Chapter 179: Joining the Event

During that time, Lu Cheng drank several glasses of draft beer and ordered other dishes.

When the bill was calculated, the total was 18.2 yuan.

Lu Cheng slapped the seven yuan from his pocket onto the counter and said a word to the collecting Comrade.

"The rest, my sister will pay."

Lu Ying was instantly confused: "Weren't you the one who said you were treating?"

Lu Cheng replied with righteous confidence: "Ah, I'm treating; it's just that the money's insufficient."

"You…"

Lu Ying, angry to the point her teeth ached, said: "If you have no money, why did you order so many dishes?"

Lu Cheng said: "It wasn't wasteful; we finished everything. I was just thinking, since our niece finally came once, we, as her uncle and aunt, shouldn't be petty."

Lu Ying retorted: "You're really annoying! One meal wiped out my household savings; how am I supposed to buy clothes for Qing'er?"

Lu Cheng replied: "Oh dear, Mom can buy the clothes."

Lu Cheng patted his belly and said: "If you don't want to spend money, that's really not okay; just leave Qing'er here to wash dishes to settle the bill."

Lu Ying, angry, kicked him: "Leaving you to settle the bill is about the same, you nuisance!"

The money was spent, the clothes couldn't be bought, so they could only take Qing'er home first.

Lu Beitang was standing in the courtyard hiccupping; he had indeed eaten a lot of noodles today.

When Qing'er was brought back, Chen Xianglan dropped her rag and came out.

"Qing'er is back, are you full? If not, Grandma still has noodles saved for you."

Lu Ying took over: "Mom, she's full; look at her belly, it's round and smooth from eating."

Chen Xianglan lifted it—indeed, it was swollen like a little Xiao Piqiu, and she couldn't help but gasp.

"Ouch, you two are crazy; how could you feed her so much!"

Chen Xianglan lifted a broom, about to hit the two, and Lu Cheng hurriedly ran while dodging.

"Mom, you're the maternal grandma, right? We're giving your granddaughter a good meal, and you're still…"

Chen Xianglan flung the broom: "Stop babbling here; it's not that I'm…"

She's still so young; out in the countryside she usually eats plain coarse grain, and you suddenly feed her so much—can her stomach handle it?

Lu Ying, hearing that, thought it made sense; just now Qing'er was clearly already full, and she and Lu Cheng kept force‑feeding the little niece.

Looking at Qing'er's swollen little belly, Lu Ying also felt a bit scared: "So, what should we do? Qing'er won't have any problems, right?"

If something happened, how could they explain it to big brother and sister‑in‑law?

Chen Xianglan sighed: "First, massage her belly, don't let her sit still, have her move around; I'll go to the clinic for some Yeast tablets for her."

Chen Xianglan was also a first‑time grandma, and the whole family was being commanded around.

Fortunately, by early afternoon Qing'er had a bowel movement, her stomach felt much better, and the family's anxious hearts relaxed.

When night fell, originally Chen Xianglan planned to hold Qing'er to sleep, but the Main Hall still had a small bed Lu Cheng had previously slept on, which Lu Beitang could share.

But Qing'er insisted on fussing to sleep with Lu Cheng, and Lu Ying coaxed her away: "Qing'er, be good; from now on you'll sleep with aunt."

After almost a day together, Qing'er became familiar with everyone at home: "Big aunt…"

Lu Ying carried Qing'er to Xi Er Fang, placed her on the bed, and pretended to scold: "Call me little aunt, don't call me old; I haven't even gotten married yet."

"Little aunt, I want to go to little uncle's room."

"No, girls can only sleep with girls; after we get up tomorrow, we'll go find little uncle."

Seeing Qing'er pucker her little mouth, Lu Ying couldn't help but pinch her cheek.

The family had to go to work, so the next day only Lu Cheng stayed home to watch the child.

In the morning, Lu Cheng took Qing'er to the Drum Tower, the Summer Palace, and Tiananmen for a circuit.

Near noon, returning home, Chen Xianglan hadn't finished work, Qing'er was hungry again, and Lu Cheng rummaged the kitchen, suddenly getting an idea of what to make.

"Qing'er, wait a moment; today little uncle will show you a trick that will definitely make you fragrant and dizzy."

He took the leftover cold steamed buns, sliced them thin, dipped them briefly in water, then coated them with a layer of egg liquid.

Then he dropped them into the hot oil pot, fried until both sides were golden, spread a layer of sesame paste on top, and sprinkled some white sugar.

It's absolutely the most luxurious way of eating that ordinary people of this era long for.

Because whether it's oil, sesame paste, or white sugar, any one of them is a severely scarce resource at the moment, only a little supplied each month.

Every household is scrimping on food.

Lu Cheng carefully handed a piece to Qing'er: "Try it."

Qing'er was about to imitate how she ate roast duck yesterday, gulping the bun slice whole, but Lu Cheng immediately stopped her: "This time you can eat it in small bites."

Indeed, such a precious fried bun slice can't be swallowed in one bite; it must be chewed slowly in small bites.

Without exaggeration, Lu Cheng was risking his life, making this fried bun slice.

From neighbor Pang Ya's words, one could tell how serious it was.

"Lu San'er, what are you frying that's so fragrant?"

"Bun slices!"

Pang Ya opened her mouth wide; frying bun slices consumes a lot of oil.

"Alright, when your mother returns, you can wait to be beaten."

"Hear that, Qing'er, when your grandma hits me, you just stand there crying…"

Qing'er, with a mouth full of oil residue, nodded: "Hmm, I won't hit little uncle."

Although she was mentally prepared, when Chen Xianglan returned home and saw half the oil missing from the pot, she almost fainted on the spot.

Seeing Mom scrambling for a broom, Lu Cheng hoisted Qing'er and bolted out.

"You spendthrift, stand still! You fried bun slices costing me so much oil, that's enough!"

"It's what your granddaughter wants to eat..."

"After this incident, when Chen Xianglan goes out again, she always locks the kitchen."

"Three days later, Lu Cheng bought some cream fried cake from the abundant public cheese shop at Dong'an Shichang, took them to the Jingzhan Tea Stall, and then threw Qing'er to his sister to look after."

"He won't have to do train duty during this break until the New Year; normally he just stands watch on the Platform."

"Because the New Year is approaching, the Platform sees a huge flow of people, requiring many staff."

"But today Lu Cheng is not here for duty; a few days ago, Sergeant Ding Jingzhang told him to attend an event organized by the Department Committee."

"It is said that the warship returning from West Dela has already docked, and the Department Committee is very pleased; it seems that among those attending the event are high‑ranking officials of the Department Committee."

"According to the address, upon entering the Da Litang, there were quite a few people; they were all from various agencies of the department, and even leaders of the Railway Bureaus from subordinate regions were present."

"The leaders sat at the front speaking softly, while the low‑ranking officers sat toward the back."

"Lu Cheng consciously looked for an empty seat at the back."

"\"Group Leader Lu, come, come, sit here, \" Jiang Mengmeng said, waving her hand when she saw Lu Cheng."

"Events like this always have leaders at the front spouting a lot of nonsense, which is especially boring; sitting next to Jiang Mengmeng, surrounded by women, I could tease for a while, so it wouldn't be so boring."

"However, when he tried to squeeze past the seats, Lei Zhan'ge heard someone call \"Group Leader Lu\" and looked over from the front."

"\"Lu Cheng, come sit at the front. \""

"Lu Cheng didn't want to go; if he went to the front he could only sit obediently, his body taut and upright, and there was no point chatting with Jiang Mengmeng and those women."

"\"Captain Lei, the front is all senior leaders; I have no right to sit up front. \""

"Captain Lei frowned, \"If I let you come over, just come over, why so much nonsense! \""