Of course, there was no way Madam Qin would let a guest go to the kitchen and help with the cooking, even if they were members for the same family. With that in mind, she quickly shooed the girls away to the kitchen to let them start working while at the same time pulling Su Tang and Su Nuo into the main room.
As Su Tang and her brother entered the main room, Madam Lou and Madam Miao stood up to go and fetch some water for them, and several children all tumbled in together to salute them. “Greeting aunt and uncle!”
Among these kids, the oldest one was Su Laixi and Madam Lou’s eldest son Su Rui, who was seven years old. He had started studying at the age of five, and Su Tang had heard that he learned pretty well and could be considered Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou’s greatest hope for the future of the Su family.
As Su Nuo sat in his seat and watched these kids saluting him, he suddenly recalled how when he had gone to greet his elders in the past they would sometimes give him food. Thus, the little guy put on an expression he considered ‘wise’ and reluctantly took out some frosted red fruits from his precious pouch to offer up. “Your old uncle here will give you some delicious food this time. Actually, these frosted red fruits were personally made by my sister over there, and they are very delicious.”
Even as he was offering the food up, he didn’t forget to praise his sister. Su Rui looked at the red fruits in Su Nuo’s hand and when he saw that they were dusted with a light coat of white sugar and emitting a sweet smell he couldn’t help but gulp audibly.
They were all the children of farmers’, so they knew that sugar was a precious thing. Although Su Yongqiang’s family could be called relatively rich, they still weren’t at a level where they could let their children eat sugar all day long. So when these kids were faced with something so delicious, they couldn’t help but stare.
However, they also didn’t dare to just directly accept the offered candies, and instead they turned to look at their mothers, Madam Luo, Madam Miao, and Madam Lu, with pleading eyes. Seeing their children making such expressions, the mothers felt a little embarrassed.
When Su Tang saw what was going on, she quickly intervened, “Just take it as a gift from your elders. If your uncle is offering it to you, don’t hesitate, just take it and eat it happily. After all, he seldom gives his own good things away.”
In fact, these frosted red fruits were actually the hawthorn berries that Su Nuo himself had picked from the mountain earlier in the year. Later, after he had carefully washed them all by hand, Su Tang had taken them and made them into these frosted red fruits and returned them to her brother as a snack for him to eat.
The little guy had long been used to living a very poor life for as long as he could remember, so he cherished all the good things that fell into his hands and also carefully saved up all the pocket money Su Tang gave him every month and never took it out to spend.
Fortunately, although Su Nuo had this sort of personality, he also wasn’t stingy when it came to his own people. As long as he was facing someone who was kind to him, he was always willing to share. In fact, this was a principle that Su Tang had taught him. The idea that when others were good to him he, of course, needed to be good to them in turn.
Su Nuo knew that Su Yongqiang and his family were all good people who had helped him and his sister, and Su Rui and these children all called him ‘uncle’, so he felt it was only right to share his delicious food with them. Of course, other people did not get this kind of treatment.
Because she knew his mindset, Su Tang also knew why it was rare for Su Nuo to do such a thing. But since he was offering, Su Rui and the children should just accept his good will and quickly accept.
Since Su Tang had already said as much and since, as mothers, Madam Luo and the rest didn’t want to refuse their children’s requests in the first place, they all nodded along. Once the children got their mother’s consent they all excitedly surrounded Su Nuo and gratefully accepted the frosted fruits, twittering happily all the while.
After being surrounded like this, Su Nuo’s face flushed red and he only managed to stammer out a few lines, seemingly on repeat, “Actually, it’s very delicious, right? My sister made it personally. My sister is amazing.”
Su Tang, who was listening on the side, felt speechless, and Madam Zhou and the mothers all laughed along happily.
Friendship between children was something very easy, so after Su Nuo shared his food the big group of children around him quickly dragged him outside to play in the snow together and make a snowman.
Su Tang watched the big group of children playing around in the yard from her seat the main room and sighed emotionally, “Sister-in-law’s house is really lively.”
When Madam Zhou heard Su Tang’s sigh, she also sighed in her heart. She knew that Su Tang and her brother were the only two people in their house these days, and after coming from a place that had many more family members, they probably felt more lonely now.
But she didn’t say anything about it, instead, she comforted: “When you and Brother Nuo get married in the future, there will be more and more people in your house as well.”
Thank you for the chapter!