yournovel Chapter 194 Life was indeed quite tough.
Chapter 194 Life was indeed quite tough.
Chapter 194 Life was indeed quite tough.
"Boom boom boom!"
Yu Huan's fingers tapped on the old wooden door with its peeling paint, producing a crisp sound.
Yu Chengcheng looked around; the dim light barely illuminated the old stairwell.
She lowered her hat brim slightly and asked softly, "Does Songnian live here alone?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"What did you say?" Yu Chengcheng asked back.
"Of course I'm living with my girlfriend!" Yu Huan said with a smile.
The sound was exceptionally clear in the empty stairwell.
The voice just fell.
The sound of a metal bolt being pulled came from inside the door.
The door slowly opened.
Yu Songnian's big ears and fat head popped out, his face beaming with a warm smile.
He was wearing an elastic mesh cap, the strap of which was deeply embedded in his chin, making him look particularly comical.
When he saw Yu Huan standing at the front, he immediately waved to Yu Huan, his eyes full of acknowledgment.
Seeing this, Yu Huan had no idea that this guy had prepared a welcoming ceremony.
He immediately understood, stepped behind Yu Chengcheng, and gently nudged her shoulder.
Yu Chengcheng was pushed to the door with a bewildered look on her face, while Yu Songnian pulled the door open.
behind the door.
The two siblings, one on the left and one on the right, then pulled the strings of the fireworks.
Two loud bangs echoed through the venue.
Colorful stripes and sequins fell gracefully from the sky.
"Songnian, you're still doing this kind of thing!"
Yu Chengcheng walked into the living room with a smile and looked at Yu Songnian's head:
"Did you bump your head again?"
Sequins landed on Yu Chengcheng's baseball cap and shoulders, sparkling and shimmering under the light from the ceiling lamp.
"It's not a big problem," Yu Songnian simply replied.
Then, he stopped abruptly, took the lead in clapping, and shouted in a loud and powerful voice: "A warm welcome to Ms. Yu Chengcheng back to China! Everyone, give her a round of applause!"
Xu Qian and her brother quickly applauded in response.
Yu Huan, who followed her in, quickly turned around and closed the door. While gently clapping her hands, she couldn't help but tease, "Song Nian, you're making such a commotion so late at night. What if someone comes knocking on the door with a kitchen knife later?"
Yu Songnian waved his hand and said with a smile, "It's alright. From what I've observed, the people renting here are all young people who are active at night and sleep during the day!"
"Hello, Sister Chengcheng!" Xu Qian greeted Yu Chengcheng reservedly, her voice revealing a hint of nervousness.
"Cheng, hello sister." Xu Hui's voice was even softer than her older sister's, and her face showed a hint of shyness.
Yu Chengcheng patted off the colorful stripes and sequins on her clothes and quickly replied, "Hey! Hello!"
As a well-known figure in the surrounding area, Yu Chengcheng was like a big shot in the eyes of the two siblings.
Every move she made and every word she uttered made them feel inexplicably nervous.
"Is this my brother's wife?"
Yu Chengcheng looked Xu Qian's face up and down, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she carefully examined her:
"You look very familiar!"
Yu Songnian, a giant like a bear, stood beside him, his face slightly red from the fat, scratching his forehead somewhat embarrassedly.
“It’s my sister-in-law!” Yu Huan nodded firmly, breaking the silence.
A village has several hundred households, which are further divided into several villagers' groups—the former production teams.
So Yu Chengcheng looked familiar and tentatively asked Yu Songnian, "The one in Group Seven? The surname is Xu?"
“That’s right!” Yu Songnian confirmed in a deep voice.
After receiving the reply, Yu Chengcheng turned to look at Xu Hui, a shy young man she didn't recognize at all.
"Your sister-in-law's name is Xu Qian." Yu Huan grinned and walked around the coffee table, sprawling on the sofa. She introduced, "This young man is Song Nian's brother-in-law, named Xu Hui."
Yu Chengcheng nodded: "Oh, Xu Qian, Xu Hui—"
Xu Qian, whose name was called, moved her lips nervously, but didn't know how to respond.
Putting aside my impression of Yu Chengcheng as a powerful figure, just the sight of this tall, 1.8-meter-tall woman in front of me, even with her baby face, is incredibly intimidating.
"Xu Hui, aren't you going to prepare a midnight snack?" Yu Huan urged.
"Okay, Huan-ge, I'll go right away." Xu Hui snapped to attention and hurriedly turned to go to the kitchen.
Upon seeing this, Yu Chengcheng exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, we're eating at home! Is this the chef in charge?"
She thought Yu Songnian had made a reservation and they were eating out.
"Don't worry, my brother-in-law is a professional," Yu Huan said confidently, his face beaming with confidence in Xu Hui's skills.
They sat down on the sofa, with Yu Songnian and Yu Chengcheng sitting on either side of Yu Huan.
Xu Qianqian swept the colorful strips and sequins from the entrance into a dustpan and placed it against the wall along with the broom.
Turning around, seeing the close relationship between the three cousins, he quietly moved a small stool and sat down by the coffee table.
Yu Chengcheng's gaze inadvertently fell on the two large boxes of coconut juice on the coffee table, along with a small stack of disposable plastic cups.
Yu Songnian understood immediately and winked at Xu Qian: "Qianqian, pour Chengzi a drink." "No, no!" Yu Chengcheng quickly waved her hand, leaned forward, and grabbed the coconut juice box: "I can do it myself."
However, Xu Qian quickly picked up the plastic cup and called out Yu Chengcheng's nickname after Yu Songnian: "Let me do it, Sister Chengzi."
As he spoke, he laid out four plastic cups on the coffee table.
"I'll pour it." Yu Chengcheng held the lid between her fingertips, twisted it open, and poured the cups full one by one.
After she finished, she couldn't wait to pick up a glass and drink it all in one gulp.
He casually placed the plastic cup on the coffee table, closed his eyes slightly as if savoring the moment, and sighed, "This familiar taste, just the right amount of sweetness—so refreshing!"
"You might as well just blow the bottle up."
Yu Huan's sudden remark immediately made Yu Songnian and Xu Qian burst into laughter.
"You just don't understand how I feel." Yu Chengcheng rolled her eyes and poured herself another cup of coconut juice.
This time, however, she only took a small sip.
"I understand it, yet I don't."
Yu Huan leaned back comfortably on the sofa, joking in a relaxed tone:
"Although your stomach has certainly suffered a bit over the past year, please don't come back thin and go back fat. You're already tall, if you become like Song Nian, you'll have even less chance of finding a boyfriend."
Yu Songnian muttered to himself, "How did this get dragged into me again?"
Yu Chengcheng sighed, "Don't worry, even if I go back fat, I'll lose weight quickly. The school cafeteria doesn't have much else, but it has endless pasta, risotto, and cold dishes and pancakes that make my stomach churn."
"Isn't Chinese cuisine found all over the world?" Yu Songnian asked curiously.
"Forget it." Yu Chengcheng shook her head: "It's expensive and not authentic, and the authentic ones are completely unaffordable."
As the group chatted, a delicate aroma wafted from the kitchen.
Yu Chengcheng's eyes lit up immediately, she rubbed her hands together and couldn't wait to get up and rush to the kitchen.
Not a moment.
She returned to the living room with two pieces of ginger-spicy snake with the skin still on, her lips still greasy, and she slurped them with relish.
Seeing her greedy expression, Yu Huan couldn't help but tease her, "Your brother-in-law is very shy. Did you scare him so much that he couldn't even hold the spatula when you rushed in?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Qian didn't hesitate to expose her younger brother's shortcomings: "Him? He's so naive, he blushes even when talking to girls!"
“That’s true.” Yu Songnian immediately agreed.
Yu Chengcheng, her baby face hidden under her baseball cap, was speechless for a moment. She looked at Yu Huan and said, "Brother Huan, you seem to really enjoy joking around these days, huh?"
Yu Songnian had just received 30,000 yuan from Huan Ge today, and hurriedly chimed in to defend him: "That's called having strong social skills, you know?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Chengcheng mimicked Yu Huan's tone in a strange voice, uttering four words: "You understand but you don't."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Seeing that the ginger and spicy snake dish, which required the perfect cooking time, was ready, Xu Qian hurriedly got up and went to the kitchen to prepare it.
Yu Chengcheng's mouth, however, never stopped moving.
When Yu Songnian felt the urge to smoke, he opened the front door, leaned against the door frame, and leisurely started smoking.
Before long, Xu Qian brought two bowls of delicious-looking main dishes to the coffee table.
The aromas of ginger-spicy snake and spicy crayfish intertwine and waft together, creating a rich and enticing fragrance.
Then Xu Qian sat on a small stool, put on disposable gloves, and skillfully tore apart the whole braised duck and plated it.
Yu Chengcheng set her sights on a duck leg. Seeing Xu Qian put it in the bowl, she took a few steps over, grabbed the leg quickly, and took a big bite.
With his mouth full of grease, he sighed, "Ah, that's great!"
"Sister Orange is possessed by a starving ghost," Yu Songnian joked as he puffed out a cloud of smoke.
Yu Huan commented sharply, "This kid is definitely having a tough time in New York."
Eat, eat, eat, eat—
While eating heartily, Yu Chengcheng took a moment to respond to their teasing: "My last meal was ten hours ago, when I ate a steak!"
Seeing that she was enjoying her meal, Yu Huan couldn't resist picking up a piece of braised duck to taste as well.
He continued to tease her relentlessly: "You came prepared, specifically saving room for a big meal!"
"What else?" Yu Chengcheng tilted her head and chewed her lips.
When Xu Hui brought out a plate of smashed cucumbers, Yu Songnian immediately stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can, then turned around and went to the kitchen to get a few bottles of beer.
The group then sat around the coffee table and enjoyed the sumptuous late-night snack.
Yu Huan picked up a piece of snake meat and put it in her mouth. The ginger flavor was strong, and she couldn't help but exclaim, "Not bad, the cooking time is just right, and the spiciness is also just right. I won't have a stomachache if I eat this tonight."
Yu Songnian tilted his head back and chugged the bottle, taking a few swigs of beer. He then placed the bottle beside him with a contented air and jokingly boasted, "I specifically told Xu Hui not to make it too spicy, so that Sister Cheng's American stomach wouldn't get diarrhea."
Before he could finish speaking, Yu Chengcheng slapped him on the forehead: "Are you kidding me? Also, it's best not to drink if you have a head injury."
"Hehe, no, no, I wouldn't dare." Yu Songnian laughed and bowed. "I'll just have one bottle of beer."
Yu Chengcheng, however, was too lazy to pay him any more attention.
He gave Xu Hui a thumbs up and smiled, revealing eight neat, white upper teeth: "Little brother, your skills are pretty good!"
Hearing the praise, Xu Hui scratched the back of his head shyly and said, "It was all Brother Songnian's order."
Xu Qian smiled and said, "Let's eat crayfish first. Sister Chengzi hasn't had dinner yet, so I'll cook some noodles and mix them into the soup as a main dish."
Yu Chengcheng craned her neck to look at the ceiling light, thought for a moment, and then looked down again: "Uh, never mind, I don't know which meal this is."
(End of this chapter)