Chapter 51 Part1.1 (1/2)

Chapter 51

Tea of Summer Part 1.1

“Ah Liang, come down, lunch is ready!”

Xia Liang was sprawled on the sofa watching a soap opera when she heard her grandmother.  She lept out of the sofa immediately and ran downstairs.

It was July.  Cicadas were singing outside the window.  It was much cooler inside the brick house in the peaceful countryside than in the city.  The air felt fresh and cool without the need of an air conditioner.

Grandma Lin had already set the table on the mahogany square table.  Though there were a few simple dishes in celadon bowls, they looked absolutely appetizing.

“Where’s grandpa?”  Xia Liang filled up two bowls of rice beside the stove before carrying them to the table.  Then she pulled out the long bench and sat down.

“The old man ate an early lunch and went out to play mahjong.”  Grandma Lin took a rice bowl, “We grow all these vegetables in our own field.  Eat more.  You’ll get a cold very easily.  You haven’t moved at all, even when I asked you to.  You just hide upstairs every day.”

“Hehe……,”  Xia Liang guiltily touched her nose and grabbed a chopstick full of vegetables.

As a matter of fact, she hadn’t fully recovered from her cold for the half month since she had come back to China.  She first got sick from the poor air quality.  When she had almost recovered fully, she then got sick because she stayed in the air conditioned room every day.  Her mom simply sent her to the countryside with the words, “Breathe the fresh air of the countryside.”

The air indeed was fresher than inside the city of Shanghai.  But unfortunately, it was in a remote area, only an old couple lived here.  So there was no internet.  Her phone didn’t have good reception here either.  Xia Liang’s only entertainment was watching TV every day.

“Delicious!”  Xia Liang exclaimed with grains of rice around her lips.

Grandma Lin raised her chin.  “Of course, the rice and dishes cooked on an old fas.h.i.+oned stove tastes much better.  The electric rice cooker in the city could never produce any guoba[1]!”

Xia Liang quickly nodded in agreement……Umm, it was alright as long as she had good food to eat.