Braised pork belly
I led Zhi back home, and the sun was about to set.
Xu Tangmian turned on the kitchen light and taught Zhi Meizi to write her name on a twig at the kitchen door. Then, while Zhi Meizi was practicing calligraphy, Xu Tangmian cooked a meal.
But she didn't know how to start a fire. She wanted to roast some sweet potatoes, but she failed miserably and even coughed from the smoke.
Zhi Meizi heard the noise and came to check on her. She saw that Xu Tangmian's nose and cheeks were covered in ash, and she covered her mouth and giggled. After laughing, she snatched the firewood from Xu Tangmian's hand and offered, "Teacher Xu, let me help you."
“Okay.” Xu Tangmian didn’t refuse. She stood up, straightened her back, and patted the dust off her hands. She smiled and said, “You haven’t eaten either, have you? Let’s eat sweet potatoes together.”
Zhi Meizi replied "okay" and turned back to smile at her, but her eyes suddenly looked up and her smile gradually disappeared.
Xu Tangmian was puzzled and turned around to look. Yu Chunsheng was standing at the door pushing a cart, his eyes fixed on the dimly lit kitchen.
The two stared at each other for a long time without saying a word. Finally, Yu Chunsheng took the initiative to joke, "Teacher Xu, you're really amazing to have a child help you cook."
Xu Tangmian didn't know why he had come back. At first, she was pleasantly surprised to see him, but once she calmed down, she couldn't help but want to argue with him.
Hearing this, she added sarcastically, "Yes, yes, I'm a capitalist who gets dragged to hang streetlights in the middle of the night, so of course I'm careful with my money. Hiring child labor is nothing; if she doesn't work well, I'll whip her."
"Teacher Xu, please don't hit me, I want to go home, waaaaah..." Upon hearing this, Zhi Meizi stopped throwing firewood and, wiping away her tears, prepared to go home.
"Don't cry, don't cry, the teacher was just joking with him." Xu Tangmian didn't expect the child to take it seriously. She didn't have time to argue with Yu Chunsheng. She quickly squatted down and hugged Zhi Meizi, coaxing and kissing her until she finally calmed down.
She said, "Does the teacher look like a bad person?"
Zhi Meizi shook her head, "The teacher is very beautiful, she doesn't look like a bad person at all."
Xu Tangmian pouted, "That's right, the teacher wasn't a bad person to begin with."
"Teacher, could you please stop saying that? It will scare away people who want to be your friends."
Xu Tangmian's heart softened, and she said in a low voice, "You want to be friends with your teacher? Okay, I won't do that again."
Yu Chunsheng snorted and said quietly, "Even a child understands this."
Xu Tangmian turned around impatiently, "Weren't you leaving? Why are you back again?"
"You think I wanted to come back?" Yu Chunsheng leaned against the support frame and walked straight towards the bedroom.
Xu Tangmian followed behind him, shouting, "What are you doing! I'm not allowed in your room!"
She wasn't very strong, and Yu Chunsheng entered the bedroom as if it were his own home, went straight to the wardrobe, and took out some money.
Seeing that he was there for the money, Xu Tangmian stopped saying anything.
That wasn't her money to begin with, so it's understandable that he would take it if they were getting a divorce.
Yu Chunsheng stuffed the money into his pocket and left. As he passed the kitchen door, he saw the three characters "Wang Xiazhi" on the ground and seemed to understand something. He asked Xiazhi, "It's late. Shall I take you home? You've met me before. I even delivered corn cobs to your family a few days ago."
Zhi nodded and walked over. "You're Uncle Yu."
Yu Chunsheng asked her with a smile, "Do you prefer to sit in the back or the front?"
Zhi Meizi walked to the front and said, "I like to sit on the main beam."
Yu Chunsheng frowned slightly: "The main beam is the butt."
Zhi picked her nose: "The back seat squeezes my butt."
Yu Chunsheng smiled, picked her up with one hand, carried her onto the beam, and left without saying goodbye.
Seeing his indifference, Xu Tangmian felt a pang of jealousy. She pouted and went back to the kitchen, where she sat alone in front of the stove, poking at sweet potatoes.
After a while, a woman's exclamation came from outside the door: "Teacher Xu!"
The name sounded familiar, and Xu Tangmian stood up to look at it, her face full of confusion: "Teacher Li? What brings you here..."
Li Yutao, beaming with smiles, turned around carrying a string of pork, revealing Yu Chunsheng pushing the cart; Zhi Meizi jumped off the bicycle crossbar, holding a handful of chestnuts high above her head.
What a harmonious family of three. Xu Tangmian completely ignored Yu Chunsheng and asked in surprise, "What's going on with you...?"
Li Yutao took a step back and hugged Zhi Meizi, "Teacher Xu, really, if you're going to argue, why did you kick Brother Yu out?"
"What's going on between you two...?" Xu Tangmian was increasingly confused.
She explained, "Zhi Meizi's younger brother, Wang Shunyi, is a student in my class. He beat up a classmate during class during the day, so I was going to visit his home. On the way, my car got a flat tire and I had to push it to a repair shop. They told me to pick it up tomorrow. Luckily, I ran into Brother Yu on the way."
So this person went to her colleague to seek justice, right? Xu Tangmian put her hands on her hips and looked at Yu Chunsheng with indignation.
Yu Chunsheng probably guessed what she was thinking. He took the pork belly from Li Yutao and went into the kitchen to get busy. Without looking up, he said, "I didn't say anything. She insisted on coming to play with you."
"Oh, I was just bored." Li Yutao let go of Zhi Meizi and then casually took Xu Tangmian's arm. "I haven't visited since you got married, so I bought some meat on the roadside and came straight over."
Then, in a fit of pique, she complained, "Teacher Xu, Comrade Yu Chunsheng's cycling skills are really terrible. He threw me into a ditch when we were almost home. Did you two do it on purpose? Are you ganging up on me?"
Xu Tangmian was completely confused. She was a bit slow to warm up to people but also very competitive. If you argued with her or acted tough, she could still exchange a few words, but if you talked about feelings, she wasn't so easy to get close to.
Li Yutao's overly familiar behavior left her completely bewildered, so she awkwardly said, "To be honest, I really don't know what to say. If you want to come to my house, you're welcome anytime. But as you can see, there's nothing fun here."
"It's alright." Li Yutao looked around like she was the owner of the house. "Isn't everything here the same? Who's any better than whom? Apart from Comrade Yu Chunsheng's cycling skills, I think your house is pretty good."
Yu Chunsheng, who was chopping vegetables nearby, couldn't stand it anymore and couldn't help but defend himself: "If you hadn't been swaying around, I would never have ridden into the ditch."
"You should replace that old bicycle as soon as possible. It's squeezing my butt so hard that I wobble."
Zhi covered her mouth and giggled. Yu Chunsheng, surrounded by three women, couldn't stand it anymore and waved his hand, both amused and exasperated: "Why don't you go back to your room and talk? Don't disturb me while I'm cooking."
Xu Tangmian still didn't understand what was going on. It seemed she could only ask him properly after the guests left.
For now, she'll leave it at that. Firstly, she doesn't want her colleagues to know about her whirlwind marriage and divorce, which could cause trouble later, prevent her from getting the letter of introduction, and invite gossip. On the surface, she still has to pretend to be a model couple.
Secondly, at least there would be food to eat. She had to admit that her life lacked someone to cook, and separating from Yu Chunsheng right now wasn't a good choice. She would certainly learn to cook in the future, but at least tonight she didn't have to make do with braised pork.
The three returned to Xu Tangmian's bedroom. Xu Tangmian turned on the light, led Zhi to the writing desk, tore off some paper for her, and taught her to write. Then, in a high-pitched voice, she asked, "Zhi, didn't Uncle Yu take you home?"
"Dad is hitting my younger brother."
Xu Tangmian: "?"
A seemingly random sentence... Xu Tangmian then cast a pleading look at Li Yutao.
"Didn't I fall into the ditch? I went to your clinic to get some medicine. The doctor at your clinic is quite good-looking, I think he's no worse than your husband."
"Get to the point." Xu Tangmian could no longer contain herself.
"I thought he was good-looking and wanted to chat with him more, so I told your husband to go back and get the money and come pick me up later. But the doctor didn't listen to me at all. I was bored and thought I shouldn't waste time and should get the important business done. Just then, your husband took Zhi back home."
She beckoned with her finger, and Xu Tangmian leaned in to listen to her whisper, "I saw that Zhi's eyes were glued to the meat in my hand, so I told her parents that she could stay with us tonight."
Xu Tangmian sensed something was off: "Us?"
"Oh, then don't worry about that." Li Yutao waved her hand. "It's you guys. If I didn't say that, would the parents feel comfortable letting the little girl come over?" She leaned closer and whispered, "I heard from Yu Chunsheng that she's never eaten meat before. It's so pitiful."
Xu Tangmian looked at Wang Xiazhi, who was writing carefully stroke by stroke, and sighed, "You really are something... Don't do this again."
“Special cases are handled specially.” Li Yutao said casually, “She’s not wrong, her family is beating her younger brother right now, she’s crying her eyes out… who knows how long this will go on tonight, so it’s better to let her come here to hide and enjoy some peace and quiet.”
Just as he finished speaking, several sounds came from the window.
Yu Chunsheng stood by the window, grinning widely as he waved a roasted sweet potato, its aroma filling the room. Zhi Meizi jumped up, opened the window, took the sweet potato, and said sweetly, "Thank you, Uncle Yu."
“I baked it…” Xu Tangmian couldn’t help but speak up for herself.
After a while, the braised pork was ready, and the aroma of the meat filled the whole house.
Fortunately, Yu Chunsheng had bought stools during the day, so the four of them were now crammed together at one table, which made it quite lively.
Compared to Yu Chunsheng's group of colleagues, Li Yutao could be considered a VIP guest. Everything was prepared for them except for the firecrackers.
Not only did she carry braised pork, but she also brought a can of malted milk powder and even canned fruit. Xu Tangmian was stunned. Was this really Li Yutao, the girl who taught at the same school as her?
Li Yutao didn't mind, and grabbed a handful of fruit candies from her pocket and handed them to Zhi Meizi, who was already eager to eat meat. She teased her, saying, "I'll leave these candies at Teacher Xu's house. You can only eat them after you've learned to write. Don't give them to that naughty little brother of yours, and don't tell him either."
Zhi nodded hurriedly: "I won't tell my brother."
Xu Tangmian asked bluntly, "Teacher Li, we both teach at the same school, how come you're so wealthy?"
"Really? You're rich now?" Li Yutao chuckled. "When you're visiting someone's home, you naturally have to be presentable. Don't be fooled by my generosity now; I'll have to tighten my belt when I get back."
Xu Tangmian believed her and used her untouched chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat for her: "You paid for it, so eat it. Don't really let yourself go hungry."
Li Yutao put the meat back into Zhi Meizi's bowl, saying, "I've gained weight again, I can't eat anymore, you guys eat it."
Xu Tangmian said, "I just ate lunch, so let's give it to Sister Zhi."
Zhi Meizi is only ten years old. Before, she could only drink soup. This is the first time she has eaten meat. Just smelling the aroma of meat makes her mouth water. Today, she was given permission by her parents not to go home. Without adult supervision, how could she understand the courtesy of adults? She immediately accepted it all with a smile.
In short, no one offered any compliments to Yu Chunsheng, no matter how many times they tried to shirk responsibility. Seeing his face growing increasingly dark, Li Yutao smiled and said, "This child, have you forgotten who cooked this meal?"
Zhi Meizi placed another piece of meat into Yu Chunsheng's bowl, saying, "Thank you, Uncle Yu, your cooking is delicious."
Yu Chunsheng then smiled, "You're welcome. If Sister Zhi thinks it's delicious, then this pig wasn't slaughtered in vain."
The temperature dropped at night, and the wind chilled them to the bone, so they deliberately closed the door. The group ate and laughed, completely unaware that a torrential downpour had begun outside.
After eating and drinking her fill, Li Yutao got up to leave.
It was inappropriate for a woman like her to walk on the street at night, not to mention adults, even a child like Zhi Meizi felt it was inappropriate. She tugged at her clothes and said, "Teacher Li, don't go, sleep with me."
Yu Chunsheng's luggage was temporarily stored at the repair shop when he picked up Li Yutao. Fortunately, there was a winter quilt left at home, so he specially took it out and laid it out, intending to leave it for Zhi Meizi and Xu Tangmian to sleep on.
Although Xu Tangmian was reluctant to let Yu Chunsheng sleep in her unwashed bed, she would rather sleep with Zhi Meizi than have Yu Chunsheng sleep with her.
It was raining so hard outside. Even if Xu Tangmian had the heart to let Yu Chunsheng get wet, Li Yutao, being a woman, couldn't go back in the rain either. So she joined Zhi Meizi in persuading, "Teacher Li, please make do with staying here for one night. We'll go to school together tomorrow."
Li Yutao didn't stand on ceremony with them and pulled Zhi Meizi's hand towards the bed in the living room: "Alright, it's already a big disturbance that we've been staying at your house. How can the three of us squeeze into one bed? You two should sleep there."
After saying that, she winked, covered Zhi's ears, and said meaningfully, "There are children here, so don't do anything bad."
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