On her way to school the next day, Fan Hongying discussed the matter with Zhan Chunlan.
Li Xiuxiu lived far away and knew nothing about what happened last night: "It's so scary how people get married. Why does her mother-in-law do nothing at home, and her husband only needs to go to work? But Deng Xiaomei, she has to go to work and take care of the family at the same time? Why should she?"
"Everyone says that women hold up half the sky, but I would say it's more than that, at least two-thirds. I don't have to do anything at home now, but the thought of having to work, have a baby, cook, do laundry, and clean after I get married makes me anxious. Why can't I not get married?"
In her previous life, Zhan Chunlan had seen many similar posts on a certain book. She had a lot to say, but the moment she opened her mouth, she changed the subject: "So, when we choose a partner, we are not only choosing a person, but also choosing a family. We absolutely cannot only look at feelings."
"Furthermore, you must remember that in most cases, parents who love their daughters and disagree with others are usually the ones with problems, we just can't see it."
"Otherwise, like Deng Xiaomei, you'd cut off your own flesh and bleed to feed others, and they'd still think you didn't cut enough."
Xu Lixia always cuts only enough meat for three people; today she cut another pound of pork belly to take home.
Zhan Chunlan still prepared three dishes and a soup: stir-fried green peppers with pork, stir-fried baby bok choy, stir-fried cabbage, and stewed radish.
After the dish was served, Xu Lixia immediately picked up the stir-fried green peppers and pork, put half of it in her father's bowl, a small portion in her son's bowl, a small portion in her mother's bowl, and the remaining portion was given to each of the three sisters.
The stir-fried green peppers and pork were gone in seconds, making Zhan Chunlan both angry and amused.
This was the first time she had eaten meat since transmigrating, and she had completely forgotten how meat was usually distributed. She also couldn't understand how Zhan Chunhua, who paid 13 yuan a month for living expenses to her family, could tolerate only being able to eat one slice of meat from a large plate every time.
Zhan Hongyu even turned his rice upside down onto the plate of stir-fried green peppers and pork, using the oil from the plate to eat with his rice.
Seeing Zhan Chunlan's unhappy face, Xu Lixia explained, "This pork belly is too fatty. You are girls, it's not good for you to gain weight if you eat too much. I'm just doing this for your own good."
Zhan Chunlan was speechless. "Do you want to see how thin I am, like a bamboo pole?" Luckily, I was the one cooking today. I just ate several pieces while I was stir-frying them.
Zhan Chunlan recalled that when she first started cooking, especially when there was meat, Xu Lixia would stand guard at the kitchen door and watch her. She guessed that the former Zhan Chunlan was too honest and never had any ulterior motives, so Xu Lixia trusted her in this regard. Later, she stopped watching her. The original Zhan Chunlan did not betray her trust. Even when she was about to burn to death, she did not think of making a bowl of brown sugar ginger water.
This would only benefit Zhan Chunlan now.
In modern times, Zhan Chunlan never craved meat. Every time she read about people eating fatty meat in historical novels, she couldn't believe it. Who would eat such fatty meat? Isn't lean meat delicious?
Having come to this era, she understood that eating vegetarian food every day, without any oil or fat in her stomach, really makes her feel hungry. No matter how much vegetarian food she ate, she didn't feel full, not to mention that vegetarian food couldn't be eaten to her heart's content.
As soon as the pork belly hit the pot, she couldn't help but swallow her saliva. She couldn't even wait for it to be taken out of the pot, so she scooped a few slices out of the pot and put them in her mouth. The feeling at that moment was no exaggeration. All the special effects of anime characters eating delicious food were not exaggerated. At that moment, Zhan Chunlan felt like fireworks were going off in her mind.
Think about her in modern times: dieting? Salads? Let's eat something good!
"You've overcooked the meat; you've melted all the oil," Xu Lixia's voice interrupted Zhan Chunlan's savoring moment. "At this rate, you should be able to scoop out a bowl of oil. Have you put it away?"
Zhan Chunlan paused in her eating, without even looking up: "No."
"Oh? So much oil, how did you use it all up?" Xu Lixia felt a little distressed. This child used to be able to arrange everything perfectly without her having to say anything. What's wrong with her lately?
"I used the leftover oil to stir-fry today's dishes. Isn't it especially delicious?"
"Yes, I mean, the food today is so delicious, sis. If you use this much oil to cook every time, I can eat two more bowls of rice." Zhan Hongyu's eating also interrupted his conversation, his mouth full of food as he talked and ate.
"What nonsense! Who do you think you are? You can eat whatever you want." Xu Lixia smacked Zhan Hongyu on the head with her chopsticks, then turned to Zhan Chunlan and said, "Are you a pig's brain? That much oil is enough for our family to eat for ten days or half a month, and you just wasted it in one meal?"
Zhan Chunlan... she just got used to it. Back in modern times, whenever she cooked dishes that were very oily, she would arrange it this way, using the remaining oil in the pan to cook the later dishes, so that the oil wouldn't be wasted.
I was so excited while cooking meat today that I forgot where I was.
However, today's dishes were very oily and juicy, and for the first time since arriving here, Zhan Chunlan felt full. When she went to sleep that night, her stomach finally stopped growling.
School cafeteria.
Zhan Chunlan and her two companions ate together, each carrying their own lunchbox.
In Fan Hongying's lunchbox, half was rice, half was pork ribs, and there were only two pieces of radish.
Looking at the radish and pork rib stew, Zhan Chunlan recalled the days when she only drank the soup and ate the radish. She wanted to go back and slap herself a few times, telling herself to stop being so arrogant!
"Chunlan, we made too many spare ribs today, I can't eat them all. Could you help me eat two pieces?" Fan Hongying looked at the corn rice in Zhan Chunlan's lunchbox and immediately gave her half of the spare ribs.
"The braised pork my family made today is too greasy, I don't like it, can you help me out?" Li Xiuxiu wasn't going to be outdone, so she shared half of her braised pork with her.
Looking at the lunchbox piled high with braised pork ribs, Zhan Chunlan immediately gave a few pieces of ribs to Li Xiuxiu and a few pieces of braised pork to Fan Hongying. Then she continued to slowly dig deeper, finding a few slices of twice-cooked pork underneath.
"When I was cooking yesterday, I secretly put a few slices at the bottom. You guys should try my cooking."
A pound of meat isn't much, and she can't be greedy with too much, otherwise it would be too obvious. Two pieces for each person, just to taste it.
"Wow, Chunlan, your cooking is amazing! It's so delicious!" Li Xiuxiu immediately tried a piece of stir-fried green peppers with pork, and it really did taste great.
"Xiuxiu is right, you're amazing, it's even better than the state-run restaurants." Fan Hongying gave a thumbs up. "Stir-fried green peppers with pork is so good with rice, I feel like I can finish all the rice today."
Fan Hongying demonstrated by immediately shoveling several mouthfuls of white rice into her mouth to show that she wasn't exaggerating.
"It's not as good as you all say. It's just home-style cooking. I'm glad you like it." Zhan Chunlan remembered eating stir-fried green peppers and pork that Zhan Chunhua brought back from a restaurant once. She still couldn't compare to the chef's skills.
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