With just one sentence, Lu Xingye's attention was drawn back.
Meng Fuyan began packing the items into her bag.
Lu Xingye inhaled deeply, taking a deep breath of the delicious aroma. "What is all this? It smells so good!"
Meng Fuyan smiled and said, "It's all meat! This is cooked salted meat. We can just cut a little bit and heat it up when it's ready to eat. This lunchbox contains braised spiced beef. It's not completely cold yet, but the aroma is already wafting out."
"This package contains pig's head meat, and these are pig's ears. I've already braised them. You can just slice some and make a cold salad."
Lu Xingye craned his neck to take a look. Besides these, there was a bag of spicy beef jerky, pork jerky, a bag of sunflower seeds, a bag of boiled peanuts, and a bag of roasted peanuts.
"There are peanuts too?" Lu Xingye was surprised, because there was quite a lot of them.
In those days, peanuts were a rare crop. People were struggling to even have enough to eat, so where would they find the energy to grow peanuts on a large scale?
This is a cash crop, and it's rare to find such a crop.
Meng Fuyan nodded, "Yes, it was not easy to collect them. I stir-fried them and made them salty. If you have a little wine with your second brother after you go, this will be a good snack. The same goes for the pig's head meat. Oh, and this is still warm. Be careful when you handle it."
She took out two bulging aluminum lunch boxes. "The contents haven't completely solidified yet, so be careful not to spill them."
Lu Xingye asked curiously, "What is this?"
Upon opening it, I found a light red broth with a slightly yellowish tinge, and a very penetrating flavor.
"I added various seasonings to the hot pot base, and it's made by simmering oil. After it cools and solidifies, it will form a solid block, just like solidified lard. When you want to make hot pot, you just scoop out a piece, put it in the pot, add water, and bring it to a boil!"
"You'd better not let anyone see this. It's full of oil, very luxurious. Others might get envious if they see it."
Lu Xingye: "..."
He stared wide-eyed at the two large jars in his hands. "Are they all filled with oil?"
Meng Fuyan nodded, "Mm!"
Lu Xingye swallowed hard. No wonder she wanted him to hide it. These two large jars of oil were enough for many families to eat for a year. What was this girl going to use them to make hot pot broth?
He quickly closed the box, wrapped it in a cloth, and carefully placed it away, making sure it didn't spill.
Meng Fuyan stuffed two more canned food jars into her bag, one containing only chili sauce and the other containing beef sauce, along with two strings of cured meat and a dozen or so sausages.
Seeing this, Lu Xingye quickly stopped him, "No, no, no, keep these for yourself. Yunji is still growing, give him more meat so he can grow taller."
Meng Fuyan continued to stuff these things into her bag. "I still have some left! I hunted a lot of big animals during the winter in the Northeast, and I got a lot of meat. I even stocked up on some for the New Year. That's enough for us."
Finally, she took out a bamboo basket, the kind that was small and deep like a bucket. "Inside are salted eggs and salted duck eggs. This one is raw, so be careful not to break it."
There were about thirty duck eggs and chicken eggs inside, all covered with an inconspicuous cloth so that they were not visible on the surface, lest someone covet them.
After packing up all the odds and ends, Meng Fuyan saw that there was still some room in the bag, and since Lu Xingye hadn't brought much luggage and was traveling light, she wasn't worried that he would have trouble carrying too much.
So I also bought a bag of chestnuts and a bag of pine nuts, which are from the mountains of Northeast China, and their origin is easy to explain.
Finally, I packed a bag of dried vegetables, which contained mushrooms and some other vegetables, saying, "You can take this with you when you have hot pot."
Lu Xingye felt somewhat ashamed when he saw how much she had prepared.
He made the decision to see his second brother on short notice, but he had a few hours to prepare. His older brother hadn't brought anything with him, and his parents were still having a cold war at home, so they hadn't prepared anything.
It turns out Yanyan prepared so much.
"That's enough, that's enough. If you keep going like this, I'll be too embarrassed to take it."
Meng Fuyan laughed, "What's there to be afraid of? How much have I eaten from you since I was a child? Am I embarrassed?"
Lu Xingye smiled too, recalling some things from his childhood, and feeling a warm feeling when he thought about them.
After his own home was in such a mess, he was exhausted these past few days, but now Yanyan gave him a feeling of warmth.
Finally, she rummaged through the package Gu Tingzhi had brought, which contained fresh oranges and tangerines. She stuffed a few into Lu Xingye's bag, saying, "Take these and try them; they're very juicy."
She even prepared dinner for Lu Xingye; these careless men really didn't prepare anything.
"Alright, dinner and hot water are all prepared. It's almost time, let's hurry up and go, or we'll miss the bus."
Lu Xingye was carrying a bag, but Meng Fuyan had filled a large backpack with all the delicious food. He couldn't bear to carry it on his back, so he put the bag in front of him and hung it on his chest. He carried his bag in one hand and a bamboo basket containing salted duck eggs in the other.
"Then I'm leaving!"
He glanced at the large bag in front of him and hesitated, "Are you sure you don't need any food?"
Meng Fuyan laughed, "I really don't need any. But, brother, you should be back soon, right? You and second brother are both well treated. You can save some tickets for me if you have any left. You know, although I don't lack money, I'm unemployed now! If I can't get tickets, I can't buy anything."
Lu Xingye finally felt he had a chance to prove himself. It was all because the Meng family was so well-off that sometimes he couldn't even remember what Yanyan might lack. This girl had always been richer than him.
Without saying a word, he put down his luggage and pulled out a stack of tickets from his pocket. "Here, all of them are for you. When I get to your second brother's place, I'll get his tickets for you too."
Meng Fuyan didn't stand on ceremony and took it, asking, "Did you keep some for yourself?"
"I still have some, enough for a meal, don't worry."
Meng Fuyan nodded and accepted it.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony!"
Seeing that she had accepted the tickets, Lu Xingye happily picked up his luggage and left.
I arrived at the train station and boarded the train shortly after.
The train was crowded. He had made the decision on the spur of the moment, so he hadn't specifically arranged a sleeper berth. Anyway, he would arrive tomorrow morning. The carriage was packed with people. Lu Xingye was holding his bag tightly in his arms.
When they arrived early the next morning, Lu Xingci was already waiting for them at the train station.
Seeing his younger brother, Lu Xingye was a little excited and kept waving at Lu Xingci while holding delicious food.
"Second brother, second brother, I'm here!"
Seeing his older brother carrying so much luggage, yet seemingly in good spirits and even smiling, Lu Xingci raised an eyebrow. The house was such a mess, wasn't his older brother exhausted?
You still have time to prepare so many things for him?
Did Mom and Dad prepare this? With Mom's personality, even after all this commotion, she still has the mind to prepare things for him?
How can you still laugh, brother?
Upon arriving in front of Lu Xingci, Lu Xingye patted the bag in his arms and said, "Come on, let's go home quickly. Yanyan prepared all the delicious food for us."
Lu Xingci: "..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
