Back home, Yang Wanwan chopped a bowl of pork belly, mixed in chopped fresh water chestnuts, added salt, seasoned it well, and then rolled it into meatballs.
Shang Tao helped knead the dough, and after kneading one, he put it in a winnowing basket.
Futaba is washing kelp and pig's trotters with warm water.
After starting a fire, Erye put pig's trotters into the stew pot. This is a dish for tomorrow: pig's trotters and kelp soup.
After the fire simmered down to a low flame, Yang Wanwan and Erye caught a large rooster, weighing about seven or eight pounds. They killed the chicken, boiled water, plucked its feathers, gutted it, and cleaned it. This would be another dish for tomorrow: poached chicken.
After finishing all that, at 5:30, Yang Wanwan took out the small stove she planned to use for hot pot the next day, put in charcoal, and then placed the small aluminum pot on it.
There are copper hot pots for sale in the market, but they are quite expensive, and their family doesn't need to spend that money.
I added pork trotter and kelp soup to the aluminum pot, along with small pieces of fresh chicken, raw meatballs, and tofu puffs that I had just made. After a while, I added the leftover fish jelly from yesterday.
The pot was bubbling away, filling the air with a wonderful aroma.
At six o'clock, the door was closed, and the three siblings sat down around the table with vegetables laid out to one side.
Yang Wanwan mixed garlic, chili peppers, vinegar, and soy sauce to make a dipping sauce. She ladled out three small bowls, one for each person, and said, "I made dipping sauce. Dip your food in it if you want."
With Shang Tao's cheerful shouts, the siblings reached into the pot with their chopsticks. Shang Tao picked up a meatball, took a bite, and exclaimed, "It's so delicious!"
Yang Wanwan added some garland chrysanthemum and spinach. As the food steamed, Er Ye said, "Big sister, your idea is really good! Stewing pig's trotters is so oily, but the garland chrysanthemum and spinach balance out the oil, making it taste really good."
Shang Tao's face beamed with a smile. "Big sister, this year's New Year was truly abundant. Since Mom and Dad passed away, this has been the most satisfying year I've had. I didn't have to skimp on meat or oil. Look, I've gained weight again! Try these tofu puffs, they're so sweet and delicious! They're all made from chicken, fish, and meatball soup!"
Yang Wanwan patted Shang Tao's head. "Look at Shang Tao, he won't even eat pig's trotters anymore, he only eats tofu puffs. If it were before, he would definitely only eat pig's trotters. This is all we deserve for our hard work in the second half of the year. This year, my siblings and I will work together to make our lives better and better."
The younger siblings all nodded with smiles.
Just as they were enjoying their meal, they suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.
Shang Tao ran to the window and looked out. He was stunned and didn't know who he saw. He said, "Sister, who is this? I don't recognize her."
Yang Wanwan and Erye also went over.
Outside the window stood a boy dressed in sportswear.
He was tall and slender, but a bit thin.
She is exceptionally good-looking.
With his sharply defined features, resolute and composed demeanor, and a faint smile in his eyes, he looked both noble and handsome.
Yang Wanwan paused for a moment, then murmured, "Pan Yiming?"
Shang Tao exclaimed as he opened the door, hurriedly asking, "Pan Yiming? You're Pan Yiming? You must be kidding me!"
The boy smiled, a smile as bright as the stars, "Shang Tao."
I saw the Yang sisters again, "Wanwan, Erye."
Shang Tao looked up at Pan Yiming: "Pan Yiming, you really scared me to death! Are you still my classmate? Look at the state you've become... you're unrecognizable..."
Pan the mute looked at Yang Wanwan and replied to Shang Tao, "Shang Tao, you'd better be prepared in the future, I'll keep scaring you."
Yang Wanwan smiled; Pan the Mute had already learned to joke.
Shang Tao stared at Pan Yaba's prominent Adam's apple and muttered, "I'm still a child, and you're already a man."
...
Er Ye and Yang Wanwan couldn't help but laugh.
As for Pan the Mute...
Her face turned red.
He glanced at Yang Wanwan, then quickly turned his face away, looking somewhat nervous.
Yang Wanwan patted Shang Tao's head. "Little brat, what do you know about being a man? You're just talking nonsense!"
Shang Tao scratched his head: "Of course I know! Pan Yiming looks like a real man, he knows how to do *that*..."
Pan the Mute (who knows...)
Yang Wanwan stared blankly at Pan the Mute, whose face had suddenly turned as red as a blush, for a moment, then laughed even harder.
Having lived for over thirty years, she didn't find such topics particularly strange, nor did she take them too seriously.
Besides, she always treated Pan the mute as a child, just like Shang Tao.
Besides, Shang Tao is quirky and unpredictable; what exactly is "that thing"?
Although it doesn't feel so natural to treat him like a child now.
But Pan the Mute, who knew what he was talking about, was like a cat whose tail had been guessed. He stumbled a few times before walking in, interrupting Shang Tao's incessant chatter: "Shang, Shang Tao, I brought you a book."
Shang Tao: "Is it a book about boys becoming men? We learn about it in biology class, hahaha..."
Pan the mute looked at Shang Tao, feeling extremely embarrassed, while glancing at Yang Wanwan out of the corner of his eye.
Yang Wanwan said with a smile, "Shang Tao, Pan Yiming has come back from such a far place, he must be starving. Why don't you hurry up and call your classmate to eat?"
Shang Tao then let Pan the mute go and invited him to sit down.
Since Pan the Mute went to Shenzhen, he has never written back.
Yang Wanwan didn't know his address, so of course she had no way to contact him.
So, after sitting down, Yang Wanwan asked, "Yiming, what grade are you in now?"
Pan, the mute, looked at the food in the bowl in front of him and couldn't help but swallow, but he looked calm and answered slowly, "Senior year of high school."
"puff……"
Yang Wanwan couldn't hold it in and spat out a mouthful of water. Luckily, she reacted quickly and the water landed on the ground.
Pan the mute took the opportunity to quickly eat a bite of fried tofu.
It's so delicious!
Wanwan's cooking is so delicious!
Shang Tao and Er Ye stared wide-eyed at Pan the Mute.
Shang Tao stammered, "Pan Yiming, you don't have a fever, do you?"
Pan the Mute chuckled: "This semester, I got first place in the whole school in the final exams. I'm sorry, Wanwan, I wanted to finish things before I came to see you, so I haven't written a letter. I worked and earned some money during the Spring Festival, so I came back. But I won't be going home, and no one in the village saw me. I'm going back to Shenzhen tomorrow morning."
Yang Wanwan calmed herself down and asked, "You're so thin, do you study day and night?"
Otherwise, how could Pan the Mute have successfully transferred to the senior year of high school and achieved such good grades?
Pan the Mute nodded: "That's about it."
Yang Wanwan didn't know what to say.
Shang Tao put a meatball on Pan the mute's plate. "Eat, eat. There's no wine at home. If there were, we brothers should have a good drink. It seems that becoming a man really makes a difference. Eldest sister, second sister, I also want to become a man soon."
Yang Wanwan: ...
Futaba: ...
Outside, a biting wind howled, but inside, the air was warm and cozy, filled with delicious broth, tender vegetables, and succulent meats…
The siblings enjoyed the meal immensely.
Pan the mute enjoyed himself the most.
Although he was elegant and unhurried, he ate the most.
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