"Today is the beginning of winter, and World Youth Day is the day after tomorrow." Zhang Zhong came out of the kitchen with a smile, holding a plate of dried dumplings in his hand. "Come, wash your hands and get ready for dinner. Grandpa and grandma will be back soon."

"Coming, coming."

Pengpeng jumped up excitedly. This girl is the most active in eating.

After she came back from washing her hands, she leaned on the edge of the table and asked Zhang Zhong, "Dad, what does the beginning of winter mean?"

"Lidong Lidong means the beginning of winter." Xu Yuhan explained with a smile.

Pengpeng tilted his head in confusion, "But it's not cold at all now, it doesn't feel like winter at all."

"Winter is not necessarily very cold, and it depends on the region. It's not cold here yet, but now it's a bit cold in the north. And the beginning of winter means welcoming winter, but it's not necessarily true whether winter has arrived yet.

It is possible that we are still on the way. But after the beginning of winter, the days will obviously become shorter and shorter, and the nights will become longer and longer. It is really going to be cold here, and we have to wait until the winter solstice." Zhang Zhong explained with a smile.

"I know about the winter solstice." Pengpeng said proudly.

"Then do you know what the winter solstice and the beginning of winter are?"

"I heard grandma say it's the solar terms."

"Then do you know how many solar terms there are?" Zhang Zhong asked again.

"I don't know." Pengpeng shook his head, expressing that he didn't know.

Zhang Zhong laughed and said, "There are twenty-four solar terms. You must not know which ones are the twenty-four?"

"I know the Beginning of Winter and the Winter Solstice." Pengpeng said.

"Just knowing these two is not enough. I will write down the twenty-four solar terms later, and then you can memorize them all, okay?" Zhang Chong smiled and arranged a task for Pengpeng.

"Is it okay if you don't memorize it? Twenty-four is a lot." Pengpeng said with a sad face.

Zhang Zhong had long expected that she would not agree easily, so he also thought of a countermeasure. He said in a bewitching tone, "I asked you to recite the twenty-four solar terms for your own good."

"For my own good?" Pengpeng looked confused.

Zhang Zhong pointed to the plate of dumplings just brought to the table and said with a smile, "Solar terms are the signs of the seasons. Food is the most important thing for people. When the seasons change, the first thing we think of is eating. For example, today is

At the beginning of winter, we have to eat dumplings here."

"Why eat dumplings?"

"Eating dumplings can also be called eating Jiaozi. When the seasons intersect, people like to eat dumplings. Not only the beginning of winter, but also the winter solstice later, we also eat dumplings. There are other things, like summer bamboo shoots at the beginning of summer,

Peas and broad beans are both delicious. Don’t you like to eat peas? Wait until around the beginning of summer to eat the most delicious peas.”

"Another example is Grain Rain, March 3rd, and shepherd's purse is the elixir."

"Shepherd's purse is not delicious." Pengpeng shook her head. She didn't like eating shepherd's purse very much.

"It's okay if you don't like shepherd's purse. There are other options, including pine mushrooms in March and chicken in April, and pine mushrooms in September for old chicken. Do you still remember the pine mushrooms your uncle sent you before?" Zhang Zhong said with a smile.

"Remember, remember, the chicken stewed with pine mushrooms is the most delicious, but the pine mushrooms my uncle sent were too few." When it came to pine mushrooms, Pengpeng couldn't help but swallow.

Zhang Zhong patted his daughter's head and said, "Things are rare and valuable, otherwise why do you think they are so delicious? Your uncle went out early in the morning and came home in the afternoon. He picked more than a pound of pine mushrooms and gave them away.

Come here, it's good for you, it's not enough."

"Because it's delicious."

"Then next time the season comes, I will send you to the mountains to pick it up yourself, and let you be a little girl picking mushrooms. This is called doing it yourself and having enough food and clothing."

"Okay." Pengpeng agreed.

Seeing that she agreed so simply, Zhang Chong said with a smile, "Do you think picking mushrooms is as simple as walking and lowering your head? You will know next time when I send you there."

"I can definitely do it." Pengpeng said confidently, and then took Zhang Zhong's arm and said, "Dad, Dad, tell me what are the remaining solar terms and what can I eat?"

Zhang Zhong braked in time and said, "No more talking. I'll wait until you memorize all the twenty-four solar terms."

"Ah." Pengpeng looked disappointed.

"Now you know I'm not lying to you. If you know these solar terms, and then remember the time corresponding to each solar term, you can remember what delicious food there is." Zhang Zhong said.

Xu Yuhan gave Zhang Zhong a thumbs up from the side.

Zhang Zhong thought she was praising him for his good parenting skills, but he didn't expect Xu Yuhan to say, "You know so much about food, but you can still be so thin, it's amazing."

While they were talking, Hu Huifang and Zhang Xingjun opened the door and came in.

When the old couple came in and saw a large table of dishes, they were a little surprised.

Hu Huifang asked, "What day is it today to cook so many dishes?"

Pengpeng raised her hand and answered, "Grandma, today is the beginning of winter, and we eat dumplings at the beginning of winter."

"Oh? Today is the beginning of winter, I don't care." Hu Huifang said.

Generally, people who live in cities rarely pay attention to the twenty-four solar terms, because they are of no use, except for relatively important ones like Qingming Festival.

People who pay more attention to solar terms are usually farmers who grow crops, because solar terms have a great impact on crops, and things are done according to the solar terms.

So even though they knew today was the beginning of winter, Hu Huifang and the others were still very surprised.

"Is it just because of the beginning of winter?"

Their family has never celebrated the beginning of winter.

"Well, it's the beginning of winter. You guys should wash up and get ready to eat. Pengpeng is probably starving." Zhang Zhong said with a smile.

Pengpeng immediately agreed, "Yes, grandparents, go quickly, the dumplings will be cold soon."

…

While eating, Hu Huifang mentioned about having dinner on the weekend.

"Son, have you made a hotel reservation? Don't delay until you can't book a hotel."

"It's booked," Zhang Chong replied.

"Where did you book? What's the quality? Have you ordered the food? Have you ever eaten there?" Hu Huifang asked several questions in succession.

Zhang Zhong answered one by one, "I made a reservation with fellow villagers. Last time I went to eat with Shen Jian and the others. It tasted very good. It was the kind of private cuisine. The outside of the restaurant looks ordinary, but the interior decoration is quite good."

"Why didn't you book in a larger hotel? Don't neglect your uncle and aunt."

Xu Yuhan said hurriedly, "No, no, he said it's delicious. Auntie, this isn't the first time we've met, so you don't have to worry about the ostentation."

Hu Huifang smiled and said, "Yu Han is right, the main thing when eating is that the food is delicious, everything else is secondary."

She looked at Zhang Zhong again, "Then you should pick up your uncle and aunt when they come back."

"They drove back by themselves," Zhang Zhong said.

"Oh, you don't have to answer it."

…

Hu Huifang interrogated Zhang Zhongde for more than ten minutes just about the weekend restaurant meal, which shows how much they attach great importance to this meeting.

Zhang Zhong was also more sure that his guess was correct. If he was just having a normal meal, there would be no need to be so particular.

Even Xu Yuhan felt something was wrong this time. If it was just a casual meal, she wouldn't need to take it so seriously. In addition, Zhang Zhong had just proposed to her, so she also had the same suspicion as Zhang Zhong.

But she was too embarrassed to reveal her guess at the dinner table.

After the meal was over and Zhang Zhong went to the study, Xu Yuhan followed and asked about it, "Are there any other things to do during the weekend? Why do I feel that Auntie attaches so much importance to this meal?"

Zhang Zhonggang turned on his computer and when he heard Xu Yuhan's words, he looked up at her with a smile, "You just realized it."

"Ah, what do you know?"

"I don't know, I'm just guessing, but I guess it's almost the same. Just be mentally prepared."

Although there were speculations just now, Xu Yuhan immediately became nervous when he heard what Zhang Zhong said, "I didn't even tell my mother or the others."

"You think your parents are as inexperienced as you. When my mother called me before, she already explained the matter clearly, and your mother also understood it, but you didn't understand." Zhang Zhong said.

Xu Yuhan's head was full of questions: "Is there any?"

At that time, Hu Huifang called her mother to make an appointment for dinner. She was right next to her. The conversation between the two was very simple, and they did not mention marriage.

"Of course, do you remember my mother saying, 'The children have been together for so long, we as elders should also worry more about it'?"

"Remember, isn't this just a simple greeting?"

"Well, this may sound like a simple greeting at first, but then your mother replied, 'Sister, you are right, Yuhan is not sensible either, I want you to worry more about it'."

"Isn't this just talking nonsense?"

Zhang Zhong laughed and said, "I should have recorded their phone calls so that I can analyze them sentence by sentence for you now. Anyway, don't worry, your parents know what they are going to talk about when we meet this week. If you don't believe it, just look back.

You can ask them."

Xu Yuhan quickly shook her head and said, "I won't ask, I'm too embarrassed."

"What's so embarrassing about this."

"Anyway, I'm just embarrassed." Xu Yuhan pinched the corner of her clothes and saw Zhang Zhong turning on the computer to work, and asked, "Are you busy at work?"

"I'm not busy. I'm writing next week's courseware. It's an old course. Just follow the template and make some modifications." Zhang Zhong said.

"If you're not busy, don't do it now and come with me." Xu Yuhan took Zhang Zhong's arm and pulled him up from the seat.
To be continued...