Chapter Six
Half an hour later, Ji Xingguo had prepared a sumptuous meal.
Wearing an apron, he brought out the plates and placed them one by one on the table in the small dining room.
"Meimei, dinner is ready, come and set the table!"
This is probably the only chores that Ji Xingguo, a doting father, is willing to let his daughter do before meals: setting the table.
Ji Wanmei was tidying up her old things in her room. Many of these things had been lost during her previous life when she moved many times. After many years, Ji Wanmei still felt nostalgic when she thought about them.
Now she stands in her bedroom, and everything she sees evokes a deep sense of emotion.
She reached out, her fingertips tracing over the old furniture and ornaments from twenty or thirty years ago, the authentic touch resonating in her heart.
Ji Wanmei picked up the photo frame on the table and looked at the smiling girl in the photo.
How wonderful, this is her eighteenth birthday!
Hearing her father call her, Ji Wanmei put down the photo frame, turned around, and replied, "Yes, I'm here!"
She went out of the house to get bowls and chopsticks from the cupboard by the kitchen door.
Stacks of azure blue, white porcelain bowls were arranged in the cupboard, but there were only the father and daughter in the house, so they only used those two sets of bowls and chopsticks.
There were also two long plates in the cupboard. Because Ji Wanmei loved eating fish since she was a child, Ji Xingguo specially learned how to cook various kinds of fish. These two large plates were specially used to serve braised fish.
After setting the bowls and chopsticks on the table, Ji Wanmei saw that the table was full of her favorite dishes.
The sweet and sour pork ribs, still steaming hot, were freshly scooped from the pot. The caramelized sugar was beautifully colored, glistening with a crystalline sheen, and sprinkled with white sesame seeds, making them look incredibly appetizing.
There's also shredded potato and pork, with a touch of green pepper for color. The shredded pork is tender and the potatoes are refreshing without being greasy.
Next to it was a plate of stir-fried fresh seasonal vegetables and a large bowl of egg drop soup.
For two people, a meal consisting of three dishes and a soup was considered quite good in the late 1980s.
Ji Wanmei bent down and took a sniff of the aroma. It was that familiar scent, the scent of home that she would miss for many years to come.
"Mmm, it smells so good!"
After washing his hands, Ji Xingguo took off his apron and came out of the kitchen: "Hurry up and sit down to eat, the ribs won't taste good if they get cold."
Ji Wanmei smiled at her father, picked up her chopsticks, and put a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs into her mouth. The sweet, sour, and tender ribs instantly made contact with her taste buds on her tongue. The chewy and springy rib meat was very delicious!
Moreover, the pork at that time was not injected with ractopamine, so it tasted especially delicious.
Ji Xingguo didn't rush to eat, but asked his daughter, "How is it? Dad's cooking skills haven't gotten worse, have they?"
As Ji Wanmei ate, she said, "Not only has he not regressed, but he's actually improved. If you ask me, with Dad's skills, he could open a restaurant after he retires!"
Ji Xingguo beamed with joy at his daughter's praise, and he also picked up a piece of pork rib and put it in his mouth. Today, his cooking skills were as good as ever, and this sweet and sour pork rib was indeed very well made.
Ji Wanmei usually has a small appetite and can't eat much, but today she forced herself to eat two whole bowls of white rice, savoring the taste she missed.
Of the three dishes and one soup on the table, only a little soup remained in the soup bowl; the other dishes were almost completely eaten.
Her appetite surprised even Ji Xingguo.
You should know that in the past, my daughter would eat at most one bowl of rice per meal, especially at night, she didn't eat much.
"You like Dad's sweet and sour pork ribs so much?" Ji Xingguo chuckled. "I'll make them for you again tomorrow."
"No, I don't want it anymore." Ji Wanmei wiped her mouth. "Tomorrow I want to eat Dad's braised fish!"
“Okay. We’ll have braised fish tomorrow!” Ji Xingguo readily agreed.
After finishing the meal, Ji Xingguo calmly began to get to the point.
"Meimei, tell Dad the truth, do you look down on Yang Zhiping, or do you not want to find a partner so early?"
Ji Wanmei knew her father would ask this question again.
She decided to be even more explicit: "Dad, I might go to anyone, but I will absolutely never go to Yang Zhiping. I just can't stand him. He's hypocritical, sanctimonious, and neither he nor his son are good people."
Speaking of this, Ji Wanmei couldn't help but remind him, "Dad, you should also pay more attention to Deputy Factory Director Yang. After all, he controls the factory's finances and external sales, and many interests are involved. He's not as loyal and honest as he seems on the surface."
"Think about it, people inside and outside the factory who want to do business with him or get orders, don't they treat him to a meal? Give him a gift? Put in a red envelope?"
“You are the factory director, the top leader of the factory. Naturally, those below you wouldn’t dare to directly ask you for these dirty tricks. But it’s different for Deputy Director Yang. His position is special. He has both power and is in a key position in terms of interests and personnel.”
"How many people in this position are clean? But the fact that he has been able to distance himself from everything for so many years doesn't mean he hasn't embezzled or skimmed money; it just means he's a good actor and even fooled you!"
After Ji Wanmei finished speaking, Ji Xingguo's expression also became serious.
But what surprised Ji Xingguo even more was the change in his daughter.
Before, his daughter, pampered and spoiled, was like a delicate flower grown in a greenhouse, an obedient and well-behaved girl. But these social niceties and the other side of human nature were simply another world to her.
But now, his daughter was able to speak to him so calmly and clearly, which surprised Ji Xingguo.
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