With Chen Tongsheng looking after them, Li Xiuju's worries lessened considerably. She quickly called out with a smile, "Tongsheng, you've been so good to Chenyu and Baoyu. Don't go back tonight. Your godmother is about to cook. Please stay and eat before you leave!"
Chen Tongsheng scratched his head sheepishly and said awkwardly, "Godmother, is this appropriate?"
Li Xiuju's expression changed, and she scolded, "What's inappropriate about it?"
"I picked so many plums today, and the old lady repeatedly told me to invite you to our house for a meal. Now that you're here, it saves me the trouble. You have to stay, or I'll get scolded," Zhou Chenyu said with a smile.
Li Xiuju looked at the quick-witted Zhou Chenyu and smiled, "Exactly!"
Upon hearing the news, Chen Tongsheng rushed over here without stopping. Now, if he goes home to cook a meal, it will be late again. He's been busy all day and is tired, so it's really kind of him to stay for dinner.
He replied cheerfully, "I ate my godmother's cooking here that day, and I've been craving the taste ever since. Since both godmother and Chenyu say so, then I'll gladly accept their offer!"
Li Xiuju smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I'll go add more rice and cook it right away."
Chen Tongsheng had been there for a while, but he hadn't seen Baoyu anywhere. He couldn't help but ask, "Hey, I've been here so long, where is Baoyu? Why haven't I seen him?"
“Someone in the city is repairing a house and needs help, so he went to the city to work with other villagers his age,” Zhou Chenyu replied. After a pause, he suddenly realized, “Hey, the family he went to is surnamed Tang, and the local gentry who held the housewarming party is also surnamed Tang?”
Chen Tongsheng paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously, “That’s right! I didn’t expect that Baoyu would go ahead of us. In that case, we might be able to run into each other.”
Baoyu was a bit clueless. He and Huzi went to work together. Zhou Chenyu was worried that he would be deceived. It would be great if they went to the same household.
She couldn't have gotten it.
Originally, Zhou Chenyu and Li Xiuju only needed one dish and one soup for a meal. But now that Chen Tongsheng was here, and the butcher happened to be selling pork under the banyan tree at the village entrance, Li Xiuju quickly added a meat dish to entertain the guest.
Chen Tongsheng was a man who did a lot of heavy work, which required a lot of energy, so he had a big appetite and needed to eat a lot of meat and fish to quickly replenish his strength.
Li Xiuju specially bought fatty pork, put it in a pot of cold water, added scallions, ginger, garlic and wine, and brought it to a boil until it could be pierced with chopsticks.
Next, remove the cooked pork from the water, cut it into thick slices about one finger wide, fry it over high heat to render the oil, and sprinkle in a handful of washed green garlic sprouts to make a simple, rustic yet delicious and flavorful home-style twice-cooked pork.
Zhou Chenyu took the freshly cooked twice-cooked pork out, and Chen Tongsheng, who was playing with the dog outside the door, came over following the aroma. "It smells so good."
"Doesn't it smell delicious? This is a dish that our grandma specially prepared for you." Zhou Chenyu also took a deep sniff, and Chen Tongsheng chuckled, "Then I'll have to eat a few more bites later."
Upon hearing this, Li Xiuju, worried that cooking too many dishes would keep Chen Tongsheng waiting, hurriedly replied from the kitchen, "Tongsheng, please wait a little longer, there are two more dishes, they will be ready soon."
Chen Tongsheng didn't want Li Xiuju to be too anxious, so he smiled and replied, "Godmother, good things are hard to come by. I'm not afraid to wait. Please take your time."
Zhou Chenyu looked him up and down with bright eyes, and said with a teasing smile, "Oh, I thought only I was good at sweet talk, but I didn't expect you, Chen Tongsheng, to be so eloquent."
Chen Tongsheng admitted his inferiority, saying, "No, no, no, when it comes to eloquence, I can't compare to you."
Listening to the two children chatting away, Li Xiuju couldn't help but smile even while she was cooking.
Once the twice-cooked pork is done, it's time to stir-fry the river clams.
Like other seafood, river clams are prized for their freshness. After purging themselves of mud and sand all day, the river clams soak in cold water, their hard shells slightly opening to reveal tender white clam meat breathing in the water, which is as clean as well water.
As soon as Zhou Chenyu reached in to scoop them up, the fresh river clams sensed something was wrong and immediately retreated into their shells. She scooped the clams into a basket, rinsed them twice with well water, and handed them to Li Xiuju.
Li Xiuju heated the wok, melted the lard into a liquid, and poured in a whole basket of river clams. The hard shells of the clams collided with the iron wok, making loud noises.
After stir-frying over high heat for a while, the hard shells of the river clams burst open one after another, and the delicious broth seeped into the clam meat. A few slices of ginger were added to remove the fishy smell, and a handful of chopped green onions were sprinkled on top for color. A plate of stir-fried clam meat was ready.
For stir-frying river clams, use the larger ones. For the smaller ones, stir-fry them briefly in hot oil, pour in a ladle of well water, and once the water boils, add the chopped loofah. Cook until the loofah is soft and the soup turns a light milky white.
Chen Tongsheng looked at the table full of dishes, not knowing where to start. "It's all my fault. I made you, godmother and Chen Yu, cook so many dishes."
Li Xiuju ladled him a bowl of river clam and loofah soup, her tone a mix of indulgent scolding, "We're all family, why are you saying such polite things? Don't say them again, eat it while it's hot."
"Hey." Chen Tongsheng smiled, picked up the bowl, and drank a large bowl of soup, still looking like he hadn't had enough. "Godmother, Chen Yu, this soup is delicious. You should try it too."
Li Xiuju's smile remained unchanged. "Alright, alright, you can all eat."
After the soup cooled down a bit, Zhou Chenyu picked up the bowl and drank it. The fresh aroma of the river clams combined with the sweetness of the loofah relieved his long-standing hunger and brought a refreshing coolness. One bowl was never enough.
The stir-fried river clam meat, without any heavy seasonings, retained the original freshness and aroma of the river clams. Although the meat was barely enough to fill a tooth gap, its delicious flavor made her willingly eat it.
As for the twice-cooked pork, it smelled delicious, but it was too greasy, so Zhou Chenyu wasn't interested.
Chen Tongsheng finished his dinner here, helped clean up, and then went home.
After taking a bath, Li Xiuju and Zhou Chenyu sat quietly in the courtyard, looking at the starlight overhead. The moonlight was exceptionally bright tonight, with countless stars surrounding the moon, the light so clear that it seemed as if the Milky Way could be seen.
Soybean lay by the door, its bright eyes fixed on the outside. At the slightest sound, it would bark excitedly.
Baoyu had not returned home for a day, and Li Xiuju, holding her lame leg, murmured to herself, "I wonder how Baoyu is doing? He rarely leaves home for so long. I wonder if he can take care of himself. Sigh."
Zhou Chenyu fanned himself with a large palm-leaf fan, a few stray hairs blowing to his mouth. "Tomorrow, Brother Chen and I are going to the Tang residence to see the head steward. I'll see if I can meet Baoyu and ask him some questions."
Li Xiuju nodded, "That's fine too."
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