Are they familiar enough to contact her privately?

"Comrade Wang Xinru, is there something you need?" Wen Xi was genuinely surprised by Wang Xinru's arrival.

"Just call me Wang Xinru, no need to add 'comrade'. May I come in and talk?" Wang Xinru awkwardly pointed to the courtyard.

Wen Xi nodded and let her in, then closed the courtyard gate. She looked at Wang Xinru with curiosity. Under Wen Xi's gaze, Wang Xinru slowly lifted the old clothes covering the basket, revealing an extremely beautiful piece of pork belly.

I don't know how Wang Xinru managed to buy such a good piece of meat.

"Wang Xinru, what's wrong?" Wen Xi asked, puzzled.

"Wenxi, you're a great cook, your dishes are delicious. Could you please make me some pork belly? We can each have half, okay?" Wang Xinru pouted and looked at Wenxi pitifully.

Except for the time when she ate in the canteen during the late rice harvest, when the food was relatively good, now at the educated youth settlement, she eats simple meals every day, and her mouth is almost dry from the blandness.

There were too many people eating together at the educated youth settlement, and the little bit of meat wasn't even enough for everyone to have a few bites. Besides, Wang Xinru really didn't like some of the people there and didn't want them to take advantage of her, so she came to find Wen Xi.

Wenxi thought that as fellow educated youth, far from their parents and hometowns, they had all had a tough time. Since Wang Xinru was a decent person and they didn't have any conflicts, she naturally wanted to help her if she could. Besides, Wang Xinru had said she would share half of the work with her, so it wasn't like she was being asked to work for free.

So Wenxi agreed, "Then I'll add some potatoes and make braised pork with potatoes, is that alright?"

"This piece of meat is yours. Do whatever you want with it. I won't interfere. I trust your skills; it will definitely taste delicious no matter how you cook it." Wang Xinru handed the basket to Wen Xi with fawning hands.

Wenxi took the basket. "Come with me!"

Upon entering the kitchen, Wen Xi handed garlic and ginger to Wang Xinru, saying, "Go peel the garlic and wash the ginger." Then she raised an eyebrow, "You know how?"

Wang Xinru nodded repeatedly, "Yes, I will."

Afterwards, Wang Xinru took the garlic and ginger to the well, while Wen Xi placed the basket on the kitchen table and took out four small fish from the storeroom, pretending to have brought them out from the storage room.

Wenxi carried the fish, still in its basin, to the well and placed it next to Wang Xinru. "Keep the fish here and don't move it."

"Okay." Wang Xinru's eyes lit up when she saw the big, white fish. There were four of them. Could one of them be hers?

Wenxi returned to the kitchen, scooped water from the water tank, washed the pork belly, and cut it into even small pieces. Then she took out five potatoes, peeled and washed them, cut them into small pieces, and soaked them in a basin.

After Wang Xinru brought back the garlic and ginger, Wen Xi chopped them and then went behind the stove to start a fire. Once the pot was hot, she added a spoonful of oil.

Wang Xinru was shocked when she saw the oil in the pot. Even her mother was reluctant to use so much oil when cooking, but she never expected Wen Xi to be so generous.

Once the oil is hot, Wenxi adds the pork belly chunks and stir-fries them until they change color. She then adds dried chili peppers, ginger, and garlic and stir-fries them until fragrant. Next, she adds soy sauce to color the pork belly, then adds boiling water to cover the meat. After that, she adds the potato chunks. Then, she just needs to simmer it for a while and doesn't need to worry about it anymore.

Wenxi asked Wang Xinru to watch the fire while she went to the well to process the fish. First, she scraped off the scales, then gutted the mackerel, and removed the gills. Wenxi threw the trash into the chicken coop as a treat for the chickens.

Back in the kitchen, Wenxi took two large cabbages out of the pickle jar, chopped them up, and placed them on a plate.

After the braised pork and potatoes were cooked and ready, Wenxi washed the pot and started cooking the fish. She first pan-fried the fish one by one until golden brown on both sides, then put them on a plate. Next, she put the chopped salted cabbage into the pot and stir-fried it until fragrant. Then she added a pot of hot water, then put the fish from the pan into the pot and simmered it.

Wenxi handed over the task of watching the fire to Wang Xinru, went to the yard to pick a few white radishes and dig up a few yellow cabbages. She had already put the vegetables she picked earlier into the warehouse, so she was too lazy to take any more out.

After washing the vegetables and taking them back to the kitchen, Wenxi cut the white radish into thin strips, but didn't cut the yellow cabbage; she could just stir-fry it later.

When the fish was almost done stewing, Wenxi added the tofu cubes she had cut in advance. After stewing for ten minutes, the tofu was flavorful, and then Wenxi served the fish.

Later, I stir-fried some yellow cabbage and then made a radish and minced meat soup.

If it weren't for Wang Xinru, Wen Xi wouldn't have bothered making each dish slowly; it would have been so much more convenient and easier to just pull them out from the system repository!

When Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue returned, they were somewhat surprised to see Wang Xinru there, so Wen Xi explained it to them.

The food was served, and everyone sat down to eat. Lunch was sweet potato rice. Wang Xinru looked at the sumptuous meal in front of her and swallowed hard. She sat behind the stove, holding onto the fire, and the aroma surrounded her. She had been unable to resist swallowing hard for a long time.

"Each of you gets one fish, so eat your own fish and don't spread your food around," Wenxi reminded them before picking up her chopsticks and starting to eat.

Wen Xi wasn't afraid of Wang Xinru spreading rumors when she returned to the educated youth compound. It didn't matter if she talked nonsense, after all, she only provided a fish dish and some vegetables. The meat was provided by Wang Xinru. Everyone has vegetables, and if the dish wasn't as good as hers, who could she blame?

Wang Xinru ate a piece of tofu and gave a satisfied "hmm". The tofu was very flavorful, with a light salty taste but also the freshness of fish. It was very juicy and had a rich texture.

Wenxi took a large fish weighing over half a pound today. One fish would be enough to fill someone with a small appetite. In addition, Wang Xinru also ate braised pork, tofu, and drank soup, successfully stuffing herself. She felt like the food was almost up to her throat. She really ate too much today.

"Wang Xinru, stand up and walk around a bit, otherwise you'll feel uncomfortable," Wen Xi reminded her.

She hadn't expected Wang Xinru to be such a big eater; her chopsticks kept going and going, never stopping.

Is her skill in cooking really that good?

Wenxi had originally planned to pack a box of braised pork for her to take back in a lunchbox, so she could just steam it and eat it that night. But the braised pork and potatoes were eaten clean, leaving only a little oil and broth in the pot.

After a few minutes, everyone's condition improved, and Shen Jiaojiao went to clean up the kitchen, as it was her task. Wang Xinru didn't want to eat for free, so she quickly went over to help Shen Jiaojiao, and Shen Jiaojiao didn't refuse.

"Wenxi, thank you for today. I really enjoyed the meal, even more so than when I eat at home," Wang Xinru said sincerely.

Even at home, it's rare to find a meat dish on her table.