Natural Disaster: Back to the End of the World

Part 12

Lei Li came out of the kitchen holding two bowls of egg noodles. Seeing Lei Xiao coming out of the room after putting things away, he grinned at him.

"Hurry and eat while it's hot. Si'er said he'd come home, but I didn't expect you two to come back together. You didn't tell the family ahead of time. Did you pick him up from school?"

Lei Xiao took one of the bowls and followed Lei Li into the main hall.

"Si'er came to the team to find me, so we came back together."

Lei Li noticed how Grandma was holding Si'er's hand, constantly fussing over him with concern, and frowned instinctively.

"Si'er, did you not eat well at school? You're so skinny you could almost fly away if we tied a string to you!"

Yao Ziqing looked at Lei Li with a bright smile.

"Big brother, it's not as bad as you say. I've been eating well. I think I've just had a growth spurt recently."

Lei Xiao glanced at him, put the bowl of noodles in front of him, and then sat down beside him, picking up his chopsticks and starting to eat his own bowl.

When Si'er was sixteen or seventeen, he was as skinny as a bamboo stick, and he shot up in height, which was a normal growth spurt.

Grandma gently patted his hand.

"You're twenty now, and you're still growing? Who are you trying to fool? Hurry up and eat. After you're full, go take a good nap with your second brother. Tonight, I'll have your big brother make something delicious for you."

Yao Ziqing nodded repeatedly and started eating as soon as he picked up his chopsticks.

The old-style chimney stove, the big iron pot, and the food cooked over a fire made from dry wood—Yao Ziqing had eaten these for nearly twenty years. To him, this was the real taste of home, a flavor that gas stoves and natural gas could never replicate.

He kept his head down, eating earnestly, afraid that if he looked up, tears might fall into his bowl.

Lei Xiao, sitting next to him, sensed his emotional shift and gave him a deep look but didn't do anything extra. He just picked out the egg yolk from his bowl and put the egg white into Yao Ziqing's bowl.

When they were little, eggs were a luxury. They were saved to sell for tuition fees, and the kids never wanted to eat them. Since Yao Ziqing was young and not as robust as Lei Lang, he was often sick, so the family always saved an egg or two for him to build up his strength.

Yao Ziqing, being young, didn't understand the value of an egg and didn't like the dry egg yolk, especially when it was mushy and he hated the fishy taste even more.

If the egg was made into a custard, the elders thought it was less nutritious than a whole egg, so they always forced him to eat every bit of it.

Maybe because he was forced too much as a child, Yao Ziqing avoided egg yolks as he grew older and could choose for himself.

Seeing the extra egg white in his bowl, Yao Ziqing blinked, pushing away the warmth in his eyes. He picked the egg yolk from his bowl and put it in his second brother's bowl, just as he always had, as if nothing had changed.

Lei Zheng was nearby, loudly talking about going to Aunt Yao's house for dinner tonight. Lei Li was outside the main hall, spreading out a basket full of osmanthus flowers on a stool, letting the sunlight fall evenly over them.

The village was quiet in the afternoon, and the occasional crisp bird calls made the peace even more serene.

Grandma watched her two grandsons eat happily, her eyes full of contentment and kindness.