Chapter 23 Borrowing Grain

  Qiu Ye put on a hesitant and shy expression, lowering her head as she stuttered: "Zhao... Zhao Auntie, c-can you h-help me with s-something right now?"

  Zhao Shuyan saw that the child looked like he wanted to say something but didn't dare, so she curiously asked: "What do you want Auntie to help with?"

  Fang Haibo also said beside her: "Xiao Ye don't be afraid, if there's anything you can tell me, Uncle Fang will help you think of a way."

  Qiu Ye rubbed her hands back and forth, saying in a low voice: "Just now I was studying a new seasoning at home and accidentally used up all my mom's bean oil. I'm a little scared, so I wanted to ask Aunt Zhao if there is still oil on your grain account? Can you lend me one catty first? After I sell the meatballs and earn enough money, I will return it to you."

  The couple looked at the child with a frightened expression, thinking it was something big, but after listening, it turned out that they had used up all the soybean oil at home and were afraid of being scolded, wanting to borrow grain coupons to buy oil, which made them laugh and cry.

  "You child, Aunt thought it was a big deal, but it's just this little thing. Wait, Aunt will get it for you." Zhao Shuyan said and got up to go into the house to get the grain coupon for Qiu Ye.

  Fang Haibo saw Qiu Ye sitting on the sofa with an apple in his hand, not eating it. He said: "Alright, your problem is also solved, don't worry about it anymore, hurry up and eat the apple. This apple is sweet, it was brought back by your Aunt Zhao from the south a few days ago."

  Qiu Ye looked down at the apple in her hand, it was a red Fuji, the kind that she didn't often eat even when she grew up in her past life because they were too expensive. She guessed that in this era, such apples were still rare, and this must be Zhao Ayi's favorite, she had brought it out especially for herself to eat when she saw Qiu Ye coming.

  Qiu Ye politely put the apple back on the plate and said, "Uncle Fang, I'm not thirsty or hungry, so I don't want to eat now." She still remembered that her mother had taught her since she was a child that when someone offered her food, she should say this. Although they didn't have much at home, it wasn't right to take things from others without permission, as that would make them look down on you.

  Fang Haibo looked at Qiu Ye, who was now a little adult, put down the apple and really didn't glance around, sitting upright and waiting for Zhao Auntie to get her grain ration book. Not like other kids at all, saying no with her mouth but her eyes were glued to it.

  "You can't not eat it, Zhao Auntie will be heartbroken. This apple was specially left for you and you must eat it." Fang Haibo said as he picked up the apple and stuffed it back into her hand.

  Qiu Ye held the apple and thought to herself, this wasn't what she wanted, it was Uncle Fang who had given it to her, she had no choice, so she reluctantly accepted it.

  Fang Haibo saw that she was still holding the apple and didn't seem to want to eat it, so he asked: "Why aren't you eating yet?"

  "I want to take it home and share it with my dad, mom, and brother tonight. They haven't had any either."

  She really thought so, from an early age her parents had taught them that if they had delicious food, they must first let the adults taste it, and also share it with their own brother, absolutely not eating alone.

  What Fang Haibo said was quite unexpected and shocking. Nowadays, most kids haven't seen any good food, as long as they can grab it, regardless of whether it's their own family's or not, and whether their parents have eaten or not, they will definitely eat their fill first. There are too few children like Qiu Ye who think about leaving some for their dad, mom, and brother to eat together after they haven't had any.

  Fang Haibo thought that Qiu Ye was such a good child, being so filial at such a young age. Looking at Qiu Ye's serious and adorable face, he couldn't help but scoop her up in his arms and sit her on his lap, saying: "Oh my, our little Ye is so filial! Your dad and mom are really lucky to have you! You know, Uncle Fang doesn't even have any kids of his own, how pitiful is that? Little Ye can be the daughter of Uncle Fang's household, okay?"

  Qiu Ye didn't expect Uncle Fang to say that. Although she had come here often in her past life, they had never said those words before.

  At the moment when Qiu Ye was stunned, Zhao Shuyan came out of the house. Her eyes were a bit red, obviously having heard her husband's words that their family had no children, how pitiful.

  They both liked children, but didn't know why they still didn't have any now. When they were young, they could laugh off the topic of having kids, but as they grew older, their desire for a child only intensified. Seeing Qiu Ye being held on her husband's lap was just like seeing a father-daughter pair, and she was moved by her husband's suggestion - how great would it be if Little Ye were their own child?

  "Uncle Fang, I really like you and Aunt Zhao, but can I promise myself? Shouldn't this be asked to Dad and Mom?" Qiu Ye thought for a moment before saying, she really didn't know how to answer.

  "Yes, Uncle Fang now just wants to ask for your opinion. If you agree, I'll talk to your dad about it tonight." Fang Haibo also remembered that kids can't make decisions on their own. If he wanted this daughter-in-law, he would have to discuss it with Qiu Yanlin.

  At this time, Qiu Ye saw Zhao Shuyan who had already come out of the house, shouted "Auntie Zhao", and jumped down from Fang Haibo's knee, running to Zhao Shuyan's side.

  Qiu Ye felt that he was already over 30 years old and still sat on someone's lap, which made him feel unbearable in his heart.

  Zhao Shuyan quickly gathered her emotions and handed the grain ration book to Qiu Ye.

  "Here you are, this is the grain, Auntie's house has a lot of oil in it too. When you get back, give some to your mom and let her take as much as she needs, don't be polite about it, anyway Auntie's house can't finish it all."

  In this era, grain and oil supplies were all rationed. For a family like Qiu Ye's, it was calculated per person, with 8 taels of oil allocated to each person every month. So for the whole family, it would be 3 jin and 2 liang (a unit of weight) per month. Every time, Qiu's mother wouldn't use them all up, but instead store some on the grain coupon book, waiting until Chinese New Year to buy them back and fry things. Usually, they just made do with what they had, as long as it was enough to eat. Qiu Ye would never dare touch her mother's grain coupon book unless absolutely necessary - that was her mother's lifeline.

  The Fang couple were both teachers at the Normal University, and because they were high-level talents returning from abroad, the university gave them many preferential policies to retain them. At that time, it was useless to give others, so they just gave them a little more grain, oil, and labor insurance every month. The Fang family had more than they could eat or use, but they could take it out to sell for money. However, their salaries were not low, and they both had their own side businesses, so they didn't lack money. They had saved up quite a bit of grain, oil, and flour, and now Qiu Ye had come to borrow some, Zhao Shuyan told Qiu Ye to use more if she needed it, knowing that the Qiu family had many people and would definitely not have enough grain and oil at home. Now, for Qiu Ye's sake, they also wanted to help out a bit.

  Qiu Ye held the grain coupon given by Aunt Zhao and excitedly said: "Thank you, Aunt Zhao! This time my mom can't spank me!" What she really wanted to say was: It's great, this is free, no need to pay back.

  "Mission accomplished, and it's getting late too. If I don't go get the oil now, it'll be too late. So I said: 'Uncle Fang, Aunt Zhao, I should head back now. I still need to bring the oil back before my mom returns, or she'll find out.' After saying that, I felt like something wasn't quite right - was it not good to leave just after achieving my goal? Hurriedly, I added another sentence: 'Aunt Zhao, my mom's tofu shop has freshly made soy milk. Let me go get you a thermos of it. It's great for your skin and tastes good too. If you drink it often, you'll be as fair and tender as me.'"

  This sentence then made the couple burst out laughing again.

  "Shame on you, saying you're so fair and tender." Fang Haibo said with a smile.

  "Then Aunt Zhao is waiting for your beauty-enhancing soy milk." Zhao Shuyan said with a smile.

  When Qiu Ye was about to leave, Zhao Shuyan said again: "Xiao Ye, when you see your mom later, tell her not to cook dinner tonight. Everyone will come to Auntie Zhao's house for dinner, and I'll make delicious food for you." She really liked this child and wanted to recognize the girl as soon as possible.

  Qiu Ye thought they must be thinking of discussing the engagement with her parents, so she said: "Okay, I'll talk to mom in a bit."

  After finishing speaking, I bid farewell to Aunt Zhao and Uncle Fang, and ran back home.

  Everyone, after finishing this chapter, if you think this book is good, would you mind giving it a recommendation and adding it to your collection?