A kiss
"For me?" Wen Jingzhao touched the soft cloth. It was cold in Zhuyi, and most people wore this kind of cloth around their necks in winter.
"Well, it's for you!"
He glanced at the cloth scarf of the same color wrapped around He Yingchun's neck, wrapped the scarf around his neck, and the corners of his mouth buried under the scarf curled up slightly.
The three of them walked back home slowly. "Woof!" Gesan pounced over, but was held down by Wen Jingzhao.
It jumped up and down and showed the three people its new nest.
It was made of several wooden boards nailed together, and it was not very exquisite. The roof was the same as that of an ordinary house, with a hole just big enough for Gesan to crawl in. He Yingchun reached out and touched inside, "It's quite cold, you need to put a mat or something." Gesan didn't care about anything else, he crawled in and lay down, then rushed out, looking very happy.
"I'll sew one for it some other day." Mom said. He Yingchun has grown taller, and both pairs of pants are a little short. The unused ones can be taken apart and a small pad can be sewn underneath.
I made a simple dumpling soup at noon and was waiting for the big meal in the evening.
He Yingchun was ready to take a nap. She had gotten up early in the morning and felt very sleepy after having a full meal. Before going to bed, she went to find Wen Jingzhao and planned to ask him when Li Bin would come over.
The door of the west wing was not closed. Wen Jingzhao was smoothing out and folding his scarf bit by bit, and then putting it into the cabinet as if it were a treasure.
He Yingchun paused while knocking on the door, did not enter the house, and returned to the east wing.
Lying on the kang, the moment she closed her eyes, she would see the image of Wen Jingzhao folding his scarf with his face tilted to the side. She had witnessed with her own eyes that even after cleaning the fox fur coat, which was worth a thousand gold coins and was stained with mud, he would not wear it again.
She pressed her chest, feeling a little complicated.
I fell asleep in a daze, and when I woke up, I forgot what day it was. The sound of chopping vegetables came into my ears.
"Duoduoduoduoduo"
He Yingchun woke up, rubbed his eyes, put on his shoes, went out to wash his face, and became much more sober.
"Awake?" Mom was chopping sauerkraut. "What time is it?" He Yingchun looked at the sky outside and couldn't tell how long she had slept.
"It's 3 p.m. now. I just asked the young master. I guess Li Bin will be here soon." Mom didn't put down the work in her hands and kept talking while doing it.
"Slept for so long?" He Yingchun wiped her hands. "Sauerkraut? What are you going to make?"
"I'll add some vermicelli and some pork belly, which is fattier, and stew it together." The vermicelli is already soaked, and when people come, we can just cut up the meat and put it in the pot for a meal.
"Okay, then I'll start too." He Yingchun rolled up her sleeves. She had already prepared everything. She wanted to make steamed pork with rice flour, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, and stir-fried mutton offal. The mutton offal was bought in the East Market. The sheep seller cleaned the sheep and threw the offal into the water to feed the dogs. She hurriedly called for help and bought some. It only cost her 10 cents. She and her mother cleaned it all up on the day she bought it.
She took it out to thaw it and started to make steamed pork with rice flour. That's why Zhuyi is really a food desert. She went to several stores but couldn't buy the steamed pork flour, so she had to use glutinous rice flour instead.
Wash and cut the pork belly, add some soy sauce, rice wine, salt, sugar, chopped green onion and minced ginger to remove the fishy smell, apply all the seasonings on the surface of the meat slices and marinate for a while.
Put rice, glutinous rice and Sichuan peppercorns in the pot and start stir-frying until they turn slightly yellow and emit rice fragrance. Take them out and crush them with a rolling pin. Add some salt and mix evenly. Don’t make them too broken, otherwise they will taste soft.
Put the rolled flour into the meat, grab a few times to cover every piece of meat.
He Yingchun took a steamer, wiped it clean, cut two sweet potatoes and placed them under the steamer as a layer, then placed the meat slices on top, one layer on top of the other, and steamed it!
"I can smell the fragrance from far away!" Li Bin came in with Wen Jingzhao, carrying a pot of wine.
"I'm here! Come in and sit down, it'll be ready in a moment!"
Zhang Chao poked his head out from behind the two of them. "It smells so good! I wonder what it tastes like?"
When she saw this man, He Yingchun's smile faded. Zhang Chao was Ma Tongguang's man, so what was he doing here?
"What? Are you unhappy?" Zhang Chao also carried a pot of wine.
"No way, please all go into the house first!" He Yingchun signaled Wen Jingzhao to lead people into the house.
The two walked in, He Yingchun followed behind Wen Jingzhao, and signaled with her eyes, asking him why Zhang Chao had come. Wen Jingzhao patted her and whispered, "It's okay, he has nothing to do with Ma Tongguang. His family lives far away, and he had no place to celebrate the festival, so he followed along."
"Please sit down." He Yingchun took a pot of tea and poured it.
Li Bin felt very uncomfortable. "Yingchun, I came here by myself, but why do I feel like a guest?"
He reached out and poured the tea himself. "After all, I've been living here for a few days."
Zhang Chao smiled, "So I'm the only customer?"
Li Bin ignored him and handed the wine to He Yingchun. "Yingchun, the fruit wine I brought is not strong. You and Mom can drink it."
He Yingchun took it, and Zhang Chaoyi held out his hand, "Here, this is the lamb wine I brought. The alcohol content is okay, right?"
"Thank you both! I'll go heat up the wine first, you guys sit for a while."
Wen Jingzhao took the wine jug from He Yingchun and said, "It's okay. I'll heat it up. You cook first."
"Where are they? They can't leave the guests hanging, right?"
"They are not guests."
Zhang Chao spread his hands and shrugged. Li Bin slapped his head and said, "I almost forgot. I put the frozen pears and lamb at the door. Mrs. Wang from the noodle shop gave them to me. She said she wanted to thank you specially." There was a bag of processed lamb and a small bag of frozen pears. They were placed outside because they were afraid that they would melt inside the house.
"How is Madam Wang? Is the gambling house causing trouble again?" He Yingchun passed by the noodle shop and saw that it was open, but she didn't see Madam Wang very often.
"They said they didn't cause any trouble, but they still have to pay back the money to the gambling house. They have been doing business these days, and they took the money away every day when they settled the bills." Li Bin went there twice more, and Madam Wang even thanked him specifically.
Li Bin brought in the sheep and frozen pears and cleaned them up neatly. He Yingchun secretly thought that Madam Wang was thoughtful.
"I'll go to the noodle shop to thank Madam Wang some other day." He Yingchun took out the frozen pear and put it in the water.
Mom opened the pot and the smell of pickled cabbage spread. Zhang Chao couldn't help but come over to take a look. "It smells so good! I love this pickled cabbage!"
"You'll eat as much as you want in a while." He Yingchun asked him to stay away from the pot, her eyes almost falling into it.
Next, stir-fry the mutton offal. Marinate the processed mutton offal with rice wine, soy sauce, salt, and pepper powder to remove the odor. Add oil to the pan, put in onion, ginger, garlic, and dried chilies and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the mutton offal and stir-fry quickly over high heat. The oil in the pan will splash. Soon, the mutton offal will change color and it’s time to remove from the pan!
Sweet and sour pork tenderloin needs to be fried, so she asked her mother to fry it and made the sauce herself. She didn't get to eat it last time because she saved Li Bin, and when she came back to eat it, it didn't taste the same even if it was heated up. This time, she had to eat it hot.
Stir-fry quickly for a few times and the meat will be coated with sauce, with an attractive color and a sweet and sour smell.
He Yingchun opened the lid of the other side of the pot, and the steamed pork with rice flour was ready, sprinkled with chopped green onions.
As expected, Zhang Chao was not there, so the four dishes were a little less, so she added a tofu soup on the spur of the moment. The white and tender tofu was light and delicious, just enough to relieve the greasiness.
She didn't rush to serve it on the table, but redeemed some points first. She had been busy making money these days and hadn't cooked properly. Once the sweet and sour pork tenderloin was redeemed, it could not be used again.
"Ding! One serving of steamed pork with rice flour, points +10, one serving of stir-fried mutton offal, points +10, one serving of tofu soup, points +5, current points are 78." Tsk, what a mistake, I should have another meat dish. He Yingchun looked at the full plate of dishes and had no place to put them.
All right, "Get to the table!"
When she came in, the atmosphere in the room was a little strange. The three of them didn't know what they had just talked about, but their expressions were actually a little solemn. Zhang Chao was the first to call out, "Okay! I'll go serve the dishes!"
Several people brought dishes into the house one after another.
"Sauerkraut stewed meat, steamed pork with rice flour, stir-fried mutton offal, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, tofu soup, and frozen pears with rock sugar, try them!" The frozen pears were made by Li Bin. He processed them a second time, boiled some sugar water and poured it on the frozen pears, saying that it was Madam Wang's advice, and this was one way to eat it.
"Exactly six! Six is auspicious!"
"Fill up the wine!" He Yingchun drank the fruit wine with a low alcohol content and the rest were lamb wine. Her mother said that she could drink a lot and the fruit wine was not strong enough, which made He Yingchun eager to try it. She also drank a sip of the lamb wine, which was quite spicy.
"Cheers! Happy Lantern Festival!" He Yingchun raised his glass,
"Cheers!" Zhang Chao clinked his glasses and drank it in one gulp.
"Happy Lantern Festival!" Mom also said in one gulp,
"Have fun together! Have fun together!" Li Bin said with a smile.
"Happy Lantern Festival." Wen Jingzhao clinked glasses and took a sip.
"Hey, hey, why just drink one sip? Drink it up! Drink it up!" Zhang Chao refused to give in.
"Let's eat! What are you waiting for?" After finishing a drink, everyone started eating.
Zhang Chao has a special liking for the stewed meat with sauerkraut and vermicelli, Li Bin praises the steamed pork with rice flour, Wen Jingzhao eats the sweet and sour pork ribs, and my mother hasn't drunk alcohol for a long time. She drinks one mouthful after another with stir-fried mutton offal, enjoying it happily.
He Yingchun smiled cheerfully, and a hand held her from below. The big hand with distinct joints was a little warm from drinking.
She raised her glass slightly, Wen Jingzhao raised his glass, and He Yingchun followed suit. "Bang!" Their glasses clinked lightly.
She heard Wen Jingzhao say "Thank you."
His cheeks were a little red from drinking, and apart from being a little thinner than before, he seemed no different, still as handsome and noble as ever.
"What are you thanking me for?" He Yingchun tilted his head back and drank the wine, all in the wine.
Wen Jingzhao smiled and rubbed her head, but there were too many things. In the vast snow, someone held his hand, and someone hugged him tightly. In the storm, snow, and cold winter, on the road full of thorns, as long as he knew that there would be a lantern waiting for him here, he would be invincible.
After dinner, Mom was a little drunk and didn't want to go out, so the four of them went to the lantern festival. He Yingchun was also a little drunk, but still wanted to go out and join in the fun. She looked at the crowd around her and thought that everyone in Zhuyi had come out!
There were many strangely shaped lanterns. He Yingchun saw someone selling Tang Dynasty paintings and walked over, with Wen Jingzhao following behind her.
Li Bin raised his foot to catch up, "Hey, let's go over there and see if there are any lanterns for sale." Zhang Chao pulled him away.
"How about a sugar painting?"
"Can you draw people?" He Yingchun asked the man selling sugar paintings.
"Okay, I can draw whatever you say." The man was very confident in his skills.
He Yingchun pointed behind him and said, "Is he okay?"
The sugar painting seller looked at Wen Jingzhao carefully and said, "You are a handsome man. Please come and visit me!"
His wrist moved very smoothly, and soon a sugar painting version of Wen Jingzhao was completed.
"Like! Really like!"
They bought lanterns and strolled around. He Yingchun was stepped on twice. "Let's go over there."
The two of them walked slowly to the river and slowly stepped onto the bridge. The water on the river surface was frozen into ice, and there were signs put up to prevent people from falling in. At this time, people were walking on the street and not many people were walking this way.
"Wen Jingzhao, look at me!" He Yingchun bit into the candy painting, and it was crunchy. "I'll eat you in one bite, hahahaha!"
Wen Jingzhao stretched out his hand and was about to say something.
"Look! The moon!"
He Yingchun pointed to the sky and said, "The moon is so round!"
"Don't they say the moon is fullest on the 16th?" Her face was flushed, and you could tell she was hot without touching it.
"Are you drunk?" Wen Jingzhao touched her face, looked down at her and asked.
"No, stop talking...Ah! Meteor! There is a meteor!" A streak of light streaked across the sky, He Yingchun grabbed Wen Jingzhao and shouted.
"Hurry, hurry! Make a wish!" He Yingchun clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and was very pious.
When she opened her eyes again, Wen Jingzhao looked down at her and asked, "What wish did you make?"
He Yingchun didn't reply to him. Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed his scarf. She couldn't see because she was on tiptoe. She pulled him. Wen Jingzhao bent down to follow her force. She saw that it was a blue scarf.
"I gave it to you!" she cried out, she was really drunk.
Wen Jingzhao looked her straight in the eye and said, "Yes, it's from you."
He reached out and rubbed the sugar painting on the corner of He Yingchun's mouth. "What wish did you make?"
Perhaps it was because his gaze was too gentle, He Yingchun was a little stunned, and murmured, "...I hope this day will come every year, every year will be like this day..."
Because tonight is so beautiful, I want it to be like this all the time.
He leaned over and felt a warm touch on his lips, a light kiss.
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