The day we returned to Beijing happened to be a Saturday. We had been away for nearly a month and were all exhausted. After returning to school and submitting our reports, we each went home to see our mothers. A day and a half was just the right time for us to have a good rest.
When Shen Anning returned home with the specialties she bought from Sichuan, her grandparents happened to be having lunch with Xixi. When they saw Shen Anning coming in with two large bags, the three of them immediately got down from the dining table.
Grandma Shen touched Shen Anning’s face and said, “Oh, put down your bag quickly. I’ve lost weight when I go out to see my eldest granddaughter this time.”
Shen Zixi also hugged her aunt's legs, "Yes, grandma is right, aunt has lost weight, she must not have eaten well."
Accompanying grandparents and little niece for lunch, I took out some local specialties for them to try. The spicy rabbit meat was fragrant and spicy. When Shen Anning bought it, she asked them to make it with less chili peppers. It was only a little spicy. Shen Zixi's mouth turned red after eating it, and she still felt a little unsatisfied.
After dinner, I made an appointment with Xixi to pick her up after class in the afternoon, and brought her a lot of local specialties to share with her friends at school. Watching her grandparents send Xixi to school, Shen Anning took a bath, lay in the quilt, smelled the familiar smell, and fell asleep quickly and soundly.
She slept until 4:30 in the afternoon. Looking at herself in the mirror with a chicken coop hair, Shen An Ning was still a little dazed. She splashed cold water on her face, changed her clothes, and went downstairs. Her grandparents were not at home. They must have gone for a walk somewhere.
She left a note, telling her grandparents to wait for her to bring Xixi back to make dinner.
It was not yet time for the workers to get off work, so there were not many people on the road. I rode my bike around a few times with a vegetable basket hanging on the handlebars. When I arrived at the elementary school, the class was still going on.
When Shen Zixi was queuing in the small playground, she saw Shen Anning standing at the door, and waved and shouted across the iron fence: "Auntie, Auntie, I'm here!"
“Hey, Shen Zixi, is that your aunt?”
"Yes, of course, my aunt is beautiful." The little girl raised her chin, feeling extremely proud. Her classmates ate the delicious food she brought in the afternoon, and they knew that it was bought by her aunt. They were already envious, and now they saw her aunt coming to take her out, they were even more envious!
As soon as the door opened, Ana Shen saw a small cannonball rushing towards her, and she had no choice but to open her arms to catch her, “Xixi, you are already a big girl, don’t run so fast next time, what if you fall?”
"Aunt, you will catch me. I am a grown-up girl, but you are still my aunt!"
He tapped the tip of the little girl's nose and said, "I can't argue with you. Let's get in the car and go home!"
Shen Zixi sat on the front handlebar of the bicycle, kicking up her feet all the way, humming the songs she learned at school. It was almost November, and the weather was not that hot, but when she saw someone selling popsicles on the roadside, Shen Zixi couldn't help but glance at them several times.
"No, you can't eat popsicles, and you're not allowed to act like a spoiled brat."
"Okay, Auntie, I want to eat sweet and sour pork and spare ribs tonight."
The little sister was quite good at backing off. "Pot-fried pork and spare ribs are fine, but we don't have dried beans at home. How about sweet and sour spare ribs?"
Shen Zixi was anxious, turned around and said: "Yes, yes, Xiaoxue and the others sent me a big bag. My great-grandfather and great-grandmother brought it back and put it in the kitchen cabinet."
Shen Anning was a little amused. "Oh, really? It seems that our Xixi is very popular. Did you send some delicious food to Xiaoxue? And your little brothers and sisters are all waiting for things from you, the big sister."
After being teased by Shen Anning, Shen Zixi felt a little embarrassed. When she was in the Northeast, she was too noisy and won over a group of children of her age who recognized her as the boss.
Fortunately, she put some vegetables and meat in the basket when she was riding her bike just now, including pork, ribs, and a processed chicken. Everyone in the family will be back tonight, so Shen Anning took the little girl to Quanjude to buy a roast duck.
"We have the meat and ribs, and we have roast duck. Is there anything else you want?"
Shen Zixi thought about it seriously, "Huh? We have all kinds of delicious food at home. My uncle brought me a lot of food when he came back a few days ago." Since there was really nothing else they needed, the two of them took the roast duck home.
As soon as Shen Zixi got home, she ran back to her room. Her parents would be back in the evening, so she wanted to change into something nicer first.
Shen An Ning ignored her and went into the kitchen to process the ingredients she brought back: two pounds of pork tenderloin, four ribs, and a handful of celery. In the kitchen were also the loofah and white radish that her grandparents bought that morning.
She was busy at school and came home late, so it was a rare occasion for her to cook. She cut the pork into thin slices, added seasonings and marinated it for a while, chopped the ribs into small pieces, cut the celery into long strips, cut the white radish into shreds, cut the loofah into dice, soaked the dried beans in water, chopped the onions, ginger and garlic and put them on a plate for later use, and put the whole chicken, a few red dates and wolfberries in the stove to slow cook.
After the preparations were done, Shen's father, Shen's mother, An Yu and An Xuan also came back. When they saw that the person in the kitchen was Shen An Ning, Shen Anyu and Shen An Xuan smiled happily. They hadn't seen their eldest sister for a month and they were still a little uncomfortable. Moreover, the smell of chicken soup was very fragrant. They were hungry!
She heated up some oil in a pan and fried the battered meat slices first, leaving some oil to stir-fry a plate of celery and shredded pork. The pork ribs and green beans needed to be stewed for a longer time, so she used a second pan.
Sweet and sour pork, pork ribs stewed with beans, shredded radish, fried sponge gourd with eggs, chicken soup,
Including the roast duck, there are exactly five dishes and one soup. The staple food is two-grain noodles and white flour buns. After the meal is ready, the people waiting for the meal are also dazzled by the aroma.
Shen Anyu and Shen Anxuan had already developed a tacit understanding. They served the dishes and took the bowls and chopsticks, called the family to eat, and sat down consciously after setting the tableware.
Peng Cheng waited with chopsticks for his father-in-law to move, then picked up a piece of pork ribs and put it in his mouth. "I'll start cooking today when An Ning comes back. Uncle hasn't eaten your cooking in a long time."
"I'm so lucky. I rarely come back for dinner, and I happen to meet my sister." Peng Zhe looked at his father with a smug smile on his face, which made Peng Cheng want to hit him twice.
Shen Zixi was too busy eating to talk to anyone, her little mouth kept moving to accept the feeding from her father, and after eating a few chopsticks, Shen Anxuan got up and served a bowl of chicken soup to the family.
Chicken soup must be drunk while it's hot. Everyone was slurping it up. When Peng Zhe was about to say a few words to express his feelings, Liu Manxue stood up quickly, covered her mouth and ran to the bathroom.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
