Reborn Soul: Me and My Family

After breakfast, Ouyang Qing saw that everyone was at home today, and wondered whether to hold a welcome ceremony for his eldest brother. He told his idea to Zhou Ma and discussed it with her. Today, hot pot and barbecue were all arranged for his eldest brother. Now that the decision was made, they had to act quickly. Both of them were anxious and took out the vegetables, fresh beef, and fresh mutton prepared by Ouyang Qing from the cellar. Zhou Ma also made crab sticks, beef balls, and fish balls with crabs in the space before, all of which came in handy this time.

After cleaning the tripe and preparing the ingredients for the barbecue, Zhou's mother assigned tasks to the father and his two sons. They skewered the meat with bamboo sticks. Ouyang Qing took out the charcoal stove for barbecue and hot pot that had been prepared in the cellar. The mother and daughter were responsible for cleaning the ingredients for the hot pot. Ouyang Bai was shocked when he saw his mother and sister taking out so many things from the cellar. Why did it feel like there was everything in the cellar!

Although this barbecue and hotpot did not have as many varieties as those in the 21st century, most of the ingredients in Ouyang's space were taken out. Zhou's mother handed the important task of burning charcoal to her husband, as the children could not control the degree of burning of the charcoal. The ingredients for the hotpot were meat and meatballs made by Zhou's mother, but the variety was still complete. It was not convenient for the barbecue brother to take out the oysters here, and the eldest brother was not as easy to fool as the second and younger brothers. Ouyang Qing had an excuse to get something from the cellar, so he took out the corn and eggplant together. Ouyang's father's charcoal fire was also prepared.

As the weather was cold, they decided to barbecue in the kitchen and opened all the windows. There was no need for an exhaust vent for oil smoke, so they just found a downwind vent and placed the stove. After Ouyang Zhen taught his two sons how to make the dishes and how to add the ingredients, they sat down at the table to eat hot pot. But Zhou's mother couldn't stand it anymore. Today's meal was originally prepared for the eldest son. Ouyang Bo kept saying that he and the second son should barbecue together and let the father eat first. Finally, Ouyang Qing said that each of them should barbecue some and they could take turns eating.

The daughter solved the problem in no time, and Ouyang Zhen had nothing to say. Ouyang Bai had meat that his mother and sister had cooked for him in his bowl and barbecue that his father had just grilled in his hands. He felt so happy. The other two brothers also sat at the table. They looked at each other and thought, "Why is it that now that the eldest son is back, we are no longer important? We are nothing." The two brothers lowered their heads and turned their grief and anger into appetite, and ate a lot. (Mother Zhou: Actually, your eldest brother is in the army and he hasn't come back, so you two are not important.)

The aroma of barbecue and hotpot filled the entire Tuanjie Lane. It was okay for those who were a little further away, but it was hard for the Ouyang family's neighbors. Tomorrow was New Year's Eve, and the little meat at home was saved for tomorrow's meal. The neighbors in the lane also got along well with each other and there had never been a quarrel, so no one came to knock on the Ouyang family's door no matter how delicious the smell was. Mother Zhou knew that barbecue had a strong smell, so usually the family didn't dare to eat anything with a strong smell. This time they ate outside because they were happy about the New Year. The couple cut the remaining half of the sheep into small pieces, intending to share some with a few close families.

Zhou Ma divided the food into 7 portions using a cooking plate. Ouyang Zhen was responsible for delivering it to the Li family next door and the Zhao family at the entrance of the alley. These two families were colleagues who worked in the same department as Ouyang's father, and they had a good relationship with each other. Ouyang Qing was responsible for delivering it to Aunt Liu and Aunt Sun next door. Zhou Ma was responsible for delivering it to her colleagues Wang Xuehua and Qi Ailan. The last portion was delivered by Xiao Si to an elderly couple living alone in the alley, Uncle Wan and Aunt Qian. When the couple was young, they had a son named Wan Qingshan, who also used to work in a steel plant. The couple was just waiting to find a wife for their son so that they could have a grandson in two years. However, things did not go as they wished. While working, the machine malfunctioned due to improper operation of other workers, and boiling iron slurry gushed out. He could have run away if he wanted to, but if he ran away without turning off the machine, other machines in the workshop would also malfunction.

The machines of that era were all bought from abroad at great cost by the factory with great effort. If he did not shut down the machines, it would cause greater losses to the factory and more casualties. After weighing the pros and cons, he chose to sacrifice himself to ensure the safety of the machines and personnel in the factory. The two had a good relationship and gave birth to a son when they were nearly 40 years old. Now the old man was sending the young man away. The two of them turned gray overnight and have been in poor health since then. The factory held a memorial service for Wan Qingshan and the secretary also issued a document to the factory, stating that Comrade Wan Qingshan sacrificed his life to protect the factory's property and the lives of his colleagues. In the future, the factory will send special personnel to take care of the two old people regularly. There are many employees of the steel plant in Tuanjie Lane. Wan Qingshan saved the man in their family, which was equivalent to saving their lives. Therefore, in terms of daily life, in addition to people from the factory taking care of the two old people, the neighbors in the lane also spontaneously took turns to take care of the two old people.

Xiao Si has always been sweet-mouthed since he was young. The grandparents in the alley like him very much. Wherever he goes, the grandparents will give him candies and snacks that they usually don’t want to eat. When he was young, I don’t know how many times he was scolded for this. They said that they gave him food because they liked him. They also said that if it was other children in the alley, these grandparents would not be willing to give them food. He never learned his lesson after being beaten every time. However, when Xiao Si was about to graduate from elementary school, the snacks and candies of these old people were finally saved.

While everyone was out delivering the mutton, the two brothers at home cleaned the kitchen. After a busy morning, everyone planned to have a good rest in the afternoon. After a nap, Mother Zhou asked them to be responsible for the four of them to rest at home, and she and her daughter went out for a walk. In fact, she was looking for an excuse to bring some things home. The reason was that Ouyang Bai felt that the cellar of his house was magical, as if he could take out anything. He even went down to the cellar to take a look. He kept praising his father for being so amazing, saying that the cellar was comparable to the one he had seen in his fellow villager's house in the army, and that he could actually dig out such a big cellar.

Ouyang Bo also had a good memory. Zhou Ma knew her son. Since the things in the cellar had been seen by the eldest son, he had to find another reason to take things out of the space. The mother and daughter rode their bicycles to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought some White Rabbit and fruit candies for the children to visit on the first day of the new year. Just as they were about to find a remote place, Ouyang Qing saw a waste recycling station on the far right of the alley. His eyes lit up. Waste station! The legendary small treasury in the major hit novels, how could he forget such an important place.

But since I came across it, how could I miss it? She said with a look of surprise: "Mom, look at the scrapyard, let's go in and have a look!" Although she didn't know what her daughter meant by going to the scrapyard, Zhou's mother nodded. The two crossed the intersection, locked their bicycles and came to the gate of the scrapyard. Ouyang Qing saw a middle-aged man about the same age as his father sitting on a chair at the door. He walked up and whispered: "Hello, uncle, I am a sophomore student. I want to go in and see if there are any high school textbooks. Can my mother and I go in and look for them together? Please, I have always wanted to find that textbook. I heard from others that it might be found here. Thank you, uncle."