Chapter 75: Three Generations of Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law Sharing Joys and Sorrows
After tossing and turning in bed countless times, Tang Mingli finally realized one fact—she couldn't sleep.
I'm so tired, but I can't fall asleep?
Tang Mingli herself found it unbelievable.
This is truly a miracle, after all, insomnia is something that really happened to her in a past life.
How could this happen?
Tang Mingli began to reflect.
Could it be that cup of coffee?
No way, I never had trouble sleeping before when I drank it.
But thinking back carefully, all I did today was drink an extra cup of coffee.
Fu Ci, who was next to me, must have really exhausted his brain today, because he fell into a deep sleep not long after lying down.
You should know that solving other people's problems takes much more brainpower than figuring out the problems yourself.
Tang Mingli was worried that continuing in this state would wake him, so she carefully got out of bed.
I intended to read a book in the study to see if I could scare myself into sleep, but I found the study strangely quiet at night, which made me uneasy.
Don't let your own wild thoughts scare you more than the book itself.
I think I'll go downstairs and get something to eat.
As the saying goes, "When you're well-fed and warm, you start to think about lust and desire." Perhaps after eating a full meal, you'll feel sleepy.
However, as soon as Tang Mingli reached the stairwell, she noticed something was wrong: the lights downstairs were on.
At that moment, she thought it might just be someone getting up in the middle of the night or getting thirsty, and didn't think much of it.
Upon arriving on the first floor, I was surprised to see my mother-in-law and grandmother sitting on the living room sofa, both looking rather lifeless.
"What... happened to you?"
Nighttime always gives people the illusion of quiet, and Tang Mingli subconsciously lowered her voice.
Mrs. Fu was also surprised by her daughter-in-law's sudden appearance downstairs, and said with a wry smile, "I don't know what's wrong, neither your grandmother nor I can sleep." She then added, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"
"I can't sleep either," Tang Mingli said with a sigh, thinking to herself that they were kindred spirits.
Madam Fu and Old Madam Fu exchanged glances, both seeing disbelief on each other's faces.
It's really amazing that even the person who sleeps the most in the family can't fall asleep.
Madam Fu laughed even harder: "What day is it today? Why can't even Mingli sleep?"
Actually, when Tang Mingli heard her mother-in-law say that they couldn't sleep, she roughly knew why.
It seems it really was because of that cup of coffee.
Are the Russians not only fierce in appearance, but their coffee is also incredibly potent?
But why didn't the coffee she drank at the Russian restaurant cause her to have insomnia? It was clearly the same coffee... Could it really not be the same type of coffee bean?
The only answer is to ask the owner of that Russian restaurant again.
She answered her grandmother's joking remark with a guilty look: "It's probably because I drank coffee."
"This stuff, if you drink it in the morning, can keep you awake at night?" Old Madam Fu found it unbelievable. Of course, she knew that coffee was a stimulant, but this was too much.
"I didn't expect it to be so powerful."
Seeing Tang Mingli's guilt, Madam Fu comforted her, "If you can't sleep, you can't sleep. Anyway, you have nothing to do tomorrow. You can always sleep during the day."
That's what they say, but Tang Mingli knows better than anyone how harmful staying up late is.
It can take several days to recover from staying up all night.
But Grandma is right, there's no use in feeling guilty now that things have come to this.
Since insomnia is inevitable, I might as well enjoy the night.
After figuring it out, Tang Mingli shook off her dejected look and blinked her bright eyes as she asked the two elders, "Are you hungry?"
"I'm not hungry..." Seeing her daughter-in-law's expectant gaze, Fu's mother couldn't bear to say anything that would spoil the mood, so she changed her words and said, "But if you want to eat, I'm not unwilling to eat with you."
Where is Grandma?
Madam Fu ate little for dinner and had already digested it. She didn't feel hungry at first, but Tang Mingli's question made her realize she was a little hungry, so she nodded.
"Then I'll cook instant noodles for everyone."
Tang Mingli smiled and went to look for the Three Delicacies Yi Noodles she had bought before the Lunar New Year.
The instant noodles available now are made with sincerity, without so many so-called industrial additives, so you can eat them with peace of mind.
Tang Mingli prefers boiled instant noodles. In her opinion, instant noodles taste better when they're bubbling and boiling.
She cooked three packets, and once the water started to boil, the whole kitchen smelled of instant noodles.
Adding some of the ingredients that came with the pot, Tang Mingli cracked two more eggs into the pot and chopped a few sausages and threw them in.
After boiling, it fills a whole pot.
She looked at it and couldn't help but laugh, realizing that she might have cooked too much.
But maybe we can finish it.
Both Mrs. Fu and her mother were tempted by the aroma of instant noodles and couldn't resist coming over to see what was going on.
Tang Mingli picked up the pot and brought out the whole pot of instant noodles.
The aroma was enticing, and Mrs. Fu couldn't help but exclaim, "It smells so good!"
She's eaten instant noodles before, so why didn't she find them so delicious before?
Fu's mother, who wasn't actually very hungry, was so tempted by the aroma that she felt hungry and quickly went into the kitchen to get three sets of bowls and chopsticks.
Just as Fu's mother filled a bowl for each of the three of them and was about to start eating, Tang Mingli called out to her.
"Wait. There's still one thing missing."
She called out to her grandmother and mother-in-law to stop, winked at them, kept them in suspense, and then ran to the refrigerator to grab two bottles of ice-cold beer.
However, after taking a small sip of the beer, she felt it wasn't cold enough, so she took some ice cubes from the refrigerator and added them in.
She took another bite and nodded in satisfaction.
Drinking ice-cold beer on a freezing day is so refreshing.
However, she only dared to be unrestrained herself, and dared not let her elderly grandmother and mother-in-law follow suit.
After doing all this, Tang Mingli finally said, "Let's eat!"
Decades later, a saying aptly appeared online: "Instant noodles with alcohol, the more you eat, the more intoxicated you become."
Tang Mingli had wanted to try it for a long time, and today she tried it, and it worked!
The three of them ate and chatted, and after a couple of drinks, they became quite excited and unconsciously raised their voices.
Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten that it was nighttime and everyone else was asleep, so he quickly lowered his voice again.
All three women had the illusion that they were cheating on their husbands, and the feeling was actually quite good.
The mother, still wanting more, couldn't wait for the next time. "If I can't sleep again, let's eat like this again, but don't let the men in the family know."
"Why?" Tang Mingli wanted to ask why the men in the family shouldn't know.
Fortunately, Fu's mother understood what she meant. Although she was a little embarrassed, she still answered honestly, "I feel like I'm happier eating without them around."
Madam Fu completely agreed with this sentiment.
“I think so too. Although they won’t say anything, now that I think about it, it’s quite an eyesore to have them sitting there.”
These words almost made Tang Mingli burst out laughing, but fortunately she remembered that it was nighttime.
She didn't actually think so, but since her grandmother and mother-in-law had said so, she had to agree.
So she nodded and smiled, "Okay, let's not let the men in the family join in. This is something unique to us women."
Mrs. Fu and her mother smiled happily after hearing this.
As she drank ice-cold beer and ate delicious instant noodles, some distant memories were stirred up in Mrs. Fu.
"When we were in Shanghai, there was a period when my family ate barley flour every day. It was easy to cook it into a mushy mush if you weren't careful, and it was really unpleasant to eat. But we couldn't not eat it, so we had to force ourselves to eat it. Back then, we couldn't care less about whether the food tasted good or not; it was all about survival."
Madam Fu's words reminded Fu's mother of her childhood, who sighed, "Mom, yours is alright. My grandma's steamed buns were truly unbearable to eat. They were rock hard, and once they cooled down, they were no different from stones."
Tang Mingli asked, "Didn't you put in any baking powder?"
"There's no such thing as baking powder, it's all made with sourdough."
Tang Mingli was a complete southerner in her past life and didn't know what "old dough" was. Literally, it must be leftover dough from a previous batch? Won't it spoil?
Although she found it unbelievable, she wasn't curious enough to ask for details.
The wisdom of the Chinese people is boundless. They were able to steam soft buns and mantou even before the advent of baking powder, so they must have mastered a set of fermentation methods long ago.
After the two elders finished speaking, they asked Tang Mingli what kind of unpalatable food she had ever eaten.
Without thinking, Tang Mingli answered, "Fat meat."
When it comes to fatty pork, Tang Mingli feels that even the instant noodles in her bowl don't smell as good anymore.
Eating a piece of meat is like eating a mouthful of oil; it's juicy and has no chewiness whatsoever. Plus, a lot of the fatty meat has an unpleasant fishy smell. Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.
Despite how unpalatable this food was, she ate it almost her entire childhood.
Because the lean meat that her grandparents bought was for their grandson, she, as their granddaughter who would eventually be separated from them, couldn't snatch it away.
Because of the deep childhood trauma she suffered, she never touched fatty meat again after she grew up and became independent, and vowed never to touch it again in her life.
But even now, many people still like fatty meat.
It can be used not only for cooking, but also for rendering lard.
When many people go to grocery stores to buy meat, they will specifically ask the clerk to cut them extra fatty pieces.
Fu's mother said, "No wonder."
Having lived together for several years, how could she not have noticed that Tang Mingli never ate fatty pork?
It turns out that this was the most unpalatable thing in the daughter-in-law's eyes.
When Zhang Guihua returns from her hometown, I must remind her to buy less fatty meat in the future.
It wasn't just Mrs. Fu who thought this way; Old Madam Fu did too.
-
"Are you eating instant noodles...and drinking alcohol?"
Fu Ci smelled instant noodles, but was shocked to see beer bottles when he got closer.
His wife, mother, and grandmother were secretly drinking beer and eating instant noodles in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.
The sudden sound interrupted the three women's conversation.
The three of them immediately made a shushing gesture in unison, reminding him not to speak loudly.
Fu's mother whispered to her son, "Keep your voice down, your dad and grandpa are still sleeping, don't wake them up."
Tang Mingli glanced quickly at the remaining instant noodles at the bottom of the pot and enthusiastically invited, "Did you wake up hungry? How about a bowl of instant noodles?"
Fu Ci shook his head.
He wasn't woken up by hunger; he instinctively reached out to touch her, only to find nothing there. The spot where someone should have been lying was cold, clearly indicating that no one had lain there for a long time, which startled him awake.
When I woke up, I first searched the second floor, then heard rustling sounds downstairs. Although they were soft, I could still tell who it was, which put my mind at ease, and I decided to go downstairs to check.
I never expected to see this.
He understands eating instant noodles, but drinking beer is something he really didn't expect.
Looking at the three women closest to him, Fu Ci felt a strange mix of amusement and exasperation.
She really knows how to enjoy life.
He never imagined he could eat beer with instant noodles.
Tang Mingli interpreted his shaking his head as meaning he didn't want to eat, but there was still a little left. They were already quite full, and it was fate that he was leaving. How could she not help him finish it?
So, unwilling to give up, she asked again, "Aren't you hungry? I cooked this myself."
What does this mean?
Did he think that because she cooked it herself, he wouldn't be able to resist?
Fu Ci looked at his wife, completely helpless against her.
"Then let's try it."
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