Upon hearing this, Mrs. Liu looked at Xuemei, sent Ruirui back to her room to do her homework, and then said to Xuemei, "Xuemei, didn't your father and I make an agreement with you last night? We'll cover all the expenses for you four siblings today. How can you let Han Chen bear the cost alone? Xuemei, what you're doing is wrong!"
Xuemei explained, "Mom, please listen to my explanation before you jump to conclusions. I did this on purpose today to test Han Chen, because he always told me that his things were mine and it was okay for me to spend his money. I wanted to take this opportunity today to see if he meant what he said, and now it seems the result is quite good.
Mom, don't worry. If he and I don't get to the point of getting married in the future, I will return the money he spent on us four siblings today, along with the savings he has with me. I won't take advantage of him. When I have some free time later, I'll write down today's expenses in a notebook!"
After listening to Xuemei's explanation, Liu's mother relaxed her expression and said, "It's good that you understand. Han Chen treats our family well because of you. We should all remember this and not take it for granted. From now on, whenever we have something nice at home, prepare a portion for him. Tomorrow night, I'm going to make fried rabbit. Ask your brother and the others to call Han Chen over for dinner!"
"Okay, Mom. But if we are going to eat it tomorrow night, Qingya won't be at home. Should we fry some rabbit meat first and bring it to her tomorrow morning?" Xuemei asked.
"After your father finishes processing the rabbits, I will go cut some and fry them for Qingya, and let her take them to school to eat tomorrow!" replied Liu's mother.
"Mom, I'll go fry it later! You've worked all day and must be tired. I plan to make half of it and ask Qingya to send some to Yaoyao during her lunch break tomorrow. Yaoyao took a pound of beef jerky today, and the white sugar and brown sugar together took more than half a pound!" Xuemei explained.
"Okay, let's do as you say. The gift Yaoyao's family gave back today is quite substantial, and we villagers only have these wild goods to give as a gift.
"In that case, we won't send it off to your second uncle and aunt tomorrow. Ask your father to invite your grandparents over for dinner tonight. After today, everyone in the village should know that you and Han Chen are dating. We also have to notify your grandparents specifically, otherwise they might have objections!" Liu's mother reminded.
"Okay, Mom, I'll do as you say! I'll go see if Dad is done!" Xuemei said and walked towards the kitchen. Mother Liu also put away everything in the backpack.
After Mr. Liu cleaned up the rabbit, he cut off half of the rabbit meat and cut it into small pieces as Xuemei instructed before leaving the kitchen to take a shower.
Xuemei planned to stir-fry rabbit meat. First, she marinated the rabbit meat in water with green onions, ginger and garlic for a while, then added some sweet potato starch and stirred evenly, and finally added some rapeseed oil and mixed evenly.
After the water in the pot was dried up, Xuemei added a small amount of oil. Fortunately, Liu's mother was not there, otherwise she would be accused of being a spendthrift. She used up a month's worth of oil.
When the oil temperature reaches 50%, Xuemei pours the diced rabbit meat into the pot and slowly spreads the meat. Pay attention to the fire to maintain the oil temperature and fry for about five minutes. Use a strainer to pick it out, hold it with your hands and put it on the pot to control the oil. When the oil temperature rises to 70%, fry the diced rabbit meat again for about one to two minutes, then pick it out to control the oil.
Use a spatula to scoop out the excess oil in the pot and put it into a small dish. Leave a small amount of oil in the pot, add chopped ginger, garlic, dried chilies soaked in water in advance, and peppercorns picked by Liu's father on the mountain, stir-fry until fragrant, add salt and soy sauce, and then pour the fried diced rabbit meat and chopped green peppers into the pot. This is the first batch of peppers in the family this year. Continue to stir-fry until the green peppers are cooked.
Then taste it for saltiness. When it feels about right, add some white wine, stir-fry for a few seconds, and then sprinkle with chopped green onions and serve.
Normally, we rarely stir-fry rabbit meat at home because it uses too much oil. This time, Xuemei stir-fried it this way because the weather is getting hotter now. She didn't add more oil to fry the rabbit meat because she was afraid that Qingya would get sour if she kept it overnight.
Xuemei divided the food into two portions, packed them in two lunch boxes, and went to Liu's mother's room to hand them to her, asking her to put them in the cupboard, lock them, and give them to Qingya to take to school the next morning.
After Xuemei finished washing up and returned to her room, she sat down at the desk again and took out a notebook to record every expense of the day.
After finishing everything, Xuemei picked up her old high school textbook and was about to take a look when Qingya sat up from the bed and called out to Xuemei, "Sister, do I have something to tell you?"
Xuemei turned the book over and placed it on the table, then turned around and asked, "What's the matter? Tell me!"
Qingya said in a low voice: "After Ruirui and I caught the rabbit today, we went to look for your rabbit and accidentally found Sister Shengnan and Zhou Zhiqing arguing.
Ruirui and I heard Zhou Zhiqing ask Sister Shengnan why she was going on a blind date. Sister Shengnan said she was looking for a live-in son-in-law and told Zhou Zhiqing not to bother her if he didn't want to. We didn't hear what they said after that because they were getting further and further away from us. Then Ruirui and I went back to where you were waiting for us!
Xuemei suddenly realized, "No wonder you intercepted Ruirui's words on the mountain!"
"I'm just thinking that although the people present won't go out and tell others about it, this is Sister Shengnan's private matter, so the less people know, the better!" Qingya said embarrassedly, scratching her head.
Xuemei praised, "You did the right thing this time. You thought it through very thoroughly. I'll have to warn Ruirui tomorrow not to blurt it out."
Qingya looked at Xuemei curiously and asked, "Big sister, are you going to ask Sister Shengnan about this?"
Xuemei replied, "Let's wait and see. For now, let's just pretend we don't know this is me. We'll tell you if anything changes later! Okay, Qingya, go to sleep first!"
"Sister, why aren't you sleeping yet?" Qingya asked while yawning.
Xuemei turned over the book on the table and said, "I'll read for another half an hour. You go to sleep first!"
"Okay! I'm going to bed. Mom said that if you stay up too late you won't grow taller. I want to be as tall as Sister Wu?" Qingya fell asleep in seconds after she said that.
Xuemei rolled her eyes at the sleeping Qingya, feeling like she was being implied. She was the shortest of the six in her family, aside from Liu's mother. Qingya was already 5 feet 4 inches tall, making her one of the top two tallest girls in Danru Commune. It seemed Qingya was determined to be the tallest girl in Danru Commune.
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