Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

In the living room, Wang Yi could be heard saying to his two younger sisters:

"Xiaomei, Xiaoli, wake up! Big brother bought some delicious food! Food we've never had before! If we don't get up soon, it'll all be gone!"

Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli are 6 and 7 years old respectively, which is the age when they are hard to wake up once they fall asleep.

So it took Wang Yi a lot of effort to wake up the two little sisters.

Soon, Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli emerged, still sleepy and wearing thermal underwear. Rubbing their eyes and sniffling, the two girls exclaimed:
"What does this smell like? It smells so good!"

"This smells so good, it's so fragrant."

Wang An gently patted his two younger sisters' heads and said affectionately:
"Big brother bought you instant noodles. You know what instant noodles are? They're really delicious. If you two don't wake up soon, we're going to start eating them."

Wang Xiaomei said with a smile:
"Big brother, you're so kind."

Wang Xiaoli immediately added:

"Second brother, it was second brother who woke us up."

And you know what? These two little girls actually know what it means to not favor one over the other.

Turning his head, Wang An instructed Huang Zhong, who had just returned, to say:
"Xiao Zhong, go get a bowl and chopsticks, and a big spoon too. The instant noodles are ready to eat."

While Huang Zhong went to the kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks, Wang An took the lid off the first enamel basin.

As soon as the bowl was lifted, the unique aroma of instant noodles instantly became even stronger.

All that could be heard was the sound of people swallowing their saliva.

In fact, instant noodles in this era only had one seasoning packet, which contained some dehydrated scallions and dehydrated vegetables.

As for the sauce packet, it wasn't included in instant noodles at that time.

But even without the sauce packet, instant noodles at this time are still an unparalleled delicacy for most people.

By this time, all the instant noodles in the enamel basin had been soaked and dissolved, and the scattered green specks from the seasoning packet were now visible in the gaps between the noodles.

Wang An laughed and said:

"Alright, it's ready to eat, hahaha!"

Taking the bowl and chopsticks from Huang Zhong, Wang An began serving instant noodles to everyone. One chopstickful was enough to fill a bowl. Wang An then told Huang Zhong beside him:
"Ladle two spoonfuls of the broth into your bowl. Instant noodles are soulless without broth, hehehehe."

In no time, the 11 people present each held a large bowl and began to eat noisily.

They ate with beaming smiles and great enthusiasm.

They kept saying:
"This stuff is really delicious."

"It smells so good, so delicious!"

"It smells so good, it's soft yet chewy, and it doesn't hurt your teeth at all."

Wang An looked at everyone and said with a smile:

"Don't forget to drink the soup when you eat noodles, it's soulless without soup."

Soon, everyone finished their instant noodles, except for Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli who had only eaten half a bowl. Not even a drop of soup was left.

Without hesitation, Wang An lifted the second enamel basin and called out to everyone:

"Come on, bring over all the bowls, this basin is ready too."

After serving everyone another bowl, there was hardly any noodles left in the pot. Mu Xueqing said to Wang An:

"Little Oriole hasn't eaten yet, let me take this bowl to her."

Wang An waved his hand and said:

"It'll be cold by the time I get it over there. I'll make her two more packets later. I think she hasn't even finished the packet I just brought over."

Mu Xueqing nodded and said:
"Yes, we still have two thermos flasks of hot water in that room, that should be enough." After everyone finished eating, Wang An asked them:
"Do you want more? Shall we make another pot?"

After Wang An finished speaking, Liu Guilan said:
"Alright, if you want to eat, eat tomorrow. Who eats a lot in the middle of the night? It's hard to digest."

Thus, with Liu Guilan's intervention, everyone finally started clearing away the dishes.

Mu Xueqing grabbed two bags of instant noodles and hurried off to the house on the west side, the house that belonged to Wang An and Mu Xueqing.

There was no other way; Huangli hadn't had any instant noodles yet, so Mu Xueqing had to make some for her.

Seeing that Liu Guilan was about to wash the dishes, Wang An quickly said:

"Mom, let's clean up tomorrow. It's the middle of the night, let's go to sleep."

Liu Guilan said:
"Oh dear, there are only a few basins and bowls. You should take Xue Li and Lao Wu to bed."

Wang An agreed:
"Then we'll head over there first."

Nothing was said that night, and dawn broke in the blink of an eye.

Although he didn't fall asleep until almost 1 a.m. last night, Wang An's biological clock still woke him up promptly at around 4 a.m.

After getting up, Wang An ruthlessly dragged Wang Li and Mu Xueli up.

To be precise, it was Wang Li and Mu Xueli who woke up on their own. As the saying goes, it takes seven days to form a habit, so after so much time, the two of them had gotten used to getting up early every day to practice martial arts.

At breakfast, instead of eating the fragrant sauerkraut and oil-filled steamed buns, Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli insisted on eating instant noodles.

You see, Liu Guilan wasn't one to spoil children, so naturally she couldn't help but scold them both.

Seeing the two little girls looking so wronged, Wang An whispered to them:

"You two eat less first. After you finish eating, secretly go to your sister-in-law and ask her to make you instant noodles. Be good, or your mother will beat you up later."

The two girls were immediately delighted upon hearing Wang An's words.

Liu Guilan naturally saw through Wang An's little tricks, and rolled her eyes at him, saying:

"Just keep indulging them."

In Wang An's view, his two little sisters are actually very easy to please; it's just a bag of instant noodles! Why can't he please them?

After breakfast, Wang An instructed Mu Xueqing and Liu Guilan to distribute the clothes and shoes they had bought to everyone, and then he and Mu Xueli and Wang Li got busy.

Wang Dazhu didn't have anything else to do, so he took the initiative to strike up a conversation:
Do you need my help?

Wang An smiled and said:

“Yes, yes, it’s really useful. Dad, can you make me a TV stand? I’ll take them to the mountains to get some long wooden poles.”

Wang Dazhu frowned and said:

"TV stand? I've never made one of those before."

Wang An said:

"This thing is simple. Once it's finished, it will look like this shape, like a fish skeleton."

As he spoke, Wang An picked up a stick and began to draw on the ground, telling Wang Dazhu the length and distance of the aluminum plate.

Wang An specifically mentioned the aluminum plate that needed to be bent back into a long strip.

The kind of TV stand that Wang An wanted to make was the kind of fishbone antenna that would later become very common in rural areas and on city streets.

The main reason is that this type of fishbone antenna is simple in materials and easy to manufacture, and even two thousand years later, it is still the choice of most people.

With Wang Dazhu's intelligence, he naturally knew how to do it at a glance.

And so, Wang Dazhu stayed home making a TV stand, while Wang An, Wang Li, and Mu Xueli drove a plow, pulling a chainsaw, towards the red pine forest near their home. (End of Chapter)