The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 828 - 797: Reminder, Delivering Food

Chapter 828: Chapter 797: Reminder, Delivering Food

After the Lantern Festival, Huo Yingjie returned to his unit.

He Tiantian also started school.

The year 1981 had begun.

Responding to Huo Yingjie’s earlier request, Chief Engineer Sun and a few other leaders discussed and decided to implement a standard rest system to ensure the researchers had sufficient rest time and maintained their health.

Huo Yingjie was fortunate to receive special treatment.

He could take two days off each week. He would leave work on Friday and head to the train station. After about three hours, he would be home by around eight or nine o’clock. Then, on Sunday afternoon, he would take the car back and arrive at the unit by six in the evening.

For Huo Yingjie’s first weekend home visit, he didn’t tell He Tiantian in advance, wanting to surprise her.

It was already evening. Grandma Wang had gone to bed, and He Tiantian was reading, so she got up to answer the door.

"Yingjie, how did you come back?" He Tiantian asked in surprise, having completely forgotten what Huo Yingjie had said earlier.

"I have Saturdays and Sundays off," Huo Yingjie replied, "so I can come home."

Overjoyed, He Tiantian exclaimed, "That’s wonderful! Brother Zhang, Yun Feng, come inside quickly."

Jiang Lifang and Grandma Wang, hearing that Huo Yingjie had come back, also came over.

The news that their son could come home every weekend greatly pleased them.

There were dry noodles, beef, and vegetables at home. They made beef noodles, cooking a big pot, which the three of them finished off.

While He Tiantian was cooking, Grandma Wang and Jiang Lifang tidied up the room for Zhang Aijun and Yun Feng before they each went back to rest.

He Tiantian happily embraced Huo Yingjie and said, "Brother Yingjie, it’s so nice to see you every week."

Five days passed much quicker than five months would have.

"Yes!" Huo Yingjie said, "Tiantian, it feels a bit unreal, but coming home once a week is still manageable. I definitely won’t work overtime."

"This is already pretty good," He Tiantian smiled, "It’s late now, let’s get some sleep. I have school tomorrow!"

The next morning, Huo Yingjie got up early, cooked a pot of rice porridge, and bought some breakfast from outside. At seven o’clock, he woke He Tiantian.

After breakfast, Huo Yingjie pushed out his bicycle to take He Tiantian to school.

Sitting on the back of Huo Yingjie’s bicycle, He Tiantian clung to his waist. The gentle breeze of early spring was blowing through her long hair, carrying along their laughter.

Huo Yingjie accompanied He Tiantian all the way to the office and said, "I’ll bring you lunch at noon."

"Okay!" No matter how it tasted, He Tiantian would not refuse Huo Yingjie’s gesture of love.

After He Tiantian went upstairs, Teacher Wu said enviously, "Teacher He, is that your husband?"

"Yes!" He Tiantian nodded. They used to go to and from school together back in their student days, and all their classmates knew about it. But since Huo Yingjie had started working, they had not visited the school together anymore.

Mi Wei exclaimed, "Teacher He, your husband is really handsome and so caring toward you. You are truly fortunate."

"Come on, your husband is not bad either. Didn’t he come to pick you up yesterday?" He Tiantian laughed, teasing Mi Wei.

Teacher Chen chuckled and shook his head, "Mi Wei, that attitude won’t do. You can’t have your eyes on what’s in the pot while eating from your bowl. Be content with what you have!"

"All your spouses come to send you off or pick you up from work, but my husband never does," Teacher Wu pouted, complaining about her indifferent husband and her unhappy married life.

Knowing that Teacher Wu had had a big quarrel with her husband because they didn’t go back to her hometown for the New Year together, they found it difficult to respond to such matters.

He Tiantian tidied up and then went to class, ignoring He Tiantian.

Huo Yingjie went home, and on his way, he passed through the market where he bought a lot of vegetables, preparing to showcase his skills at noon.

Yun Feng was responsible for protecting Huo Yingjie and followed him, asking, "Big Brother Huo, can you cook?"

"I can cook a little," Huo Yingjie replied. "By the way, can you cook?"

"I can’t, but Brother Zhang’s food is really tasty," Yun Feng said. "I ate at his house before, his wife was busy with work, and it was he who did the shopping and cooking. The food tasted especially good."

"Alright, today for lunch, just the three of us will prepare a whole table of dishes," Huo Yingjie declared. From now on, when he was at home, he wouldn’t let Tiantian cook and would let her rest for a while.

Zhang Aijun was happy to hear that the three of them were cooking today; it was quite embarrassing to be idle all day.

"Yun Feng, you stand guard, and Comrade Huo and I will cook together," Zhang Aijun said with a smile. "My specialty dishes are white cut chicken, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, fiery dry-fried shredded tofu, and so on."

"Amazing, Brother Zhang," Huo Yingjie laughed. "Come on, let’s start cooking now; I’ll learn from you too."

Zhang Aijun didn’t hold back and said, "Then keep a close watch."

Huo Ruimin and Huo Ruihua gathered around their dad, helping to pick vegetables, although they caused more chaos than help.

But Huo Yingjie didn’t scold the children; instead, he worked while playing with them and explained various vegetables to them.

At noon, under the management of Zhang Aijun and Huo Yingjie, a table full of dishes was prepared: white cut chicken, West Lake vinegar fish, braised beef, scrambled eggs with green garlic, hot and sour cabbage, and a dish of stir-fried julienne potatoes.

Huo Yingjie packed a portion and ate some himself before going to deliver the meal to He Tiantian.

Grandma Wang chuckled and said, "Only bringing food to your wife and not your mother, aren’t you scared of being scolded for forgetting your mom after getting a wife?"

Huo Yingjie slapped his forehead, realizing, "Oh dear, I almost made a mistake. I also need to bring some for my mom, luckily it’s on the way."

He took out another thermal box and packed a portion for his mother.

Huo Yingjie rode his bicycle, first going to the hospital to deliver the meal to his mother.

"Oh, why aren’t you delivering it to Tiantian?" Jiang Lifang was delighted to see her son come over.

Huo Yingjie chuckled and said, "I’m delivering to Mom first, then to Tiantian."

His sweet words pleased Jiang Lifang very much.

"Then hurry up and put it down, don’t delay. Deliver it to Tiantian quickly before it gets cold and uncomfortable to eat," Jiang Lifang urged, unlike before when she would wait until she had eaten and then let her son take the lunchbox back.

"Then I won’t be joining mom for the meal," Huo Yingjie said with a smile, fortunate that Grandma Wang had reminded him, or else it could have created family conflicts.

Huo Yingjie remembered a saying: when the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is poor, it is often because the son does not play his role well or even has a counterproductive effect. Luckily, he was sharp and did not make such a mistake.

Very clever, he gave himself a pat on the back.

Huo Yingjie rode his bicycle again, heading to the school.

On the way, riding the heavy-duty bicycle, he was speeding like the wind!

He arrived at the school just as the classes were ending.

He Tiantian was waiting in the office for Huo Yingjie and hadn’t hurried to the cafeteria.

Only after Huo Yingjie arrived did the two go to the cafeteria together.

The office was warm, and with the windows closed, creating an enclosed space, it would not smell good if they ate there.