small town story

22 Bloodline

When Grandpa Su Youqin was young, he moved out of the old yard with his wife and children. At that time, the foundation of five houses was built on the side of the road that was still a dirt road.The five foundations were divided into two parts with one son and one daughter getting married, three for the son and two for the daughter.

Later, there was a wave of renovation in the streets of the town, and people along the highway street demolished two or three-story brick houses and built them into small buildings with six or seven floors.

Su Youqin's parents and aunt also demolished their respective houses and built them into buildings for sale.

During that time, grandparents saw clearly that their son and daughter-in-law were unwilling to leave a house for themselves to live in.

Fortunately, my daughter has a conscience, and she lives in the emperor's house all year round, so she gave her grandparents the apartment, which is the house where Su Youqin lives now.

And the foundation and house inherited by Su Youqin's parents from his grandparents has nothing to do with his grandparents or Su Youqin now.

On New Year's Eve, Su Youqin ate at his parents' house.

For so many years, even though her parents' house was in the adjacent building, she seldom went to her parents' house, and she seldom had dinner at her parents' house, let alone a New Year's Eve dinner.

Cheng Li made a big New Year's Eve dinner and set up a table full of dishes.

Su Youqin concentrated on eating while holding the bowl, listening to the conversation between her parents and younger brother.Su Youqin didn't know any of the things and people they were talking about, and he didn't know anyone.She is glad that she can't speak, so she doesn't have to deal with these unknown things.

Many years ago, Su Youqin resented her parents.

Parents at that time were always full of complaints, complaining about each other's life and work, complaining about grandparents, aunts, and even complaining that grandparents left two rooms for aunts. In their eyes, daughters should not have the right to get their parents' houses. right. ——These complaints propped up Su Youqin's resistance to her parents, and her resistance resulted in further complaints from her parents about her disobedience and disobedience.

Fortunately, there were grandparents in those years, and grandparents told her not to pay attention to her parents' complaints.The two elderly people have walked through ups and downs for decades, and they can see it more clearly than their son and daughter-in-law.

They passed on to Su Youqin the experience of working hard to move forward and provided her with the most solid emotional support.

After the college entrance examination, grandma knew that Su Youqin was in a relationship, and even guessed that the other party was a girl.The old man in his sixties didn't say anything, only that girls should take good care of themselves no matter who they are with.

Su Youqin has been close to her grandparents since childhood.Su Quan and Cheng Li also used this incident as a reason to quarrel, saying that she was born in vain.But they never thought about why Su Youqin didn't get close to the two of them, but to his grandparents.

On the first New Year's Eve after her grandparents passed away, Cheng Li asked Su Youqin to celebrate the New Year with them, but she refused. Cheng Li said at the time, "Your grandparents are gone, so where are you going if you don't come to us for the New Year?"

Su Youqin hung up the phone with a snap, turned her head and dragged the box home first to finish offering incense to her grandparents, then went to the southwestern border city, where she spent a lively Spring Festival with a few young people in a homestay.

For so many years, Su Youqin has also seriously thought about how her parents treat her.From a material point of view, they are not bad to themselves, as long as they ask for it, they will give it.

But it doesn't stop there.

She also thought about whether the bad relationship with her parents was her own fault. After all, in the eyes of relatives and friends, the three of them were easy to get along with and worthy of association.Later, I slowly realized that I was not wrong, but the blood relationship between the three of them.

If there is no blood relationship, there will be no expectations and disappointments for the other party.Without expectations and disappointments, the gap between the three will not grow wider.

However, due to the existence of her younger brother and the tacit distance between her and her parents in the past two years, the three of them managed to maintain a relatively peaceful relationship.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, Su Quan took the initiative to collect the bowl, and Cheng Li helped him.

On New Year’s Eve in the small town, there are no dragon and lion dance performances, and there is no limit to setting off firecrackers and fireworks. Children can play and frolic in front of the door, and adults either gather together to play mahjong, or squat at home to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

The Spring Festival Gala performance started, and Su Quan followed the phone and came out of the kitchen.Su Quan was called on the phone to go out and play mahjong.He didn't refuse, he finished what he was doing in twos and twos, and went downstairs.

There was a slamming sound of the door closing.

After a while, Cheng Li also left the room and went downstairs to the mahjong shop. Su Youqin followed her and went back to her home to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

The family's New Year's Eve dinner came to an end after eating together.

At this time, the atmosphere in Shen Qianyao's home was embarrassing.

Shen Qianyao's grandparents gave birth to three sons and a daughter, and her grandmother died young, and Shen Qianyao had never seen her.

Every New Year's Eve, the whole family will get together to have a New Year's Eve dinner.

It's the same this year.

Grandfather, Daddy and Younger Dad, Aunt and Younger Mom, Aunt and Uncle, Shen Qianyao's parents, and cousins ​​all gathered at the home of Younger Dad and Younger Mom in Yuanchuan,

It is a habit of the Shen family that no one is allowed to use mobile phones at the New Year's Eve dinner table, especially the juniors.After Shen Qianyao sent Su Youqin a photo of half a table of dishes, she put away her phone and focused on eating.

Only insignificant things are said at the dinner table.But the topic of small talk expanded after dinner.

As a maverick of the Shen family's generation, Shen Qianyao has attracted a lot of topics every New Year's Eve since she came out of the closet.

In the first few years when she first came out, it was the complaints from her parents and the comfort from her aunts and uncles. Later, it became the anxiety of her parents and the concern of her aunts and uncles. This year, her parents and uncles and aunts joined forces to ask her about Su Youqin.

The young mother and cousin praised Su Youqin very much.

For many years, Xiaoma's family of four has been a staunch defender and supporter of Shen Qianyao.

Shu Xian was noncommittal, and she was very concerned about Su Youqin's inability to speak after seeing Su Youqin. "The people brought out by our family can't speak, so what should we do?" Shu Xian's voice was very soft, and it wasn't considered disgusting, but it was too serious, more like directly saying that Shen Qianyao didn't think carefully when looking for a partner.

"She is temporary and will recover." Shen Qianyao looked straight at Shu Xian, and replied seriously, "What's more, I never thought of taking her out to meet the people you want to see in the name of the Shen family."

Shu Xian maintained his own calm, "All these years you have been rejecting others because you like girls, everyone knows that. Now that you have someone you like, can you not take it out?".

Shen Qianyao took a deep breath and maintained her own calm: "This is my business."

"Your matter? What do you mean? Aren't you from the Shen family?"

"It means that you don't want to ask her to do anything from the standpoint of the Shen family. She is the person I like, as long as I am responsible for her and she is responsible for me."

Shu Xian snorted softly: "What are you responsible for her? What responsibility can you, a township elementary school teacher, be responsible for her? What can she be responsible for you, a person who runs a shop in the town?"

Shen Qianyao stared at her mother.

The smell of gunpowder gradually rose, and the room became quiet.

After half a minute of silence, the grandpa who had been sitting in the middle of the sofa watching TV squinted his eyes and patted the sofa: "Yaoyao, your mother is right, you are from the Shen family. Take her to see grandpa when you have time."

Grandpa spoke, Shu Xian shut up, and the others breathed a sigh of relief.Shen Qianyao didn't dare to disobey her grandfather, so she nodded in response.

She went to the balcony to send Su Youqin a message, but Su Youqin didn't reply to her.

She silently leaned against the balcony wall, her heart fluctuating.

It has been many years since I became an adult, and it has been many years since I came out of the closet, but my parents always cannot recognize myself, cannot recognize that I have become an independent adult, and cannot let go of my coming out.Shen Qianyao knew this in her heart.

Shen Qianyao never thought of being a teacher for a lifetime. Although she didn't want to admit it, she was attracted by the influence of her family environment to take the road of public service.

When she was in college, she went to a volunteer education project, and when she came back from the volunteer education, she wanted to become a member of the education and public affairs system.Choosing a township for five years also lays the foundation for her to go to the education and public service system in the future.

Though she didn't need to do that in the first place.With the Shen family's relationship and her ability, she can easily go where she wants to go.It's just that she gave up.She wants to take it step by step and use her hard work in exchange for her parents' approval, whether it is the approval of her sexuality or her life.

But until today, she found that her behavior did not make her parents let go. In their eyes, she might be like a monkey on Monkey Mountain, jumping around, and finally had to return to their shelter.

Why?Shen Qianyao asked the lights of Wanjia in the distance, but no one responded to her.She missed Su Youqin a little, picked up the phone a few times and put it down, and finally slipped away quietly while everyone was focusing on her cousin.However, as soon as they arrived at the gate of the community, Yu Yan and Shen Xiaoyu ran from behind, hooked her neck and asked her if she wanted to drink.She agreed, and they went to the nearest bar.

Su Youqin thought that Shen Qianyao was busy and didn't want to disturb her, so she opened the Spring Festival Gala and read novels.

Halfway through the novel, Mangzi's dialog box popped up a message, calling her to go out to play, and they drove to pick her up.I knew it was from Xiaoyu at a glance.

The Spring Festival Gala looked lively, and the audio programs were in a mess.Su Youqin turned off the TV, changed into a thick down jacket, went downstairs and waited at the door.

Cheng Li happened to be sitting at the mahjong table at the door and asked where she was going.

Su Youqin pointed to Guolin Road, and pulled the scarf tighter.She heard someone asking Cheng Li: "Is your daughter's voice still not healed?"

Cheng Li smiled and said, "I still have to raise her for half a year or a year."

fraud.Whether this voice can be good is still unknown.Cheng Li knew, but she would not tell the truth in front of others.

An old van stopped in front of Su Youqin, and Mangzi leaned over from the driver's seat: "Sit in the front, and Xiaoyu will support things in the back."

Su Youqin opened the door and sat in the passenger seat. Turning around, the back of the van was full of things. Xiaoyu and Mangzi's daughter were huddled in the corner. Seeing her look over, she smiled sweetly: "We bought a lot of fireworks. Guess what?" You have nothing to do at home alone, so I call you to set off fireworks together."

The little girl looked at Su Youqin with bright eyes, and called auntie.

Little Yudu girl: "Cheng Yijiao, do you know if you want to call me sister?"

Mangzi then said: "Yes, Jiaojiao, sister."

The little girl had to call her sister.Su Youqin was amused.

She has met the little girl many times, and today is the first time she knows her name, Cheng Yijiao, Jiaojiao.

She raised her hand and took out a red envelope from her pocket and handed it to Jiaojiao. The little girl happily took it and said thank you to her sister.He also said that happy new year will make a fortune, and it will become more and more beautiful.

Sweet and cute, makes my heart happy.

The bold children in the small town will go to other people’s homes to pay New Year’s greetings on New Year’s Eve. In order to celebrate, the townspeople will give these children a 12-yuan red envelope representing "Moon Moon Red".

This custom was very popular when Su Youqin was young. Over the years, more and more people from the village came to settle down in the town. Except for the old residents of the town who would encourage their children to do this, others would not do it.

Before going out, Su Youqin was worried that he would meet children while playing outside, so he stuffed a few in his pocket.

As a native of the town, Mangzi smiled and recalled the time when they went to various houses to beg for red envelopes.At that time, there was no such thing as "Yueyuehong", and if you could have "Four Seasons Get Rich" for [-] yuan, you would be able to get a huge sum of money.

The van slowed down on Guolin Road. Many young people came out to play under the moonlight and lights. Some carried wine bottles and snacks, and some held fireworks and firecrackers. It seemed that Guolin Road was more lively than the street.

Mangzi's chicken farm is in full swing.

I haven't been here for half a month. There are couplets hanging on the lanterns at the gate of the chicken farm, and there are small lanterns of various colors along the walls and on the trees beside the gate.Su Youqin was shocked, and turned her head to show Xiaoyu a big finger.

Xiaoyu smiled proudly: "Brother Gong did it all. He looks greasy as a middle-aged man, but he has a careful mind."

Su Youqin turned around and gave Mangzi a thumbs up.

While moving the fireworks to the yard, Mangzi said uncomfortably politely: "Hey, I learned it from the video. A few boxes are wholesaled for nine yuan and nine. It's auspicious for the chicken farm. Next year's birthday Big fortune."

It would be nice to think of arranging these.Su Youqin thought that he didn't even buy a pair of couplets. In contrast, his life was rough.

Mangzi removed all the things from the car and parked the car in the corner.A bench was moved to the door, and two high-power ovens were also moved to the door: "You guys are cold, come and sit here, I'll go get some food, tonight we'll enjoy the fireworks and have a big meal."

He walked out and got busy alone, and Jiaojiao followed behind him and occasionally helped him.Su Youqin and Xiaoyu sat by the oven, watching the father and daughter busy, Su Youqin typed and praised: "Boss Mangzi is really virtuous."

Xiaoyu smiled happily: "Otherwise, why would I fall in love with him?"

"He has no culture and no connotation. He can fall asleep after turning two pages of the book. The only thing that can tempt me is that he can live a life."

Su Youqin followed with a smile: "There are not many men in the real world who can live like him."

Xiaoyu: "That's true. I've lived for more than thirty years, and I've only seen this one."

At this point in the conversation, Xiaoyu asked casually, "Youqin, do you have a boyfriend you want to find?"

Su Youqin shook her head. She was in a good mood and jokingly replied: "It's hard to find a good man. If you can't find it, find a good woman."

Xiaoyu paused for a moment, remembering the last time Su Youqin and Shen Qianyao came to drink together, her smile was slightly suppressed, and she couldn't help asking: "Really?"

Su Youqin saw her stiff moment, took a plate of hot stewed pork from Jiaojiao, and placed it on the table by the oven.Xiaoyu is not a few years older than herself, and she really treats her well. She doesn't want to hide her today, so she nodded very seriously, and then typed and played: "Really,"

Xiaoyu couldn't keep his smile.She straightened up and approached Su Youqin: "Youqin, I'm not joking. I also know about this kind of thing. The neighbor sister who grew up with her also found a girlfriend, so, is it true?"

Su Youqin had no intention of joking at first, so she nodded again.

Xiaoyu was silent for a few seconds, got up and took two steps to take the plate from Jiaojiao's hand, and Jiaojiao bounced back to Mangzi in the house.Xiaoyu put the things on the table and said affirmatively, "It's Mr. Shen?!"

Su Youqin was shocked now.She never thought that Xiaoyu would guess people, nor did she think that she would guess so accurately.

Su Youqin's hesitation convinced Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu walked around the oven twice, seeming to be calming down, but there was no surprise or disapproval in her mood, it was more like a little anxiety.

She looked up at the sky, sighed after two seconds, and sat down: "Okay, I'll just say, I think. My vision has always been very accurate."

She talked to herself, looked at Su Youqin suspiciously, and told Su Youqin and Shen Qianyao that there was something wrong with the aura between Su Youqin and Shen Qianyao when she was drinking last time with a suppressed voice.

"At that time, I had some guesses. The feelings between friends and lovers are different."

Su Youqin was surprised.I have to say that Xiaoyu is very sharp.She thinks that as one of the people who like girls, she can't be as sensitive as Xiaoyu.She didn't hide the matter between herself and Shen Qianyao, and told the story of the two of them in a few words, in exchange for Xiaoyu sighing again and again.

She sighed that the two were indeed a good match, she also sighed at Su Youqin, and even more at the fact that the people in the small town couldn't accept their relationship.She also poked the scar on Su Youqin's right cheek, sighing what happened to her.

Sighing and sighing, Mangzi noticed something was wrong between the two of them, worried and asked what happened.Su Youqin, who told the secret, shook his head and denied it, Xiaoyu slapped Mangzi on the shoulder, and pulled Su Youqin up to set off the fireworks.

They bought dozens of skyrocketing fireworks, fairy wands waving in their hands, and "gopher mice" scurrying all over the ground and spraying various fireworks.Big fireworks and small fireworks appeared in the small yard, illuminating half of the sky above the chicken farm.Some young people playing on Guolin Road passed by the door and looked into the house curiously. Mangzi invited them to come in and play, sitting by the oven and cracking melon seeds.

It was almost eleven o'clock before the small party in the chicken farm broke up.

Mangzi drove Su Youqin back first, and then the family of three went to their parents' house, and when twelve o'clock came, they set off firecrackers in front of the house to get rid of the year-old filth.

The Huazi store was brightly lit, and the mahjong tables were full.

Su Youqin told Shen Qianyao that Xiaoyu already knew about the relationship between the two.He also sent many small videos to Shen Qianyao, all of which were fireworks.Shen Qianyao, who was already a little drunk, was jealous and kept yelling that she wanted to let go too.She originally thought that Su Youqin would be bored tonight, but she didn't expect that a friend would take her to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Shen Qianyao called the video and expressed aggrieved that he also wanted to accompany her to set off fireworks and enjoy the fireworks.

Su Youqin typed to coax her, and promised to let her come to her home to pay New Year's greetings in the third year of junior high school. When she saw her on the street again, she thought she was playing with her family on the street, so she didn't ask much.

Seeing that it was early in the morning, Su Youqin took a big string of red firecrackers and placed them in front of the breakfast shop. My younger brother also took a bunch of red firecrackers and put them in front of his parents' shop. A long strip of firecrackers connected the five foundations left by his grandparents. .

The neighbors who belonged to the nearby store also came out with firecrackers and set them up in front of the door.

Staring at the stopwatch, when the time jumped to 59:55:[-], Su Youqin and his brother bent down from both sides to light the firecrackers at the same time.Crackling sounds immediately sounded, in front of the breakfast shop, in front of the door across the road, and not far away.A busy street.

new Year is here.

Su Youqin sent a message to Shen Qianyao, and went upstairs to sleep with joy and satisfaction.

On the first day of junior high school, I paid homage to the Bodhisattva, and on the second day of junior high school, I went to a few aunts’ houses to sit for half an hour to finish the New Year’s greetings, and finally gathered at my uncle’s house for a meal. Cheng Li’s New Year’s greetings task was completed.

Su Youqin waited for Shen Qianyao to come in the third day of junior high school, and then went to her uncle's house on the fourth day of junior high school, and gave some New Year's greeting gifts to some relatives of her grandparents along the way. After completing all the New Year's greeting tasks for this year, the breakfast shop could open normally on the fifth day of junior high school.

Shen Qianyao drove to the town early in the morning of the third year of junior high school. The two made an appointment to have dinner at Su Youqin's house at noon, and to have dinner at Shen Qianyao's house in Yuanchuan City in the afternoon. They met her grandfather and stayed at Shen Qianyao's house at night.

The next day, Su Youqin went back to her uncle's house again.

Su Youqin was worried about going to see Shen Qianyao's elders, especially her grandfather.When Su Youqin was serious, Grandpa Shen Qianyao would be very difficult to get close to.Shen Qianyao said that it would be fine if she didn't want to go, but she couldn't say no to Shu Xian's personal invitation years ago.

In the past few days, Cheng Li and Su Quan basically spent time on the mahjong table when they were free.There are no entertainment facilities in the town, and everyone around them is like them, only playing mahjong to waste time.

Su Youqin cooked the meal and called them to eat. The people playing mahjong envied their daughter for cooking for them every day. They smiled and accepted the envy proudly.

Shen Qianyao came early.Su Youqin just woke up, and her younger brother was still sleeping.She knocked on the door to wake her younger brother up. Su Xinjun rubbed his eyes and came out. When he saw Shen Qianyao, he was unexpectedly shy. After washing in a hurry, he watched Su Youqin cook breakfast.

He stuck to Su Youqin's side and asked in a low voice, "Sister, who is this?" The shyness shown by a boy in his twenties could not be concealed in front of his sister.

Su Youqin stared at him seriously, quickly picked up the phone and typed: "The teacher of the school."

"She has a partner."

The shyness on Su Xinjun's face dissipated, "Hey, sister, I didn't ask this. I just asked who she is."

Su Youqin gave her brother a push. Although she didn't get along with him for a long time, she knew from a young age that his brother's aesthetics were very similar to her own. When she was young, she took her brother to watch anime. Whether it was a male character or a female character, she liked it. The weapons in the works are all the same.Last year, my younger brother went to Haicheng to take care of her. After he was discharged from the hospital, the two went to the street together, thinking that handsome and beautiful pedestrians are the same.

Shen Qianyao's appearance was the one they both liked.

At the beginning, Su Youqin didn't realize her liking for Shen Qianyao at the first time, it was entirely because of the leftover problems after the accident that made her lose her mind. Later, when she realized that she liked Shen Qianyao, looking at it again, Shen Qianyao's appearance was entirely in her hobby.

While her brother was back in the room, she quietly sent a message to Shen Qianyao: "My brother may have taken a fancy to you."

There was the sound of something hitting the coffee table in the living room.After a few seconds, Shen Qianyao limped into the kitchen, clung to Su Youqin tightly, suppressed her voice, and was very anxious: "What are you talking about? Can you talk nonsense?"

The corners of Su Youqin's eyes curved.Seeing that the door of his younger brother's room was closed, he turned around and kissed the corner of Shen Qianyao's mouth, shook his head and continued making breakfast.She was just making a joke.In her heart, the current Shen Qianyao and Su Xinjun are her closest relatives.

After breakfast, Su Youqin took Shen Qianyao to the chicken farm, and gave Mangzi and Xiaoyu a New Year's gift package, which was regarded as Shen Qianyao's New Year greetings to them.

The chicken farm is busy, and the banquets and banquets in major hotels in the city are full for the whole Spring Festival.The chicken farm only rested on New Year's Eve and the first two days of the first day of the new year, and started delivering goods to the city every day from the second day of the second day.

Xiaoyu picks up Jiaojiao.There was no one else in the chicken farm, so Su Youqin and Shen Qianyao put down their things and left first, and will come back next time.

It was still early, and the two walked along Guolin Road.During the Spring Festival, Guolin Road is like going to a market. People who come back from the New Year have nowhere to go, so they can only hang around on the street and Guolin Road.

Su Youqin and Shen Qianyao walked forward side by side, and they didn't know who would lead whom first. Their fingers were hooked together, you scratch me, and I poked you.Men, women and children passed by, chasing and playing, hooking shoulders and backs, and the two of them separated a world without appearing abrupt.

When he got home, Su Xinjun was already preparing lunch.He frowned at the piles of vegetables on the panel, and was relieved to see Su Youqin.Cheng Li and Su Quan were called away temporarily by their relatives to pay New Year's greetings to Cheng Li's distant cousin.Knowing that Shen Qianyao was here before leaving, she brought a bunch of food over and asked Su Youqin to treat her guests.

There are vegetables and pulp, as well as mutton brought back from Inner Mongolia in vacuum packaging.

Su Xinjun didn't know how to do it at all.

Su Youqin didn't know either, the three of them stood in the kitchen and looked at each other.

Fortunately, none of the three are idiots in the kitchen. After searching the method on the mobile phone, the three of them got busy.Su Xinjun kept persuading Shen Qianyao to sit and play in the living room.He thinks that the other party is his sister's guest and needs to be treated well.

After Shen Qianyao declined several times, she couldn't hold back and said to him: "Brother, have you ever cooked in this kitchen before?"

Su Xinjun shook his head in doubt.During the years when he was at home, although he lived here, he was young and never entered the kitchen.Later, when I grew up, I would live in my own home when I came back, and I would come here to eat at most.

"I have cooked in this kitchen. Compared to you, I may be more used to using this kitchen." Shen Qianyao's playful tone teased Su Xinjun: "By the way, the bed and room you sleep in also belong to me."

"Belongs to you?" Su Xinjun was surprised.

Su Youqin glanced at Shen Qianyao quietly.

"Of course, I've lived longer than you. What's more, your sister and I are inseparable. The bed and room belong to your sister, and your sister's is mine." Shen Qianyao raised her eyebrows, as if to show sovereignty: "I It's your sister's too."

Su Xinjun laughed, he knew that Shen Qianyao was teasing him: "You said that, I thought you were my sister's boyfriend."

Shen Qianyao said with a smile, and said casually: "It's not a boyfriend, it's a girlfriend."

Su Youqin panicked and looked back at the two of them.

Su Xinjun didn't care at all, and continued to laugh: "Okay, girlfriend. You girls like this kind of thing. When you have a good relationship, you don't distinguish between each other. When you fall out, you complain all kinds of things. When you meet again later, you hug and cry, and you get back together again." That's how my ex-girlfriend and her girlfriends..."

Shen Qianyao winked at Su Youqin.

Su Youqin turned around helplessly.

Hearing the voice of her younger brother still talking behind her, thinking of going to see Shen Qianyao's elders at night, for some reason, she suddenly had an urge to let her younger brother know about her relationship with Shen Qianyao.She wiped her hands and picked up the phone, typed and handed it to her younger brother: "What if it's really a girlfriend?"

Su Xinjun was startled by the sudden appearance of the mobile phone, took a step back, saw the words on the screen clearly, but did not react.

Su Youqin typed and handed it to him again: "What if it's really the object?"

"Damn it!" Su Xinjun took a step back and leaned against the gas stove. The unsteady pot fell and fell to the ground with a crackling sound. The round bottom of the pot turned twice.

"Sister, are you crazy?!"