Xing Zhaozhao came out of the house and glanced at Ling Ze next door, who was taking a shower by himself: "Can you manage by yourself? Do you need any help?"
"No need, I can manage by myself." The little guy sat in the bathtub, his face flushed red from the steam, his expression tense as he carefully scrubbed himself. His movements were practiced and skillful, clearly indicating that this wasn't his first time.
"Call me if you need anything," Xing Zhaozhao instructed.
"Mm." Ling Ze nodded.
Once she was sure the little one could bathe alone without any problems, Xing Zhaozhao turned and went to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Fu Lan was looking at the meat and vegetables that Xing Zhaozhao had brought back. When she saw Xing Zhaozhao come over, she asked, "This meat is really good. What are you planning to make today, Sister Xing?"
As Xing Zhaozhao rolled up her sleeves, she said, "Braised pork, please."
"Okay, I'll chop the meat first," Fu Lan said, reaching for the cleaver.
"Oh right, I almost forgot." Xing Zhaozhao remembered something, took out a letter from her pocket, and handed it to Fu Lan. "Here, this is for you."
Fu Lan glanced at it and asked curiously, "What is this?"
“The letter from your sister,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
Fu Lan frowned, puzzled, and asked, "When did my sister come? How come I didn't know? And what can't she say to my face? Why does she have to write a letter?"
“It’s that sister from your side,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
"Over there?" Fu Lan was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening. She looked at Xing Zhaozhao with disbelief, not even noticing that her hand holding the knife had loosened. The knife clattered onto the cutting board, almost chopping her hand in the process.
Xing Zhaozhao was so frightened that a layer of cold sweat broke out on her back. She grabbed Fu Lan's hand worriedly and asked, "Is your hand alright?"
Fu Lan belatedly realized what had happened, a thin layer of sweat appearing on her forehead from the fright. She shook her head and said, "No, it's nothing, I didn't bump into anything."
"Let me do it." Xing Zhaozhao shoved the letter into her arms, then took the cleaver and started chopping the meat herself.
Fu Lan wiped her hands, stood aside, carefully opened the letter, and began to read it carefully.
As she watched, her eyes quickly reddened, and tears streamed down her face.
Hearing something amiss beside her, Xing Zhaozhao turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you crying?"
Fu Lan, her voice choked with sobs, asked, "Was I from that world gone a long time ago, Sister Xing?"
Xing Zhaozhao hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "In that world, you didn't meet Qingshan and never had a boyfriend. It was probably around next year that Lin Wan would bring up the matter of introducing someone to your grandmother, since she probably couldn't wait any longer..."
Fu Lan already knew what happened next without Xing Zhaozhao telling her: "Then, just like in this world, I would be abducted into the mountains by her. However, in that world, without you, Sister Xing, coming to find me, I would be trapped in the mountains for the rest of my life until I died?"
Xing Zhaozhao shook her head: "In that world, you also escaped, but..."
Fu Lan quickly realized: "I died at the bottom of that cliff?" Because no one knew where she was, no one would look for her, and even if she escaped, she couldn't get out of that mountain alive.
Xing Zhaozhao remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Fu Lan rushed over and hugged her tightly.
Xing Zhaozhao was startled; she still had a knife in her hand: "Be careful."
"Thank you, Sister Xing," Fu Lan said, her voice choked with emotion. She couldn't say anything more; nothing she said could truly express her gratitude—Sister Xing had saved her life.
Xing Zhaozhao patted her head: "Alright, if you keep being so polite, I'll take it as you treating me like an outsider and trying to distance yourself from me."
Fu Lan burst into laughter through her tears, wiped her eyes, looked at Xing Zhaozhao with a playful expression, and said, "It's impossible to distance myself from you. My little savings haven't amounted to much money yet, so I still have to stick close to you, Sister Xing, for now."
Xing Zhaozhao chuckled. When Fu Lan mentioned the secret stash, she brought up the matter of Xiao Xu, the peddler, saying they wanted to collaborate: "...You didn't see what he looked like back then; his clothes were almost torn to shreds."
Fu Lan's eyes sparkled with excitement: "It's selling so well?"
Xing Zhaozhao nodded: "We have too many pre-orders and can't handle them all, so he wants us to provide the designs so he can find a factory to produce them together. What do you think?"
Without hesitation, Fu Lan replied, "I'll do whatever Sister Xing says."
Xing Zhaozhao laughed and said, "Aren't you afraid I'll trick you?"
Fu Lan shook her head, her expression unusually firm: "I believe Sister Xing would never betray me."
Xing Zhaozhao: "..." Seeing how naive she is, I can't bring myself to trick her.
“Okay, then organize all the drawings we made before and see if there are any parts that need to be changed or improved. I’ll go talk to them about the cooperation in a couple of days,” Xing Zhaozhao decided.
“Okay.” Fu Lan nodded in agreement.
While they were talking, Xing Zhaozhao had already chopped the meat, washed it once, and then put it into a pot of boiling water to blanch it. After that, she took it out and drained it. Then she heated up a pot again, added oil, cinnamon, bay leaves and star anise, and stir-fried them until fragrant. Then she added the drained meat and stir-fried it until both sides were slightly yellow. Then she poured in cooking wine, soy sauce and rock sugar, stir-fried it evenly, and then poured in enough boiling water to cover the meat pieces and started to simmer it.
Although it's not finished yet, the delicious aroma is already spreading throughout the house, making people's mouths water.
Fu Lan sat behind the stove, tending the fire, already swallowing her saliva: "It smells so good! I haven't smelled such fragrant braised pork in a long time." In the past, she had only smelled this aroma at the entrance of state-run restaurants. Only the chefs at state-run restaurants had the skill and were willing to use the ingredients to make such fragrant braised pork. It was just too expensive for her.
"Gurgle," someone's stomach growled.
Xing Zhaozhao smiled and looked at Fu Lan: "Are you hungry?"
Fu Lan poked her head out from behind the stove and shook her head: "It wasn't me."
Xing Zhaozhao was taken aback: "Who is that?"
Fu Lan's gaze fell behind Xing Zhaozhao, and she exclaimed "Ah!"
Xing Zhaozhao turned her head and saw that Ling Ze had already finished showering and come out, holding his dirty clothes in his arms, standing behind her, swallowing hard.
Xing Zhaozhao chuckled, walked over, took the dirty clothes from his hand, and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Ling Ze shook his head in an attempt to deny it, but his stomach disagreed, growling and exposing his lie.
"Dafei and Xiaoyu have some cake over there. Go and eat some to tide you over. We'll have to wait a while for dinner," Xing Zhaozhao said as she led Ling Ze into the inner room.
Inside the room, Hongfei and Hongyu sat side by side on the kang (a heated brick bed), their eyes fixed on the remaining piece of cream cake on the table. On top of the cake was a large, bright red strawberry that looked incredibly tempting.
"The three of you should get along well and not fight, understand?" Xing Zhaozhao kept Ling Ze behind and gave him this special instruction.
"Okay," the three little ones replied in unison.
As soon as Xing Zhaozhao left, Hongyu jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), her eyes sparkling, and ran to Ling Ze, calling out enthusiastically, "Brother Aze..."
Ling Ze: "..." I have a feeling this little guy is up to something.
Hongyu glanced at the strawberries on the cake, swallowed hard, and grinned at Ling Ze...
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