"Okay! Okay! So, do you want steamed buns or rice? Mom has them warmed up for you!"
"Let's eat rice!"
Zhou Qiqi answered without thinking.
"The sauerkraut fish soup is sour, fresh, and spicy. It's best served over hot white rice and mixed together for the best flavor and to make it the perfect dish to eat with rice!"
She took the full bowl of rice from Qin Peilan, eagerly picked up a large piece of tender fish slice, spread it on the rice along with the pickled cabbage and soup, mixed it well, and shoveled a big mouthful into her mouth.
"Um--!"
The moment it entered her mouth, her eyes lit up instantly. While hissing and laughing from the heat, she couldn't help but give a thumbs-up, praising it indistinctly:
"Mom! This fish you cooked is absolutely amazing! It's so delicious! I think it tastes even better than what the chef at the state-run restaurant makes!"
Qin Peilan was amused by her daughter-in-law's exaggerated eating habits and straightforward praise, her heart filled with sweetness, yet she remained modest:
"Oh dear, you've got a silver tongue! You're all about saying nice things to make me happy!"
"That's not just sweet talk! I'm telling you the absolute truth!"
Zhou Qiqi swallowed the food in her mouth, her expression extremely serious.
She has loved eating fish since she was a child, but since her parents separated and she has lived with her maternal grandparents, she knows that her grandmother works hard to take care of the household chores, so she has never dared to ask for fish.
For a long time after that, she almost never touched a fish again.
It wasn't until I started working and had some money that I was willing to buy it for myself or order it at a restaurant.
She had eaten fish in many places, including state-run restaurants and military restaurants, and they all tasted good. But for some reason, she just felt that none of them were as delicious as the seemingly ordinary sauerkraut fish that her mother-in-law had made.
Even though the fish used wasn't the freshest or the best, and the seasonings were just the usual ones, and it wasn't made by a professional chef, it still tasted incredibly delicious.
Looking at the sincere light in her daughter-in-law's eyes, Qin Peilan knew that the child genuinely liked her and wasn't just flattering her. She was overjoyed and kept piling food onto her plate.
"That's really good! That's really good! Then eat more! Here, the meat on the belly of this fish is tender and boneless! And this, scrambled eggs with onions, you should eat more of that too!"
She loves to eat fish, which everyone in her family already knows, but...
Looking at the three large plates of golden-brown scrambled eggs with onions on the table, Zhou Qiqi couldn't help but ask curiously:
"Mom, why did you cook so much of this all at once?"
Qin Peilan's face immediately revealed a gentle smile filled with reminiscence, and she said:
"This stir-fried eggs with onions is Huaichuan's favorite dish! Back then, his dad and I were both busy with work and often couldn't come home for a long time when we were away on business trips. Every time I came back, that kid would pester me, not wanting anything else, just asking for this! If I stir-fried a big plate of it, he could eat three big white steamed buns with it!"
Shen Zhenbang, who was standing next to him, also chimed in with a smile, his tone full of nostalgia:
"That's right! He loved eating eggs. Back then, we had a few hens in our yard, and that kid would stare at their rear ends every day. As soon as an egg was laid, he would rush over and grab it, scaring the chickens so much that they would flap their wings and jump around and squawk as soon as they saw him coming from afar!"
Zhou Qiqi paused slightly, her hand holding the chopsticks pausing in surprise.
She remembered clearly that Shen Huaichuan's favorite food was fried dough sticks and scrambled eggs with onions, but she had never heard him mention it before.
Qin Peilan keenly noticed her daughter-in-law's momentary daze. Her smile faded slightly, and she became somewhat cautious, tentatively asking:
"What... he never mentioned liking this to you? Has his taste changed over the years? What's his favorite food now? Tell Mom, and Mom will learn to make it for him right away!"
She cooked so many dishes with great enthusiasm today, because she actually had a little expectation in her heart.
I wanted to use the familiar taste to get closer to my son.
Seeing the somewhat uneasy look in her mother-in-law's eyes, Zhou Qiqi felt a pang of sadness. She quickly shook her head, a big smile spreading across her face, and said in a light tone:
"No, no! Mom, you're not mistaken! He still loves to eat this! I just never imagined that our Commander Shen was so mischievous when he was little! He could even scare chickens so much! I really can't imagine it!"
Seeing her daughter-in-law say this, Qin Peilan's eyes lit up again, her smile returned, and she said:
"Absolutely! She's incredibly mischievous! And she's probably eaten a lot; her appetite is astonishing! You wouldn't believe it..."
Zhou Qiqi knew that her mother-in-law would easily lose control when talking about her son's childhood, and would likely be reminded of her other two sons, bringing up painful memories.
Before her mother-in-law could finish speaking, she quickly swallowed the food in her mouth, slapped her forehead, and pretended to have just remembered, saying:
"Oh dear! I was so focused on eating that I almost forgot about the important matter! Dad, Mom, I need to tell you something!"
She pointed out the window:
"Dad, could you please help me bring in those two big boxes that are strapped to the back of my bicycle? They're really heavy!"
Upon hearing that there was something important to discuss, Shen Zhenbang immediately replied, "Yes, sir!"
He was much healthier than Qin Peilan, and without saying a word, he got up and went out.
In no time, they deftly carried in the two heavy wooden crates, one in each hand, and placed them steadily on the floor of the main room.
Looking at the two heavy boxes on the ground, the elderly couple showed curiosity.
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