The second day of the Lunar New Year was the day for married daughters to return to their maternal homes. Many women who had married into the village took their children and bundled up various gifts to visit their families. Early that morning, Wu Jun’s aunt arrived at Red Star Brigade on her bicycle, accompanied by her son and daughter.
Just as she entered the village and dismounted to walk her bike, she ran into Widow Li. Widow Li had lost her husband, had no relatives to visit, and her own family lived far away. So while the other women in the village were busy, she was the only one idling about.
“Oh my, isn’t this Jun’s aunt? Why are you arriving in the village so early, and with all these bags and bundles? It looks like you’ve emptied out your husband’s whole house! What mother-in-law could tolerate that?” Widow Li’s words rang out like a theatrical performance, drawing the villagers’ attention. Wu Jun’s aunt rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Well, if it isn’t Tiedan’s wife! What’s the matter? Do I need your permission to bring things to my own parents’ home?” Mindful of her children on the bicycle, Aunt Wu really didn’t want to waste time arguing with this troublemaker. She pushed her bike and prepared to move on.
“If you ask me, a daughter should be like Wu Lili—always thinking of her parents and bringing them all the good food,” said Lin Pandi, a woman in the village notorious for favoring sons over daughters, as she watched the scene unfold. “Someone like you, who got married and never brings anything back to your family—you’re nothing but a loss-maker.”
“Pah! You old woman, you’ll die without a son to carry on your name!” Widow Li shot back without backing down.
“Better that than being a barren hen who can’t lay eggs and is cursed to kill her husband!”
…
“Little Aunt, why are you here so early?” Wu Jun said, seeing his cousins strapped to his aunt’s bicycle. Feeling sorry for them, he unfastened the harness and picked up little Bao. “Look, Dabao and Xiaobao haven’t even woken up yet.”
“Brother, I missed you so much!” Dabao, sitting in the back seat, rubbed his eyes and said in a sweet, milky voice.
“Never mind that—let’s get inside first. The moment I entered the village, I ran into that troublemaker.”
“Lili, why didn’t Changzheng come with you today?” Grandma Wu asked, finding it strange that her son-in-law wasn’t there. After all, in all their years of marriage, Changzheng had always accompanied his wife home for the New Year.
“Ah, Mom, you don’t even know. Changzheng’s younger brother had some trouble back in his hometown, and his parents called him back to deal with it. I don’t even want to talk about my in-laws. Every time something comes up, they call Changzheng, but all the benefits always go to the younger son. Who knows what he’s done this time? They won’t even let us have a peaceful New Year.” The thought of her husband’s family gave Aunt Wu a splitting headache.
“Mom, Mom, I want to go out and play!” Dabao and Xiaobao had rarely come to the village, and their little bottoms couldn’t stay still in the house.
“Little Aunt, let me take Dabao and Xiaobao out to play.” Wu Jun called to little Tong, who was sitting in the main hall hugging Gray Wolf and not saying a word, to come outside with them.
“Brother, why is this uncle so small?” Xiaobao asked innocently.
“This is your little uncle, so of course he’s small!” Wu Jun took the three little ones to find other children in the village to play with.
Back in the main hall, Aunt Wu asked, “Dad, why was Little Uncle Tong here at our house so early this morning?”
Grandpa Wu then recounted what had happened the day before.
After hearing the story, Aunt Wu sighed. “Every family has its own troubles. Jun is 17 after the New Year. Is he going back to work in the fields this year?”
“I spoke with his uncle yesterday. When spring comes, he’ll go back to work. There’s no reason for a grown young man to keep hiding away over a small matter. Besides, I can see that he’s completely moved past the shadow of Li Xue.” Grandpa Wu was relieved to see the change in his grandson.
“It’s all over the county these days. That girl Li Xue—wasn’t she supposed to get engaged to the son of the Revolutionary Committee’s deputy director? I heard that something was wrong with her—nobody knows what—and the deputy director’s son looked down on her and called off the engagement. Now everyone is laughing at her family. They broke off the engagement with Jun hoping to climb higher, but not only did they fail to climb, they fell flat on their faces. She must have done something bad, otherwise, why would an engagement that was about to happen fall through? It’s going to be hard for Li Xue to find another match from now on…”
There was a hint of pity in Little Aunt Wu’s voice as she spoke of Li Xue. “If you ask me, that girl was just cursed with a mother like that. Otherwise, she and Jun could have been so happy together!”
Wu Jun had just come back after wandering around outside for a while. Hearing this, he quickly interjected, “Please, Little Aunt, don’t even say that. I couldn’t handle it. I want nothing more than to stay far away from her. She has high standards, and I wouldn’t want to hold her back.”
“Little Aunt was just talking, that’s all. Why are you getting so worked up? Where are your two nephews? Why are you back so soon?” Not seeing her own children, Little Aunt Wu asked hurriedly.
“They’re in the yard. Little Uncle Tong is playing with them and the puppy. Some of the aunties outside started teasing little Tong as soon as they saw him. I thought it was inappropriate, so I brought everyone back inside.”
“That was the right thing to do. There are a lot of people visiting relatives in the village during this time. Little Tong should stay away from crowded places as much as possible, to avoid giving anyone more reason to gossip,” Grandpa Wu said.
Seeing that there was nothing left for him to do, Wu Jun headed to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
He opened the things Little Aunt had brought and found several links of fragrant cured sausage. After thinking for a moment, he summoned the refrigerator and took out a small piece of beef and some seasonings. For the main course, he decided to make braised pork trotters. The trotters were from the last time the village slaughtered a pig, and they had been saving them. For the rice dish, he decided to splurge a little and make a cured sausage and beef clay pot rice. He would also stir-fry some napa cabbage to round out the meal.
With the plan set, he first boiled the pork trotters in cold water and skimmed off the foam. Then he used a small scraper to remove any hair and impurities from the surface of the trotters, chopped them into pieces, and marinated them with salt and soy sauce.
He blanched the cured sausage in hot water, carefully peeled off the casing, and sliced it. He sliced the beef and marinated it in cooking wine. He gathered all the rice in the house and estimated there would be enough. After washing the rice, he placed it in a clay pot, layered the sliced sausage and beef on top, added water, and began cooking. The key to clay pot rice was controlling the heat. If the fire was too high, the rice around the edges would cook while the center remained undercooked.
When the rice was almost done, Wu Jun started on the braised pork trotters. The dish was actually quite simple. He put the trotters in a pot with soy sauce, ginger, and other aromatics, added water, and let it simmer slowly. When the sauce had reduced, he gave it a quick stir-fry and it was ready.
Both dishes had rich, bold aromas. The adults in the main hall could handle it, but the three little ones and the puppy playing in the yard could not. From the moment the fragrance wafted out, they ran back and forth to the kitchen multiple times, begging Wu Jun for meat. If it weren’t for the danger of the kitchen fire, they probably would have stayed in the kitchen the whole time.
Sure enough, as soon as Wu Jun finished stir-frying the cabbage, the three children abandoned the wooden rocking horse they had been playing with and gathered at the kitchen door, staring at Wu Jun.
Wu Jun smiled helplessly. “Go wash your hands. We’re eating soon.”
“Yay!” The children ran off to wash their hands. Little Aunt Wu helped carry the dishes to the main hall. Looking at the two dishes and the pot of rice, she sighed in admiration, “Jun, your cooking skills are getting better and better. It smells so delicious!”
“With all these ingredients, anyone could make something like this,” Grandpa Wu said, trying to downplay it.
“Grandpa, I want to eat meat, lots of meat!” said little Bao impatiently.
“Be good, little Bao. Don’t mind your grandpa. Grandma will give you some meat, okay?” Grandma Wu said as she picked out a few tender pieces of pork trotter and put them into the three children’s bowls.
Wu Tong looked at the pork trotter in his bowl, deeply moved. He loved eating pork trotters, but ever since his sister-in-law got pregnant, she had never bought them for him again.
As Wu Jun savored the tender, melt-in-your-mouth pork trotters, he thought to himself that next time, he should invite Brother Gong over for a meal. After all, that man had helped him greatly.