Lu Zewei inexplicably recalled his time in the military, when he had raised a military dog. Whenever the dog performed well, he would reward it with a piece of steamed bun and pat its head.
Now, he felt like that military dog, never knowing when he might do something to satisfy Liang Xin.
She’s treating him like a dog!
Lu Zewei scowled indignantly, lowered his head, and approached Liang Xin’s hand, snatching the melon seed kernel from her fingertips with his teeth. He chewed vigorously.
The moment her fingertip was touched by warmth and moisture, the midday breeze quickly cooled it again.
Liang Xin gently rubbed her fingers, her gaze from the recliner level with his chest and Adam’s apple.
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he chewed, and his chest trembled slightly.
“Do you want some?”
Noticing Liang Xin’s gaze, Lu Zewei handed her the Canned Sugar Water again. “If you want some, just eat it. No need to feel shy.”
Liang Xin took the spoon, scooped up a portion, and slowly brought it to her lips. She took a small sip of the sugary water, her tongue lightly tracing the sweet seam of her lips. As if sensing something, she looked up and met Lu Zewei’s gaze.
Lu Zewei averted his eyes hastily.
He turned away, his voice breathless and hurried: “The sun is setting. I need to finish sewing quickly.”
As the sun set, Wei Yuanyang, who had spent a full day and night at the police station, was finally brought out by the Party branch secretary from the school’s Party office.
“Yuanyang!”
Wang Hongyan rushed to her son as soon as she saw him return. “Thank you, Secretary Zhou. You know Yuanyang’s character—there must be some misunderstanding. Yuanyang is from a martyr’s family; his father sacrificed his life on the battlefield to protect the country. He would never do anything to disgrace his father.”
“Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not, as a teacher, you must be mindful of your words and actions in public from now on.” Secretary Zhou waved his hand. “Rest well for now. The Party office will need to hold further meetings to discuss your situation.”
“Thank you, Secretary Zhou. Sorry for the trouble. Please take care.”
“Secretary Zhou!”
Wei Yuanyang pulled back his mother, who wanted to chase after him and explain further. Unshaven and utterly exhausted, he said, “Secretary Zhou knows what he’s doing. Don’t make things more complicated.”
“What exactly happened? How did you get arrested as a hooligan?” Wang Hongyan looked at her son with suspicion. “Don’t tell me besides Liang Xin, you’ve been involved with someone else…”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Wei Yuanyang took off his jacket, and the image of Liang Xin stepping back in disgust suddenly surfaced in his mind. He lowered his head to sniff his collar and frowned. “It was Liang Xin who did this.”
“Liang Xin?!”
Wang Hongyan was stunned. “You mean Liang Xin reported you? How is that possible? Didn’t you say she was devoted to you? You’ve been chasing after her like this, and not only did she not soften, but she also sent you to the police station?”
Wei Yuanyang’s heart began to ache dully again.
He had thought that after a night in the police station, his heart had already grown numb from the pain. But now, with his mother bringing it up, the pain returned in waves, leaving him dazed.
“I never expected Liang Xin to hate me this much.”
“It’s over, it’s over! This is truly over!”
Wang Hongyan seemed even more devastated than Wei Yuanyang himself. She slumped into a chair. “If Liang Xin would do this to you, she definitely won’t help you now. Not only will she not help you, but she’ll also do everything in her power to ruin you and prevent you from entering the Lu family.”
“If we really get married, it’ll be Yueji marrying into our family, not me marrying into the Lu family.”
Wei Yuanyang picked up the towel and enamel basin. When he reached for the soap in the middle of the basin stand, his fingers trembled slightly. This soap was something Liang Xin had scrimped and saved to send him.
Remembering the Liang Xin of the past.
Wei Yuanyang felt his eyes sting, and his heart felt as if a rusted saw was constantly sawing at it, never ceasing for a second.
It wasn’t the sharp pain of a knife cut, but it was even harder to bear than one. Every bit of rust seeped into his bloodstream, making him think of Liang Xin incessantly.
Every time he remembered, and then thought of Liang Xin’s current attitude, the pain returned again and again.
He had never imagined or expected that Liang Xin would cause such emotional turmoil in him.
“What are we going to do now?”
Wang Hongyan was both anxious and angry. “You shouldn’t have stayed away for three years without returning even once. And you definitely shouldn’t have humiliated Liang Xin when she came to your school. Even a rabbit will bite when cornered. If you hadn’t pushed her to the brink, you’d be the Lu family’s son-in-law by now. Your Uncle Li would have been transferred back long ago, and Xiao Dong wouldn’t still be suffering on the farm.”
Wei Yuanyang looked silently at his mother.
Wang Hongyan was too distraught to notice the change in her son’s expression and continued her accusations: “You’re a grown man – why don’t you think things through before acting? How can you just do whatever you feel like? When you follow your whims, did you ever think about your Uncle Li, your brother, and me suffering in the countryside? Your Uncle Li does the heaviest work on the farm every day, and even after working he still gets treated with contempt. Your brother gets called ‘puppy’ every day. When they get sick and need to go to the hospital, they have to walk…”
“What about me?”
Wei Yuanyang could bear it no longer and interrupted his mother, his fingers gripping the enamel basin until they turned white. “I had just turned eighteen when the martyr’s subsidy ended, and you immediately signed me up to go work in the countryside. I did the heaviest work there, was looked down upon because of your actions, had to walk long distances when I was sick, without a single cent to my name – did you ever think about me?”
Wang Hongyan was taken aback. “You had Liang Xin! Liang Xin treated you so well. How could your life in the countryside compare to ours!”
Wei Yuanyang felt as if he’d been punched in the chest, his tear ducts instantly stinging. “Your situation was created by you, not by me. On the contrary, all the hardships and suffering I endured in the countryside were caused by you!”
“What nonsense are you talking?”
“Which part of what I said is nonsense!”
Wei Yuanyang’s eyes were red. “If you had insisted on remaining faithful to my father’s memory and taken the job at the service center that the division arranged for you, I wouldn’t have had to go to the countryside at all! If I had stayed in the division, I wouldn’t have had to live under someone else’s roof, dependent on their goodwill!”
“Wei Yuanyang!”
Wang Hongyan’s tears instantly streamed down her face. “How can you say such ungrateful things? Your Uncle Li treats you more importantly than his own son!”
Wei Yuanyang lowered his voice in a furious roar: “But your heart belongs entirely to Uncle Li and Xiao Dong! From the day you got married, my mother was no longer the mother she used to be!”
Wang Hongyan was stunned by these words.
“The year the Korean War ended, I lost my father. At the same time, I lost my mother too.”
Wei Yuanyang stood with his back to the sunlight, facing the shadows. “If you hadn’t gotten married back then, Lu Yueji and I would have grown up together. I wouldn’t have had to betray Liang Xin, wouldn’t have needed to scheme to get close to Uncle Lu. If I’d grown up under the care of those uncles in the 12th Division, I wouldn’t have had to struggle so hard to survive. You’re the one who caused all this.”
The door closed.
Not loudly.
But the sound hit Wang Hongyan like a heavy blow.
She stood frozen for a long moment, then suddenly jumped to her feet and shouted at the door, “Wei Yuanyang, you ungrateful wretch! Unfilial son! I raised you for nothing!”
The cadre with the camera hadn’t taken Lu Chongfeng’s words as a threat.
The next day’s edition of Liberation Daily featured a photo of Lu Chongfeng sewing a quilt – prominently displayed on the second page that all base divisions competed fiercely to appear on. The headline read: “Combat Hero Maintains Military Spirit Despite Mental Challenges!”
The entire article was full of praise.
But having seen how they’d roared with laughter after reading yesterday’s paper, Liang Xin could detect their mocking amusement beneath the laudatory words.
“Zheng Xiaojun!”
Lu Zewei slammed the newspaper onto the dining table. “You just wait!”
“You were sewing a quilt at home yesterday?”
Chief Lu looked surprised at the photo in the newspaper. “Was that really you?”
“So what if it was.”
Lu Chongfeng raised his right hand. “Strenuous tasks like quilt sewing shouldn’t be left to female comrades anymore. What I sewed yesterday was just a six-jin quilt. If it were an eight or ten-jin quilt, female comrades with less strength might not even be able to pull the needle through. Do you know how many times you have to pull the needle through to sew one quilt? One to two hundred times!”
After speaking, without waiting for Chief Lu’s response, Lu Chongfeng turned to Hu Fenglian. “Mom, you’ve worked hard all these years sewing quilts for the whole family.”
Hu Fenglian froze.
Soon her eyes grew moist.
She opened the sugar jar and put three spoonfuls of white sugar into Liang Xin’s bowl. “I really chose a good wife for Chongfeng. Liang Xin, if not for you, even when Chongfeng was well, I wouldn’t have heard such words.”
Liang Xin closed the sugar jar. “That’s enough, Mom.”
Chief Lu said nothing, put down the newspaper, and left.
Lu Chongfeng watched his father’s retreating back.
“Don’t mind him.” Hu Fenglian handed a boiled egg to her son. “You did the right thing. Mom supports you.”
Liang Xin looked at the newspaper Chief Lu had left behind, slowly stirring her newly sweetened porridge.
“Dad won’t get angry with you.”
Lu Zewei thought Liang Xin was concerned about his father’s attitude. “He only gets angry with us three brothers, and only lays hands on us. He’s never said a harsh word to Yueji.”
“That’s right, Liang Xin, don’t be afraid.”
Hu Fenglian quickly patted Liang Xin’s shoulder. “Your father is just like that. Everyone in the entire Military Compound is afraid of him, but he won’t do anything to female comrades. You did well, you did right. Mom praises you.”
Liang Xin nodded.
There was actually no fear on her face at all.
But she liked this feeling of being comforted.
“Since it’s in the newspaper, everyone in the Military Compound will probably see it. What will you do next?”
“Let people say whatever they want. I don’t care.”
Lu Chongfeng crumpled the newspaper and threw it onto the distant sofa. “I’ll get up one hour earlier for morning exercises. If I don’t run into anyone, no one will say anything to my face.”
“Are you planning to give up halfway and not persist anymore?”
“Perseverance?” Lu Zewei looked puzzled. “The quilts are all sewn. What are we persevering with?”
“The reform in household chore distribution between spouses was your proposed preliminary battle for reform.” Liang Xin wore a confused expression. “I thought we had reached a consensus. I’m cooperating with you—did you not take this seriously?”
Lu Zewei: “…You don’t mean to say there are other tasks besides sewing quilts?”
“Of course. Household chores in a marital life aren’t limited to just sewing quilts.”
“…”
“Cooking, sweeping, washing, wiping.”
Liang Xin looked at Xiao Shi in the kitchen. “Didn’t Mom say Xiao Shi hasn’t been home in a long time and plans to take leave to visit her parents? When Xiao Shi leaves, who do you think should handle the household chores?”
Lu Chongfeng: “…”
He had an ominous feeling.
But he couldn’t pinpoint where it came from.
“I…”
“Mom is so elderly—you wouldn’t expect her to do it, would you?”
Liang Xin interrupted her mother-in-law and continued, “If you believe tasks like cooking, sweeping, washing, and wiping are inherently women’s duties, then this reform ends with the quilt-sewing. From now on, I’ll take care of you every day.”
“Who said it’s over? I’ll do it!”
Lu Chongfeng rolled up his sleeves. “Xiao Shi, you’re off today. I’ll wash the dishes later.”
Hu Fenglian observed her son’s condition closely and was surprised to find his complexion rosier than before his marriage, no longer so pale. She turned to Liang Xin. “Will this work?”
Liang Xin looked at Lu Chongfeng. “Will this work?”
“Of course!”
Lu Chongfeng’s spirits instantly lifted.
He suddenly realized the opportunity had fallen into his lap effortlessly.
Seizing this chance, he wanted to prove he was perfectly capable!
Thus, while Liang Xin drank her sweetened white porridge, Lu Chongfeng went to the kitchen and scrubbed the Steel Pot used to cook the morning porridge clean.
After finishing, he came out, gathered all the bowls and chopsticks from the dining table into the sink, cleaned them with a loofah sponge, and arranged them neatly one by one.
Liang Xin noticed that no matter which angle she viewed from, the pots, bowls, utensils, chopsticks, and spoons he arranged were aligned in perfect rows, tidy and orderly.
“Are you drilling these items like soldiers?”
Lu Chongfeng said, “A soldier must maintain a soldier’s demeanor in everything they do.”
Deep down, Liang Xin harbored a severe perfectionism. Perfectionists often have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies when it comes to tasks.
Therefore, she never demanded others to do things, as she rarely found others’ work satisfactory.
But now, she couldn’t remember how long it had been since she felt such satisfaction. Looking at the tidied kitchen, she felt physically and mentally at ease.
“Has today’s newspaper arrived?”
“Yes, it’s in your father’s study.”
Liang Xin looked at Lu Zewei, who was wiping the table.
Lu Zewei: “?”
“I’m going to sunbathe in the yard. Please bring me the newspaper and brew a pot of tea for me.”
Lu Chongfeng threw the rag onto the dining table, indignant. “Does this count as shared marital household chores?”
“Many men with feudal mindsets often lounge in chairs while their wives serve them tea and snacks. They leisurely read the newspaper, turning a blind eye to their wives bustling with household chores, and consider it taken for granted.”
Liang Xin picked up the lounge chair, found it too heavy to move, and turned to look at him. “Even though I’m emulating those men to cooperate with you, I used the word ‘please’ and didn’t take it for granted.”
“…”
Lu Zewei walked over, lifted the lounge chair with one hand, and strode into the yard in a few steps.
“Sit down. I’ll make tea and fetch the newspaper for you.”
Liang Xin walked over and settled into the lounge chair, squinting slightly under the sun’s warmth as drowsiness washed over her.
When Lu Chongfeng arrived carrying an enamel teacup and the newspaper, Liang Xin didn’t even turn her head, merely extending a hand with her palm open.
Instead, Lu Chongfeng carefully avoided her outstretched hand with the scalding teacup, first placing the newspaper in her palm before setting the cup on the windowsill. He then returned to the storage room, brought out a simple wooden tea table, wiped it clean with a cloth, and finally presented it to Liang Xin for her cup.
The sunlight was brilliant, and the ginkgo tree shimmered with golden leaves, radiant under the sky.
Hu Fenglian watched the young couple “vying with each other” beneath the ginkgo tree, a smile playing on her lips as she retreated to her room, choosing not to intervene in their affairs.
“I’ve cleaned everything according to the housekeeping regulations—the cabinets, dining table, floors, stairs, chairs and tables in the rooms, the bathroom sink, mirror, and toothbrush cups,” Lu Chongfeng said, picking up the thermos to refill Liang Xin’s tea. “Is there anything else you need done at home, wife?”
Liang Xin blew on the hot tea. “Has logistics stopped delivering groceries to our home?”
“Dad doesn’t approve of them doing that,” Lu Chongfeng replied, pulling up a chair to sit opposite Liang Xin. “Xiao Shi goes to the service center to buy groceries every morning.”
Liang Xin held her cup, gently rocking in the lounge chair, watching Lu Zewei without speaking.
“I’m not going!”
Lu Zewei had barely touched the chair before springing up again. “I’m not going. You saw the newspaper too—that brat Zheng Xiaojun made me look like a fool in the photo! If I step outside, not to mention my childhood friends, even the uncles, aunts, and folks from the compound, plus those from the offices and the Cultural Troupe, will point and laugh at me!”
Liang Xin nodded in agreement.
Lu Chongfeng scratched his head uncomfortably.
“It’s not that I can’t handle it—I just don’t want to see them.”
“Feeling embarrassed?” Liang Xin asked. “Afraid of the awkwardness?”
“Afraid of them?” Lu Zewei retorted indignantly. “If anyone should be afraid, it’s them! Afraid I’ll smash them and their cameras to pieces!”
“Then let’s go.”
Liang Xin set down the enamel teacup, walked into the living room, picked up a bamboo basket, and handed it to Lu Zewei.
Lu Zewei: “……”
He stared at the basket, woven from bamboo strips with a low handle designed for easy carrying on the wrist—a common sight he’d grown up with.
Every morning, he’d see the housewives returning with baskets full of groceries or lining up empty at the meat and vegetable markets. His mother often carried one too, usually filled with oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, peach crisps, snacks, soap, and toilet paper.
Scouring his memories, he recalled without exception—only women carrying such baskets.
Not a single man had ever held one.
As soon as the two stepped out of the Lu family’s small building, a wave of uproarious, familiar laughter erupted once more.
It was the two office cadres again. Perhaps due to upcoming New Year’s tasks from the political department, they were loitering in the West Yard during work hours.
“HAHAHAHAHA! Chongfeng!” Zheng Xiaojun stood at a distance, watching Lu Chongfeng clutching the basket with a dark expression, and doubled over laughing. “Chongfeng, you’re so girly! Girly like an old auntie!”
The camera warrior raised his camera again, and Lu Zewei immediately charged toward him at full speed.
The two men had no time to take photos and immediately took off running.
Facing the former all-army long-distance running champion, these office soldiers stood no chance. A starved camel is still larger than a horse, and these two weren’t even horses – having been desk-bound for so long, they couldn’t even qualify as mules.
In less than a minute, Lu Chongfeng caught up with them, raising his long legs to deliver a solid kick to each of their backsides.
The two men immediately fell flat on their faces.
Even while sprawled on the ground, they were still laughing heartily.
Lu Zewei grabbed each by their collars, dragged them to a snow pine tree, twisted their arms behind their backs, and pinned them on either side of the tree. He took the camera from around the cadre’s neck and used it to bind their hands together behind the tree.
“Stop! Chongfeng, I was wrong!”
When Zheng Xiaojun saw Lu Chongfeng about to remove his leather belt, he immediately stopped laughing and begged loudly: “I was wrong, Chongfeng! I’ll never laugh at you again! Don’t whip me!”
Liang Xin walked over.
Lu Chongfeng pulled out his belt, giving the two cadres a cruel smile. “I’m a patient now. Anything a patient does will be forgiven – not just forgiven, but it’s not even illegal.”
“Don’t! Chongfeng! I was wrong, I was really wrong!”
Zheng Xiaojun, spineless, completely lost his earlier fearlessness when he was laughing and poured out a basketful of pleas for mercy.
The other one surrendered quickly too. “Chongfeng, he’s my superior, I’m just a subordinate. I only follow orders. Remember to take your grievances out on him, it has nothing to do with me! Please don’t come after me!”
Lu Zewei raised the belt, frightening both men into closing their eyes, trembling, and screaming for help.
After screaming for help for what felt like ages, they realized the pain hadn’t come. Instead, their bottoms felt rather chilly.
Opening their eyes, they discovered their pants had somehow fallen off, leaving four bare legs tied to the tree with the leather belt.
“Click.”
“Lu Chongfeng!”
After two furious roars, Lu Zewei left satisfied with the camera in hand.
Liang Xin looked at the camera in his hand. “This probably can’t be published in the newspaper, right?”
“I’ll develop the photos and give them to their future partners when they start looking for relationships.”
Liang Xin: “…That’s vicious enough.”
“Returning like for like. Compared to when they published me in the newspaper right after I got married, I’m being quite polite.”
When Lu Zewei took the camera to the photo studio at the military service agency, developed fifty photos, signed them under political department office military newspaper reporter Zheng Xiaojun’s name, and asked the studio staff to relay that they should pay for the photos and bring them to him to exchange for the camera…
That’s when Liang Xin learned what true viciousness meant.
Developing someone’s embarrassing photos, then making them pay for it themselves, and delivering the goods right to your doorstep.
Coming out of the photo studio, Lu Zewei seemed to be in a good mood, until they entered the neighboring military service agency.
As soon as they entered, he keenly noticed the military wives gathered together whispering and gossiping secretly, reminding him of his earlier reluctance to go out – precisely because he feared encountering this kind of situation that made him feel like sitting on pins and needles.
“They’re not talking about you.”
Liang Xin looked at the pork cut into pieces on the counter. Having eaten quite a lot of meat these past two days, he wanted to change flavors. He walked over to the nearby bamboo basket, looking at the lively big grass carps. “What dish are you planning to cook?”
After asking, there was no response.
Liang Xin turned his head just in time to see Lu Zewei walking toward the group of whispering military wives.
Lu Zewei: “What were you just saying?”
The military wives jumped in surprise.
“We weren’t talking about you, we were talking about your family member.”
“We weren’t speaking ill of you, we were all praising you, saying how hardworking you are.”
Lu Zewei’s brows furrowed tightly – this was exactly why he had come over directly. “It’s my name in the newspaper, so why are you talking about my family instead of me?”
An older woman, noticing that Liang Xin hadn’t come over and was still bending over examining the fish in the bamboo basket with a greedy expression, lowered her voice and said:
“We were saying your mother misjudged – she passed over all the girls in the compound and specifically found you a wife from the countryside, thinking country girls are hardworking, but it turns out she’s remarkably lazy.”
“I’ve never seen needlework like quilt stitching being done by the man of the house instead of the woman.”
“And I’ve never seen anyone so lazy that their husband ends up in the newspaper.”
Several women looked at Liang Xin with contempt and disapproval, while Lu Zewei found it utterly absurd.
He had anticipated hearing unpleasant remarks when stepping outside, but never expected they would be directed more at Liang Xin than at himself.
This angered him even more than if the criticism had been aimed at him.
“A quilt is shared by two people. If a woman stitches it, it’s expected, but if a man does it, the woman gets blamed for laziness? Have you been so oppressed that your minds have fossilized? What era is this? You’re downright feudal!”
The women were startled once again.
“Chongfeng, we’re speaking up for you. Why are you turning on us?”
“Because unlike you, I don’t confuse inside with outside or right with wrong.” Lu Zewei grew angrier as he spoke. “From now on, not only will I stitch quilts, but I’ll also buy groceries, cook meals, and handle all the household chores. If I hear any of you speaking ill of my wife again, I’ll report you to the residents’ committee!”
“Hey! You…”
“I want to eat fish.”
Liang Xin approached, interrupting the conflict, and looked at the group of women. “You go buy the fish. I’ll stay here and listen. If you have anything to say, say it to my face.”
Those who often gossip behind others’ backs usually wear two faces.
Seeing Liang Xin approach directly with a smile on her face, none of the women dared to utter a word.
“If you find yourselves with too much free time and not enough housework to keep you busy in the future, you’re welcome to come help Chongfeng with chores at our home.” Liang Xin smiled. “This way, you can expend your excess energy while showing your support for Chongfeng. He won’t turn against you but will instead appreciate you, just as you’d hoped.”
The women’s mouths twitched as they wanted to retort, but they glanced at each other, and no one spoke up.
Finally, the woman who had spoken first said, “Who has free time? I need to hurry and sweep the floor, wipe the tables, and clean.”
“I need to go buy meat and cook dinner.”
“I’ve bought my child’s exercise books and need to take them to school.”
Suddenly acting very busy, the women filed out one after another.
Lu Zewei felt a knot of frustration in his chest, his face filled with bewilderment.
Liang Xin, however, appeared completely unaffected and walked back to the bamboo basket containing river delicacies. “Any reform never affects just one person but an entire family.”
Lu Zewei paused.
He looked at Liang Xin. Even as she gazed longingly at the grass carp, her profile still carried that sacred aura he had seen in the snow on the day they registered their marriage.
This sacredness was transcendent yet grounded wisdom.
It was the first time he had seen such temperament in someone so young. Someone with this quality should at least be a weather-beaten octogenarian who understood fate and saw through worldly affairs.
“You want braised fish?”
“No, I want grilled fish.”
“Grilled fish? Skewered and roasted over firewood?” Lu Zewei looked at the grass carp that weighed at least five jin. “This one’s too big. Crucian carp would be easier to grill.”
“Buy it first. I’ll teach you how to prepare it.”
Liang Xin selected a six-jin grass carp. Apart from yellow croaker and ribbonfish, other fish didn’t require ration coupons, and grass carp was a variety few people would buy anyway.
To the west of Huaihua Village, there were plenty of grass carp in the Dahe River. Except for salting fish during the New Year, usually no one bothered to catch them.
Because cooking fish required a lot of oil, no one would be willing to waste half a pot of oil on a single fish.
Lu Zewei handed over 80 cents and received a grass carp strung together with straw.
The salesclerk was clearly holding back laughter, but because of Liang Xin’s earlier casual remark that had angered a group of family women, she kept her mouth shut and said nothing.
Liang Xin also smiled at the salesclerk, which made the salesclerk’s scalp tingle. She didn’t know where to put her hands.
Secretly thinking, this young girl’s temperament is not simple.
Liang Xin took the ration book and bought tofu and thick bean curd sheets, then weighed some soybean sprouts.
She also went to the vegetable station to buy lettuce, celery, potatoes, onions, and half a basket of peppers—dried chilies, Hangzhou peppers, and small fiery chilies. Some bystanders who usually disliked gossiping clicked their tongues in amazement.
Actually, the cooperative vegetable station usually didn’t have so many peppers available. The reason there were so many now was because of the Chief’s family matchmaking incident. The revolutionary nature of red peppers had spread, resulting in more peppers appearing on every family’s dinner table in the compound recently.
That’s why the vegetable station had such an ample supply of peppers.
Liang Xin was unaware of this. As she walked back to the West Yard with Lu Zewei, the murmurs around them never ceased.
The more people whispered, the more guilt welled up in Lu Zewei’s heart.
After this outing, he finally understood why Liang Xin had suddenly asked him to mend the quilt that night, and why she had insisted he go grocery shopping today.
“You know how to prepare fish, right?”
Liang Xin looked at the large grass carp in the basket. “After gutting it and scaling it, split it open from the belly down the middle—but don’t cut through the backbone. Let it lie flat in the pot, and pan-fry both sides first with oil.”
“What kind of recipe is this?”
Lu Zewei no longer felt the reluctance he had before leaving home. Now he was quite willing to cook a meal that Liang Xin would enjoy. “And all these vegetables—should they all be added?”
“Yes. After frying the fish, take it out. Then add more oil, along with broad bean paste, ginger, dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic cloves, bay leaves, fennel, fermented black beans, onions… basically any seasonings you have at home—the more the better. That’s how you make a delicious sauce.”
Liang Xin couldn’t help but swallow. “Yesterday I saw Xiao Shi bought some tube bones. It’s best to use broth made from tube bones, add it to the sauce, and then braise the fried fish. When the fish is almost done, add the washed and cut lettuce, thick bean curd sheets, celery, soybean sprouts, and potato slices. Then top with sliced Hangzhou peppers, small fiery chilies, and dried chilies…”
Suddenly, Liang Xin stopped and looked at Lu Zewei. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Lu Zewei: “…Why are you looking at me like I’m an idiot?”