Cooking at home, especially slow-cooked soup, takes the most time and effort, sometimes half an hour to an hour, sometimes several hours, which is extremely tedious.
While the soup was simmering, Li Xiuju cleaned the fish for steaming and prepared the vegetables. As soon as the wild loquat and lean pork soup was ready, she immediately boiled a pot of water, placed the plate for steaming the fish on it, and let it steam for a while with the hot water vapor. The firm fish meat melted and the tender white fish belly opened up. She added a few green scallions and poured some hot oil on top, which immediately brought out the freshness of the fish.
"Be careful, it's hot." Li Xiuju took the fish out and placed it next to the cutting board, then stir-fried the remaining bitter greens while they were still hot.
"Okay." Zhou Chenyu held the handkerchief and pinched the two sides of the plate. Even so, the scalding heat still seeped into her fingertips. Huangdou was so frightened that he ran to the side. She hurriedly carried the steamed fish into the house. "Ah, it's so hot!"
"Sister, be careful not to fall." Baoyu was on high alert. He quickly put down the unlit oil lamp, moved the bowls on the table, and made room for her.
Zhou Chenyu slammed the plate down on the table, quickly covering her earlobe with the fingers she was holding the plate. "It's burning hot!"
Baoyu laughed heartily for a while, and smelling the aroma wafting from the clay pot, he couldn't resist waiting for everyone to arrive before lifting the lid to take a look.
A faint coconut aroma wafted over, and looking into the pot, one could see a few slices of lean meat, brown roots and red goji berries floating at the bottom of the clear broth. There was no fragrance, and the taste was so bland that it was like watery soup.
"These wild loquats are really rare. Even chickens probably wouldn't eat them, but they taste so delicious when cooked. I've never seen them before." Baoyu said that he wouldn't eat the chickens, but he couldn't help but swallow his saliva as he smelled the aroma.
Zhou Chenyu thought about the Five-Finger Peach Soup she had drunk before, and wondered who was the first to invent Five-Finger Peach Soup. She never expected that someone would already be using this wonderful thing at this time.
Li Xiuju blew out the kitchen light and brought the plate of bitter vegetables to the table. Usually, she would just eat whatever was convenient when she was home alone, but now that her two children were home, her appetite and mood improved.
"Come on, the dishes are ready, we can eat now."
As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the moon on the courtyard wall hangs in the sky like a silver plate, its bright light spilling onto the ground, making the empty courtyard look like it's covered with a layer of silver foil.
When all the dishes were served, Baoyu couldn't wait to grab a spoon, ladle out three bowls of soup, and excitedly rubbed his hands together: "It's so good to be able to drink Mother's soup as soon as I get back."
Li Xiuju looked at the wild loquat and lean pork soup she had made for the first time, and it looked quite successful.
She smiled and said, "I had it at Hongmei's once and really liked the taste. I just don't know if you would like it."
"It smells delicious just from the aroma, needless to say, I'll definitely like it." Baoyu held the bowl with both hands and gulped down more than half of it.
Zhou Chenyu looked at the clear soup in the bowl, with a layer of oil floating on top. The aroma was a faint coconut fragrance, with a hint of Chinese herbal medicine. She picked up the bowl and brought it to her lips. The clear soup tasted almost exactly like the Five-Finger Peach Soup she remembered drinking.
She even wondered if she had never left the land where she grew up, but had simply changed time and place, and the people she was with.
As Zhou Chenyu drank the taste of home, he felt both unlucky and lucky, unsure whether to cry or laugh.
"Mother thought you would be back a few days later. There's still some meat left at home. You two siblings can share it. There's no need to save it for tomorrow. By the Mid-Autumn Festival, we can slaughter the chickens we raise. There are still some wild loquats left. We can make soup with the chickens again."
Li Xiuju scooped the meat out of the soup and divided it into Zhou Chenyu's and Baoyu's bowls, not intending to keep a single piece for herself.
Zhou Chenyu came to her senses and remembered Hongmei's words. She quickly moved the bowl away and questioned the old lady, "What have you been eating while Baoyu and I are away from home?"
Baoyu snatched the spoon and asked, "Yes, Mother, what have you been eating at home?"
Li Xiuju glanced at them, picked up a piece of tender fish and ate it, "You stay in the mountains and can't get anything to eat, why are you concerned about what I eat?"
“Why don’t you care? When we’re not home, you always make do with some vegetables. How can your body take this in the long run?” Baoyu gripped his chopsticks tightly, unable to eat the meat in his bowl.
“We have a whole garden of vegetables in our backyard, and the butcher comes to sell meat every few days. We have both vegetables and meat, isn’t that better than what you eat, with your dried fish and vegetables? I eat much better than you, so don’t worry about me,” Li Xiuju explained earnestly, refusing to admit it.
Zhou Chenyu scooped the meat into her bowl. Li Xiuju tried to move the bowl away, but Zhou Chenyu threatened with a smile, "Whether there are vegetables and meat every meal or not, we'll find out when that butcher comes."
Baoyu woke up with a start, "Sister is right. When we go to the market tomorrow, I will definitely ask you what you have bought these past ten days."
Li Xiuju knew she couldn't hide her secrets any longer, so she reluctantly put the meat into the bowl and said helplessly, "You're all grown up now, and nothing I do can escape your eyes."
"You know that's good." Zhou Chenyu said with a smile, "So from now on, when Baoyu and I are not at home, you can eat and drink whatever you want, don't try to save money for us."
After saying that, she picked out a piece of the best fish belly and put it into Li Xiuju's bowl.
"That's enough, that's enough. The bowl will be full if you put any more in." Li Xiuju quickly reached out to stop him, and Zhou Chenyu had no choice but to put it in his own bowl.
Looking at the bowl full of meat, Li Xiuju suddenly remembered, "Oh right, when you came back you said you also saved someone. Who was it?"
Zhou Chenyu was busy picking out fish bones and didn't have time to talk, so Baoyu recounted his encounter with Yang Xi in detail.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiuju's happy expression immediately turned cold, and she looked at Zhou Chenyu nervously, "Are you injured?"
Zhou Chenyu was confused. "Baoyu said that it was Yang Xi who was injured, not me."
"That's not what Mother meant." Li Xiuju frowned. "Mother meant that when the two of you were alone, he didn't do anything out of line, did he?"
“He was injured so badly, how could he…” Zhou Chenyu finally understood Li Xiuju’s meaning, her lips curving upwards and then downwards, “How could he dare to hurt me?”
Li Xiuju breathed a sigh of relief. "It's best if it's not. You were too reckless. How dangerous is it for a woman to be alone under the same roof as a man? Don't do that again."
After listening to the back and forth, Baoyu finally understood and said anxiously, "Mother, Yang Ban Tou is not such a bad person!"
Seeing that Baoyu was angry, Li Xiuju explained gently, "You are still young, how could you understand matters between men and women? There are many people who can only know a person's face but not their heart, it's always good to be careful."
“You can’t just falsely accuse someone for no reason! Yang Ban helped my sister and me a few times before, how could he do such a despicable and shameless thing?” Baoyu replied with dissatisfaction.
"Yes, you're all right." Zhou Chenyu guiltily lowered her head to pick out fish bones, not daring to admit that she was the lewd and shameless female hooligan.
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