Seeing this, Zhang Mei quickly followed, and Lin Fenghe also followed closely behind. They caught up with Song Anxin and said in unison, "Mother/Auntie, let me do it."
Zhang Meilin and Feng He looked at each other in bewilderment.
Lin Fenghe: Now that Sister Meizi is here, should I hand over my cooking duties to her?
Zhang Mei: So it turns out that Fenghe really is cooking for the Lin family. I didn't believe it when I heard others say it before.
Ignoring their staring contest, Song Anxin left them and said, "I'll cook today, you two just wait."
Song Anxin felt bad about having an injured child and a young child cook for her, and she also didn't want them to waste the ingredients she had bought.
Even so, Zhang Mei still went in to help Song Anxin. Lin Fenghe was a little unsure of what to do, so he thought for a moment and then joined Lin Fengyao in stacking firewood.
Lin Fengnian quickly chopped firewood, while Lin Fengshou drew water from the well to fill his water tank.
The whole family was busy in an orderly manner. Song Anxin started a fire, then cut some pork fat and rendered the oil in the pot. She then stir-fried the sliced meat in the pot until fragrant, added some salt, and served it after it was cooked.
Then, Song Anxin squeezed out the water from the preserved mustard greens that Lin Fenghe had probably soaked and put them in a pot to stir-fry quickly. She added salt, and then realized that she had forgotten to buy soy sauce and other seasonings. There wasn't a drop of soy sauce in the jar.
Song Anxin added a little water to the jar, and it even had a bit of soy sauce color. She poured it into the pot, then scooped out the preserved mustard greens and placed them on top of the stir-fried pork slices, making a simple version of braised pork with preserved mustard greens.
Song Anxin put the braised pork with preserved mustard greens and rice in a pot to steam. After steaming, she quickly stir-fried some wild vegetables and wild mushrooms, and also used a little pork fat. There were even some cracklings in the dish, so it was a semi-meat dish. It looked shiny, appealing and appetizing.
The yard was already filled with the irresistible aroma of food, and the four boys lost all interest in working, craning their necks to look towards the kitchen.
When the dishes were served, all four of them gathered around the table, drooling. There was meat, white rice, and even meat in the wild vegetables!
My goodness! This is even better than what we eat during Chinese New Year!
Zhang Mei was shocked. Her second aunt really used a lot of oil and salt when cooking, and there was such a big pot of white rice. Didn't she hear from the people of Linjia Village that her second aunt was the one who mistreated Feng Nian and the others the most?
"Feng Yao, take this small bowl of braised pork with preserved vegetables over there. Also, tell your aunt that your father's pension will arrive in three days, and you should repay her then."
Song Anxin handed Lin Fengyao a bowl of braised pork with preserved mustard greens that she had already prepared.
Lin Fengyao was puzzled, and Lin Fengnian and the others also looked at their mother with surprise and doubt.
Song Anxin coughed awkwardly. She knew this wasn't like the original owner of the body. The original owner was already being kind by not taking food from her sister-in-law's house, let alone sending meat over.
“Feng Yao and Feng He ate lunch at their aunt’s house, so consider it a way of repaying her for lunch. Besides, your aunt always thinks of you when she has something good to eat, so it’s only right,” Song Anxin explained.
The brothers nodded in agreement. Zhang Mei thought to herself, "Who said the Lin family and her family weren't on good terms? If they weren't on good terms, why would they send each other meat?"
Lin Fengyao immediately grabbed the bowl and ran out; his sister-in-law's house was right next door.
At this time, Sister-in-law Lin's family was also eating, which consisted of wild vegetable porridge and buckwheat cakes, a typical meal for farmers.
The aroma of meat wafting from Song Anxin's stir-fried dishes had long since wafted into their yard, making them quite tempted. However, they assumed it was just some family in the village having bought some meat for a treat, and even thought to themselves that this family was quite generous.
Sister-in-law Lin never expected it to be her second son's wife's family. Her second son's wife was a spendthrift, and everyone in the village knew that her family was dirt poor.
When a small bowl of meat was placed in front of her, Sister-in-law Lin was stunned: "What happened? Has your mother gone mad?!"
Lin Erxi and Lin Dongzi also had the same crazy expression, but in the end they couldn't resist the aroma of the meat. Their eyes were fixed on the bowl of meat in Lin Fengyao's hand. It was shiny with oil and had a bit of a dark brown color, so it was obvious that expensive soy sauce had been added.
The two of them kept swallowing their saliva. Brother Lin was also a little envious, but he remained much calmer.
Lin Fengyao repeated what Song Anxin had said in its entirety.
"Hey, we only had cornbread and wild vegetables for lunch, why would we need such expensive meat to repay you?" Sister-in-law Lin said.
“No, my mother said that you, my aunt, always think of us brothers whenever you have something nice to do, so it’s only right,” Lin Fengyao added.
Upon hearing this, Lin Erxi forgot to swallow and exclaimed, "Is your mother still your mother?! She's like a completely different person!"
Sister-in-law Lin slapped Lin Erxi on the back of the head: "Look at what you're saying! That nose and those eyes, aren't they all your second aunt's?"
Brother Lin, who had been silent all along, said, "This second son's wife has indeed changed a lot."
“Whether she changes a lot or a little, it’s a good thing if she’s getting better. I think she’s a mother-in-law now and wants to live a good life,” said Sister-in-law Lin.
Brother Lin agreed and nodded slightly in agreement.
Lin Fengyao was already eager to go back and eat meat. Seeing that his aunt was not taking the bowl, he quickly shoved it into her arms and said anxiously, "Aunt, I'm going back. I haven't eaten yet."
Sister-in-law Lin quickly stopped him, went to the chicken coop in the yard, took out an egg, and said, "Fengyao, take this egg back and have your mother boil it tonight and roll it on your sister-in-law's face. That way the bruise will heal faster. Also, tell your mother that I'm going to help her make wedding cakes first thing in the morning."
Sister-in-law Lin thought she couldn't get something from her second son's wife for nothing. Since her second son's wife had come to show goodwill, she would lend a hand tomorrow as a way of repaying her kindness.
Lin Fengyao took the eggs and hurried away, not forgetting to thank her, saying, "Thank you, Auntie!"
Lin Erxi and Lin Dongzi were already eager to eat, but they knew they had to wait for their elders to eat first.
Sister-in-law Lin smiled helplessly at them, picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and gave it to her husband, saying to the siblings, "Eat quickly."
Lin Erxi and Lin Dongzi quickly picked up some meat, saying between bites, "Mmm~ How can it be so delicious? It's even better than the meat we ate during the New Year."
Lin Erxi, with his mouth full of meat, mumbled, "Do you still remember what meat tastes like during the New Year?"
"I don't know, but it just tastes good."
Sister-in-law Lin also felt a little sad. This year's harvest was bad, and after handing over the harvested grain, there wasn't much left. They could only exchange it for old rice, millet, buckwheat, and other coarse grains in the county, which was just enough to feed the family.
The family's money was saved little by little by the husband who would do odd jobs in the county during the off-season and sell eggs. They didn't dare to spend it recklessly and kept it for emergencies.
The children only ate meat once a year during the Lunar New Year, but every household in the village did the same, it wasn't just their family.
Seeing the children like this, Brother Lin sighed silently and left the little meat for them.
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