The quarrel between the Fang family next door last night did not disturb Shuying's sleep quality. At 6:30 this morning, she was sitting in the kitchen having breakfast.
She cooked some porridge and steamed rice. Her husband especially likes to eat eels.
Look, he killed a few more early in the morning. How could Shuying not satisfy her man's small request?
In addition to the eel dish, Shuying also made a plate of fried sweet potato pancakes.
The sweet potatoes were brought to her family by Gao Dasao, who had just given her husband a dustpan filled with a lot of sweet potatoes when he went to return the tables and chairs to her family next door.
Little girl Ying Chenyi wanted to eat steamed bread slices, but Shuying didn't fry steamed bread slices for her early in the morning, but fried a small plate of sweet potato cakes.
Steam the sweet potato until it is soft, add some sugar, milk and flour, press it into a cake, brush both sides with oil and fry it.
The kitchen smelled delicious at this moment, filled with the sweet flavor of sweet potato cakes.
Chen Yi, who was playing in the front yard, had already smelled the aroma of Lao Xiang. He was already lying on the ground beside the kitchen wall with half of his face exposed, drooling.
Shuying had already noticed the child behind her. She had no intention of giving the child the freshly fried sweet potato cakes, but she turned back and glanced at the child. Seeing the little boy's eager look, Shuying's heart softened.
I picked up a piece of the sweet potato pancake that was fried the earliest and not too hot and gave it to the child to eat.
Yesterday at noon, Chen Yi had lunch at Gao Yuan's house and ate a lot of sweet potatoes. He was a little disgusted at first, but the sweet potato cake in his hand was so fragrant that Chen Yi took a bite.
The crispy, fragrant and sweet sweet potato pancakes were no worse than fried steamed bread slices. Chen Yi's eyes lit up and he took several bites, his little mouth full of oil.
After eating a few bites of sweet potato cake, Chen Yi did not forget her younger brother this time and said, "Auntie, can I have one more piece for Xiaoyuan?"
Shuying was very happy that her child got along well with the brothers from the Gao family next door, not to mention that the sweet potatoes were specially sent to her family by Mrs. Gao.
How could Shuying disagree?
She simply took a small plate and put five fried sweet potato cakes on it and asked the kid to deliver it to the Gao family. The Gao family gave each person one cake, and she told the child, "Don't steal any. We still have plenty. After delivering the cake, go home and have breakfast!"
He just wanted to give a piece to his younger brother, but when he saw that the aunt took five pieces, the freshly fried sweet potato pancakes were much less. Chen Yi felt a little painful, and his fair and tender face was a little confused.
When Shuying was passing the plate, she saw the boy's pained look, which made her so happy that she smiled and pinched his chubby cheeks: "These sweet potatoes are sent by Gao Yuan's family. We still have a lot at home, enough for you to eat. Go quickly and come back soon!"
As soon as the plate was handed over, Chen Yi obediently took the plate and went out.
Shuying was not worried because the Gao family was very close next door, just a few steps away.
Chen Yi took the plate to the next door. Chen Xi had just returned from his last trip to Gao's house to deliver a bowl. He entered the kitchen and smelled the fragrance. He saw his wife frying sweet potato cakes, so he picked up a piece of the cake and fed it to his wife first. Shuying took a few bites and stopped eating. Chen Xi stuffed the rest into his mouth and ate it himself.
Chen Xi also likes to eat the slightly sweet and burnt sweet potato cakes. His wife made them this morning, and it was probably because Chen Yi was craving for them.
Chen Xi felt that his wife was too good to that boy and doted on him too much, to the point that he was a little jealous.
Chen Xi said in a deep voice: "Next time, ignore what the child wants to eat!"
Shuying was busy frying sweet potato pancakes and had no time to say anything. She nodded, but in her heart she thought there was no need to listen to this man.
It’s okay if there are no conditions at home, but if there are conditions, it’s not a big deal for the child to want to eat some snacks. She was also greedy when she was a child.
The door to the courtyard of the neighboring Mrs. Gao's house was not closed, so Chen Yi went straight in with the plate.
The three Gao brothers were chasing each other in the front yard.
Gao Yuan, who had the brightest eyes, saw Chen Yi bringing the plate. He rolled his eyes and stopped playing with his two brothers. He ran to Chen Yi, his eyes glued to the cakes on the plate, and said, "Big brother, what delicious food did Aunt Yang make again? I smelled the aroma of Lao Xiang in the small courtyard just now!"
Chen Yi said in a baby voice: "My aunt asked me to bring some food to your house. This is called sweet potato cake, fried in oil, and it's delicious, much better than the boiled sweet potatoes you have!"
When Gao Yuan heard about sweet potato cakes, his face looked a little worried, because his family ate sweet potatoes every day, but they were not tasty. But when he heard his eldest brother say that they were many times more delicious, Gao Yuan's eyes lit up.
Chen Yi gave him a piece to eat.
At this time, Gao Zhi and Gao Xiang saw Chen Yi carrying a plate to their house, and they knew there was something delicious. Their little faces were particularly happy and they hurried over and asked, "Brother, why are you carrying a plate to my house?"
While asking, I saw that the third brother had already started eating some cake, which tasted very delicious.
Both of them were drooling.
Gao Yuan had already taken several bites of the sweet potato pancake. The eldest brother really didn't lie to him. It was very delicious, just like the steamed bun last time. Gao Yuan's eyes lit up as he ate it. He even boasted to his two brothers, Gao Zhigao, about how delicious the sweet potato pancake was.
Everyone who was greedy for Gao Zhigao wanted to beat him up.
Mrs. Gao, who was busy in the kitchen, heard the noise and hurried out, only to see Chen Yi bringing something to her family.
When she saw the greasy fried cakes, Mrs. Gao thought that Chen Tuan and Yang Meizi were living a really good life.
However, there are only a few people in Chen Tuan's family, so the pressure is not great and they can afford to eat well.
But wouldn't Mrs. Gao, who is used to being frugal, feel a little distressed?
Chen Yi was in a hurry to go back and eat her sweet potato cakes, so she quickly handed the plate to Mrs. Gao.
After finishing a piece of sweet potato cake in a few bites, Gao Yuan wanted to eat pancakes again. So he said to Mrs. Gao, "Mom, this is the sweet potato cake made by Aunt Yang. It's delicious, much better than the sweet potato cakes we have at home!"
Sweet potato pancakes?
Mrs. Gao was amazed that sweet potatoes could be used to make cakes. Before, she mostly steamed and boiled them. Mrs. Gao was not going to accept the offer at first, but when she heard it was sweet potato cakes, she accepted it.
As soon as Mrs. Gao answered the phone, Chen Yi ran home.
Gao Yuan subconsciously wanted to follow, but was taken back to the main room by Gao's wife. He poured a few pieces of sweet potato cakes from the plate into his own bowl, gave one piece to the two children in the family, and tasted one piece himself.
Gao Yuan, who had finished his pancake long ago, saw that everyone had pancakes but he didn't. Gao Yuan drooled and burst into tears.
It was only then that Mrs. Gao tore off half a piece of the cake and gave it to the boy that Gao Yuan stopped crying and ate the cake with relish.
The sweet potato cake tastes really good.
It was so burnt and slightly sweet that even Mrs. Gao couldn't resist it. She ate half a piece in two or three bites and still felt a little unsatisfied.
Not to mention the children.
Fried foods are particularly attractive to children.
Gao Zhi and Gao Xiang were eating with their eyes wide open. They didn't expect the sweet potato cake to be so delicious. They hurriedly asked, "Mom, can we make this cake next time? It's so delicious!"
At this time, Gao Tuanzao, who had just finished washing up and came into the main room from the backyard, smelled the fragrance and hurriedly asked his wife what she wanted to eat.
Mrs. Gao gave the last sweet potato cake to her husband and told him about the sweet potato cakes sent by Yang Meizi next door. "I saw you and the third brother went to Yang Meizi's house last night and had a lot of delicious food. Yang Meizi also sent a bowl of vegetables home. I felt bad and sent a basket of sweet potatoes early in the morning. But Yang Meizi sent these fried sweet potato cakes not long after."
Mrs. Gao was full of praise for Miss Yang.
Gao Tuan also took a few bites and found it tasted really good, much better than the sweet potatoes steamed by his own wife.
Gao Tuan said: "Wife, when will we do this occasionally?" Look how much the child loves eating it. It doesn't matter if he spends some money on oil!
Gao Zhigao nodded frantically to the three Gao Yuan brothers and looked at his mother eagerly.
Mrs. Gao tasted the food and found it was indeed delicious. She was thinking about when to make it, but she said, "It takes a lot of oil to fry sweet potato cakes. I'll think about it later!"
Gao Tuan ate the delicious food cooked by Yang Meizi last night and smelled the aroma of Lao Xiang's food again this morning. When Chen Tuan just returned the bowls, chopsticks, chairs and table, he asked what was cooked in his family. He heard that the neighbors cooked braised yellow eel this morning.
Last night, there were three dishes that Chen Tuan liked the most at home. Two were braised yellow eel and loach, and the other was chopped pepper fish.
Fish is too expensive for the family to afford, but eels and loaches are fine. He only found out last night that eels and loaches with a strong earthy smell are really delicious when cooked.
Gao Tuan couldn't forget the braised yellow eel and loach. He immediately said to Gao Dasao: "Wife, I asked Chen Tuan and he said a big bucket of yellow eel and loach only costs 80 cents. How about you see if there is any at the market next time? We can also make braised yellow eel and loach at home? Ask your sister-in-law how to make it?"
Last night, Miss Yang also picked up several eels and loaches with her chopsticks. She tasted them last night and they were really delicious, without any earthy smell. They were even better than meat!
Seeing that her man was so greedy, Mrs. Gao naturally agreed and said that she would ask Miss Yang for advice when the time came.
The three children of the Gao family were finally happy. Although they didn't have sweet potato cakes to eat, they had delicious food to eat.
The Shuying family next door has already sat down to eat. On the table is a big bowl of braised yellow eel, a pile of sweet potato cakes, and a plate of stir-fried cabbage.
There was a dish called braised yellow eel. Chen Xi had a good appetite and only used his chopsticks to pick up this dish. Shuying now knew how much this man loved this dish.
While Chen Xi was eating, he would always pick up some food with his chopsticks and put it in his wife's bowl so that she could eat more. He also picked up some for Chen Yi.
Chen Yi particularly likes fried cakes, but Shu Ying only let him eat a few pieces this time and wouldn't let him eat any more.
But this time the food at home was delicious, and he also liked eating eels. He buried his head in his meal and ate it with great relish, taking a mouthful of white rice and another mouthful of eel slices.
Wow, it’s so delicious!
Chen Xi suddenly said, "Wife, Gao Tuan just asked what delicious dishes we have cooked!"
Chen Xi now feels quite sympathetic towards Gao Tuan. The food his wife cooks smells so good and she is also very generous with her sews, unlike other sisters-in-law who are particularly frugal.
He liked this very much.
His salary and savings are enough for his family to eat well, so there is no need to save more.
Shuying had never expected that the small courtyard was not so well enclosed, and the aroma of cooking would spread to both sides of the house.
She tried closing the kitchen door while cooking, but it was no use.
She is now quite glad that she lives in the backyard, a bit far away from the mud brick house in front. If she lived in a mud brick house, she would probably offend a lot of people if she cooked every day.
People of this generation are used to saving money, no matter whether their families are well-off or not. Money depreciates quickly in the future, and she is too lazy to save, so she would rather eat what she has.
Besides, as the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. These days she has been preparing delicious food for the two men, one big and one small, every day. If she ever starts to save money, I am afraid that the first ones to get used to it will be the two men, one big and one small, in front of her.
Shuying was about to reply when she heard knocking on the door outside the courtyard. Shuying asked the two to eat first and she got up to go out.
After opening the door, Mrs. Gao, who was not returning the plate, picked a bunch of sweet potato vines for Shuying's family and told her that the leaves and peeled sweet potato vines were delicious when cooked.
Shuying didn't expect Mrs. Gao to be so polite, but she still liked the current interaction between her and Mrs. Gao.
No matter what Mrs. Gao gave her, the thought was nice.
Seeing that Mrs. Gao really wanted to give it to Shuying, he accepted it. In the future, no matter what delicious food he made, it would not be a big deal to share it with the children of the Gao family next door.
"Sister, sister-in-law wants to talk to you about something!" said Mrs. Gao.
Shuying then learned that Gao Tuan was addicted to eating eels. So Gao's wife specifically asked her where she bought the eels from the market and how to cook them.
Shuying thought that the next market might not have eels and loaches, so she just asked Gao Dasao to buy some and call her over, and she would teach her step by step. Even if she told her now, Gao Dasao might not remember everything.
"Oh, that's great, Sister Yang thanks you so much!" Mrs. Gao now really feels more and more comfortable with Sister Yang.
Before leaving, Mrs. Gao specifically encouraged her to teach at the military junior high school, and told her that if she wanted to go, she could help her inquire about it.
"No need, sister-in-law, I'm not in a hurry. I have a child at home!" said Shuying.
Mrs. Gao had long known that Chen Yi's child was Chen Tuan's nephew.
Speaking of which, Yang Meizi, the biological aunt, treats the child better than the biological mother. How could an ordinary biological aunt be so good to her own nephew?
She now truly feels that it is not Yang Meizi who is lucky to marry Chen Tuan, but Chen Tuan who is extremely lucky to marry a daughter-in-law like Yang Meizi who is sensible and not petty.
Mrs. Gao suggested, "The child is five years old now, so he is a little young. When he is older, he can go to primary school in the military area next year. Then he and my brothers will have company."
The two talked for a few more sentences before Mrs. Gao left.
After closing the door, Shuying was thinking about what Mrs. Gao had just said. She had just arrived at the military region and had not really thought about her children going to school. By next year, the children would be old enough to go to school.
Shuyingling was about to return to the main room with a bunch of sweet potato vines when the couple from the Fang family next door started quarreling again.
Shuying put the plates in the kitchen and the sweet potato vines in an empty dustpan in the backyard. When she entered the living room, the quarrel next door was getting louder and louder. Shuying remembered that her husband went out to persuade the quarrel last night and came back with a sullen face a few minutes later.
At that time, her husband looked very ugly.
Yesterday she was busy all afternoon cooking a large table of food and was exhausted. She just wanted to sleep and had no time to gossip. At this moment, Shuying asked curiously, "What happened to Deputy Fang's family last night? Why are they still arguing this morning?"
Now, Chen Xi recalled that when he just arrived at Fang's house last night, he heard the man from Deputy Tuan's family scolding his wife as a "fox, a fox, and a spirit".
His stern face suddenly sank, and now when he thought about what happened last night, a few veins on his forehead still popped up. Shuying had never seen her man look so ugly before.
Chen Xi had almost finished his meal, so he cleared the bowl and said, "Don't worry about the Fang family's affairs from now on!"
After he said this, Shuying became even more curious.
Chen Yi ate and drank her fill, and with her greasy little mouth pouting, she reminded Shu Ying, "Auntie, eat!"
Shuying immediately wiped him with a handkerchief and told him to go play with the Gao brothers next door.
After the children went out, Shuying went to the kitchen, and the man stood in front of the sink washing the dishes carefully.
Men who do their housework seriously are the most handsome.
At first, this man had never washed dishes before, and he even broke a bowl the first time he did it. Now look how skilled he is.
Shuying wanted to help wash the dishes, but Chen Xi stopped her: "Let me do it, don't get involved!"
oops!
Why is the man she married so considerate?
After washing the dishes and putting them in the cupboard, I looked at the time and realized that Chen Xi had to leave.
Shuying asked him if he would go home for lunch later.
The man replied: "I'll have lunch in the cafeteria. I'm busy at noon!"
"become!"
Before leaving, Chen Xi asked her to leave the weeds in the front yard alone while he would weed them when he had time.
Shuying agreed verbally, but in his heart he still planned to do something within his ability.
These few times, all her clothes were hand-washed and hung out to dry by this man.
If her mother knew that after she followed her husband to the army, her husband did everything except cooking, washing clothes and dishes, she would probably scold her to death.
Chen Xi had just walked out of the courtyard with his military cap on when, unfortunately, he ran into Fang Boran who was just passing by the gate of his courtyard.
When Fang Boran saw Chen Tuan, his face froze and he said hello in a lack of confidence, then ran away in a hurry like a mouse seeing a cat.
Chen Xi left with a cold face.
In the morning, the shadows of the trees covered the grass in the front yard. It was not until noon that the children came back. I don’t know where they picked a lot of red hawthorns.
Several children put a lot of hawthorns in their pockets.
The three Gao brothers are very fond of Shuying now. They even bring the hawthorns they picked to her house for her to eat.
"Auntie, eat what's here, it's sweet!" Chen Yi picked out the biggest and reddest fruit from his pocket for her to eat. Shuying took it and tasted it. It was so sour that her teeth broke.
Several children also took a hawthorn and stuffed it into their mouths. Their little faces were grimacing with sour taste, but they still stuffed hawthorn into their mouths even though the taste was too sour.
Yes, there are almost no snacks in this era, and it is good to have sweet and sour hawthorn.
However, the hawthorns were too sour, so Shuying did not recommend eating too much of them. She asked the children to put all the hawthorns in an empty dustpan in her front yard.
She'll have time to make them something delicious later.
The three Gao brothers were not unhappy after hearing this. The food cooked by Aunt Yang was delicious. The three Gao brothers were afraid that Shuying would regret it later, so they quickly emptied all the hawthorns in their pocket into the winnowing basket.
After putting away the empty winnowing baskets, the three Gao brothers went home to have lunch. Shuying took Chen Yi to have lunch.
She kept lunch simple, making smashed cucumber and a dish of stir-fried sweet potato stalks with pork slices, and two large and small rice dishes as side dishes. The peeled sweet potato stalks fried with meat tasted very good.
After lunch, Shuying helped the children clean the sour hawthorns. Chen Yi helped wash them. His big black eyes were particularly bright and he asked curiously, "Auntie, what delicious food should we make?"