Xu Lai wiped the water off her hands, took the envelope, opened it, and jokingly said, "So generous! Looks like you've made a lot of money this year."
Xu Shen pressed his wrist down slightly. "Keep it low-key, or the villagers will start trying to set me up with other people again."
He glanced at the fire and thought the person looked familiar. Before he could remember, Song Han greeted him, "Hello, Brother Xu Shen, I'm Song Han."
Xu Shen suddenly realized that this was his cousin's daughter, Song Han. He could only see her once a year during the Chinese New Year. In the blink of an eye, he almost didn't recognize her.
Xu Lai was preparing to make a dry pot of braised pork intestines, so she invited him to stay for lunch: "Want to eat here together? We have dry pot of braised pork intestines for lunch."
Xu Shen shook his head: "I'm not coming. I don't like this stuff."
Seeing his disgusted look, Xu Lai didn't insist. After all, pig intestines are something that people either love or hate.
Let the braised pork intestines cool, then cut them into pieces and set aside. Pour oil into a pot, add the pork intestines, and stir-fry until the fat is rendered. Remove from the pot.
Then add two spoonfuls of fermented bean paste, minced ginger and garlic, pour in the pork intestines, add some boiling water and a spoonful of rice wine to simmer, add chili peppers, season simply, and then you can serve it in a pot lined with onions.
Since there was no alcohol lamp at home, she took out an induction cooker, turned it on to the lowest setting, and ate while cooking.
Grandpa drank another half glass of wine, praising her cooking as delicious and saying that the intestines were cleaned very well.
Xu Lai picked up a piece with her chopsticks and tasted it. It was very chewy and not greasy at all.
Song Han held her bowl but didn't touch that dish. Xu Lai had also made other dishes, so she kept picking at the green vegetables and braised fish.
Seeing that Xu Lai was eating with great relish, Song Han also wanted to try it. Her mother's cooking wasn't very good. Once, she bought a set of pig intestines, and the whole kitchen smelled terrible because the grease inside hadn't been removed. She took a bite and almost threw up.
She picked up a smaller-looking piece, which was chewy. Xu Lai had specially fried it in oil, so the surface was slightly crispy. Song Han's eyes lit up, and she went to get another bowl of rice.
In the afternoon, Xu Lai took her to the vegetable garden. The vines of the cantaloupes they had planted earlier had dried up. They had to pull up all the vines from this plot of land, turn over the soil, and then plant radishes and Chinese cabbages.
Song Handong looked around, then pointed to a shelf of beans and asked, "Sister, what is this? It looks like a string bean but not quite."
Xu Lai followed her hand and looked over, saying, "These are broad beans, which are quite crunchy and suitable for pickling as a side dish."
Song Han touched it and found it to be extremely hard, so she couldn't help but ask, "Is this really edible? It feels like I'm going to break my teeth if I bite into it."
Xu Lai smiled and said, "Take a look around, there might still be some tender ones on top. Pick them and I'll make them for you when we get back."
After turning over the soil, she dug up two sweet potatoes, then glanced to the side and realized that she hadn't completely pulled out the peanuts earlier, as some peanut roots were still in the soil.
Xu Lai squatted down and pulled them off, and surprisingly, she also got a handful of peanuts. She gave half of them to Song Han, and the two of them peeled the shells as they walked.
Song Han had never eaten raw peanuts before. She took a bite and thought it tasted pretty good. "It's delicious, very crunchy, and sweet."
Seeing that she liked it, Xu Lai gave her everything she had.
When we got home, Grandma looked at the green beans in the basket and asked, "Where did you pick them? They look so tender."
Xu Lai exclaimed, "Grandma, don't you even know what's growing in our own fields?"
Grandma asked in confusion, "I remember your grandpa saying before that the sword beans were all too old."
Song Han chimed in, "Grandma, I was looking around and found these young ones."
Xu Lai washed her hands, poured out the green beans to clean them, then cut them into diagonal pieces, placed them on a winnowing basket to dry, and prepared to mix them with chili peppers after finishing her meal.
She was washing rice when someone knocked on the door. Xu Lai looked up and saw Aunt Hongmei carrying two jugs.
She walked into the yard and said to Xu Lai, "These are fermented black beans that I made myself. Here, have some for you to try."
Xu Lai quickly said, "No need, no need, please take it back and eat it yourself."
She knew that Aunt Hongmei was a good cook and often made dishes to sell on the street, so she guessed that these two bottles were from the batch that were intended to be sold.
Aunt Hongmei insisted that she accept it, saying, "It's just a small token of my appreciation. I'll head back now."
Xu Lai pretended to give her money: "Consider it my payment."
Aunt Hongmei quickly waved her hand, put down her things, and left. Song Han came out holding an apple, munching on it as she asked, "Sister, what's this?"
Xu Lai handed it to her. Song Han opened it and saw that it contained soybeans, which were already pickled and coated with a layer of chili peppers. They looked very appetizing.
During the meal, Xu Lai opened a bottle of tea oil. As soon as she opened it, she smelled a strong aroma of tea oil. She picked some out with her chopsticks, put it in her bowl, and then placed it on the table.
Grandpa asked, "Did you buy this today?"
Xu Lai shook her head: "Aunt Hongmei gave it to me. I told her I would give her the money, but she left very quickly."
After finishing her meal, Xu Lai poured the dried green beans into a bowl, added chopped chili sauce, mixed well, then put them into a jar, sealed it, and left it overnight before eating.
That evening, she tried the fermented black beans that Aunt Hongmei had given her. They were fragrant and spicy, and went very well with rice. She planned to make them herself sometime when she had time.
After returning to her room and taking a shower that evening, she was still drying her hair when she heard a sound coming from the balcony. Without even thinking, she knew it was Zhao Qingyun.
He opened the balcony door and came in. Xu Lai ignored him and grabbed a hairdryer to dry her hair.
Zhao Qingyun walked behind her and took the hair dryer. "Let me help you."
Xu Lai was naturally happy to have her hands free, so she sat obediently and let him do as he pleased.
Her hair was long, and it would take at least ten minutes to dry. The hairdryer felt so comfortable, and the hairdryer was so gentle that Xu Lai couldn't help but want to go to sleep.
Zhao Qingyun noticed that her head was drooping and lifting up, like she was fishing, and guessed that she was sleepy.
Her hair was still a little damp. He stopped, turned off the hairdryer, put it aside, turned her back, and kissed her lips.
Xu Lai didn't respond at all. He kissed her for a long time, but she still slept soundly. Zhao Qingyun angrily bit her lightly, "I ran over here just to blow-dry your hair, you heartless thing."
He put the person on the bed, put away the hairdryer, adjusted the air conditioner temperature, turned off the light, and then went back to the next room.
Xu Lai woke up at 6:30. When she went downstairs to open the front door, Zhao Qingyun was just going to work. There weren't many people on the road at this time of morning. He pulled her to the car, kissed her for a while, and finally licked his lips with lingering desire, "It's what I owed you last night."
Xu Lai scolded him, "Are you a dog? You keep licking me all the time."
Zhao Qingyun relented: "Considering I've been single for so many years, please let me have my girlfriend."
Xu Lai nudged him: "Stop joking, hurry up and get to work. Don't blame me if you're late."
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