Chapter 67 Dinner at the Yang Family's House
The Yang family's dinner was rather simple.
Although Yang Qiaomai has a fixed monthly income these days, she still has to set aside a portion to save for the monthly rent.
Moreover, Yang Qiaomai is not young anymore, so she is planning ahead.
Yang Xianu also planned to help him save more money, so that he could eventually buy his own house.
So normally, I would just stir-fry a couple of vegetarian dishes, blanch the leftover ingredients from the restaurant, or simply cook some noodles with kimchi and cured meat from home.
Although we no longer have the ingredients for hot pot, we still bring back some scraps of sweets and desserts every day.
For this reason, Yang Xianu made sure Xu Tianqiao brushed her teeth carefully before going to bed.
I'm afraid my perfectly good teeth will get cavities.
The weather has been hot these past few days, and I can manage to have a meal with just kimchi and rice.
Today, because guests had come to visit, Yang Xiaonu took out all the leftover cured meat from the previous Chinese New Year, heated it up, sliced it, and stir-fried it with the washed scallion leaves of the sweet buckwheat.
I also asked Yang Qiaomai to run errands and buy half a pound of pork and tofu from the street. I made a dish of stir-fried pork with chili and glutinous rice cakes.
I quickly made a ginger-flavored cowpea and vegetable tofu egg drop soup.
The dishes were almost ready, but she noticed there weren't enough plates on the table, so she grabbed two more plates of her homemade pickled vegetables.
Pickled cabbage and pickled radish are perfect to eat at this time of year; they are both sweet and sour, which is quite appetizing.
By the time the kimchi was served, the steamed rice in the wooden bucket was also ready.
Yang Xianu quickly prepared a dipping sauce by mixing chili powder, Sichuan peppercorn powder, salt, vinegar, and sugar. She then poured hot oil over it and stirred it in. Once mixed, it could be served with the cooked steamed rice and turned into delicious tofu rice.
Sweet buckwheat can't handle too much spice, so she made it sweet and sour with a little bit of chili.
Once the food was served, the lights in the main room were turned on.
Guo Baiwen had just finished listening to what had happened to Guo Banshan in the city that day, and was pondering it when the Yang siblings invited him to sit down and eat.
I forgot to tell Grandma first that I wouldn't be coming home for dinner today.
Fortunately, Xiao Hua knew that he had come to the Yang family.
I imagine they'll eat by themselves before I even get back.
So, at Yang Qiaomai's invitation, he also picked up his bowl and chopsticks.
Guo Baiwen thought that since it was not easy to find work in the county town, he might as well call Guo Banshan to come and help out at his shop.
But before they could even get started, Guo Banshan stopped them.
"Wenzai, let me try again, three days, just three days."
"If I really can't find a job that suits me, I'll go to your shop and take a look." Although he can't use his arms anymore, even if he can no longer farm, he is unwilling to admit that he is now a useless person.
Moreover, "Before we came to the city, my father told me about your family's situation, including the land we rented before. My family owes you a debt of gratitude!"
How could I possibly continue to trouble other people's families?
Guo Banshan didn't think he had that kind of thick skin.
Since he had said that, Guo Baiwen could only nod silently.
Since he couldn't help with this matter, he thought that Guo Banshan had entered the county town without much money on him and without a place to stay.
It wouldn't be right to refuse my help again, would it?
Guo Baiwen started to speak, but halfway through his sentence, Yang Qiaomai and Yang Xianu, who had been eating and listening quietly, also stopped eating and looked at each other.
"Why don't you stay at my house for the next few days, Brother Banshan?" Yang Qiaomai suggested.
Guo Banshan was taken aback upon hearing this and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "How could I possibly accept this?"
Guo Baiwen also turned his head curiously.
Yang Qiaomai was thinking that he went to work at the Guo family's house every day, and he had seen the small building behind the Guo family's house and knew that there were no extra rooms.
The shopkeeper was worried that his fellow villagers would have nowhere to stay, and the man from the mountainside himself said that if he couldn't find a job in the county town within three days, he would go back.
Instead of troubling the shopkeeper and then having to worry about how to arrange a room for yourself, it's better to stay at your own home for a few days first.
Seeing this, Yang Xiaonu also spoke up to explain, "You saw it when you were outside just now. The west side of the city isn't very good. Our courtyard is so big, but there aren't many people living here, so it's inevitable that we'll feel a little uneasy sleeping at night."
Although Yang Qiaomai is very reliable, she is still quite young and is often away from home.
Even though she and Tianqiao had a black dog, they still didn't dare to go out freely because of the habits they had developed in Huaihua Alley.
Yang Xianu had been thinking about renting a courtyard house with her family again.
But after all, there aren't many people I know in the county town, and I don't know their backgrounds or whether they're easy to get along with.
So we had no choice but to give up for the time being.
It was only at this point that Guo Banshan said he wanted to find a place to stay temporarily.
We just happened to run into each other.
Moreover, the courtyard where they lived was supposed to have three rooms, but the room on the left had been divided into two, serving as both the kitchen and the dining room.
Of the three remaining rooms in the main house, only Yang Qiaomai lives there now.
Although the room on the right has also been divided into two, Tianqiao is still sleeping with Yang Xianu because she is still young.
The remaining room is currently unoccupied because it is next to a separately partitioned toilet room.
If it's just for a few days, Guo Banshan could either squeeze in with Yang Qiaomai, or simply clear out the room on the left side where they're currently eating and make room for others.
There are plenty of rooms on both sides, enough to comfortably accommodate two more people.
When Guo Banshan heard what Yang Qiaomai and Yang Xianu said, he originally didn't want to trouble them, but now he realized that it was because they were worried about his family's safety.
Having eaten the meal, he felt he could at least offer some assistance.
So he swallowed his initial refusal, glanced at Guo Baiwen, thought for a moment, and said, "How about this, I'll stay for three days first, and if I can find a suitable job, I'll give you the money I paid for this single room."
Yang Qiaomai panicked, "How can I ask you for rent again?"
Guo Banshan waved his hand, "Brother Yang, let me finish speaking first," he said earnestly, "We've only just met, and you're only willing to believe me because of Bawen."
After learning that Guo Baiwen was now the owner of Yangqiaomai, Guo Banshan stopped calling him "Wenzai" and started calling him "Bawen".
He himself didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Guo Baiwen felt uncomfortable listening to it.
Fortunately, his name isn't the main point.
Then Guo Banshan continued, "I can only rent this room from you if I can find a suitable job." He was very open-minded, "Being able to stay for three days for free, and having you treat me to a meal today, is already a great bargain for me."
Even if I really can't find a suitable job, "when I go back to the village, I'll ask someone to send you some mountain produce."
Seeing that the Yang siblings were about to refuse, he quickly explained, "It's nothing very precious, just some wild mushrooms or chestnuts."
"To borrow what you just said, these are just things we've been drying ourselves, they're not worth much."
Now that things have come to this point, neither Guo Baiwen nor the Yang siblings have any reason to refuse anymore.
After a moment's thought, it was decided that Guo Banshan would temporarily stay at the Yang family's house.
After finishing their meal, the group shared their opinions on the two-colored rice dumpling candies that Guo Baiwen had brought that day.
This is a new dessert he tried making after he accidentally won a lot of matcha powder in a sign-in event, and since it was around the Dragon Boat Festival.
Because after being kneaded into long sections, they were specially cut into the shape of zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) with scissors, and they also came in two different flavors.
Although the green matcha rice dumpling candy looks more like a traditional rice dumpling eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, it received mixed reviews. Xu Tianqiao even frankly stated that she didn't like the taste of matcha and found it a bit bitter.
The brown pine nut rice dumpling candy, however, received unanimous praise.
Guo Baiwen secretly made a mental note of it, planning to increase the sweetness of the matcha rice dumpling candy when he got back.
Seeing that it was getting late, after helping the Yang family settle Guo Banshan into his room for the night, he bid farewell and returned home.
When Guo Baiwen returned home that evening, he told Grandma Guo about what had happened that day. She was seen pacing back and forth restlessly.
"Now that you've run into your brother Banshan, why don't you bring him home to live with you?"
Upon hearing that Guo Banshan was temporarily staying at Yang Qiaomai's house and only planned to try his luck finding work for another three days, Grandma Guo could only sigh heavily and sit down again.
She secretly shared the same thoughts as Guo Baiwen.
They're all from the same village. Since they can't find work in the county town, they can just help out at their own shop.
They'll get their wages and food in no time.
But Guo Banshan is clearly a person with his own opinions; otherwise, Uncle Shi wouldn't have been troubled for so long because of this son.
Thinking back to the situation she saw at Guo Shitou's house when she last returned to the village, Grandma Guo still couldn't help but feel a little worried.
So she said to Guo Baiwen, "Wenzi, we don't need to wait three more days. In two days, Grandma will secretly ask Qiaomai about his recent situation."
"You don't need to help out at the shop during this time. Whether you're on your way to the academy or asking your classmates at school, keep an eye out for your brother Banshan and see if there are any suitable jobs for him."
"That's natural," Guo Baiwen nodded, only saying that he would definitely keep a close eye on things privately these next few days.
Now that everything has been explained, one of them has to open a shop tomorrow, and the other has to go to school.
The two then returned to their respective rooms, heavy with worry, and turned off the lights to rest.
If only Guo Banshan could find a suitable job in Xiuning County.
Regardless of how much money he can earn, at least Guo Shitou's gray hair will grow less. When Grandma Guo saw him last time she went back, she was quite frightened.
The white hair on his head had almost caught up with his own without him realizing it.
I just hope everything goes well for their family from now on.
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Author's Note: I'm getting married tomorrow, the 25th, so I'm asking for leave in advance. Updates will resume as usual the day after tomorrow. [heart emoji]
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