It took Xu Lai almost twenty minutes to open all the river clams. She threw the shells into a bag, planning to throw them into the garbage truck when it arrived.
The fire was already lit in the stove, and the pot was filled with cold water. Xu Lai poured in the clam meat, added scallions, ginger, garlic, and cooking wine, and blanched it to remove the fishy smell.
After finishing her work, Xu Lai was about to take out some flour to make bread when she heard a loud crash. Startled, she ran out of the kitchen to check and saw that a corner of the neighbor's kitchen had collapsed, and the falling stones had smashed half of the wall between the two houses.
Before she could react, she heard her grandmother say, "Grandma Jiang next door is probably still at home, Lai Lai, come with me to see her quickly."
Xu Lai casually rinsed her hands with water, wiped them clean on her apron, and walked to the next room.
The wall had already collapsed. To save time, Xu Lai stepped directly over the broken wall. When her grandmother saw this, she was so frightened that she shouted, "Xiao Lai! What if it collapses again? Don't go there!"
Xu Lai was already standing in the neighboring yard. Hearing this, she scratched her head and said playfully, "Grandma, I forgot. Look, I'm fine, aren't I? Don't worry."
After she finished speaking, she hurried inside to find Grandma Jiang. The old lady was taking a nap and was still a little dazed when she heard the noise. Xu Lai breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she was alright and said, "Grandma Jiang, your kitchen collapsed. I'm afraid it might affect the houses here. Please come to my house and sit for a while, just in case."
Grandma Jiang put on her shoes, and Xu Lai helped her out. When Grandma Jiang saw the state of the kitchen, she gasped. Luckily, it hadn't collapsed while she was cooking lunch.
After her grandmother saw her climb over the wall, she stood at the door waiting. When she saw her granddaughter helping her old friend over, she quickly went over and said, "Old friend, you almost scared me! Luckily you weren't in the kitchen."
Grandma Jiang said with lingering fear, "Yes, we escaped a disaster, but how did the kitchen collapse?"
Xu Lai looked at the situation and guessed, "It must have rained for too long, and the old house has been uninhabited for too long, so the wood and everything else has rotted."
Grandma Jiang nodded and said, "That's possible. I only came back after the New Year and didn't stay for more than a few months. At that time, Qingyun said he wanted to renovate, but I didn't let him do anything too big. Who knew the kitchen would collapse? Luckily, it was the kitchen that collapsed."
After Grandma Jiang mentioned it, Xu Lai realized that she hadn't told Zhao Qingyun about the house collapsing. She found his WeChat and their conversation ended at the WeChat verification message. She typed: "Your kitchen collapsed, but Grandma Jiang is fine and is at my house now."
Zhao Qingyun was in a meeting. After the meeting ended and he saw the message, he threw the project proposal into his assistant's hands and said, "Postpone the conference call later. I have something to do at home, so I'm leaving now."
The assistant looked bewildered, and by the time he came to his senses, the boss had already disappeared.
Zhao Qingyun drove very fast, and since it wasn't rush hour, he arrived home ten minutes earlier than usual. He slammed on the brakes and stopped in front of the Xu family's house. Without even taking the car keys out of the ignition, he got out of the car, knocked on the door, and went inside.
Xu Lai was picking vegetables in the yard. When she saw him come in, she stood up and pointed to the living room: "Grandma Jiang is chatting with my grandma. You can go in."
Zhao Qingyun nodded her thanks, strode into the house, walked to Grandma Jiang's side, and said, "Grandma, are you alright?"
Grandma Jiang was chatting enthusiastically, mentioning which family had a new granddaughter, when she was interrupted. She said somewhat unhappily, "What could possibly happen to me? The kitchen collapsed, not the bedroom."
Zhao Qingyun touched his nose, retreated after being scolded, and greeted Grandma Xu before leaving.
Through Xu Lai's yard, he could see the state of his own kitchen, which was in terrible condition. It had been raining a lot lately, making it difficult to get a repairman to fix it.
It was past 5 p.m., and Xu Lai was preparing dinner. Zhao Qingyun planned to take the old lady to stay in the county for two days, and then return after the house was repaired.
Xu Lai checked the time and said, "Why don't you have dinner here first and then go over? By the time you drive there, it will be past seven o'clock, and Grandma Jiang can't take the hassle."
Zhao Qingyun's expression was complicated, but she finally said, "Thank you for your trouble."
Xu Lai was washing rice and cooking when she heard this and said, "Don't be so formal."
She sliced the clam meat into strips, took out some pickled chili peppers and pickled radishes, and stir-fried a dish to go with drinks, which was Grandpa's favorite snack.
The pork rib soup had been simmering since early morning. Xu Lai opened the lid, stirred it evenly with a spoon, and served it directly to the table in the casserole.
Since there were two more people eating, Xu Lai cooked two more dishes: stir-fried dried tofu with pork and Mapo tofu.
Zhao Qingyun served rice to everyone, placing it on the table before returning to the kitchen to serve the dishes.
Xu Lai washed her hands, took an empty bowl to drink the soup, and her grandfather had already taken out a bottle of wine and poured a full glass. This wine was brewed by her grandmother herself. Every year, most of the grain from the family's farming was used to brew wine.
Xu Lai hadn't had a drink in a long time, so she took a glass, held up half a finger, and said, "Grandpa, just give me this much."
Grandpa wanted to pour Zhao Qingyun some more wine, but Xu Lai stopped him: "Grandpa, he has to take Grandma Jiang to the county tonight and he has to drive, so he can't drink."
As Grandma Jiang ate her meal, she became more and more pleased with Xu Lai, wishing she were her granddaughter-in-law. When Xu Lai asked for a drink, she laughed and teased, "Little Lai, you have a pretty good capacity for alcohol."
Xu Lai took a sip and replied, "When I was working, I often had to attend social events, so my alcohol tolerance gradually improved."
Zhao Qingyun's gaze shifted from initial surprise to admiration, and finally, upon hearing her words, it turned into pity.
Seeing that he hadn't touched his chopsticks much, Xu Lai asked, "Why aren't you eating? Is it not to your liking? I don't know what you like to eat. Tell me in advance next time."
Zhao Qingyun opened his mouth to speak, but she had already said everything. He could only eat more to show that he had no objection to her cooking.
After the meal, Xu Lai cleared the dishes, Grandma Jiang went home to pack her clothes for her trip to the county, and Zhao Qingyun leaned against the car door and lit a cigarette.
Just as Xu Lai was about to wash the dishes, her grandmother shooed her out of the kitchen: "I'll do it, you go and talk to Xiao Zhao, he must have been shocked today."
Xu Lai felt helpless. Zhao Qingyun shouldn't be such a fragile person, but she still moved over and leaned against the wall, keeping a meter's distance between them.
Zhao Qingyun asked her about drinking: "Did you often want to drink when you were working?"
Xu Lai laughed and said, "It's not often. It's just colleagues having a couple of drinks. Besides, my ex-boyfriend isn't just there for show; he usually stops me."
Zhao Qingyun caught the key phrase and asked, "Why your ex-boyfriend?"
Xu Lai gave her a knowing look and replied, "Ex-boyfriend, do I need to explain what that word means?"
"What I mean is, why did you break up?" Zhao Qingyun asked, staring at her.
Xu Lai thought for a moment and said, "It's a long story, but he's really not suitable for me. Besides, his parents always feel that I'm marrying above my station, so why force it?"
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