My Girlfriend Catherine (2) (Novel) Zhang Baotong 2016.3.21

2. Go home

The taxi stopped at the entrance of my village. When Catherine and I got out of the car, we saw my parents standing right in front of us. Her mother's eyes kept looking at Catherine, but she didn't make the look of a gloomy face, frowning, pouting, or even gritting her teeth. Instead, the smile on his face was like a blooming lotus flower. I was pleasantly surprised: apparently my mother liked Catherine. Otherwise, she wouldn't be so happy.

It made me feel happy and proud that I had brought back such a beautiful American girl for them. Looking at my mother's smiling face, I let out a long sigh of relief and said to Catherine, "This is my mother. ”

Catherine was also looking at my mother's face, and when she saw that my mother was gentle and loving to her, she stretched out her arms and took the initiative to greet my mother, and then hugged my mother, and said, "If you don't mind, I'll call you mother, okay?"

My mom may not have been used to it, but she nodded happily, took Catherine's hand affectionately, and said, "I'm afraid it's going to be hard for you." ”

Then Catherine followed my example and called out to her father, "Daddy." Dad was a little flattered, and he didn't know whether to do it or not, so he just smiled and nodded.

When we entered the house, we were soon visited by many neighbors and relatives. Catherine and I took out cigarettes and candy and scattered them around. They always looked at Catherine, and kept praising that Catherine was so beautiful, more beautiful than the fairies of China. My mom kept laughing. I've never seen her so happy.

My mother kept pouring tea for the guests, and first brought a cup of bean tea to Catherine. Catherine would only drink tea and drank the water, but the beans and sesame seeds were still sinking to the bottom of the cup. She asked me to get her a spoon. I brought her a spoon from the kitchen. She scooped the beans and sesame seeds from the cup with a spoon and ate them.

We don't use a spoon to eat bean tea here, but use the palm of our hand to pat out the beans and sesame seeds in the cup. So, watching Catherine eat tea like this, everyone felt quite interesting and couldn't stop laughing. However, when the second cup of tea was drunk, Catherine stopped using the spoon, but followed the example of the others, turning the cup down to her mouth and patting it with the palm of her other hand. Therefore, everyone kept looking at Catherine with curious eyes. Because they have never seen foreigners drinking bean tea.

Sent off the guests and started cooking. Because I used to cook and eat with Catherine, I knew her eating habits very well. In order for her to eat comfortably and deliciously at my house, I have to check it myself. So, I went into the kitchen and saw what my mother was cooking.

My mother told me to make fried chili with bacon, roasted bamboo shoots and braised pig's trotters with fresh meat, as well as fried skin noodles, spicy tofu, scrambled eggs with red pestles, and stir-fried green peppers with potatoes. But I told my mother that Catherine didn't eat pork. The mother told the father to kill a chicken and a duck. Also, I told my mother again and again not to put too much oil and salt in the dishes, because Catherine liked to eat light food. When my mother heard this, she was afraid that she would not be able to grasp it, so she asked me to cook, because rural people have a strong taste, and they usually put a lot of oil and salt in stir-frying. So, I started cooking, because Catherine usually likes to eat my cooking.

Catherine saw me cooking in the kitchen and came over to help. So I asked her to sit at the stove and help light the fire. Catherine had never lit a fire, and it was interesting to find it interesting, and she kept adding wood to the hearth. Firewood is a pine branch cut from the mountains and forests, and when burned, it has a fragrant smell, and the cooked rice and cooked dishes are also delicious. The pine branches burned in the furnace with a crackling sound. The light of the fire reflected on her face, making her face even more ruddy and beautiful.

The dishes were served, and the small square table was full. My parents seemed to eat very little, and kept beckoning Catherine and me to eat more. It seems that watching us eat more is their greatest satisfaction and joy. Catherine ate a lot of it, and couldn't stop saying that it was the most delicious meal she had ever eaten. Mom and Dad were very happy when they heard this.

After eating, it was dark. I took Catherine to watch TV. However, my TV at home is not cable, and there are very few programs, and I can only receive two or three channels. So, Catherine watched it for a while, then she didn't want to look at it, and asked me to take her outside. I took her to the embankment at the head of the village.

As soon as it got dark, we walked hand in hand on the embankment. On one side of the river is the gentle flow of water, and on the other side is flat farmland. The cold night seemed peaceful and silent. Only the lights in the village twinkled like stars.

Catherine said, "This is the Miluo River you are talking about in the article?"

I said, "Yes, this river flows further down, through the county seat, to Chutang, where there is a place called Qu Zi Temple, which is a place to commemorate the great poet Qu Yuan." ”

Catherine said, "I know Qu Yuan, who is a great poet in the history of Chinese literature, who brought Chinese poetry into a new era from collective singing to individual singing. ”

I said, "Yes, he spent his later years in exile by this river, and then when he saw that the state of Chu was about to be destroyed by the state of Qin, he was so worried that he finally committed suicide by throwing himself into the Miluo River in despair." Therefore, every Duanyang Festival, people by the river will make zongzi and row dragon boats to commemorate him. ”

Catherine immediately said, "Then you will take me there?"

I said, "Okay, let my mom find a car tomorrow and we'll go together." ”

The two walked by the river for a while, but the wind was very cold and the wind was very cold, and Catherine did not wear many clothes. I saw that her hands were cold, so I put her hands in my puddle and warmed them. After a while, her hands warmed up, so she held my face and kissed me with warm hands, and said, "Thank you, Xu Bin." ”

I said, "Don't say that, because I love you." ”

When we got home, my parents sat in the hall and waited for us. And there is an extra electric heater in the house. The two heating rods glowed with a fiery red glow, giving people a very warm feeling. So I asked, "Got an electric heater?"

My mother said, "I borrowed it from your fourth brother." ”

The fourth brother is my cousin, who cooks Hunan food for others in Guangzhou all the year round, with a monthly income of more than 4,000 yuan, so the family is relatively wealthy. I said, "People don't need it on this cold day?"

My mom said, "Catherine can't let her freeze when she comes to our house." ”

Catherine said, "I'm not cold, really not cold. ”

In fact, the two of us had just returned from the riverside, and our bodies were cold and our hands were even colder. Therefore, our hands have long been stretched out on the electric heater.

My mom saw us cold like this, and said to me, "Catherine is wearing less clothes, you can go to the city tomorrow and buy her some warmer clothes." ”

As she spoke, my mother picked up a red paper bag on the table, handed it to Catherine, and said, "Son, the first time you came to my house, you didn't have a gift for you, so you can use this money to buy something." ”

Catherine opened the red paper packet, and inside was a thousand dollars. She took the money and asked me, "Why do you want to give me money?"

I didn't expect my mother to give her money, but I know that we have such a custom here, and the children of relatives and the son's girlfriend come to the house for the first time, they all have to give red envelopes. Although this 1,000 yuan is not much, it can last for at least a few months for our family. Because my father suffered from severe rheumatism and high blood pressure, he could not do heavy work and could not go out to work, so the family's life depended entirely on raising pigs and chickens and the meagre income in the fields. I said to Catherine, "Take it, it's a little bit of our family's heart, and it's our custom here." ”

But Catherine still refused to accept it, saying, "I can earn money myself, so why should I ask for your money?"

When I saw that she and my mother were pushing and pushing, I took the red envelope, stuffed it into Catherine's hand, and said, "You have to follow the local customs." ”