At the time, it hadn’t felt significant, but now, seeing her brother treasure such worn-out clothes so dearly, she felt a deep, indescribable ache in her heart.
Su Qiao didn’t rush to look for scraps of fabric. Instead, she threaded her needle and carefully began embroidering over the stubborn stains.
Although she only used ordinary cotton thread, her meticulous stitching soon transformed the stains into several tiny yellow stars.
Finally, she found a piece of blue fabric in the pile. Cutting and sewing it carefully, she stitched a cartoon-style spaceship at the pocket area on the bottom hem of the shirt, poised as if ready to launch.
At this age, the kids had no idea what a spaceship really was, let alone a cartoon version of one. The design felt entirely new and fascinating to them.
Su Peng, forgetting all sense of being “the older brother,” snuggled up close to his sister as he had when he was smallest, pointing at the design and asking endless questions.
It was clear he didn’t really need to know what a spaceship was; he was just bursting with joy and didn’t know how else to express it, savoring a rare moment of pampering from his sister.
Su Qiao didn’t mind at all. No matter what he asked, she patiently explained everything, step by step.
This made the little ones even happier and more enthusiastic. Su Peng and Su Lan flanked her on either side, clinging to her as if they wished they could claim their sister entirely for themselves.
In the end, Su Wei couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Get over here and do some work!” he barked roughly at his younger brother, then reached out and pulled him away from their sister.
Su Peng didn’t get upset. He just chuckled softly, obediently sat back in his previous spot, and resumed sorting through the fabrics.
Watching her brothers interact, Su Qiao smiled but didn’t join in. Instead, she picked up the backpack that her eldest brother had left in the corner.
Su Wei was older, and it clearly wouldn’t be appropriate to sew a patch on his clothes.
Following her principle of fairness, she decided to sew a badge onto the backpack that he had carried for many years.
The badge was made from a piece of black velvet. It was the largest piece she had found in the scrap pile, almost the size of half a palm.
Su Qiao cut the fabric into a simple circle, then cut a red velvet five-pointed star and stitched it in the center.
Around the star, she carefully embroidered Su Wei’s name in pinyin, and finally used red thread to secure the edge of the entire badge.
That night was a joy unlike any the children of the Su family had ever experienced.
Su Peng and Su Lan, being younger, loudly expressed their excitement, even comparing their clothes with each other, each insisting theirs looked the best.
Su Wei, though quieter than his younger siblings, sat on the straw mat holding his backpack in his lap, running his hands over the new badge and smiling foolishly, occasionally casting admiring glances toward his sister.
Since their father passed away nearly two years ago, Su Wei had never felt so much like he truly had a family again.
Watching his sister busy at work with her slight frame, his gaze grew more and more determined.
At that moment, he resolved to live diligently and help his sister support their household.
Su Wei believed that even without their parents, they could still make a good life for themselves.
Overwhelmed with excitement, the children of the Su family stayed up late that night.
It wasn’t until every light in the village went out and silence fell everywhere that they rubbed their eyes and went back to bed.
Xiao Su Lan insisted on having her newly mended clothes placed by her pillow, repeating over and over that she would wear the set first thing in the morning.
Only after all her siblings had fallen asleep did Su Qiao finally lie down on the bed herself.
After a whole day of hard work, her entire body ached so badly she didn’t want to move at all, yet her mood was surprisingly good.
Seeing her younger siblings’ reactions to the patches, Su Qiao felt even more certain that her idea wasn’t wrong, this was a path worth trying.
Failing twice in a row to find a suitable house in Xiaobei Camp had honestly made her anxious, and it had shaken her confidence in her earlier plans.
Xiaobei Camp was at the northernmost edge of Jiao County’s urban area, while the long-distance bus station was at the southernmost end. After getting off the long-distance bus, she would still need at least forty more minutes on a city bus to reach Xiaobei Camp.
If there were road repairs or other delays, it could take even longer.
So if she stuck to her original plan of doing business in Xiaobei Camp, finding housing there would be the top priority.
Otherwise, too much time would be wasted on commuting.
But after obtaining those fabric scraps, Su Qiao’s thinking shifted slightly. She felt she could change her business location, from Xiaobei Camp to the area near County No. 1 Primary School, where she had gone that morning.
That area was also one of the more bustling residential districts in Jiao County, and it had the largest open-air market in the county so far.
In addition, it was very close to the residential compounds of the county committee and the county finance bureau, meaning the surrounding residents had decent spending power.
Most importantly, it was on the southern side of the county seat, only about a ten-minute walk from the long-distance bus station.
If she set up a stall nearby, Su Qiao felt she could temporarily set aside the housing issue.
She could simply work a little harder and travel into town every day.
At worst, she would leave early and return late, but that wasn’t too bad. The days were growing longer now, and she no longer had to go out before dawn in the dark.
Of course, she still needed to find a place eventually, but it no longer had to be urgent. She didn’t have to let it block her path to starting a business.
After thinking it through, Su Qiao let out a long breath and finally fell into a solid sleep.
The next day, she didn’t rush out.
Early in the morning, she first took out the fish pieces she had marinated the night before, laid them flat in a bamboo tray, and carried them to a sunny spot in the courtyard to dry.
Then she rummaged through the cabinet and found the half sack of dried pumpkin slices that Su Sanmei had given them earlier. She poured them out and rinsed off the dust.
After setting them aside to air-dry, Su Qiao went to the backyard to pick some fresh garlic and chili peppers.
She minced the garlic and chilies separately, poured them into the basin holding the dried pumpkin slices, then added flour, the soybean paste Xiao Qifeng had brought, and a bit of oil.
After mixing everything thoroughly, she placed the mixture into the steamer, lining it with a steaming cloth, and steamed it over high heat.
Before long, the entire kitchen was filled with a rich, mouthwatering aroma.
The smell was hard to describe, it was garlicky, yet not just garlic. Within the garlic fragrance was the deep savoriness of fermented bean paste, along with the natural sweetness of pumpkin…
Then Su Qiao added water and began kneading dough, preparing breakfast for the family.
Since she didn’t plan to go into the county today, she wasn’t in a rush to make breakfast, nor did she wake her younger siblings.
They had all gone to bed late the night before, and there was nothing urgent to do, so she let them sleep.
The three little ones were still growing, after all.
What Su Qiao didn’t expect was that before she even finished kneading the dough, the two little “puppy noses” in the house had already followed the scent straight into the kitchen.
“Sis, what are you cooking in the pot? It smells amazing!” Su Wei called out before he even stepped inside.
“Pumpkin,” Su Qiao replied with a smile.
“Pumpkin? No way!” Su Wei was instantly shocked.
He rushed over and reached out to lift the lid, only to be stopped by a glare from his sister, and sheepishly withdrew his hand.
Still unconvinced, he muttered, “No way. Pumpkin smells like this? Sis, you’re lying!”
“When have I ever lied to you?” Su Qiao shot him a look. “It’s pumpkin. Once it’s done, you can see for yourself.”
Even so, Su Wei simply couldn’t believe it.
He circled the stove for quite a while, leaning so close his head nearly disappeared into the rising steam, if it hadn’t been too hot.
Su Peng, on the other hand, always trusted his sister completely. Although he also couldn’t imagine why steamed pumpkin would smell like this, he didn’t follow his brother’s example.
Instead, he moved closer to Su Qiao and said, “Sis, I forgot to tell you yesterday. When I went out to gather firewood, I ran into Aunt Yuegui. She asked what we’ve been cooking at home, why it smells so good every day.”
Su Qiao was still kneading the dough. Hearing this, her hands paused, and she turned to ask, “So what did you tell her?”
“I told her we stewed a chicken. She definitely knows that, we traded for the chicken from her family.
“I also said that my sister said becoming an independent household is a big happy occasion, so we had to celebrate with a good meal.”
“Mhm.” Su Qiao nodded approvingly. “What else?”
“Then I said we were having sorghum noodles today, but the sauce was made with the chicken broth we deliberately saved from that day, so that’s why it smells so good.”
At this point, Su Peng lifted his little head, blinking his big eyes as he looked eagerly at his sister. “Was that okay?”
He looked like he was fishing for praise.
Su Qiao reached out and tapped him lightly on the head. “That was good. You answered well. I’ll reward you with something special to eat later.”
Those words instantly made Su Peng beam with delight.
It wasn’t that Su Qiao hadn’t considered that the smells of stewed chicken and fried eggs these past two days might spark gossip among the neighbors.
First, just as her little brother had said, their family had officially set up their own household. Wasn’t it only right to celebrate with a good meal?
Besides, Xiao Qifeng had come over for two days in a row to help tidy up their yard, something everyone in the village could see. With a guest visiting, treating him to a proper meal was only natural; no one could really say anything about that.
And on top of that, Su Qiao carried memories from her previous life. She knew that although most families in the village were still poor right now, with the country’s good policies, people’s lives would grow better day by day.
Eating better and better was the inevitable trend.
There was no longer a need, like during the years of political campaigns, to stay constantly tense and worried about every little thing.
What she didn’t expect, however, was that her little brother could respond so flawlessly when someone was probing for information.
He was only six years old!
The more she thought about it, the prouder she felt. Smiling, Su Qiao happily took another egg out of the cupboard. “That’s my boy. Our Peng is the best! I’ll make you cat-ear noodles.”
Another dish he had never heard of.
Even though he didn’t know what it was, just the name alone sounded incredibly delicious to him.
Excited, he copied his little sister and bounced up and down in place several times, as if that were the only way to express how thrilled he felt.
“Sis, where did you learn to make all these tasty things? Why have we never seen you cook them before?”
Hearing the exchange between his sister and younger brother, Su Wei finally stopped circling the stove and came over to ask.
“I used to be in school every day. When would I have had the time to fuss over food like this? Now that I’ve got some free time, I’m making it for you,” Su Qiao replied simply. Then she pointed to the vegetable basket on the floor and said to the two boys, “Go pick a tomato from the backyard and pull up a couple of garlic shoots.”
They agreed happily.
Su Qiao had originally planned to roll out noodles this morning anyway. Switching to cat-ear pasta just meant one extra step, nothing difficult.
She rolled the kneaded dough into a thin sheet, then cut it into small cubes about the size of a fingernail.
Next, she brought over a bamboo drying tray, placed the little dough cubes on it, and got to work with both hands. With a quick push of her thumb, each piece turned into a shell-shaped curl with delicate ridges.
Su Qiao didn’t really understand why this famous [1]Shaanxi pasta refers to a variety of traditional hand-pulled or shaped noodles from the Shaanxi province in China, known for their chewy texture and often paired with bold, flavorful sauces or … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1729915_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1729915_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Shaanxi pasta was called “cat ears.” If you asked her, it looked much more like tiny seashells.
She washed the tomato and garlic shoots her brothers had picked and set them together with the vegetables she had prepared earlier.
Just as she finished these preparations, the dried pumpkin steaming in the large pot was ready.
Seeing that the lid was finally about to be lifted, Su Wei moved quickly. “I’ll do it!”
Before he even finished speaking, he had already lifted the lid. A rich, fragrant aroma instantly filled the kitchen.
Both boys instinctively took a deep breath and stood there, stunned.
“Sis, this is pumpkin?” Looking at the dark, glossy contents in the steamer, Su Wei simply couldn’t connect them with the dull, grayish dried pumpkin their aunt had given them.
Su Qiao didn’t explain. She picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a small piece, and popped it into his mouth. “Try it and you’ll know.”
As she spoke, she picked up another piece and fed it to her younger brother as well.
Chewing the pumpkin his sister had given him, Su Wei first tasted a savory flavor infused with garlic, followed by the pumpkin’s own faint sweetness.
“Delicious!” he said, nodding vigorously.
“Sis, how can you even make pumpkin taste this good?” he asked, his face full of admiration.
“As long as you’re willing to use enough ingredients, you can make it this tasty too,” Su Qiao said with an easy smile.
As she spoke, she skillfully removed the dried pumpkin from the pot, used chopsticks to separate the pieces that had stuck together, and spread them out in a bamboo tray she had prepared earlier.
“Take it to the backyard and put it out in the sun with the fish. Remember to cover it with a food net,” she instructed her eldest younger brother.
“It still needs to be dried?” Su Wei asked in surprise.
“Mm. It’ll taste even better after drying. Hurry up—I need to start cooking.”
With that, no matter how many more questions he had, Su Wei could only swallow them for now. He answered and carried the tray outside.
Su Qiao switched pots and poured oil into the wok. She stir-fried the eggs, tomatoes, and chopped greens in turn. Once the tomatoes released their juices, she added salt and a bit of soy sauce, stir-frying until the color deepened. Then she poured in hot water and brought it to a boil before adding all the pinched cat-ear pasta to cook.
She had learned this dish from a colleague from Shaanxi. In Shaanxi, it had another name, [2]Ma shi (麻食) is a traditional Shaanxi-style pasta. It’s small pieces of dough, usually pinched into shapes like cat ears or tiny shells, that are boiled and often served in soups or stir-fried. … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1729915_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1729915_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });ma shi.
Because it was simple to make and very flavorful when done well, and because Xiao Peng loved it, she used to make extra and freeze it in the refrigerator.
Back then, she made it far more delicately than now. Wanting her brother to eat more high-quality protein, she would braise beef in advance, then dice it and stir-fry it with green peas, wood ear mushrooms, dried daylily buds, carrots, and tomatoes. Finally, she would add clear beef broth and let it simmer together.
Not only that, she would cook the cat-ear pasta separately in plain water until it was about eighty percent done, then transfer it into the braising pot to finish simmering. That way, it absorbed the flavor while keeping the broth clear and delicious.
But now she couldn’t afford to be so particular.
With a quiet sigh, Su Qiao sprinkled chopped garlic shoots into the bubbling soup, stirred well, and prepared to take it off the heat.
By this time, Su Wei and Su Peng had already woken their little sister and helped her wash up. The three of them stood side by side at the kitchen doorway, staring eagerly at their sister, just waiting for her to say, “Breakfast is ready!”
Su Qiao ladled the cat-ear pasta into small bowls and called to Su Wei, “Take these out.”
Those words were like a switch. The siblings immediately sprang into action.
Su Wei carried the bowls. Su Peng ran to the main room, pulled out stools, set out chopsticks, and even pressed their little sister down onto a bench to make sure she sat properly.
After tidying up the stove a bit, Su Qiao walked out of the kitchen as well. Before she even stepped into the main room, she saw her three younger siblings looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to join them for the meal.
She smiled and quickened her pace.
Just then, the sound of a bicycle bell rang outside the gate.
Then someone called out, “Su Qiao? Xiao Qiao?”
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