Chapter 212: Liang Ladi's Family

Liang Ladi also recalled the figure she saw getting out of the car this afternoon; it seemed to be the General Manager from the main factory who was in charge of guiding the construction of the Pig Farm at their Steel Mill.

"Oh, good, let's go home and cook too." Liang Ladi was still carrying her youngest daughter, Xiuer, on her back; she looked to be no more than two or three years old.

"Yes, good, Mother. My brothers and I dug up quite a lot of wild vegetables today; we can boil some wild vegetable soup to drink."

"Yes, good, Mother will make it for you when we get back." Liang Ladi said this, but her face showed worry; the rice jar at home had already hit the bottom.

Liang Ladi entered the room and set her daughter down, then nimbly began to clean the wild vegetables, preparing to make wild vegetable porridge. She could endure hunger herself, but the children were all at an age where they were growing, so that wouldn't do.

"Sniff, sniff." Liang Ladi, who was cleaning the wild vegetables, suddenly smelled the sweet fragrance of rice porridge. Her throat couldn't help but bob; she couldn't even remember the last time she had drunk rice porridge.

"Mother, it smells so good."

Her little daughter Xiuer clearly smelled it too. Looking at the expressions of her daughter and Damao and the others, Liang Ladi sighed in her heart.

She took out the pickled radish she had been reluctant to eat from the pickle jar under the eaves, cut half of it, gave it a simple toss, and carried the pickles toward the neighbor's house.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Zhang Ping'an frowned; he didn't know who would come knocking at this mealtime. He was just enjoying big mouthfuls of meat and wine, feeling quite satisfied. With a thought, he left a plate of braised meat behind, wiped his mouth, and then went out to open the door.

"Who are you?"

Actually, Zhang Ping'an recognized Liang Ladi at a glance. She was younger than in the show, but also more haggard; she was probably only in her early thirties at this time.

"Hello, General Manager. I'm from next door, and I'm also a worker at the Steel Mill. My name is Liang Ladi. These are some pickles I made; I wanted to trade them for a bowl of porridge. My daughter is only two-plus years old, and I..."

Liang Ladi appeared very uneasy at this moment. Although she hadn't come empty-handed, how could these pickles compare to rice porridge?

"Let all your children come over; I made quite a lot and can't finish it all."

Although Liang Ladi was sharp-tongued in the show, it was to better protect herself and her children. As a widow, being able to support four children on her own salary without selling her body already surpassed most people.

"This..." Liang Ladi hadn't expected this young General Manager to be so easy to talk to.

"Alright, I'll take the pickles. Let your children come over."

"Oh, oh, good." Liang Ladi hurriedly handed over the pickles.

Returning home, Liang Ladi didn't have the heart to let all the children go over.

"Damao, you take your sister and go over."

"Mother, let Sanmao take my sister instead."

Damao was the oldest, but he was only eight this year. However, children of poor families take on responsibilities early; he knew this was going over to eat something good, so he decided to give the chance to the youngest, Sanmao.

"Damao..." Liang Ladi pulled her eldest son into her arms, her heart aching.

"Mother, hurry and let Sanmao take my sister over."

"Yes, Sanmao, take your sister over, but you can only drink porridge, do you hear me?"

"Yes, good, Mother, I understand."

Zhang Ping'an had already served four bowls of sweet potato porridge in the kitchen. He hadn't put the braised meat back into his storage space, and he had also taken out sausages and scrambled eggs.

These four children were also pitiful, but fortunately, they would later have Nan Yi's help, and the family would live not too badly, though the ending didn't seem very perfect.

However, the current Nan Yi seemed to still be infatuated with Ding Qiunan and wasn't interested in Liang Ladi.

"Uncle." A childish voice pulled Zhang Ping'an's thoughts back.

"Hey, you're here. Why is it just the two of you?"

"..." Both children twisted their shirt corners with their fingers and didn't speak.

"Fine, then sit down and eat."

The two children swallowed their saliva as they looked at the fragrant dishes on the table, but they remembered Liang Ladi's words and buried their heads in their porridge.

Zhang Ping'an looked at these two sensible children who made his heart ache, and he served them some scrambled eggs and sausage.

"Eat whatever you want, just like you're in your own home."

"Thank you, Uncle."

"Uncle, what is this?" Two-year-old Xiuer had never seen sausage before.

"It's sausage, it's made of pork. By the way, tell Uncle what your name is? How old are you?"

"Uncle, my name is Xiuer, I'm two years old this year. He is my third brother, his name is Sanmao, he's over four."

"Uh, then you eat some pig's head meat; you might not be able to chew this sausage. Give it to your third brother to eat."

"Oh, good." Xiuer spat out the fragrant meat with some reluctance, and Sanmao didn't mind, eating it directly.

"..."

Zhang Ping'an found it somewhat funny yet also heartbreaking; they were about the same age as his own daughter, yet they had suffered so much.

This meal lasted for over half an hour. The two children each drank a bowl of sweet potato porridge, half a Steamed Bun, and a little bit of scrambled eggs and pig's head meat.

Zhang Ping'an put the porridge he had served earlier into a large bowl and added a little of each of the three dishes.

"Sanmao, take this back for your brothers to eat. Hold it steady, don't spill it."

"This, Uncle..."

"Take it back. You can't be the only one who ate while your brothers are still hungry, right?"

"Yes, thank you, Uncle."

"Such good children, go on."

Although this large bowl of Zhang Ping'an's didn't have the scale of the Jia Zhangshi ancestral large bowl, it was only one size smaller. If they ate sparingly, it would be enough for their family to eat for a day or two.

Zhang Ping'an himself had a large appetite and had thought about eating the leftovers after heating them up tomorrow morning; now he would just have to get up and boil porridge again tomorrow morning.

"Mother, big brother, open the door for me." Sanmao held the bowl with both hands; Xiuer was too small to push the door.

"Sanmao, how did you..."

"It was given by the Uncle. He heard that big brother and second brother hadn't eaten yet, so he let us bring it back."

"You all go inside first. Damao, take the things inside, I'm going to go thank him."

"Oh, good."

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Who is it? If there's something, let's talk about it tomorrow."

It was already dark by now, and if a lone man and woman were to stay in the same room, they wouldn't be able to clear their names even if they had a hundred mouths to explain.

Liang Ladi also realized this and hurried home; Damao and Ermao were swallowing their saliva as they looked at the sweet potato porridge and the meat on top, and when Liang Ladi returned and saw it, her throat bobbed as well, as the three of them had just drunk a little wild vegetable paste earlier.

Liang Ladi carefully picked out all the vegetables and ladled a small bowl for each of Damao and Ermao.

"Eat."

"Mom, you eat too."

"Mom isn't hungry, I already ate my fill just now, you two hurry up and eat while it's hot."

"Oh."

Ten minutes later, Damao had finished half a bowl and pushed the rest in front of Liang Ladi.

"Mom, I can't finish it, you eat it."

"Mm, okay." Liang Ladi could no longer hold back, and bean-sized teardrops mixed with the sweet potato porridge as she drank it down.

"Mom, don't cry, when Xiuer grows up and earns money, we will drink sweet potato porridge every day."

"Good, good, good."

Zhang Ping'an, who had already tidied up the bowls and chopsticks, naturally heard the conversation next door and sighed lightly in his heart; he would help them as much as he could over these next two days.

Early the next morning, Zhang Ping'an got up early to exercise as usual, naturally putting the porridge on to stew first; after a set of stretches, the porridge was ready, and he casually took out two large meat buns and started devouring them.

After finishing his meal, Zhang Ping'an had just tidied up and was preparing to go to work when a knocking sound came from outside.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"It's you."

"I've come to return the bowl, thank you for yesterday."

"It's nothing, I just saw that Xiuer is about the same age as my daughter, and they are both likable."

"Regardless, I must thank you." Liang Ladi understood in her heart now that this leader must have been moved by compassion.

"Alright, I will be staying here for two days, have your children come over to eat in the evening, I can't finish the things I brought anyway."

"Okay."