During her rest day, Pei Yuezhi didn't go back to her room. Instead, she moved a deck chair under the shed in the yard and went to sleep.
This courtyard is quite large, and there's a shed inside where we usually eat.
It's too hot right now, but there's a slight breeze outside, so I might as well take a nap here.
It wasn't until almost evening that Pei Yuezhi reluctantly got up.
I reckon it's going to rain heavily. It's been so muggy these past few days, it's really making me feel listless.
After washing her face, Pei Yuezhi went to the shop first. Liu Yuanyuan waited at home for the two boys to come back from school before coming over. She could use this time to figure out what to make for tomorrow and buy some groceries.
The special offers store has added lamb to their menu. I haven't had lamb in a long time, so I'll make stir-fried lamb with scallions tomorrow.
For the other meat dish, I'll just make the potato and chicken stew I made before.
As for vegetarian dishes, I'll suggest three-delicacy vegetables and stir-fried dried tofu with green peppers.
Three Delicacies Stir-fry is also a local dish, made by stir-frying cabbage, tomatoes, and bell peppers together. Although it is a vegetarian dish, it tastes quite good.
The stir-fried green peppers and dried tofu are also delicious. Both dishes are simple to make but taste amazing.
Take out all the groceries we bought at the mall. We'll wash the vegetables when the kids come over. Yuanyuan can chop the chicken strips, and I'll cut the lamb myself first.
Pei Yuezhi bought lamb leg meat, and sliced it thinly against the grain, so that it wouldn't be tough or dry.
Just as she was cutting the meat, Liu Yuanyuan came over with her three children.
After asking what dishes to make, Liu Yuanyuan began to carefully chop the chicken, making a racket in the kitchen. Pei Yuezhi then sent the three children to the front hall.
If guests happen to arrive, they can come and let us know.
However, there are no customers today. Maybe it's because the weather is too stuffy, or maybe people have noodles for lunch and no one wants to eat fried noodles for dinner.
Since there were no customers, the two of them worked very efficiently.
After the two boys finished their homework, Pei Yuezhi asked the three of them to go to the courtyard to wash vegetables.
Once the meat was prepared, the scallions, ginger, and garlic were chopped, and the vegetables were washed, everything was ready.
Both of these dishes are easy to prepare, so I won't bother cleaning them yet.
Pei Yuezhi had specially saved some of the braised sauce from lunch, but since she, Liu Yuanyuan, and Fan Mu had already eaten braised noodles at noon, she decided to make some fried noodles for dinner, as she hadn't eaten fried noodles much before.
"I'll go stir-fry some noodles. Do you want noodles with gravy or stir-fried noodles?"
"Mother, I had braised noodles for lunch, and I want to eat fried noodles too."
Fan Chao and Li Nian'an both wanted to eat braised noodles, but Liu Yuanyuan remained silent, lost in thought.
"Yuanyuan, what kind of noodles do you want to eat?"
Liu Yuanyuan said with a conflicted expression, "I want to eat both."
Pei Yuezhi was amused by her: "Then I'll cook more, and then you can eat both."
"That's wonderful!"
There was some dough left over from lunch, so I shooed the kids to the front hall, took out some dough from the storage space, and cut the hand-pulled noodles into thinner pieces this time. I then boiled water to cook the noodles.
The noodles for the stir-fried noodles were cooked until they were about 80% done, while the noodles for the braised noodles needed to be cooked a little longer. The remaining green pepper and egg sauce was taken out and given to Yuanyuan to prepare, while Pei Yuezhi started stir-frying the noodles.
First, prepare a sauce: light soy sauce, a little sugar, vinegar, white pepper powder, sesame oil, oyster sauce, chili powder, chicken bouillon, salt, and a little water. Stir well.
Crack a few more eggs, then shred the washed cabbage and slice some meat. Adding ham would be even better!
It's a pity I have some, but it would be too abrupt to bring it out. I'll make some to eat another day.
Heat the oil, add the eggs, and scramble them into pieces, but remove them from the pan before they are fully cooked.
Use the remaining oil in the pan to stir-fry the sliced meat until it changes color and becomes fragrant. Then add scallions and garlic and stir-fry briefly.
Add the shredded cabbage and stir-fry until just cooked through, then add the sauce you just prepared.
After stir-frying evenly, add some chopped green onions.
The stir-fried noodles with that popular roadside stall flavor are now ready.
After a hearty meal, the group went home.
While sitting in the yard eating watermelon, Pei Yuezhi asked the two children a question.
"How have you been at school these past few days? Are you keeping up with your studies?"
Fan Chao swallowed the watermelon and replied, "Everything is fine. Chao'er did quite well in the pop quiz."
Li Nian'an leaned close to Pei Yuezhi and said, "Aunt Pei, my brother Chao is being modest. He's only been at school for a few days, and he already ranked third in the quiz. The teacher keeps praising him."
"Really? Chao'er is so amazing! Mother will cook something delicious for you another day."
Liu Yuanyuan sensed something was off: "Li Nian'an, you keep talking about Chao'er, how did you do on your exam?"
"Me? Well, me."
"What do you mean by 'you, me, me, me'? How did you do on the exam? What was your ranking?"
Li Nian'an closed her eyes and made a firm decision: "Tenth place."
But after I said it, there was no criticism as I had imagined.
He quietly opened his eyes and saw that Liu Yuanyuan had taken another piece of melon and was eating it.
A little confused, she asked, "Mom, my grades are so much worse than Chao's, aren't you angry?"
"Why should I be angry? First, you've only just started school; second, your ranking isn't low; and third, you didn't lie to me about your ranking. What am I supposed to be angry about?"
Li Nian'an was even more puzzled: "The classmate who ranked seventh said that his ranking was not good and his mother would definitely scold him. I thought you would be angry too."
Liu Yuanyuan pinched his cheek and said, "Grades are not the only measure of a child's worth, and besides, Nian'an, you're very good too."
"Thank you, Mother, Nian'an will remember." "But could you please not smear watermelon juice on my face?"
"I'll rub against it, I'll rub against it."
"mother......"
Looking at Fan Mu sleeping beside him, Liu Yuanyuan and her son playing around, and Pei Yuezhi who was already dozing off, Fan Chao's usually stern face unconsciously broke into a smile.
"Chao'er, Mother also thinks you're very good." Pei Yuezhi's sudden words startled Fan Chao, who was secretly watching everyone laugh.
"Mom is very good too, she's the best mother."
"Mother is the best!" Fan Mu suddenly said in his sleep.
Both of them were stunned for a moment, then smiled.
......
The next day, the two children went to school, while Pei Yuezhi and Liu Yuanyuan took Fan Mu to work at the shop.
Pei Yuezhi was cooking rice when she saw Granny Liu carrying something over.
"Mom, what did you take?" Liu Yuanyuan was cutting potatoes, so she quickly put down the knife and went over to take it.
Grandma Liu said with a smile, "Yesterday I went home to tidy up the storeroom and was looking for where I put my palm-leaf fan. I didn't expect to find an old copper pot from home, so I thought I'd bring it over so that we can have hot pot together since there are so many of us."
Upon hearing this, Liu Yuanyuan was a little excited: "That's great! I love hot pot the most."
"Hot pot? Oh, you mean this hot pot? You loved it when you were little. Now get back to work, let's eat it another day."
"Get to work, get to work!"
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