Rebirth of the Millennial: Getting Rich After Parents Get Laid Off

Chapter 163 Cooking with Lychees (Part 2)

Ping drove his car, not taking the narrow paths between the houses, but instead taking the main road to reach the Zheng family's house.

The Zheng family's house is the kind of house they built themselves after buying the land. It has a strong local architectural style in Chaozhou and a touch of antique charm.

However, it looks very new from the outside.

Seeing Shen Qingqing looking around with her head tilted back after getting out of the car, Ping Ge chuckled, drove the car into the yard, parked it, and explained, "Do you think the house is very new?"

Shen Qingqing's hand was taken back by Zheng Wanyu. Upon hearing this, she looked at Ping Ge and nodded.

“The house is an old house, but it was just renovated two years ago.” Ping Ge pulled out a few pairs of slippers that looked like they hadn’t been worn much from the shoe rack at the front door and threw them in front of the three children.

Although Zheng Wanyu doesn't visit the Zheng family very often throughout the year, she still has her own shoes.

After changing her shoes, Shen Qingqing followed along as they walked inside, listening to Ping Ge's introduction.

In Zheng Wanyu's generation, there were five siblings in the Zheng family. The eldest brother is the current elder of the Zheng family. Zheng Wanyu is the youngest. There are two older brothers and one older sister. However, the third brother and the fourth sister unfortunately died during the famine.

My second brother later went into business and met his life partner overseas, so he settled there. He only comes back once a year, and sometimes he doesn't come back at all. He's not rich or powerful, just getting by.

Only the eldest brother and sister Zheng Wanyu have watched this lychee orchard grow from its humble beginnings to its present state.

Later, Zheng Wanyu got married, and only Zheng Laoda was left to support the lychee orchard. Fortunately, he got married and had children early, so the lychee orchard not only had successors, but also remained evergreen.

The brother and sister have supported each other for so many years. Even after Zheng Laoda passed away, the lychee orchard never lacked lychees for Zheng Wanyu.

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingqing couldn't help but nod. Indeed, whether in this life or the previous one, every year during lychee season, their family would receive lychees from their great-grandmother. Sometimes there were so many that they couldn't finish them all, so they were used to make lychee wine.

It wasn't until the early spring of 2015, when their great-grandmother passed away, that their family started buying a little lychee themselves and having their uncle send some over.

But whether it was Shen Qingqing's psychological effect or something else, the lychees she ate later always felt less sweet than the ones her great-grandmother had given her.

Thinking of this, Shen Qingqing looked back at her still energetic great-grandmother and smiled. She thought that her great-grandmother would be fine in this life and would definitely not pass away first.

Ping led them inside, "Grandpa! Great-Auntie is here! And a few little guests too!"

As soon as you enter, the coolness inside greatly relieves the heat outside.

After Ping Ge's voice fell, an old man dressed in a Tang suit opened the door and came out. His hair was not completely silver-white like Zheng Wanyu's, but rather somewhat gray.

Her features resembled Zheng Wanyu's. Upon seeing Zheng Wanyu, she came over and helped her up: "Auntie, why did you go to the lychee orchard first today? Didn't I tell you that we would take the lychees back after they were processed?"

Zheng Wanyu smiled and held Shen Qingqing's hand tightly. "I brought the children here today. They all wanted to go to the lychee orchard, so we went there first."

Grandpa Zheng then turned his attention to the children.

Shen Qingqing met his gaze, blinked, and spoke first, "Hello, Grandpa!"

Shen Yangyang and Shen Hong quickly followed suit and called for help.

Grandpa Zheng immediately smiled. Older people like lively and energetic children. He turned to Ping and directed him to get some frozen lychees from the refrigerator for the children to try.

Frozen lychee flesh has a sandy texture, just like eating popsicles. Kids have no self-control; once they start eating them, they can't stop. Luckily, Ping didn't take too many; he only took nine, three for each of them.

The Zheng family members haven't returned yet; they're at the lychee orchard processing the picked lychees and finishing the last remaining lychees in the western section.

However, more than an hour before lunchtime, three or four women of all ages returned from outside.

As soon as they entered and saw Zheng Wanyu, they started calling her "Auntie," "Old Auntie," and "Great-Grand Auntie."

Then they saw Shen Qingqing and two others. Ping introduced them to Zheng Wanyu, who had brought them as guests. The oldest woman looked very kind and immediately said that she would prepare a lychee feast for lunch.

Shen Qingqing and the other two had never seen anything like this before, and they were eager to take a look, but they were guests at someone else's house and felt embarrassed.

Ping noticed it and asked them if they wanted to go see how it was done.

It received a unanimous response from all three children.

The lychees used for cooking are all fresh lychees that have just been processed and brought back from the lychee orchard. The amount needed is not much, just enough to peel a stainless steel soup bowl.

Ping-ge is a junior, the same generation as Shen Qingqing and the others, so of course he was assigned to do this job.

Shen Qingqing watched for a while as Ping Ge peeled lychees and discovered that his method was different from theirs. He peeled them faster, and the lychee shell was split in two, revealing the tender white lychee. He then broke the lychee flesh in half from the stem and removed the pit.

Shen Qingqing felt she had learned it, so she sat down on a stool on the other side of the square table, reached for a lychee, and peeled it in the same way as Ping Ge.

Shen Yangyang and Shen Hong naturally followed suit and each took a lychee. However, even when the lychee was ripe, the thorns on the shell were still very prickly. The three children had very delicate skin, and when they tried to peel the lychee using Ping Ge's method, their hands were already red from the thorns after peeling just three.

Ping quickly took the lychees back from the three children: "Alright, alright, you don't need to peel them anymore, I can do it, I'll be quick! Otherwise, my mom and the others won't be able to cook in time."

Shen Qingqing wiped her nose sheepishly and withdrew her hand.

It's true that Ping Ge peels them so quickly, so why is it so difficult for her?
Upon hearing this, Shen Yangyang and Shen Hong also stopped.

Shen Hong hadn't had enough of Ping Ge's stories about the lychee orchard, so she took Shen Qingqing's place, watching Ping Ge peel lychees while listening to him continue.

Soon, a stainless steel soup bowl was filled with peeled, tender lychee flesh. While Ping Ge was being pestered by Shen Hong to tell him stories, Shen Qingqing took the initiative to carry the stainless steel soup bowl to wash the lychee flesh.

Shen Yangyang went along with them. While washing up, she tried to sneak a bite, but Shen Qingqing slapped her and she didn't dare to do it anymore.

After delivering the washed lychee flesh to the kitchen, Shen Qingqing then witnessed how the lychee feast was prepared.

Stir-fried pork with lychees, stewed soup with lychees, sweet soup with lychees, mixed dishes with lychees...

Lychees can be added to almost every dish.

Surprisingly, the finished product tastes quite delicious.

Shen Yangyang, the Shen family's favorite child, was completely mesmerized, her eyes fixed intently on every Zheng family woman cooking, her gaze shining brightly. Shen Qingqing, while not as dramatic as Shen Yangyang, was also completely captivated.

The Zheng family no longer has any children as young as the three children in the Shen family. The youngest, Ping, has already graduated from high school, but he has been admitted to a junior college, which will not start until after the National Day holiday.

In addition, because of Zheng Wanyu's connection, the aunts and grandmothers of the Zheng family showed great kindness to Shen Qingqing's three children.

Seeing the two girls sitting obediently outside the kitchen, waiting with longing eyes, Ping's sister-in-law couldn't resist any longer. She picked up a piece of lychee stir-fried with pork and went over: "Come on, little guest, have a taste?"

Because Shen Yangyang was young, her sister-in-law gave it to Shen Yangyang first.

Shen Yangyang was already irresistibly drawn in by the aroma. Ignoring the heat, she opened her mouth and took a bite. She smiled, revealing a tooth, and exclaimed, "Delicious!!"

Seeing how happily she was eating, her sister-in-law immediately stood up, picked up another piece, and brought it to Shen Qingqing's lips, saying, "Here, this is for you!"

Shen Qingqing didn't refuse. She took a bite, and the slightly oily pork belly and the refreshing, non-greasy lychee blended together perfectly. Even though it was rich in oil, it didn't have that greasy feeling that made people want to vomit. Instead, the fruity aroma and sweetness of the lychee removed the fishy smell and enhanced the fragrance of the pork belly.

Shen Qingqing smiled exactly like Shen Yangyang, "Delicious!!"

The sister-in-law was amused by the sisters' perfectly synchronized reactions, and immediately got up and went back to the kitchen to pick out another dish for them to try.

Once the lychee feast was all ready, Shen Qingqing and Shen Yangyang, under the guise of being fed by their sister-in-law, had already tried all the dishes—except for the lychee stew.

As soon as the dishes were served, Ping exclaimed, "Wow! We're having Pangpai today!"

"Stop joking, hurry up and serve the rice!" My sister-in-law took a bunch of chopsticks and started serving the rice one by one.

After Zheng Wanyu and her grandfather started eating, the younger generation followed suit.

Shen Qingqing took a spoon, aimed at the lychee medley, scooped up a large spoonful, poured it into Zheng Wanyu's bowl sitting next to her, and then scooped a large spoonful for herself as well.

Of all the dishes she tried, she thought this lychee mixed vegetables were the best!

Shen Yangyang, on the other hand, loved the lychee stir-fried pork dish she ate at the very beginning.

As for Shen Hong, he eats everything, but not much of anything, so it's hard to tell if he has any particular preference.

However, influenced by Shen Qingqing, the two younger children also started serving food to Zheng Wanyu.

Shen Qingqing had eaten dishes made with fruit in her previous life, such as sweet and sour pork with pineapple and sweet and sour pork with cherry, but she just couldn't accept dishes that combined meat and fruit, so she naturally felt that she didn't like them.

But I never expected that cooking with fruit would be like this. She, who usually doesn't like to eat, ate a whole bowl of rice today, and also drank a bowl of soup and a bowl of sweet soup. She was so full that her stomach was a little bloated.

Shen Yangyang always had a bigger appetite than her, and now she was also eating until her belly was round.

Only Shen Hong was still drinking his soup politely.

Seeing that the table of food had been completely eaten, the hostesses who had worked so hard to prepare the meal were all smiles.

"If you like to eat them, I'll have your aunt bring you over again next time. The lychees are all harvested now. If we can't finish them, we'll use them to make wine. We can make a lot of wine in a year and still not finish it all. It's perfect that you're here, so I'll make you some more!" These words were spoken by Ping's mother, a woman with short, slightly dark hair that reached her ears, who spoke very generously.

"Come whenever you have the chance! The food today was delicious. I don't usually eat this much at home. I'm so full because the food was so good." Shen Qingqing burped a little embarrassedly.

Shen Yangyang and Shen Hong also said it was delicious.

Zheng Wanyu is old, and although the dishes were good, she had eaten them many times before, and her digestion was not good, so she didn't eat much at this meal. However, she was happy to see Shen Qingqing and the others eating a lot and enjoying their meal.

"They still have to go to school. If they have time on the weekend and want to come, we'll bring them over for a visit."

Ping's mother: "Although the lychees have all been picked, there's still a lot of work to be done in the lychee orchard. If you'd like to come and try it out, that's perfectly fine!"

The three children nodded vigorously.

They ate too much, and although they drank two cups of tea, the three children fell asleep extra quickly. Fortunately, the sofa was soft, so they could fall asleep lying on it. The three children are all small, and they all fell asleep quickly by cramming them onto the two sofas.

The air conditioning was on in the living room, and people were enjoying tea on a summer afternoon. The Zheng family members, who had been busy in the lychee orchard all morning, gradually went to sleep.

Zheng Wanyu didn't sleep; she had to stay with her three children.

Shen Qingqing was sleeping soundly until she was jolted awake by a phone call—her phone was on vibrate, not on.

Shen Qingqing woke up groggily, took out her phone, and saw the word "Dad" flashing on the screen, which immediately woke her up. She swiped to answer, "Hello, Dad?"

"Where are you?" Shen Rongzhou was in the ancestral hall. He had just entered the courtyard where Zheng Wanyu lived through the alley when he found the gate locked and there was no sign of the children or the elderly.

"Grandma brought us to her parents' house to pick lychees. We ate too much at noon and fell asleep," Shen Qingqing explained in a few words. "How is Mom? Does she still have a headache? Has she seen a doctor?"

Shen Rongzhou relaxed upon learning that they were safe and answered Shen Qingqing's question: "The situation is much better. It was just a common cold. I took some Sanjiu headache pills and was able to get up and eat in the afternoon."

Then he asked, "When are you coming back?"

Shen Qingqing glanced at Shen Yangyang and Shen Hong, who were still fast asleep, then met Zheng Wanyu's gaze. She covered the receiver and asked, "Grandma, when are we going back?"

"Your dad?" Zheng Wanyu gestured with her chin towards the phone.

Shen Qingqing nodded.

"Let's go back then, it's almost four o'clock." Zheng Wanyu glanced at the clock on the wall.

Shen Qingqing immediately replied to Shen Rongzhou.

Hearing the commotion in the living room, Grandpa Zheng came out and saw Zheng Wanyu waking up the remaining two children one by one. He asked, "Auntie, are you leaving? Why don't you have dinner here too? There are still rooms available for you to sleep in."

"No, no, the child's family is looking for her." Zheng Wanyu waved her hand. "Let's do it next time. I'll bring my granddaughter next time. She loves lychees too."

Ten minutes later, Shen Qingqing got back on the tricycle from her childhood and sped home amidst the rosy sunset.

See you tomorrow night~