come to our house in the future."

Of course Gu Feng agreed.

"Don't do any work this time. We'll just pay for the help."

"Yeah." Gu Feng knew that his husband was worried about him, but the place where he and his husband lived had already been built, so he didn't plan to participate in the next house construction.

The guest room prepared for Gu Gang was already fully equipped and did not require much cleaning, so the couple led their eldest brother into the main room and called the children and uncle over to introduce them to him one by one.

"Brother, this is Xiaoxing, Xuebao, and Yanbao, all your nephews and nieces, and grandpa, we are all one family." Gu Feng said.

Gu Gang tried hard to remember everyone's name, then asked Gu Feng with a smile: "Brother, where are Dad and Mom?"

Gu Feng paused, and said as calmly as possible: "They don't live here. I'll take you to see them when they're free."

Gu Gang nodded, and his attention was soon drawn to the cute children.

By this time, Hongxiu and Bailan had also settled down. Seeing that the whole family was in the main room, they did not dare to disturb them and waited in the yard.

As soon as Qiao Yu came out, Bai Lan stepped forward and asked, "Boss, what do you need me to do now?"

Qiao Yu walked towards the kitchen and said, "Wait a minute, let me see what's in the kitchen."

They came back early today, so there should be some dishes left from the preparations for the children. It's a pity that they came back in such a hurry that they didn't buy the beef.

Qiao Xing said a few words to his uncle and then followed Qiao Yu out.

"Little daddy, we still have some tofu, cabbage and green vegetables at home, but no fresh meat." Qiao Xing said to Qiao Yu.

Qiao Yu looked at the neatly tidy kitchen and looked at Haodaer with satisfaction: "It's okay, we still have pressed duck and jar meat at home. Take Aunt Bailan to the field to pick some garlic sprouts and make fried tofu for you. This piece of tofu is not enough, go to Auntie's house to see if there is any left, and buy some back, either tofu or dried bean curd will do."

Qiao Yu gave him ten copper coins, which was more than enough to sell tofu, and the rest was for running errands.

"Hey!" Qiao Xing first took Bai Lan to the vegetable field. Although Bai Lan was from the capital, she had worked in the kitchen of her husband's family, so she knew most of the vegetables. Qiao Xing took her there and ran to Shi Da's house to sell tofu.

When I went there, I happened to run into Brother Wen, so I called him softly, "Uncle Wen."

Wen Geer asked happily: "Why is Xiaoxing here?"

Qiao Xing: "Little Daddy asked me to buy tofu."

Wen Ge'er nodded and took the person to the kitchen: "Mom, Xiaoxing is here to buy tofu."

Aunt Shi happened to have two pieces of old tofu left today, so she put them all in the big bowl that Qiao Xing brought: "Buy anything and take it back to eat."

Qiao Xing was very stubborn and put all the copper coins on the table next to the stove: "No, little daddy gave me the money."

Aunt Shi had no choice but to return five copper coins to him: "That's enough."

Wen Ge'er walked him to the door and asked, "Do you have guests at home?"

Qiao Xing shook his head: "It's not a guest, it's my uncle who has returned."

Wen Ge'er knew about Gu Feng's family situation, and his eyes widened instantly: "Is your uncle the brother of Brother Gu who went to perform corvée labor?"

Qiao Xing nodded.

Wen Geer immediately clapped his hands happily: "Great! Those who survive a great disaster will surely have good fortune in the future! What about the others?"

Qiao Xing scratched the back of his head: "Little Daddy said that he hired him as an employee for the family." He didn't quite understand what he meant.

Wen Ge'er had heard Qiao Yu talk about it before, and he nodded immediately: "Okay, go back quickly. Your little daddy must be waiting for the tofu stir-fry."

Qiao Xing nodded, then trotted back with the bowl in his hands.

When they got home, Bai Lan and Hong Xiu had already washed all the vegetables needed for the side dishes. Qiao Xing stood there for a long time, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Xiaoxing, go see if the two uncles have made the beds and show them around the house." Qiao Yu shouted at the right time.

"Okay!" After being assigned a new task, Qiao Xing went to find Su Qing and Da Zhuang with full energy.

Bai Lan looked at Qiao Xing's back and said to Qiao Yu, "The children of the Dong family are really filial. But the Dong family looks so young, and the three children are already this old?"

Qiao Yu smiled and said, "To be honest, these three children were picked up by my husband. Brother Gu is kind-hearted, and the children are cuter than each other."

Hongxiu and Bailan were both surprised when they heard this.

Bai Lan was silent for a long time: "After seeing the three children of the Dong family, I know that it doesn't matter whether the children are my own or not. What matters is whether my husband is sincere."

Qiao Yu understood that she was thinking of her ex-husband who despised her for not being able to have children, so she comforted her, "I read in a book before that half of the reasons for women's infertility are due to their husbands. Don't take it too seriously. You're only 30. If you meet the right person in the future, maybe you'll have children again."

Bai Lan's eyes darkened: "I have already planned to spend the rest of my life here with my boss."

Qiao Yu sighed and said nothing more.

By this time the rice was almost cooked, so Qiao Yu cut the tofu into thick slices and took out three pieces of jar meat and cut them.

Two pressed ducks were washed and cut into pieces before being stewed in a casserole. The special salty aroma was now fragrant. Qiao Yu thought that there were many people at home today but the food was a little small, so she added pickled cabbage, sweet potato vermicelli and cabbage to the casserole and cooked a full pot. Finally, she made a dipping sauce, which could be used to dip in the vegetarian dishes if they were tasteless.

Then heat the pan, pour in the jar meat and the lard, stir-fry the ginger slices, dried chili peppers, peppercorns and garlic, add tofu, stir-fry until both sides are golden brown, add garlic sprouts, and add some soy sauce to adjust the color before serving. It will be very fragrant.

At the end, a small bowl of shredded kelp was also mixed in. Although there were only three dishes, the portion of each was very generous.

Qiao Yu was afraid that Bai Lan, Su Qing and Da Zhuang would feel uncomfortable, so he asked them to eat at the square table in the kitchen. After all, when he was an employee, he really hated eating at the same table with his superiors. Bai Lan and the others were also happy about it.

"If it's not enough to eat, just add more and treat it as your own home!" Qiao Yu said to the three of them.

The three of them nodded gratefully. None of them had ever heard of a boss who would cook for his servants.

Gu Feng and the children came to the kitchen to serve dishes and bowls, determined not to let Qiao Yu get tired anymore.

Wait for Gu Feng and the others to go to the main room to eat.

Da Zhuang whispered, "The Dong family is so nice to everyone. The two young masters and the young lady are also very good-looking! The whole family is like fairies."

Su Qing rarely spoke: "Indeed."

Bai Lan was scooping rice silently on the side. Since she was the oldest, she always took care of the younger ones unconsciously.

"Sister Lan, why don't you say anything?" Da Zhuang took the bowl.

Bai Lan smiled and shook her head: "I just feel like I'm dreaming. At this time yesterday, I was still thinking what's the point of living, I might as well be dead."

Da Zhuang was about to pick up some food, but he was so scared that his chopsticks almost fell off the table.

Bai Lan wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said, "I feel so good to be alive now."

Su Qing silently picked up a piece of food for Bai Lan with chopsticks and said, "Look ahead, you will meet someone who is not your good friend."

Bai Lan nodded slightly.

"Ah! Sister Lan, Brother Qing, this tofu is so delicious! And this meat, you should try it!" At this time, Da Zhuang picked up two chopsticks of fried tofu with jar meat and garlic sprouts and shouted in surprise.

Bai Lan ate the tofu and meat that Su Qing picked first, then nodded vigorously: "Yeah! The boss is really good at cooking. This is the most delicious tofu I have ever eaten."

Da Zhuang had tasted all the dishes by now: "And this, this, and this, they are all delicious! This chili is also delicious. Sister Lan, you can dip it in it."

Bai Lan then showed a long-lost smile, and the three of them ate their first meal after coming to the Gu family leisurely and happily.