The Vanished Husband
Wang Gang and his workers surrounded Li Guorong's stall, and he pointed with his fingers, saying, "This one, this one, and that one."
Choose more than 10 skewers, put the lunchbox on the table, and say, "Put them in the lunchbox for me, and also two large portions of fried potatoes."
Li Guorong smiled broadly, "From now on, I'll only set up my stall at night, so you won't come back empty-handed in the morning, brother."
Li Guorong served the prepared vermicelli and noodles, saying, "There are also noodles and vermicelli here. They'll be perfect with the Sichuan-style boiled chicken tonight."
Wang Gang's eyes lit up. "Give me a bowl of noodles, and extra soup."
Wang Gang had been craving this since morning, and his lunch always felt a bit bland. As soon as he stepped outside, he saw the stall owner setting up his stall and quickly gathered around with a few of his coworkers.
A coworker next to him asked, "Does it really smell as good as it does?"
Wang Gang slurped his saliva, "Of course, your brother Gang has a sharp tongue."
Several people patted their bellies, took out their lunchboxes, and started choosing. Since it was their first time eating there, they all chose some cheap vegetarian skewers, not many meat skewers, and also opted for small portions of fried potatoes.
People who came to the machinery factory in the morning saw the stalls starting to line up in the evening. Seeing that they could take it away with soup, they took out their own lunchboxes and were willing to add a serving of noodles, rather than going home to cook rice to eat with it.
Li Guorong hurriedly shouted, "From now on, we'll only set up our stall at night, so everyone won't come back empty-handed."
The charcoal fire illuminated Li Guorong's face, which was covered in a thin layer of sweat. Her eyes shone brightly, and every corner of her face was soaked with her sweat.
Lin Shaocheng looked at Li Guorong from afar. She was like a pine tree. Even in harsh environments, as long as she encountered soil, sunshine and rain, she could take root and grow. She was different from his mother. She needed a wider space to face the wind and rain.
Lin Shaocheng rode over on his bicycle, put on an apron, and began selecting skewers and serving soup to the guests.
Li Guorong turned to look at him, feeling a mix of helplessness and sweetness. He had been told to focus on his work, so why did he come here again? Wouldn't this leave a bad impression on his superiors?
There were so many people that the two of them were too busy to talk. They kept passing things around, creating a harmonious atmosphere that others couldn't enter.
By 7 or 8 pm, it's completely dark, and the last customer leaves. Electricity is expensive now, so there are very few night markets that last until midnight.
Only her stall and a few other vendors who hadn't sold all their vegetables remained on the street. Li Guorong ran over and haggled with them, managing to buy a bunch of green beans, potatoes, and sweet potatoes for a few cents. A fruit vendor also gave her a discount.
Lin Shaocheng silently carried a large bag of various vegetables on his back and placed it on the car. Li Guorong jumped over small potholes, kicking up dust. Under the moonlight, Li Guorong's sweat glistened.
Li Guorong silently calculated in his mind that all the vegetarian and meat dishes had been sold out today, and only noodles were left. The remaining customers wanted noodles to be soaked in soup. He would need to prepare more vegetables tomorrow. He would buy vegetables in the morning, prepare them during the day, and sell them in the evening. His day was perfectly planned.
Li Guorong sat on the tricycle with a bicycle strapped to the back. She couldn't help but hug Lin Shaocheng's strong waist. "It feels so good," she thought.
Under the dim light, Li Guorong lay on the bed counting money, while Lin Shaocheng sat at the table reading a book. The thick book made Li Guorong's head spin; she would rather work two extra hours at her stall every day than read.
She got out of bed and pressed herself against Lin Shaocheng from behind, asking, "Guess how much it will cost today?"
Lin Shaocheng held Li Guorong's hand. His hands, which had become smooth and delicate after resting for the past few days, had become rough again. Lin Shaocheng couldn't help but stroke Li Guorong's hands and took out clam oil from the drawer with his right hand. "Wash your hands and apply more oil."
Li Guorong sat down abruptly in the chair, arms crossed, "You despise me."
Lin Shaocheng scooped out a large amount of oil and applied it to Li Guorong's hands, carefully rubbing it on every part of Li Guorong's hands. His voice was low and dreamlike as he said, "I feel sorry for you."
Li Guorong couldn't help but smile, wrapping his arms around the man in front of him and kissing Lin Shaocheng's straight nose. "I feel sorry for you too. Didn't I tell you not to run around? Why don't you listen to me?"
Lin Shaocheng's chest trembled, and a deep laugh emanated from his body. As the night deepened, the two seemed to be burning with passion.
...
As the days went by, Li Guorong became more skilled at making Bobo Chicken and fried potatoes. She became familiar with the owners of the market and spice shops, and purchasing ingredients every day no longer required much effort. In the evenings, Lin Shaocheng would help her skewer the durable ingredients. Life was getting better and better.
Li Guorong's household registration was finally approved before the New Year. She counted the money in her newly opened savings account. Under normal circumstances, she could earn 20 yuan a day, which would be 600 yuan a month. Nowadays, a worker's monthly salary is only a few dozen yuan. She decided to have something nice for lunch today and send a loving lunch to Lin Shaocheng.
Li Guorong washed the pork belly, placed it skin-side down in a hot pan and scalded it until it turned golden brown. He then scraped it clean with a knife and cut the pork belly into pieces about the size of a coin.
Add minced ginger and scallions, cooking wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and pepper. Then add the fermented bean paste sent from home and mix well. Cover with another bowl and marinate for 30 minutes.
Mix the rice and glutinous rice you bought this morning, heat a pan and add the rice, peppercorns, star anise and dried chili peppers. Stir-fry over low heat until the rice grains become crispy and fragrant with spices.
Remove the Sichuan peppercorns and dried chilies, grind the rice and Sichuan peppercorns with a mortar and pestle, add a spoonful of peanut oil and a small amount of water, then add it to the marinated meat and mix well so that each piece of meat is evenly coated with rice flour.
The meat is laid out on the bottom, followed by side dishes, usually sweet potato chunks and potato chunks. Lin Shaocheng has been eating fried potatoes for days and is getting a little tired of them. He also likes sweets, so Li Guorong chose to cover the meat entirely with sweet potato chunks. Finally, it is placed in a steamer and steamed for about 2 hours.
Li Guorong made another sweet ice jelly for Lin Shaocheng as an after-dinner dessert. He could just get some vegetables from the cafeteria. He opened the aluminum lunchbox, filled it with rice, and put steamed pork in another box. Thinking of the plot of a Japanese idol drama, Li Guorong scooped out a large piece of chili sauce and drew a heart on the white rice.
At the factory gate, Li Guorong registered at the security office, then ran towards the warehouse guarded by Lin Shaocheng, carrying his lunchbox. The current lunchboxes have poor insulation technology, and the steamed pork would harden after cooling.
At the warehouse entrance, a middle-aged man with a stubble beard was lazily picking his teeth, looking like he had just finished a meal. Li Guorong took a few steps back. Yes, this was the warehouse. She stepped forward and asked, "Brother, hello, I'm a relative of Lin Shaocheng. I'd like to ask where Lin Shaocheng is."
The middle-aged man looked Li Guorong up and down. "You're his wife? You don't look like a Beijinger. He's not on duty today, so he's not home?"
Factory drivers in this area usually receive extra wages when they are delivering goods. They need to be on duty at the warehouse for about 10 days a month. Driving is dangerous and hard work, and the wages for guarding the warehouse are only 1/5 of the wages for driving.
Li Guorong gripped the basket tightly, controlling his expression with a smile, "I've been so busy every day, I'd forgotten all about it."
Her steps quickened as she left, her heart clenching as if gripped by a hand. Where was Lin Shaocheng going if he wasn't at work? She bit her lip and instinctively headed towards Lin Shaocheng's dormitory.
Lin Shaocheng's dormitory was on the third floor. The long staircase was still dark even during the day. Her legs felt a little weak. She looked up at the seemingly endless staircase and climbed step by step. It would take 2 minutes to get to the top, but it took a full 10 minutes to reach the last step.
Li Guorong held onto the stairs with one hand, feeling as if she were suffocating. Finally, she reached the door of Lin Shaocheng's dormitory and thought of Li Jiaoniang next door.
Her face turned pale, her hand gripping the door, hesitant to open it. The faint, rustling sounds inside suggested someone was indeed there. Should she turn away and leave, pretending nothing had happened?
Li Guorong felt as if an eternity had passed. Even if she were to die, she wanted to die knowing why. Li Guorong kicked the door open with a bang.
Inside, there was no man or woman as she had imagined, who knew nothing of heaven and earth. Li Xiangxi scratched his head into a mess, while Lin Shaocheng was writing furiously on a piece of paper. The two were startled and stood up in a defensive posture.
Li Xiangxi shouted, "Sister-in-law, what are you doing? You scared me to death!"
Lin Shaocheng looked somewhat embarrassed. It wasn't that he didn't want to help Li Guorong clean up the vegetables; he hadn't touched a book for several years and had forgotten a lot of the knowledge in it. Now he could only try his best to start learning from scratch, as the college entrance examination was just a few months away.
Li Guorong slammed the lunchbox on the table, his eyes blazing as he glared at Lin Shaocheng. "Why were you hiding your reading from me?"
Lin Shaocheng's stomach rumbled, and a sweet aroma wafted from his lunchbox. He gave Xiangxi a look and said, "Xiangxi, go to the cafeteria and get some more food."
Li Xiangxi grabbed a lunchbox from the corner and dashed out the door, a smile of anticipation on his face.
Watching Li Xiangxi leave, Li Guorong, remembering that the building wasn't soundproof, whispered, "You're trying to hide your reading? Do you think I'll let you not read?"
Lin Shaocheng had no choice. Li Guorong was busy running around at home, and he felt bad if he didn't help. Li Guorong would get angry if he did his own work for a while.
When they were resting at the same time, he would read a book, while Li Guorong would keep talking. He would become engrossed in his book, and Li Guorong would get angry because no one would respond. In the evening, after reading for a while, Li Guorong would act coquettishly, and he would lose his focus.
Lin Shaocheng wanted to ask Li Guorong if she was unhappy with his studies, but before he could ask, Li Guorong showed that she was very supportive of his studies. Lin Shaocheng didn't have much self-control around Li Guorong, so he could only avoid her.
Seeing Lin Shaocheng engrossed in his book, Li Guorong became even angrier and swept the book off the table. "Say something! I hate people who never say anything!"
Lin Shaocheng looked up, a question in his eyes. He didn't know whether he should speak or not. He always had a vague feeling that Li Guorong was against him taking the college entrance exam, but he was also worried that asking would damage their relationship.
Since becoming husband and wife, the two have grown closer. Li Guorong sensed that Lin Shaocheng was about to ask something, and her heart skipped a beat. She felt a strange sense of panic. She lowered her eyes and spoke first: "I made you steamed pork with rice flour and ice jelly. Don't hide it from me like this next time."
Lin Shaocheng reached out, about to open his mouth, when Li Guorong covered his mouth with his hand. "Alright, let's eat."
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