When I got home, the house was empty, and my stomach was empty too; there was nothing in the house.
He missed Su Li a little; if she were here, she definitely wouldn't let him go hungry.
I remember once when I was a child, Su Guoqiang went out drinking with his colleagues and forgot to buy food; there were no vegetables at home either.
He was five years old then, crying on the ground from hunger, and Su Li had no choice but to run to the village ten miles away.
I dug up water spinach from the ridges of the field and filled a small basket.
It looked like a lot at the time, but the vegetable was very bitter. You had to blanch it first, drain the water, and then stir-fry it. After all that, there wasn't much left.
They only managed to cook one plateful, which wasn't enough for him and Su Jiaojiao.
Su Li didn't eat a single bite. Although she was very hungry, all she could think about was herself.
Su Mu suddenly wondered if she had really made mistakes all these years.
From childhood to adulthood, she has always kept everything he does neat and tidy.
He had never felt so disheveled before, and his classmates were laughing at him behind his back.
Now that there's no bed left at home, Su Mu has been lying on the wooden planks on the floor all day. He's so hungry he's dizzy and wishes he could eat the planks himself.
When Su Guoqiang returned, he was so hungry that his eyes were glazed over. After walking around, he saw Su Mu lying on the ground with her eyes closed.
He was startled, remembering that Su Mu had been home alone all day and hadn't eaten a single meal.
Now that he's lying motionless on the ground, I hope he's not starving!
"Xiao Mu? Wake up, are you alright?"
Su Mu said weakly, "Oh no, Dad, I'm starving! Can you go get me something to eat?"
Su Guoqiang also felt sorry for his son, so he took the shredded fabric from his house to Aunt Wang's house next door.
Aunt Wang looked at him with a puzzled expression when she saw him carrying a large pile of tattered cloth scraps.
"Guoqiang, what are you doing?"
Su Guoqiang struggled to speak, "I want to trade these for some food. You know, everything in our house was stolen. I want to trade these scraps of cloth for you."
They were neighbors, and she had seen what the father and son had been up to these past few days.
But she felt no sympathy for them; they had brought it on themselves. They borrowed so much money, gave it all to their adopted daughter, and then stayed home with their son, foolishly enduring hunger.
You won't find someone like Su Guoqiang anywhere in the world.
"Guoqiang, I'm not trying to be mean, but back then you secretly borrowed money from my husband, and he lent you quite a bit. Look at the kind of life you're living now, all for the sake of an adopted daughter."
“Jiaojiao needs money to support herself when she’s out and about. Xiaomu and I, two men, can manage on our own at home.”
“You can manage no matter what, but you’ve starved Xiao Mu to the point that she can’t even walk. You haven’t given your own daughter a single penny. I really don’t know what you’re thinking. When you’re old, if Su Jiaojiao doesn’t care about you, I bet you’ll have your day.”
"Jiaojiao isn't that kind of person, Sister-in-law Wang, please stop talking. Look at this cloth, it can be mended and patched to make clothes. Give me some food, I'll wait to go back and make something for Xiaomu."
In the end, Aunt Wang still gave Su Guoqiang a small half-bag of coarse grains. Although she was angry, she couldn't just watch them starve to death!
Su Li had already arrived home, but Zhou Yuting hadn't finished work yet.
Su Li opened the courtyard gate and went to cook the rice first.
She took the dishes she was going to make today out of her spatial storage beforehand, and Lu Huai came over while she was washing the vegetables.
Gou Sheng was following behind him.
"Su Zhiqing, we've come to set up a stove for you."
Seeing that Gou Sheng was still holding tools, Su Li smiled and said, "Thank you for your help."
"Su Zhiqing, where do you plan to build this kitchen?"
Su Li pointed towards her room and said with a smile, "Build it here."
"OK"
She returned to her room and gave Lu Huai the blueprints for the bathroom; "Could you take a look and see if this can be built? It's okay if it can't."
Lu Huai took it, glanced at it, and smiled, "It's fine."
Su Li didn't concern herself with what happened after that, leaving everything to Lu Huai.
She busied herself in the kitchen; the braised pork was a takeout from the state-run restaurant that morning. Su Li also stir-fried some scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and picked a handful of bok choy from her spatial storage and stir-fried it as well.
I also cooked the fish that Chen Shengnan gave her when I went up the mountain last time; I made boiled fish fillets.
Almost done. Su Li placed the dishes one by one on the stone table outside the courtyard, and then brought out two stools from the room.
"Gousheng, Lu Huai's ready to eat."
In fact, Gou Sheng had already smelled the aroma, and when Su Zhiqing called him, he was filled with anticipation.
This was the first time in his life that he had ever known food could be cooked so deliciously.
It tastes even better than the food in state-run restaurants.
Lu Huai washed his hands and said to Gou Sheng, "Clean up and let's eat."
"good"
The two quickly came over and exclaimed, "Wow... Su Zhiqing, how did you make so many dishes?"
Gou Sheng was shocked the moment he saw the dishes. He knew Su Zhiqing was generous, but he didn't expect her to be this generous.
These dishes look delicious! They're better than what they eat during the Lunar New Year in their village.
Su Li served the two of them two large bowls of rice; "Eat quickly! The food won't taste good if it gets cold."
As she spoke, Su Li added a piece of braised pork to Gou Sheng's plate. Gou Sheng looked at the braised pork, and his eyes instantly reddened. He turned his face to the side, afraid that he would shed tears.
Lu Huai saw it, patted him on the shoulder, offering silent comfort.
Over the years, he knew how hard Gousheng had worked; the boy, barely a teenager, had never had a full meal.
With no family members at home, no one to care about him, and no one to look after him, this must be the best meal he's had in years!
All three of them enjoyed the meal, and afterwards the two of them busied themselves for a while.
The two of them didn't return until it was almost dark.
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