Chapter 278 The Three People Drifted Away
Dong Mei, feeling rather down, changed her clothes, washed her hands, and headed into the kitchen to get the dishes and chopsticks for dinner. As she passed the dining room, she spotted an electric hot pot simmering on the table. The soup had barely covered the ingredients, simmering gently. The delicately arranged ingredients looked even more enticing in the rising smoke. A steaming clay pot had just been opened, emitting a rich, porridge-like aroma.
When she looked up again, Zhao Xiaojing was holding a plate of green mixed spinach dotted with white sesame seeds in her left hand, and four bowls and two pairs of chopsticks in her right hand. She placed them neatly on the table and moved two chairs away. She didn't need any help at all.
"Auntie San, please sit down. You've been engrossed in watching TV, so I've made something simple for you to eat casually." Zhao Xiaojing stirred the casserole slightly, scooped a bowl of porridge for each of them, and quickly covered it with the lid.
Dong Mei shook her head, an apologetic look on her face. "It's Chinese New Year, and I didn't even cook a meal for you. I haven't let you eat well these past two days, and now you're asking me to cook for you."
"I'm just repaying my parents for their kindness. Every time I came, you always prepared a delicious meal for me. Come and try the porridge. I made it with the dried seafood I brought back. I wonder how it tastes." Zhao Xiaojing stirred the porridge in the bowl and looked at Dong Mei expectantly.
Zhao Xiaojing had previously experimented with making seafood porridge in virtual space using fresh seafood, and after several iterations, she finally found the perfect combination. Her favorite was the shrimp and scallop porridge. Not only were the ingredients readily available, but it was also fragrant and fresh, with every grain of rice cake imbued with the fresh flavor of the seafood. Zhao Xiaojing even made it for Su Yuchen the morning after, and Su Yuchen was full of praise.
However, there was no place to buy fresh seafood in Yangcheng during the Chinese New Year. It just so happened that her home was piled with dried seafood that she brought back, so she simply tried it out with the dried seafood.
"Okay." Dong Mei lowered her head, scooped a spoonful of porridge, blew on it a few times, and put it into her mouth absentmindedly. As soon as the tip of her tongue tasted it, she was stunned.
The porridge is smooth and soft, and the freshness of seafood and the unique fragrance of mushrooms are fully permeated into it. It is sticky and fragrant when you put it in your mouth. At the same time, you can taste the toughness of the scallops, the tenderness of the mushrooms, the unique freshness of the dried shrimps, the fragrance of the rice, and the slightly sweet taste of the chopped lettuce. Every bite is a concentration of essence, warming your mouth to your stomach, and you can't help but relax after drinking it.
Dong Mei suddenly recalled Zhao Xiaojing's time as an 18-year-old. Dong Yuhua had been ill for some time, and she was still working. Every day after work, she would go to the hospital to take care of her. Zhao Xiaojing would then take time off to go home and make porridge for Dong Yuhua.
She always said that she had eaten, but Dong Yuhua saw through it and always asked her to drink two more bowls with them, and she followed their lead.
At first, she just thought that her niece was very sensible and cooked the porridge with great care. Later, Dong Yuhua's appetite became worse and worse, and Zhao Xiaojing spent less and less time cooking when she returned home. However, the porridge she cooked became better and better, becoming thick and smooth, light but very flavorful.
She felt strange and asked Zhao Xiaojing about it. Zhao Xiaojing said that she had put the rice in the rice cooker in the morning while buying breakfast, because it would cook longer and taste better, so Dong Yuhua could eat more.
She felt very uncomfortable when she heard that. On the one hand, she hoped that Zhou Chuyan could be as sensible as Zhao Xiaojing, but on the other hand, she felt sorry for Zhao Xiaojing who was so much more sensible than Zhou Chuyan at such a young age.
A few years later, this niece is still as sensible and obedient as ever, while my own daughter is still ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth. I see her husband and wife getting separated and about to embark on the same path as myself, but no matter how much I say, good or bad, it's useless. I have no way to do anything.
Dong Mei took a few mouthfuls of porridge, but her thoughts were in a mess. As she drank, the sound of the porridge at the bottom of the bowl began to become hollow and crisp. When she lowered her head, her bowl was empty.
Zhao Xiaojing turned her head to take a look, picked up the empty bowl on the side, and scooped a spoonful of the hodgepodge in the three-fresh hot pot for herself and Dong Mei.
"Did you make these egg dumplings yourself?" Dong Mei felt something was different when she scooped the egg dumplings into the bowl. She ate half of it in one bite and became more certain that this was definitely not the quality from the vegetable market.
The egg skin of this egg dumpling is soft and you can taste the aroma of egg when you put it in your mouth. The filling inside is also granular. It tastes not only fresh and chewy, but also juicy when you take a bite.
"Yes, I saw that the refrigerator was quite full, so I made a few for myself. Oh, and there are still ten left in the refrigerator. Remember to eat them when the time comes."
Dong Mei nodded in surprise and tasted the chicken again. She didn't know how it was stewed, but it was extremely fresh and light, as if no extra seasoning was added. The meat was just the right amount of soft and tender, with a little chewiness but easy to remove from the bones with a light bite. The chicken itself was so tender that it was juicy. The aftertaste would linger in the mouth for a long time after one bite.
Dong Mei felt like she hadn't eaten such delicious food in years. She remembered the year Zhou Chuyan was born, but she had no milk. Zhou Jianye went to the market every day and tinkered around in the kitchen at home. The pigeon soup he made was black, the chicken soup was brown, and the fish soup hadn't even had the scales scraped off.
That was probably one of the few times in Zhou Jianye's life over the past twenty years that he went into the kitchen. He made a mess while cooking a meal and even thought about bringing a live chicken back from the countryside and killing it himself in the kitchen. Dong Mei had to repeatedly forbid him from doing so before she gave him up.
At that time, Dong Mei would vomit on the spot after drinking a sip of the soup he made. Later, Zhou Jianye had no choice but to learn how to make soup from an old lady downstairs for two days. In the end, his talent was too poor, and the old lady couldn't stand it anymore and directly packed up Dong Mei's postpartum soup, and asked Zhou Jianye to buy the ingredients.
After that, Dong Mei finally had a sip of the fresh and hot soup. At that time, she had suffered a lot from Zhou Jianye's cooking skills. After drinking the soup made by the old lady, it was so delicious that she felt much more relaxed and gained eight kilograms in a week.
Zhou Jianye likes children. Seeing that Dong Mei has enough milk, he is also foolishly happy. Every day when he has free time, he hugs Zhou Chuyan and loves her very much.
That period was also the only time Zhou Jianye devoted himself to his family and children.
Unfortunately, that time only lasted a few years. Later, Yanyan grew up and inherited the worst of their two characters. Her temper became increasingly apparent, making them increasingly irritated and tired. The originally not-so-close relationship between the two of them turned into a relationship where the three of them drifted apart.
She had actually noticed something about Zhou Jianye cheating two years ago. It was during Chinese New Year, when her eldest brother sent her a message about blood left on the toilet by their father, saying he hadn't slept all night. She had rushed over to take care of him, only to be scolded by her father.
When she came back, she found Zhou Jianye and Yanyan were having dinner. Yanyan served her a bowl of soup and insisted that she taste it. She tasted it and thought it was well made. Yanyan made faces and tried various ways to get her to praise the soup. She did, and finally Yanyan said that it was made by Zhou Jianye.
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