Chapter 77: The First Spring Festival

"Brother Dog, Brother Dog~~" Back home, the first thing Li Zitao looked for was Wang Dagou.

Who let the two of them be alone in the United States, and other families have a family reunion for the holidays, so they are the only two left.

"Here it is!" Tang suit with red border and black bottom, brand new white trousers, white socks, and black cloth shoes, Wang Dagou was dressed in a beaming manner, smiling brilliantly.

There are two villains standing beside him, one male and one female, one black and one white, also dressed in the same way, seeing their awkward expressions, don't worry about it.

"Whose family belong to these two children?" Li Zitao asked curiously.

"Didn't you ask Ben to send this? What kind of boarding?" Wang Dagou asked in surprise.

"Yes, I almost forgot." Li Zitao scratched his head, knelt down and smiled kindly, "Hi, hello, can I introduce myself?"

"Who are you?" The little black boy was very vigilant, looking at him with defensive eyes.

"My name is Charlie, Charlie Li. According to the law, I am your temporary supervisor." Li Zitao explained.

"..." Silence, after knowing his identity, the two little guys just looked at him with curiosity and resistance, and had no intention of getting close at all.

"Okay! Today is the Chinese New Year. You can treat it as Thanksgiving. Do you want to celebrate together?" Li Zitao asked.

"No." The little boy shook his head.

"...En." The little girl nodded.

Then the two looked at each other with hostility in their eyes, as if they were communicating silently.

"How can you betray our agreement, hey, we are the only one."

"Whoever wants to be with you, I am with myself."

"We made it clear, traitor."

"Idiot, get the hell out of here."

"..." Li Zitao was a little speechless, he knew it would be troublesome when he suggested it, and now it really is as he expected.

Children who were thrown into orphanages at an early age and lacked the love of their fathers and mothers have more or less emotional defects in their hearts.

Because of uneasiness, fear, frustration and past hurt.

This makes them more defensive than adults, and their hearts are fragile and sensitive.

Perhaps a small detail would cause them great blows and injuries. Li Zitao didn't want to be a pervert who destroyed the seedlings.

"As the owner of this family and your temporary supervisor, I need to make some announcements." Li Zitao clapped his hands to attract the attention of the two of them.

"Number one, I want to see you guys get along in harmony, even if it's just for a short time."

"Second, during the boarding period, you can treat me as an older brother. If you have any needs, I will try my best to satisfy you."

"Third, no fighting, no swearing, no skipping classes, and no trouble here, understand?"

Seeing Li Zitao's stern face, although the two expressed their reluctance, they still nodded in agreement.

"Now, tell me your names first." Li Zitao said with a satisfied smile.

"Norma Wei." The little blond girl couldn't wait, her big eyes were full of hope, but more of it was fear.

"Eric." There was no expectation in the little boy's eyes, only resistance and anxiety.

"Very good, Erik, let me introduce again. My name is Charlie Li. You can call me Li, or Charlie." Li Zitao stretched out his hand to you.

Norma's eyes lit up, and she stretched out her hand tentatively like a baby bird, and when her fingers touched the somewhat warm palm, she retracted as if frightened.

She was afraid, very afraid, very afraid.

Afraid of being abandoned again, afraid of getting slaps and curses instead of warmth like before, afraid of being displaced again and wandering in one family after another.

Li Zitao didn't move, kept smiling, waiting for her to approach again.

Until Norma put her trembling little hand in his palm and stopped dodging,

Only then did Li Zitao lightly clenched his hands and said, "Welcome, huh."

"Thank you, thank you." Norma's eyes were shining brightly, and tears kept rolling down like pearl curtains. Li Zitao didn't know what she had experienced.

But judging from her performance, the memory of the past is undoubtedly bad.

Xu Shi Norma's performance made the little boy no longer resist and maintain hostility. He hesitated a little, and then stretched out his hand, "You are welcome too, Eric."

"You still have a way." Wang Dagou smiled with a thumbs up.

"That goes without saying." Li Zitao stood up embarrassingly, covered the heads of the two little guys with his broad and thick palms, and rubbed them vigorously, regardless of whether they wanted it or not.

"Is the dumpling stuffing ready?" Li Zitao and Wang Dgou walked home side by side, pulling the two children who let go a little.

"It's already ready, it was prepared by Lao Huang's wife." Pushing open the door, Wang Dagou pointed to the porcelain basin covered with cloth on the table.

"Then what are you waiting for, wrap it up!" Seeing that it was almost dark, this was his first New Year's Eve since he came to this world, so he couldn't miss it.

It's delicious but dumplings, hehehe...

"Hey, Eric, you can play games or listen to programs in your room." Li Zitao picked up the radio on the high platform.

"I...I want to help!" Norma rolled her eyes and asked for help, but she was worried like a frightened deer.

"What about you?" Li Zitao put his hand on her head, soothing her flustered heart, and turned her gaze to Eric.

"That's what women should do." Eric said with disgust.

"There are no women here, only girls and men." Li Zitao spread his hands innocently.

"Okay!" Eric still couldn't withstand the pressure in Li Zitao's eyes.

"Xiaomian, I can't cure you yet." He proudly pulled Norma to the table, and the two adults started preparing dinner.

After seeing that the dumplings made by Norma and Eric couldn't even squeeze the skin tightly, Li Zitao began to teach them by hand.

"No, no, pinch it hard, like this." With both hands pinching the two ends of the dumpling, the thumbs and index fingers of both hands are crossed and fastened, and when they are loosened, a dumpling is kneaded into shape.

The top is beautifully wrinkled and the bottom skin is filled with dumpling stuffing, thin but not rotten, it looks like a small crystal.

Norma and Eric couldn't learn it even though they demonstrated it step by step.

Li Zitao could only attribute this to the fact that Westerners are not naturally suitable for making dumplings, and asked the two to use another method.

"From left to right, squeeze tightly." Li Zitao held the dumpling in one hand, and squeezed the dumpling skin tightly with his thumb and index finger from left to right.

The finished dumplings are like crescent moons. Seeing the small crescent moons being completed in her hands, Norma's beautiful eyes turned into crescent moons.

Eric bowed his head seriously, studying hard clumsily, as if he was completing a rigorous scientific experiment with a serious look.

"Finally finished packing." After clapping his hands, Li Zitao stretched his waist and smiled; "Brother Dog, I'll leave it to you. I'll go change my clothes first."

"Go, it's all in your room!" Wang Dagou put the pot on the gas stove, and lit the water with a match.

"You two go wash your hands first, and clean up the table by the way." Li Zitao pointed to the peeled table in the living room and said.

"En." Norma was very happy to be able to help.

Going upstairs and back to the room, a brand new Tang suit was placed on the bed, folded neatly and squarely.

Most of Li Zitao's clothes were prepared by Lao Huang, so naturally he would not mistake his size, and the clothes fit him very well.

I don't know if it's because of my heart, but I just changed a set of clothes, but it gave Li Zitao a sense of belonging, "This feeling...is very good."

Li Zitao reached out his hand to touch the silky satin material, and walked downstairs with a bright smile.

"Taozi, adjust the dipping sauce." Wang Dagou pointed to the bottles and cans on the table, then turned his head and poured a ladle of cold water into the pot again.

The coffee table has been cleaned up, and Li Zitao brought over the bottles and small bowls: "Do you need some dipping sauces?"

"What are these?" Eric looked curiously at the white or black liquid in the bottle, as well as the red, pungent-smelling oily pepper.

"Vinegar, like lemon juice, soy sauce, very delicious dipping sauce, chili, very spicy and fragrant, very delicious." The corners of Li Zitao's mouth curled up slightly, and he dug another spoonful into the bowl as he spoke.

"Can I?" Norma held the small bowl in both hands, and looked at him timidly.

"Of course, do you need help?" Li Zitao raised the bottle of vinegar and smiled.

"Yes." Norma nodded her head hastily.

Poured some vinegar and soy sauce, and put less spicy peppers, Li Zitao thought about it and added some white water, fearing that the taste would be too strong to bear.

"Taste." Li Zitao handed the bowl to Norma.

Li Zitao swore that he just wanted Norma to dip his chopsticks in for a taste, but he forgot that Norma and Eric didn't know how to use chopsticks at all.

So little Norma took the bowl, looked at the liquid in it tangled, and finally closed her eyes, and dried it so neatly, it was done...

"Gudong~~coughcoughcough..." Norma choked on the hot pepper noodles, clutching her throat and coughing painfully.

"Quick, drink water." Li Zitao passed the water glass to her mouth, dumbfounded, and Norma gulped down the water.

Eric next to him was palpitating along with his saliva, and quietly moved aside, fearing that Li Zitao would also let him drink those terrible 'witch medicines. '

"What's the matter, what's the matter?" Wang Dagou came over with a dumpling in his hand.

"I asked her to taste the dipping sauce, and this little girl ate it in one bite." Li Zitao said with a wry smile.

"Haha, it's okay. When I was young, after eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year, I had to drink the dipping sauce with dumpling soup. Back then, the seasoning was not easy to eat."

Wang Dagou looked reminiscently as he spoke, recalling his childhood, when his parents were still there, and his grandparents lived in the next village.

At that time, life was very hard. Wang Dagou remembered that before he was 14 years old, he didn't wear pants, but was covered with a tattered coat, and ran around the village barefoot every day.

No one found it strange that the dolls in the village were all the same from childhood to adulthood, and it would be nice to have a coat covering them.

There are seven or eight members in some families who don't even have a coat, and only one set of clothes at home, whoever goes out wears them, and everyone is naked at home.

When he was older, his father's trousers were too torn, so my mother bought coarse cloth with the two copper coins saved at home, and made a new pair of trousers for my father.

Those new trousers are so beautiful that my father was so happy that he dared not sit down casually for fear of getting the material dirty, so he showed off every day and praised his daughter-in-law's craftsmanship to everyone.

The worn out trousers were changed, and the hole was patched with the cloth cut from the trouser legs and the leftovers of the coarse cloth, and then two pieces of sheepskin were nailed to the buttocks, and they became his trousers.

Although the life is very hard, only seeing oil and water once a year, and occasionally hungry on weekdays, Wang Dagou feels that it is the happiest time in his life.

It's a pity that Gou Ri's war destroyed all of these, the father was gone, the mother was gone, and the village was gone.

When I was a child, the river where I caught shrimp and fish was full of blood, and the corpses were piled up like a hill. When there was a fire, wow...

"Just burn it clean." Sitting at the table, Wang Dagou smiled happily.

Li Zitao looked at him silently, not understanding why he smiled happily. Isn't this miserable enough?

Only Wang Dagou knew in his heart that if his parents were still there, in the next few years, he might not be as happy as dead.

Listening to some experiences as stories, you can’t feel the helpless sense of despair at all, like a black hole, devouring people’s hearts day and night, tearing the heart to the point of being numb.