Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Radish Meatballs
When Li Hongying came back from the fields, she saw Miao Ying and her grandmother huddled together, sitting around a sewing basket. They looked quite harmonious.
She was puzzled. After not seeing him for the whole morning, how could her grandmother, who had always had the strongest prejudice against Miao Yingcheng, now be able to talk to him so kindly? She looked at Miao Ying with a complicated expression. When they first got married, he hadn't even bothered to say a few words to them. How could he be a completely different person after his brain injury?
She can cook, treat Xiaobao nicely, and show filial piety to her grandmother.
If he can be like this in the future, will the family be settled?
Li Hongying took a closer look. Miao Ying's profile was very beautiful in the sunlight. With such a look, could he settle down in the village? So she quickly shook her head. She couldn't be fooled by his appearance. He was just asking their family to nurse him back to health. He wasn't sincere.
Miao Ying drew many shapes in her grandmother's sewing basket, all of which her grandmother had never seen before, including clever cats, cute dogs, fat ducks and some things that she couldn't even tell what they were.
Li Hongying put down what she was holding and came over to take a look. Huo Xiaobao took her hand and showed her the picture Miao Ying had drawn on the ground. "Mom, this is a cat drawn by my sister-in-law."
Miao Ying raised his head upon hearing this and smiled at Li Hongying: "Mom, grandma and I are drawing a pattern, take a look."
Li Hongying also saw the things that Miao Ying drew, and for a moment she thought they were very cute.
Before she could say anything, Miao Ying said, "Embroider these and I'll negotiate the price with the shopkeeper. I guarantee they'll sell better than the previous handkerchiefs."
Li Hongying looked at his genuine expression and wondered if he had any conspiracy.
Miao Ying quickly shook his head: "I really don't have any other thoughts. I did a lot of wrong things before, and you let me recuperate at home without any grudges. I also want to recover some of the losses I suffered before."
Li Hongying raised her eyebrows but did not comment. Perhaps she felt that making this handkerchief seemed to be really profitable, so she washed her hands and began to embroider the handkerchief.
Miao Ying only saw their fingers flying, and soon their outlines appeared. He felt that their movements were even faster than a machine.
Especially the grandmother, her hair is all gray, but her movements are comparable to Li Hongying's. There is no confusion in her eyes like that of ordinary old women. Her eyes are very clear and bright, so she can still embroider at this age.
The two of them started embroidering handkerchiefs, and Miao Ying had nothing to do. It was already noon, and they were embroidering so enthusiastically that they seemed to have forgotten about cooking. Miao Ying then took Huo Xiaobao to the vegetable garden to get some vegetables to cook.
Huo Xiaobao was very familiar with his own vegetable garden. He ran there and started pulling radishes. Miao Ying had no choice but to let him go.
They carried the two radishes home. Miao Ying looked at the kitchen and saw that many seasonings were missing. He sighed and thought that it was not Li Hongying's fault that her cooking was not tasty. There were simply too few ingredients to use, so nothing tasted good.
Not daring to touch yesterday's chicken, he washed the radish and cut it into thin strips. After getting Li Hongying's consent, he beat an egg and sprinkled a handful of flour on it, preparing to make radish balls. However, after rolling the balls, he suddenly remembered that there was no oil here and he couldn't fry the balls. So he could only put the rolled balls in the steamer and steam them slowly.
However, the radish balls steamed in this way have no taste. They can only taste better by adding seasonings. But there is nothing in the kitchen except some coarse salt and a little soy sauce. Miao Ying sighed and could only make do with it.
I steamed about ten radish balls and cooked some kimchi soup with kimchi. Only after it was done did I call them to eat.
Li Hongying finally realized that it was already past noon. Looking at the prepared meal in front of her, she was stunned: "What did you want the eggs for just now?"
"I made some carrot balls, but they might not be very tasty." Miao Ying smiled and said, "Try them with grandma."
Soon, my grandmother also stood up and came over. The four of us gathered around the small table. A dozen radish balls were placed on the table, and each person had a bowl of kimchi soup in front of them. It was a proper meal.
Grandma tasted the radish meatballs first. They had a light radish fragrance, some egg flavor, and a rough texture of mixed noodles in the middle. Although it couldn’t be said to be extremely delicious, it was one of the most delicious things they had ever eaten. After all, it was made of radish.
The meatballs are soft and tender, perfect for grandma to eat, and paired with the sour taste of kimchi soup, they are also a rare treat to go with rice.
Soon, most of the meatballs on the table were eaten. Huo Xiaobao was a good boy who was not picky about food. He ate the radish meatballs with great relish. After finishing his own bowl, he looked at Miao Ying eagerly and asked if he could have them in the future. Miao Ying said of course he could.
After they finished eating, just as they were about to clear the table, Huo San staggered out of the room. Only then did Miao Ying remember that there was such a person in the house.
He was sober now and had forgotten that he was knocked unconscious by Huo Xing. He just thought that he had a stiff neck from sleeping, which caused the pain in his neck. When he was not drinking, he looked a bit like a human being, but he got angry when he saw the empty table.
This anger was naturally directed at Miao Ying. He scolded Miao Ying, accusing him of disrespecting his elders and brought up some things from the past.
Miao Yingneng was kind to his grandmother and Li Hongying, but he couldn't be kind to the alcoholic Huo San: "If you drink less horse urine, everyone will look up to you."
Huo San's face turned pale when he heard this, and he wanted to rush over to hit him. His grandmother stopped Miao Ying and looked at Huo San: "You've been getting worse and worse in the past two years! Are you going to hit Ah Xing's husband?"
Huo San looked at his mother in disbelief: "He is still Ah Xing's husband? He ran off with someone else, that bitch!"
"As long as Ah Xing hasn't divorced him, he's still Ah Xing's husband." Li Hongying said with a gloomy face, "Eat your meal, and then go and weed the wheat field!"
Huo San was embarrassed. Seeing that there was only a bowl of kimchi soup on the table and nothing else, he said, "How can I eat this?"
Li Hongying looked at him coldly: "You spent all the money on drinking, what good food can you have!"
Huo San cursed, drank a bowl of kimchi soup, threw the bowl away and went out again.
After he left, Miao Ying felt dizzy. Huo Xiaobao hugged his legs and Miao Ying was able to stand firmly.
Li Hongying gave him a good look: "Take the medicine and go to sleep."
Miao Ying nodded. His body had not fully recovered yet, so he naturally did not dare to show off.
For the next few days, Huo San came home drunk every night. Huo Xing was not at home. He would make a fuss at home and then fall asleep. Li Hongying would then drag him back to his room.
Li Hongying didn't care much about the things happening in the fields during the day, as they were not important matters. She spent most of her time embroidering handkerchiefs with her grandmother. They could almost finish two handkerchiefs in half a day, and after five days they had already finished more than ten handkerchiefs.
Their embroidery skills are naturally impeccable. Miao Ying even feels that his painting is not that good. It is all thanks to their embroidery skills that the handkerchief can be embroidered so vividly.
Miao Ying had finished his medicine a long time ago. He has been feeling much better recently. He no longer feels dizzy easily, and the wound on his head is slowly healing. However, he really can't stand the dirtiness of his hair.
After Miao Ying's repeated requests, Li Hongying finally agreed to help him wash his hair.
He couldn't wash his hair directly, so he could only wet the ends of his hair and then use soap nuts to wash it. Li Hongying helped him apply medicine on the wound, and the wound was no longer bloody and was slowly healing.
After washing his hair, he could only rely on the sun without a hair dryer. He sat in the yard, wiping his hair with a handkerchief with one hand, while Huo Xiaobao was also wiping his hair with the other side. Huo Xiaobao had been with him these days, and the two had become closer. At this moment, Huo Xiaobao looked like a farmhand working for a landlord, working hard and not feeling tired at all.
When Huo Xing entered the yard, he saw Miao Ying smiling at Huo Xiaobao, with some wet hair draped over his shoulders. There was a hint of dark color on his indigo clothes, and his face seemed to be thinner than before he left.
The moment he saw Huo Xing, Miao Ying's eyes lit up. He held Huo Xiaobao's shoulders and stood up straight: "Why are you back?"
Huo Xing handed him the medicine bag in his arms: "Your medicine."
Miao Ying quickly took the medicine and smiled at him. At this time, Li Hongying and grandmother also came over. They looked Huo Xing up and down and found that he had lost some weight. They also knew that it must be very difficult for him to work outside, so Li Hongying turned to Miao Ying and told him to stew the chicken.
Miao Ying's eyes brightened. After putting down the medicine bag, he went into the kitchen and took out the chicken that had been cut into several pieces from a few days ago from the cabinet.
The neck and feet had been eaten the same day, and Miao Ying took out half of the chicken. He could not cook anything else with it, so he could only stew it. He chopped the chicken a little while calling his mother, asking her to go to the vegetable garden and pick two radishes.
Li Hongying agreed and took Huo Xiaobao out. Her grandmother was still embroidering the handkerchief. Huo Xing didn't bring any luggage, so after everyone in the yard dispersed, he followed her into the kitchen.
Miao Ying was about to chop the chicken with a knife, but Huo Xing grabbed his wrist as he raised the knife: "Let me do it."
Miao Ying quickly asked him to come, as his body still didn't have enough strength, so he sat by the stove to light the fire. Huo Xing chopped the chicken neatly and quickly.
Huo Xing was about to throw the chicken into the pot when Miao Ying quickly stopped him: "Stir-fry the chicken first to release some oil."
This chicken is very fat, and there is a thick layer of fat under the skin. It looks like it can produce a lot of chicken oil.
Soon the chicken was put into the pot, and a sizzling sound was heard. After a while, the chicken oil came out. After scooping out the chicken pieces, Miao Ying carefully collected the chicken oil in a bowl.
Then they started to stew the chicken. When putting the chicken into the pot, Miao Ying also put two pieces of pickled cabbage into the pot. Soon the aroma of chicken soup came out. At this time, Li Hongying also came back. She washed the radish. Miao Ying cut the radish into pieces and put it into the chicken soup pot. He used some chicken oil to stir-fry some cabbage. Li Hongying also steamed some mixed flour steamed bread on the side.
This was the most sumptuous meal Miao Ying had ever had in all the time he had been here.
At the table, Li Hongying asked Huo Xing if he was leaving. Huo Xing said he just came back to deliver some medicine and had to go back to work tomorrow.
Miao Ying looked at him and said, "Can you take us to the county town tomorrow? Mother and grandmother have made a lot of handkerchiefs, and I want to sell them in the county town."
Huo Xing nodded: "Okay."
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